Raffle: Win Stan's NoTubes Wheelset and more!

The Marathon World Championship race in St. Wendal, Germany is my next stop! I am one of three racers making up the USA Marathon Team. This is an amazing experience, I am very excited and a little intimidated...

MTBRaceNews, my sponsors, and friends have put together a great raffle to help with my travel expenses. Thank you to everyone involved, I really appreciate the support!

Please Visit the Raffle Site for more information.

 

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• Grand Prize - Stan's No Tubes Wheelset (your choice of rim with ZTR hubs)
• Second Prize - Cycle Ops Fluid 2 Trainer with climbing block, mat, & Real Rides DVD series
• Third Prize - Magura Hydraulic Disk Brake Package
• Fourth Prize - 12-week coaching plan from LW Coaching
• Fifth Prize - Raxter Bike Rack
• Sixth Prize - Jagwire customization kit including Ripcord derailleur cable kit, Hyflow Quick-fit hose system or Ripcord brake cable kit; Non-crimp cable tips and disc brake pads all in the color/compound of the winner's choice.
• Seventh Prize - Chamois Butt'r package including 6 tubes of and 6 jars of Chamois Butt'r and 4 sticks of New Bod'e Arm'r stick lubricant

Additional Prizes include: 2 Incycle team kits, nutrition packages from FRS, 3 canisters of recovery drink from Fluid, 10 pairs of socks from Recovery Socks, jerseys from Cannondale, and two 6-packs of canned oxygen from Oxygen4Energy.

Colorado Springs UCI MTB Stage Race

Friday afternoon, after 4 days of rest following the Marathon National Championships (Firecracker 50), it was time to race the Colorado Springs UCI Stage race. I haven't been doing the ProXCT series (formally known as NMBS and before that as NORBA) this year due to lack of travel funds but I needed 20 UCI points to race the World Cup race in Windham, NY Aug 29th. All the points I have from last year will expire by then, so my goal was to attend both the Colorado Springs UCI stage race and next week's XC National Championship race to get my 20 points.

Long story short, I had a good weekend and have 30 new points. 

I was a bit worried because I broke my Scalpel when I wrecked in VA a few weeks ago and am waiting on a new frame. The Flash was going to have to take on the rocks and we would all have to pay attention to the super-slick pea gravel over hardpack, it was like riding on ice.

Friday's TT - check out the Stan's NoTubes ZTR Race 29er front wheel.

This proved to be my best event and I finished in 6th place with a time of 20:31, 12 seconds back from 3rd place Heather Irmiger (Subaru-Trek). The pre-race rain was a good thing, it helped keep the tires from washing out in the pea-gravel turns. 

Saturday I placed 8th in XC finishing with a bent derailleur hanger from running/dragging my bike on the first lap to get around racers who stumbled in the rock sections. 

Sunday I wrecked hard in the one hour circuit race placing 10th after a great start. Did I mention the rocks and loose gravel? You needed some smarts as well as skill.

After hitting the deck hard it is mentally difficult to get back into the race.

There is a good description of the TT course and what the racers thought here.
XC article
Circuit Race article

Cannondale riders at the medics tent.

After the circuit race I headed to medical. It is not good when the medic, says "oh, that is deep" and calls over another guy. Then that guy says "oh yeah, that is deep" and calls over a third guy, he calls over a fourth guy who pulls out the iphone and takes pictures! Luckily they had a numbing cream that was awesome. I didn't feel any scrubbing or cutting (they cut off all the flaps of skin and asked me if I wanted to keep them). I asked that they please fix it so my knee wouldn't look horrible when it healed, all five guys who were kneeling around me looked up at me with blank stares. A little later Ben walks in after a hard crash which forced him to pull out of the race.

On to Nationals!

Firecracker 50

3rd in the Firecracker 50 Marathon National Championship Race = Going to Marathon Worlds in St. Wendal Germany August 8th!

Results:

1	Heather Irmiger (Subaru-Trek)	4:16:49
2	Amy Dombroski (Luna Pro Team)	0:06:57
3	Krista Park (Cannondale/Incycle)	0:07:48
4	Gretchen Reeves (Tokyo Joe's)	0:15:42
5	Kelly Boniface (Moots)	0:17:50
6	Rebecca Rusch (Specialized / Red Bull)	0:21:16
7	Amanda Carey (Kenda/Felt)	0:28:51
8	Sonya Looney (Topeak Ergon)	0:45:06
9	Cheryl Sornson (Team CF)	0:52:42
10	Jennifer Hanks (Revolution Bicycles)	1:04:57
11	Carol Clemens (Gretna Bikes)	1:21:24
12	Jill Damman (Fitzgerald's/Ibex Cl)	1:38:57

MTBRaceNews article
Cyclingnews article
Cyclingnews photos: podium, 1st climb, starting line
CyclingDirt video post race interview (still breathing hard, still on the bike, muddy and looking really tired).

I had great support, Troy from Cannondale checked my bike and gave me tuning tips. Jeff Kennedy and Todd covered the pits/feedzones. Thanks guys!

This is my 2nd year doing this race and the post race dinner and festival was something I was looking forward to. The park is packed for hours after the race and I ran into many friends including some from the Atlanta area that I didn't expect to see! 

Checking out Ergon grips and chatting with Sonya post-race.

Breck and Todd's Song

In keeping with our date week Todd recorded me a song using his best "country and western" voice (as much as it pained him to do so):

Todd and I are in Breckenridge, CO.  We are having fun riding and hanging out together.

 Todd at the top of the course, 11,300feet or so.

 Resting in our condo.