Team Sponsor Clif Bar Adds 2 New Snack Bar Line and other new flavors

The Mix1 Masters cycling team is proud to help get the word out that our wonderful sponsor, Clif Bar has added some new products and updated the flavors on some current products. To check out the Clif Bar web site, click on the link on the right side of the blog.










This photo is taken from the story on Cyclingnews's web site (http://www.cyclingnews.com/) and showcases the brand new Clif C product. We have not had a chance to try it, but a shipment is literally on the way as we speak. Clif Bar also released Clif Crunch, a new granola bar product. Here is a full link to the story. Check it out and learn more about Clif Bar!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/clif-bar-adds-two-new-snack-bar-lines-and-new-flavors

Louisville Crit & Airforce RR

After the bad weather for the time trails Sunday arrived with sunny skies and warmer temps. It was a split squad day with some riders doing the crit in Louisville and others doing a road race down at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. CJ, Josh, Marcel, Jim and Pete lined up for the 35 Plus crit, which looked like a pro/1/2 race with at least 1/3 of the field being pro/1/2 riders racing as a warm up. There were lots of moves the boys covered, but nothing would work. Photo above is CJ in a strong looking move, but as we said, nothing would work.


Here is Jim Thies taking the lead and trying to make another break work, but again nothing. The race settled down for a field sprint and top 3 spots of the podium were all taken by pro/1/2 riders. Josh managed a solid 7th place, Pete came from way back for 14th and Jim slotted in at the back of the top 20.














Pete Lucke rolling in the group.



















The 45 Plus squad was small with only Larry and Henrik racing. With most other teams fielding a larger number of riders our guys were out gunned and missed the break. Here is Larry covering the front and trying to find a chance to get up to the break. No matter what the Mix1 guys did, they could not shake the field and get close to the break.







Henrik taking a flyer up the hill in the 45 Plus race and stretching out the pack in the process.

While we do not have any photos from the Air Force race, we do have 2 first hand reports. There were no masters events so Jimi, Pete I. and Kevin raced with the cat 3's, and Matt S., Matt G., and Marc raced in the pro/1/2. Here is Jimi's report of his race, where he took a strong 2nd place beating guys the age of his kids: the air force course is one of the best workouts you can find anywhere and it was a beautiful day. We had a few good climbers and a few very young goats in our race. The 1st lap felt the hardest, especially after the time trials in the rain the day before. By the 3rd lap it started to break up, with about 10-12 riders left together for the 4th and final lap. Unfortunately Kevin had a little mishap with one of the 5280 kids. he had to unclip from his pedals, and then chase back on. During this guys went up the road and I had to dangle a bit, then relaxed, and then I was able to catch back on on the final descent toward the uphill finish. In the finishes I came around 3 guys in the final 100m to take 2nd place, and Peter came in with 10th place.

And a 1st hand report on the pro1/2 race from Matt S: this is an amazing race on the grounds of the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO similar to the course used in the 1986 World Cycling Championships. There was a strong contingent of pros like Chris Baldwin, Phil Zajicek, Jonathan Chadroff and plenty more. First lap was tough as the large field was jockeying for position and Chadroff (Jelly Belly) went off the front in an early move and gaining45 seconds on the field. Chadroff's early move spelled doom for the peloton, as on lap 2 Fly V Australia put all 4 of its riders on the front and destroyed the field. Gaps were opening up everywhere in peloton. Matt G. and Marc H. rode strong and Matt S. made a very hard effort to nearly make the front group, but could only close to within 10 seconds of the break.

Matt S. settled back into the chase group together with Matt G. and Marc , as well as a dozen other riders. The chase group was not necessarily cooperative, with few guys working together, and riders getting picked up and drooped at the same time. Matt S. attacked the group on the climb on Lap 3 with Marc H. coming across near the top, but the field was not going to let two of the three Mix1 racers go, so the group came back together. The run in to the1 km long uphill finish was chaotic as usual for this race and Mix1 crossed line in succession for top 25 finishes. It was very solid riding from the Mix1 guys against a top level pro/am field.

Haystack TT & TTT - Lots Of Podium Time

Saturday was the annual Haystack Time Trial (TT) and Team Time Trial (TTT). Both races are held on a relatively short course and only a stone throw from Boulder. The TTT is the only event of it's kind on the calendar for 2010, so bragging rights were on the line. The weather was near perfect for the individual time trail, with light winds and cool temps. Unfortunately the weather turned horrible in the afternoon for the TTT, as the photos prove out.

