Candelas Circuit Race

Thanks to DBC Events we had a new race over the holiday week, a difficult circuit race down in Arvada.  As it was a holiday weekend the fields were a little small, but we had 2 guys in the 35 plus race and 3 in the 45 plus race.  Not a whole lot to say about the 35 plus race, it got real hard on lap #4 and the winning move got away.  Jim Thies and Matt Segur missed the moved, but set about chasing as the wind picked up.  They did a good job of bringing what was left of the field back together, but in the end did not get up to the 4 guys away.  Jim rode well in his first major race back from the birth of child #2 and took 5th place.

The Mix1 team brought 3 riders from their 45+ squad to the new Candelas Circuit Race, Jeff Ofsanko, Pete Lucke, and Peter Ismert.  Some good competition showed up to race, including 3 strong riders from the Great Divide Cycling team. The course had a significant hill in it, which the riders rode up 8 times. After about 3 laps, a small front group formed, which Ofsanko and Ismert managed to join while Lucke stayed back with the chase group.  Ofsanko, just back to racing after a couple months of illness and still regaining fitness, road strong, but fell off the front group.  Ismert continued on with the front group of 4 riders, which increased their lead.  Of the other 3 riders, two were from Great Divide and one from the Natural Grocers team, Jeff Ray.  The Great Divide riders had the opportunity to play out some team tactics on Ismert and Ray.  In the end, Karl Kiester from Great Divide rode hard for his teammate Forrest Newman on the final climb to the finish.  Ismert tried to get the jump on Newman at the end, but Newman came by him at the finish.  Ismert was still glad for a 2nd-place finish against good competitors at a new race venue.  Ofsanko won the field sprint, which was a good test for him and showed that his fitness is almost back. DBC Events put on a great race at Candelas and we hope it becomes a permanent race on the schedule.

 Peter Ismert on the podium in 2nd in the 45 pus race, sporting a nice team jersey and a mix1 hat!