Thanks to Sonya and Jeff at Ergon for providing us with their new PC2 Commuter Pedal and it can be yours by sharing with us and others "Why I commute by bike!". Oh but don't tell us why here, go to our Facebook page and tell us why you commute by bike. We will select the winner after July 31st.

Photo Credit Dave Cho

There may be steeper hill climbs and subjectively longer ones but few can argue that Mt Evans Hill Climb is the King of Colorado Hill Climbs and this Saturday the stong or naive will take to the start in Idaho Springs attempting to complete it, and if they are lucky beat Tom Danielson's record time. In addition to being one of the hardest climbs it is also one of them the most historic with 45 years of racing on it. IMO, Mt Evans should be on every cyclists bucket list.

Race Details
- 2011 Race Results
- Main Promoter Website
- History of Mt Evans Hill Climb
- Course profile and details
- 2011 Evans HC start list
- One of the many ok videos of the route Do you have a better one?
- Contact us if you will be shooting photos/video at the race

My First Mountain Bike Race by Coreen Wright, Tough Girl Cycling

Coreen Wright

I think for me, my first mountain bike race was the most memorable. I had a positive experience that kept me coming back for more. Unlike running races, which I was more accustom to, mountain bike racing has some variety to the race, you get to go fast! Like faster than running. When I first arrived at the race, I was a little nervous. I
just didn’t want to be last. I signed up as beginner in the 40-49 year old group. Yeah, my first race was when I was 40. My concerns, as you can imagine were crashing, and of course hitting a tree or something crazy like that. I didn’t have the easiest time when I first started riding…I crashed a lot. Thankfully, with patience and perseverance, my husband didn’t give up on me and so I kept on riding.

I remember the announcer yelling “GOOOOOOO” in the loud speaker and racers taking off. That was kind of scary. I wasn’t sure what to expect after that but I was about to find out. So we were off and my heart was pounding out of my chest. I tried to relax and calm down but the rest of the start was a blur. I finally recovered on the downhill and from then on it was a blast. What was so fun about the race, were the other racers. We had conversations along the way and through the struggles together of pushing up a climb or going over a scary edge we encouraged each other along and I felt like we knew one another. Passing on the trails was easier than I expected and if you communicated well it made it safer for all. We were all in it together.

I liked the feeling of being in the forest and surrounded by trees and fresh air with single track beneath my tires. I had a hunch I would be doing this again. Mountain biking quickly became a lot more fun. Racing brought a whole new aspect to my riding. It’s the one thing that makes me feel like a kid again.