Feedback Sports Race Team

Race Report for Cyclocross Worlds and Nationals

2012-01-18T20:01:00.016-07:00

Team Feedback's own Chris Case came away with silver medals in the two most prestigious Cyclocross races of the season for Masters racers. Here is the inside story on the hugely successful road trip to Madison, Wisconsin and Louisville, Kentucky. It was a true team effort. In Chris' own words:

"There's nothing like going "pro" for a week and a half. Long ago in the cyclocross season, I committed to racing both the cyclocross National Championships in Madison, Wisc. and Masters World Championships (for the first time they were being held outside of Europe, in Louisville, Kentucky). And I think I did a good job of convincing some of my teammates--and more importantly, convincing Doug--that we should turn this into a great road trip/cyclocross team extravaganza for Team Feedback Sports. I think we did just that.

Feedback employee Sammy Rutherford and elite racer (and fellow employee) Tim Allen packed up the van with 9 bikes and 20 sets of wheels, work stands, A-frames, tents, luggage, buckets, brushes, and one mighty subwoofer and hit the road for Madison. Lisa, Doug, Greg, and I would meet them a few days later in Wisconsin and start racing. From the start it was an incredible trip. We all had great fun, whether we were racing or pitting, hanging out in the Feedback tent or celebrating at dinner.

Personally, I had a great race at Nationals, in sloppy conditions (not my greatest strength), sitting in a battle for second place for most of the race. Word was we pulled back 21 seconds on the leader in the last lap, to no avail. He held us off, and I held on for silver. Next year Madison, bring on the snow!

Then Sammy, Tim, and I hit the road, conducting a goodwill tour through the Heartland, visiting bike shops in Chicago and Indianapolis, before reaching Louisville. I was being touted as the pro, just hitching a ride, and that was fine by me. After all, I was living like a pro, as Sammy and Tim took care of my bikes before, during, and after the races, and all I had to do was put up with their antics and musical taste. Not a bad deal.

Louisville was a very bittersweet experience. The fields were not terribly deep, nor seemingly that strong, but it was still the World Championships. And I was really focused on a win. It's been a long time since I was this pumped and confident that I could do really well. And from the gun it all came together. I took the lead within a half lap of the start, and I never really felt pressured. I extended my lead to 20 seconds at one point and then just settled in.

Sammy and Tim were phenomenal in the pits, as I got a clean bike every half lap.

I can't thank them enough for being an incredible crew before, during, and after each race.

My lead came down at times, but once I knew it was dropping I was able to extend it again at will. I felt like the day was mine. And then, just as Dave Towle was announcing how I had dominated the race, I entered the last corner of the last lap, 100 meters from the finish line.

Suddenly, after a run up, I realized my chain had dropped and I was immediately in a different world. By the time I got it back on, my 15-second lead had vanished and the race was about to slip away. I jumped back on my bike only to see the second place rider slide by... the rest is history. I tried to bring it all back in the sprint but it was too late.

A silver medal on any other day would have been phenomenal. On this day, it stung just a bit.

Still, I can't say enough about the experience of being on a real team, with great teammates, fine friends, incredible athletes, a superb crew, with great support, and loads of camaraderie. If you ever have a chance to go "pro" do not hesitate. But make sure you do it with the Feedback Sports team.

Until next year.... "

Masters World Championships for Cyclocross

2012-01-17T19:37:00.012-07:00

Two Feedback Sports racers medaled at the Masters CX Worlds in Louisville, KY on Friday January 13th!!! Lisa Hudson finished 3rd in the Womens 35-39 World Championship race.

And, Chris Case finished 2nd in the Mens 35-39 World Championship race.

Both rode superbly on the frozen and rutted Louisville mud.

You can take a look at the USA Cycling news release and race results here. Way to go Lisa and Chris!

Cyclocross National Championships

2012-01-10T22:28:00.014-07:00

Five members of the Feedback Sports race team made the trek East to compete in the 2012 USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championship races on January 5th through the 8th. Nationals were held this year in Madison, Wisconsin, at the Badger Prairie Park.

The 2.1 mile course, meeting UCI specifications, included plenty of tight turns, sharp climbs, mud, sand and the standard assortment of barriers and obstacles. Weather for the races was unseasonably mild with temperatures in the 30s and 40s and no snow.

