The Backstory: Zane Godby

Long time team member Zane Godby tells his story with Team CLIF Bar. From starting out as a racer, to becoming a mechanic, Zane shares how Team CLIF Bar has shaped him.


If you have been around the cycling industry long enough, there are a few
questions that you will always get asked. Those questions are: When did you get in
to racing? How long have you been racing? And what’s on your schedule this year?
Each of us have different answers for these questions, but when it comes down to it
they are all very similar. Without further adieu here are my answers to these
questions.

When I first got in to racing there were experienced racers that I looked up
to, and most of the time compared myself to. Some of these people became my role
models. It may have just been a coincidence, but all those people were some how
related to the CLIF Bar Team. The people that made the biggest impact are Ben
Turner (team manger), Brady Kappius (pro rider), and Myron Billy (cyclocross team
mechanic).

 

Ben has been a family friend since I can remember. My dad and he met in the
summer of 1999, they started riding and hanging out with each other at the races.
Ben became the director for the TIAA CREF/CLIF Bar cyclocross teams. This was
about the time I was getting in to the racing scene, so I would see the team colors all
around. Once I was old enough, Ben gave me the opportunity to race for the team
that I had always dreamed about being on. The years I raced for CLIF Bar are some of
my most memorable and teachable years.

Brady has also been a long time family friend. When I was only a few years in
to my racing career, Brady was beating up on the older guys in the senior categories.
He was the racer that I looked up to the most, I always would have to stay a little
longer at the races so I could watch Brady bunny hop the barriers or get the hole
shot. Once I got a little older and was finally lining up next to him, it felt like I had
finally made it to the big leagues. Fast forward a few years, and I have the privilege
to work with Brady at his wheel company, Kappius Components. Working in a
smaller business, it gave me the freedom to travel around to races and work with
the CLIF Team.

I remember when I first met Myron, it was at one of the big UCI races that I
traveled to as an 18 year old. It may have been my shyness or just the nerves, but he
scared me. Little did I know what the next years had in store for me. My racing years
came to a close, and I had no idea what I was going to do next. Ben and Myron came
to me and asked if I wanted to help the team as second mechanic. I couldn’t turn
down an opportunity like that! That’s when I decided to start my wrenching career.
Working with Myron wasn’t only about working on the bike and driving around the
country, he taught me more life skills than I can even remember.

The CLIF Bar team has been one of the most influential parts of my cycling
career, both racing and as a mechanic. Not only have I seen growth in myself from
my previous experiences, but now being a part of the development of younger
racers has been fulfilling as well. One sees devo teams around the country with an
emphasis on the growth as a rider, the CLIF team has always taken it a step farther
and taught the kids not only about racing, but about how to make a bigger impact in
the world, i.e. “start global cooling,” and other initiatives put forward by the CLIF Bar
team.

A Team Clif Bar Success Story - Ginger Racing

You may have heard about the Ginger twins if you have followed to domestic crit scene over the past five years. My twin brother Kevin, Ginger 1 and myself Conor Mullervy, Ginger 2 raced professionally from 2010-2015 with Team Exergy and Champion System Stan's NoTubes and focused mostly on the Criterium racing. Though we did not start riding till our Senior year in High School and did not take training or racing too serious until we started school in Grand Junction, CO at Colorado Mesa University. During our Freshmen year of College is when we first met Ben Turner and he then introduced us into the life of Cyclocross. We had the privilege of racing on Team CLIF Bar development cyclocross team. This was our first real team with great support from sponsors and a good race schedule. We where hooked!!!

For the next four years we raced road in the spring and summer for the University and during the winter we got to race cyclocross for Team CLIF Bar. Kevin and I learned so much from this program and really got to develop ourselves as racers. My biggest result in Cyclocross was during my last year in the U23 where I finished 7th at Nationals. Not only did we learn some great racing skills while on the team but also some good life lessons. We also got to learn about how the cycling life style is not always glamours. I still remember leaving Nationals in Kansas City after the ice storm rolled in. It was Ben, Kevin and myself in the big green biodiesel Team CLIF Bar school bus heading back to Colorado. This is when we learned that the heater in the bus did not work and all would be bundled in sleeping bags for the next nine hours. On the plus side we also had all the CLIF Bars that you could ever imagine to indulge in. 

Once we graduated College we where both offered our first Professional contract with a road team called Team Exergy.  This is when we had to make the decision on wether to focus 100% on the road or in cyclocross. We both decided to pursue the dream on the road for the next five years. After two years with Team Exergy we started racing for another pro team called Champion System Stan's NoTubes. We got to focus on our love of criteriums with this team while racing all over the country and parts of the world. Turns out that the big green bus with no heat was the least of our worries after driving all over the country in various team vans. 

