US Cup West #1: Sagebrush Safari

Sawicki and Taberlay start off the 2010 US Cup season with wins

Pro Men's Podium: Vincent Lombardi, Jeremiah Bishop, Sid Taberlay, Manuel Prado, and Dana Weber (left to right) Photo courtesy of Manuel Prado

1, Sid Taberlay (Sho-Air/Specialized) 2.00.20
2, Jeremiah Bishop (Cannondale Factory Racing) 2.02.59
3, Manuel Prado (Sho-Air/Specialized) 2.07.31
4, Vincent Lombardi (Velosport) 2.08.02
5, Dana Weber (Trek/World Bicycle Relief) 2.08.06
6, Adam Snyder (Jamis Bikes) 2.08.07
7, Romolo Forcino (Bear Valley Bikes) 2.08.17
8, Miguel Valdez 2.10.03
9, Menso De Jong (Santa Cruz Bicycles) 2.12.05
10, Jason Siegle (Bike Religion) 2.14.42
11, Doug Johnson
12, Charles Jenkins
13, Sean Donovan
14, Dezmin Wilder
15, John Nobil
16, Paul Freiwald
17, Tsering Alleyne
18, Matthew Connors
19, Eric Biermann
20, Alex Boone
21, Robert Herber
22, Ryan Clark
23, Tom Koerner
24, Chris Heinrich
25, Noah Holcomb
26, Matt Freeman
27, Derek Hermon

Pro Women

1, Pua Sawicki (Okolestuff.com) 2.17.03
2, Allison Mann (Rock 'n Road Cycling) 2.26.30
3, Rebecca Tomaszewski (Niner/Ergon) 2.42.21
4, Anna Fortner (Team Socal Cross) 2.49.08
5, Dorothy Wong (Team Socal Cross) 3.16.10

Online registration is now open for the Beti Bike Bash. On June 12, 2010, women of all ages and abilities will converge at Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood, Colorado to take part in a little piece of mountain biking history.

Hosted by Yeti Beti with the support of Yeti Cycles and Bigfoot Productions, the first ever women's only event will offer several races for all ages and abilities. Whether you are a first time racer or a seasoned professional, this event is truly for everyone. The five-mile, non-technical, singletrack loop, with views of the surrounding Red Rocks Park, will see beginners, sports, and elites race two, three and four laps respectively. There will also be a three-woman relay fun race for those who want to experience the camaraderie of a mountain bike race with their friends.



"Mountain bike races are intimidating for beginner women for several reasons," said Sarah Rawley, Bigfoot Productions public relations and Team Yeti Beti rider, "Steep climbs, rocky descents, high altitude, and often you are gone all day from your family. We wanted to break down those barriers and offer something that any woman who rides would enjoy. With Bear Creek's close proximity to Denver and great trail system, it was a perfect venue for an event like this."

For more detailed event information and registration, please visit www.betibikebash.com.

For event sponsorship opportunities, please email betibikebash@gmail.com.

Alpine Epic Mountain Bike Stage Race, NZ – Day Four (Final)

Whalley and Miller win stage, Williams and Hogg take the title

Capping off four days of tough racing, Team R&R Sport riders Tony Hogg and Mark Williams sealed the victory at the 2010 Alpine Epic, but not without a big final stage fight from the Property Syndication riders Ollie Whalley and Brent Miller, both of Christchurch, who won Stage 6.

Big Mountain Riders: Team R&R Sports riders Tony Hogg and Mark Williams ride toward New Zealand's highest mountain, Mt. Cook (3700m)

“Brent was on fire today and totally smashed the climb up the Irishman,” his teammate Whalley said.

“I just wanted to be the first one to the top to see the view of Mt Cook,” Miller laughed.

“We tried to attack off the start, got a bit lost and then had to find our way to the front again and just pulled away after the climb,” Whalley said.

Near the end of the 74km stage Whalley, of Christchurch, thought his race might be over when it felt as though he had stripped a cog off his bike's cassette, but it was later that he realised he had actually stripped the spline off the freehub. He managed to preserve the bike to the end and win the stage in a time of 3:22:03 and secure second position overall.

“The event has been lots of fun and I will definitely do it again – but maybe with tougher tyres next time,” Miller said.

“Willie and Tony are a very tough team to beat,” Whalley said.

Champions: Team R&R Sport's Tony Hogg and Mark Williams celebrate winning the 2010 Alpine Epic multi-stage mountain bike race

Williams, of Queenstown, and Hogg, of Dunedin, overcame a tough start in Stage 6 after Williams struggled on the ascent up the Irishman – a climb that took riders to 1300m above sea level and a panoramic view of the Southern Alps on the clear, hot, windless final day of racing on Saturday.

“I was in the box today and Tony had to pull me through. I lost a bit of traction up the climb and then the gap just grew,” Williams conceded.

“I knew we had a big lead going into this stage so it was just a case of managing that lead – maintaining a good pace without blowing ourselves to pieces,” he said.

“You can’t take any lead for granted – anything could happen,” Hogg said.

“It’s good to see those guys win a stage today – they’ve raced bloody hard and had a lot of bad luck, so they really deserved the win today,” Williams said.

Williams and Hogg rode bikes equipped with 29-inch diameter wheels [standard is 26-inch] and they both admitted that this had a hand in their success at this year’s Alpine Epic.

“Stage racing and getting used to the whole team dynamic has been great fun and we were quite evenly matched and didn’t abuse each other too much,” Hogg laughed, vowing to return again in 2011.

“The camaraderie of this event is the best bit for me – getting your tents up, sitting around and having a laugh and hearing all the stories from the day and just eating as much as possible,” Williams said.

The Team Yeti NZ pairing of Kashi Leuchs, of Dunedin, and Marcus Roy, of Invercargill, finished third.

Fast Women: Kath Kelly (left) and Erin Greene, take a swim in Lake Tekapo after winning the women's title at the 2010 Alpine Epic

The lead three women's teams continued their tussle during the final stage with Athena Girls Bec Rae and Jo Turnbull, both of Christchurch, pulling away to a strong lead to the top of the Irishman, ahead of Team Outside Sports, Floortje Draisma and Jo Williams, both of Wanaka, and Team R&R Whippets, Erin Greene and Kath Kelly, both of Dunedin.

However, Greene and Kelly, recovering from a series of bad luck in the preceding stages, determined to build on their lead and applied the pressure through the gravel road section and made it into first place on the second climb and went on to win the final stage and the women’s title.

"We probably worked together better as a team and every night we made a plan about how we would apply the pressure and attack things," Greene said.

"Erin made me hurt," Kelly said.

"Erin came back down on the big climb when I was hurting and she carried my bike up – she's been an awesome teammate."

Greene and Kelly made their move on the second climb and never looked back – literally.

"Erin kept telling me that the other team was right on us, but she wouldn't let me look back at them," laughs Kelly.

Greene and Kelly could not relax to enjoy their final moments in the stage until they had the finishline in sight, they said.

"This has been one of the best races I have ever done," Kelly said.

"The atmosphere at nights is unreal and the food is fantastic ... and as for the weather – four days of perfect conditions – I'd hate to do that in the rain!"

Having two strong women's teams around them throughout the four day journey made it "scary, but made us work harder", admitted Kelly.

