"If I could only do one race for the rest of my life, I'd be perfectly happy w/local midweek stxc, especially the CU Cycling Team series."
- Spencer Powlison
Thanks for the very kind words, Spencer! We are glad to be able to put on a fun mid-week race series for the community, and knowing how much you all enjoy it makes us even happier.
We maintained the same numbers tonight as the record-setting turnout from last week. Maybe it was the draw of a flat course, but the course was still plenty long. Lap times were coming in around 5 minutes, with the Men's A's topping out around 4 and a half minutes. There was plenty of excitement in every race - partially motivated by avoiding mosquitoes - I got eaten alive during tear-down tonight.
Sorry to keep this recap short - I need to pack and sleep before traveling tomorrow through Tuesday. (That's right, I plan my travel around being at Short Track). But thanks again for the huge turnout, and thanks to everyone who suffered through the mosquitoes with us to make cleanup quick and easy. Tonight's results are posted in the usual spots. I may have made an error or two in my haste. Let me know, and I'll fix any issues when I'm back in town.
3 more things:
1: Nothing's official yet....But EVOL...It's in the works.
2: Hills are on the schedule for next week - after two whole weeks with no corkscrew we figure it's time to play around up there again.
3. Hog Roast at Rocky Mounts tomorrow evening, supporting Community Cycles
See you next week!
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Schedule Change for Tomorrow
Tomorrow's going to be another hot one. Hopefully not quite as hot as today was. To keep you from overheating, tomorrow's race will be the Tour de Glades, a 1.3 mile course that avoids climbs while hitting plenty of berms, jumps, and drops.
As for the schedule, we're moving the single speed race to 6:40, with the Women's A's starting just after that. This should make scoring much easier, and we'll have cleaner, faster results for the Men's B's this way (hopefully). This will be the schedule for pretty much the rest of the season.
We'll have some more modifications with details we're still working out. We've been planning with the EXCITE program to host an adaptive mountain bike race category. The first one will be June 26th. We're still tinkering with how to fit the schedule in. So stay tuned for that.
One last note - Rocky Mounts is hosting a hog roast on Thursday, with Oskar Blues on tap. It doubles as a benefit for Community Cycles. Check out the details here, and we'll see you at Valmont tomorrow and at Rocky Mounts Thursday.
As for the schedule, we're moving the single speed race to 6:40, with the Women's A's starting just after that. This should make scoring much easier, and we'll have cleaner, faster results for the Men's B's this way (hopefully). This will be the schedule for pretty much the rest of the season.
We'll have some more modifications with details we're still working out. We've been planning with the EXCITE program to host an adaptive mountain bike race category. The first one will be June 26th. We're still tinkering with how to fit the schedule in. So stay tuned for that.
One last note - Rocky Mounts is hosting a hog roast on Thursday, with Oskar Blues on tap. It doubles as a benefit for Community Cycles. Check out the details here, and we'll see you at Valmont tomorrow and at Rocky Mounts Thursday.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Race number 3!
What a night! It seemed like every racer was having fun, getting big air off the rock drops and pulling wheelies across the finish line. We had a whopping 143 racers during the evening - 21 more than last week! I guess word is spreading about all the fun at Valmont. I'll have to check our racing records from past years to see if it's an all time best. It's gotta be close.
We had Full Cycle grilling hot dogs all night, which were very tasty and very much appreciated by hungry volunteers such as myself. A huge thanks to all of you who raced - we're really glad that so many people are enjoying the races we're putting on. And thank you to all the volunteers who came out to help - course setup, registration, marshaling, grilling, doctor-ing, and cleaning up the course afterwards. We really appreciate the help.
We actually have a new waiver that everyone needs to fill out - it includes both the University and the City of Boulder releases on it. You only need to fill it out once this summer, but it is different from the waiver we had the first week. So please check in. Also, take a look at the results to make sure I got you placed correctly.