At the end of 2015  Champion System folded and Kevin took advantage of being offered a spot on Team CLIF Bar's crit squad for 2016. I chose to move to Australia and race on an elite team called GPM-Stulz out of Sydney for the year. This was hard because this was the longest the two of us had ever been apart and the first time ever that we raced on different teams. While in AUS I would watch all the Crits that where streamed live and watch Team CLIF Bar and Kevin kick some butt. This made me really miss the USA crit scene and racing on the same team as Kevin. 

For 2017 we are now both with Team CLIF Bar and loving every minute of it. This winter we where lucky enough to have our team camp in California with the creator himself Gary Erickson. Besides following Gary though a ragging river with all our new team equipment and catching a staph infection from the water, this probably was one of the best rides and experiences of my cycling career. Being able to race together and coming full circle with CLIF Bar is something pretty special. We could not be happier and feel like home back with CLIF.  

Garrett Gets The Whole Shot! Missoula ProXCT

This weekend the team traveled to Missoula for the Missoula XC pro XCT, one of the best XC races on the pro XCT calendar, it is a typical ski resort race with a steep climb and blazing decent. This race was a major goal for the team to perform well and get the ever-valuable UCI points for call-ups and qualifications to world cups. Having key races in the calendar is one of the best ways to stay motivated to continue to train as hard as you can. These key races can do two things; go great and show you how much your training has paid off, or go poorly and light the fire to push you to train harder. Both outcomes can help you become a faster racer always looking to take lessons from the races on what you need to approve on as well show you what you’ve already mastered. Using goals in training is the best way to keep motivation high, besides having fun with your training and racing. Having the team all together to push each other to train and race harder as well as keep you laughing throughout a stressful race weekend.

Best regards, 

Garrett Gerchar

Pro XCT Returns to Utah - Alex Checks In

 Hi this is Alex and here’s what went down during my two days racing at Midway UT

The Midway Pro Dev XC was a very fun and challenging course consisting of lots of interesting natural features.  Lap times were fast and the course was very unforgiving while at the same time in a really beautiful setting near the foothills of the Wasatch Range.  Midway UT is basically outside of Park City which I had never visited before and it was gorgeous.  The course was set at the same venue that hosted the 2002 Nordic Olympic Games, called Soldier Hollow - that was pretty cool to compete at the same place where olympians competed even if it was an altogether different season!

Friday afternoon I had a chance to pre ride the course and get a taste of what it had to offer.  For what appeared to be a simple course, it was surprisingly technical and I found myself wishing that I had my full suspension Niner to help me through.  The ground was rough and uneven with steep fast descents.  I was thankful for the chance to pre ride as I found myself going back to particular sections that were hairy to do a little extra recon.  The course had many sections where you could choose between A and B lines, B being less challenging but slower than the A lines.  On race day, I took the A lines - hell yea!

Saturday started out with Short Track.  I haven’t raced much Short Track and the Midway course was brutal!  My goal for the Short Track race was to stay with the lead lap and not get pulled, which I was able to accomplish.  The finishing straight was a steep uphill road, followed by tight, winding single track through some trees which funneled into the feed zone at the end of the lap.  The Short Track course was like a mini XC and less like a traditional short track course because the it consisted of so much tight single track making pace lining difficult.  Although this course was challenging I preferred it to a more traditional short track course and was happy to have met my personal goal.

Sunday morning was the XC race.  I may have left too much on the course on Saturday but it’s all a learning curve.  The XC race was 5 laps with each lap taking about 13-14 minutes.  The uphills were pretty steep and painful followed by quick technical downhills making for an unrelenting XC race.  I tried the CLIF Shot Bloks in Spearmint flavor for the first time during this race and they were tasty - go get yourself some, no really they’re good stuff.  I felt pretty used up from Saturday’s Short Track so I didn’t finish as strongly as I would have liked.  

All in all the XC course was one of the most fun I have ever ridden and I’m looking forward to facing that mountain again in 2018.

Sea Otter Race Report From Anders and Liam

Hey guys! Liam and Anders here, we got the opportunity to head to The Sea Otter Classic with the Clif Pro guys Ben Sonntag, Troy Wells, and Menso de Jong. The whole trip was a fantastic learning experience and we both learned a ton about what constitutes the "pro lifestyle" and what goes into being a professional athlete at a large scale event such as Sea Otter Classic.

