Judy Freeman’s mom cheers with a cowbell from India
[updated 12/12/2013]
On a course that proved Judy Freeman’s ability to tackle yet another set of conditions, the Crankbrothers Race Club rider won her seventh cyclocross race of the season on Saturday.
At first the Cyclo-X Westminster course appeared like an easy target for a roadie. Long stretches of pavement and gravel path in Westminster City Park connected three technical sections of turns on dirt or grass as well as concrete stairs. The light snowfall from earlier in the week wouldn’t begin to melt and make corners slippery until late in the women’s elite/open contest.
However once racing commenced it became clear the mixture of power and technical sections gave riders stronger in either type of terrain almost an even chance.
That’s “almost” because any betting person would have placed high odds on Freeman sweeping up another win given her collection of medals so far this season.
Melissa Barker gets the women’s elite holeshot at Cyclo-X Westminster
But that didn’t discourage the rest of the field. In fact, it motivated many, like Kristen Peterson (Evol Foods).
Peterson conceded the holeshot to Melissa Barker (GS Boulder / Studio 1 Dental) then took the lead on icy stairs and held it for half of the 45 minute race before finishing second after Freeman.
“I think it’s a great thing,” Peterson said about Freeman’s string of successes. “It’s great to have that level of competition around here. We all have something to shoot for which is great every weekend we come out here, and just see her [Judy] go, but hopefully try and battle it out as much as we can throughout the race.”
Freeman commented on the day’s result after the finish. “I’m very happy, and feel really fortunate to have gotten a seventh win today. It’s just awesome coming out here and battling with everybody. It’s a lot of fun and it’s a good spirit.”
Race action
The riders sped off uphill from the paved start area under a black, yellow, and red striped Belgian-inspired arch. Emma Dunn (Feedback Sports), Kristin Weber (Boulder Cycle Sport), Laurel Rathbun (Hammer) and then Ksenia Lepikhina (BMC XC Racing Team) followed after Barker and Peterson through the first turn. Freeman pursued in seventh place.
Judy Freeman tests her legs on the uphill start at Cyclo-X Westminster
After a bit of grassy track the women scaled two sections of concrete stairs on their way to the highest point on course. Peterson passed Barker there and took the long sweeping downhill back onto pavement with Dunn several bike lengths behind her.
Peterson reached the stairs in the second lap with Freeman just steps behind her. A small gap separated them from the next group. Led by Weber, the chasers included Barker, Rathbun, Rapid Racer and masters world champion Kristal Boni, Dunn, and Ann Trombley (Tokyo Joe’s).
Kristen Peterson and Judy Freeman on the concrete stairs
By lap three Freeman had closed in on Peterson and any gap between them was determined by their different strengths as riders. “I think I gapped Judy out a little bit on the power stuff,” Peterson said later, “and then as soon as we hit the technical stuff she was right back there.”
Freeman took the race lead as the pair headed into the last twisty dirt section before the finish straight with two laps remaining. Peterson tried to remain in contact but saw Freeman slip further away in the technical sections and finish with a 19 second advantage.
Among the chasers Weber held third place on course. Rathbun raced in fourth then pulled out with a damaged derailleur. Next on course, Boni and Barker rode briefly as a pair until Boni took off in search of third place. She and Weber fought for the third step of the podium over the final two laps.
Kristin Weber ahead of Kristal Boni going into one of the technical sections in Westminster City Park
Boni later explained that she moved ahead on a paved section but Weber reclaimed third by passing her on the stairs in the bell lap.
Nonetheless Boni felt satisfied crossing the line in fourth just three seconds after Weber. “I’m feeling really good,” the masters world champion said. “I feel like mentally and physically my race conditioning is really starting to come around and my head is getting in the game and so I’m really happy.”
Peterson was pleased with her performance as well. “It was great. It was fun to be able to chase someone and actually be in the race this time which is always fun.”
Weber continues to lead the eight-race Cyclo-X points series which concludes on December 7 with double points on offer at the Boulder Reservoir venue.
For full results from Cyclo-X Westminster see the Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado’s website.
Women’s elite podium recognizes movember (l-r) Kristin Weber 3rd, Judy Freeman 1st, Kristen Peterson 2nd
Gallery
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- Emma Dunn on the pavement
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- Laurel Rathbun
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- Melissa Barker finished fifth
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- Freeman trying to gain on Peterson
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- Weber ahead of Barker and Rathbun on icy stairs
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- Kristen Peterson
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- Margell Abel
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- Emma Dunn keeps Amy D close
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- Kristal Boni’s World Champion Spiuk sunglasses
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- Movember trio
Danny Summerhill and Tim Allen driving for first at Cyclo-X Louisville
[updated 11/21/2013]
What happens when roadie power meets mountain bike agility on Rocky Mountain foothills fields in late fall? Recently it means a fierce fight between Danny Summerhill (K-Edge/Felt) and Tim Allen (Feedback Sports) on a cyclocross course. Both ‘cross riders, Summerhill races on the road and Allen on the dirt in the summer.
Two weeks ago the showdown played out in Golden at the Feedback Cup where the circuit didn’t include one lick of pavement. Allen led early in the first lap. Then an incident behind him slowed the field and helped him open a gap. Summerhill almost snared him but slid out in a corner; he took several moments to recover. With his strong engine it seemed like Summerhill, a previous national ‘cross champion, might still take first. In the end he finished second.
Danny Summerhill on a slippery corner at the Feedback Cup
Allen never eased up in Golden. He knew who chased him.
Roles reversed last Saturday at Cyclo-X in Louisville.
The two dominated the action early on. Then around the same lap that fate intervened in Golden, it appeared again in Louisville. This time it gathered Allen into its immobilizing embrace.
“Danny was using a bigger gear when he got to the top of that corner, and I was spun out coming up quick and I hit his back wheel,” Allen explained to a teammate while catching his breath after finishing second in Louisville. The rear-ender resulted in a dropped chain for Allen but he remained on the bike.
“That caused me to lose contact,” Allen said. “I was already just barely hanging on so after that I knew unless he [Danny] sat up and waited for me there was no way I was going to get back on.”
Tim Allen at the front during lap 2 in Louisville
And like Allen two weeks before, Summerhill didn’t take any lead over his main adversary for granted.