Greene and Kelly completed the four-day, six-stage race in 21:18:17, and placed sixth overall.

The race for second was won by Draisma and Williams, who finished Stage 6 three minutes ahead of their rivals, Rae and Turnbull, and in doing so stretched their overall advantage to 8 minutes. Draisma and Williams finished on 21:49:50 for ninth overall with Rae and Turnbull on 21:57:02 and in 11th position overall.

Event co-organiser Nick Ross said the event had surpassed his expectations this year with stunning weather adding to the ocassion.

"You couldn't ask for better – stunning views up the lake to Mt Cook today and for the last two days we've had views right up the Aoraki range – it has been good," Ross said.

"It has been a tough event, the second day in particular, but riders are coming in stoked with a real sense of achievement that they have completed it, which is brilliant."

Stage Winners: Property Syndication team members Brent Miller and Ollie Whalley led the final stage and secured second place in the overall competition

Ross admits that he thought he may have made Day 2 a bit hard at one point.

"The stage across Coal Hill and then on to Clayton Station is a critical part of the race, but we started to worry when we were looking at our watches and no one had come in after five hours," he laughed.

Organisers expect the event to grow and would like to lift the entry numbers to help "streamline some areas of the operation".

"It's great to see some international riders here and we would like to see more coming to take part and to grow the event," Ross said.

Next year's race would maintain the intensity of the 2010 course, but Ross said it might include some new trails and hinted at the possibility of a fifth day being added.

He also suggested that alternate loops would be created for those who want to complete the event, but will be challenged on the longer days.

"That way top riders could have bigger days and less experienced riders would still get to ride most of the course," he said.

Ross was quick to acknowledge that both winning teams in mens and womens were R&R Sport teams – something that fits well with the event sponsor.

"They came on board from the beginning and have been really supportive throughout the race, so it was good to see they also fielded such strong teams," Ross said.

Click Here for full results

Alpine Epic Mountain Bike Stage Race, New Zealand – Day Three

Leuchs and Roy win Stage 4, Williams and Hogg extend lead

With Day 3 split into two stages overnight, for logistical reasons, the fields had two chances to win a stage on Friday and for Kashi Leuchs and Marcus Roy, the technical Stage 4 played right into their hands at the 2010 Alpine Epic in New Zealand.

Photography by: Derek Morrison

Deep Water: Competitors cross the Tekapo River on Stage 5 of the Alpine Epic

The Team Yeti NZ pairing of Leuchs, of Dunedin, and Roy, of Invercargill, won the 32km technical stage from Lake Opuha to Burkes Pass in a time of 1:45:32, 2mins30secs ahead of second – Team R&R Sport's Mark Williams, of Queenstown, and Tony Hogg, of Dunedin, who are the overall race leaders.

"We had fresh legs after yesterday's nice cruise in the mountains," Leuchs states.

"Marcus put down the hammer quite early in the river section and I just followed. We had one rider from each of the other teams with us after the river and Marcus just led the way."

"It was a fun stage – we liked the gully and real mountain biking terrain of this stage," he said.

Two punctures kept the Property Syndication team of Ollie Whalley and Brent Miller, both of Dunedin, out of the front running in Stage 4, finishing almost 20 minutes adrift of the leaders.

Team R&R Whippets, Erin Greene and Kath Kelly, both of Dunedin, extended their lead winning the women's Stage 4 race from Athena Girls, Bec Rae and Jo Turnbull, both of Christchurch, and Team Outside Sports, Floortje Draisma and Jo Williams, both of Wanaka.

The women continue to keep the intensity in the race – finishing within five minutes of each other in Stage 4, despite Draisma and Williams suffering mechanical problems in the stage.

Stage 5 saw competitors leave Burkes Pass on a 43km route that finished in Windy Ridges, 20km southwest of Tekapo and included a series of climbs above Burkes Pass and a desert traverse through a section of the Mackenzie Basin.

Williams and Hogg controlled the race after Whalley and Miller flatted twice. Roy and Leuchs punctured after a climb early in the stage and never rejoined the front teams.

Big Climb: Mark Williams of Team R&R leads his teammate Tony Hogg and members of the Property Syndication team up a climb above Burkes Pass

"Ollie and Brent were going pretty hard and so we went with them and then they punctured," Williams said.

"Some of the views today were magnificent. Mt Cook looked stunning and clear – as if you could touch it," he said.

Williams said the desert crossing was a tough one because of the rough ground.

Team R&R Sport won the stage in 2:17:03 with the Property Syndication team chasing hard to close the gap to just nine minutes.

"We had four punctures today – two in each stage," Whalley said.

But he admits he enjoyed the variety of the day.

"The desert stage was surreal – you were just riding forever and it was tough going with lots of small bumps," he said.

"We were trying very hard to catch up – we were smashing it, but couldn't claw the leaders back."

In the women's race in Stage 5 Rae and Turnbull turned up the intensity and led the women's race from early on. Draisma and Williams found their form, but were unable to rejoin the leading girls who won the stage in 2:46:41 – making up valuable time in the overall standings.

"We felt good after the break between stages and just pushed hard up a couple of hills, but the R&R girls were right on us," Rae explained.

"We didn't talk as much today so maybe that helped."

"I found the desert really hard – my hardtail wasn't the ideal bike for that," she said.

"But we are happy we won today – we can't let the R&R girls win every stage."

R&R Whippets made a navigation error in Stage 5 that saw them ride 3km down the wrong trail turning their 43km stage into a 49km struggle and relinquishing 18 minutes to the leaders of the stage.

As the race draws into its final day, Williams and Hogg have a comfortable lead sitting on 13:36:05 going into the final 70km stage with almost an hour buffer from Whalley and Miller.

Greene and Kelly are also in a commanding position in the women's at 17:16:34 – 30 minutes ahead of Draisma and Williams and 34 minutes up on Rae and Turnbull.

"We'd like to try to sneak our way into second, but we are still paying for our nine flat tyres on day one," Rae said.

Embarking on the 2010 Alpine Epic are two riders from San Luis Obisto, Calfornia, who have used the race as a catalyst to relocate their lives to New Zealand.

Epic Attractions: Sarah Ledger and Zeph Wadsworth of San Luis Obispo, California, made the Alpine Epic their deadline to relocate to New Zealand

Sarah Hedger and Zeph Wadsworth have embraced the ride and been wowed by the scenery.

"We heard about the great trails here and the New Zealand way of life is a better alignment to our values – it's a better quality of life for us here," Hedger said.

"We booked onto the race and used it as a deadline to get us here – a set event that we had to be at," Wadsworth said.

They sold their belongings and jumped on a plane with four bikes and all their possessions.

"We are just going to travel around and see the country and figure out where we want to be,"

"The race has been much harder than we thought with bigger hills than we expected and crossing the rivers is like something out of Lord of the Rings," Hedger said.

The couple has clocked up 23:19:14 in their first three days on the event.

Saturday's final leg will traverse the mountain tops to the west of Lake Tekapo before finishing in the Tekapo township.

Kenda Cup West Opener Drawing Top Talent

The Kenda Cup West Series opener at Sage Brush, brought to you by Team Duke.Org is drawing top pro and amatuer athlete’s for 2010.

