Peak Cycles – BikeParts.com Blog

Young and Fast!

Here is a photo of the newest and youngest racer on the bikeparts.com race team! His first race at 15 was the Sol Vista XC race!  Keep on riding fast Young Padawan!

Master and Padawan!

While Charlie, Brian, Brendan, Colin M, Tate and Micah were busy racing the Crankworx XC race, Tim, Chad and I were in Sol Vista for the Colorado State Championships for Super D. The course was rugged and rough, and suited my Maverick ML8 perfectly. At the end of the 7minute race, Chad had a rough start and got stuck behind riders in the tight singletrack, Tim crashed and I placed 2nd!  It was a tough race and congrats to all that raced! – Jesse Swift

A couple months ago I was sitting on the couch one evening and heard some bells and a couple seconds later I saw a bunch of cruisers ride by.  It looked like a classic good time, so I made it a point to join this months Golden Cruise! I got John Polli to meet me down at Woody’s around 7:00pm.  When we got there, there was about 100+ other people on their bikes for the ride too.   We rode all around town for about 45minutes.  There were all different kinds of people and bike: kids, college kids, older adults, your regular biker/drinker crew, cruisers, road bikes, mtn bikes and even some skaters joined the parade.  It was a beautiful evening to be out on a bike!  The next Golden Cruise is August 26th, so fill up your balloon tires and meet us in Golden!  – Jesse

During the BC Bike Race, Tate and I randomly ate breakfast with a couple of Canuks.  Little did we know that we would end up becoming good friends with these 3 guys.  Dave, Pat and Garth have been friends a long time, two of them are doctors and have been doing all different kinds of racing for many years.  

Garth kissing Dave

Dave and Garth raced the Trans Rockies the previous year.  Last year they brought Pat along as the team driver, cook, comedian mechanic, mom and all around ‘bitch’.   😉  It worked out so well, that they brought Pat along for the BCBR.

Pat working hard

As we got to know these guys, it was quickly clear that they had a sense of humor that closely related ours.  If any of you have stayed in a condo with Tyler and Matt and Colin know what I am talking about.  We talked a lot about bikes, racing and the Canadian contributions to pop culture such as Mike Myers and Pam Anderson.  It was cool to head north and do such a cool race and make some new friends along the way!  Here is a video clip from Youtube about their training plan for the BCBR and marketing the “Tim Hortons Recovery Doughnut”, eh!

  

Ben rocking the big wheel!

Have you ever done a race where you had to ride a bmx bike, while your partner stood on the back pegs and used a long pole to joust and knock over cones, then race 4 miles through Denver to the next checkpoint where there is another fun activity waiting for you and your partner to complete?  If so, you must have done the Urban Assault Ride!  This was the 3rd year the UAR has stopped in Denver.  I was there 3 years ago and had a great time.  Since then I have race a UAR in Fort Collins, and twice in Boulder.  This year I talked my BC Race bike partner, Tate, into trying a different type of team race.  We dusted off the road bikes, figured out the 2 mystery checkpoints and planned out route.  

During the race, we had a great time kayaking the lake in City Park, riding big wheels, doing water slides, raced around Wash Park looking for a ‘bike fairy’ and throwing new papers like the kid from ‘Better Off Dead’!  At the last checkpoint, we were leaving and another team asked, “Are you guys heading home?”  It was ON!  We raced by Sloans Lake and into the Invesco Stadium area and made it to the finish only 30secs before the other team.  In the end, it took us 1hour, 40mins to race around Denver.  It was a close race and filled with lots of fun times!  Thanks to Tate for doing such a crazy race with me!  – Jesse Swift

Jesse having fun on the big wheel - from Josh Kravetz

Tate and Jesse

This is a blog written from my iPhone. Geeky cool! – swift

Mt Snow Nationals - Pro - Colin Osborn

Team bikeparts.com Pro rider, Colin Osborn, headed out east last week to race the U23 at the US Nationals in Vermont.  To check out his tale, click on over to his blog, http://www.colinosborn.com 

Way to represent Colorado and the young Pro scene!  🙂

 

 

WP - Super D - Jesse Swift

Bill, Chad, Tate and I headed up for the 1st ‘official’ Winter Park Super D this past Sunday.  The course was very similar to last years Crankworx Super D, so that was comforting.  And, we were excited to have a Super D that was longer then 7mins, (Snowmass SD)!  Having flatted at the last 2 Super D races this year, I was eager to get out and do well.  The gun went off, and the run was nice and short, but there was a short fire road climb to the single track.  I got into the twisty trail first and was exhausted from the sprint to the trail.  2nd was breathing down my neck and passed me on the fire road climb about 1/2 down.  At the climb just near the finish, I looked back and saw a blue and white jersey chasing me down.  It end up being my BC Bike Race partner, Tate!  It was awesome to finish with him right there!  It was a great race with lots of Support!  Tates father, brother and son were up there cheering, as well as Jessica, Matt, Sue and newborn, Hailey!  
Check out the Velonews.com write up about the inaugural Winter Park Super D! 
I am looking forward to see what Winter Park puts together for the Crankworx Super D and the ‘All Mountain Super Downhill’! – Jesse Swift

