Domain name issues

2010-06-03

Sorry for the issues at cushorttrack.com. We should have that domain name back up and running soon. In the mean time you can still follow the short track results at cushorttrack.blogspot.com.

Thanks for your patience and your continued participation.

Short Track is under way

2010-05-23

Despite some looming clouds, the weather stayed perfect for the series opener on Wednesday. Full Cycle brought the grill and the bratwursts, CU brought the music and other necessities, and you brought your bikes. Turnout was on the small side for most races, though Kids had a great showing with 12 youngins racing, and Men's A's had a solid 23 racers. PreRace.com was on hand to take plenty of photos, posted in their Photos section. We have also put up results, posted in their usual spot, just click on the date on the race calendar to the right. The total standings will be updated every week as well. Send us an email or a comment if you notice any errors - parsing handwriting and typing rarely goes perfectly.

Some notes for next time:

1. Bring your name plate again for next week, new numbers cost extra.
2. If you're doubling up on races, the second race is only $6.
3. We'd like you to bring your license every week even if we already have you in our system - it helps us out at registration.
4. You only have to fill out the paperwork / releases once this summer. So if you filled out the forms from racing this past Wednesday, there's no need to fill them out again, you're set for all summer.
5. If you have any additional photos - or were wearing a helmet cam and posted the video, please share the links in the comments section.

See you on the 26th!

6th at Road Nats, and Short Track is almost here!

2010-05-13

12 racers headed to Madison, WI to represent CU at Collegiate Road Nationals, supported by our travel coordinator, Tanya, coaches Margell and Colby, driver Jeff Yeaton, and mechanic Julien. Friday brought near freezing temperatures and plenty of rain for the road race at Blue Mounds, adding to the misery of a 2.5 mile climb that averages 8% and hits above 16% near the top. Thankfully, the wonderful support crew ensured the team was well prepared to handle the weather. At the end of the misery, CU's Josh Yeaton took 7th in the Men's D1, and Flora Duffy took 6th for the Women's D1 race. Saturday's evening crit had a much more beautiful setting: sunny skies, dry roads, and the Wisconsin State Capital Building in the center. Flora Duffy claimed 4th place, resulting in 5th for the Nationals Omnium. Sunday, both CU squads cruised along the mostly flat team time trial, with the Men's team taking 9th place, and the Women's team taking 4th. With all the results tallied from the 3-day weekend, CU is ranked 6th in the nation on the road. Great job to everyone who raced, and to everyone who helped support the team this season!

With the collegiate road season now complete, the team is once again hosting the Summer Short Track Series. 13 weeks of intense mountain biking and BBQing fun, every Wednesday at the Research Park. Check out our flyer for more details.

Nationals, Short Track Series, and local race results

2010-05-05

The bikes have been tuned, the trailer packed, and the Nationals Squad off to Madison. The team is hoping for very strong performances to continue our success from Mountain Bike season (2nd at Nats this past fall), and to keep the streak of Top 5 Division 1 Team in the Nation going.

Back home, several CU racers participated in a few local events. Another Lookout Mountain Hill Climb took place on Saturday, where Tisza Bell took 6th and Noral Oslon took 3rd in the Women's 3's. Gabe Bershenyi put in a great performnace in the Men's 3's, finishing 7th, but within 10 seconds of the winner.

Sunday featured a new crit at Sandstone ranch, a smooth 1.2 mile loop exposed to plenty of wind on the east side of Longmont. Brett Peters reached the podium with a 3rd place in the Men's 4s. Kim Trenbath and Tyera Eulberg finished 6th and 7th in the Women's Open, Jesse Goodrich finished 9th in the P/1/2 race, and Phoebe Erdman won in the Women's 4s!

In other news, our summer Short Track Series at the Research Park starts in 3 weeks. We run races every Wednesday evening from 4:30 to 8pm. Show up for some fun racing, some BBQing, and plenty of prizes. The series runs this summer from May 19th to August 11th.

Conference Champions again!

2010-04-26

Our large CU squad made the trek to Durango to defend our conference lead at Regionals. Strong results in each event secured the conference for us over Fort Lewis and CSU! More details on the successful weekend will come shortly.

