Peak Cycles – BikeParts.com Blog

The 4th race in the Winter Park series was another good one for Team GoFast/Bikeparts.com. The singlespeeders were in almost full force as some brave souls were crushing the field over at the Silver Rush 50 in Leadville. Nevertheless, myself, Mohawk Matt, and fellow teammate Brian Chimeleski led the pack up the main climb to the singletrack descent. Just before we dropped in Mohawk Matt dropped a ten-spot out of his jersey pocket, so I slowed the speed down a little so he can catch back up. That’s how we do in the singlespeed circle. I took over the lead from Brian when he decided to walk a steep section of climbing. Once I had that lead I just kept the pedals turning at a nice pace. It was then that I realized that the fit that I received from Nat Ross over at Probikecenter.com really paid off. I was motoring on sections that I had struggled with two weeks before. It wasn’t until about two miles from the finish that Matt and Brian caught back up to me with their 29er bikes. I knew they had the momentum advantage on the flatter sections of the course near the end of the race. After giving up the lead for a moment I got jiggy with the bike handling skills and dropped the bigged wheel boys. At the finish I watched as Matt and Brian battled for second with a sprint finish. The Mohawk took it away from Brian but we had two GoFast/Bikeparts.com guys on the podium! – Colin

After doing a sweet ride on the Government Trail from Aspen to Snowmass and back this morning, Matt and I stopped along the river for a little swim, or should i say dive. – Jesse

I recovered from the Boulder Short Track in time for Snowmass, where I guess I felt pretty good… considering I finished pretty good. I got 3rd which I was not expecting to happen. After racing the previous MSCs, I was beginning to think that a podium finish was impossible… the competition this year is outa hand!! But, I guess I’ve successfully raced myself into shape… which was my plan for the year. I felt good… I was able to move up a couple spots throughout the race and kept second place in site most of the time… never saw Jay though… he’s completely on another level this year. – Josh B

Tim Barnes leaves the Colorado racing scene for a couple weeks for a different scene, Ghana Africa. Read his blog here

Tim, Tate, Colin, Jesse and Matt all showed up to Winter Park for the Crankworx Cross Country race this past Saturday. Each class had a ton of people and in the end, Team Gofast/Bikeparts.com had some impressive results. Tate took off at the start in the Expert class.

Colin placed 3rd in the SingleSpeed category with a time of 1:14:51 only 4min and 45 secs off the leader.

And in the Pro class, the race winner was none other then the lengendary lung, Ned Overend at 1:51:40! Jesse finished 2nd at 1:58:35 wtih Matt chasing him down the straight only seconds behind and placed 3rd with 1:58:42. Way to go Team Gofast/Bikeparts.com!!!!

HUGE! Thats the only word I can use to describe how big those guys go. The drops they were hitting were so overwhelmingly big! Its one thing to watch a DVD of the tricks, but another to see it up close. Some of the coolest tricks were the back flip up to the wooden step up, or the FRONT flip. Check out the photo album here, or check out this video!

Super D was the first event of the Crankworx in Winter Park, Colorado. The race started with a super short run into a longer uphill climb then into the fast descent on Long Trail. After a couple broken pedals and Matt’s harsh crash, Team Gofast/Bikeparts.com finished in the top 10! There were 39 guys racing and Jesse Swift finished 2nd with a time of 16:19 only 5.9 seconds behind the leader. Colin Mckernan finished 4th with 16:45, 31.2 seconds down and Matt Unger got 8th 17:12. There is still 2 days left of the race with downhill, cross country, big air contest and slopestyle to experience! Keep checking the blog for photos from the events!

The last stop on my road trip was Ashland OR. On the way there i drove through the dozens of stoplights and by the gigantic Walmart in Medford and started to get a little worried. But that was all in vain as I turned off the highway and rolled into Ashland. Its a cool small town quickly reminding me of Golden, Colorado. I was there to meet up with a friend from college. We use to ride a ton down in Durango at Ft. Lewis College back in ’94 – ’97. I haven’t seen him in a few years and was looking to riding with him again and hang out like the good old days. We ended up doing close to 50 miles in the 2 days I was there. The trails near Ashland are out of control with tons of tree jumps, doubles, gap jumps, steep descents, and rock rides. We did rides like Time Warp, Sketchy #1 and Sketchy #2, Needlepoint and lots of other ones with crazy names. The crew in town have those trails down solid!! One shuttle run we did, there were 9 people and 8 bikes in a truck! I think Ashland and its trails are a little northwest secret but have heard of Mark Weir and the WTB guys going there for the local Super D. All in all, it was one of the best stops on the trip and I am glad I got to see my old friend and ride with him again. While we are both growing old, got girls and into our jobs. But days like that make me feel like I was 21 and careless again! 😉 – 7.1.07 – jesse

I had heard of the Flume trail out near Lake Tahoe and was excited because my road trip was taking me that way. However, after hanging out at Pope Beach in South Lake Tahoe for the day. I was reading on the beach (becuase that water is damn cold to jump in) for a while suddenly felt the sun go away. Either it was some big muslce guy about ready to kick sand in my eye and take mygirl, or it was 8:30pm. My watch said 3:00pm. Confused I looked up in the sky and the Lake Tahoe fire was burning furiously real close.

The officals were evacuating town, so we packed up and got out of there. We ended up camping near North Beach for the next couple days instead. I ended up getting to ride the Flume trail the next day. I was really fun and although I was bummed the killer views of the lake were smoked out, I thought about all the families who lost thier homes in the fire. I hope they put that fire out soon…. – 6.25.07 – jesse

So, after the Deer Valley National, I kept heading west on a little road trip. Along the way, I headed up into the vineyards of Sonoma Country in Norcal and hit a race up at Lake Sonoma put on by bikemonkey.net. The fast group had a good amount of guys and I didnt know what to expect.
The course was fast, twisty,hot and rolling. You would be climbing for just a minute and then start a tight descent for a couple more. After a lap, I did my best to get the hang of it and in the end finished 2nd. At the finsih line there were spectators with water guns cooling off the competitors. The first place guy said he had done the trails for 12 years, so he had it dialed! Afterwards they had a mellow awards ceremony and BBQ. After going to “blownout” NORBA National it was refreshing to do a low key race with some cool guys to remind you why you ride/race again! – 6.23.07 – jesse