Ernie Watenpaugh finished third in the Chile Challenge, the fourth Mountain States Cup race in Angel Fire, New Mexico. Check it out here.
Ernie Watenpaugh put together his first podium finish of the 2011 MSC season in the Chile Challenge
Race Report: Superior Morgul Crit Race Report
Location: Superior, CO (very close to Flatirons Mall)
Course: A 0.85 mile “L” shaped course with an uphill finish and about 50’ of elevation gain per lap. The 45+ Cat 4’s ride for 45 minutes.
Temp: Comfortable, (50F at start)
Clothing: Team kit including Pearl Izumi knee warmers, arm warmers (rolled down after a few laps).
Bike: Specialized S-Works Tarmac
Once again I tested to correlation of sleep quality to race performance and came out on top. The 45+ Cat_4’s were scheduled for a 7:55 am start time. My plan was to leave the Fort at 6 am, arrive by 7 am and have 30 minutes or so after registering to warm up. The drive went as planned, the volunteers were great and registration went smoothly but I still managed to chew up any spare time I had pinning numbers, finding clothing etc. and ended up with about 15 minutes to warm-up.
The races were running a little behind schedule so we didn’t start until about 8:05 am. Immediately the announcer announced that the 2nd lap would be a prem. There went any hope of an easy start to the race to continue my warm-up. It was an unrealistic expectation anyway. My plan was to conserve as much as possible for Sunday’s Road Race so I tried to not get too caught up in the prem’s. That said I did go after one (I think it was the second) and got the prem but after that decided I’d stick to my original plan.
There were a lot of prem’s (6) which kept things interesting. For the 45+_4’s all prem’s were merchandise. The sprints were pretty safe as the straight-away up to the start/finish line was wide leaving plenty of room to carry speed through the downhill corner before hitting the straight-away.
I don’t know if others were riding conservatively to save themselves for the road race tomorrow or if we just had a much better behaved group of riders but everyone seemed to hold their lines well through the corners and the race went without incident for 19 laps. Then on the final lap the guy in front of me clipped a pedal in a corner and pitched his bike sideways. Somehow he managed to keep it upright and I managed to avoid him (he by far had the tougher job). We dropped down into the final corner for the sprint to the line. It’s probably 1000’ from the final corner to the finish. I had good line into the corner and decided I wasn’t going to wait for someone else to jump. I went hard and got a gap on the group. Now all I had to do was hold on to the line. 800 feet on a grade that continues to increase turned out to be a long way. It looked a lot shorter when I first sprinted out of the corner. Anyway, I was able to hang on and take 1st.
Race Report: Leadville Winter MTB Race Series #3 – Mineral Belt Mayhem
Temp – low 20′s
Weather – Overcast and light snow.
Course– 12 mile loop, ~1000 ft of climbing on Mineral Belt bike path. The terrain was hard-pack snow groomed for skate and cross-country skiing.
Bike – Fatback snowbike, 4 inch tires/11psi and bar-mitts neoprene hand covers.
Clothes – Team kit and helmet, mid weight t-neck, fleece vest, wind vest, 3 pairs of socks, Lake winter riding boots, balaclava and knee/arm/leg warmers.
This is the final winter mtb race of the series and with 55 riders, it’s the biggest field yet….and a huge crowd to cheer us on and send us off!
We started promptly at 7pm outside Cycles of Life bike shop on the main drag in Leadville. In a neutral fashion, we wound our way through town where the field was released to the snow-packed path. The race was on!
A gap was opened immediately. This time it was skinny tire mountain bike pulling away from the snowbikes. The packed snow was proving to be a wonderful sub-strait for regular mountain bikes and fat tire snowbikes carrying 4 inch tires were at a bit of a disadvantage….bummer!
The first climb was about 3 miles long with 600 feet of gain. Not real steep, but fast. I was sitting in 5th nearing the top and this gal came by me. She was kick’n butt! We entered the first down and grouped up with 2 other guys. Then the next short climb….no position changes.