After a strong win last week, Marina Lepikhina took 2nd to newcomer Brittany Jones, who started out a little slow in 4th, but got her groove and passed a rider in each of the last 3 laps to take the win.
This was the first short track of the year for 8 of our 12 Men's C's. Christian Long and Brendan Lee finished 1-2 with a 15 second gap over 3rd place Michael Bachman. Bachman has won the C's competition in past summers. Are these guys on form to upgrade and fight with the massive B field? The B's had 40 racers, which included a few riders who upgraded from the C's. None of them could keep up with newcomer Maxx Chance. Maxx says he's still looking for his form, but he might think about A's for the next short track. Racing against faster bikers gets you faster too, after all.
Brad Berger, a former CU Cycling National Team mountain biker, was flying through the back end of the B field, doing sub-3:30 minute laps. He couldn't shake Tom Hopper, but did manage to hold on to the win. Tom's 2nd place increased his overall lead over Mark Beaudry, who ended 5th on the night.
Our Women's A field is getting some good attendance now. Nicole Duke and Erin Huck have fought hard in past short track series for the over-all. Nicole was absent yesterday though, so the rivalry will have to wait. Diedre York started out fast, with lap times around 3:40 on the 1 mile course. She slowly let herself drift back towards the end, making sure she's well-rested for upcoming Worlds. Erin Huck capitalized on that and took the win (now tied with Nicole for the overall).
The 29 Men's A's riders were flying through this course, taking risks through slippery turns, and attempting a few passes with alternate lines through the obstacles. Their lap times were around 3:15 for most of the race, led by a group of 5 that included Brady Kappius, Sam Morrison and Bryan Alders. Bryan and Sam were able to drop the other 3 in the final 3 laps. Bryan, who is fresh off of a long rest due to injury, and with a lot of pent up riding energy, sped around Sam on the last lap to take the win by 5 seconds. Sam's 2nd place pulls him within 14 points in the overall of leader Brady, who finished 5th on the night. About 3 minutes after Bryan's win, Kurtis Barth held a very impressive wheelie over the line for 20th place.
We didn't keep count, but we think John Mansell did upwards of 50 laps on the night, who started his warmup during the C's race. We're going to have to keep track next week.
Thanks again for coming out, and we'll see you next week!
We had Full Cycle grilling hot dogs all night, which were very tasty and very much appreciated by hungry volunteers such as myself. A huge thanks to all of you who raced - we're really glad that so many people are enjoying the races we're putting on. And thank you to all the volunteers who came out to help - course setup, registration, marshaling, grilling, doctor-ing, and cleaning up the course afterwards. We really appreciate the help.
A few notes:
There were a couple of people who did not check in - I recorded some racers whose names and numbers were not on the start sheets. Be sure to check in with registration at every race, even if you're pre-registered and have a number.We actually have a new waiver that everyone needs to fill out - it includes both the University and the City of Boulder releases on it. You only need to fill it out once this summer, but it is different from the waiver we had the first week. So please check in. Also, take a look at the results to make sure I got you placed correctly.
How the night went down:
Carden King has some new competition in the Kids race, he took 3rd to Luke Kreidl and Dale Boyer. An incredible 21 other kids enjoyed the course too! In the Juniors race, Bjorn Riley stayed with Nolan Stevenson until just before the last lap and managed to get a nice gap for a solid win. Not morally defeated, Nolan slowed down to pop a wheelie for a 2nd-place finishing photo-op.After a strong win last week, Marina Lepikhina took 2nd to newcomer Brittany Jones, who started out a little slow in 4th, but got her groove and passed a rider in each of the last 3 laps to take the win.
This was the first short track of the year for 8 of our 12 Men's C's. Christian Long and Brendan Lee finished 1-2 with a 15 second gap over 3rd place Michael Bachman. Bachman has won the C's competition in past summers. Are these guys on form to upgrade and fight with the massive B field? The B's had 40 racers, which included a few riders who upgraded from the C's. None of them could keep up with newcomer Maxx Chance. Maxx says he's still looking for his form, but he might think about A's for the next short track. Racing against faster bikers gets you faster too, after all.
