The Breck Epic

6 Days of Racing, a Broken Bone, a Broken Cable and a Robbery: Adventures at the Inaugural Breck Epic

by Sharon McDowell-Larsen



All is well that ends well is an apt way to sum up this race.... but let me start at the beginning.

By all accounts we were doomed to failure well before it even started. First of all, my partner Lyn (we were entered in the women's duo category where the rules are that you have to ride each stage with your partner) was struggling with her training. Between work, school, back problems (she was bed ridden for one training weekned) and a mysterious 24hr flu bug (another missed training weekend) she was missing critical saddle time. Five-hour training weeks are not a good way to prep for a 200 mile, 6-stage mountain bike race with 30,000+ feet of climbing. My training on the other hands was going GREAT, that is until 2 weeks before the race I ingloriously tipped over while trying to ride up a rocky ledge, putting my hand down and breaking my scaphoid bone. The first words out of my mouth when the doctor announced the "you have a fracture" verdict were "can I ride my mountain bike with my cast"? "Sure" he said (little knowing that what I really meant "can i race my bike for 6 days?"), "just be careful using your thumb shifters". As soon as i got home from the doctor's office i hopped on my bike and gave it a try. I rode 30 min and it felt so awkward and uncomfortable that i had my doubts... if it feels this bad for 30 min how would i survive multiple 5hr stages? But after i made some adjustments (bar ends for one) and did some longer rides, i figured i'd survive.

July 4th
Given the less than optimal lead up to the race, we were just relieved to be in Breck ready to race, but little did we know, our bad luck was just beginning.

Day 1: the Prologue (Sun July 5)

Two hours before our start Lyn got a phone call from Ethan her husband who had just returned home to find that their house had been robbed. A couple of TVs, a laptop and some jewelery (but no bikes) had been stolen. This wouldn't have been have that bad except for one chilling detail, there was a kitchen knife laying on top of one of the beds!


All of the "what ifs" (like what if Ethan had been home) were going through Lyn's head as we towed the starting line. It was 3:10pm and it was pouring down rain. The prologue was an uphill time trial (9 miles, 3,000 ft of climbing). Given the circumstances we had had no warm up and the course went straight up. Out strategy was to take it easy (the race would not be won here) saving our selves for the long days to come. Because of the rain I had a plastic bag over my cast, making shifting difficult and turning that part of my arm into a mini sauna. Luckily the sun peeked out about half way up and i ripped that thing off as fast as i could. Seven miles up and just under an hour later we crossed the finish line (they had shortened it due to the weather). We finished 30 sec behind Team Local Girls who won the stage. We rode down as fast as we could. Lyn then got in her car and drove back to Denver to stay with her hubby. A good idea, except that being a holiday weekend, a 1 hr drive turned into 3hrs.

Day 2: The CO Trail: A Hard Day (56km, 4,600 ft of climbing)

The stage started with some steep climbs. I was feeling good, but Lyn, who had driven back to Breck that morning, was stressed (understandably) and sleep deprived (1-2 hrs at most). Needless to say, she was not feeling good. On the climbs i was just trying to keep a good rhythm and keep it easy, but Lyn was really struggling and i had to wait for her at the top of the climbs. She was nauseous and seeing double, not a good thing. When i am ahead of Lyn on the descents, i know she is really having a bad day (Lyn is a former pro downhill racer and can rock the descents like no one else i know).

One of the descents was on the Colorado Trail. Luckily i had ridden this before, so i kinda knew it. Plus it is an awesomely fun, SWEET trail and i was grinning from ear to ear. After that descent we limped up the final climb into the finish 4 hrs after the gun went off. In spite of taking it relatively slow, we still finished less than 1.5 min behind team Local Girls putting us 2 min behind them on the GC (general classification). If we could just have a good day tomorrow, we felt we could easily close the gap.


Stage 3: Pennsylvania Gulch: The Mechanical (45km, 4,000+ ft)

Lyn finally had had a good nights sleep, so she was feeling better. We were determined to gain some time today. But bad luck continued to haunt us. About 30 min into the stage, Lyn yelled for me to stop. Something was wrong. We stopped to take a look, alas the cable to the rear derailleur had broken. How it happened remains a mystery. They were brand new, this almost NEVER happens (in all my years of cycling i've broken one cable - it was old). I usually carry one in my pack, but not during a race!