Rounding a big open corner and heading downhill I could see about 20 lights trailing roughly 150 yards back. It looked so cool! It reminded me of 24 hours of Moab! Well, enough of the memories……I shifted into the big ring and blasted the remaining downhill!. I began pulling folks in and got into 4th place by the bottom with 1.5 mile to go!
I felt pretty good, but the trail tilled back up and quickly I gave up 2 spots to those darn skinny tire mountain bikes. I’m thinking….hold this place and ride to the finish. As I neared the end of the snow covered path I realized the light that as 50 yards behind was now gone. I thought…..did the guy pull off or did he turn his light off and is he closing the gap? Well…turned out he snaked me…..he blasted by me with no light on….I had to laugh!!! What a great tactic!!
Anyway….we blasted up the remaining 40 foot climb and then on to the main drag. Since this was the Leadville Winter Carnival weekend the finishing area was on the “Ski Joring” course. This is a snow packed area were cowboys on horses pull skiers through a maze of 4 foot snow jumps. Of course this would be a fitting place to have a mountain bike finish. The guy in front of me (the only other snowbike in the top 7) launched all of them….it was sweet!!! I figured I’ll pop over the last one and call it good. That proved to be all I wanted of that….the jump looked much cooler in my head than in reality. At least I didn’t crash in front of the crowd.
What a great race. Clearly the regular mountain bikes had the advantage tonight…..until next year. Bring on the summer series. Leadville Winter Mountain Bike series is a wrap!
7th out 55, 3rd in men’s geared with a time of 1:04:50.
Race Report: Leadville Winter MTB Race Series #2 – Tennessee Night Jam
Temp – low to mid 20′s
Weather – Overcast, snowing and no wind. Course received 4 inches of snow over previous 3hrs.
Course– 8.2 mile loop, ~1400 ft of climbing on Ski Cooper Nordic Center
trails. The terrain was a mix of groomed and un-groomed Nordic trails.
Bike – 2011 Fatback snowbike, 4 inch tires/8psi and bar-mitts neoprene hand covers.
Clothes – Team kit and helmet, mid weight t-neck, fleece vest, wind vest, 3 pairs of socks, Lake winter riding boots, balaclava and knee/arm/leg warmers.
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7pm, 23 F and slightly snowing…..time for snowbike racing!! We began with a 500 ft climb and quicly I was in a break with 4 other guys. At the top of the climb we were 4….3 snowbikes and a skinny tire mtb guy just killin’ it!
With the first climb over I was in second place on the descent. A few seconds later a huge light came from behind….the skinny tired guy blew right by me. At this point, I realized the race leader’s light had gone out! He and skinny tire guy were bombing this downhill like madmen! I backed off in hopes they’d crash each other out….no such luck!
With roughly 6 miles left, it was myself and the guy with the cashed light. I’m thinking…i need to ease up here and catch my breath. How far could he get away with no light. The plan worked. He eased up a bit….Nice!
With a little rest we rolled into the last climb of the first lap…i got passed by 2 guys and rolled through the start/finish in 4th place feeling good. I could see the cracks in the armor of the skinny tire guy….he was wasted by the top of the climb. The snowbikes had a clear advantage tonight. I gotta hand it to skinny tire guy….he had incredible fitness and turned out to be the Nordic center chef! What a great combo!
The group was 3 and we hung together for the remaining 2 miles. A few short ups and downs and we hit the final climb. The other two started to put the hammer down and I started to feel the cracks in my own armor. Needless to say it wasn’t a sprint finish for me, but 3rd overall was tasting pretty sweet!
As usual, the Cloud City Wheelers put on another great race at a really sweet venue! I’d totally recommend this winter mtb race. The food and beer went down great at the awards ceremony!!
3rd overall out of 35 with a time of 1:01:28.
The final race of this series is March 5th at the Winter Carnival in downtown Leadville.
Congrats to Mike Williams for pulling off another W in the Haystack TT in a time that would have netted 7th in the Pro Mens category.
| SM 45+ | place 1 | 0:34:40 | Michael Williams | Peloton Cycles – Specialized |
Congrats to the Peloton-Specialized team at Deer Trail.
