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News - Updated 10/31/2009

CURRENT RACE REPORT

What a great end to the 2009 Season!  We are so proud of our accomplishments in this first inaugural year as a Women's Only Team.  We had outstanding performances in all women categories including ending the season in the Top 5 Best All-Around Teams ("BAT") for the SW3 and 4 divisions, even given that we only have 10 women on the team - Way to Go Girls!!!  AND all of our Cat4 racers were upgraded to a Cat3 classification. 

During the month of August, the last full month of racing in Colorado, the first weekend held the Master State Championship Crit at the Vic's Espresso Prospect course on Sat, Aug. 9 with a few of our Masters 35+ women.  The crit is a very technical course worthy of crowning a State Champ.  We all came across the finish line sprinting with the 21 remaining women in the finish pack and ended up with a 4th place.  The next day was our co-promoted race with RMSS for the BRE Real Estate Crit as we promoted our sponsors, so it was a busy day working from 6am to 5pm, and it was probably the hottest day yet in Colorado.  Our Cat4 women were able to race the early morning start and took 1st, 2nd and 4th place almost sweeping the podium.  Then the SW1-2 racers started the last race of the day feeling tired, but still finished strong with an hour long race going up the "hill" more than 20 times - what a day!

The weekend of August 15th and 16th held two more critieriums with a new race on Saturday called the Raisin Hope Foundation Classic on the Colorado State Patrol course - wickedly flat and fast with many chicanes.  All the women's categories had their own separate races and one of our teammates raced the Cat3 division for the first time after just being upgraded - it was exciting.  Our Cat4 racers again dominated with a 2nd and 3rd place finish, while the Cat3 and Cat1-2 racers finished in a pack sprint.  On Sunday, another State Championship Crit race was held for the Senior categories on the Niwot course - another very technical course with a 180 degree off-camber corner around a tree in the middle of town.  Starting the morning off with the Cat4 racers, after a long battle to the finish line and mostly everyone staying upright, a teammate barely missed first position and ended up in 2nd place with a Silver medal with the help of another teammate leading her to the finish line.  The other women races were large fields and we all held on to finish strong.

As the season begins to wind-down, the races taper off and so do the ladies as we have all been racing now for nearly 6 months.  An oldtime favorite, Primal/Hart (fka Swankys) was held on Sat. Aug. 23 on the Inverness course, which has a long but not too steep hill that just seems to go forever.  The women had several divisions that they could race in during the day, but we decided to have our six Cat3/4 members race together and really work on all the race strategies and team work learned throughout the year.  This yielded results of 4 of our ladies in the Top 10 spots of a large field.  After that race, the SW35+ division gun went off and immediately there was a break of 4, of which one of our team members were in.  They stayed out front from the first lap and on the very last lap, she tried a flyer but was caught at the line for 4th place.  What a Fun Day and a Great Way to End the Season. 

We also had another addition to the race family with the birth of a baby boy (darn, we were hoping for another future women racer - ha!), so Congratulations to our teamie and her husband. 

And one of our teammates continued her quest to race another triathlon during the month taking 3rd place in her age group, with a 6th place Overall in the Rattlesnake Triathlon held at Aurora Res on Sun, Aug. 16.   

As we look forward to next year, truly we have a fantastic group of women who have really developed as a team.  Our 2010 season will be met with enthusiasm as we now have nine Cat1,2,3 women who will have the opportunity to race together in some races where the fields are combined and we will be mentoring our two new Cat4 women.  We also are excited to partner again with our gracious sponsors and continue to promote cycling for Women.

See you in 2010... 

ARCHIVE NEWS as of August 10, 2009

The month of July started with a well-deserved break for the Fourth of July weekend, then off to the races with the Longmont Classic Crit on Sun, Jul 12.  For the women's races, there were 2 divisions - the SW3-4 categories, which gave our squad the opportunity to race together and work on team strategies, resulting in a 3rd place podium finish.  Then followed the SW35+ field with a 2nd place finish for our team.  What a great way to begin the second half of the bike racing season!