We tried to come up with a solution; change the stops on the rear derailleur, cut the chain to make it a single speed. I am not a good mechanic and Lyn is a worse one. With my cast i can't use a can opener much less a chain tool. A very nice guy stopped to try and help. Lyn limped on for awhile, but it wasn't working. Some riders who were not in the race stopped to try to help, that didn't work either. We limped on to the start of the steep climb for the day and stopped to have one of the race volunteers (one of the moto guys) help. He found some chicken wire and tried to jerry rig the derailleur. By this time we had lost about 45 min and every single rider had passed us, in fact they were getting ready to sweep the course. The chicken wire lasted a few yards. We were out of options, so Lyn headed back to town and i headed up the climb afraid i was going to get pulled for not making the time cut off. Luckily I passed a few riders and crossed the finish line losing 30 min to team Local Girls. I informed the officials that Lyn would not finish the stage. "Will she race tomorrow?" they asked, "yes" i said, "if she is allowed to". She can, they said but we will have to assess a 30 min time penalty for not finishing together. This was fine by us, but we were now an insurmountable 1 hr and 4 min behind first place. But at this point just glad to still be in the race.

Stage 4: The Queen of the Stages: The Melt Down (69km, 6,600 ft)



The best we could now hope for was a stage win. I was hoping that after Lyn had had a "rest" day the she would be feeling better. We started out strong, well ahead of the Local Girls at least, that is until the melt-down. But before the melt-down there was the crash. It happened on a rocky descent, i was leading and Lyn was on my tail. I got to the aid station at the bottom, grabbed my bottle and turned to look for her. She was not there. "Had she gone through the aid station?" i wondered. Then i heard her yelling for me to stop. She had gone down hard on the descent and her knee was bleeding, swollen and hurting. "Do you want to stop and get that looked at?" i asked. No she said, let's just keep riding, not much they can do." So we started the climb that would take us over the first of 2 passes that were over 11,000 feet in elevation. The air is thin up there let me tell you. There was a line of bikers ahead, pushing their bikes. It was actually easier for me to ride in my easiest gear than to push my bike with my cast, so i took it slow and was able to ride most of it, but poor Lyn was hiking it. We could also see the local girls catching up to us but there was not much we could do. There were some good, technical descents ahead, so maybe we could grab some time. On the second big climb of the day, Lyn was struggling but still turning the pedals. I was feeling pretty good, so i let her grab hold of my camel back on parts of the climb just to give her a boost. We made it to the top, the local girls were not in sight. Lyn took the lead on the descent. It was single track, long and rocky, just what she loves and is really good at. It was all i could do to stay on her wheel. My wrist was screaming at me, but there was no way i was going to slow up as i knew we were gaining time.

A stage win was all but in the bag. We made it to the botte\om and the third aid station in one piece. But alas, when we looked at what was ahead and it went up, way up. "How much elevation gain is there on this climb?" i asked, "oh, about 900 ft or so" was the response. Oops, we hadn't studied the profile well enough and had forgotten about this last climb. The sun was beating down and the higher we climbed the hotter we got. The cast and my wrist were not happy and i was sweating to beat the band. Every time we thought we were at the top, up it went again. Time seemed to stop, it was all we could do to turn the pedals. The higher it got the steeper it got (or so it seemed). Finally Lyn pulled up and said she couldn't pedal any more. In fact she could barely walk. All the stress, lack of training, and the hours of hard riding had all caught up with her. I grabbed her bike and started pushing both bikes up the climb, while Lyn was just trying to put one foot in front of the other. Just about that time, the Local Girls passed us looking disgustingly strong. "Oh well, we did our best" we said. Once at the top, the course seemed to roll on forever. There were more short steep climbs thrown in just to add insult to injury. Lyn told me to go on, but I didn't want to leave her, especially given her state. Both of us have done longer days on a bike, but the 5hrs and 40 min it took us to finish felt about the longest ride of any we have done.

Stage 4: Another Epic Day and Cooking Rice (62km, 6,000+ft)

This promised to be another epic day - the Wheeler Trail day. I had heard nasty rumors about this trail and i was kinda dreading it. Given Lyn's spectacular meltdown the day before, we had doubts about her finishing this stage. As we started out, we were chatting with the third place team, Heather and Mary. Mary had also had a really bad day the day before (also crashing badly) so it was questionable if she could finish as well. Heather thought it would be fun to switch partners. Mary and Lyn could ride together and me and her could ride together. She was rearing to go, as was i, so we agreed. This is not really part of the rules, but we would both get time penalties for not staying with our partners (so the standings wouldn't change). We were both so far behind on the GC, that it didn't really matter at this point. So off we took - Heather like a bat out of hell. I was on the rivet as they say and tried to sneak a look at my heart rate. It was closer to race pace than it had been all week. I was afraid if i kept this up i would have a "Lyn" experience. Finally she eased up at the top and i took the lead on the descent.