Mike Hegdal 7th in 35+
Eric Thompson 20th in 35+ 4
Mike Williams 5th in 45+
Ron Kennedy 3rd in 45+ 4
Sam Naffziger 9th
Dan Evans 11th
Kurts Snow Bike
Temp - low to mid 20′s
Weather - Overcast and snowing with 10-15 mph winds out of the west. The upper part of the course received 7 inches of snow in the previous 10 hrs.
Course - 10.5 mile loop, ~2000 ft of climbing. The terrain was a mix of snow packed roads (4 miles), snowmobile trail (3 miles) and finally 3 mile untracked powder with one section of 150 yards with 3 foot deep drifts.
Bike - 2011 Fatback snowbike with bar-mitts neoprene hand covers.
Clothes - Team kit and helmet, mid weight t-neck, fleece vest, wind vest, 3 pairs of socks, Lake winter riding boots, balaclava and knee/arm/leg warmers.
The Report:
We started at 10am with a 3 mile snow packed roads climb. With my heart in my throat at about mile 2.5 (11th place) I decided to sit-in on a single speeders wheel for the next .5 mile. The course then departed the snow packed road to a groomed snowmobile trail with 4 inches of powder. This gave the advantage to snowbikes (4inch wide tires running 10psi) over regular mtb. Most of the field was pushing at this point, but after de-flating the tires a few times I was able to get traction and reeled in all but one rider as the climb drew to a close. The first downhill was 1.5 miles long with 7 inches of untracked powder….SWEET is the only way to describe it….until i took a header at about 15mph. Then I had a face full of snow. 
I remounted my steed and finished out the downhill and only gave up one position. A few more ups and downs and we were on the final climb. This climbed started with 150 yards of 3 foot deep drifts (unridable) and 15mph wind. I felt like i could have been summiting Mt Everest! After getting passed by another guys (now 2 ahead of me) I entered the trees were the wind died down and the race was on. I had 2 people to catch, 1.5 miles and 5 inch of untracked powder. After about 15 mins I had pulled in the top 2 guys and we stuck together for the final .5 mile of the climb. About 100 yrd into the decent I glanced down and when I looked up the two guys vanished into the snow, wind and clouds. I looked over my shoulder and saw nobody. At this point I decide to ride within my limit and finish out the race. I crossed the line in 1:40:13 and had completed my first snowbike race. Turned out the two guys ahead of my head had ridden off course and got DQ’d so instead of getting 3rd over all and 2nd in men’s geared i got 1st over all and 1st in men’s geared….SWEET. I’ll take it!
The after party was most excellent too…..Oskar Blues beer…yum! I’d highly suggest any event put on by Cloud City Wheelers!! Series race #2 is Feb 19 at 5pm…be there or be square.
Whether on the course, on the cowbells, or behind the scenes, Team Peloton-Specialized was there at the USGP New Belgium CX Cup in our hometown of Fort Collins on the wintry weekend of November 13-14, 2010.
Bill Frielingsdorf generating heat on a cold day at the USGP Cyclocross New Belgium Cup
USGP New Belgium Cup 2010 Ric Slayden from Peloton-Specialized Cycling Team on Vimeo.
The weekend was archetypal cyclocross: beneath overcast skies, on freshly-snowed mud, and swathed in temperatures hovering at barely 40°F which was actually unseasonably cool on the heels of a November that was boasting, until that weekend, weather that was unseasonably mild.
Bill Frielingsdorf recaps of his racing, “Sunday went better for me, but it was still really hard. There is no doubt that the mud and the hills made it the most difficult weekend of ‘cross in Colorado this year. Many thanks to the entire Fort Collins Cycling Community. Special recognition should go to Lora Heckman who did so much to make the event happen and raced so well in the Elite Women’s field.”
Lora Heckman (in blue parka) delivering race results as Eric Liprandi looks on in the foreground (in red).