Lisa Hudson kicked things off for the Feedback team with a seventh place finish in the Masters 35-39 race on Friday the 6th. She went on to follow that up by finishing in 38th place (out of 80) in the Elite Women's race on Sunday January 8th. Whew, nice work! Lisa (below) navigates a tight turn along with the Women's Elite field.

Three Feedback racers competed in the Masters Men's National Championship races on Saturday the 7th; Greg Gorrell, Doug Hudson and Chris Case. Greg finished in 28th place in the Masters 45-49 field and Doug finished in 43rd place in the 40-44 field of 81 racers.

Chris Case had a super race to finish 2nd in the 63 racer 35-39 field!!! Here is a video clip of the Nationals 35-39 race and you can see Chris sitting in 4th place, early in the race. He continued to work his way closer to the leader as the race went on, and finished only 9 seconds out of first. Congratulations! Chris (below) powering through the mud.

Feedback Sports racer Tim Allen competed in arguably the most competitive Elite Men's Cyclocross race in North America all year and finished in 38th place.

With all of the mud on the course, pit support was integral to each racer's success. Pictured below, Sammy Rutherford and Greg Gorrell work the pits.

All in all, it was a fun and successful road trip to Wisconsin for the Feedback Sports team:

(Pictured L to R: Tim Allen, Sammy Rutherford, Lisa Hudson, Chris Case, Greg Gorrell and Doug Hudson).

Cyclocross!

2011-12-23T09:35:00.040-07:00

The 2011 Feedback Sports racing team fielded a squad of 14 racers competing in Cyclocross races throughout the region during the Fall. It was a very good season for the team with members coming away with a total of 10 wins, 30 podium placings and 80 top-ten finishes!

There were many great moments during the season, so what follows are only a sampler of what proved to be a year of numerous highlights.

Senior Men Open:
First off, we had four racers competing in the Senior Men Open category, and they capped-off the season with a second place finish in the Colorado Cross Cup Overall Team Standings!!!! The Feedback Sports 2nd place overall Colorado Cross Cup team:

(L to R Ken Benesh, Tim Allen, John Klish and Chris Case)

Ken Benesh, pictured below, competed in 13 Cyclocross races in 2011 and finished in the top-ten 12 times! He also took 7th place in the overall Colorado Cross Cup (SM Open) individual standings for 2011.

Tim Allen competed in 12 races during the season and finished in the top-ten in all 12! That was good for 3rd overall in the Colorado Cross Cup individual Senior Men Open standings.

Tim also finished his season with 2 podium placings and a 4th place in the State Championship race. In addition, he was instrumental in overseeing the Castle Cross race that our team put on at the Rhyolite park in Castle Rock on November 20th. That race drew more than 425 participants and went off very well. Thanks Tim and thanks all volunteers!

The next member of the Feedback Senior Men Open Cyclocross team for 2011 was John Klish, who is pictured below.

John began the season racing in the Senior Men Cat. 3 group and took 4 wins, including back to back wins at the USGP of Cyclocross New Belgium Cup races on October 8th and 9th!

In addition, he had 4 top-ten finishes in the Senior Men Open category during the second half of the 2011 season.

The fourth member of the Feedback Senior Men Open cross team was Chris Case, who had an outstanding season of racing in 2011.

Chris took 1st place in the 2011 Overall Colorado Cross Cup (Senior Men Open) individual standings! He did that with 1 win, 5 podium placings and 10 top-ten finishes in the Senior Men Open category.

Chris, pictured below, on the top step of the SM Open podium for the Blue Sky Velo Cup Cross:

Chris also had 1st place finishes at the Colorado Cross Classic and Boulder Cup races on October 29th and 30th in the Open 35+ category!

Other Categories:
Other members of the Feedback Sports race team were actively competing on the Cyclocross circuit this Fall. Lisa Hudson raced in a full slate of 14 Cyclocross events (Senior Women Open category) this season and finished with 1 win, 5 podium finishes and 11 top-ten finishes!

Lisa won the Primalpalooza Senior Women Open CX race, finished in the top-ten in the overall Colorado Cross Cup individual standings and had a top-ten finish at States.

Craig Hofer competed in the Open 45+ category and came away with 2 wins, 4 podium finishes and 8 top-ten finishes:

He won the Lookout Cross and Westminster City Park CX races and finished in the top-ten in the overall Colorado Cross Cup individual standings for 2011.

Chris Phenicie raced in 6 Cyclocross events this season and took home 1 win, 3 podium finishes and 4 top-ten finishes.