We then headed up the Burro trail passed through the first aid station and headed up to Wheeler. Wheeler is steep and long and is not rideable for the most part. it is also above tree-line, so took us above 12,000ft. Between the thin air and the steepness, it wasn't long before we were hiking our bikes. We looked up, and high above us were a line of mountain bikers like ants crawling up the pass. But it was a beautiful day, the views and scenery were stunning and life was good.

About half way up i looked back and i saw Lyn a few switchbacks behind us, she had rallied! Heather and i waved and hollered. Lyn waved back then yelled something that sounded like "did you turn off the lights?" Neither Heather or i had a clue what she was talking about, so we shrugged our shoulders and continued on. At the first false summit, we stopped to take in the views and wait for Lyn. Within a few minutes she appeared, rolled up to us and blurted out "Did you turn off the rice?" That morning we had put some rice on to cook for dinner. I had turned it off before we left (without telling Lyn). At some point Lyn had started stressing about it being left on. She started having visions about the condo burning to the ground! No doubt this had served to spur her on to catch me! For the next few days, all one of us had to say was "did you turn off the rice?" and we would be all start laughing... ok you had to be there, but we thought it was pretty darn funny.

The good news was that Lyn was feeling better. We gave her the lead on the descent into Copper and as usual it was all i could do to hang on. We sorta left poor Heather in the dust, so i dropped and dragged her and tried my best to hang on to a renewed Lyn to the finish. The stage took us 10 min less than the previous day. Many said it was the hardest day, but for us it felt a lot shorter and easier then the previous days stage. Finally a day without bad luck and we had both felt good. We beat the local girls by 20 min but lost the stage because we had racked up another 30 min time penalty for not going through the first time check together. Honestly, we didn't really care, we were just glad we had had a good day.

Stage 6: Short and Fast: The Final One

Lyn had pre-ridden this stage so she knew what to expect. We at least hoped to get the stage win and salvage some of our pride. We both felt decent, given the week we had been through. I let Lyn lead and set the pace for most of the ride, and she was back to her old self, hammering the single track and the descents. The stage took us a little over 3hrs. There were no crashes, mechanicals, melt downs or time penalties, yahoo. We didn't set any speed records, but it was fast enough to take the stage win. We ended up 2nd on the GC, but were mostly just happy to have survived. As a good friend once said, "it doesn't matter in what place you are in when you cross the finish line, what counts is how far you had to travel to get there." I think we had traveled further than most.

Thanks to Lyn for hanging tough. To Mary and Frank for letting us use their condo for a week. And to Matt and Ethan, our hubbies for listening to our daily woes and being supportive.

A word about the race....
This was the first epic mountain bike stage race to come to the US. I think it will fast become a classic. Mike McCormack and his team did a phenomenal job. The course was fantastic, a mountain bikers dream. Every rider was made to feel important. I can't say enough about what a well put on race this was, and yes, i hope to be back next year (and i am pretty sure Lyn does to). Go to http://www.breckepic/ if you want to get the low down.

Cheers and thanks for reading

Why I race in Crested Butte every year.

I'll post more of a race report later but for now...
... here's my first couple thousand words...

The Burn MTB Time Trial

Having raced mountain bikes for the better part of the last decade, its not often I get to go to a race I've never attended and roost some trails I've never seen, but that's just what I did last weekend at The Burn MTB Time Trial in the Buffalo Creek area.

Because The Burn is a time trial there was no real saucy passes or slicing and dicing with other racers, just internal monologue and a lot of heavy breathing. That said, here are a few things about the course. Parts of it were through the Hayman burn area, so the scenery was a a good way to stop thinking about the pain in my lungs and legs. The burned out forest now looks like a lush high alpine area, with 20 foot burned out snags scattered throughout the wildflowers and grasses.

Being my first time to this race and my first time to ride in the area, I wasn't sure what type of terrain to expect, but was reassured to hear from a fellow competitor that there was a lot of gravel and decomposed granite on the course. Having ridden Cheyenne Canyon for more than half my life, I feel pretty comfortable on that surface. Once I got out onto the course, I realized that the trails I was riding were very similar to those 60 miles east in my own back yard. There was a lot of drifting through corners with one leg out, just in case the corner had an acute, unanticipated apex. I think I did pretty well, finishing seventh in my first race of the year on a course I had never seen before.

