ACC Blog

Once again the longest race of the year proved just that-then the gloves came off!  It was a beautiful evening for the race-no armwarmers needed.  The SMA were off with Gu’s and Red Bull shots kicking in early with the race breaking up at the first climb-shocker.  After an early break of Wade, Jason, and Max and many earnest attacks from the BB&S boys, Elliot and Wade dangling out in front caused Max to chase.  With Wade still on the fishing line, Max was caught, then the first 7 racers sprinted to the finish with Charlie(you have a little gray, don’t you?) back to his old ways taking the win with Scanlon and Joel on his wheel. 

The Vet Men A had to be on their best behavior opening doors and such with some ladies at their evening happy hour.  I guess they behaved somewhat nicely because in a sprint finish of ten, only two let Annie Gonzales “girl” them….hmmmmmm or was it Annie being nice to THEM?….I digress.  Young whippersnapper Brian Schaefer(no gray hair that I can see) jumped for the sprint, but Mike Maple once again showed us that gray hair has serious magical powers-STUD.  Mike Maple-gold, Brian Shaeffer-Silver(not enough apparently) and Skarvan-Bronze.

Kelly Cullen decided to “play” with the Senior Women A and set a blistering 20+ mph pace the whole way-thanks, Kelley!  It was so fast that the usual catch from the C’s didn’t happen at the bottom of the climb, but at the top.  Virg and Cat worked together on the climb only to have Virg almost go off a cliff trying to stay on Cat’s wheel for the descent.  Yikes.  The C’s caught Cat and Virg, and the rest was a 1,2,3 for Kelley, Cat, then Virg-thanks for playing.

The C’s are always a fast and furious pack on this race, with a fit and 60 Danny Pierce(Grand Masters) showing again that super heroes have gray hair-he finished first of all the C’s-with it looks like Wade Smith(Master’s) on his tail-do you have gray hair too??  Keith Burgland once again showed us his true grit taking the Vet Men’s C race by over a minute, and Tyson Cross taking the C’s.

And oh, let’s not forget in the sibling rivalry catagory-Alena beat up on big brother Agustin-but that debunks my gray haired super hero myth.  I still will contemplate not coloring my hair now……nah-blondes still have more fun, especially careening towards a guard rail.

Thanks for reading,

Virg

A new race, with lots of unknowns, was somehow pulled off at the base of the Two Creeks ski area. With the sun shining strongly, the Citizen group headed out at 6pm for their 30 minute plus race effort. Race Director Mouse & the volunteer crew, seeing the dizzy looks on racers faces, soon realized that our planned 30 minute and 45 minute races were more than anybody needed to get their suffering on. Some quick consults showed that STXC races are often 25 minutes plus a lap or three. So, the 2 laps to go sign was posted for the leader at 25 minutes and the bell lap was being rung soon after.

Keith Berglund took first place honors in crossing the line first for the Citizens, but not without having to keep looking back at Keegan Swirbul who was leading early on and chasing hard throughout. Not sure how old Keegan is right now, but he’s going to be quite the threat as he continues his journey into adulthood! Congrats to Max, Kelley, John, Phil, and Mr. Maple on their winning efforts! Full results can be found here.

While the course was based on last summer’s Norba Nationals STXC course, we didn’t have the resources for extra turns and chicanes on the pavement portion of this year’s course. As most everybody enjoyed the race this year, we’re likely to see this one come back next summer… hopefully new and improved!

What would you do to tweak next year’s course?

Mike

We haven’t been able to get the Prince Creek Circuit Race to work out this year, so instead we’ll be over at the Two Creeks base area, this coming Wednesday, racing a Short Track X-C race on a course that will be very similar to the one used at last summer’s NORBA Nationals held in Snowmass. Laps should be about 5minutes +/- with A’s racing for 45+ minutes and C’s racing for 30+ minutes. Click on the below Race Course sketch map for a bigger version.

For any and all who’ve enjoyed playing with Google Earth, check out the top of the Race & Event Info Page to download files that open in GE to show most of this year’s mountain and road race courses. Once the file is downloaded and open, you can zoom in and around on each course. Enjoy!

Cheers to everyone who participated in a Trails Day event over the past two weekends! Great work was accomplished that will make portions of the Forest Hollow, Scout, Lower Plunge, and Hunter Creek trails that much more enjoyable over the next year or two. Our trails always need more work than we have time for… SO PLEASE, mark your calendars for the ACC’s 2nd Adopt-a-Trail work day coming up on Sunday, September 7th, likely to be held on the Government Trail.

Have a great week, Mike.

The clouds and rain threatening to put a damper on this year’s Smuggler Hill Climb subsided just in time to run another lung-searing hill climb on Aspen’s backyard testpiece. Was it the weather that kept everyone away this year or the pain?