Doug Hudson competed in 14 Cross races this season (in 35+/Cat. 3) and ended the year with 2 podium finishes and 8 top-ten finishes.

He came on strong at the end of the year to earn a 3rd place finish in the State Championship race!

Two of the most active Feedback Sports racers during the 2011 Cyclocross season competed in the Open Men 45+ category; Greg Gorrell and Mike Schaub. Greg finished 16 races during the season, and came away with 3 podium and 5 top-ten finishes:

Mike represented the Feedback team, competing in a total of 15 Cyclocross races this year before becoming injured at the end of the season.

Other Feedback Sports racers who mixed it up during the Cyclocross season included Ross Delaplane, Emma Dunn, Jerry Kopack, Marjie Tokarski and Rich DiGeronimo. Thank you everyone for a great season!

September/October Racing News

2011-10-12T21:05:00.015-06:00

The 2011 mountain bike racing season has come to an end, and many Feedback Sports racers have transitioned over to Cyclocross. 2011 was a successful year for our team, as members were tearing it up all around the region. We finished 2011 with more than thirty wins!! Feedback Sports team member race wins during the year included:

-Winter Park Series Overall Championship (Team Competition)
-Winter Park Series Overall Championship (Pro Women)
-Winter Park Series Overall Championship (Expert Men 45-49)
-Winter Park Series Overall Championship (Sport Men 30-34)
-Mountain States Cup Series Overall Championship (Cat 2 Men 30-39)
-Ring the Peak 70 miler
-Oakridge Fat 55 (Open Men 35-44)
-Peaceful Valley 2/3 Marathon (Open Men 40-49 and Overall)
-Peaceful Valley 2/3 Marathon (Open Men 50-59)
-Sol Survivor XC (Cat 2 Men 30-39)
-King of the Rockies/Tipperary Creek (Expert Men 45-49)
-Winter Park Mountain Top Circuit (Expert Men 45-49)
-Blast the Mass XC (Cat 2 Men 30-39)
-CrankworX Colorado XC (Expert Men 45-49)
-Laramie Enduro (Open Men 50+)
-Keystone Super-D (Open Women 35+)
-Breckenridge 100/B-32 Race (Open Men 50+)
-Winter Park Super-D (Pro Women)
-Winter Park Super-D (Expert Men 35-39)
-Winter Park Super-D (Expert Men 50+)
-Winter Park Super-D (Sport Women 35-39)
-Winter Park Super-D (Sport Men 30-34)
-Winter Park Valley Point to Point (Expert Men 45-49)
-Wildflower Rush XC (Cat 2 Men 30-39)
-Ridgeline Rampage Marathon (Open Women 40-49)
-Ridgeline Rampage Half Marathon (Open Men 50+)
-Winter Park Hill Climb (Sport Men 30-34)
-Front Range 60 (Open Women 30-39)
-Rabbit Valley Rally XC (Cat 1 Men 19-29)
-VooDoo Fire Half Marathon (Open Men 50+)
-Cheyenne Mountain. Explosion (Cat 1 Men 19-29)
-Dawn til Dusk (Open Men 50+)

And now, here's what was happening during the months of September and October.

Ring the Peak:
At 6:30am on Saturday morning October 1st, racers lined up at the America the Beautiful park in Colorado Springs for the kick-off of the Ring the Peak 70 mile mountain bike race around Pike's Peak. As a part of the Southwest Endurance Series, the race is unsanctioned and each racer is responsible for staying on course and tracking their own time. Feedback Sports racer Ross Delaplane gave it a go and finished first! (or tied for first I should say) Here is Ross' first-hand report of what the race is all about:

"Time to try something different. I was looking at the Crested Butte 100, but when that race was full, I found another Southwest Endurance Series race going on in Colorado Springs on the same day - the Ring the Peak. Over 70 miles you circumnavigate Pikes Peak, and with 10K feet of climbing, it looked to be a tough ride. This event is unique in several ways:

1) Outrageous fall color.

2) No entry fee.

3) It ends at McCabe's tavern in downtown Colorado Springs.

For much of the ride, you follow the Ring the Peak trail which is a very well marked route. You don't get any additional course markings or traffic control though (see no entry fee!). That said, for someone like myself who has never ridden on any of the event roads or trails it is a different experience as you try to navigate while racing. A GPS would have been nice for sure.