“With the way that Tim rode last time, that couldn’t have been a harder fought battle between us both,” Summerhill said after Louisville’s contest. “That was a hard race the whole time. So there was really no letting up. Once I got a bit of a gap I had a couple places where I could ride easier than when I was with him but other than that it was just checking over my shoulder the whole time because as you could see the last lap he really turned it on so fast I really thought he might catch me on the finish.”
Race action
Like the elite women, the elite men also started with a left-hander into barriers and a moat of muck. The moat had widened since morning and by the afternoon there was no leaping over it. Unless your name was Tim Allen.
First turn in Louisville — Tim Allen avoids the moat with a bunny-hop
As Spencer Powlison (Evol Foods) hoisted his bike to shoulder height and jumped in first Allen unleashed his trademark barrier bunny-hop and crossed the moat without putting a foot down. The field ascended the “Bowl of Death,” passed the pit, and quickly descended back to the bottom of the reservoir.
A lead group of six quickly materialized halfway into the first lap with Allen at the front followed by Powlison, W. Grant Ellwood (Boulder Cycle Sport/Junior Cycling), Summerhill, Ken Benesh (Evol Foods) and Chris Case (Boulder Cycle Sport).
Summerhill led by the end of lap one until Allen again bunny-hopped the barriers near the pit, passing him as well as Powlison in the beginning of lap two. They became a front group of three.
“He was definitely just killing me on the one bunny-hop barriers section where I was running it and he was riding,” Summerhill said after the race, speaking about Allen, “and anytime that I would have any time on him he’d just take it right back on that section.”
Ken Benesh exits the Louisville “Bowl of Death”
Benesh now trailed the three men as they headed into the wind to the corners and dips and rises on the far west side of the course. Case fell back to the next chase group which included Ellwood, Bryan Alders (Marin Bikes Factory Team), and Robin Eckmann (California Giant Berry Farms/Specialized). Boulder Cycle Sport’s Pete Webber and Brandon Dwight shadowed that group.
Summerhill emerged first from that section with Allen sniffing the dust tossed up by his wheel on the gravelly path. Powlison had dropped back. Eckmann and Alders swung out as a pair after Benesh.
The two leaders had outpaced the chasers by over ten seconds as they worked on lap three. That’s about the time Allen touched Summerhill’s wheel and lost contact. But Allen kept him in sight.
Robin Eckmann second on course in Cyclo-X Louisville
Over the next few laps Eckmann progressed into third and briefly stole Allen’s second place on course.
Alders, a mountain biker, seemed to find his cyclocross home in Louisville. He churned out consistently fast laps that eclipsed Eckmann’s in the second half of the race.
Going into the last two laps over thirty seconds separated Allen from Summerhill. Maybe that was when Summerhill decided to let up that little bit. Or maybe something clicked in Allen?
“The afterburners kicked in. I don’t know,” the Feedback Sports rider said, trying to explain what fueled his late race surge. “I wanted to catch Danny really bad. That’s what I was working for.” And Summerhill knew it.
“We were going hard Tim and I – very, very, hard – and I really thought that Tim once he got any sort of gap would be able to hold it and win like he did the last time him and I raced in Golden,” Summerhill said.
Bryan Alders captured third
But the powerful Summerhill, who at times acted as a windshield for the slighter Allen in the extreme wind that frequently bent tall grass sideways on the open course, crossed the line with 13 seconds over his adversary. Alders rode into third. Eckmann finished fourth. Benesh stayed steady on course for fifth, while Webber outpaced the rest to get sixth.
Allen’s result had personal profits. “It was nice to be thinking about the front of the race and not worried about [what’s] behind me,” he said. “That’s a new sensation this year that I’ve never really had before.”
Eckmann leads the Cyclo-X points series. The next race takes place this coming Saturday in Westminster. Look for Summerhill in Los Angeles at Cross After Dark later this month.
For full results from Cyclo-X Louisville see the Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado’s website.
Men’s open podium for Cyclo-X Louisville (l-r) Robin Eckmann 4th, Bryan Alders 3rd, Danny Summerhill 1st, Tim Allen 2nd, Ken Benesh 5th
Gallery
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- Danny Summerhill’s winning FELT bike
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- Bike polo underway at the Louisville, CO venue
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- Danny Summerhill under his favorite colors
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- The “Bowl of Death” signs were everywhere
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- Chase group leaves the bowl (l-r) Chris Case, Robin Eckmann, Bryan Alders, W. Grant Ellwood
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- Danny Summerhill’s remount
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- Elite men drop back into the bowl on lap 1 led by Tim Allen
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- Junior W. Grant Ellwood (right) started fast and rode strong in Louisville, CO
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- Spencer Powlison’s dismount form
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- Bart Simpson moved to Gage Hecht’s new Specialized Crux for Cyclo-X Louisville
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- Deep ruts dictated the lines in places at Cyclo-X Louisville
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- Like a bird of prey, Danny Summerhill descends
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- Tim Allen’s trademark cyclocross move
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- Robin Eckmann
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- Brandon Dwight
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- Colby Pearce
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- Pete Webber in the Cyclo-X Louisville sandpit
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- Danny Summerhill crosses the moat
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- Tim Allen still found some mud in Louisville, CO
Women’s open field in the “Bowl of Death” in Louisville, CO
[updated 11/20/2013]
Sport is full of expected and unexpected peaks and valleys.
Saturday’s Cyclo-X Louisville delivered both every lap on a course built around the infamous “Bowl of Death,” a dry grassy reservoir with soggy borders at the bottom.
The signs were everywhere
Three times per lap riders dropped into the bowl; three times they climbed out. Multiply times five for the women’s open race which Judy Freeman (Crankbrothers Race Club) won by a small margin over Ann Trombley (Tokyo Joe’s).
Freeman is riding a rising peak of consecutive top podium steps that’s perhaps unexpected for a mountain bike specialist on a cyclocross learning curve.
Trombley’s second placed her on the podium twice in as many weeks. Another peak. And unexpected. Trombley, who coaches several of the ladies who pinned on numbers Saturday, said she never knows how well she’s going to race.