Breaking the 12 minute mark on Smuggler has been done by a handful of riders over the years but remains a difficult goal. Road conditions, soil moisture content and even wind can play a factor from year to year. Rishi Grewal’s standing record of 10:50 stands as the benchmark and besting that will require wicked early season fitness and perhaps equipment choices specific to the task.

Alex Hagman has posted many fast times on Smuggler and this year was no excecption as he put on a clinic with a winning Senior Men A time of 11:27 – on a borrowed bike no less. Now based in Athens, Georgia, but staying with his folks in Carbondale for a while, Hagman has been chasing his road racing dreams as well as coaching. He claims to have increased his power to weight ratio for Smuggler simply but cutting his shoulder length tangled locks. Len Zanni and Max Taam rounded out the podium.

Ambre Levy hammered out a fast 14:28 to take Senior Women A honors with Kelley Cullen and Annie Gonzalez rounding out the top three. Singlespeed is a new category this year and Michael Hayes was first to officially receive points for his effort on 1×1 on Smuggler. Michael, any comments on your gearing choice for future Struggler singlespeeders? My suspicion was that former valley resident Andrew Gardner was probably also on his single but I didn’t see him.

To junior Keegan Swirbul a congratulations is in order but where are all your friends who ride?

** A reminder to all racers to make some effort to let passing riders by – especially on this type of course with plenty of room - without speeding up and pulling the subtle pinch move on the passing rider. See the section in the newsletter about Good Sportsmanship. Don’t know who you are but you pulled this just before the finish. Comments welcome!

The Annual Ride for the Pass continued to live up to its reputation last weekend, but had added allure with the walls of snow growing as you gained elevation.  The weather could not have been more perfect for all of the valley riders to break out their chamois and lycra, pump up the tires, and remember the feeling of climbing up our pristine pass-minus a liter of oxygen or so! 

In the competitive race the battle was on quickly with Max Clauson attacking the lead group early on, although he was soon chased by our own Len Zanni.  Max blew and Michael Allen attacked as well as Ryan Starr to bridge up to him.  The three worked together until they dropped Max Clauson.  Allen attacked and bridged to Len Zanni, and those two worked together.   At the final straightaway, Allen attached Zanni to win with  a time of 39:47, with Len finishing seconds behind with a time of 40:00, and Starr at 40:24.  The ACC club riders were Len Zanni first, Max Taam second with 42:05, and Wade Newsom third with a time of 43:01.

The women were competitive as well with Jenny Harrison posting a smoking sub 50 minute time of 49:10, local Mia Gaw close behind at 49:54, and Jill Sorenson at 50:55.  I don’t have a play by play of the women’s race, so if anyone does, feel free to comment!   The ACC women club riders were Annie Gonzales first with a time of 51:20, Geneva Templeton with 54:19, and Cindy Morse with 54:39. 

Whoever says they are only early season trained for this race is a sandbagger!  This was an impressive battle up there that was caught on video on superhumanmag.com!  Thank you to all club members who support the Independance Pass Foundation!  

The weather afforded us a second day of beautiful early summer weather for the Downtown Criterium which went off without a hitch and provided some impressive racing.  The day started off with an exciting kids race between Max Bass and Lander Greenway.  Max won the 3 lap race and did a victory lap for good measure, enjoying the roar of the crowd.

Heat 2 included the Junior Men, Grand Masters, Veteran women and Master Med.  The lead group kept a fast pace, averaging 23 MPH.  Brett Gordon won the Junior Men’s race in a sprint against second place finisher Peter Wampler.  The main field of 16 riders sprinted for the finish with Fried Pierce winning the sprint.  Vet woman Alena Gauba stayed near the front of the field the whole race and placed first in a strong showing.

The Vet men C and Senior Men C had a somewhat smaller field of 7 riders that managed to stay together for their 14 lap race.  Brian Stevens won the Vet Men C sprint, followed closely by Keith Berglund and Chris Ryan.  Lee Hildebrant won the Senor Men C race.

The 36 rider field of Vet Men A and Women A was exciting and fast with only 12 riders staying in the main field.  David MacIntosh won a close sprint against Scott Kasin and 3^rd place finisher Scott Soden.  In the Women’s A race Sandra Hyra of Glenwood Springs stayed with the men’s chase group and garnered an impressive first place finish.

The annual Rio Grande-Slaughterhouse TT weather was typical for spingtime in the Rockies: cool, overcast, windy and occasional light rain. Luckily for the 70ish racers who showed up, it was a tailwind most of the time. Speaking of time, Max Taam posted a smokin’ hot one, racing from the Start at Jaffee Park to the Finish at Stein Park in 13:14, crushing the second best time posted by week 1 TT winner, Scott Kasin, by 31 seconds. Now that’s domination. Apparently Max’s winter Randonnee racing season paid off! Max is also an aspiring pro roadie and we wish him the best of luck in that endeavor!