WP - Pro XC Podium - Micah

This week’s Winter Park XC race started by climbing Turnpike, a super steep service road, before jumping into an amazing singletrack decent. Doug Ryden and Michael Mathers pushed the pace from the start. 
Five riders had a 30 sec. gap going into the singletrack. By the time we started climbing again, there were four of us attacking each other for the lead. I exited Blue Sky in the lead, with Doug and Michael right behind. We worked together on the next “road section”. More beautiful singletrack and steep climbs followed, along with a screaming fast service road decent.  In the end Doug, Matthew and I finished within 30 seconds. Good work guys!

Tate is finding his form after racing the BC race. Talk about a totally different race format! He’s transitioning from five hour epic race days to 1 hour slug fests!
 
Brendan put in an incredible time to finish his first race of the season in first place! To clarify; yes, it was his first race of the season . . . and yes, he did win. Great job.
 
This weekend was also Winter Park’s First Super D race. (HOW’D SUPER D GO JESSE?)
Congrats to everyone representing our team last weekend.  – Micah Joseph

WP - XC - Micah

Found on Velonews….  http://www.velonews.com/article/80450

“USA Cycling announced that the 2009 national mountain bike championships will be held at the Sol Vista ski resort just outside of Winter Park, Colorado.”

What?! What?!

CU ST Series

So the Boulder short track races started a few weeks ago.  I learned that patience is a virtue in bike racing.  On Saturday, at the Teva games, I got too excited and went out hard at the start with everyone else.  I also had the anchor come out about 10 minutes into the race after blowing up as did most everyone else who went out too hard.  Last night, even though it is short track racing and only half an hour, I decided to make myself be patient at the start.  I started easy and fell into position at the beginning of the race.  Watching my clock, after a few minutes of settling in, I slowly turned it up and began passing people.  It turned out to be a really good race and I finished 7th! Here are the results for the Men’s A:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=ps1nFh9G8ciKVE8G7lPXiVg&gid=5

Tim was out there representin’ as well. I know the shop ride is on Wed nights, but maybe one of these weeks, you guys should head up to Boulder for one of these.  They usually lay out a pretty good course with some good turns and the occasional jump. -Jon Watt

Firecracker 50 Parade

My class started really fast – about the same pace as if it was a 2 hour xc race.  I was surprised, but let them go and tried to pace myself.  I was feeling pretty good the whole first lap.  With about 2 miles to go in the first lap, I flatted on a sharp, rocky descent.  I pulled off, switched out my tube, and went to inflate it with my big-air canister.  As I screwed the air canister on the valve, all the air shot out the side of the valve and none of it went into the tube!  I didn’t have a pump with me either.  So I put my wheel back on and rode /  jogged the last 2 miles of the lap.  Along the way, I found a guy with a pump, but when I went to pump it up, I found that the valve in my tube had broken off from riding it flat. 

I made it back to the start/finish area and asked around for a tube and pump, but nobody had one.  We had parked a few miles away so it was too far to get back to the van.  At this point, I was starting to think that I was done, and ready to give in to my first DNF.  I waited about 20 minutes, then saw the Fox trailer in the pit section.  I know those guys, so I went and asked them and they hooked me up.  With my flat I did the first lap in about 2:15 – I think it would have been around 2:05 without after looking at my gps.  With my tire fixed, I went out for my second lap.  I knew I was going to have a bad result, but figured I paid for the full 50, so I was going to do it.  My second lap took 2:24 (even though it felt like I was going a lot harder than the first lap) Tough race, but fun trails and good singletrack.  And the parade start was really cool.

– Jon Watt

Yet another reason to ride your bike more.

The argument makes some sense.

http://www.pickensplan.com/

Congrats to Micah, Colin M, Bill, and Tate for racing up the mountain at Winter Park this past Saturday.  The course was 4.7 miles and climbs over 2,000 ft for a top elevation of 11,250 ft!  Micah did very well and placed 5th in the Pro Class with an awesome climb at 34:49 min!  Colin M killed it on the SS too and placed 4th at 39:08 min!!!!  Click here for the official results and click here for Tate’s GPS of the race!