Around them riders who planned to peak a month ago and then peak again for ‘cross nationals in January found themselves in a planned valley. Others like Kristal Boni (Rapid Racing) dipped into unexpected valleys; barely into the first lap and just after the pit area, course tape temporarily disabled her bike’s gears.
Freeman’s win was her third in the Cyclo-X eight-race series. That makes six wins total so far this season in local Colorado cyclocross races, the most of any woman in the open category.
“I’m stoked about that. It’s pretty cool,” Freeman said post-race as she talked skewer quality with a mechanic under a tent battered by the wind. “And I never feel like it’s guaranteed. Anything can happen. It’s such a short race. I’m excited…”
Race Action
The course designer obviously wanted the venue’s “Bowl of Death” nickname to live up to its promise. Not much longer than five seconds after the start, a set of barriers at the far side of the first turn forced riders to slow and leap into a moat of muck on the other side before climbing to the top of the bowl.
Ann Trombley at the front climbing out of the “Bowl of Death” in lap two
Kristin Weber of Boulder Cycle Sport reached that initial challenge first. Trombley jumped over at the opposite end of the barriers. Junior Ashley Zoerner (Groove Subaru-Alpha Bicycle Co) joined them up the hillside and they carried a small gap into lap one.
Meanwhile Freeman, who got a slow start because she had trouble clipping into her pedal on the uneven turf, began a march to the front from eighth in the field.
By lap two Freeman rode third on course in a front group of five led by Trombley with Weber, Melissa Barker (GS Boulder / Studio 1 Dental), and Karen Hogan (Team Kappius.) Jess D’Amato and Kristen Peterson of Evol Foods pursued not far behind. Later in the race Tough Girl’s Margell Abel, Ksenia Lepikhina, and Heather Szabo (Tokyo Joe’s) formed a mid-field chase group.
Judy Freeman with Ann Trombley tucked in behind
Freeman and Trombley pulled away in that order and gained a ten second gap into lap three on Weber and Hogan who rode together ahead of Barker. In the fourth lap Freeman surged into a lead that became a solo win with seven seconds to spare over Trombley.
Given the open nature of the course, Trombley, a former coach of Freeman, could observe the leader for most if not all of the last two laps. What did she see?
“…Judy was railing the corners and I was trying to stay with her,” the coach and former Olympian said. “She’s just strong…And she is smooth on the technical – she’s very good. So she doesn’t lose any energy on that stuff so then she can power on the climbs and on the straightaways. She looks great.”
Hogan also looked great on Saturday. She gained a gap on Weber, riding a fast third lap, and held it for third place at the finish. Weber got fourth. The effort seemed to deplete nearly ever rider’s reserves; each of the top ten claimed their places on the finish line alone.
What’s Judy Freeman up to?
“The course was pretty rad,” Freeman said. “It’s funny, it was kind of like a two hour course condensed into 45 minutes. It was really bumpy. Some really long stretches into the wind. For whatever reason it was a little more, I don’t know, I guess I’m going to say a little more taxing…But it was a great course. It had a little bit of everything. It was fun.”
Freeman said she’s been enjoying the different types of courses in the Cyclo-X series and the skills each has tested. “I’m stoked because I think it’s really preparing everybody for [cyclocross] nationals coming up…” In October the Crankbrothers rider indicated she’s eager to take part in what she anticipates will be a great “vibe” when nationals comes to Boulder.
Weber leads the Cyclo-X points series. The next race takes place this coming Saturday in Westminster.
For full results from Cyclo-X Louisville see the Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado’s website.
Cyclo-X Louisville women’s open podium: (l-r) Karen Hogan 3rd, Judy Freeman 1st, Ann Trombley 2nd
Gallery
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- Kristin Weber guides women’s open field down into the bowl in Louisville
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- Jess D’Amato in the Louisville, CO sandpit
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- Chasing Trombley out of the bowl in lap two
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- View of the “Bowl of Death” looking east
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- Karen Hogan makes a splash
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- Kristen Peterson at Cyclo-X Louisville
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- Anne Trombley after Cyclo-X Louisville finish
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- Ksenia Lepikhina, Margell Abel, Heather Szabo (l – r)
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- Post race hug between coach Trombley and client Weber
Feedback Cup men’s open race podium from left to right: Danny Summerhill 2nd, Tim Allen 1st, Spencer Powlison 3rd
[updated 11/8/2013]
How important is “home field advantage” in cyclocross? With so many Boulder-based athletes competing at cyclocross nationals this January in the city’s Valmont Bike Park, it’s an interesting question.
Sunday’s Feedback Cup in Golden, Colorado provided the ideal location to explore that question.
Tim Allen, fastest into the first corner
The Golden track is home course to Tim Allen (Feedback Sports) who won the Feedback Cup men’s open race. Work days, he rides there during his lunch break. In this season’s Back-to-Basics series there, Allen won three of the four times he competed.
Jesse Swift (Gates Carbon Drive) earned the victory in Sunday’s single speed race. He would call the Golden location his home course too. He won and placed second twice at the Back-to-Basics races (on a single speed set-up).
The topic of home field advantage attracts intense scrutiny in the ball and puck sports. The numbers say home field advantage is highest in soccer. What causes this phenomenon? According to one source the reason is not due to the athlete or the field, but the refs.
We know home course advantage doesn’t always net a win in cyclocross. Riders win on courses they’ve never seen prior to race day. Like Chris Baddick, for example. In addition, locations with diverse features allow for varied course designs that test different skills and strengths.
Spencer Powlison trying to keep a gap on Danny Summerhill
Swift and Allen’s Feedback Cup results support the notion of home field advantage in ‘cross. What creates that leg-up? It seems to be the underlying or predominant characteristics of a location. In the case of the Golden space it’s the quality of the dirt sections.
Spencer Powlison (Evol Foods), who finished third in the men’s open race, said this about the Feedback Cup course: “…all these corners have loose stuff on the outside of the lines. So you have to be really precise with your lines…”
Guys like Allen and Swift who know those slippery corners had to have an advantage.
Jesse Swift won the Feedback Cup single speed race
“I know there was one corner where another racer was trying to pass me, but from all the Back-to-Basics races and weekly training, I knew how fast to take the corner, so he blew the corner and I rode the right line and kept my lead,” Swift wrote yesterday.