Kelley Cullen, yet to join the club AND on a single speed, won the Senior Women A in a greyhound-like time of 15:33, over a minute faster than ACC member Ambre Levy in 16:53. Good job ladies! Simon Elliot resumed his winning ways from last season, winning the Vet A Men in a 14:50: good for 10th overall for men’s divisions. First year Master, Bob “Stumpy” Stumpus took it to the older gentlemen by putting in a time of 15:55. Phil Overeynder won the super-elite Grand Masters in a respectable 18:17, showing the ol’ boys how it’s done.

The course conditions were buffed over mostly buffed as Open Space and Trails continues to smooth out this “mountain bike” route, almost appropriate for road bikes now. The beginning of the race featured the only real climb, of a few minutes, on this smoothest and shortest course of the season. The Smuggler TT, on the other hand, being held on June 4th will be our next mountain biking test, a climber’s dream.  

The biggest local road racing weekend of the season is this weekend, of course. Support local bike racing, go fast, be safe and enjoy! Erik

The rain held and the sun even made an appearance at the season’s first race, the Difficult Time Trial. Going back over 10 years of results shows the fastest time on this course, 10:31, was put up by Danny Sullivan just last season.

Scott Kasin, first racer to head out on the course, was also the first to finish. Although he was 5 seconds off his scorching time last year, he made the course seem not so difficult with an overall winning time of 10:41. If it hadn’t been for that headwind that early racers were dealing with on the return trip, maybe Scott would have put down the fastest time ever!?

Mayor Mick graced us with his presence, easily taking the Master Men category by nearly a minute! That vow to ride everywhere / as much as possible is obviously paying off. But was that his little red car that I saw parked near the turn-around on my pedal home?

Cheers to Dylan & Cat for their 2^nd place finishes in SMA & SWA. The training they’ve been putting in lately certainly shows. They’ve both qualified for the World Duathlon Championships coming up this September, with Dylan recently winning the National Championship for his age group! Good luck with all the training this summer to both of you!

Apologies to anyone affected by the lack of a marshal at the turn-around. Obviously this was an unsafe situation, one we’ll strive not to repeat the rest of the season. Now that the racing’s underway it’s time to choose which race(s) you’re going to marshal. Please call Mouse (618-4626) ahead of time when you’re committed to marshalling certain events. Hasn’t happened yet, but races may be delayed or canceled in the future if we don’t round up enough marshals.

Our season’s first post race party will be held at the Cantina, shortly after the Difficult TT. Show up between 7 and 7:30, next Weds. for free drinks and apps!

A few events to consider fitting into your busy spring / summer schedule:

Check out the Vail Mountain Bike Race Series at their website. They’ve got 6+ races spread throughout the Eagle Valley, including one that turns 25 years old!

You’ve seen an email about it already, but here’s a reminder about Frank McSwain’s retooling of the original Tour d’Frank. This event is sure to bring out some hardcore types looking for bragging rights, but it’s also perfect for anyone looking for a 100+ mile challenge that includes aid stations(!) and also gives back to great causes. Check out the details on the Aspen-Vail Challenge here.

Crested Butte will be celebrating the world’s oldest mountain bike festival with the 28th Annual Fat Tire Bike Week, June 18-22, 2008. As well as being the oldest mountain biking festival it was also voted the best festival in Bike magazine’s Best of 2006 Reader Poll. From the early 1980’s to present day, Crested Butte’s Fat Tire Bike Week (FTBW) has drawn tens of thousands of mountain bikers from around the world. Amateurs and pros alike partake in a full week of festivities centered around biking and enjoying the good life! During the festival there will be Guided Rides, Expo & Demos, Beer Garden, Live Music, Bike Rodeo, Pig Roast, Biking Movies, the Famous Chainless Race & much more! For more information and a detailed schedule visit www.ftbw.com.

Hey everyone!

Welcome to the new ACC blog, where you’ll find a quick recap of our weekly races, as well as other information you might find of use.

Check out this summer’s race schedule here. We’ve shortened the season slightly so that we have 10 mountain and 10 road races. This year we have 6 kids races for those age 6-13. And don’t forget the 3 after race parties, the first one kicking off on May 7^th at Bruno’s (Brunelleschi’s Dome Pizza) after the Difficult Time Trial!

We’ve set up a new page to list various regional events, including the Mountain States Cup & RFOV’s project schedule. Keep in mind that trails day points can be earned at any RFOV project event, in addition to our two scheduled days on our adopted trails: Sunnyside & Government. If you’ve know of other events that would be good to add, please leave a comment to this post.

The new Singlespeed category has been set up to encourage participation. You’ll be awarded points in both your normal racing category, as well as your designated singlespeed category… So, get out your simple one gear machine – only a 4 race minimum to be eligible for a Single Speed Championship! Check out the revised Rules and Regulations here.