Colavita Southwest Cycling Team Blog

Colavita Southwest was well represented this year, with Rob, James R., James S. , Dana, Sheila, Al, Riley, Keith, and Steve all heading down to test our metal against the Whisky 50 Mile XC. Steve and I checked in to the super-nice Prescott Resort and Casino Hotel (race hotel), and after seeing our room and the balcony over looking Precott, I thought “why didn’t I get two nights?”.

We headed downtown to get checked in to the race, and the place was hopping with racers, bike expo, and a downtown criterium. No time to linger, as the sun was going down, and we wanted to pre-ride the start miles. We had been told the start was a crucial part of the race. If you had a bad one, you will be stuck behind hundreds of riders on the narrow singletrack about mile 5 of the race. I was riding singlespeed, so my gear choice was a split between having a high gear for the start, or having a lower gear for all 6000+ of climbing we would be doing on Saturday. We found a steep 1/2 mile at the end of the pavement that should break things up before hitting the quick dirt road and then trail.

James Simmons joined Steve and I for dinner at Rosa’s italian restaurant on Gurney St, just around the block from infamous Whisky Row. It was a great atmosphere with killer food. I had a Ravioli plate that was excellent. All the Stella and wine glasses around the restaurant was making me jones for a drink, but alas we were racing in the morning. There will be plenty of time to party on Whisky Row on Saturday night.

The Whisky 50 amateur race is a open category, mass start, so we decided to be warmed up and a the start line by 7 am, about 30 minutes before the gun (literally) was to go off. At 7, we found hundreds of riders all ready lined up. Almost 600 riders were to start that morning; riders of all categories and fitness. The race director called for the singlespeeders to come to the front, and I tried to get forward, although all the other racers didn’t really want to give up their spots. It was kind of a cluster. They probably could put up some tape before the start line to keep everyone back, and then have a call-up in front of the tape at the line. Its kind hard to tell 600+ riders to scoot back 10 feet!

After the gun went off, the singlespeeders were quickly overcome by the strong geared riders, and it was a sprint up the pavement. The streets were blocked off for the riders, and the front 50 was strung out in packs of 5 or ten, all trying to hammer the hills, or draft on the flats. I bided my time in the front 20, spinning my gear choice of 32X18 as best I could, tucking in behind geared riders to keep momentum. On the final steep paved hill, sure enough, many of the geared lead riders had blown there Nitrous bottles, and I proceeded to pass 10-15 riders before the dirt road downhill to the singletrack. I noted CSWs Steve Koller was right next to me, charging hard over the top. Looked like he was going to have a great day.

I lost a few places to geared riders going into the singletrack, and Steve had come around me. As soon as the true singletrack began, we were suddenly standing still. Seems some riders don’t know how to ride across 2 foot stream crossings. Sheesh. From then on it as on and off the bike, sometimes track-standing, sometimes jumping off the singlespeed to run up a hill, or over a huge log water bar on a steep climb. I was caught in a long train of riders for the next 10 miles. Steve could no longer be seen, and looked like he was successful in passing a few to get up to a faster group.

At mile 15 you get to the top of the infamous Skull Valley road and proceed to decend 10 miles to the turnaround. Here you climb back up that same ten miles, and then climb 4 more to the top of the mountain. The first 5 miles of this climb are pretty gradual, but then it goes to 15% grade for about 2 miles. This section hurt!

Getting to the top of this 14 mile climb on Thumb Butte road was a lesson in mental and physical attrition. I hardly sat down to pedal for those last few miles. It was stand and mash, all the way to the top. There were groups of spectators along the way, and at the top, just before you entered the singletrack, a group was trying to force a whisky shot on the riders. I was not having any of that!

I think the shock of descending and not having to push the pedals so hard caused the legs to decide to cramp up. I had to stop five times on the way down, and let the legs calmed down and avoid a debilitating full fledged charly-horse. I was so glad to get to the final 5 miles of pavement, but with one little paved hill to the finish, the legs cramped again! I had to stand on the pedals and coast almost to a stop, then pedal a little, then coast…it was very frustrating to be so close to the finish and be creeping along. About  quarter mile from the finish line it turned downward again, so I coasted into the finishing staight with some speed, and avoided looking too bad through the mad crowds that were cheering the finishers to the line. It was quite a scene, and even though I didn’t ride as strong as I expected, a sense of fine accomplishment overcame me when I came to a stop.

Our team race results are as follows:

Steve Koller 27th

Al Senft 33rd

Keith Ashmore 26th Singlespeed

Dana Alia 87th

Rob Bergstrom 90th

James SImmons 65th Singlespeed

Riley Frazier, 67th Masters Geared

Sheila Senft 16th 25 Proof Masters

[James Rowan got a bit of food poisoning the day before, no start for him]

Congrats to all the racers! This was a great venue, and a hard race!

—Keifer

From Keith:

Jeanne and I drove the 6 hours down to Cloudcroft, NM from Farmington to do this XC MTB race. This race has been off the calendar for a couple years, due to organizer bail out, and forest closures (fire danger). A large showing from southern NM, El Paso, and Juarez showed up. Jeanne and I had never seen the coarse before.

I had been away from home all week, and didn’t have a chance to get my Dawn Till Dusk SS gearing (32X17) changed out for high altitude racing. I decided to just deal with it, not really knowing if there was any steep climbs anyway. Jeanne registered for the Women’s SPort Class, and was fired up to hammer her GF Superfly through the mountains.