2009 race winner Sid Taberlay

Last years Sage Brush men’s pro winner; Sho-Air/Specialized rider Sid Taberlay, brings with him a 2010 Austrailian National Short Track title to this year’s event, as the Aussie looks to make it two for two.

Men's start in 2009

Taberlay will be hard pressed in 2010 however, as newly signed Cannondale Factory riders Jeremiah Bishop and Tinker Juarez are set to race this weekend. Add in 2009 La Ruta and Costa Rican XC Champion Manny Prado of the Sho-Air/Specialized team, and the 2010 Kenda Cup West Series opener is shaping up to be a slug fest.

Women's podium in 2009 with Pua Sawicki on the top step

2009 women’s race winner, Pua Sawiki, of Team Mata/Okle Stuff.com looks to repeat as a two time race winner. Sawiki will have a solid line up of women racer’s with Rock N Road’s Allison Mann and others trying to knock off the six time National Endurance Champion.

The Sage Brush racecourse

About Sage Brush: Located east of San Diego off Interstate 8, the Sage Brush course is a throw back to a more tradional mountain bike loop, with multiple distances ranging from 26.8 miles and 3,500 feet of climbing for the Pro and CAT 1 loop, to a shorter 18 mile loop for the CAT 2 and 3 riders.

The course uses exsisting jeep and motorcycle trails of the Lake Morena OHV park and offers racers a wide variety of terrain, with rolling Whoop De Doo’s, banked berm corners and a fun flowy style of riding. For the mountain bike purist, Sage Brush is a must attend event!
Sage Brush course map http://www.geoladders.com/gps_route_racer.php?route_id=21974\

Alpine Epic Mountain Bike Stage Race, New Zealand – Day Two

Women's teams rise to the challenge on tough Coal Hill stage

Photography by: Derek Morrison

Three women's teams stole the show during Stage 3 of the 2010 Alpine Epic Mountain Bike Stage race held between Rangitata River and Lake Opuha, near Fairlie, on Thursday.

Team Work: Wanaka residents Jo Williams, formerly of Ireland, and Floortje Draisma, formerly of the Netherlands, ride past Mt. Peel in Stage 3

Led by the R&R Whippets team of Erin Greene and Kath Kelly, both of Dunedin, a trio of women's teams reached the Coal Hill ridgeline within whispering distance of each other after an arduous morning climb.

"It was a very tough day – I think we did 3400m of climbing in about 83km," Kelly said.

Race Leaders: Team R&R Sport riders Erin Greene (left) and Kath Kelley, both of Dundin, lead the women's event after Stage 3

Greene and Kelly were the fourth team to arrive overall and were closely followed by Team Outside Sports' Jo Williams and Floortje Draisma, both of Wanaka and Athena Girls riders Becs Rae and Jo Turnbull, both of Christchurch.

"We were tussling with Jo and Floortje," Kelly said.

"They caught us on the ridgeline and were very fast on the descent," Greene said.

"We had girls in front and girls behind us at the top of Coal Hill and we could hear them chatting away – it was a bit of a battle," Williams laughed.

"We got to the descent first, but lost a bit of time on the gravel at the bottom."

The top three women's teams traded the lead across the ridgeline and held the race intensity right to the end of the six and a-half hour stage. Greene and Kelly finished in fourth overall and won the women's stage in 6:27:48 with Williams and Floortje arriving at camp in sixth place overall in a time of 6:34:50 and Rae and Turnbull finishing in ninth overall in 6:42:43 for third in the women.

"I think this is one of the toughest races I have done and that's including the Goldrush and Coast to Coast," Kelly said.

"We didn't expect to finish fourth overall," Greene admitted.

"I was surprised that we were so close to Marcus and Kashi."

Big Challenge: Wanaka residents Jo Williams and Floortje Draisma are among three women's teams vying for the top spot

Williams and Draisma got lost in a bog near Lake Opuha that cost them about 20 minutes they said.

Team R&R Sports riders Mark Williams, of Queenstown, and Tony Hogg, of Dunedin, won the men's stage on a gruelling route across the top of Coal Hill and down into the Hewson River in a time of 5:15:20.

But their race was not without hardship – Williams crashed hard on the first big descent grazing his shoulder, smashing a spoke and ripping the bottom jockey wheel off his rear deraileur.

"That made things a bit interesting for the rest of the race – every now and then the chain would get stuck in between the cassette and the spokes, but it wasn't major," Williams laughed.

"We were fortunate to get through the final half of the day with that kind of mechanical," he conceded.

With them the whole way were the Property Syndication team members, Ollie Whalley and Brent Miller, both of Christchurch after dropping the third member of the front group – Team Yeti NZ's Kashi Leuchs and Marcus Roy on the first climb of the day.

"Brent was battling a bit today – he only had three bottles of water for five and a quarter hours – he suffered from a bit of dehydration," Whalley said of his team member.

Race Leaders: Leading the climb up Coal Hill on Stage 3

"We used lots of tactics today – we had to get between Tony and Willy [Williams] up the hills and slow them down a bit and on the downhills we had to try to slow them up so Brent could stay in touch."

Kashi was just cruising today – he was just out to enjoy a good day in the mountains, Whalley said.

After more than 80km the two lead teams got lost in the final run into camp at Lake Opuha, and finished within seconds of each other.

Team Yeti NZ riders Leuchs and Roy finished in third place more than an hour later with a time of 6:19:49 after what they described as "a fun day in the mountains".

Travis Woodruff is a USAC Level I (elite) certified coach who holds a B.S. in Kinesiology with emphasis in Exercise Science. He’s coached riders to five MTB National Championship wins and has over 10 years of personal racing experience. Since 2005 he’s competed as a pro mountain biker and has coached full-time. His business, Momentum Endurance LLC, is based out of Tucson, Arizona where he hosts wintertime training camps.

Question: I race a full mountain bike schedule as a Pro throughout season but I still have a full-time job. How do I balance training with my work responsibilities to maximize my abilities as a racer?

Optimizing Training for your Time-Limited Schedule

Most all competitive cyclists have numerous time demands which limit their ability to train at will. Even very few pros enjoy the luxury of a daily schedule, which solely revolves around training -- so time-limited training principles apply to most all of us. If training is going to be effective and enjoyable it is important do some objective planning before turning the pedals. Keep in mind that the perfect training plan isn’t so great if it means you’re neglecting work or family commitments. With less time available to train, there’s less margin for training error and its important to make the most of training opportunities. With an optimized program you’ll be challenged, always improving, and enjoying the experience. A small amount of planning, organization, and time management can bring huge dividends to your training routine.

Plan Ahead for the Big Picture (realistically)

Get a handle on your work schedule, family vacation plans, school schedule, race schedules, or any other schedules that your life might be dependant upon. With this information in front you, you can objectively plan out the bigger picture of your season. Knowing which blocks of time will be great for training, when your riding schedule might be tight, and when it might be best to take a short break will help you to define the season’s goals. Chances are good you’ll be riding your best after periods of consistent training and relatively fewer demands otherwise. Try to choose goal races that coincide with when you’ll best be able to prepare for them.