Ric Slayden none worse for the wear at the USGP New Belgium Cup
Team members turned out among nearly 2,000 others who raced, cheered, and/or helped organize the landmark event that further emplaced Fort Collins in the hallows of world-class bicycle racing.
Mark Zabel (L) and Travis Baugh managing race registration. And looking forward to that next cup of coffee.
The course featured a distinctive flyover that added interest and challenge to the already exciting venue; Team Peloton-Specialized was a sponsor of the construction of this flyover, which has become popularly known as “The Pummelhorse.”
USGP New Belgium Cup 2010 Slayden Ascends Pummelhorse from Peloton-Specialized Cycling Team on Vimeo.
USGP New Belgium Cup 2010 Slayden Under Pummelhorse from Peloton-Specialized Cycling Team on Vimeo.
Not quite Publishers Clearinghouse, and a helluvalot harder to win! Mark Zabel proffers the donation provided by the Team to support construction of The Pummelhorse flyover.
Kurt Ireland manned this crossing for most of the day and saw a lot of great action under, around, over, and down The Pummelhorse!
The days began at the crack of dawn for those involved in the organization of the event, an all-volunteer effort.
Mark Zabel, who volunteered along with several teammates, comments, “Saw many of the Peloton crew both on and off the course. Travis (Baugh), Eric (Liprandi), and I arrived before dawn to help out with registration. We had a nice stroll around the course on a cold Sunday morning before the action started. What a fantastic course and venue. A real electric atmosphere with so many bike racers, fans, and volunteers having a great time despite the brisk temperatures and biting wind. Can’t wait ’til next year – see you at the starting line!”
Travis Baugh (L) and Eric Liprandi, up at the crack of dawn registering and checking riders in.
Despite tight scheduling and unique responsibilities bestowed upon every individual volunteer, team riders were still able to meet up with and to cheer on teammates, fellow cyclists, and enthusiasts during both action-packed days.
(R-L) Ron Tjalkens, Matt Gough, and Ric Slayden in various shades of "I was at the USGP New Belgium Cup"
John Holcombe (C) and Tom Carter (R) chat with Peloton Cycles expert mechanic Nick Wamsley
While the races had their podium standees, the USGP New Belgium Cup was a huge “W” for all involved.
Tom Carter shouts out, “Thanks to the folks that were out this last week pounding posts, stringing tape, sitting in a registration tent, minding crossing gates, yadda-yadda-yadda. It’s that type of presence at events that helps the wheels of FC cycling turn. It was noticed…and Lora (Heckman) kicked ass actually racing!”
Team Peloton-Specialized is proud to have been a supporter and participant in this venerable event enriching the Fort Collins and Northern Colorado communities at large.
Matt Gough (L) and Ron Tjalkens... representing.
For more exciting coverage of the USGP New Belgium cup, see the Your Group Ride page dedicated to this event, featuring video footage by Boulder Video such as the clip below.
Fit and fast Frielingsdorf furious on the Front Range cyclocross scene. Here, Bill maintains a gap at the Blue Sky Velo Cup on the Xilinx campus in Longmont.
With the recent change of winds confirming the emplacement of the cyclocross season, Peloton-Specialized team riders continue to make proud representations of the squad at various Front Range ‘cross venues.
Bill Frielingsdorf has been racing some of the region’s premier events including the Blue Sky Velo Cup and Boulder Cyclocross Series, and provides the following recap:
“I have gotten back into the Cyclocross scene. Two weeks ago I raced at Interlocken where the lush grass makes for a leg sapping, but very fun ride.
This past weekend I raced the Blue Sky Velo Cup Race at Xilinx which is also one of the more fun ‘cross venues on the Front Range, and the Boulder ‘cross series race at the Louisville Rec Center which is certainly one of the more punishing venues.
On my way home on Sunday I saw teammates Thomas Borch and Matt Gough out braving the winds. No wonder they are so strong!
I am looking forward to the upcoming team meeting and the USGP New Belgium Cup weekend of November 13th and 14th.”
Thanks, Bill, for making such a strong showing for the Team!