Congratulations to all of our strong racers, making the Spring Season another great success. And for our many racers heading to Madison, Wisconsin for Nationals in 2 weeks, keep up the training, recovery, and amazing performances!

Jamie is hosting a Celebration and Awards BBQ at his house on Thursday, April 29. Bring something to grill and a few favorite stories from the past year of racing.

Incoming!  CU storms Air Force

2010-04-21

Air Force provides a great warm-up for Nationals, hosting a team time trial, a 4-corner crit with a bit of a hill (just like nationals), and a challenging hilly road race (only a little bit less hilly than UW Madison is putting on for Nats). Unfortunately, Saturday morning brought a very thick fog with intermittent rain and near freezing temperatures. With no visibility, the team time trial had to be cancelled. Fortunately the fog lifted for the later criterium around the Air Force football stadium (the temperature, however did not rise). John Demos raced smart in the Men's C's, but didn't quite have his dominating sprint at the end, finishing in a very respectable 4th. CSU and Fort Lewis broke away from our B racers, but protecting our conference points, Greg Wilken, Davis Miller and Will Buick took 4th, 5th and 6th. Lots of attacks, along with the cold and wind, took its toll the riders. 2 riders eventually managed to get away (including Alister Ratcliff who had soloed 55 minutes at the DU Crit for the win). The chasing pack could capturing only one of them (Ratcliff staying away), and Josh Yeaton managed an 8th Place finish. Despite being alone in the Women's B's, Claire Bensard took the field sprint, 2nd place behind a solo breakaway rider from Air Force. The Women's A's featured a new racer: Heather Fischer (finally) upgraded from the B's, and wasn't intimidated at all. The race came down to a field sprint, where Fischer finished 6th, immediately followed by Megan Cole and Kim Trenbath. Flora Duffy grabbed many prime points, but just missed winning the sprint, taking 2nd (though winning in total points).

The road race on Sunday was sunny and warm, very welcome after the prior day's miserable weather. The 13 mile lap features two tough hills and a fair amount of wind that split up many of the day's races. A solo CSU rider attacked early in the C's, staying away for the duration of the race. CU's C riders grouped well in the pack, and John Demos found his sprint to beat the field to the line, taking 2nd. Grabbing more points, Eric Ebeling took 3rd, and Jacob Kozyra finished 5th. Will Buick took 6th in the Men's B race. In the Men's A's, Jason Woods drilled the pace up the larger hill on the 3rd lap of 5, ultimately cutting the main field in half. Josh Yeaton took 7th at the end. CU's women again dominated the A's, where Duffy soloed to victory, with teammates Trenbath, Nora Olson, and Fischer taking 4th, 5th and 6th.

You can see the full results at USA Cycling. After another strong weekend, we head to Durango for Regionals to secure our place at the top of the conference.

CU Victories abound at Colorado College!

2010-04-13

CU racers continued dominance this weekend down in Colorado Springs, where Colorado College hosted a crit and a hill climb time trial. The same crit course as last year features a sharp u-turn, a long straightaway, smooth descent and a hill just big enough to favor climbers over sprinters. Collegiate A racers Jason Woods and Connor Meznarich cheered loudly for Heather Fischer in the Women's B's every time she approached the u-turn. A very entertained Woods noted that "She would turn to us and smirk in an almost evil way that just professed 'I'm going to win!'" She then proceeded to effortlessly gap the field out of the u-turn, forcing the other racers into exhaustion chasing her down again. She let it finish in a field sprint, specutively to make for better winning pictures. We think it's time she upgrades to A's.

Several hard attacks in the Men's B race, both out of the u-turn and up the hill amounted to nothing. Their race also finished in a field sprint, where Greg Wilken took the win for CU, followed up by Will Buick in 5th. For the first time all season, Natalie Koch was alone in the Women's A's. Unable to stick with her TT-off-the-front tactics, she took third behind Fort Lewis's Magan Long and Missy Erickson. Later in the Men's A race, 3 CU riders were unluckily caught behind a crash, but not before Josh Yeaton and Jesse Goodrich got into a breakaway, the only one to stick all day. Yeaton attacked on the last lap up the hill well before the sprint and held it to the line for the win. To complete the 1-2 punch, Goodrich also won the field sprint for second!