All in all The Burn was a hoot. They had a fun, fast course in a beautiful setting, and there were even burritos and adult liquid refreshments post race.

Tacky Trails

Most places just get muddy and yucky when its wet. Not so for those of us on the south side of town. Decomposed granite holds together better with a fair bit of moisture. Taking this panorama was my only stop on a recent ride. I was having too much fun hooting and hollering. I had many doubts on my ride. I must have anyway because when you're in doubt, air it out.

ride fast. crack jokes.

#3 on the road

The North Boulder Park Criterium was a welcome respite from the terrible weather we've had in Springs over the last few days. I headed up to Boulder hoping that the weather would hold out and the race wouldn't be too dangerous. I'd never raced the course before and was a little nervous about a section through an alley. The weather was beautiful and the course was actually pretty nice and not too sketchy. The transitions in and out of the alley were a little nerve wracking but I never had a close call. Throughout the whole of the race I never dropped further back than 8th place. I sat towards the front and sprinted for most of the prime prizes (4 of 6 in the end). I took a few pulls at the front but mostly tried to hide in the draft and wait for the sprint. It worked out great coming into the last turn in third. I waited until the road started to make it's gentle rise to the finish. When it was done, I'd won by a couple meters and had time to throw my arms in the air. That makes my 3rd win on the road this year.

Well, I still don't have enough points to upgrade to a cat. 3 yet. The ACA is a little weird on that. I don't totally understand the logic on their upgrade system, especially since I'm a cat. 2 on the track. It sure is fun winning races though. I'm planning on petitioning it after this coming weekend. It's the last crit of the season and my last chance at points. Even if I don't get any, I'm hoping they'll still let me move on up for more fast paced action next year.

I'll see all you mountain folk up in Eldora for the short track. That sounds like a good time.

Michael Giem

Elite Districts (State Championships)

I was going to write a big essay on the happenings of Elite Districts (July 26 and 27) on the track but decided it would get a little boring for all that read this. Instead, I'll give some quick results for myself (michael giem) as well as a couple of photos.

Flying 200m Time Trial - 4th (11.42sec Personal Record)
250m Time Trial - 1st (state champion)
Madison - 4th (w/ Charlie Higbie)
Keirin - 4th (was 2nd but got relegated for not holding my line in the sprint)
Sprints - 6th
Kilometer Time Trial - 7th (1:12.94 Personal Record)
Team Sprint - 1st (state champion w/ Charlie Higbie and Karl Erickson)

The photos are courtesy of my great friend Dan Sproul.

On to a little criterium action at the Mike Nields Memorial Bannock Street Criterium in Denver. I am still a Cat 4 on the road due to the lack of races I've competed in. They won't upgrade me so I must keep racing for results until they will. I stayed steady through the whole race, taking 3 prime prizes along the way. A huge crash taking out 7 or 8 of the front of the pack split the field with 4 laps to go. I chased back up to the lead pack and sat on for 2 laps. On the final climb I started my sprint and carried it through the turn and down the straight away to win by 5 meters. This was my second win on the road of the season.

Picture Gallery

Take a look at the new Gallery of Pics!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/28866895@N08/

Dave

The Velodrome

For all of you out there that don't know, ProCycling also has a couple of guys that race the track. Dan Le and I (Michael Giem) have been there most Tuesdays and Thursdays throwing down against some of the countries finest track stars. This year has been rough trying to recover from all of my meetings with the concrete and asphalt but has been promising.

Tuesday night races are considered "Family Nights." This is because they run Junior races and it's cheaper to race. Thursday nights the competition level gets cranked up due to the cash prizes for every race. These nights things can get pretty interesting as many national champions and ex-national champions show up.

Every night, each category races three races: One short length, one medium length and one long. The type of race varies widely every night and keeps things interesting. Check out http://www.coloradousac.org/track/index.php for more information on the velodrome and which races are being run every night.

I highly encourage every one to come out and watch a spectacular night of racing. It's fun and best of all, it's free.

The results have been sporadic but I'll give you the highlights. I race in the Men's A category which is comprised of Cat. 1 and 2 racers.

June 3:

• Mini Points Race - 2nd

• Sprints - 5th

• Points Race - 4th

June 12:

• Sprints - 5th

• Snowball - 4th

• Madison w/Jeremy Kroto - 5th

June 19:

• 1 mile - 7th in a time of 1:49.62

• Points Race - 2nd

June 24:

• 5 mile - 4th in a time of 5:11 (that's over 29mph average)

The action starts every Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30pm at the 7-eleven Velodrome in Memorial Park. See you there.