The next weekend on Sat, Jul 18 was the long-awaited for Mt Evans Hill Climb, pursued by many racers throughout the country and thought of as one of hardest epic climbs in North America.  Many pro card racers come to this event to give it a go at the race record.  It is also the host to the Colorado State Hill Climb championship.  The race starts early as the weather can sometimes be a factor with racers not able to reach the top before having to turnaround if a mountain thunderstorm is in the area - but nature was on our side this year, as the weather was just stunning for the race to the top of the 14k.  Our 3 brave racers had been training for this event as with an altitude race, you need to be prepared.  Just to finish is a fete unto itself - all 3 finished within personal best times and a podium finish of 3rd place in the SW3 category. 

Finally a full weekend of racing started on Sat, Jul 25 at the Denver Federal Center; just to enter requires a sign-in with ID at the gate.  The course was modified from previous years, but still included an approximate 3.8 mile loop with 22 turns - crazy!  We had a well-attended race even given that we had celebrated the marriage of one of our teammates the night before, so we were all in a festive mood and ready to tear it up, which lasted even into the next day with the Bannock downtown Denver crit on Sun.  The fields were large as it is not often that you can race on the streets of downtown.  We had a rider in the break in the SW1,2,3 field, which barely held off to the end with the field chasing down to the line, but our Cat3 racer held it for 1st place in her category.  We were back in the money.

Our almost full squad travelled to the small mountain town of Salida for the last weekend of July for the Salida Omnium - a 3-day event in which you earn points for each of the 3 races based on your finish.  We started with a time trial on Fri afternoon and had 6 - top 5 results in the various women's categories with a 1st, two 2nd, a 3rd, 4th and 5th place finishes and lots of points.  Sat was the Colorado State championship road race and is definitely one of the toughest 12 mile circuit races in the nation where you must complete anywhere from 3 to 5 laps dependent on your field, of steep climbs followed by descendents where speeds easily reach 40 mph.  In the SW4 field, one teammate finished on the podium for 3rd place, while in the other fields we each held good placement going into the final race on Sun for the crit.  The crit is a fairly technical figure 8 course and great for spectator viewing.  We had all our cheerleaders in place to watch the exciting finale that lasted until late afternoon with a 2nd, two 3rd, and 4th place finishes.  Unfortunately, we had a crash in the SW1,2,3 field in the last lap with one teammate not able to finish the race.  But we were able to move up in the points categories and finished the overall omnium with a 1st in SW35+, a 2nd, 5th and 17th in SW3 and a 3rd and 4th in SW4.  Our team rocks!

Additionally, our Cat4 ladies have been earning upgrade points throughout the 2009 race season and expectations are that they will be upgraded to Cat3 race status by the end of August.  And our quest to continue some diversification in triathlons continued in July with a 1st place finish in age group/6th overall in the Tri for your Cause triathlon held on Aug 18.  Our teammate selected the Komen Breast Cancer foundation as the cause in support of one of our honary team members who is battling her current cancer diagnosis.  Let's hope they find a cure soon.

We also had an addition to our race team with the birth of a future women's racer - Congratulations teamie!  We'll be anxious to have her out racing with us again real soon, especially with CycloCross racing starting in Sept.       

More racing yet to come in August - stay tuned....

ARCHIVE NEWS as of July 10, 2009

June continued a busy month of racing for the ladies.  The first weekend was the CO State Time Trial championships on Sat, Jun 6 which features a 40k course out by the Denver Airport.  It was a very windy day, but ended well with a podium finish in the SW4 field of 3rd place by our team rider that was riding a road bike with clip on aero bars - I think a TT bike next year will be the investment as she was only off the lead by 40 seconds and a TT setup with wheels would have made the difference.  The next day June 7 was the City Park Crit, an old well-established technical race.  The weather was the factor on this day as a tornado had actually touched down in Denver - very unusual.  The ladies held it together during the rain and storms, got a prime and finished strong.