“On the other hand, there were at least 4-5 sections that were new to everyone. So, yeah, home field gave me a bit of an advantage but not huge.”
As Swift points out, home course advantage isn’t sufficient to achieve top three results. The Feedback Cup’s particular course design by Lee Waldman also demanded the strength to sprint like hell over and over out of the slippery corners.
Race action
Allen sped away from the start line for the holeshot. Brady Kappius (Clif Bar) and Powlison followed. Junior Gage Hecht (Specialized Racing Team) moved up as the pack swung onto grass, through the finish line area, and over the first barrier. Danny Summerhill (K-Edge/Felt) leapt over that barrier in fifth position.
The flotilla streamed into the northwest portion of the course which dipped down and back up a steep bump and then continued into turns and corners through the brushy fields.
According to Powlison, Kappius dropped his chain on a corner before the double barriers about halfway into the initial lap. That slowed everyone except for the frontrunner Allen. He hurried away to bunny-hop the double barriers with a gap he maintained for the remaining fifty-five minutes of racing.
Danny Summerhill moves up into second on lap one
The course wound into a lower area with off-camber S-turns and stairs. Riders climbed out of that section to return to the finish line area and that’s where Summerhill powered by Powlison and Hecht to move into second place on course.
As Kappius, Chris Case (Boulder Cycle Sport) and Mitch Hoke (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies) shadowed Hecht, Powlison latched onto Summerhill and they rode together. Going into lap three Summerhill “was riding super-fast obviously and gapped me,” Powlison said.
Spencer Powlison slips by as Summerhill recovers from crash
The next incident that shaped the outcome transpired half-way into the third lap.
Summerhill was threatening Allen’s fifteen second lead when he slid out in a corner bordered by loose gravel. Within a split-second he crashed hard onto the dirt, a surface Allen later described as similar to cement. Powlison and the other chasers slid by Summerhill and his bike while he took a good ten seconds or more to recover.
“I rode by myself for like forever which is hard to keep a steady pace and keep the gap from going out,” Powlison said. “And then eventually Danny caught on with Mitch and Brady and really got on the gas and they pulled me back.”
Now third on course Summerhill next sliced by Powlison who tried to hang onto the K-Edge/Felt rider. “Coming up the hill to the final lap I took off my sunglasses and kind of got a little off-line,” Powlison recalled while waiting for the podium ceremonies, “and that was all it took for him [Summerhill] to get a little gap on me.”
Bryan Alders in the Feedback Cup
Hoke, Kappius and Hecht traced the circuit as a group behind Allen, Summerhill, and Powlison. Next on course Case rode alone. Brian Alders (Marin Bikes Factory Team) followed with Taylor Carrington (Feedback Sports) and Michael Burleigh (Primal Wear/McDonald Audi) trailing him.
The contest for the top ten continued behind the three who had nailed their podium spots by the sound of the bell.
Kappius came in for fourth; Hoke, fifth. Hecht lost a position, Carrington drifted back, and Case and Burleigh made up time. Alders and J.J. Clarke completed the top ten. Carrington came in twelth.
By the end Allen finished 31 seconds in front of Summerhill. It wasn’t a comfortable lead.
Allen said he wondered out on course if he could claim his second victory in as many weeks. “I knew Danny Summerhill was behind me so the whole race I was pretty much scared shitless. But it felt good to just ride out front.”
Yes, he thought a home course advantage helped carry him to the win. So did his Feedback Sports team and bike sponsors Foundry Cycles and Shimano Di2.
Swift offered his conclusion regarding the home field advantage question.
“I think the more important part to the race and what appeared to be home course advantage is that it is a hard course with lots of difficult loose turns, no flat sections and zero pavement,” Swift wrote. “I think the course favored good bike handlers and mountain bikers, like Tim Allen and myself. A combination of course knowledge AND the love of dirt is what gave some racers a ‘home field advantage’.” [italics added]
Golfer watching Brady Kappius take a jump in the warm-up lap
Gallery
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- Recovering from the Feedback Cup holeshot effort
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- First barriers first lap Danny Summerhill
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- Gage Hecht and Brady Kappius in lap 4
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- Josh Whitney flatted and trotted through rabbit brush in Golden
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- Boops later pirouetted at the double barriers
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- Mitch Hoke
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- Tim Allen’s bunny hop form
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- Late afternoon sun lights up Danny Summerhill
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- Tim Allen’s not looking too scared here
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- Danny Summerhill reclaims second
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- Table Mountain views from the Golden course
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- Mike Burleigh’s primal look going uphill
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- Winning joy, Tim Allen takes Feedback Cup
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- Winning steed by Foundry Cycles
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- Teammates Michael Schaub and Tim Allen celebrate
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- Pit crew heads home after men’s open race
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- Fort Lewis College rider at Feedback Cup
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- Brady Kappius and Mitch Hoke watch Danny Summerhill fly
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- Taylor Carrington sets up
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- Chris Case leapfrogged Gage Hecht
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- Mitch Hoke one and a half to go
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- Tim Allen into the wild blue yonder
Judy Freeman looks back for Kristin Weber in the final lap of the Feedback Cup
It’s tempting to use “the old one-two” expression to describe Sunday’s women’s open race at the Feedback Cup. It would go like this: Judy Freeman threw the first punch when she passed Kristin Weber with one lap to go then followed that with punch number two by taking the win.
It’s even more tempting to put the expression into play when additional one-two combinations emerge upon further reflection.
Weber’s first place on Saturday followed by second on Sunday.
Weber’s number one spot with the most wins this season in Colorado’s women’s open category and Freeman (Crankbrothers Race Club) second with three. Yes, Weber’s delivered one-twos herself, five times.
But “the old one-two” analogy just doesn’t seem to work when discussing the concept of competition in this cyclocross women’s open field.
Make no mistake: this is sport and winning matters. But winning’s not about doing something to another rider, like pulverizing an opponent into dust and then gloating over that success. It’s more about each woman testing her limits and racing as well as she can. Let’s call it “self versus self.”
Kristin Weber takes the women’s open holeshot at the Feedback Cup
That expression describes Sunday’s Feedback Cup, which took place on a course that demanded repeated slowing and accelerating.