Sand Creek Finale!!

Hey all -

GREAT turnout Wednesday night at the Sand Creek Finale - I don't think I've ever seen such a swarm of ProCycling jerseys. Not only did we have a great turnout, but we had great results. In the Pro Men category, Doug R took second, Matt S took 3rd. Russ won, Ron took 2nd, Kara took 2nd, Dan won, Charlie, Mike H, Tom K, and everyone were in the mix. The team definitely represented on our home turf and brought home the hardware.

The friggin photographers peppered throughout the course made me feel like I was much more important than I really am, which was really fun.

I've got a few pics - here you go!

Good luck to everyone at Crested Butte this weekend!!!

Matt

Sand Creek Series #1

Here are a few photos I got from the first Sand Creek Series race. I know they're not great but what do you expect when the photographer is also trying to keep a three year old occupied. Enjoy! The first one is Kalan Beisel ripping up the front of the Pro field. Next is Dan Le before planting his hand firmly in a cactus. Then we move to Doug Ryden showing everyone what a real mans camel-toe looks like. Last is Matt Simmons showcasing what an Oiz can do.

Thought for the day...

It is not what you ride, but that you DO ride!

The "Original Growler" Race Report

Just got back from the the Growler in Gunnison and all I can say is it is a true epic.

http://gunnisontrails.com/joomla/index.php

Unfortunately I didn't get to ride the whole course because my rear derailluer snapped in half about 13 miles into it. The course is two 32 mile loops that throw at you pretty much all mountain biking has to offer. About 75% of single track, much of it technical & 4,000ft + of vertical. A true back country mountain bike race. Very reminiscent of mountain biking in the old days. There was quite a representation from Colorado Springs with many throwing in the towel after one loop. The course was hard. Those that finished were totally wasted, but everyone raved at what an epic course it is. This course and the excellent organization and hard work that Dave Wiens and crew put into it will make this race an absolute classic if they continue to do it. This is a race to put on your calendar. But be forewarned, it ain't easy. There is also a one lap race and those that sign up for two laps but only finish one are scored in the one lap race. This race is what mountain biking is all about! Highly recommended!

larry

Throwing Down in C.Springs

Racing is back!

You can read about it in the Gazette. There was even a picture on the front page, and they made a video for their website. There are Pro Cycling riders in the video and most of the pictures. If you would like to see results, they're up on the Sand Creek page. Kalan, Matt and I were all in the top 5 of the pro/expert field, with Kalan taking 2nd, me in 3rd and Matt in 5th. Russ, Dan and Ron all won their respective categories, so it was a strong showing by Pro Cycling.

After the race my family had a picnic. I thought I would be able to ride home after the race and the ride from work, but I had apparently been spelunking in the pain cave, so I opted to throw the bike on the car. At the end of the day, a good time was had by all, and racing made its comeback to my legs and this city.

ANOTHER RACE…ANOTHER WRECK

For all of you who do not know, I’ll summarize my first day on the track this season first and get into the new developments in the story following that. The Creamed Corn Cup Series is a preseason race series at the local 7-11 Velodrome. I missed the first one due to the Chalk Creek Stampede but came back the next weekend to participate in the days activities. I managed decent finishes in the first three races, nothing spectacular but towards the front of the field in every race. It was the final race of the day, the points race, where my day took a slight turn for the worse. While coming to the back of the field with only 2 laps to go, I managed to clip the last guy in the echelons rear wheel with my front. This sent me barreling towards the mighty gray concrete with 35degree banking. A couple seconds later I found myself walking around the apron with some good road rash all along my left side. The casualties of the carnage included the following: 1 ProCycling team skinsuit, 1 Giro Atmos helmet, 1 pair of Nike track gloves and some bar tape. Come with me on this little tale to three weeks later and the casualty count will rise.

