NEVER give up!

This past weekend I had a break off from collegiate MTB so I headed over to Fort Collins Friday afternoon for two cross races. Saturday was at Xilinx, and Sunday was in Fort Collins. I was looking forward to get my cross fix in for the week.


I arrived to Saturdays course pretty early because I had some friends racing in the fours and threes. So i got to see the course and the lines people took before I raced. My race started very good, very fast. I was fifth going into the first corner and feeling really good. It was a long course so I knew that we would not be doing a lot of laps so I had to stay up front. Then on lap two my chain feel off during a barrier section. That cost me some time and a lot of places. I started getting into a good rhythm after that, but once i got rolling my chain feel off again, and lost some more time and more places. Just had some bad luck. Ended up 27th, not very happy with my result so I was ready for Sundays race to redeem myself.


Sunday was another long day. got there early once again to cheer on some of my friends. The course looked very fast and very bumpy. So our race started fast once again. I tried not blowing myself up too bad in the start so I was about mid pack into the first corner. Then a couple of more turns my chain fell off again.



I got passed by the whole field and lost some time. The next time through the pit I changed bikes. I didn't want my chain to fall off again so that's why I changed bikes. Then one of my friends said he fixed the chain guard and my bike was ready to go.So the next time through the pit I changed back to my normal bike. Loosing a lot of time from changing bikes and fixing my chain I had a lot of chasing to do to get back to the front. Then again my chain feel off. I fixed it but decided not to change bikes and hope for the best that the chain would not fall off again. I was so far back at this time that I was mentally not there for a few laps. Then I got rolling again once I started picking off people. On the last lap I caught 3rd-6th place and gave it my all to pass all of them. It was a slug fest until the finish. I kept passing 3rd place then someone would pass me. Then on the last barriers before the finished i surged into 3rd place and sprinted as hard as i could. I ended up 3rd on the day, not bad at all considering what happened. I gave it my all and threw up once i crossed the finish line. Now that's going all out. That is my best result so far in the pro field and I am hoping to improve on that. The moral of the story is never give up until the finish line.





I am in school for a couple more days then i am off to collegiate MTB nationals in North Carolina. Then once that is over I will be sole focused on Cross and can't wait until the Boulder Cup.

Photos by Mat Peters

Summerhill 15th in opening World Cup

Photo © 2008 Bart Hazen

TEAM CLIF BAR's Danny Summerhill kicked off the World Cup season in Kalmthout, Belgium with a solid 15th place finish in the U23 race.

Wondering what Andrew has been up to?

Hey there,
I hope that everybody is off to a good cross season already. I have been sitting out of the racing scene recently due to commitments with running cross country at my school, but as that season is coming to a close I figured I’d write a little update on what I’ve been up to and my plans for cross.

Although I’ve most likely lost a lot of bike fitness and missed out on an opportunity to go to Europe w/ the national team this fall, deciding to run cross country turned out to be excellent. I got a great break from bike racing to refresh my mind and an outlet in which to enjoy my senior year at high school a bit more. Although the season has been mostly fun, 5K’s and track workouts never fail to surprise me with the incredible pain involved and the ability to mentally suffer. In a way I think I have worked on expanding my pain threshold to be a better bike racer, while not riding much at all. Funny isn’t it? After our state championships meet next Saturday up in Ft. Collins I will be back on the bike and gearing up towards getting in decent shape for cross by nationals.

My aim for this cross season is to keep it fun, and work to being competitive for nationals. If all goes well, I would love the opportunity to go over to Europe for the first time and do the Holiday cross camp in Belgium.

On a more community-servicy note, a club at our school has been working to raise money to help a project that works to better water purification in Sudan. It is truly amazing how we take clean water for granted, and yet so much of the world still lives with primitive water supplies. Some other running buddies and I have been work’n the good ole lemonade stand after school to bring in the dough. So far we have raised a decent amount of cash while supplying the D’Evelyn Jr./Sr. High community with a tasty beverage. Also my brother and I have started to collect some canned food around the neighborhood for an organization that donates to homeless/struggling families.

See you at the races…soon,
Andrew

Kappius 2nd at Xilinx

On Saturday, TEAM CLIF BAR's Brady Kappius showed his improving form with an impressive 2nd place ride in the Open Men's race, dueling with Matt Pacocha and Colby Pearce throughout the race before succumbing to a fierce Pearce road sprint at the end. Kappius heads to Louisville, KY this weekend to join teammate Troy Wells at the first stop of the Crank Brothers US Gran Prix of Cyclo-Cross Series.

Today was my second Pro 1, 2 race.  I started good i was like in top 10 after the start. I kept on pressing hard to keep up and pass some people. I was keeping up with two people in in the first 4 laps and than i passed them and I moved up to Alex. I got up to alex because he crashed and that made me catch him. He rode with him for almost the whole time till 3 and a half laps to go I slip in a corner and that made a gap between me and him but i could never catch him again. 2 other people came from the back and passed me too but i stayed with them because i didn't fell like loosing more places. One of them rode away but I stayed with the second guy because i couldn't keep up with the guy who rode away. In the last lap I got dropped  from that guy but he crashed at the barriers so i caught back up to him. Than on the paved part he past me and i stayed on his wheel because i thought i still have a chance to out sprint him. When we got on final straight i couldn't pass him anymore I tried every thing but it wasn't enough. I ended up like top 15 in the race. This was my hardest pro race so far but also the best.

