USA Cyclocross Nationals

Defending national champion Gary Thacker put in a last lap surge to try & hold onto his title, but was beat to the line by Paul Curley, a multi-event champion from Massachusetts. Chipotle/Titus rider Jamie Kilkoyn was warming up with the Men's B race & put in a top 10 finish with a 7th place. Thacker apparently had not had enough & jumped in the B race to finish 30th, followed closely by John Bliss in 35th.

Racing continues today with the juniors, masters women & some of the masters men classes.

Full coverage of the 1st day of racing is available on Velonews.
velonews.competitor.com
Full results are available at USA Cycling
http://www.usacycling.org

Titus rider Jamie Kilkoyn warmed up with the men's B race. More action continues today.



Mike Hogan has a collection of video clips you can find at:
flipshare

Gouged by the Gouge

Yes, the cross season is still on! Mark Gouge, doubling up for Velonews & Titus, takes on John Bliss last weekend. State Championships are coming up & then the big one - US Nationals in Bend. That will be warm & dry!

A great post best describing a cyclocross racer can be found at:
http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/5700021/

The Belgian Flu

Be careful out there folks. If it happened to Thomas Dooley, it could happen to you. As you may know Thomas did his first cross race at the Bowl of Death in Louisville 3 short weeks ago. While he was there he destroyed Drew's bike. Just this past weekend at the Valmont Bike Park Groundbreaking Cross Thomas did his second race. He then proceeded to destroy Mike's bike. See a pattern here? He has the flu, he has the Belgian flu and is very sick. Rumor has it that he has purchased a cross bike of his very own just today. This is good news for both Drew and Mike. He also has a set appointment to get said bicycle serviced each week throughout the end of the season. U Bikes knows what they are doing. Give the kid a bike....and he will come back every week to get it fixed. That is where the money is made.



Hats off to all of you Chipotle Titus riders out there on sub standard bicycles tearing it up on the cross courses every weekend. We had great representation out at Valmont on Saturday and out in Golden on Sunday. Check results here. ACA Cross Results Also, if you are interested in a cool tail gunner video from Rod Yoder from the men's 45+ race at Valmont, click video. Video

24 Hours of Moab - USA National 24 Hour Championships

The "Fab4"

The Chipotle Titus masters team gave it their best shot & finished 2nd step on the podium last weekend at the 24 hour national championships in Moab. The winning team out of Vail was just a bit too strong for us to reel in but we made it a good race. The 4 man team of Mike Hogan, Keith Sanders, Drew Geer & Thomas Dooley - racing under the team name "Fab4 - Flomax, Viagra, Rogaine & Vasectomy" ending up posting 19 laps & placed 9th overall among all Moab teams.

Mike Hogan lead the team off on the black & yellow 2010 Titus X

The Moab course was fantastic. It is a good mix of technical climbs, drops, sand & fast open smooth riding. It is a true challenge during a day lap & shifts to a bit scary riding at speed during the night. Hogan & Dooley climbed on new 2010 X Carbons & Keith & Drew stayed on the 2009 rigs. It was a special treat at night to rip over the rough course & know that our bikes would take whatever snuck up on us. Throughout the race we had full technical support from Mike Worth the Titus mechanic. He kept out bikes dialed all day, night & day!

Keith Sanders riding consistent fast laps through the desert sand

Hogan led off for us with a strong La Mans run & moved into 5th slot 5 minutes into the race. The opening lap was scorching fast. He brought us home around 15th overall place & tied with our competition. Keith then took over, followed by Drew with Thomas anchoring.

Thomas Dooley approaching the first technical sections

By Lap 7 Drew had put on lights & headed out into the dark with the lap times slowing a bit. The night was cool but remained above freezing. Drew also scored the coveted sunrise lap. After a long cold night is welcome to shut off the lights & soak up some sun. One more round for everyone to finish up a total of 19 laps, 285 miles & 26,000 feet of climbing.

Drew dropping into the "sandy S turns" on an early lap

Moab is THE classic 24 hour race. It is an absolute "must do" for every mountain bike racer. See you in 2010!

The string of light heading into the finish

A great movie that gives a good flavor of the race can be found on superhumanmag.com
http://www.superhumanmag.com/content/view/1632/48

Chipotle Titus does CROSS

The Chipotle Titus team has quietly started the cross season. To date, there has been 5 races in the region and we have had great representation and some outstanding finishes. One of the first tests was at the Boulder Indoor Cycling facility. It was a great urban course in a warehouse district that featured and indoor/outdoor combination that was a lot of fun. I was going to stick in some video here, but Blogger is not allowing me at the moment.

There was some good racing up in Breckenridge a couple of weeks ago and most recently, the cyclocross world came to Louisville, CO for the Boulder Racing Series http://www.boulderracing.com/ series. This is the first in the series and the Bowl of Death was the backdrop. It was a great day of racing. Here is a list of some of the folks that have been racing...

Karen Hogan

Mike Hogan

Jamie Kilcoyne

Thomas Dooley

Justin Green

John Bliss

Michelle Bliss

Dennis Haberkorn

The highlight out at the Bowl of Death had to be Thomas Dooley in the Men 35+ Cat 4 race. It was his first cross race of his life and it was pure excitement. From a mid pack start of 94 riders, Thomas clawed his way into the top 5 only to be hampered by a couple of mechanicals. The mechanicals shot him back to top 30 where he clawed his way back into the top 5 again. This happened several times with him finally finishing on the podium at 3rd. Thomas will be forced to move up categories shortly.

There have been many other heroic efforts out there and we will start to be better about reporting these to you. Happy Cross Season!

2009 Leadville 100 MTB Results

The full Leadville Trail 100 MTB results are now available online at:
http://www.milliseconds.com/

Leadville 100

Lance Armstrong tops out above 12,000 feet at Columbine Mine
photo: Dan Busse

Lance Armstrong - 1st; Mike Hogan 9th!

This year's edition of the Leadville 100 was more epic than normal with several rain storms, sleet & very cold weather. Coming past Twin Lakes on the way out Hogan was about 5 min down with Thomas Dooley close behind. The lead group shattered climbing Columbine under the pressure of Armstong's pace. Mike rolled across the top in 12 place. Thomas held on but blew up around 75 miles on the return climb up powerline (anyone who has ridden Leadville knows what the powerline can do to you). Mike sprinted into Leadville in a 3 way sprint for 8-10th; finishing 9th with a time of 7:35

Full Leadville 100 results including segment splits are now posted at: http://www.milliseconds.com/

1. Lance Armstrong, 6:28:51
2. Dave Wiens, 6:57:02
3. Matt Shriver, 7:09:48
4. Alex Grant, 8:10:54
5. Len Zanni, 7:11:21
6. Max Taam, 7:16:56
7. Travis Brown, 7:22:05
8. Manuel Prado, 7:35:27
9. Mike Hogan (Chipotle/Titus) 7:35:35
10. Jason Tullous, 7:35:47

51. Thomas Dooley 8:31

60. Mark Gouge 8:36

212. Jamie Kilkoyn 9:32

Chipotle Women

11. Jacqui Wood 10:10

59. Maria Perez 11:40