The photo on the left is Pete Ismert leading the 45 Plus team during the TTT. The boys brought home the victory and defeated the Vic's team on a course Vic's has owned. As you can tell in the photo the TT stud Gene motivated the boys by yelling at the top of his lungs the entire time! Way to go to Gene, Matt V., Peter I., Jeff O., and Jimi.

Here you can see the entire 45 Plus team in formation with Jimi Gibson taking the lead. Gene managed to run his undefeated streak in time trial up to 3 races in the morning, by winning the TT. Then made himself 4 for 4 with the afternoon win with his team.










































Here is Matt Segur during the 35 Plus TTT effort. Matt had a strong morning taking 3rd place in the TT and came back in the rain to help the 35 Plus team take second overall in their TTT. They would have liked the win, but they did beat the teams they needed to beat.



































The 35 Plus Team Time Trail squad in full formation, as lead by LT. Team members were left to right Matt S., Marcel, Josh, LT, and Pete L. (hidden behind LT).


It should be noted the old guys (the 45 Plus team) beat the young guys (the 35 Plus team) at the TTT for the 3rd race in a row, going back to 2009. One of these day the 35 plus squad is going to turn the tables, but not this year in the rain.

Busy Weekend - 7 Races In 2 States

This past weekend was the real season kickoff, with a crit on Saturday, the famous Boulder Roubaix road race on Sunday (which was also the start of the season long points series) and for some guys a 3 day stage race in Utah. This photo is of CJ leading the field and on his way to a 5th place result at The Prairie Center Crit.

Prairie Center Crit: this was a new race, but had a large cash purse from long time cycling sponsor THF Reality. With the big road race the next day a lot of guys were resting. Photo is Marcel working hard on the front in the 35 Plus race. The 45 Plus squad was only represented by Larry, who was up against several other team with full compliments of riders. It was an aggressive race, with lots of breaks, but nothing would stick. In the end it came down to a sprint and Larry took his first top 10 of the year. CJ and Marcel raced the 35 Plus race, which also had a small field, and was

aggressive. Both riders were active, but a break never got up the road, so the race was decided in a sprint. CJ took the 35 Plus team's first top 5 of the year and rang the cash register with some money. Photo at left is Larry riding at the front of the 45 Plus race. All photo compliments of Larry's friend Kate. Thanks!

Boulder Roubaix: this is a classic Boulder race and was back after a few years absence. The promoter created a new course, that was longer, more interesting and very well received. The 45 Plus team lined up a full compliment of riders, with several team members making it their first race of the year. Over the course of 3 laps the pace took it's toll, as did the dirt roads. However a large group came in for a field sprint. The team missed out on the win, but slotted in Jeff, Jimi, Peter and Matt in paces 5th through 8th. It was an impressive show of force and certainly an indication of how strong the team is. The 35 Plus race was considerable more aggressive. 99 riders started and after 1 lap it was down to 35, with all 5 Mix1 riders making the split. Then the team luck ran out. Josh flatted, CJ flatted 5 seconds later, and Matt G. flatted in the feed zone, all on lap 2. Matt S. stuck with the front group and finished 10th, with Marc in 15th. The flatting was really unfortunate as it robbed the team of several more top placings.

Tour Of The Depot: this is a 2 day, 3 stage race in Tooele, UT. The 35 Plus team went last year and had a blast, winning a stage and getting 2 guys in the top 4 on GC. This year Pete, Jim and LT represented Mix 1. LT set the tone with a strong TT result to claim 4th place. Both Jim and Pete rode strong in the afternoon circuit race to protect LT, but the leaders team had a death grip on the field and they could never get away. Pete took a time bonus and moved up on GC, while Jim took 11th in the sprint. The next day the boys in red woke up to 30 to 50 mile an hour wind gusts and wondered what they were in for. Due to the wind part of the course was closed, so the race was shortened for safety. This allowed the boys to be super aggressive, with Pete taking another time bonus. By the finish climb the field had blown to bits. Jim rode at the front and scored a fine 5th place on the stage and moved up into 10th overall on GC. Both Pete and LT retained their places on GC, so after 3 stages all 3 Mix1 riders were in the top 10 on GC. Way to go guys.

