Winter Park Series - Hill Climb June 11th, 2011

We had a good turnout on Saturday for the first race of the Winter Park Epic Single track series. Fortunately, the weather was considerably better than last year and we didn't have to deal with driving rain and snow. We all got in some good racing but in particular, two Wheelmen got to stand on the podium. Jesse with a first place in the Sport division and Kevin third in Expert. Other top finishes included Doug 5th, Trevor 7th and Paul 8th. It's still early days so there is plenty of time for the rest of us.

The Team results aren't quite right yet and I'm working with the competition center at WP to correct them. You're see GW1 rise to about 5th in standings I think once all the points have been credited.

Many thanks to Thom Jander for supporting us post ride. Be sure to check out his website at http://www.switchbackcycling.com/

The next race on the horizon is the WP XC race scheduled for June 25. Hoping to see you there.

By the way we often get asked about how to join up. It's simple, shoot me an email and I'll give you the scoop.

Battle of the Bear Results

A great day was had by all at the Battle of the Bear XC race yesterday. Hot and dusty conditions greeted riders and the wind picked up in the afternoon, but otherwise it was a great day for racing. All riders agreed that this event needs to become an official Golden Wheelmen event, due to the great fast course and fun atmosphere. It was a blast.

The highlight of the day was Paul getting a podium spot with his 3rd place finish in the one lap race, 10 miler. Gary also got a top 1o, with his 6th place finish.

In the 20 miler, Trevor got the top spot with 8th, Brian was 19th and John M, was 21st.

The fields were somewhat larger than what I'm used to at Winter Park and there was limited opportunities to pass, unless you got a good start it was hard to make progress until later in the race when the field started to thin out.

Offical Wheelman photographer, Doug Davis was at at the finish line taking photos and I'll post up the links once he has had time to process them in a day or two.

2011 Epic Singletrack Dates Released

Colorado's best mountain bike racing !

2011 Registration Coming May 1st

2011 Epic Singletrack Series Dates Released!

- Race 1 - June 11 - Hill Climb Kick-Off
- Race 2 - June 25 - X-C Super Loop
- Race 3 - July 9 - Valley Point-to-Point
- Race 4 - July 10 - Super Downhill
- Race 5 - July 30 - Crankworks Colorado X-Country
- Race 6 - August 20 - Mary Jane Circuit
- Race 7 - August 27 - King of the Rockies

http://www.epicsingletrack.com/default.asp

Ideas for Different Races

For those looking for a little more adventure in their racing, here are a couple of links to a downhill race in Chile.

http://deadspin.com/#!5774681/strap-in-for-helmetcam-video-of-this-terrifying-downhill-bike-course

http://vimeo.com/20404150

Updates to Our Sponsors

The blog has been in hibernation for a few months, but people are starting to think about the bikes again. John and I will be trying to update the look of the site over the next few weeks.

I have updated the sponsors for the upcoming year. Take a look at the new links. We will be working on displaying the sponsors more prominently.

We have talked with Annette at Mountain Moon Photography. Many of you have already seen the photos she took last season. She will be providing photos this upcoming season. We will add an easy link on the blog to access her site.

Give Me Shelter

For those of you running carbon rigs I saw this over on Velonews to protect the down tube from all the rock splatter. I know some of us looked at the Gary Fisher Superfly's last year, that Feedback Sports were riding and be the end of summer they were looking pretty beaten.

Unfortunately, running a carbon rig is still a dream for me!

New Jesse Crock Web Site

With Christmas coming up quickly, now is a good time to check out fellow Wheelmen, Jesse Crock's new website and pick up some great artwork.

Maybe we should commission Golden Wheelmen Helmets!

http://jessecrockart.com

Good Article About 29er's

Singletrack.com has a good (well I think it is good) article comparing 26 inch bikes to 29er's. When I say good, it is without a lot of the hype, etc and seems pretty unbiased.

Check it out.

http://singletrack.competitor.com/2010/10/features/taming-the-29er-trend-at-least-a-touch_10872

Cheers

John

PS: When it comes down to it, the motor is probably still the most important part!