After a quick pre-race meeting in the predawn darkness, I found myself with a solid 5 man group right from the start. Sunrise came as we passed through Manitou Springs - surreal as everything glowed red and throngs of hikers were already out to climb the Incline. Things separated a bit as we hit the first significant hike-a-bike up the Mt. Esther trail and aspens were ablaze on the ensuing singletrack down to the big reservoirs that serve as drinking water for Co Springs. I made my first and worst navigational error and rode a self imposed 3 mile penalty loop around the wrong reservoir and fell back to 4th place. It would take me a couple of hours of riding before I would regain the front on Hwy 67.

The leaf peepers were out in force as the traffic on 67 was unpleasant so I made a point to ride hard to minimize my time on pavement. After a few more miles of easy pedaling on Gold Camp Road we had a 3 man group as we made the turn onto the hardest climb of the day - the dreaded FR376 to hike-a-bike segment. Interested readers will just have to go experience it for themselves, but everybody later seemed to agree that this section was distinctly brutal.

Now down to just 2 of us, I slipped away on the final singletrack down into town. This section was a blast and might take some kind of record for maximum elevation lost down - maybe around 4500'? Not often that I'm ready to be done with fun downhill singletrack, but in this case I was happy to be back on pavement for the ride back into town. As I tooled through downtown Colorado Springs, I was hanging at a stoplight just blocks from the finish when Patrick Coady rolled up. No matter - time for a brew!"

Thanks to Ryan Kohler for donating his time and effort organizing this event. Check out the website here: http://ringthepeak.com/

Oakridge Fat 55:

Feedback team member Ross Delaplane extended his Oregon stay (for MTB Nationals) to partake in the Oakridge Fat 55 mountain bike race. The race venue was based in Oakridge, OR which is located about 150 miles South of Portland and 100 miles West of Bend. Trails for the race ran through the Willamette National Forest. Here's what Ross had to say about the race:

"Given all the great things I'd heard from Oregon mountain bikers about the trails around Oakridge, I was excited to tackle the Fat 55. Layed out in a 3 loop cloverleaf with close to 10K feet of climbing it was sure to be a hard effort. Over 50 riders showed up for the challenge. On the start line it was announced that there would be a $100 prime for the first rider to aid station #1. I figured I might as well give it a go - who can't use a little extra gas money? After some initial creekside singletrack things were looking good, and I built a sizable gap over the field, but was caught fairly quickly on the long climb to the aid station by Evan Plews on his singlespeed Ibis.

The race director had warned us repeatedly before the race that Heckletooth had many dangerous obstacles and to plan on dismounting. After a quick crash to safety, and a minute lost figuring out my pretzel of a chain, dismounting was indeed starting to look like the best course of action. It seemed that just about everyone crashed at least once on this singletrack. Thankfully, the trail was incredibly well marked and I found myself cyclocrossing many of the steep rocky switchbacks. Both incredibly fun and intense at the same time, Heckletooth is probably the most sustained hairball trail I've every seen used in a cross country race - I loved it!

Trailing Evan by 40 seconds at the completion of the first loop, it was time for the epic long fireroad climb to the Larisson Creek trail. This was my favorite of the three primary single tracks used in the race. Twisty, turny, with lots of roots, rocks and punchy little climbs, this trail was right in my wheelhouse. Starting the long paved climb of the 3rd loop I was still within 2 minutes of the lead, but I had a feeling the next climb wasn't going to be pretty. In just 4.5 miles of steep climbing, I gave up more than 10 minutes as the late indian summer sun climbed high in the sky. I was thankful to finally make it to the top with no chasers in sight, and bombed the super fast and buff Larisson Rock trail down to the finish in a hair over 5 hours.

Post race was a great mellow vibe with food for racers and live music right next to the beautiful Willamette River. Given this was only the second annual event, this race has a great future. I'd highly recommend to any visiting Coloradans to check out Oakridge if they are mountain biking in Oregon."

Ross finished 1st in the 35-44 age group and 2nd overall.

Fall Classic:
The last mountain bike race of the season for Breckenridge was the Fall Classic, which was held on Saturday morning September 10th. The history of the Fall Classic dates back to the 1980s when local Summit county riders began holding races over their favorite backcountry trails. Over the years, the race has gone from being the first off-road stage race in Colorado to being a key XC race in a number of different race series. This year, the Fall Classic was a 34 mile XC race, and part of the Summit Mountain Challenge series.