Sunday presented a hill climb up Cheyenne Canyon, thankfully much less windy than Lookout Mountain in Golden the previous week. Most of CU decided to stay in Boulder for the Boulder Roubaix, but the few who stayed behind still managed great results: Koch won the Women's A's, and Yeaton took 3rd in the Men's A's beat by two riders from Colorado College, one of which is a Junior National Champion mountain biker.

Check out the full results here. In the mean time, prepare for another weekend in the Springs for Air Force's TTT, crit and road race.

Windy hill climb and hilly but fast crit at Mines

2010-04-06

Our neighbors to the south, the School of Mines hosted 2 events this weekend: the Lookout Mountain Time Trial and the Corporate Circle Crit. Saturday's hill climb TT was roughly 4 miles at a 5% grade. Early racers had the misfortune of facing strong winds (which held Tom Danielson of Garmin-Transitions far slower than his previous record-setting pace). The winds died down for later starters, playing a factor in the final results. CU had several solid performances, with Heather Fischer posting the 3rd best time in Women's B's, and Natalie Koch, Nora Olson and Flora Duffy sweeping the podium for Women's A's. For the Men's A's, Nate Wilson placed 5th for CU behind 3 powerful Fort Lewis times. Of the 36 A racers, CU had 4 in the top 10 though.

The School of Mines changed Sunday's crit course from last year's. Last year's was a one mile 6-turn course with a long climb around campus. This year was moved to the corporate center known to many summer racers - 1 km with really only one turn, and either climbing or decending the entire time, with the finish line about a 3rd of the way up the climb. A headwind at the top of the hill prevented most attacks from sticking, but not for a lack of racers trying to escape. Heather Fischer won the field sprint in the Women's B's for CU. Teamwork in the Women's A's by covering attacks and doing some pace setting helped set up Flora Duffy to win the sprint.

Greg Wilken and Matt Wiebe did what they could in the Men's B's to cover attacks early on, and later realized a field sprint was pretty inevitable. Wilken got cut off in the sprint, killing his speed to the line and leaving him with a frustraited 9th; Wiebe found a better line to finish 5th. In the Men's A race, Fort Lewis brought a plethora of riders, and CSU was well represented too. The name of the game for CU was to ensure that black and gold gets in every move. Attacks came every lap along the hill, and those few that didn't contain CU quickly got chased down. For a few laps, Brady Kappius was in a 6-man break, including 2 from Fort Lewis, 2 from CSU and 1 from Mesa State. Eventually Air Force, Colorado College and Wyoming chased them back. Attacks continued but never stuck, leading to a very close uphill sprint. Jesse Goodrich took 4th just behind FLC, CSU and Mesa State. Other notable results include Chris Petersen holding a very nice wheelie across the line, and Tyler Nabours not just surviving, but covering attacks in his first A's race, until double-flatting just a lap before the finish.

Sand and Sun (and podiums) at Mesa State

2010-03-30

Warm roads plus snow equals slippery driving. This made the drive to Grand Junction excruciatingly painful on Friday. The hole in I-70 near Glenwood Springs has been patched in one lane, but accidents galore closed Vail pass. On the more than hour-long detour through Leadville, a jacknifed truck brought traffic to a standstill for more than half an hour. Conversation and goofiness among the team members kept the long delays from driving us insane. After 7 and a half hours of driving what should have taken 4, we finally arrived to small pillows but very comfy beds at the Quality Inn.