The Sea Otter Classic

 Each day we would prep in the morning and gather our race gear along with a change of clothes before heading to the venue. On Friday, we posted up with our gear at the Stan's Notubes tent before taking to the start line for the STXC event. The race was redline from the gun and was as much of a pavement crit as a STXC event could be, with wind, pack riding, and tactics all playing more of a role than individual power output and technical skill. By the end we finished 37th and 38th out of a field of 110 professionals, 14 of those riders being Olympic athletes! After the race we cooled down rolling around the roads just outside the venue with Troy, Ben, and Menso, talking about the race before cleaning up a bit and going to meet some of the sponsors. At Oakley's booth we met with the rep for our team and talked about the PRIZM tech and picked up some new product to represent from them. We then rolled over to the K-Edge booth to meet with Kyle and get to see some of the new mounts they have developed for the 2017 season. This also gave us some time to talk kit designs with Dylan Seguin and learn about the process of developing the signature Clif Bar Kit look. Later in the evening was a party thrown by the Clif Pro Team! We got to see a lot of friends and also converse with some of the guys from Maxxis. That pretty much wrapped up our Friday, it was time to head back to the house and get ourselves reset for Saturday going into the XC race.

The morning of the XC started similar to the short track. We headed down to the Stan’s Notubes tent to get our gear organized and ready to race. After a good warmup we lined up with a world class field, including World and Olympic champions. The race started by going up the racetrack and just before the Corckscrew the race turned right onto the dirt. After a few rock  gardens the track descended again, and then switchback climbed up again. after another descent the course flattened out and came into the short track course on the racetrack. Throughout the race we did this eight times totaling an hour and a half of all out effort on a very hilly course. In the end Ben Sonntag ended up 16th, Liam Earl 25th, Troy Wells 53rd and Anders Nystrom 68th. After the race a good cool down was in order and another round of meeting the supporters and sponsors of the team. We rounded out Saturday evening with a Clif Bar Company hosted party in the venue, featuring DJ NutButter and Jeremy Powers spinning music, a rap verse dropped by each of the Clif Pro ladies, and lots of food and good fun! That rounded out the overall experience, and it was fantastic to be a part of. 

Whats Next For The Team?

Getting to travel and interact with Troy and Ben is a great way to learn the ropes of all the different aspects of big league racing and public relations between us and our sponsors and supporters. We’re extremely grateful that they allow us to tag along for these events and we enjoy learning how to balance everything during a weekend like this while still being able to perform at our peak when we’re on the start line. We’re looking forward to the next MTB round in Soldier Hollow, Utah! We’ll see you guys there!

Mountain Bike Race Season is Here!

The CLIF Bar Development team is excited to be racing mountain bikes this year. 

New team member Finn Gullickson is representing the team in California the past two weekends. 

In the Fontana PROXCT Finn finished just on the podium in fifth place. At the more competitive Bonelli PROXCT Finn rounded out the top ten in ninth place. 

Keep an eye out for the new black Team CLIF Bar truck on the PROXCT circuit this summer.

A Day in The Life

Tired of reading our blog posts? Yeah us to. This week team member Anders, created a video blog to show us a day in life. A student at Marian University, Anders is home in Boise Idaho for the Holiday break. Take a look at how Anders stays motivated for Cyclocross Nationals in a few weeks.

Racing Update: CXLA and More

After a strong first half of the season in both Cross and Collegiate Mountain, Team Clif Bar hopes to continue performing and out performing those results for the second half of the season. Since the last race update the bulk of the cross season is now behind us and during that the time team has been busy competing all over the United States

Picking up from the Early Season race update was Pan American Championships in Cincinnati. In the U23 Field Garrett Gerchar came in 14th and Anders Nystrom came in 17th. The course was the same as it has been for the past few years but this year unlike last it was a bit dryer and warmer. Also the race was held on Saturday instead of Sunday giving the racers fresh legs as Kings CX was not the night before.

Just one day after Pan Ams was Kings CX. The race started out in the dry but a rain storm quickly moved in forcing the entire field to do a pit change on the same lap. With these crazy conditions Anders came in 35th and Garrett 46th competing in the Elite Men’s field with 60 starters.

The only rider to compete in Louisville Kentucky was Anders. He raced for Marian in the Collegiate men race and ended up second after having a few mechanicals along the way. Anders also raced the elite men and ended up 32nd.  

CXLA came just a few weeks after Derby City. This was a big one for the U23 men as it was a double weekend with valuable UCI points up for grabs each day. CXLA is important event  for us U23s because both days had UCI U23 specific fields. On day one the conditions were warm and dry in classics southern California fashion. Garrett lead the team with a 5th place finish followed by Anders in 10th. Liam came in 12th after having a few mechanicals on the first lap. Finally, Cormac came in 13th. On day two of CXLA the weather took an unexpended turn and the first half of the race was downpour after the rain stopped the course became slick and wet. Garrett ended up coming in 7th, Anders in 8th, Liam in 10th and Cormac in 12th.