1st Win Of The Year

This week was the kickoff for the Cherry Creek Time Trial Series and featured a new course for the first time in years. For anyone who does not follow it, it is a 7 week time trial series, in Cherry Creek State Park, held on Wednesdays starting in April. 35 Plus team members Matt Segur and LT traveled down to race, as did 45 Plus team member Gene Palumbo. For some weird reason there is no 35 Plus race at Cherry Creek. So Matt & LT rode with the big boys in the Pro/1/2 race and finished a very respectable 5th and 6th.

However the big news of the night was Gene taking the win in the 45 Plus race and in a time faster then his team mates. In fact Gene's time was the 3rd fastest of the night. Gene has put in a lot of training this winter, with a new coach, and has his eye on Masters Nationals and Masters Worlds. Congratulations Gene on getting things off to a good start.

Race report from Gene: Wow. What began as a bleak day for a TT bike race, turned into a near perfect day. You can count on the fact that it will not only be windy at Cherry Creek, but it will be down right gusty. Not tonight though. This couldn't have played out better considering there was a brand new course this year with a very different profile, especially the finish. Instead of some small rollers, typically into the wind, and a slight uphill finish, this years course had a significant hill to a false flat finish. Simple put very painful. You had to save some power in the engine on this one or you would blow up.

I had a good warm up with LT and Matt and after the start my legs felt pretty good. Since it was the first race I was finding it a bit difficult to find the right gears and to get into a rhythm, but after the first turnaround I felt like I had a nice cadence. To try and drive a good pace I kept thinking of a mantra my 7 yr old son suggested I use "ride like a rocket train Daddy". If anything, this helped to mask the pain in my legs and my chest. My strategy was to try and keep a steady, and strong pace, throughout the course, try to accelerate, and shift up through the uphill finish. While I admitted to myself that I was not achieving this goal while it was going on I kept pushing though to the finish and tried to accelerate through the line.

Koppenberg Race Reports & Podium

The team dominated the 45 Plus race with new team members Jeff Ofsanko and Peter Ismert taking 2nd and 6th respectably. We do not have any still photos, but we do have video footage of the first lap, featuring new riders Jeff & Peter blowing the field apart. Video footage courtesy of Rod Yoder (Vitamin Cottage racing team): http://vimeo.com/10662332

Here is a race report from second place finisher Jeff Ofsanko: My pre-race plan was to play the gutter game on the first lap and it worked. Just before climb #1, Peter and I shared the workload to put us 1-2 up the climb. Once we hit the top I came around Peter and (leaving only enough room on the leeward side for Peter) drove the pace. Unfortunately, Peter hit some soft dirt and fell off the pace. But I got away with 4 others. After that it was windy pacelineing until the sprint…which netted me a second place. Peter took advantage of my being in the break and sat on, taking 6th place overall at the finish. A great start for 2 new team members.


The 35 Plus was the usual hammer fest of cat. 1's and 2's. The race went from the gun and all 3 team members made the split. Over time with the hills, the dirt, and the wind the groups got smaller and smaller. Here is new team member Matt Gates climbing the hill at the front. Matt just missed the winning break, but lead the team home with a 5th place finish.

Marc Holbert riding strong with eventual winner Michael Gibson on his wheel. Marc is returning to form after breaking his collar bone this winter surfing.

Team member Jim Thies riding the Koppenberg on the second lap. Jim has never done this race before and was happy with his placing in the top 20.

(all photos courtsey of www.303cycling.com)

Behind the moto with team sponsor Mavic

This entry is courtesy of team member Marcel Van Garderen. Marcel works for Mavic, on a volunteer basis, as part of their neutral support race services.



Marcel: As I was heading out the door my wife and daughter chime, “Have a fun vacation in California.”

I was on my way to Redlands to work with Mavic providing neutral support for the Redlands Bicycle Classic. This will be my second full year volunteering with Mavic. For my regular job, the one that pays the bills, I am an architect for the Neenan Company, where the extent of my exertion consists of pushing a mouse around. My heart rate goes up slightly when I get up to refill my mint tea. Working with Mavic, however, means work and can not be misconstrued for vacation...at least not the one where you lay on the beach. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing this and in many ways it beats lying on the beach.

This trip to Redlands was my first foray as the moto pilot for Mavic. I worked as the jumper (mechanic jumping from car to provide neutral support) and driver of one of the Mavic cars during the 2009 Tour of Missouri and quickly realized that being on the moto provided the best seat in the house.