Travel was also the name of the game for June with several long distance races during the month, starting with a TT, Road Race and Crit in Glenwood Springs the weekend of June 12.  As we finished the TT on Fri evening, it was a spectacular scene as 2 Astana riders rolled up to race the Pro1-2 men field - Lance Armstrong and Levi Leipheimer.  Needless to say our women race times were no where near their times, but we held our own in field placings.  The road race the next day became one of survival once we hit the dirt - water bottles were flying and the road was very rough, rattling our bikes.  The uphill climb, still on dirt towards the end of the turn around shattered the field into several groups; then chasing downhill we were able to come back together with our ladies sprinting in the 2nd finishing group.  What a ride - I think we lost half dozen water bottles that day.

The Mike Horgan hill climb on June 20 is a monsterous race with pitches reaching up to 20+ gradient over the 18 mile climb with 3400ft elevation gain and with a portion on dirt - did I say "dirt" again, oh no!  I do believe this would almost qualify for an "HC" climb, if not at least a "Category 1" in the Tour de France.  In the SW1-2 field, a few pros showed up and it was very fast out of the gate up Boulder Canyon until the beginning of the steep stuff, which happens very quickly.  Then it was just settle into your own rhythm while the pain continued to the finish at Eldora ski resort.  Again we had a 3rd place podium finish in the SW4 division that came down to a sprint at the line.  Sprinting practice is on our list of team training coming up in July!

Then the last weekend in June headed out to Laramie, Wyoming for the Dead Dog Classic - a race that's been going on since 1984.  This is a stage race, the only one held by our Colorado bike association, ACA, where you must finish each race to be able to progress to the next race.  It starts with a mountain road race on Sat with 2 climbs to over 10,800' over the Snowy Range Scenic Byway - very scenic but hard to see the beauty when the heat's on and the head's down pedaling the bike.  The next day, Sun, consists of 2 races in one day - the morning holds the downtown crit, then you head directly to the TT, which is possibly the nation's highest elevation "flat" course at 8,888'.  Our Cat3 women had fantastic GC (general classification) finishes with all 3 landing in the money$$$ with 2nd, 7th and 8th placements; we are working well as a team and definitely have some climbers!

June also showed the team diversity with a few triathlons thrown in by some of the women.  In the Loveland Lake to Lake Olympic triathlon held on June 20, resulted in a 1st place and 13th place in their respective age groups.  They were the top bike splits in their divisions. 

July racing will resume the weekend of July 11th with a small rest for the team - look for an update in early August as our team continues to concentrate on the Best All Around Rider and Best All Around Team competitions.  

ARCHIVE NEWS as of June 5, 2009

The team has participated in almost every ACA race during the month of May - check out full results on the results tab.  But May was no different then the previous months with the cancellation of at least one race, the elusive Koppenberg Circuit, which had been rescheduled twice, was once again cancelled a 3rd time due to the uncooperative weather on Memorial Weekend - bummer.

Starting the month of May with the Wheels of Thunder race on the 9th was a packed field for all categories since racers were excited with the delayed season start.  Unfortunately in the SW Cat4 division, their race was shortened from 40 minutes to only 25 minutes with no notification from the race officials, so our ladies were caught off guard until the last minute of the sprint to the finish.  Always something to learn with racing - this lesson was to always watch the lap counter no matter what. 

The following weekend was a lesson in crashes as the N Boulder Crit is a very technical savvy course including riding through a residential alley.  Our Cat4 women remained unscathed but sad to say a few ladies were hurt - our thoughts go out to them.  In the early (very early 7am start) Masters Womens race, we had another podium finish for our team including our first official medal.  And in the very late (5pm start) SW1/2/3 race, the field was stacked with professionals and there was actually a call-up of National racers and a Canadian Olympic racer.  Our lone rider held in there and finished the race smiling being able to ride with such talent.  Long day but great team bonding.