Brad Berger, a former CU Cycling National Team mountain biker, was flying through the back end of the B field, doing sub-3:30 minute laps. He couldn't shake Tom Hopper, but did manage to hold on to the win. Tom's 2nd place increased his overall lead over Mark Beaudry, who ended 5th on the night.
Our Women's A field is getting some good attendance now. Nicole Duke and Erin Huck have fought hard in past short track series for the over-all. Nicole was absent yesterday though, so the rivalry will have to wait. Diedre York started out fast, with lap times around 3:40 on the 1 mile course. She slowly let herself drift back towards the end, making sure she's well-rested for upcoming Worlds. Erin Huck capitalized on that and took the win (now tied with Nicole for the overall).
The 29 Men's A's riders were flying through this course, taking risks through slippery turns, and attempting a few passes with alternate lines through the obstacles. Their lap times were around 3:15 for most of the race, led by a group of 5 that included Brady Kappius, Sam Morrison and Bryan Alders. Bryan and Sam were able to drop the other 3 in the final 3 laps. Bryan, who is fresh off of a long rest due to injury, and with a lot of pent up riding energy, sped around Sam on the last lap to take the win by 5 seconds. Sam's 2nd place pulls him within 14 points in the overall of leader Brady, who finished 5th on the night. About 3 minutes after Bryan's win, Kurtis Barth held a very impressive wheelie over the line for 20th place.
We didn't keep count, but we think John Mansell did upwards of 50 laps on the night, who started his warmup during the C's race. We're going to have to keep track next week.
Thanks again for coming out, and we'll see you next week!
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Racing this afternoon
The light drizzle this morning is just enough to keep the dust down for later. The trails are looking great, so we'll see you all later! The course this week hits the glades, some optional rock drops, a bit of gravel, plenty of passing opportunity, and though you get a break from the corkscrew this week, you'll have a nice table-top jump on one short descent.
As for the schedule, we'll keep the single speeders racing after the B's today. We're still hoping to get some more feedback from riders today before making any changes. It looks like some options would be Single Speeders going before the Women's A's at 6:40, or Women's A's going after Single Speeders at 6:10, and Men's B's going at 6:40. Be sure to let us know your opinion on the matter at the race tonight!
As for the schedule, we'll keep the single speeders racing after the B's today. We're still hoping to get some more feedback from riders today before making any changes. It looks like some options would be Single Speeders going before the Women's A's at 6:40, or Women's A's going after Single Speeders at 6:10, and Men's B's going at 6:40. Be sure to let us know your opinion on the matter at the race tonight!
Monday, June 3, 2013
Rider Poll: Single Speed and Women's A's
Since the Men's B field is always the largest, we were thinking that having the men's Single Speed field go a minute after them is annoying - both for single speeders to need to navigate the B field that they catch, and for us to score and keep straight.
So we've been thinking about having the Single speeders start at 6:40, with the Women's A's starting a minute after them. Thoughts?
Let us know in the comments.
So we've been thinking about having the Single speeders start at 6:40, with the Women's A's starting a minute after them. Thoughts?
Let us know in the comments.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Week 2 in the books
The morning rain dried up in time, and 122 eager racers got to enjoy a long course at Valmont. We're still playing around with the course start - that hole shot was very important this week, with only about 50 yards to the single track. I think I only saw one crash as a result of the hard braking and crowding there though.
8-year-old Carden King started things off, showing what Boulder racing is all about. He improved over his 3rd place last week to win the kids race this week, and then jumped in the Juniors race. 11-year-old Torin Bickmore also moved up from 3rd to 1st in the Juniors race. Both of these young riders have the overall lead in their respective categories, though Bjorn Riley is just 1 point down on Torin.