The SS Open class started with the Pro Womens class, after the Pro, 1 class took off 2 minutes earlier. The ladies let the SSers go in front at the entrance to the steep singletrack (thanks ladies!). I quickly moved through two SSers to take the front and proceeded to make a gap and pass the tail end of the Cat 1 field. After about 20 minutes, the energy levels really started to drop off, and the 32X17 gear was taking it toll. I decided I didn’t have the energy to complete three laps of the course, and pulled out at the start/finish. Kinda dissapointing, but given the amount of time away from home from work, and the amoutn of rest I had before the weekend, it just wasn’t in the cards for me to race this weekend. I decided to go get a bottle for Jeanne and watch her come through.

Jeanne came through looking strong and I handed her the bottle. I was very glad she made it through some of the loose, and twisty singletrack that had made me a little nervous while I was riding. Jeanne’s 2nd lap was for the finish, and she won her category about 10 minutes ahead of second.

Al and Shiela Senft raced also. Al placed 2nd in his Cat 1 race. And Shiela won her category.

The organizers had a couple keggers and award ceremony about a half mile down the road. Everyone had a great time comparing race notes, and watching a Stan’s No Tubes Demo by the regional teammates. The Stan’s team raffled off a Crest wheelset also.

Great job everyone!

—Keifer

Rob B and I headed up to Boulder for the Roubaix last weekend. Got in on Friday and rode from the north end of town to recon the route. Incredibly windy warm up, hard to keep it mellow fighting super strong winds. The recon was good we identified a couple of spots on the gravel roads to be aware of including a huge crater at the north end of the route. As a whole the gravel was excellent, and with very little climbing it appeared it would be a fast race. Race morning was crazy! The wind had subsided and temps were in the mid 30s. We had over 100 riders in the Cat 4 35+, the announcer indicated there were over 1,000 racers. Rob and I toed the front of the line early to ensure a spot at the front. We got off to a good clip. Into the first turns all looked good. Then Rob flatted just before the first pavement section. He got some air in the tires but it was a nasty slow little leak. I held in the front of the pack through the first 18 mile lap. The party kept getting a little smaller. Our category only completed two laps so speed picked up as we rolled south through some dirt rollers about 5 miles from the finish. My legs cramped here, and I watched a pack of 15 pick up speed. Gritting it I chased on the descent (30 plus on dirt roads a little hairy). Caught the group at the last turn to the finish. With one last chance to go for it, I attacked coming over the top of the final climb. Into the straight I had two sprinters suck on my wheel, and I knew I was not going to beat them to the line, despite trying everything I could to shake them. A few more caught up in the last 1/4 mile and as the big Irish Diesel I set the sprinters up for a quick finish. I finished 7th, and the last of the front group. Shortest race of the year, so far, but a great one on fantastic dirt roads.

 —Brendan

From Eugene Dougherty:

I did the Cavern City Classic omnium.  First day 85 miles RR, 7 times up a climb compared with Heartbreak Hill, 93 degrees (long day!).  Second day, 74 miles RR.  I probably finished somewhere between 8th and 10th in the Omnium – I got 10th place Saturday and (maybe) 10th Sunday.

—ED

 

Great job Eugene, sounds like a challenging new road race!-Keith

Rob [Bergstrum] and I showed up super pumped to race. We also recognized that we would be going against guys well into their season with multiple races under their belts. The Friday time trial course was short and in a northwest aspect. We had a steady 15 mph wind out of the northwest, which as big guys, may work to our advantage. That it did when Rob placed 4th in the TT 40 seconds back on the lead. I blew the shifting on the last short climb to the finish and ended up 1 min 40 back.

Saturday rolled in and the goal was protect/move Rob up while hoping I could gain some time as well. Initially we intended to launch an attack on the back rollers of the 2nd lap. The wind was once again a factor. Rolling out of the east this time, we knew that two of us out there fighting would be no match for the 100 person wide field. Then as lap 2 rounded out Rob pulled a muscle in his left calf (Hard in the TT?). I sat in, took a couple of pulls, including the long south descent with a tail wind in which I kept ratcheting up the speed till the lead riders team mate pulled in front and slowed me down. I have to say I was cool to just roll in at that point. Ended up finishing 8 seconds back of the sprint group but held onto 32nd place with 1 minute 44 back from the leader. Rob rolled in about 10 minutes later smoked from the calf pain.

Sunday was no holds bar for a win. Initial plan was to attack on lap 3 or 4. Legs were feeling a bit heavy, and even struggled holding to the lead pack a couple of times. However by lap 4 after tanking up on highly caffeinated energy gels I was ready for battle. No matter how hard I tried I could not get around a fair number of folks on the hills (Close the roads make it a race!). The descent would ratchet up, then no matter what this cat 4 crew had to sprint the finish EVERY LAP! When the final lap came it was chaos. One guy went down at the sharp turn near the top of the climb. Then at the sprint to the finish started two guys each other 10 foot from the line right in front of me. I snaked around only grazing one guys pedal to finish 22nd on the day, with the bunch. Rob rolled in a short time later.

 

End result I finished 1 minute 44 down on the leader in 28th. Rob finished around 60th. First race of the year, legs were not firing for it yet. Training races always hurt, but good times at the end of the day.

 

Pics to follow-awaiting other durango folks who took some shots (and video of the crash at the finish).

 

http://www.tucsonbicycleclassic.com/

–Brendan