Mountain Biking

Leadville Fatbike/Winter Racing

Submitted by Ben Welnak on

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Photos: Leaf Treinen
www.quandarygraphics.com

The winter of 2011-2012 has seen an explosion of fatbike riding. Thankfully, the Cloud City Wheelers gang in Leadville has been organizing a winter mountain bike racing series for years that welcomes both fatbikes and regular mountain bikes. The first race of the series, the Copper en Fuego, held at Copper Mountain, was a huge hit.

This past Saturday night was the third race of the series, the Mineral Belt Mayhem. It's a staple in the series and for good reason. It's an opportunity to race down the main street of downtown Leadville, Harrison Avenue.

Forty racers showed up for the race around the Mineral Belt Trail. For this race, the Cycles of Life bike shop, located on Harrison Ave. played host as the race venue. It's a unique race because the street is covered with a thick packed snow course for the annual ski joring event that is part of the yearly Crystal Carnival, which also includes a weekend full of events.

It was nearing 7pm and we started to get ready to roll. The start of the race was a neutral rollout down the main drag until the group met a local police officer, who then lead the rest of the neutral rollout until the official race start at the Mineral Belt Trail.

2012 - Laramie Enduro Registration Information

Submitted by David on

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Got this from the Laramie Enduro Race Dirctor.

This year's Laramie Enduro will take place on Saturday July 28th. Once again the start/finish area will be the Hidden Valley Picnic Area. Currently, we are planning on conducting the race as a non-sanctioned race (no USAC or ACA involvement).

Lottery Registration
Registration will open on February 1st and remain open through March 5th.
Step 1: Between Feb 1 - Mar 5, go to our website, click on the registration link and fill out the lottery registration form on-line.

Step 2: Enter your payment information.

Step 3: Wait to be contacted by us.

The $5 application fee is non-refundable. Your non-refundable fee will be used to donate $1 to each of the following non-profit organizations and events:

* Colorado High School Cycling League;
* Laramie High School MTB team, 7220 Racing, which competes in the CHSCL;
* Curt Gowdy High School MTB Camp/Clinic (June 11th-13th); and
* Wyoming HS MTB Coaches to attend Colorado Leadership Summit.

Is it “Just Like Riding a Bike”? A View of Youth Competitive Cycling

Submitted by David on

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303Cycling recently caught up with Ann Trombley and asked her to write down her thoughts on getting kids involved in cycling as a competitive sport. Anyone who remembers that first race or even that first ride on the road knows the importance of being prepared and being safe. Below are some of her thoughts.

Coaching Your Cyclist from the Sidelines
By Ann Trombley
Trailmaster Coaching and Physical Therapy
www.trailmastercoaching.com

Funny how most in the U.S., even Boulder, don’t think of cycling as a competitive sport for their kids. Yes, it isn’t mainstream, but what an amazing sport to get juniors started on that they can continue throughout their lifetime. It is also a sport that your children can enjoy doing with friends or on their own. And the things your children can see and experience while riding are immense!

So, why would you want to have your child join a team and/or hire a coach?

To answer a question with a question; what is the purpose of enrolling your child in soccer, piano lessons, Spanish or art lessons? Because you have an expert in the field to teach them. Also, you, as the parent, do not have to organize the practice, set up the lesson plan and actually spend the time to teach them. Lastly, your child will meet other kids that have the same interest they do.

As a USAC Certified Coach, Olympic Athlete and Coach of the Boulder Junior Cycling team for the past five years, I carefully plan the ride locations, skills, techniques and fitness building activities we do for days, weeks and months ahead. Because it is a team, this is a group of athletes learning and riding together, so each athlete learns not only from the coach, but from each other.

CU Cycling’s Return to Glory: Recruiting, Leadership, Structure

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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Photo Credit: Eszter Horanyi
CU MTB member Sam Morrison leads a group at nationals

By: Eszter Horanyi

In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, the University of Colorado mountain bike team dominated the collegiate scene winning several National Championships in a row. At the 2003 Mountain Bike National Championships, they suffered a heart-breaking loss in Angel Fire, NM., to Fort Lewis College and have only been able to bring home one mountain bike national title since then. The team has suffered from a series of years with single-year coaches, coaches who were unable to dedicate themselves fully to the team, or no coaches at all. As any student run organization, leadership changed frequently and continuity was lacking. This year, things changed when FasCat Coaching, based out of Boulder, came on board to help bring the CU team back to its powerhouse status.

FasCat joined forces with the CU team a few weeks into the fall mountain bike season with Jason Hilimire taking on mountain bike coaching responsibilities. He found a team that he describes as ‘a good group of kids who just needed a point-person. They didn’t have much organization or structure.’ Hilimire explains that while the A-riders were fairly self-sufficient, it was the beginners who benefited most from having a coach present to answer simple questions, such as ‘Where do we register?’ Meanwhile, more experienced riders could benefit from information on race strategy and training. Historically, the collegiate programs that succeed are those that have a strong coach turning ordinary athletes into strong leaders who then pass their knowledge down to the next generation of cyclists who will take over leadership positions. When this chain is broken, strong teams begin to falter.

