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Sunshine Hill Climb
This was a seriously busy week with races and other activities Wednesday through Sunday. The weekend festivities started with the Sunshine Hill Climb, a 3000 foot challenge right out of Boulder. Ami Bigler-Redd wore her team colors proudly, and despite having a rough ride, complete with a couple of mishaps, still gave us that smile that just lights up a room and makes us all remember why we do this. A relatively modest turnout would indicate many riders were saving it up for the State Criterium Championships the next day, but those that came had a great time, complete with after party at Rueben's Burger Bistro. You can pretty much count on seeing a lot more awards ceremonies in places like Rueben's. This is quickly becoming the model for Barry Lee's events -- engage the town, engage the businesses, and it is much more fun than standing on the side of a mountain in the middle of nowhere receiving your prize. And there's beer.
In the SM 1-2-3 group, Isaiah Newkirk (303 project), who has been on a tear lately, beat LeRoy Popowski (Juwi) and Jameson Ribbens for the top podium spot. In the SW 1-2-3 race, Annie Toth (Groove Subaru) crushed everyone, beating her teammate, Rae Brownsberger by 5 minutes, with Lynne Anderson (ALP) taking third.
If you were one of the lucky participants, please take a moment to fill out the
racer survey. Thank you.
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Junior Track Championship
Saturday evening, riders took to the track for the Junior 11-16 State Track Championships Omnium. It was an interesting night. There were only 8 riders present, representing 5 different age/gender combinations, and track director Chris Ferris quickly made the call to run them all together. It turned out to be the most exciting 8-rider tournament I have seen. Those young racers totally went for it. We also got to watch some excellent displays of sportsmanship during the evening. During one of the massed start events, the leader, being tired of leading, began moving up the track. The next two riders followed him. Unfortunately, while there was room for the first two, the third clipped the front wheel of a rider above him, who had gotten sandwich'd. The rider who got clipped fell down track the hard way, hitting his head and retiring for the night under the EMT's recommendations. The rider whose rear wheel made contact was visibly upset about having been part of and perhaps causing the crash. In reality, it was just one of those things that happens all the time, and an excellent learning experience for all concerned about protecting your position, your front wheel, and being aware of yourself and others around you. At the end of the night, there was a tie on points in the men 13-14 group between Diego Montez and Steven Truesdale Jr. Diego won on the tie-breaker with more victories in the individual events. Immediately after the final result was announced, Steven, who is a very competitive young man, immediately went over to shake Diego's hand and congratulate him. Classy.
Let's congratulate our 2017 Junior State Champions:
Bodhi Main (Rage) -- JM 11-12
Olivia Cummins (Melton Design) -- JW 13-14
Diego Montez (Rage) -- JM 13-14
Petra Schmidtmann (Rage) -- JW 15-16
Caleb Blichfeldt (Melton Design) -- JM 15-16
Thank you everyone who brought your passion and your A-game to our track community Saturday night.
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Masters State Criterium Championship - Lucky Pie
The fun continued on Sunday with the Sonic Boom Lucky Pie Criterium, which was also the State Championships for the Master classes. Let's congratulate the following riders on their shiny new champion's jerseys:
Lawrence Bosch (Boulder Center for Orthopedics)
Sue Lloyd (RMRC p/b Turin)
Steven Worley (Boulder Center for Orthopedics)
Mindee Stevenson (Boulder Center for Orthopedics)
Norm Alvis (Megastar)
Jon Harp
Anne Donley
Jorge Espinoza (Juwi)
Michael Korin (Groove Subaru)
Steve Rademacher (Palmares)
Sonic Boom also had a special prize on the line for the team with the most podiums during the day. It turned out to be an exciting competition. ALP took an early lead by getting on the podium in each of their four appearances. That proved to be hard to beat, but going into the final race, the SM 1-2-3, there were five other teams with three podium appearances each (Palmares, Boulder Center for Orthopedics, Megastar, Sonic Boom, and Groove), all of whom had at least one victory, which would give them the victory if they put someone on the podium in the last race. It was close, but a break of 4 got away, including Groove's Sam Redding, who held on to take 3rd, giving his team champion standing.
If you took part in the event, or even if you didn't and just want to tell us about the great pizza, please fill out the
racer survey. Thank you. And thanks to Sonic Boom and all the volunteers, officials, riders, and medical staff who made this a great day.
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Colorado Riders Crush It in Quebec
One of the coolest races in the world is the Tour de l'Abitibi in Quebec. I have had the pleasure to attend about 6 of them, sadly missing this year. However, BRAC sent a team of Colorado riders (Excel Sports p/b BRAC). There were other Colorado juniors who participated in other teams as well, including Riley Sheehan who rode with the USA National Team. Space constraints prohibit really doing justice to their story, so I will extract a full article from Clark Sheehan and Jon Heidemann for later publication. Our team was on the podium a bunch, including the final day triumph of Denzel Stephenson (shown above). But the top honors went to Riley Sheehan, who was stolen from our team without remorse by USA Cycling so he could ride for the National Squad. It appears USAC chose wisely, as Riley won the whole shootin' match -- First place G.C. This bodes well for his future, as many of the greatest legends in the sport got their start winning this event. There is even a museum in one of the small towns that has the entire history of this race, and you can see pictures of Eddy Merckx, Miguel Indurain, Bernard Hinault, and their kind, all when they were juniors riding this race. Way cool. Congratulations to all our riders out there, You did us proud.
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Sponsor Spotlight
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Upcoming Races
Jon is back from Quebec and will be out to see what has become of his event during his travels. Come out and work on your skills on a fun and safe course. See the
flyer.
They just cannot get enough out there in Erie. Last week's Thursday race, Friday Clinic, and Sunday State Championships just whet everyone's appetite for more. Come check out the racing action. See the
flyer for more details.
Salida is always a quaint and fun place to hang out in the summer, but this weekend we descend upon this sleepy little town with a hoard of junior riders chomping at the bit. When the RMJCC cancelled their event, Barry Lee stepped up and offered to put on the Championships for Juniors, and that means three of them in one weekend. We will be out there with metric tons of medals and jerseys to hand out to our young champions. See the
flyer for details.
Back for another year of intense pro-level racing, the Littleton Twilight Criterium has an $8000 payout for Pro Men and Pro Women. But they also have 4 other categories, making it a nice, compact night of racing to enjoy. Participants also get a Velorama ticket. Littleton DOES Rock! See the
flyer for more info.
The Front Rangers and James Levy work their collective butts off to give you a spectacular course in the very heart of Denver, even though it gets harder every year with the expansion of housing projects and businesses. If you are SM 3-4, this is one of the big ones for you. The race boasts a $2000 prize list for you, not to mention the same for SW 1-2-3, and $3000 for the SM 1-2-3. Check out the full scoop in the
flyer.
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