After finally removing my final bandages for the last time on Thursday, Dan Le and I decided that it would be a great idea to head to Denver for the City Park Criterium. The course is extremely flat but has some very hairy turns, two of them being through some tight roundabouts. 92 men took to the line in the race. After settling in for some fast paced laps where the sweet sound of metal hitting asphalt seemed to echo out of every corner, I decided to talk a flier to try win a prime lap. Coming into the last roundabout, I had a good gap but a lapped rider stood in my way. I yelled “leader up” which apparently means “dive to the inside of the turn.” It pinched me within 6 inches of the curb but I got through. The problem was that I was carrying to much speed to make the backside of the turn due to the line and I was forced to take and the tires couldn’t hold on. As I slid across the asphalt on my hip holding my Orca with a tight grip as to not let it get hurt, the pack came barreling around the turn. I managed to get back up and in with the field. A couple of failed breakaway attempts later and I was content to stay in the field until the last lap. I took off solo with about a mile to go and just didn’t have the juice. I died out with 200 yards to go and watched as the field barreled around me through the same turn that had taken some of my skin earlier. Dan finished with the field and I came in sulking just behind. The casualties of this day were close to what the track took from me. They were as follows: 1 ProCycling team bib short, 1 pair of Fox full finger gloves, possibly the buckle off my Nike road shoes (haven’t gotten it to work yet but I’m still trying) and another round of bar tape.

After all of this, I would like to start Michael Giem Kit Fund. Please send cash, check or money order to:

Michael Giem Kit Fund

3630 Catalpa Drive

Colorado Springs, CO 80907

Course recon

Mountain bike racing is finally coming back to Colorado Springs! For three Wednesdays in June there will be some hot mtb racing in Bear Creek Park. To get all the race info, click here.

It has been over a year since I competed in a mountain bike race, and all signs are pointing to Bear Creek Park as the place I will make my return. In preparation for the recommencement of these two activities, I propose a team recon of the course, and maybe a little other single track too.

Place: Bear Creek Park Pavilions (near the soccer fields)
Day: Tuesday, June 3
Time: 6 pm
Effort: race course preride (not race day effort)
Duration: as long as it takes (or until dark)

The Stampede

Another weekend of races in the books and another two wins to go with it. Chalk Creek is my XC race of the year. I know a lot of you strongly disagree with me on how wonderful the course is. You also come in at 140lbs soak and wet. Carry another 50lbs and you’ll understand why. This course lacks all the climbing of the typical resort races that we face every other weekend on the MSC calendar.

Saturday brought on the XC with beautiful weather for the Sport racers. No wind along the fence line was something I’d never experienced. I took off from the gun in the race and built up a decent lead. One lone chaser finally caught me on the “climb” and we traded the lead for the next 2 laps. It was a lot of fun pushing that hard for so long. Finally on the last decent we got caught up behind a Durango Devo girl on the descent. She was moving so slow it caused the guy from Adventure Racing to wreck. I took that opportunity to pass and never looked back. He couldn’t keep with me down by the creek and I cruised in with a 4 second win.

Sunday’s short track was brought a lot of excitement for me. I lead out from the start and pushed the pace the whole time. With 2 ½ laps to go, Ryan from CoMotion Sports (my old team) tried making a pass just before the mountain cross section of the course. He burned a corner too fast and slid out in front of me. I ran him over and went sailing through the air. I scrambled to grab my Yeti and took off running. That crash gave me a gap that I held for the rest of the race for my second victory of the weekend.

Holding up with the CoMotion wrecking Procycling riders…Dan Le was racing the race following mine. 100 yards into the event, a CoMotion rider went down right in front of him. Their bikes got tangled and he spent the whole of the race chasing in vein to catch the lead pack. It was a good effort but fruitless when two teammates get together off the front and drive the pace.

Congrats to everyone that made it out there to enjoy the weather. I got one hell of a red neck while spinning around the cow patties. No pics this time as I forgot to charge the battery for the camera.

Mike G

Arkansas Point (Pueblo) Race Report

4.20.2008

Last year was great and this year even better racing on the trails around Pueblo Reservoir. ProCycling had a good early season turn out with Branden, Kalan, Dan, Kara, Tom, Charlie and Mike all making the trip down.

Kalan (Semi-Pro) killed it winning the overall expert category followed by Dan (Single Speed) in 5th and Branden in 10th. Branden lost considerable time dealing with some flat tire issues in the last half of the race. Kara (Single Speed) came in 2nd to Pro Lindsey Bishop after running a 15 mile trail race the day before!

In the Sport category Tom rolled a 7th place finish followed by Charlie (Single Speed) in 9th and Mike in 17th.

Intro!

Welcome!

The 2008 mountain bike racing season is off and running. Team ProCycling has had more than a few podiums already, with just a few racing having taken place.

Keep an eye on this blog for up-to-date race reports from the team members, in their own words, and up-to-the-minute ride reports throughout the 2008 season.