Mesa State hosted an individual time trial up Colorado National Monument, a "Twilight" Crit at a Go-Kart Track, and a hilly road race near Grand Mesa National Forest to show the RMCCC what western Colorado has to offer. Despite lacking a decent warm-up for the 4-mile time trial that climbs 1000 feet of the National Monument, CU still managed some great results. A rediculous Joe Munchak of CSU won the C category by over a minute, but the next few riders were pretty close, with John Demos missing 3rd by a mere 9 seconds. In the Men's B's, Fort Lewis's Nate Byron took the win just 2 seconds ahead of CU's Matt Wiebe; Will Buick claimed 3rd for CU as well. Claire Bensard took 4th in the Women's C's despite a "lack of training." Natalie Koch continued to show her TT strength, winning the Women's A's by 40 seconds over Fort Lewis. Nora Olson, Kim Trenbath and Tisza Bell claimed the 3rd through 5th spots for CU as well. Josh Yeaton won the Men's A's with an impressive 15:39 time.

After a brief lunch, we headed to Grand Junction Motor Speedway for a very technical and very fun criterium, featuring one small hill a few hairpin turns and a very fast chicane. Men's C's started off quick and tactical, with the hill and tight corners quickly splitting the field. A Fort Lewis rider broke away from the lead group of 8, and CU's John Demos bridged up in the hopes of securing the breakaway. A lack of cooperation allowed the other 6 riders to catch up, and a series of ensuing attacks amounted to very little. Coming into the finishing field sprint, John Demos summoned motivation from previous 2nd's and 3rd's to win by 4 or 5 bike lengths!

The hill and turns split the Women's B field as well. In the front group, the powerful mountain biker Sage Wilderman was closely marked by Tanya Phillips, Claire Bensard and Heather Fischer from CU, along with 2 riders from CSU. The 3 CU riders worked well together covering efforts and dominated every prime lap. Wilderman sprinted early and managed to hang on over a charging Fischer. Bensard and Phillips rounded out 3rd and 4th. In the Men's B's, Peter O'Donnell attacked from the gun (in his typical mountain and cyclocross style) and held a decent gap for 5 or 6 laps. After the field caught him, Greg Wilken controlled much of the race for CU, covering attacks, and at one point drilling the pace on the front during an entire prime lap - and still managed to sprint off the front for the prime! What a monster! CU continued to cover attacks and claim prime points, finishing with Tyler Nabours darting through traffic to take 2nd in the field sprint.

After long but quiet USAC races, the Women's A's took the starting line near dusk. Kim Trenbath traded early attacks with Fort Lewis riders Missy Erikson and Megan Long. Eventually, Long stayed away for good, with Erikson taking 2nd. An exhausted Trenbath hung on for 4th. The Men's A's started on a shortened course (with the hill removed) at sunset. There were only so many flood lights that soon turned on to keep riders relatively safe in the darkness, not enough lights to include the hill. Early primes started the race very fast, and led to 2 or 3 crashes around the hairpin turns. After only a few laps, Mesa State's Richard Geng attacked, and was shortly joined by CSU's Caley Fretz, University of Denver's Joe Lewis, and CU's Jesse Goodrich. The escapees flew around the technical course, eventually dropping Lewis while building their lead to 40 seconds over the field. Fretz outsprinted Geng for the win, with Goodrich taking the final podium spot. Josh Yeaton also did well with the chase group, taking 7th. Following the dark crit, our hungry team then packed up the trailer and headed to Carino's for a late Italian dinner loaded with carbs for the following day's road races.

All collegiate riders started early, with the Men's A's at 9 and other categories following a 5-minute staggered start. This course lead riders up a steep climb to a very long false flat that started the lap counter, around a tight corner to a long and gradual descent, finally up another steep climb and into a flat headwind to finish off the lap. Fortunately, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and temperatures got close to 60 during the race, making the course...well...not as miserable. The Men's C's only had to suffer 1 lap before descending to the finish. The hill climb TT winner from CSU took advantage of the climbs and flew down the final descent for the win; CU's John Demos followed up his Crit win with 3rd in the road race. The first climb split the Women's C's field, letting Claire Bensard escape with Sage Wilderman and Hill-Climb TT winner Silvia Moelk from Mesa State. Bensard sprinted away to claim the win for CU. The second hill led to a decisive group of 5 in the Men's B's, featuring TT winner Nate Byron, Joe Schneider from Mines, and CU's hill climbers Wiebe, Buick, and Tyler Nabours. On one hill, Nabours put in a powerful attack that looked very promising, until he flatted. After support arrived 15 minutes later, his previous gap still allowed him to finish 3rd, along with teammates Buick and Wiebe in 2nd and 4th. Both Women's and Men's A races saw attacks from the very first hill. In the Women's A race, Sarah Sturm of Fort Lewis attacked, and Natalie Koch followed, and the two stayed away for the entire race. Repeating the hill climb results, Koch got away from Sturm for another CU victory. To stay consistent with the hill climb results, Nora Olson got away from the field to take 3rd. In the Men's A race, Jamie Sullivan jumped ahead of the pack at the start of the climb. 2 riders from Mesa, 1 from CSU and 1 from Fort Lewis followed. Unfortunately, Sullivan couldn't hold the pace. CSU and Fort Lewis stayed away to claim first and second. More than half of the A field dropped out from the pain of the course and the pace. Jason Woods and Josh Yeaton stuck it out for 10th and 11th, respectively.