After crossing the finish line Weber (Boulder Cycle Sport) and others who finished near her time lowered their backs over top tubes and heads over handlebars. They breathed rapidly, firm bellies inflating with each gulp of air.
“It was so twisty,” Weber said about the course. “There’s only like two flat parts…and the rest of it is just stepping up out of every corner and doing a 15 – 30 second sprint every time.”
Race action
With her body reaching forward around the curve Weber gapped the field and captured the holeshot. Evol Food’s Kate Powlison and Jess D’Amato led the pursuit along with Karen Hogan (Team Kappius). Freeman came away about mid-field in eighth position as the riders headed out on course.
“I had a horrible start…I definitely picked too hard a gear to start in,” Freeman later said, “and then when we got rolling everyone accelerated and I was in choppy grass. I just planned that wrong.”
Caitlyn Vestal (left) on the stairs in lap 1
While Weber worked on staying out front with a five to ten second gap Freeman worked on moving up. By lap two she rode in fourth place on course in chase group 1 that also included Hogan, Margell Abel (Tough Girls), and Caitlyn Vestal (Feedback Sports). Chase group 2 consisting of Powlison, fifteen year-old Mina Anderberg (Team FUJI), and another rider cornered around the twisty course less than ten seconds behind.
Freeman reached the run-up early in lap three with Weber in view at the top. Hogan trailed Freeman by a few bike lengths and had inserted a few seconds between herself and Abel and Vestal. Powlison, Anderberg, Ashley Zoerner (Groove Subaru-Alpha Bicycle Company), and Kristal Boni (Rapid Racing) raced on behind the lead five women followed by the rest of the field.
Weber’s gap dissolved at the start of the final lap. Freeman passed her, gaining seven seconds by the end of the event. Weber finished second.
Judy Freeman moved from eighth to second on course in three laps
“I felt her coming,” Weber said after the race, acknowledging Freeman’s strength. “I just had to keep going, and I was like mentally losing my kick three-quarters of the way through the race…so she just did a slow gain and then she passed me and I was like ‘Aaaiie!’”
The Boulder Cycle Sport rider aimed to make the exit from every corner count; accelerating quickly out of corner after corner required lots of concentration and effort which took its toll. “It’s hard when you are anaerobic that long to keep the focus, to keep doing that, and especially if you’re not battling it out with somebody. I sort of lost my focus a little bit.”
Vestal and Hogan came to the line competing for third, which went to Vestal by less than half a second. Abel arrived twenty seconds later to round out the top five.
As the medical crew cleaned up a gash on her left leg – the result of a crash while riding alone late in the race, Freeman spoke about her win. “It feels good. I’m excited – I haven’t raced much ‘cross so I’m learning a lot, definitely it feels good to race well…and I’m having a lot of fun.”
Kristin Weber in flight at the Feedback Cup
After reflecting on the weekend, Weber described what she’s been learning in her third women’s open season, spending more time on that topic than discussing her two podium results.
“I’m amazed by how hard I can push myself now and then keep pushing myself. Before there was this fear factor of going into that upper echelon and then worrying that you were going to explode,” she said. “I’m learning how to go into that hurt zone and then keep re-entering it and coming back and re-entering.”
In short, she’s finding out just how much her body and mind can suffer – while loving every minute.
With so many strong women aiming for their best races on the Colorado cyclocross scene, including Judy Freeman as well as the persistent nemesis called “Luck,” Weber is likely to test her limits again and again this season.
Find full results on the Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado website.
Gallery
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- Kristin Weber leading on the Golden course in lap 1
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- Judy Freeman moving up behind Margell Abel
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- Karen Hogan distanced herself from Caitlyn Vestal and Margell Abel
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- Kristin Peterson by the pit
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- Mina Anderberg veers into the straightaway with double barriers
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- Kate Powlison chasing in the final lap
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- Judy Freeman wins the Feedback Cup, her third Colorado ‘cross victory this season
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- Caitlyn Vestal third and Karen Hogan fourth at the Feedback Cup
[updated 11/5/2013]
First the lesson, with Tim Allen of Feedback Sports, winner of yesterday’s men’s open race at the Feedback Cup in Golden, Colorado.
Tim Allen (Feedback Sports) approach
Tim Allen (Feedback Sports) lift-off
Tim Allen (Feedback Sports) clearing
Now for the bunny-hop prizes in the men’s open race.
Best expression: Spencer Powlison (Evol Foods)
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Best angles: Brady Kappius (Clif Bar)
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Most control, Mitch Hoke (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies)
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Most relaxed, Tim Allen (Feedback Sports)
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Best clearance, Danny Summerhill (K-Edge/Felt)
And then prizes in the male single speed cyclocross category from the Feedback Cup.
Most prolific, Jesse Swift (Gates Carbon Drive) does the double (photo by Jessica Swift)
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Most colorful, Nic Handy (Alpha Bicycle – All City) carries many tattoos when he sails (photo by Kayla Kassir)
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Tim Allen wins Zombie Cross in Parker, Colorado as Gage Hecht takes the final turn behind him
[updated 10/31/2013]
In the minutes prior to setting off on a sixty minute race effort that meant fending off the Colorado Cross Cup leader and a strong junior who knew the course like the back of his hand, Tim Allen yawned.
“That’s a good sign, actually,” the Feedback Sports rider said as he waited alongside the start grid for the men’s open race at Sunday’s Zombie Cross.
Allen was right. He sped away from the other hopefuls and maintained a pace that earned him a win after sixth place the day before at Cyclo-X Xilinx. How did he pull off the victory on Sunday?
“I think I really just wanted redemption from yesterday because I got outsmarted on a very roadie course yesterday,” he said. “So today I felt like if I just went for it that I could hold it. I was worried though – Gage [Hecht] was coming for me and he was riding really well today.”
Race action
Tim Allen led the pack from start to finish at Zombie Cross
After the whistle the field took a U-turn off the start/finish pavement and onto single track through a stand of pine trees.
With Allen leading the group flew down course into open fields. The track then narrowed into turns in a thicket of leafless trees that left the riders at the base of a short steep pitch dubbed the “run-up from hell.” The riders summited without dismounting to the cheers of a crowd of rowdy spectators.
