Kickoff Poll
2009 Kickoff
As you know, one of the main purposes of The Group Ride is to promote hard and tactical road riding here in the Fort. Mountain Flyer Magazine, GTS Therapeutics and Bar Mitts Bicycle Gloves have joined forces with The Group Ride to make the first Oval Ride of the 09 season the biggest one ever!
On January 10th, 2009 we will be giving away FREE 2-YEAR-SUBSCRIPTIONS FROM MOUNTAIN FLYER MAGAZINE the first 75 that show up to the rides. That’s right, all you have to do is show up and you get a free two-year-subscription! This year there will be both A and B pace rides from the Oval. A-pace leaving 10:05 and B-pace at 10:10.
We will also be awarding:
1/2 hour massages from GTS Therapeutic to the winners of the Berthoud Town Sprints in both the A and B rides (remember 10:05 and 10:10 respectively).
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Bar Mits Bicycle Gloves to the King or Queen of Carter in both the A and B rides.
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1/2 hour massages from GTS Therapeutic to the winner of the finishing sprints back in the Fort.
The 411
The Oval is a cold hard Colorado classic and the best way to spend a Saturday morning. Plus it will make you pretty fit too.
The Start
Bring your A game to the Southwest corner of the CSU Oval right in front of the Statistics Building. The ride heads out at 10am Saturday mornings. The turnout is solid from early December until the racing starts in March or April. Start map
The Route
When this ride reaches its maximum distance of 80 miles it has it all. From flat crosswind sections, rollers, power climbs, to the long grinds. The city limit sign east of Berthoud has become a hotly contested mid ride sprint. This ride doesn’t stop for food, flats, pee breaks or bags of money… Last year I saw a guy loose a $30.00 frame pump and keep going. Now that’s a training ride! Route Map
The Finish
There seems to be some confusion about this. Some people think hit is at the top of the climb near the Horsetooth Mountain Park and some think it’s a sprint to the speed limit at the end of the descent from the reservoir on Harmony Road. From now on lets call it at the speed limit sprint. This give the climbers a chance to get away and the sprinters a chance to chase them down. Plus its the longer of the two options. Bring the 11 tooth. Finish map
thegroupride@hotmail.com
Our mountain bike connection Josh just sent some pretty interesting info our way.
A few things I’ve picked up in the last few days -
First the local news – For velocal users, there’s a new local group called Random Rides. Join up and ride with some new folks.
It’s time to show off those finger-painting skills and pencil in September 16-20 on the calendar. The registration for the SSWC09 is finally open. Only room for 500 racers(unless you’re of the fairer sex, then you’re guaranteed a spot), so be extra creative/lucky fellas. Be sure your entry is postmarked by January 23 and you have at least $35 in your checking account.
Coming up a little sooner is the Leadville Winter Mountain Bike Race Series put on by the Cloud City Wheelers. Just another good excuse to bundle up and ride around in the snow.
-Josh
Thanks Josh
The Group Ride is starting to compile information on the mtb trails and mtb group rides in the area. If you have any information you would like to contribute shoot us an email at thegroupride@hotmail.com
First off let me apologize for postponing the kickoff. My goal for the Kickoff was to have two relatively enjoyable Oval Rides with good turnouts. That wasn’t gonna happen yesterday. We are now going to the have the Kickoff next Saturday, January 10th come hell or high water. If any of you guys that showed yesterday can’t make it next Sat. let me know and I’ll get you the subscription coupon to Mountain Flyer.
2009 Oval Kickoff pace and distance. I have had several people asking about the pace and distance. I am guessing the A Ride will be relatively civil for most of the ride with a few hot spots at the Berthoud Town Sprint and at Carter Lake. Not sure about the B Ride. I know several people that ride the A Pace ride later in the season are going to take it a bit easier and do the B Pace since it is only Jan. 10th. The Oval doesn’t usually regroup but I would like to have a bit of regrouping after the sprint and at the top of Carter this time. The planned distance is roughly 80 miles, that isn’t set in stone. We can decide on Saturday morning.
The 2009 Oval Kickoff Test Ride
We had about 15 people show up yesterday for The Oval. Including some guys that are winding it up for the Tour of Caifornia, Jason Donald (Garmin Chipotle) Jonathan Garcia (BMC). Other than those guys we had the usual grad students, old geasers, so-pros and working stiffs. Considering the temps it was a pretty good turn out.
These are from Jeff Kerkoves site he has a write up too.
I shot some video, but it’s pretty obvious that it was my first attempt so we’ll see if it gets added.
Georgia Gould Update
Georgia has been firing off top ten finishes all over Belgium and it looks like she got the win at the Grand Prix Hotel Threeland in Petange, Luxembourg on the 1st. Here are the details about the race from her site. She also has a great write up about her Euro trip.
Dusty agreed to make the 3 hour drive down to Petange, Luxembourg with me as Ryan, Jeremy and Jamie were sitting this one out. It was like old times- me and Dusty and a bunch of racing stuff- except instead of a van we were in a VW golf. When we showed up at the registration, they didn’t have the numbers yet- those would be available 1 hour before the start. We got to the course and ran into Wendy and Sue Butler, who had already ridden the course. Wendy was saying there was a ton of climbing, and she wished she had an easier gear- she had a 38 as her small front chainring. I have a single 42. I had a short moment of dread, but then thought that a harder gear would just force me to go faster and that I should just grow a mustache and suck it up.
I headed out to see the course, and sure enough, there was a ton of climbing. After a paved climb, there was a run-up, then some more paved climbing and then some false flat climbing on trails. At the top of the course, there was one short steep climb before you started the descent. Which really was a “descent”- I think it took a few minutes. The trails were covered in wet leaves, and the ground was starting to thaw. It was getting greasy but there were still some frozen ruts to keep you on your toes.
I was a little bummed at first- just when I thought I was going to nail it at another fast start, I get to a race that isn’t going to have a fast start. Because of the length of the climb, I decided on a little more conservative start (no need to get to the front and blow up, there was plenty of passing on the climb). The women’s field was pretty small, but had a few heavy hitters: Marianne Vos, Pavla Havlikova, Wendy, Sue and Natasha Elliot were all there.
We were also starting with the junior men, although there were only 5 of them. The start was pretty fast considering what was up ahead, but I didn’t panic (ok, maybe I panicked a little bit and thought “not again!”). Even though I was probably in 10th by the run-up, I moved into 3rd by the end of the paved climb, and I passed Marianne before the top of the climb. I was still behind one of the juniors, but he rode the downhill pretty fast. By the bottom of the downhill I had a few seconds, with Marianne, Wendy and Pavla not far behind. I rode hard on the climbs (passed that junior), and stayed focused on the downhill and stretched the gap out every lap. My legs felt great- I felt like I could get on top of any gear, and I was descending faster every lap. I ended up winning the race 48 seconds in front of Marianne. Pavla finished another 30 secs behind her. I was pumped.
Yes, it was a tiny race, and no, it wasn’t a huge win, but I still felt relieved. I felt comfortable the whole time, didn’t have to worry about any tactics and could just focus on riding hard. Ok, so the course was more of a mountain bike course- but hey, it was still a ‘cross race. Some of the courses favor roadies, some favor mountain bikers- right. I just need to get so that I can excel at either one, and I’ve got a month to get ready!