Following the road race, we started the process of packing vans and trailer, changing clothes, and hitting the road. A little lunch in Glenwood Springs helped for recovery, and luckily we didn't hit much ski traffic through Vail, Fresno or Dillon - a pleasantly quicker drive than we had on Friday. All in all, some great weather and great results made for a very enjoyable end to Spring Break. Next we visit the School of Mines for a Lookout Mountain Hill Climb on Saturday, and a Corporate Center Criterium on Easter. Cadbury Egg primes, anyone?

Snowy Saturday, Oval Spectacular Sunday at CSU

2010-03-24, by Tyler Nabours

Spoiled by two weekends of exceptionally good weather, the typical spring Colorado caught up to us. After a dump of wet snow, Colorado State University was forced to cancel Saturday's race schedule of Crit and Team Time Trial around CSU's classic campus oval course. Sun and warmer temperatures quickly melted and dried the streets and racing was on for the oval crit on Sunday.

Starting the day off with Mens Cs, CU fielded a team consisting solely of Rex Roberts. Despite arriving minutes before the 8:00 am start time, Rex managed to get everything together. He put in a solid race, gathering some prime points to go with his field finish.

Racing in Womens Bs, CU's Brittany Bohannon and Tanya Philips took to the oval. Repeated attacks from a loaded field of CSU riders made work difficult for CU. Brittany spent the race marking attacks and shutting down breakaway attempts. Helped by 6 consecutive 90-degree corners and attacks, the field strung out. Brittany finished a with a very strong second place overall.

A strong showing of CU riders in the Mens B's meant for a high likelihood of success. Immediately following a prime sprint, a Wyoming rider laid on the gas. Tyler Nabours jumped on and a gap was established. This being their home race, two CSU riders took up chase and bridged the gap. A UNC and a third CSU rider later managed to bridge the gap, forming the six man breakaway only several of minutes into the race. With representation from the largest schools, the main field slowed up. Despite 3 men in the breakaway, CSU was bested by CU's Tyler Nabours. In the main field, a leadout by Matt Wiebe resulted in a 2nd place field sprint for an 8th place finish by Greg Wilkin.

In Womens A's, CU team took advantage of their numbers and their strength. Natalie Koch continued to display her TT fitness as she soloed to victory. Kim Trenbath took the field sprint for 2nd, with Tisza Bell taking 4th. Natalie Koch doubled up on the day as well, taking the win in the Women's 3/4 category. A solid group of CU riders in the Men's A race resulted in a large impact on the progression of the race. An early attack by Josh Yeaton was followed by CSU rider Caley Fretz, with the later addition of Evangelos Gatseos of Metro State to round out the major team representation in the race. Following suit of the Mens B race, they maintained a lead all the way to the finish, with Josh taking a very respectable 3rd. Having Josh up the road, CU riders diligently marked attacks and bridging attempts along with CSU. In the field Sprint, CU's Jesse Goodrich and Braden Kappius took 4th and 5th to finish in 7th and 8th, respectively.

Despite one day getting snowed out, there is no doubt that 2 wins, lots of prime points and 5 total podium spots made this a very successful Sunday, and a good way to start our Spring Break. We return from break next weekend to race at Mesa State. Happy Spring Break, and Happy Riding!