The course served up almost 5,500 feet of climbing, numerous rocky and steep descents, a sizable creek/river crossing, and lots of great singletrack. Feedback Sports team members Ross Delaplane and Pat D'Innocenzo made the trip out to Breckenridge for a great day of mountain bike racing. There were sunny skies, crisp temperatures and mostly tacky course conditions. There also were a decent number of muddy and wet sections to keep those tires from hooking up too well.

Ross rode an excellent race at the Fall Classic to place 3rd in a very good caliber Pro field! Ross had the 3rd fastest time of all racers.

Pat raced in the Expert 45+ category and finished in 6th place.

Sol Survivor:
Steve Warfel was in Granby on Sunday September 4th for the last race in the 2011 Mountain States Cup Series, the Sol Survivor. The cross country race, held on the same course as the 2010 USA Cycling National Championships, earned racers double points towards the season standings. The course was 9 miles long and included 1,750 feet of altitude gain per lap. Steve raced in the Cat 2 30-39 group, which did 2 laps.

Steve finished out his 2011 MSC season with a win in the Sol Survivor XC race! This solidified his first place standing in the overall series results. Steve traveled throughout the region to earn the 2011 Mountain States Cup series title, racing in Colorado Springs, Salida, Angel Fire, Crested Butte, Telluride, Keystone, Snowmass and Sol Vista. He concluded his successful MSC racing season with 4 wins and numerous podium finishes. Way to go Steve!

Peaceful Valley Cycle Derby:
The growth of mountain bike racing can be seen once again with promoters offering yet another new race in 2011. Racing came to the small town of Elbert, which is about 30 miles Northeast of Colorado Springs. The venue for the race was the Peaceful Valley Scout Ranch, which offered excellent terrain, great amenities and fun racing.

The course for the races was 22 miles in length (a 15 mile loop and a 7 mile loop) and it offered some tight twisty singletrack, short steep climbs, rocky technical sections and wide open wind-swept dirt road sections. It was one of those courses that put a smile on racers faces, but left them knowing that they raced a tough course when the day was done.

Somewhere around 150 racers were out at the Peaceful Valley ranch for three different races; the 22 mile XC race, the 44 mile 2/3 marathon race and the 66 mile full marathon race. Four Feedback Sports racing team members made it out to the ranch on Sunday morning September 4th to race at the brand new venue. Rob Batey raced the full 66 mile marathon and finished in 4th place in the Open 30-39 category, with a time of 5 hours and 56 minutes. Rob also finished in 4th place in the overall Rocky Mountain Endurance race series (30-39 age group) for the season.

Racing in the 2/3 marathon were Ross Delaplane, Pat D'Innocenzo and Mike Schaub. Ross finished 1st in the Open 40-49 category (and 1st overall of all participants) with a really strong effort.

Pat D'Innocenzo and Mike Schaub finished 1st and 2nd in the Open 50-59 category, which was good for 4th and 5th place among all finishers.

All four Feedback team members raved about the venue and were excited to have raced on such a good all-around course. Mountain Flyer magazine did a write-up of the race which includes a nice photo of Feedback racer Rob Batey. Click here to view the article.

MTB Marathon National Championships

2011-09-24T14:11:00.009-06:00

On Saturday September 17th, about 200 mountain bike racers lined up in Bend, Oregon for the 2011 USAC Marathon National Championships. The 60 degree temperatures and partly cloudy skies made for fast racing conditions on the 52 mile mountain bike course.

Feedback Sports racer Ross Delaplane was out in Bend to test his form against the best in the country. Ross raced in the Category 1 40-49 field, which was the largest of the day, and also contained a number of ex-NORBA Pros and current or former National champs. Ross rolled-out an awesome race, as he finished in 2nd place in the power packed field! He had to work hard to hold-off former Pro Don Myrah, who ultimately finished in 3rd place, a minute behind Ross.

Here is Ross' race report:

"At the start line there was a chilly wind blowing under a cloudy sky - perfect. I lined up in the back row with the other unranked riders - goofing a bit with Mike Hogan who was called up as #1 and seemed so far away. No matter - the race started on pavement and call ups would be completely inconsequential. I rode in dead last the first 5 miles hiding from the wind in what was quite a lackadaisical pace. Somewhat surprisingly, I was able to ride easily from last into the top 6 as the field made the left turn onto the first singletrack. Lucky for me too, as race adrenaline got the most of some riders, there were a couple of crashes immediately on this section.

