Steamboat Stage Race

The 2010 road season ended in grand style with the Steamboat Stage Race. It is a four race event over Labor Day weekend in Steamboat Springs, CO. The mix1 team dominated the event in all areas. In the 35 Plus race the boys won 3 of the 4 stages and took 1st, 2nd, and 4th overall. In the 45 Plus race the guys won 2 of the 4 stages and had to settled for 2nd and 3rd overall after an unfortunate event in the crit. We do not have a race report from the 35 Plus team, but Matt S won the TT, Matt G. won the Circuit race with Marc taking 2nd, Matt Gates also won the road race with Matt S taking second. Overall Matt Gates won the general classification, Matt Segur took second, and Marc Holbert took 4th.

Here is a race report on the 45 plus race from Peter:

There was plenty of success at the Steamboat Stage Race for the 45+Mix1 riders. The race had 4 stages: an opening short time trial, a hilly circuit race, a road race, and a final criterium. Peter and Jimi represented Mix1 for the 45+ category. The first day of racing started out good with Jimi taking 3rd in the time trial, while Peter followed it up with 4th. They both felt great about their results, especially Peter who traditionally never does well at time trials.

The second day got even better. Peter and Jimi road hard during the circuit race, riding hard up the climb on each lap. Eventually, they found themselves together with only one other rider. Without being able to drop the last rider, they had to take it to the line, with Peter getting 1st and Jimi getting 2nd. At this point Peter was first in General Classification (GC) and Jimi was in second.

Next up was the road race. As predicted, the wind picked up to 20mph, with 30 mph gusts as the afternoon went on. Jimi took control of the race and challenged all the other riders on every short hill and climb. He also led the chase into the wind to catch two riders who got out in front for a while. Once back together, 8 riders remained in the front group at the start of the final climbs. Unfortunately, Peter cramped up at the start of the climbs, being the first to drop off the group. But Jimi led the charge all the way to the top. He finished 1st, just ahead of a couple other riders. Now Jimi is in first GC, while Peter slipped to 3rd after losing a couple minutes on the final climb.

The final day was the criterium. Having gotten some good recovery the night before, Jimi and Peter were feeling good. Peter tested his legs out on a couple primes, not winning them, but holding back a bit to save strength for the finish. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worst for Jimi. This time it was his turn to cramp up about 2/3’sway through the race. Having to get off his bike a couple times to relieve the pain, he was lapped twice in the process. The cramping caused him to loose almost 3 1/2 minutes in the race, and he unfortunately fell to 3rd for the final GC. Peter finished second in the criterium, moving up to 2nd overall. It was an unfortunate ending to the race, but Mix1 had some great successes over the four days and still finished with two people on the podium at the end. Next year they will be back to get the top position. It was a great race with awesome courses and the race promoter did a great job of planning and holding the 4-day event.Can’t wait till next year.