A descent guided the pack into a maze back in the trees. When asked later about how the course separated riders, Cross Cup leader Ken Benesh (Evol Foods) mentioned that spot.
Ken Benesh in the maze among tight trees
“The real tight area down in the trees just allows yo-yoing gaps to form and then it’s hard to close down the gaps again. For bigger guys like Pete [Webber] and myself through those trees is a little more difficult,” Benesh said as he ducked to demonstrate how he had avoided some of the lower branches.
Near the end of the first lap a front group of four emerged: Allen, Benesh, fifteen year-old Gage Hecht (Specialized Racing Team), and Boulder Cycle Sport’s Pete Webber. They had gained about a ten second gap to chaser Joseph Clemenzi (Sports Garage Cycling) who had pulled away from the rest of the field.
Ken Benesh, Gage Hecht, and Pete Webber in lap two
Allen opened a gap of 15 seconds by the end of the next lap to the other three who chased together. Clemenzi followed ahead of Princess Leia a.k.a. Nic Handy (Alpha Bicycle Company – All City) on a single speed steed and then a group containing Greg Krause (Groove Subaru – Alpha Bicycle Company), Josh Yeaton (Horizon Organic – Panache) and Brett Pirie (Groove Subaru – Alpha Bicycle Company). Pee Wee Herman a.k.a. Drew Christopher of Groove-Alpha hung on at the back and would finish the race.
Blame a can of Pabst Blue Ribbon for a turning point that materialized in lap three when the riders cleared the “run-up from hell.” With PBR clutched tantalizingly close in the hands of many among the festive group camped at the top, Webber took a risk in the moment. He grabbed for a can. When the surprised spectator held on the Boulder Cycle Sport rider touched dirt.
“It was bad judgment,” Webber later said. The accident cost him time. He was unable to catch Benesh and Hecht but in the end held on for fourth place.
With Webber out of the picture, Hecht locked his eyes on Allen and dropped Benesh. The Feedback Sports rider had decided to recover a bit in that lap, but didn’t rest for long. “I seemed to catch him a little bit but I could tell that he saw that I was coming,” Hecht said after the race. “And so he sped up quite a bit.”
Nic Handy placed fifth riding single speed
The final three laps left spectators and pit crew turning over the same questions again and again. Could Allen and Hecht each hold on for twenty-five more minutes? How much does each have left in the tank? Will one of them pick up a goathead and flat?
Consistent answers arrived. Allen stayed out front. Hecht powered away alone in second. Benesh managed to limit the space between himself and the junior. The changes emerged behind them where Handy eclipsed Clemenzi to gain fifth.
Allen crossed the finish line with a big smile while Hecht turned the last corner twelve seconds back. As he leaned over the handlebars to catch his breath, Allen shook his head and said, “Gage [Hecht] had me on the rivet.”
“I feel like I did awesome,” the Specialized junior said about his second place result. “I don’t think I could have done much better.”
Benesh ended the day with a solid lead in the Cross Cup competition.
Find full results for the men’s open race on the Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado website.
Frites en Mayo Velo Club and the Happy Coffee ‘cross team presented the event.
Zombie Cross men’s open podium (l-r) Pete Webber 4th, Ken Benesh 3rd, Tim Allen 1st, Gage Hecht 2nd, Nic Handy 5th
Gallery (with SM3 riders)
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- A relaxed Tim Allen lines-up
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- Joe Clemenzi, eyes up
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- Gage Hecht negotiates barrels on his home course
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- Pete Webber charges up a hill in lap 1
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- Greg Krause finished eighth at Zombie Cross
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- Ken Benesh kept Gage Hecht in sight
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- Josh Yeaton chasing Kasey Campbell
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- Tim Allen in a common place: having fun on the bike
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- Nic Handy in the woods
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- A unicorn visited the Run-up from Hell crowd
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- Bart, co-pilot of Gage Hecht’s bike
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- Ken Benesh
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- Pee Wee sweating it out
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- SM3: Garrett Gerchar on the beach
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- SM3: Um, I’m racing with what?
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- SM3: Keegan Sotebeer, Nevin Whittemore, Andrew Harbuck (l-r)
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- SM3: Ooops ouch
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- SM3: Sheriff
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- SM3: Tiger Shark on the loose in Parker
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- SM3: Tiger Shark tail
Zombie Cross women’s open podium (l-r) Judy Freeman 1st, Caitlyn Vestal 2nd, (Laurel Rathbun 3rd, absent)
[updated 10/28/2013]
“What are you?”
At a race just days before Halloween, and Zombie Cross in particular in Parker, Colorado, riders responded to that question with a number of storybook answers. Princess Leia. The bride of Frankenstein. Lori Grimes, surviving mom and wife of the zombie apocalypse.
When Judy Freeman (Crankbrothers Race Club) raised her arms skyward as she claimed her second victory in as many days, she wore no costume other than that of bike racer. Her win at Zombie Cross on Sunday followed Saturday’s first place at Cyclo-X Xilinx.
The momentum she built on course counted as much – if not more than – Sunday’s result on the finish line.
“…it felt really good to be able to come in first, to roll in first,” Freeman said after her win at Zombie Cross, “but I guess most importantly I felt really good on the bike, and sometimes when you’re riding and you feel good about how you’re riding that’s the best thing to walk away with.”
“Kitty” Margell Abel coming off the covered bridge on the Zombie Cross course
Race action
Caitlyn Vestal (Feedback Sports) sped away on the pavement ahead of the field followed by Margell Abel of Tough Girls, Feeback Sports’ Lisa Hudson, Laurel Rathbun (Exergy Twenty16), and then Freeman.
Before the riders entered some tight turns early in the lap, Freeman attacked.
Then the field dealt with the “the run-up from hell,” which Freeman later described as one of the most challenging parts of a course that included sand, barriers, and short climbs and descents connected by S-turns and straightaways. The blinding angle of the sun at the time of the women’s open race made it difficult to pick out the best line on the steep run-up. Freeman cleared it on the bike more laps than not.
On the “run-up from hell” in the women’s cat 3 race
By the second lap Freeman had moved into first on course and quickly built a lead of fifteen seconds.