Woodruff puts his expertise to use on and off the dirt

Break it into Smaller Cycles and Set the Course of Action

With the bigger picture outlined it’s helpful to break down the season overview into smaller cycles. It works well to let overload and recovery do its trick within a block of three or four weeks. Two to three weeks of challenging riding should be followed up by four to seven days of lesser workload. For each of these cycles it’s critical to have a clear goal for the training. This could be overloading a specific energy system such as your Lactate Threshold or tallying up a lot of singletrack miles. Moving from the development of one specific focus onto the next is progression towards your goals.

Be Consistent

With the focus clearly defined for the three or four week cycle it’s time to plan weekly rides. If weekends are a good opportunity for training, try to also incorporate two high quality workouts during the work week. With four days where you’re achieving a training overload the other days can then be of lesser intensity and/or duration – a chance for recovery. The body thrives on consistency so if possible, keep your rides to a similar time of day. In doing so the training becomes a natural part of your day rather than something that’s incorporated haphazardly. The better your body can detect a pattern, the more likely it is that you’ll benefit from the specific overload that you’re placing upon it.

Make Note of your Progress

Most riders will thrive with just a little more organization than they’re currently used to. Keep a training log with objective data (power, HR, or otherwise) and also your subjective notes or comments. Over the long term you can review the log and better fine tune your training while you seek the perfect balance with your busy schedule. Plan for your successes, be consistent with your training and you’ll come through a stronger rider in the end.

Get Optimized

Check out MomentumEndurance.com for more information and some helpful season planning tools so that you can make the most of your time-limited training schedule. With a balanced plan put into action all that’s left to do is accomplish your goals. Related questions or comments can be sent to TJ @ twoodruff@MomentumEndurance.com. Enjoy the ride!

Trans-Sylvania and Chris Eatough Team Up

Trans-Sylvania Epic and Chris Eatough Coaching Announce Strategic Partnership,
Training Camps and Plans for Trans-Sylvania!

Chris Eatough and promoters of the Trans-Sylvania Mountain Bike Epic are pleased to announce two great ways to help athletes prepare for the incredible seven-day event, scheduled May 30-June 5, 2010, in State College, PA.

Chris Eatough, the World's most accomplished endurance cyclist, has created the Trans-Sylvania Epic Training Plan at ChrisEatough.com. It is a custom built training plan designed specifically around the demands of this incredible event and will bring participants to peak form in time to race. Whether you are preparing for an all-out solo assault on Trans-Sylvania or choosing your own stage race adventure on a Trans-Sylvania Team, this custom plan will prepare you perfectly.

Says Eatough, "Mountain bike stage racing is such a great format, but there is a lot to know if you want to maximize your performance and fun. I have packaged all my knowledge, tips, and experience into the Trans-Sylvania Epic Training Plan so that participants can arrive at the race, ready to perform at their peak".

Chris worked closely with Trans-Sylvania Director and renowned endurance coach Mike Kuhn to delve into the demands of each and every stage of the race and integrated these considerations into the 12-week plan available for download on ChrisEatough.com. In addition, Eatough will be attending several days of the event though not as a racer. Eatough will be on hand to advise racers on how to best prepare for the rigors of upcoming stages - physically, strategically, and mechanically. Eatough plans to ride along with racers, providing technical tips and advice while enjoying the sweet central PA singletrack.

"Since I've known Chris he has always been the consummate professional and he is now using his attention to detail in creating the Trans-Sylvania Epic Training Plan. We're very excited to offer our participants the opportunity to take advantage of Chris' knowledge and experience through this plan designed specifically for our race. Combined with our training camp and the opportunity for fully personalized training through yours truly, we have the full spectrum of options for endurance mountain bikers." said Kuhn.

To further prepare participants for Trans-Sylvania and offer a way for all athletes to ready themselves for the summer season, TSE is offering the Endurance MTB Training Camp/Trans-Sylvania Epic Preview. The Endurance MTB Camp/TSE Preview will run May 13-16 in State College, PA and will be led by Mike with assistance from two-time US National 24-Hour series champion and fellow PAValleys.com racing team member, “Vegan Rob” Lichtenwalner. Training rides on the Trans-Sylvania Epic courses will ready participants for the exact demands of the race. The TSE Camp offers all endurance mountain bike racers the opportunity to lift their fitness to a new high as they prepare for the summer schedule of cross country racing, 50 to 100+ milers, and 12- and 24-hour mountain bike races. Evening discussions will explore all aspects and nuances of endurance MTB racing. Participants will leave the camp more ready than ever to go the distance! More information about the camp, plans and this incredible event may be found on www.TransSylvaniaEpic.com.

Type rest of the post here

2010 Virginia Off Road Series : Bigger Than Ever!

- Richmond, Va –

The 2010 Virginia Off Road Series will launch our 3rd season on March 7 with the first Camp Hilbert race outside Maidens, Va. Continuing on our quest to keep things interesting, our series will cover events, new and old, across the state through the end of October. New events in southwestern and northern Virginia will challenge our athletes to some great events. But these events are not the only thing new and exciting to the Virginia Off Road Series!



This year, the Virginia Off Road Series has added a new Enduro Category: XCAT. These competitors will only be scored on the longer events vs. the traditional cross country. These slow twitch athletes asked us for their own Cat and we have delivered. There will be plenty of opportunities for the XCAT’s to take on one another with our Calendar.

The Virginia Off Road Series will be partnering with Endorphin Fitness, CyclingCentralVa, Friends of Pocahontas State Park, Virginia State Parks and MTBRaceNews.com for more excitement to the season. Endorphin Fitness excels at bringing the best out of athletes, their new column, EF Advice, will be updated monthly with new training ideas. CyclingCentralVa will offer the Virginia Off Road Series an exclusive Forum for our athletes to discuss the Series and related topics. The Virginia State Parks returns with their sponsorship of the Wildman Award. MTBRaceNews.com will be delivering customer tailored coverage with articles from our athletes.

An exciting new venture this year is our PayDirt Program. The Virginia Off Road Series will be working closely with the Friends of Pocahontas State Parks to implement this rewarding program. PayDirt will reward athletes with extra points for hours worked in Virginia’s great trails. These points will be added to their final score and will make a difference.

Technology will be working for the Virginia Off Road Series in the form of Facebook and Twitter. One of the quickest ways to get our audience, Facebook will carry up to the minute news. Our Twitter connection can update our website from any location that we have cell service. All this will help keep the Virginia Off Road Series ‘live’ with information.

Bring your A game to the 2010 Virginia Off Road Series. We got what you are looking for in off road racing…

Click Here to view the entirety of the enormous Virginia Off Road Series

More Races Added to the Best MTB Race Calendar on the Web

More 2010 dates added to the best MTB race calendar on the web. Click here and start your search for the best mountain bike races in your area. We put all the info you need in one easy to find and easy to search location.

Click a state and start your search

Check out these and many more new races we have added to our calendar just this week:

New Belgium Brewing 18 Hrs of Fruita, Colorado
SoNoMas, California
Boggs, California
Shasta Lemurian, California
Bloomer 62, Michigan
Teva Mountain Games, Colorado
Crankworx, Colorado
Bone Bender, Missouri
6 Hour Grind, North Carolina
Off Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell, North Carolina
Pisgah Mountain Bike Stage Race, North Carolina
The Ramble Around Prattsburg, New York
The Hardcore24, New York
Cascade Creampuff, Oregon
Oregon MTB Race Series
Keyesville Classic, California

If you have an event you would like added to our nationwide race calendar send your information to info@mtbracenews.com and we will get it posted.