After a successful nationals where the team finished a close second to Fort Lewis College, Hilimire is looking to the future, citing recruitment, team dedication, and structure as requirements to grow the team and defeat Fort Lewis.

Recruiting the next generation

Letter from the BMA President - Success and Progress

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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"But the solutions advocated by this narrow group of environmentalists (keep bikes out!) are disproportionate to the challenge they have identified. Mountain bikes are not drilling rigs and trails are not well pads. Our access issues have little to do with the regional and global environmental problems that trouble both of our communities. Mountain bikers are a great partner in conservation efforts, but we fear that bridge has been burned in Boulder - at least temporarily."

...


"We know the unspoken truth - that OSMP staff were split on the issue of allowing bike access. High up on the OSMP totem pole the idea got shot down, but the flesh and blood of the organization has seen that a purely political decision was made. They understand now, better that even before, that this is not about impacts on the resource, this is not about user conflict - this is about maintaining the status quo - no bikes in the West TSA. To city staff that have been open minded, we offer our sincere thanks! We will continue to persuade citizens and government officials that the gap between the conservation and mountain bike communities is narrow."

The Boulder Mountain Bike Alliance president, Jason Vogel, spells it all out in his recent letter titled A HISTORY OF SUCCESS AND PROGRESS: LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT. In the letter Jason talks about the successful relationship and brand BMA has created with Boulder Openspace and other officials, the opposition they run into and why they keep on fighting what may appear to be the steepest hill to climb.

While the BMA has had some setbacks in the last few years with the failure to create the canal path from Gunbarrel to Lyons, no bikes in West TSA and failure to gain access to Aneome Hill, they have made a lot of progress and anyone who has lived here for 10+ years should agree that options for mountain bikers have increased by a lot. Unlike road cyclist who are getting many of our shoulders and improved roads with little push back the BMA has to be there to make sure officials don't look past that group of cyclists. I hope BMA never gives up the fight and at the same time it saddens me that they have to fight so hard to do something so simple as getting access to public lands for a healthy and relatively environmentally low impact activity. It shouldn't be a struggle, something is wrong with our officials and the mindset of the value of mountain biking in our community. On the flip side road cyclists should be thanking transportation officials at how easy they have made it for us... but imagine how awesome it could be if we had Boulder Road Association (BRA) like BMA!


CU Mountain Biking team rocks Nationals

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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By Eszter Horanyi


Sam Morris during the XC course

After a long season of racing in the Rocky Mountain Conference, the University of Colorado Nationals Team traveled south to Angel Fire, NM for the 2011 Collegiate Mountain Bike National Championships. The team had some of the strongest riders and most depth that it’s had in years and was gunning for both individual national titles as well as trying to dethrone Fort Lewis College in the overall team omnium competition. Racers were greeted with a winter snowstorm on Wednesday night that dumped nearly 8-inches of snow on the mountain. This immediately turned buff trails and a rocky downhill track into a giant slip-n-slide. With sun forecasted for the weekend, racers were ready for all conditions, from snow to ice to mud.

The women’s team was the first to line up for the XC on Friday morning. The 5.5-mile course was still frozen for the first lap as Katie Sodergren, Claire Bensard, and Diedre York all stayed within striking distance of the leader, Lauren Catlin of Fort Lewis. Disaster struck Sodergren on the second lap when a crash on the slippery course led to a lost contact from the eye and lost contact from the lead group. York and Bensard continued to chase and ended up on the podium in 4th and 5th. Racing in her senior year, this was Bensard’s first Nationals podium, and as author of this article, I’d like to point out that four years ago, I totally pointed to Claire as doing big things in cycling in the future. Ashlee Wilson, newly upgraded to A’s placed 10th. She will also do great things in the future. I’ve got my money on it.

No bikes on Anemone Hill

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

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Looks like Boulder cyclists got the head fake from Boulder officials to allow cyclists on Anemone Hill as a connector to Betasso. This connector trail would have given cyclists immediate downtown access to trails and remove the requirement to ride on Boulder Canyon for those wanting to ride to Betasso. The number of mountain bike trails accessible close to town will remain embarrassedly low.
From the Daily Camera

The 5-4 vote rejecting mountain bike access on the planned Anemone Hill loop trail came at a special meeting in which the highly contentious West Trail Study Area plan was resurrected for several hours. The plan -- which defines public access to the 11,250-acre swath of open space west of Broadway that stretches from Linden Avenue south to Eldorado Springs Drive -- was approved in March, but the leaders have tweaked the plan several times since then.

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