2011 Tentative Race Schedule

I've been looking at the tentative 2011 race schedule for next year and listed below are some dates to keep in mind:

May 7-8 - Denver Fat Tire Festival - Battle of the Bear Race
June 4 - Teva Games - Mt Bike Hill race - Haven't done it but I hear the Swag is amazing.
June 11 - Winter Park Hill Climb
June 25 - Winter Park XC Superloop
July 4 - Firecracker 50
July 9 - Winter Park point to point
July 30 - Winter Park Crankworks race
Aug 13 - Winter Park Mary Jane Loop
Aug 27 - Winter Park King of the Rockies

Hope everyone's off season is going well.

Cheers

john

Denver Veloswap This Weekend (October 23)

Wheelmen,

I can't make it this year due to heading off to Moab for the weekend tonight, but I thought some fellow Wheelmen may be interested in the Veloswap.

http://veloswap.competitor.com/

Great deals for sure.

John

Climbing Time - Moab Trip Report

With the Winter Park race season over I haven't had much to post up about lately, so I thought I'd post up a link to a Trip Report I wrote over on mountain project. It's got some nice pics.

http://www.mountainproject.com/v/trip_reports/moab_tr__zenyatta_entrada_and_artist_tears/106910115
I'm off to Zion on Wednesday with a friend from NZ for about 10 days for some more sandstone fun. This bike riding is fun, but .....

Hope all the wheelmen are enjoying the "off" season!

Cheers

John

Winter Park Race Series Finale

Golden Wheelmen numbers were out in force on Saturday for the last race of the season. Top five finishes included Jason and Susan grabbing a 2nd placing and Mike and Rick third. Series winners included Mike and Susan with first placing and Rick with his third placing. Please let me know if I missed anyone!

Team Golden Wheelmen 1 was 5th and T2 10th in overall team results...

After the race we had a great combined BBQ with Green Mountain Sports. Thanks for the food and drinks. Also, thanks to everyone for pitching in some money to replace the base camp tent. If you missed this please pass some cash onto Matt the next time you see him.

Looking forward to next year I'll be putting on a 2 day Golden Wheelmen Training camp in Moab. Most likely this will occur either late March or early April. It will be a fully supported 2 day white rim ride (100 miles), with 4 wheel drive support and a chef. I've done this trip serveral times and can usually kept the cost down to about 30-50 dollars a person. Meet Friday night in Moab, home by late Sunday evening.

Once dates are finalized I'll send out an update. It will be limited to 12 riders.

I'll be posting up some links to photos later tonight or tomorrow.

Cheers

John

PS: A big thanks to all our sponsors for the season.

Link to Photos (free download for GW)

Doug's Series Pics

Last Race of the Series

Final arrangements have been made for the weekend. John will secure a spot for the teams at the base area. We will be combining with the Green Mountain squads. We have plenty of beer and food for all.

If you did not provide food this year, please bring a small donation to support the food purchase. A small donation would also be nice to help Phil with the replacement of the tent which sufferred a fatal blow at the last race.

King of Rockies Finale, Tipperary Point to Point Info

This Saturday we have an awesome course to race with 26 miles of rolling fun. For those that haven't ridden it before, it starts off with a few miles of gentle road before a great smooth single track climb to the top of Morse Pass. That's the big climb out of the way. From there its onto D2, WTB, D4 and before hitting the single track that we are now very familiar with closer to the finish. Total climbing is about 4000 feet.

We are all riding the same course the start is more compressed with all racers starting between 10am and 10.42.

Our official photographer, Doug is going to be on site so many sure you smile for the camera!

After the race we will be passing the hat around to repay Phil for his destroyed tent and also have a Barbie. Hopefully everyone can hang out after the race and enjoy the food and fun.

See you there on Saturday

Cheers

John

PS: Check out this web site to see daily rider cam footage of the Breck 100. Maybe next year. Yeah, right!

http://www.jeffkerkove.net/2010/08/breck-epic-stage-1.html

To view the other stages, just replace the "stage-1" with 2, 3, 4, etc.

Lookout Mountain Hill Climb - Wednesday 5pm (August 18th)

Some of us are meeting at 5pm on Wednesday to ride/time trial Lookout Mountain. Meet at the Pillars at 5pm if you would like to join us. So far Doug, Terry, myself and maybe Mike will be riding.

Mary Jane Race Results

Another good day or racing was had by all on Saturday, with the Team tent the only one that entered a DNF! Unlike last year the weather this time around was perfect.