After the Kids race, Sam and Beckett Cassan found where the mud was still nice and wet. Sarah from the Daily Camera included them in her article, which you can read here.
Ksenia Lepikhina has been tearing up dirt at short track for years, and now she's gotten her mother, Marina, into it. Marina took the win in the Women's B's too! Not bad for her first CU Short Track race. CU racer Garrett Brown is in good form after the collegiate road season; he won the Men's C race by a good 10 seconds over Tony Prete. The Men's B's had an intense chase for the top 5 spots. Junior racer Wyatt Svarczkopf had a slow start, but managed to move from about 6th to 2nd before the end of the race. He may have been only 1 lap away from catching Stephen Shepherd, who never let off the gas at all to earn that victory. The single speeds had a lot of shuffling around throughout the race, but Tom Hopper came out on top for the 2nd week in a row. Mark Beaudry held a really long wheelie across the entire finishing straight, rolling in for 5th.
In the Women's A's Ksenia was on Deidre York's wheel until 4 laps to go. Deidre, who's gearing up for worlds, gave us a preview of her form as she then took off, winning by a 20 second gap over Ksenia, who was another 20 seconds ahead of Tammy Sadle. In the Men's A's, Brady Kappius got another win. But he didn't get to relax on his birthday. Sam Morrison was within 5-10 seconds of Brady the entire race. Zane Godby kept things interesting holding out single dollar bills for riders to grab coming through. (John Mansell was hoping for an ice cream prime - maybe next time). Will Nabours jumped up to the A's after winning the B's last week. He managed a very solid 8th, and one of those dollars from Zane.
Dejan Smaic was out there taking photos again, and hopefully we'll have a link to those soon. In the mean time, check out the results and photos from last week.
8-year-old Carden King started things off, showing what Boulder racing is all about. He improved over his 3rd place last week to win the kids race this week, and then jumped in the Juniors race. 11-year-old Torin Bickmore also moved up from 3rd to 1st in the Juniors race. Both of these young riders have the overall lead in their respective categories, though Bjorn Riley is just 1 point down on Torin.
After the Kids race, Sam and Beckett Cassan found where the mud was still nice and wet. Sarah from the Daily Camera included them in her article, which you can read here.
Ksenia Lepikhina has been tearing up dirt at short track for years, and now she's gotten her mother, Marina, into it. Marina took the win in the Women's B's too! Not bad for her first CU Short Track race. CU racer Garrett Brown is in good form after the collegiate road season; he won the Men's C race by a good 10 seconds over Tony Prete. The Men's B's had an intense chase for the top 5 spots. Junior racer Wyatt Svarczkopf had a slow start, but managed to move from about 6th to 2nd before the end of the race. He may have been only 1 lap away from catching Stephen Shepherd, who never let off the gas at all to earn that victory. The single speeds had a lot of shuffling around throughout the race, but Tom Hopper came out on top for the 2nd week in a row. Mark Beaudry held a really long wheelie across the entire finishing straight, rolling in for 5th.
In the Women's A's Ksenia was on Deidre York's wheel until 4 laps to go. Deidre, who's gearing up for worlds, gave us a preview of her form as she then took off, winning by a 20 second gap over Ksenia, who was another 20 seconds ahead of Tammy Sadle. In the Men's A's, Brady Kappius got another win. But he didn't get to relax on his birthday. Sam Morrison was within 5-10 seconds of Brady the entire race. Zane Godby kept things interesting holding out single dollar bills for riders to grab coming through. (John Mansell was hoping for an ice cream prime - maybe next time). Will Nabours jumped up to the A's after winning the B's last week. He managed a very solid 8th, and one of those dollars from Zane.
Dejan Smaic was out there taking photos again, and hopefully we'll have a link to those soon. In the mean time, check out the results and photos from last week.
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
May 29 - Racing is ON!
Thank you sun gods! The course is drying nicely and we'll have everything set up and ready to go. See you all in a few hours.
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