After a short run-up, a selection had already been made and a group of 8 was away on a dirt road climb. The group included Dario Fredrick, Don Myrah, Mike Hogan, Joel Mischke and few other riders I did not know. Dario and Don (D&D) quickly took over and blew the race open on the climb and the tone for my race on the day was set. I would dangle off the back on the climbs and then roll back-on on the descents or technical sections. At the top of the technical section of "Funner" we were back to a 5 man lead bunch, but D&D were quickly off again. Passing slower riders became an issue on the upper course loop, but everyone was super cool about letting you pass. I gave a big effort on the flat road section at the top of the course to keep Don in sight, who was aggressively chipping away at Dario's 30 second lead.

At the second aid station the three of us were almost all back together again with me less than 10 seconds back of D&D. At the next singletrack downhill I rode back up to Don, but Dario was long gone. The highlight of the whole race for me was riding down "Homebound" (just a blast of a trail!) with Don Myrah - we had a big poster of this guy in the bike shop I worked in 20 years ago! Don made two fantastic saves to avert a nasty ambulance ride - I wish I had video of them. I was still hopeful that the two of us working together would be able to bring Dario back on the long road into town. Oops! There was no long road into town as the course took us alternately onto singletrack and road - pretty much nullifying any two-man advantage. I slipped away in the last 5K to ride across the line for second uncontested.

In general, the course was both great fun and a fair contest for marathon nationals. The only negative being the dust of biblical proportions, which is pretty much unavoidable in volcanic soils. Some people have asked me if the Tour Divide helped or hurt on this ride. The quick answer is both. I was certainly strong for the duration from the massive base of miles, but my max heart rate still hasn't completely recovered and seems to be missing that next level of climbing ability required for a race of this quality. "

Most likely, Ross is the only person who has completed the Tour Divide and finished on the podium in a National Championship event in the same year. Now that's versatility. Congratulations. Click here to view photos from the race.

August Racing News

2011-09-19T21:41:00.008-06:00

Trestle All Mountain Enduro:
The first ever "All Mountain" enduro stage race was held from August 19th through the 21st at the Trestle Bike Park in Winter Park. The race was intended to bring together the endurance and gravity segments of mountain biking, with a unique five-stage competition over the three days. Competitors had to use the same bike frame and suspension for all five stages, making the race a true all around test of rider and his or her machine. The Enduro race drew a strong field of racers competing for a top notch $30,000 prize list!

Feedback Sports racer Dan Dunbar took the challenge and entered the race in the Masters 30-39 class. After surviving a crash, a broken chain and some other mishaps, Dan finished the weekend in 9th place. Dan reported back that even though the stages were short, (by XC standards) they were very tough! And, after the 3 days of all mountain racing he had a lot of fun but was sore and tired.

Breck Epic:
Two hearty Feedback Sports racers, Rich DiGeronimo and Eric Davis, put themselves to the test by entering the 2011 Breck Epic mountain bike stage race in Breckenridge. The six-day stage race is certainly one of the toughest mountain bike races on the planet, with its 240 miles in length and more than 37,000 feet of altitude gain! And if that was not enough, all racing took place at altitudes between 9,000 and 12,000 feet. Much of it on rocky, rooty, twisty and sometimes muddy singletrack trails. This year's edition of the race drew a large and talented international field of mountain bike racers.

Rich and Eric both entered the full six-day stage race, in the 30-39 and 50-59 fields respectively. After three stages, (the Pennsylvania Creek, Colorado Trail and Guyot Loop) Eric was sitting in a podium position and Rich was in a top-ten position.

During stage 4, Eric went off-course and was considered not an official finisher for the stage, or for the race unfortunately. Rich finished stage 4 with a strong ride, and began having better and better finishes through the final three days . He capped-off the grueling stage race with his best race performance on the last stage, the Gold Dust Loop. Rich finished third on the last stage, less than a minute behind second place. This moved him up to 4th overall in the final 30-39 standings. Awesome riding by both guys.

And here is what goes to those who finish the 6 day sufferfest:

Congratulations Rich.

Leadville 100:
Two Feedback Sports mountain bike team racers entered the 2011 edition of the infamous Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race, Steve Vanderburgh and Drew Adams. Steve has done the race before, but for Drew, this was a first time experience. In fact, this was Drew's first 100 miler mountain bike race.