The next and final stop for Clif Devo Cross Team is Hertford Connecticut. Liam and Anders will be racing on Wednesday morning in the D1 Collegiate championships, racing for Colorado Mesa University and Marian University respectively. Also on Wednesday Garrett will be racing in the D2 colligate championships for University of Colorado Boulder. On Sunday Juniors Nic Jenkins and Alex Campbell will be racing in the Junior men’s field. While Liam, Cormac, Anders and Garrett will be racing in the U23 men’s race. Stay tuned for more updates.

Liam Earl: Bike Setup

The Bike:

This year the Clif Bar Squad Is sponsored by Niner and our weapon of choice is the BSB9 RDO. One of the fastest bikes in the peloton the BSB9 offers full carbon thru axles front and rear along with perfect race winning geometry. Many of our riders like their bikes set up in different ways to fit their riding styles. Even though the bike is the same each one is tailored specifically for each ridder. Today I’m going to share how I set up my.

Handlebars:

Starting with the handlebars. My handlebars are similar to a traditional cyclocross set up where the hoods slightly higher than they would be on a road bike. On a road bike the hoods are low so that the rider can be aero. But in cross aerodynamics is not as important as being able to clear obstacles and dampen bumps. That is why I prefer to have raised hoods so that my hands can stay firmly on the bars. Also with Sram Hydro Brakes the hoods are much taller than normal hoods. Making them much better for tackling technical courses. Also I have added a few spacers to my cross bike from a traditional road bike fit to make it easier to go over bumps and pull the front end of the bike up.

Saddle:

The right Saddle height and position is also very important for cross racing. Saddle height on the cross bike is slightly lower than on a road bike so that the ride is more comfortable and better to dismount and remount. Also to get further back on the bike during technical descents. I have a setback Niner RDO seatpost on my BSB9 so that I am able to have the correct reach without having too long of a stem and keeping the right fit over the pedals.

Wheels and Tires:

The wheels that I run while training are a set of aluminum clinchers and while racing I run a set of Kappius Wheels with a Grifo in the front and a Limus in the back. My normal racing tire pressure is between 22 and 26psi depending on course conditions.  

Gears and Drivetrain:

My drivetrain is set up to be cross specific with a 11-36 in the rear and a 40T Sram chaining in the front. This setup is perfect for racing and training offer easy gears for climbs and hard enough gears for sprinting on the flats. Also I have a Quarq Power Meter for data when Training and Racing.

Liam Earl: Bike Setup

The Bike:

This year the Clif Bar Squad Is sponsored by Niner and our weapon of choice is the BSB9 RDO. One of the fastest bikes in the peloton the BSB9 offers full carbon thru axles front and rear along with perfect race winning geometry. Many of our riders like their bikes set up in different ways to fit their riding styles. Even though the bike is the same each one is tailored specifically for each ridder. Today I’m going to share how I set up my.

Handlebars:

Starting with the handlebars. My handlebars are similar to a traditional cyclocross set up where the hoods slightly higher than they would be on a road bike. On a road bike the hoods are low so that the rider can be aero. But in cross aerodynamics is not as important as being able to clear obstacles and dampen bumps. That is why I prefer to have raised hoods so that my hands can stay firmly on the bars. Also with Sram Hydro Brakes the hoods are much taller than normal hoods. Making them much better for tackling technical courses. Also I have added a few spacers to my cross bike from a traditional road bike fit to make it easier to go over bumps and pull the front end of the bike up.

Saddle:

The right Saddle height and position is also very important for cross racing. Saddle height on the cross bike is slightly lower than on a road bike so that the ride is more comfortable and better to dismount and remount. Also to get further back on the bike during technical descents. I have a setback Niner RDO seatpost on my BSB9 so that I am able to have the correct reach without having too long of a stem and keeping the right fit over the pedals.

Wheels and Tires:

The wheels that I run while training are a set of aluminum clinchers and while racing I run a set of Kappius Wheels with a Grifo in the front and a Limus in the back. My normal racing tire pressure is between 22 and 26psi depending on course conditions.  

Gears and Drivetrain:

My drivetrain is set up to be cross specific with a 11-36 in the rear and a 40T Sram chaining in the front. This setup is perfect for racing and training offer easy gears for climbs and hard enough gears for sprinting on the flats. Also I have a Quarq Power Meter for data when Training and Racing.