Memorial weekend was tricky as there were not races for all the women's categories and with the cancellation of Koppenberg, there ended up being only 1 race for the SW Cat3 division - Rocky Mounts Louisville Crit on May 23.  This division saw a record number of SW Cat3 racers and we had all our women on the line - it was great to see them working together as a team.  There was a race for the SW1/2 but it was with the Master Men 45+, so needless to say, we all got shelled off the back one by one; mainly a race of attrition.  I don't think the ACA will combine these fields again.

The last weekend of May saw several podium finishes for our women.  The infamous Hugo Road Race held on May 30 - now 78 miles racing for all categories, was wickedly hot and windy as normal.  By the race finish time in mid-afternoon, we were all tired as all our team participants finished the race - the attrition rate is nearly 30%, so finishing is a fete in itself.  Our SW Cat4 racers received a podium finish with 3rd place out of 41 starters.  The next day May 31, our team fielded several women's categories and our SW Cat4 racers finished strong and with the win in 1st and 3rd places.  Our ladies in the SW1/2/3 race held their own with another 1st place finish for the Cat3 division.  Way to go Team!

Off to the June races Now - will catch up soon.... 

ARCHIVE NEWS as of May 4, 2009

The 2009 local racing season has begun!  The early season races were postponed or delayed due to the ever changing weather in Colorado, but finally saw the light with the first ACA race of the season - Deer Trail Road Race held on April 25.  The Pro Design powered by Porsche/BikeSource ladies had an awesome start to the season with several top ten finishes in various racing categories in this opener road race - 5th in the SW Cat4, 2nd and 3rd in Master Women 35+ and 10th in SW Cat3 divisions.  Since the top 3 racers (considered "podium" finishes) in each category receive race winnings and prizes, this was also our first money winnings, which a portion will be contributed to the team charity.  This race was followed up the next day with a Team Time Trial, Haystack Mountains, in which our SW Cat4 team took 2nd place following the winners by only 10.8 seconds.  As a beginner SW4 team with no previous experience in Team Time Trials, this was an impressive finish - now only needed is some drills on cornering and we're sure they will nail the first place win next time.

The second full weekend of racing saw more wins for the team at the Lookout Mountain Hill Climb on May 2.  The SW Cat4 ladies took 3rd, 5th and 12th place, and the SW 1/2 division saw an 8th place finish.   

While we had local racing in Colorado, one of our teammates was racing at the Tour of the Gila, a National level stage race with 4 stages that include 2 long road races, 1 time trial and a criterium.  Starting with day 1, Kristi was with the lead group when she suffered a mechanical issue and ended up chasing the lead group to a strong finish.  The remainder of the days, she was with the leaders, but just could not make up the time difference from the first day, so she ended the event with an overall general classification of 7th place - way to go Kristi!    

The ladies are also riding strong in the Cherry Creek Time Trial Series, which began on April 8 - a 7 races series on Wednesday evenings out at Cherry Creek Res.  The TT course consists of a little more than 10 miles of various terrain going as fast as you can in staggered start times.  With 4 races completed, our team currently sits in the Top 3 for several of the women categories.  

COMMUNITY ACTIVITY

The ladies recently co-hosted an event with BikeSource and Specialized for a "Girls and Gears" night on April 30 to promote women in the sport of cycling.  This first-time event was a success with greater than 75 women in attendance.  The team fielded questions from all levels of cycling ranging from recreational rider to advanced racer.  We look forward to assisting with this event annually.

SPONSOR NEWS 

Pro Design Racing has secured our 3 top sponsors for the next 2 years - Pro Design, Stevinson Imports/Porsche and BikeSource, including the Specialized Grassroots program.  We look forward to our partnership to promote women's cycling and the sport of racing to the Colorado communities during 2009/2010.