This week we hear from Eric Orton of TrainWithEric.com. Eric is an elite-level coach who trains some of the top MTB racers in the U.S. Eric is the former Director of Fitness and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, a certified Functional Training Specialist, a Certified Sports Hypnotist, and holds coaching certifications from both USA Triathlon and USA Cycling.

Question: You coach Amanda Carey, who has great success racing in cross country, cyclocross, and ultra endurance MTB races. How does she train to be successful at such varied racing distances in the same year?

Every December, Amanda Carey and I meet at the local coffee shop for our yearly chat. We discuss how the past year went, perceived strengths and weaknesses, what worked and more importantly what didn’t. You know, all the usual coach and athlete stuff. Once we start to hammer out the seasonal race and training plan, the inevitable question always surfaces, “So, what are we going to focus on this year, cross country races or marathon-endurance races?” And for the last four years, the answer has been – both.

As we pull out the calendar and dive into planning the specific races for the season, Amanda always gets very excited and sometimes I need to remind her why we prioritize races and have purposeful training. I tell her, the goal in training is to improve your raw ability or power, and not just continue to enhance your ability to sustain your race pace. The latter usually comes in the form of building an endurance base first and then applying some intensity to this base. The key to Amanda’s success at both cross country distance and the marathon distance races - and now cyclo cross races - is to employ just the opposite approach. This means we have to continually build and improve her engine at the start of each year. So instead of long rides in January to improve the engine, she is pumping out intervals to help improve her power at VO2max (pVO2max), neuromuscular power, and economy.

The pVO2max reveals both the magnitude of aerobic capability and the efficiency with which power is applied to the pedals, and it is one of the most powerful predictors of endurance capabilities. Neuromuscular power works in tandem with Amanda’s pVO2max training to improve her maximal velocity and economy. Once we established this training effect, I apply this improved power, efficiency, and maximal speed to her cross-country specific endurance training phase. This way she is faster, more powerful, and more efficient during the most important training phase as she prepares for the cross- country race season. Her specific cross-country training and races then, in effect, continue to improve her strength endurance and threshold simply by the nature of the energy systems at work during the races.

Amanda Carey has finished on the podium at the Breckenridge and Leadville 100, US Cup races, and UCI-level Cyclocross events

As Amanda nears the end of her high priority cross-country races, we shift gears and spend about 6-8 weeks focusing on specific endurance training for her 100ers. Now that she is extremely fit from the cross-country race circuit and early season power development, she has the ability to ride with more power and speed. Our next key chore is to train in a manner that maximally extends the time over which she can sustain that fast riding. The overall principle is to apply her improved power and strength from the early season to her specific race pace endurance training rides. This creates a faster race pace and an improved tolerance for holding this pace. It's no longer enough for her to ride long miles and focus only on her aerobic development . In fact, it never was enough.

Whether I am preparing Amanda for cross country, marathon, or cyclo cross races or Cary Smith for his second place finish at the World’s 24 Hour Championship, the good news is that power factors can be improved by all level of riders. By training in the early season to improve power in a progressive and systematic way and then applying these gains to race specific training, eventually anaerobic and aerobic characteristics should fuse to produce the best-possible race times - from short course all the way up to the ultra distances.

If you have a question for our team of mountain bike coaches please email it to info@mtbracenews.com

24 Hours of Old Pueblo: Tucson, Arizona

Report by: Krista Park dedicated to Stan Koziatek

The members of the Stan's sponsored teams

Pro rider Krista Park just completed the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo. She teamed up with several of the folks from the Niner team and East Coaster Harlan Price. It seems Park is in great shape and ready for another great season of mountain bike racing. Krista's report and photos are below.

Stan (of Stan's No Tubes fame) brought three teams to Tucson, all of which placed 1st; The Hippie Ninja's of Stan's World 155-199 team (22laps), a 200+ team (21laps) and a female singlespeed solo Karen Rishel (13 laps) .

The 155-199 team was Fuzzy Mylne, Dejay Birtch, Krista Park, Harlen Price, and Jake Kirkpatrick "The Hippie Ninja's of Stan's World". The competition was Team Topeak - Ergon (21 laps) with Dave Wiens, Yuki Saito, Sonya Looney, Jeff Kerkove and Rebecca Tomaszewski.

I believe I got both fastest day and night laps for the women, but don't see those posted. The best part of the weekend was being on such a fun/fast team and having Stan and Mike so involved with our racing. They knew lap times, who was up next, when the next racer was due in, etc. It was awesome standing in the exchange tent getting ready to go on a night lap and have Stan himself give me the strategy, adjust my light and make sure I had everything I needed, then when I finished my lap Mike would meet me. Mike knew everyone's lap time right away as he walked around with his iphone and kept an eye on the live results. Todd (my husband) loved it too and went to bed for the night.

Mike working the online updates

Scott Morris and 24 Hour Singlespeed National Champion Lynda Wallenfels won the Duo Coed race

Old Pueblo always offers up plenty of foot cactus

live results: http://epicrides.com/twofour/24.htm

Results:

Solo Men

1, Ant White 17 laps
2, Sean Allan 16 laps
3, Dave Byers (Athlete360.com) 15 laps
4, Chester Artman 14 laps
5, Sean McDevitt 13 laps

Solo Women

1, Windy Marks 13 laps
2, Delena Hanson 12 laps
3, Elizbeth Boese 11 laps
4, Wendy Skean 11 laps
5, Catherine Bywaters 10 laps

Duo Female

1, Alacia Sooter/Lyn Crew 14 laps
2, Bojo Post/Emily Eads 12 laps
3, Cynthia Bryan/Caroline Lanier 11 laps

Duo Coed

1, Scott Morris/Lynda Wallenfels 20 laps
2, Aaron Gulley/Jeny Meinerz 19 laps
3, Nick Thelen/Tracy Thelen 18 laps

Duo Men

1, Brian Bennett/Ernesto Marenchin 20 laps
2, Scott Spangler/Chad Watson 19 laps
3, Kevin Risebrough/Zack Heim 18 laps

5 Person Coed Combined Age 150-199

1, Hippie Ninja's of Stan's World
2, Team Topeak-Ergon
3, Heidi's Pig Farm
4, Zero Gravity
5, 4 Studs and Their Sugar Daddy

Not So Fast with Brian Hester

There are people in the world of cycling who were born to race. They are the ones off the front looking like they’re out for a Sunday ride with your local biking club. They can put down chain breaking power with seemingly little effort and process oxygen faster than a top fuel racecar. I am not one of those people.

My first test on the Computrainer

MTB Race News thought it would be interesting to use me as a guinea pig in their experiment. It goes like this: I get on a serious training plan and throughout the year I will be thrown into mountain bike races to see if I float. The ultimate question is: Can a serious training regimen make anyone fast, even someone as pathetic as me. In the name of science, I agreed.

Doing the hard part of this little experiment will be Rodney Riley of 19 Sports. 19 Sports, located at the fabulous Canyons Resort in Park City, Utah, is part bike shop and part Computrainer classroom. Rodney will assess my needs and abilities with specific goals in mind and tailor a training program to help me reach those goals.