Mike recorded the top spot with first place. Susan and Rick were close behind, with a 2nd placing in their respective groups. Matt didn't have any tire problems this weekend placed third, proving that having air in your tires does make a difference! Paul recorded a 4th placing and Karen and Adam placed 5th.

The last race of the series is on August 28th. The Tipperary Creek course packs plenty of fun in its 26 miles, including the WTB section again! The start times are much earlier than normal, especially the sport and beginner categories. Remember that it starts in Fraser.

http://www.epicsingletrack.com/default.asp?page=racedes/race8des.html

We are planning a Barbie at the end of the race and most likely taking a collection to replace the Team tent!

See you all there next Saturday

John

Race photos:

http://www.vandavauk.com/goldenwheelmen

Please contact Doug directly if you want high resolution copies.

Mary Jane Loop Update

Rae and I rode the Mary Jane circuit today in great weather. It is a really fun and enjoyable ride. No sign of rain this afternoon. We rode up the road, but tomorrow we can take the lift.

The race starts with .75 of road (part of the hill climb) up from SunSpot and then a hard left turn to some single track (Upper Roof of the Rockies) that takes you back to Sunspot. The single track is bouncy with a lot of tree roots at weird angles... From there you have some smooth singletrack (Green World) and then onto a road (Gunbarrel) and a steep climb to the top of Pioneer Lift which is about half a mile. From there there is some undulating double track followed by a mile of single track with a lot of tree routes and some sharp rocks which dumps you back at the start of Upper Roof of the Rockies and then back to the start of the loop by Sunspot.

The descent is pretty smooth with the majority of it on Green World and Lonesome Whistle. The sting at the bottom is the climb up the service road to the Upper Cherokee trail which we have done many times before.

We deviated a little bit on the decent due to some sections of the trail closed and didn't ride the Vasquez road section. Been there, done that.

To look at the profile check out: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/44385972

The plan for the team tent is to set it up on the North Bench Parking Lot. To get to this lot, go pass the first entrance to Winterpark where the lights are and take a left at the second set of lights. Do a hard left turn, followed by another left turn straight away onto a gavel road to the north bench parking lot.

I'll be there from 8am and give me a call if you can't find it. 3 oh 3 7 two 7 oh 5 oh 3.

Cheers

John

Mary Jane Circuit

It looks as if our insider information was correct! The course has changed for next weekends race. I think the loops at the top of the mountain are the same. (Please feel free to correct me if someone know otherwise.) The change looks to be in the descent. This trip down the mountain looks to be more fun than the past course. It looks like we will descend through fun single track to the base of the mountain. If anyone has a chance to preride the course, please provide an update.

Here is the link to the new course. http://www.epicsingletrack.com/default.asp?page=racedes/race7des.html

Crankworx Colorado X-Country Update

Saturday turned out to be a hot and fine day after all the forcaster's permitted heavy rain and thunderstorms... The race seemed long than I remembered.

Overall team standings show that GWM 1 has fallen to 6th place, GWM 2 to 13th and GWM 3 a no show since Race 3.

Susan continues to shine with another first placing, followed by Kevin with his 2nd place. Both are having an amazing season and I'm sure they will be getting those letters at the end of the year and turing Pro! Matt, usually a strong contender had a mechanical and dropped down in the field. Matt, you need to put air in your tires. Ben was the only other top 10 finisher in GWM 1.

Team 2 only had 3 riders but Adam as able to record his first top 5 finish coming in at 5th. Paul continues to ride strong with another top 10 finish.

The next race is the fun Mary Jane Circuit. If haven't rode it before, you take the chair up to Sunspot, do a couple of laps and then down a wicked singletrack, with lots of rocks and bumps. Towards the end you have to climb a steep and twisting singletrack hill to the finish line. Last year wet conditions made the tree roots interesting.

From the Marshall insider (Rae) there is discussion about changing this course for this year so keep an eye on the epicsingletrack website for any updates.

Till next race ...

John

Clean Bottles

The other day watching the Tour I saw a person running around looking like a water bottle. Well, his name is Dave and he is the inventor of the first Clean Bottle. These water bottles have ends at both ends so you can throw them in the dishwasher to keep them spotless.

Check out his website at

THE CLEAN BOTTLE... RIDE CLEAN.

Maybe a potential sponsor for next year!

Cheers

John