Behind her Vestal and Rathbun rode as a twosome in that order until the next to last lap when Rathbun moved into second. But Rathbun’s claim on the number two spot was short-lived. She crashed early in the bell lap.
Caitlyn Vestal led the chase twosome with Laurel Rathbun
Trying to gain speed on the start-finish pavement, Rathbun put her head down. She looked up just in time to see course tape but without enough time to negotiate the corner where she slid out in the sand, she explained post-race.
Vestal seized the opportunity and flashed by. No one could catch Freeman, who zoomed on to a solo finish. Vestal placed second. Rathbun held onto third.
When she spoke after the race, the Crankbrothers Race Club rider sounded determined to put together a strong cyclocross season. If this weekend and the UCI races in Boulder earlier this month are any indication, that goal is becoming a reality. She placed eighth at the Colorado Cross Classic and tenth in the Boulder Cup.
“I didn’t have the best cross country season because I was dealing with a back injury and so I’m starting to figure that out, starting to get back to where I where I can ride and train really well,” Freeman said. “I want to get into a season where I can actually race, so I’m excited about that.”
The Valmont Bike Park venue for cyclocross nationals is fueling this Boulder resident’s season as well.
“My biggest motivator is, nationals are in Boulder this year, and I think that’s incredible. I’m so happy that Boulder brought it to town,” Freeman said. “It’s going to be such a great vibe and I really want to be a part of it.” She intends to enter the women’s elite race.
Find full results for the women’s open race on the Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado website.
Judy Freeman with her Scott Cross Addict. She likes how it accelerates.
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Photo gallery
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- Brianne Marshall going into sandpit
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- Meg Hottman at the barriers
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- Naked Girl bunny Susan Adamkovics on Zombie Cross descent
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- Margell Abel chasing, ears back
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- Lisa Hudson fights for balance
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- Laurel Rathbun in second position at Zombie Cross
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- Lisa Hudson on the Zombie Cross beach
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- Kristen Peterson on the runup from hell
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- Kristal Boni sees Judy Freeman’s lap 1 attack
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- Judy Freeman on the runup
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- This stuff was really good. Really.
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- Judy Freeman at the Zombie Cross finish line
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- Kristal Boni finished 5th in Zombie Cross
Pit crew in action at Cross of the North #3 men’s open race
At a glance the men’s open race at Cross of the North #3 might have looked like a slap-stick comedy.
Riders made progress in slow motion over and through heavy, peanut butter mud. Unable to gain purchase going uphill on the slick oozing mess, they ran. More than usual. Riders slipped and fell, sometimes twice, three times in a single spot. Some like Skyler Trujillo (Boo Bicycles) spent lots of time up close and personal with the goo.
“You can point to any part of this course and I was lying on it at some point,” he said, after finishing with a respectable sixth place.
Bruce Hecht checks over Gage Hecht’s “B” bike after Gage enters the pit
But a closer look revealed the cost of the conditions. Spencer Powlison (Evol Foods) led the race early on with form to match ambition, but had to pull out when his rear derailleur broke. Gage Hecht (Specialized Racing Team) broke his rear derailleur too and also did not finish.
A rider needed more than great legs, a “B” bike, and luck to win this cyclocross race.
In those gunky conditions the guys relied on gripping course poles for stability around sharp turns, the power to drive a bike twice its normal weight, and a pit crew. Pit crews labored to make mud-laden bikes functional even as the power-washer ran out of gas. Feeble streams of water from hoses were no match for glop that clogged everything and clung for dear life to every surface. Mixed with dried vegetation, the mud could have been used to build adobe houses.
With lap times running about eleven minutes, pit crews worked at a frenzied pace against the clock to deliver cleaned-up bikes twice a lap. When asked how long it was taking to ready a bike, Erinn Benesh, sister and crew to racer Ken Benesh (Evol Foods), replied with bucket and brush in hand, “We’re almost five minutes with this one and we’re not done.”
Erinn Benesh worked alongside her husband to get Ken’s bikes ready ten times during the hour-long race. And then the reward. After that tenth turnaround Ken Benesh won his first race of the season and first ever open race.
Ken Benesh wins his first ever open race
After the race the Evol Foods rider downplayed his part in earning the victory.
“I had a taste of it getting second a bunch lately and so it’s nice to finally get a win,” Benesh said. “But really when it comes down to today it was having the best pit crew.”
The conditions helped him and he relied on his strength: “I tend to do better in power courses anyways, and this was just power.” It was fun on course, he said, then clarifying, “when you’re not falling. I think I only went down twice, I kind of caught myself. So it was just staying smooth, picking good lines, and taking your time through things. When you try to rush stuff that’s when you end up crashing.”
Race action
Tim Allen of Feedback Sports, who had won the day before, took the holeshot and escaped unscathed through thick mud on an off-camber slope early in the lap that laid several riders sideways.
Tim Allen in the lead after the first messy turns
Powlison, Hecht, Mitch Hoke (Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies), Allen Krughoff (Raleigh-Clement), Steven Stefko (First City Cycling), Benesh, Rotem Ishay and teammate Trujillo emerged next.
The scene changed with the advent of lap two. Powlison took over first on course with a twenty second lead. Hoke passed Allen who held third. Gaps lengthened between riders.
After more than twenty minutes of riding and going into lap three, Hoke moved into first with Powlison second. Krughoff, Benesh, and Stefko churned by Allen when he stopped to clear mud off his bike. Trujillo found his pace not far behind.
Riders swapped out bikes with each pass by the pit – except for Powlison and Hoke. When Powlison’s rear derailleur snapped he was forced to end his ride and Benesh passed Krughoff with Hoke his target.
Mitch Hoke cruises by the Cross of the North #3 pit. He had one bike.
Hoke brought one bike, an Orbea Terra T105. As others pitted, he rode serenely by, turning over the pedals with some magic formula to make the mud obey that worked until Benesh and then Stefko slid by him with one lap to go.
Benesh won with a gap of nearly a minute to Stefko. Hoke held on for third. Eight of the eighteen starters weren’t able to finish.
For full results see the Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado website.
The winning pit crew (l-r) Errin Benesh Vito, Breeze Brown, and Colin Vito
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Gallery
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- Straight wasn’t always an option — Spencer Powlison fends off Mitch Hoke
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- Skyler Trujillo loving the mud in lap one
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- Mitch Hoke cruises by the Cross of the North #3 pit. He had one bike.