19 Sports will be helping me along the way

Class began with a 40-minute time trial on the Computrainer to determine a baseline. Because the Computrainer allows you to replicate the exact conditions on any given day, it’s an excellent way to measure your improvement (or lack of improvement) over an 8-week course. The course programmed for me was the Coors Classic Morgal-Bismark time trial.

The hilly Morgal-Bismark started out with a lung-busting climb that instantly maxed out my heart rate. I dropped a few gears to let my HR fall back down to 190 and settled in to a hard but relatively comfortable pace. The flat screen monitor showed my progress, heart rate, watts, speed, distance, and unfortunately a clock counting the seconds. I spent the last ten minutes staring at that damn clock making the time drip by as if in slow motion. I tried to get out of the saddle and really hammer the last two minutes but instantly blew my heart rate again. Eventually, I crossed the virtual finish line satisfied that I had gone as hard as possible.

And the results are…. not great. Of all the people 19 Sports has tested I was somewhere in the 25th to 30th percentile. In other words, 70 to 75 percent of people tested were better than me. My average heart rate for the test was 189. Lactate threshold power (LTP) was a pathetic 181 watts and LPT/weight equaled 2.7. No wonder I was never any good at road bike racing. I have the power of a Toyota Camry in neutral with the gas pedal stuck halfway down.

Check back to see if I can improve my numbers and finally get in racing shape. My first race of 2010 will be the Intermountain Cup’s (www.intermountaincup.com) season opener in St George, Utah on March, 6th.

This week our question goes to Namrita O'Dea. A licensed dietician and member of the Topeak/Ergon racing team, O'Dea helps riders fine tune their bodies for maximum performance through her business 55 Nine Performance Nutrition.

Question: My body fat hovers around 10-12 percent and I would like to get it down a few points. What's a safe way to bring my body fat down without negatively impacting my winter training?

Namrita O'Dea: Winter is a good time to really focus on changing your body composition. Losing body fat while building fitness is a fine line to ride, though, and extra care should be taken to adequately fuel and recover from all training sessions. As you will read below, a multi-pronged approach will be most effective. A detailed training and a nutrition log, if you have time, are also very useful throughout the process.

DXA, hydrostatic weighing, and the Bod Pod are the more accurate methods of measuring body composition. However, if you only have skinfold or BIA, use them as relative measurements to gauge your progress. Just keep in mind, the error percentage is higher when using the latter methods. A regular weight scale won’t tell the whole story when you want to differentiate percent fat from lean mass.

In order to preserve your metabolism and lean body mass while losing fat, create a slight energy deficit of approximately 250 to 400 calories per day. You can do this by eating slightly less at your larger meals, eating more nutrient-dense rather than energy-dense foods, increasing the amount of fresh foods in your diet, and reducing extra calories such as those from salty snacks, desserts, sodas, or alcohol.

Protein will keep you satiated longer and, when consumed with carbohydrates, will help to slow the insulin response. Aim for just under 2 grams of protein per kilogram of your body weight, per day. When race season comes around, you can slightly decrease protein and increase your carbohydrate intake again.

Aim for around 20% of total calories from fat per day, with the majority of fat coming from unsaturated sources. Animal fats are higher in saturated fats and should be limited. If you can’t successfully moderate your dessert intake it is probably best to cut it out all together and substitute it with lower-calorie options. One square of dark chocolate can go a long way in satisfying a sweet craving!

As an athlete, carbohydrates should comprise at least 50% of your macronutrient intake. Because refined sugars are less satiating and cause more rapid insulin spikes, most of the carbohydrates should come from higher-fiber complex carbohydrates, fruits, and vegetables. When possible, combine carbohydrates with protein. Once higher intensity training and racing ramps up, you will want to increase the daily percentage of calories from carbohydrates to approximately 65% of total calories.

The timing of your energy intake is equally important as what you eat. Scale your energy intake so you are taking in more calories when you are more active (i.e. in the first half of the day versus right before bed). Don’t skip meals or snacks and try to go no more than 3 hours at a time without energy intake. Avoid consuming mass amounts of calories at one time, as is often done at a post-ride recovery meal.

Never skip the recovery drink or snack. Immediately after a training session, use a 250 to 400 calorie recovery drink (or equivalent food with additional fluid). Then consume smaller 250-600 calorie snacks or meals every 1-2 hours to maximize recovery and minimize excess fat storage.

Incorporate strength training into your regimen, if you have not already. Not only will it help your performance, it will help you reach your fat loss goals more quickly.

Finally, green tea catechins have shown some promise in fat metabolism. So, brewing some hot green tea might be a good way to keep warm in the winter!

TransRockies adds UCI points and More Prize Money in 2010

photos by: Dan Hudson

In the same year that the TransRockies returns to the majestic Alberta Rockies, it has been granted UCI status—only the second North American stage race to do so--and will offer the most international ranking points in addition to the best-organized and most epic stage race in North America.



In addition, the 2010 TransRockies, will offer even more prize money to elite teams, the prize purses for the top teams in the 7-day 2-person team TransRockies and the 3-day solo TR3 will be over $30,000 cash.

“2010 is a very important year for TransRockies,” said Event Director Aaron McConnell. “We are returning to our roots in Alberta with an awesome new course that’s more fun, rideable and challenging than ever before. And, given that our team has organized numerous World Cups, applying for UCI Sanctioning seemed like a natural next step in the race’s evolution.”

With the points chase for the 2012 Olympic spots about to kick off in earnest, the opportunity to earn some of the over 2500 UCI points on offer should attract some of the top riders in North America to the start line in Fernie, BC. “Having TransRockies become part of the national calendar along side the other exciting events in Canada this summer, will help to solidify Canada as one of the strongest mountain bike nations in the world!” said Nicholas Vipond, Mountain Bike and BMX coordinator for the Canadian Cycling Association.



The TransRockies brought the concept of mountain bike stage racing to North America and continues to push the format forward, offering the best experience for riders of all levels with a combination of seamless complete support, epic singletrack and real Wild West hospitality.

“While we’re looking forward to a deep and competitive elite field, we’re still completely focussed on making sure that we offer all of our riders the adventure of their lives,” said McConnell. “We’re hoping that the presence of more pro riders just adds to the excitement for our recreational riders. We’re confident that we’re going to set a new benchmark again in 2010.”



The 2010 TransRockies starts August 8th in Fernie and finishes 7 days later in Canmore, Alberta on the edge of legendary Banff National Park. The TR3 runs concurrently with the first three stages of the TransRockies finishing August 10th. For more information on the 2010 TR and TR3, visit www.transrockies.com.

With the scarcity of UCI sanctioned mountain bike races in the United States and close proximity of the Transrockies you can expect many top U.S. racers will be traveling up north. Top riders who have raced Transrockies in the past include Barry Wicks, Kris Sneddon, and Katerina Nash. Don't be surprised to see some big names from the United States racing in Canada this summer.

Singlespeed USA Championship, Tucson, Arizona

Report and photos courtesy of Krista Park

The race was about 50 miles, but the first 7.5 miles was a neutral roll-out on paved roads. Once we got to Redington dirt road, everyone stopped, we walked our bikes up around a bend in the road, and removed the front wheel. After walking the front wheel back to the "start" we sang Happy Birthday to Dejay Birtch, the event promoter, ran up to our bike, put the front wheel back on and started racing up the dirt road. Approximately 100 riders were on hand to serenade Birtch in his birthday celebration.