Mark, the guy that runs the Mavic neutral support program, asked me to drive one of the neutral support cars to Redlands with Roscoe, one of the guys I met at the OTC while getting licensed as a race mechanic. I checked my work schedule and quickly said yes. I am an early riser, so I picked up Roscoe on Tuesday at 4 A.M. to start our drive south. We planned to spend the night along the way somewhere before Vegas. Well, plans are made to be broken and we got to Vegas around 3 P.M. and decided to push on to Redlands. We arrived in Redlands at 6:30, just in time to join a few guys from Mavic for dinner.

Petar drove the Mavic truck pulling the trailer all the way from the east coast. The truck and trailer house all the things we need to provide neutral support for a four-day stage race: wheels, bikes, two motorcycles and a car!



The first order of business was to represent Mavic in a good light. This means all of the 100 wheels needed to be checked, and get rubber and cassettes. We also checked over the 10 neutral bikes and made any necessary adjustments. The truck, trailer and cars all got washed; the cars went to the carwash the truck and trailer were done by hand. This took the better part of the day working diligently with five people. Toward the afternoon, the rest of the crew finally made it to Redlands - some stuck at snowy airports in Colorado, others in traffic coming from Southern California. That night we sat down for dinner with the full crew of 11!

Time trials are generally uneventful for the Mavic crew. The short event and the equipment that does not get used often cause everything to run smoothly. We did have a few of the smaller teams visit the pit we had set up near the start house for some minor adjustments. An hour before the start we took the three Mavic cars and set up pits with wheels and bikes along the course. We ended up setting up six pits along a 3.1-mile course with each pit having at least six wheels and one bike.

My first day piloting a neutral moto was during Friday’s road race. I have been riding a moto for 15+ years and have been racing a bicycle for 28 years and I would be lying if I told you I was not a little nervous. It was not driving the moto that made me nervous but more where to be during the race. Lucky for me, Mark had paired me with Bart, one of the best jumpers! Bart has the Mavic record for fastest wheel change. He once changed Chris Horner’s wheel at the San Francisco Grand prix while leading the race in the last lap, in seven seconds!! Perhaps this was more reason for me to be nervous working with this legend. As it turned out, Bart is a great, down-to-earth guy, who was incredibly helpful getting me to the places I needed to be. The race went fantastic from a neutral service perspective.

Bart and I did 14 wheel changes during this stage alone! Often we would get to the riders before their teams did and the rider would be off and integrating into the field as their car would pull up. The benefit of providing neutral support from a motorcycle is that when a rider put up his hand mid-field, indicating a flat, we could already see him and were able to squeeze by the field. It happened more than once where Bart already had their wheel out before the last rider in the field had come past us. It is also an advantage that the motorcycle gets to ride closely behind the field rather than have to sit behind the race official and medical cars

After we provided a rider with a new wheel we needed to get rid of the flat. While Bart made the wheel change I radioed to the Mavic car the rider’s number and whether he had 10 or 11-speed. Once the rider was off, we sped up to the Mavic car, where they had a fresh wheel ready for us and we made the exchange and joined the back of the field, waiting for the next flat.

When we work to provide neutral support at a race we are so intently focused on everything from road conditions to riders and cars that travel at different speeds we forget how exhausting it is mentally and physically until we sit down at the end of the day and the realization hits home; This is not vacation, but it is a hell of a good time!

(All photos supplied courtesy of Marcel. He is the moto driver, in the dark blue Rudy Project sunglasses. Marcel is sponsor correct, as always!)

The Season Really Begins

The 2010 race season kicks off for real this weekend with the Koppenberg Classic, put on by Boulder Racing (www.boulderracing.com). This race is a classic in the front range, with lots of dirt, lots of wind, and often very difficult conditions. Although team members have been racing for a month now, they have been racing with the senior categories (pro/1/2 or cat 3) and this weekend will be the first weekend of masters races, with both 45 Plus Open and 35 Plus being offered. The team is excited to get going and work towards defending such good results from 2009. Good luck to everyone and especially to defending 45 Plus Open Champion Peter Ismert.

Pictures are from our friends, and past teammates, over at 303 Cycling. They were doing some course recon and took some pictures of current team member Jim Thies pre riding the nasty hills. And yes, the road is as bad as it looks and as steep as it looks.

Here is a link to the photos on 303 Cycling as well:

http://picasaweb.google.com/303cycling/2010Koppenberg?feat=directlink#