Yannick

Weekend race wrap-up

CLIF BAR Devo Team riders headed out into the cold, damp weekend to get some great training in for their upcoming key races, and to test out their cold weather gear from Pearl Izumi.

On Saturday at the 2nd round of the Boulder Series (Xilinx), Zack Gould put in a strong effort in the Cat. 4s; Danny Hiller had his best start of the season before a dropped chain slowed him down for a 34th place finish in the Cat. 3s; in the Open race, Colin Cares (9th), Mitch Hoke (12th), Yannick Eckmann (15th) and Cody Cox (20th) all had solid rides.

Sunday was the first race in the Red Rocks Series. Brady Kappius (TEAM CLIF BAR) and Mitch dominated for 1st and 3rd. Zane Godby posted another great result in the Cat. 4 race, with 5th.

Meanwhile, some of us were enjoying un-cross-like weather in Ohio...80s and sunny. TEAM CLIF BAR's Troy Wells went out for UCI point hunting, since it was a rare Fri-Sat-Sun tripleheader. After strong rides Friday (6th) and Saturday (5th), Troy's form was coming around and he was joined by teammate Danny Summerhill for Sunday's UCI category 1 event (more points available). This was Summerhill's first race of the season, a calculated plan to open the season fresh and ready to score some good UCI points just before flying off to Belgium for a month of hard racing.

As the lead group of 8 formed on the first lap, both TCB riders made it up, with Wells helping set the pace and widen the group's lead, and Summerhill tagging along at the rear trying to get his race legs under him. The 85 degree heat began to take its toll on the group, with several riders falling off the fast pace. Soon it was down to a group of 5: Wells, Powers, Bishop, Selander, and Summerhill. Troy and Danny took a few turns attacking and counter-attacking, but by the final lap, the viscious attacking by Wells, Powers and Bishop left Summerhill and Selander slightly gapped off. Wells tried one more huge attack to shake his group, but ended up fading as they neared the finish - still, a really impressive 3rd place. Summerhill beat Selander in the sprint for 4th. An awesome day for TEAM CLIF BAR in 3rd & 4th, and overall a big weekend for Troy and a sweet send-off for Danny with plenty of UCI points.

Social Change

In the US we have a huge opportunity to do the World and ourselves a favor yet we continue use up resources despite technological advances. We contribute 25% to global green house gas emissions and have only 5% of the world population. As a country we always look to technology or industry to give us what we want in times of crisis. Consider gas prices this year summer. Our politicians wanted to open up off shore reserves for oil for drilling to drive prices down and consumers demand more fuel-efficient cars. What we really need to do is look away form technology and industry to allows us to continue our way of life and look at our lives and decide what we really need. Do we need to buy new cloths every months? Do we need to drive to 10 blocks to the store or could we ride a bike? Does my house need to be 75 degree in the winter with the windows open or turn the thermostat down can I put on a sweater? Our government leaders can never help us with this because they would laughed out off ice like Jimmy Carter. So the US needs social change that comes from the bottom up as well as technological advances like fuel efficient cars and clean energy. Ask yourself how you can make your footprint smaller bye conserving instead of buying that new hybrid car.

After that tell the candidates that climate change is issue and they need to attend the UN conference on climate change.

http://www.350.org/invite/

Mitch

Xilinx Race!

It was a very cold day down in Boulder on Saturday. The temperature around 37 degrees farenheit and it had rained the night before. I went out to the second Boulder CX Series at Xilinx and it was very hard. I raced catagory 4 and ended up around middle pack I believe. The race was very hard and muddy but I had a lot of fun.

Zack

Falling

Cross Haiku

Fall Here, Leaves Drop Down

Rage on Cross Bicycle Fast

Don't Trip, Barrier 

Mitch Hoke

Back at it!

It's been a slow start for Kevin and I over here in Grand Junction getting back into full swing for the cross season. Right we are at the end of Collegiate Mountain biking season for Mesa State College. Normally we don't race mountain bikes, but our school needed two more Cross Country racers for Nationals so we were the ones they turned to. This is why Kevin and I haven't been doing all the cross races that would of liked to do. We have our home Mountain Bike race this weekend, then will be racing cross the weekend after in Longmont and Fort Collins. Though that following week Kevin and I will be traveling to North Carolina for Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals. Though once that is over will be in full swing for cyclocross. Just in time to race at the Boulder Cup and all the cross races following.So far this season we have done the Brecktobercross as well as the Frisco CX just last weekend. This is our first season racing in the Pro 1/2 field and we are loving it. We both have been getting repectable resutls. Though in Frisco I had to drop out Saturday do to some mechanicals on the bike and Kevin ended up 20th. Then Sunday we both had a better day on the bike, though both of us threw out the race had one of our shoes come off while dismounting/remounting. But in the end we ended up 11th and 12th and had a great time.Another thing keeping us busy in our cross clinic that we put on a couple weeks ago. The local Western slope junior team out in Silt about an hour East of Junction asked Kevin and I if we could help them with a clinic. So we drove out there and had about 10 kids to work with. We tought them the basics of everything and helped them pratice it all together. Afterwords we had a nice course set up for them to practice it all. All the kids did really well and love cross. Now when we see them at races the are always asking us for adivce and thanking us for our help. We do plain on going back up and doing some more clinics.