Race venue before the start

Those who short-cut the course didn't sign in on the result list. Riders were still coming in after dark. Todd (Krista's husband) and I would have finished close to each other, but he broke not one, but two, pedals in the race. He ended up having to short-cut the course and didn't sign in at the finish.

It was a cool course, with a big climb to start on a fireroad I never had any issues passing. After 9.5 miles of dirt road we turned right onto a section of AZ Trail singletrack which was a blast, and a little hard to follow; I blew through a lot of turns. After that it was a mix of super steep rocky ATV trails, more than a little hike-a-bike, back to Reddington road to repeat a 5-mile section then left on the AZ Trail, again a really fun section, then the famous Milagrosa descent (with a few more climbs). Lots of cactus and rocks, perfect weather, no arm warmers needed.

The SSUSA racecourse

I still don't know Dax's winning time, Dax didn't know his own time and in true SS fashion, no one wrote it down. Scott Morris (topofusion.com) is listed as 4th, he thinks he was 5th, there is no telling. Scott's time from the official start at 9:45am (after "happy birthday") was about 4 hours, mine was 4:13, maybe 1.5 hours in front of the next girl.

Although Dax and I had the best times, the official SS Champ title was awarded by a no-foot-down game about four hours later (while riders were continuing to come in off the course). Neither Dax or I won this game. Some guy took me out, I don't know who he was or if he even raced.

Of course Dale's Pale Ale was on hand for this event

Campers awaiting the race start

Race bikes prepared for a 50-mile beatdown

Results after the ride

1, Dax Massey
2, Mike Montalbano
3, David Wilson
4, Scott Morris
5, James Harmon/Nick Gould
6, Scott Moots
7, Robin Guillame
8, Fuzzy Milne
9, James Upshaw
10, Jake Kirkpatrick
11, Tom AMen
12, Krista Park (Incycle)
13, Thor?
14, Rob Decot
15, Nat Pellman
16, Shey Lindner
17, Evan Smith
18, Kaolin Cosmo Cummens
19, Andrew 40 Hands
20, Chad Cheney

** Results for this race are compiled by having the racer sign his or her name to a piece of paper after crossing the finish line. Apparently after racing a singlespeed for 50+ miles writing legibly is difficult. We at MTBracenews.com had a difficult time deciphering some of the names because the entire list looks like it was written by a left-handed Spider Monkey on crack. We apologize for any misspellings or inconsistencies in the reporting of these results**

With Colorado’s famed history with the sport of mountain biking, it is only fitting for the first ever women’s only mountain bike event to launch on the state’s legendary turf. In 1990, Durango hosted the first ever UCI Mountain Bike World Championships and two Coloradoans, Ned Overend and Juli Furtado, were crowned World Champions. Crested Butte is home of the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame and Museum and the Leadville 100 attracts some of the most renown racers from all over the world to compete in one of the toughest mountain bike races in the U.S.

Now on June 12, 2010 the Beti Bike Bash will add to the history with its debut as the first ever women’s only mountain bike event at Lakewood’s Bear Creek Lake Park, 15 miles west of Denver, Colo.

Team Yeti Beti will play host to this event with presenting sponsors Yeti Cycles and Bigfoot Productions of Golden, Colo. The event will offer women several exciting and fun races for all ages and abilities. The course at Bear Creek Lake Park is a five mile, non-technical singletrack loop with views of surrounding Red Rocks Park. Beginners (CAT 3) will ride two laps, with the sport (CAT 2) riders racing three laps, and the Open/Pro race featuring four fast laps. There will also be a three-woman relay fun race for those who want to experience the camaraderie of a mountain bike race with their friends.

The Beti Bike Bash is being supported by many of the Yeti Beti’s team sponsors. Yeti Cycles was the first to commit their support and help launch the idea. “Chris Conroy, the president of Yeti, pretty much told us to make it happen. We’ve wanted to do this since we started the team in 2007 but didn’t have the resources to do it until now”, says Amy Thomas of Team Yeti Beti. “The Beti Bike Bash is something that the team supports 100 percent as a way of giving back to our sport.”

Citing other successful women’s only events in triathlon and running, it seemed logical to the team to host such an event. “Mountain bike races are intimidating for beginner women for several reasons,” said Sarah Rawley, Bigfoot Productions public relations. “Steep climbs, rocky descents, high altitude, and often you are gone all day from your family. We wanted to break down those barriers and offer something that any woman who rides would enjoy. With Bear Creek’s close proximity to Denver and great trail system, it was a perfect venue for an event like this.”

For more information, visit www.betibikebash.com. Online registration will be available in February at www.active.com.

Bigfoot Productions was established in 2006 in conjunction with Yeti Cycles to promote bike industry involvement in racing and expand and improve mountain bike racing in the Rocky Mountains. For further inquiries please contact srawley@yeticycles.com.

H2O Overdrive Triple Crown Opener Drawing World Class racers/Pua Sawicki Raffle Off Truck and Travel Trailer

The 2010 H2O Overdrive Triple Crown presented by Specialized is on the radar of some of the World’s top Mountain Bike talent, according to US Cup management.

The Triple Crown consists of three races across the United States. Each race includes cross country, short track, and super-D events. A riders placing will be determined by the highest placing from two of the three disciplines after a weekend of racing. The rider with the lowest combined score at the end of the weekend wins. And at the Triple Crown winning is good. If more than 60 riders take the start the winner would go home with $3,000 in their pocket and payout would go 30 riders deep! It seems not spending all your money on UCI inscription fees has it's perks.

The Triple Crown's impressive payout schedule

“We are very excited with the feedback we have been receiving from the industry and riders attending the opening round of the H2O Overdrive Triple Crown All Mountain Series stated US Cup marketing director Ty Kady. “To date, I have confirmation from some of North America’s top riders, plus 2009 women’s World Championship Bronze medalist Lene Byberg of the Factory Specialized team is set to race, along with her teammate Todd Wells.”

“I can also confirm that a lot of top talent will be attending, including newly signed Cannondale Factory riders Jeremiah Bishop and Tinker Juarez. Team Sho-Air/Specialized will be sending five time Australian champion Sid Taberlay, along with Max Plaxton and Tad Elliot. We also expect some of the Kenda/Felt team, some of the Subaru/Gary Fisher crew, as well as a possible Geoff Kabush sighting with his Rocky Mountain/Maxxis team. All in all, we expect the field to be loaded in both the men and women’s races as they go after potentially huge prize money and media coverage!” continued Kady

“But let’s not forget about all the privateers, both regionally and nationally that can come stake their claim” reiterated Kady. “We could be paying as deep as 30 spots, and we have a Top U23 and Top Senior (oldest) rider bonus too.”

“Industry feedback has been really positive on the new concept and the H2O Overdrive Triple Crown seems to be gaining momentum with the sponsors, teams and riders commented Kady.

North America’s top cross country male pro Geoff Kabush, chimed in via e-mail with his support, “I think you will get a lot of appreciation from the riders for the payouts. That is about how it was back in the day when I started… $3500 for the win….. It is nice when you can finish 5-6th and still get $500-600 bucks to break even for the weekend.”