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- Tim Allen
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- Steven Stefko negotiates a turn
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- Gage Hecht on the “A” Bart bike
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- Allen Krughoff before Ken Benesh slips past him
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- Gage Hecht picks his way through Cross of the North #3 keyhole turns
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- Mitch Hoke leads in lap two
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- Ken Benesh passes Tim Allen
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- What did Mitch Hoke say as Steven Stefko passed him with one lap to go?
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- Grant Holicky makes a bike change
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- Michael Robson advises juniors on Cross of the North #3 course
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- Boo Bicycles crew steadies a bike for Skyler Trujillo
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- Allen Krughoff finds balance into the barriers
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- Mitch Hoke chasing Tim Allen
Rebecca Gross wins the 2013 Cross of the North #3 in a race that included women of all ages
[updated 10/23/2013]
Twelve year-old Katie Clouse (Canyon Bicycles) can easily hide among the adults in the women’s open start grid. She is tiny in stature compared to the women in their 30’s and 40’s who blew into their hands to stay warm before their Sunday morning race at Cross of the North #3 just outside of Fort Collins, Colorado.
Easy to spot at the front were Rebecca Gross (Raleigh-Clement), hungry for a win after a solid block of racing and top five results, and Karen Hogan (Team Kappius) who recently won Frisco Cross.
The whistle blew and the field sped away from the gravely grid. Gross won the holeshot and would stay out front to enjoy a solo win.
Kristin Weber (Boulder Cycle Sport) maintained a steady second with Gross in sight on an exposed course that packed some short but steep sandy uphills and keyhole turns past the start line.
After traversing the start area ridge the riders descended into a grassy bowl which they exited, rode alongside, and the re-entered to negotiate two sets of uphill railroad tie barriers.
Karen Hogan, Katie Clouse, and Melissa Barker (l-r) in Cross of the North #3
Hogan disputed the remaining podium step with Clouse and Melissa Barker (GS Boulder/Studio 1 Dental). Their fitness similar, what separated these three riders was time, but not on the course. When the 48 year-old Hogan glanced back and saw the 12 year-old behind her, it was bit disconcerting.
“I started to calculate, ‘OK, I’m 48, so [I’m] her times four.’ It was like experience has got to be worth something, right? That’s what I kept saying to myself…I kept going through the calculation of years,” Hogan recalled after the race, smiling.
And so Hogan and Clouse ticked off the laps under a gray sky with Barker. Hogan, mother of three and a former masters national champion. Clouse, still growing and with a few years to go before she walks the halls in high school.
Kristin Weber
Up ahead Weber pushed to catch Gross. She came close. But the Raleigh-Clement rider had found her day and ideal dry conditions and said she likely gained seconds through the challenging section just after the start.
“Someone went in there and tamped down some of the ridges that had built up and it was like a rocket if you just relaxed through everything and let it rip,” Gross said after the race. “So I think I had a little bit of an advantage there.” A full day of racing had taken place the previous day in the same location.
It was near that section that Clouse dropped her chain in the bell lap. Appearing frustrated but calm, she re-engaged the chain. Then the sparks flew. She focused on Hogan and Barker and closed the gap caused by her mechanical.
“She was incredible,” Hogan later said about the junior. “The only reason I think that I still beat her – which was just barely – was because she dropped her chain; otherwise I think she would have had me.” Hogan continued, joking and playful as the women marveled over Clouse, “How did she get so good in 12 years? It took me 48 years…”
In the end Barker slipped past Hogan for third after second-placed Weber. Clouse claimed fifth behind Hogan.
The riders congratulated Gross as she talked about her result.
Rebecca Gross
“I’m stoked. These women are so strong,” she said. “I don’t think you could live anywhere else and have such a competitive local field. So getting in the front and keeping that is a pretty legit accomplishment.”
The local win boosted her confidence. Speaking about last weekend’s UCI Boulder Cup and Colorado Cross Classic events where she placed in the top twenty, she added, “And I think last weekend in Boulder was a good confidence builder too. It’s just great to have all the fans there, screaming, and all the juniors that I know from working with here and there were cheering and that really, really makes you want to push harder, show them that you can do it too, set the example…”
Ashley Zoerner and Katie Clouse in bumps
It’s not unusual in Front Range cyclocross for juniors to race in the open field. Fourteen year-old Ashley Zoerner (Groove Subaru-Alpha Bicycle Co) and teammate Allison Moorhead also competed in Sunday’s race. So did 16 year-old Ksenia Lepikhina (BMC XC Racing Team). Fifteen year-old Gage Hecht (Team Specialized Juniors) and other juniors regularly enter the men’s open races.
Juniors also wrangle against adults in the category 3 races. In fact that’s how Clouse and Zoerner spent 45 minutes after an hour’s break from the women’s open race at Cross of the North #3. The two pulled away from the rest of the women’s category 3 field early and smashed it. Zoerner finished second and Clouse, first.
The future is now. Ashley Zoerner and Katie Clouse after SW 3 finish.
For full results see the Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado’s website.
Gallery
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- Kristin Weber remembering Amy D
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- Keyhole turn early in the Cross of the North #3 circuit
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- Kristal Boni chasing Melissa Barker in lap two
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- Kate Powlison
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- Katie Clouse setting up for a turn
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- Several firepits on course warmed cold bones
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- Karen Hogan, Melissa Barker, Katie Clouse (l-r) in women’s open race
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- Kristal Bonai finished seventh at Cross of the North #3
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- Kristin Weber wore Amy D socks
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- Ksenia Lepikhina ahead of Kristal Bonai
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- Margell Abel on the ridge near Cross of the North #3 start
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- Rebecca Gross at the railroad ties
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- Melissa Barker
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- Cross of the North #3 women’s open podium (l-r) Kristin Weber 2nd, Rebecca Gross 1st, Melissa Barker 3rd
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- How do we get out of here?
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- Melissa Marts climbs out of the bowl. She finished third in SW3.
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- Katie Clouse wins Cross of the North #3 SW3 race
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- Announcer Larry Grossman and dancing juniors perched on a lift
ProVéloPassion 