For more info go to: www.uscup.net

H2O Overdrive Triple Crown Schedule:

Bonelli Park, California: March 13-14
Chalk Creek, Colorado: May 15-16
Massanutten, Virginia: June 19-20

________________________________________________________________________________________
Win Pua's Palace Giveaway

World Class endurance and cross country racer Pua Sawicki and Team Mata have become known for some pretty incredible giveaways. Last season they raffled off thousands of dollars of merchandise and bikes on the Team Mata web site. This season they have taken raffling to a whole new level: Pua's home.

For the past four seasons Pua and her husband Ron have lived on the road. Traveling from race to race in their gigantic truck and travel trailer.

The prize package in action

While that works great for racing on the domestic scene Sawicki wants to take her racing across the pond in 2010 and focus 100% on qualifying for the 2012 Olympics in London. That means she needs cash for her travel expenses.

To help support Pua and have a shot at winning her truck and travel trailer you can visit her web site and enter the raffle for $40. Pua needs 2,400 entries to raffle off the dream package, if that number isn't reached by May 1st, 2010 all money will be refunded.

Visit www.teammata.com for more information

Win Two Nights Stay and Free Entry to the Park City Point to Point

In the fast growing world of ultra-endurance racing, the Park City Point to Point broke onto the scene in a big way last fall. Now one of the premier events in the west, the Park City Point to Point is giving away an entry into this year's race and two nights lodging in the resort community of Park City, Utah.

Race leaders attack the singletrack at the Park City Point to Point

In order to win you just have to visit their facebook page and write your craziest road trip story when traveling to a race. You can also learn more at the PCP2P official web site, www.thepcpp.com.

The Park City Point to Point (PCP2P) is a 78-mile ultra-endurance mountain bike race. The PCP2P includes 75 plus miles of fabulous high-mountain Utah singletrack and a grueling 14,000 vertical feet of climbing. Last year's inaugural event was won by Alex Grant and Pua Sawicki. Grant posted a winning time and established the current course record with a time of 7.04.01. This year's event will be held on September, 4th.

Lodging for the PCP2P giveaway is being provided by Park City Crash Pads. A unique and exciting new company specializing in providing affordable high-end condo rentals in Park City, Utah, Park City Crash Pads caters to real people not traveling on the company dime and unable to drop a cool grand for weekend in resortville. Learn more at www.parkcitycrashpads.com.

Official registration for the PCP2P opens February 15th. For up-to-the-minute reports, including registration launch reminders from the Park City Point to Point follow them on twitter @PCpoint2point.

Already scheduled to appear at this years event are MTB racing legend Tinker Juarez, 24 Hour Solo National Champions Josh Tostado and Ezster Horanyi, Ruta De Los Conquistadors runner-up Alex Grant, and 24 Hour Singlespeed National Champions Lynda Wallenfels and Dave Harris.

Question: After racing an entire cyclocross season how do I make the transition back mountain bike training?

Alison: Making the transition from the cyclocross to the mountain bike season can be fairly easy if you follow a few simple rules; rest, rest, rest!

Racing a full season of cross is grueling and takes a toll on the body

The biggest mistake cyclists make is not taking enough rest at the end of the cyclocross season. Most riders will transition into their cyclocross season directly from their road or mountain bike season. It is easier to maintain race fitness and fine tune it for cross racing, then to take a few weeks off after your road/MTB season, and then try and play catch up once you do start racing cross. This means that at the end of your cross season, it is crucial that you take a few weeks off the bike for some rest and recovery.

When your cross season is over, take a good 3-4 weeks off from structured training. I still recommend riding at least 4 days a week. But don’t do any intervals or group rides. Instead, do rides you enjoy and rides that are fun. This is your one chance to take not only a physical break from training, but also a mental break. If you finish your cross season with Nationals in mid-December, you won’t have a lot of time before the start of the mountain bike or road season. It is super important to take full advantage of the few weeks right after the cross season ends to rest, relax, and recover.

Once you’re ready to start training again, I suggest taking two weeks to work in some long endurance rides to get your fitness level back up before starting any intensity. After two weeks of endurance rides you can start into your interval training and shift your focus to the upcoming season. Failing to take time off will lead to a meltdown part way through the summer, and I guarantee it will happen at the most inopportune time.

Remember that with training it is better to focus on quality than quantity. And don’t be afraid to rest. Rest does a body good!

Happy trails!

Alison

Alison Dunlap is a certified Level II USAC Coach and has been working with athletes for five years. She runs a coaching business called Alison Dunlap Coaching, and has mountain bike camps in Moab, UT through the Alison Dunlap Adventure Camps. Alison is also a two-time Olympian, MTB World Champion, and 13-time National Champion.

Product Review:Ergon Grip Review

Written by: Jen Hanks

I like to be comfortable. I love to wear soft sweatshirts and I don’t see the point of high heels. When I ride my bike for hours on end, I also want to be comfortable. I’ve put a lot of thought into improving my comfort on my bike. I’ve ridden endless saddles, definitely have favorite chamois, and even prefer some helmets over others. I had never really thought about improving my hand comfort; mostly because there was only one type of grip available. Round.

These Ergon GX 1s went through some serious testing by our reviewers

In 2007, I started dabbling in ultra-endurance riding/racing, my hands started to bother me more. I came back from the 2007 TransAlp with sore, blistered, and bruised hands. This is when I started hearing about Ergon grips.

Ergonomic grips. What a brilliant idea. I bought a pair of GX1s to try for 2008. The difference was amazing. The grips worked, surprisingly, just like they were advertised.

No more numb, blistered, sore hands. Plus, the platform shaped grip surface allows me to rest my hands on the grips and therefore relax my upper body, which decreases energy expenditure. This difference is especially noticeable during insanely long rides. The GX1s saved my hands for my first 10-hour solo event as well as the 2008 TransRockies. At TransRockies, though, with it’s endless climbs, I thought, ‘perhaps I would like some extra hand positions.’

The Ergon GX 2 with integrated carbon bar end

So, for 2009 I bought a pair of GX2s. The GX2s were essentially the same platform grip as the GX1s, with carbon bar ends. I had never been a fan of bar ends, mostly because I like to shift a lot, and I can’t shift when on the bar ends. But, the extra hand positions provided even more comfort and upper extremity relief. The GX2s were the perfect grips for the long steep climbs of the inaugural Breck Epic.

One of my favorite things about the Ergon grips is the ease in which they are installed. This allows me to swap my grips out easily based on course profile. I prefer to use the GX1 grips, however if I know a course has a ton of climbing I can throw on the GX2s in just a couple of minutes. The grips also clamp securely to the bar, which eliminates the potential for slippage in rainy conditions and come in size small and large.

Ergon grips are mounted over a plastic tube with expansion joints that allow it to clamp securely to your bar when the outer ring is tightened

The Ergon grips are also competitively light. The GX1s weigh in at 134 grams and the GX2s 190 grams on my gram scale (this is pretty dang close to the advertised weights on the Ergon website). I have not had an opportunity to ride the new, smaller profile GA1s, but they weighed 124 grams. For comparison, I weighed some other, non-ergonomic grips. A pair of non-ergonomic rubber grips weighed 100 grams while a pair of non-ergonomic foam grips weighed 38 grams. As for me, I will take the small weight penalty for comfortable hands and improved performance!