The Leadville 100 provides a unique challenge as a mountain bike race. First, due to its popularity, the field size in now around 2,000! (about 1,300 finished). Along with the large field size, the competition level top to bottom is about the best you can find anywhere. The best racers in the country, and some of the best in the world, race at Leadville.

Secondly, the distance, altitude and the course are very demanding. Although not technically challenging for a mountain bike course, it does have some super long and super steep climbing. There are few racers, world class or not, who have said that it is an easy race.

Well, both Feedback guys were up for the challenge. Drew finished his first 100 mile mountain bike race, the Leadville 100, in just under 11 hours. Now that is a lot of suffering. Steve finished the 2011 edition in just a hair over 9 hours, which was good for 21st place out of about 160 finishers in the 50-59 age group. Congratulations to both racers.

Blast the Mass:
Steve Warfel traveled out to Snowmass mountain to take part in the 8th race of the 2011 Mountain States Cup series, the Blast the Mass. Steve raced in the 18.9 mile cross country race on Saturday August 6th, and came away with the win! In just over 2 hours of racing, Steve bested the second place finisher by almost 30 minutes. Yeah, he dominated.

Winter Park -King of the Rockies

2011-08-30T21:52:00.021-06:00

On Saturday morning, August 27th, about 500 mountain bike racers converged on the town of Fraser, Colorado for the final race of the 2011 Epic Singletrack series. Conditions were dry, sunny and perfect for one of the country's best XC race courses, the 25.2 mile long Tipperary Creek course.

This year, some additional distance was added to the already challenging course that includes long climbs, tight tree lined singletrack, rocks, roots and a couple of creek and stream crossings. Being the last race of the season, there were numerous team and individual season standings still up in the air, leading to some high caliber racing action.

We had 18 Feedback Sports team members out racing the Tipperary/King of the Rockies XC race, and came away with 1 win, 4 podiums and 12 top-ten finishes! Craig Hofer took the win in the Expert 45-49 race.

Other podium finishers for the day were Rob Batey, Emma Dunn and Lisa Hudson.

Chris Phenicie finished with the fastest time of all Feedback racers with a 1:51:59 which was good for 11th place in the Pro Men's race.

As the 2011 Winter Park race series concluded on Saturday afternoon, the overall season series results were tabulated. The season standings were calculated based upon each rider's best five finishes out of the seven races. Three Feedback Sports racing team members came out victorious in their categories!!!

Lisa Hudson placed 1st for the season in the Pro Women's category!

Craig Hofer came in 1st in the season series standings in the Expert 45-49 category, taking 4 wins during 2011!

And, Rich DiGeronimo placed 1st in the Sport 30-34 category for the season. Rob Batey and Scott Tucker, pictured below, finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in the Expert Men's 35-39 category for the 2011 season.

Doug Hudson placed 2nd in the Expert Men's 40-44 season standings.

Bryan Myers also finished on the podium for the season, placing 3rd in the Sport 35-39 category for 2011. Here's Bryan navigating the creek crossing at the King of the Rockies race.

In the team competition, the Feedback Sports Red team came out victorious for 2011. The team survived injuries, schedule conflicts and mechanical mishaps to finish first. Congratulations to all team members. The 2011 Feedback Sports Red team:

L to R. Marjie Tokarski, Jim Bergman, Scott Tucker, Bryan Myers, Craig Hofer, Lisa Hudson and Doug Hudson.

Not pictured was Steve Vanderburgh, who certainly was a key member of the team. In fact, Steve is such a trooper that he finished the last 5 miles or so of the Tipperary Creek race without a saddle. The rails on his saddle broke, so Steve just completed the race riding standing up! (except for the creek crossing)

In case you were wondering, no Steve did not injure himself riding on into the finish without a saddle .

Besides all of the Feedback Sports racers who came away with wins, podiums and team awards, we also had many racers out there aiming for personal bests, working to improve their skills and most importantly HAVING FUN!

Congratulations and thank you to all racers who were out at Winter Park this summer representing our team and our sponsors. Thanks also to all of our great sponsors who support our team and our sport! Our entire team is grateful to Doug and Lisa for making the 2011 season at Winter Park a fun and successful one.

All photos are courtesy of team photographer Mountain Moon Photography.

Winter Park -Mountain Top Circuit

2011-08-22T22:08:00.017-06:00

The sixth race in the 2011 Winter Park Epic Singletrack series took place on Saturday August 20th. The race was held on a 4.4 mile circuit near the top of Mary Jane. Beginning elevation for the race was 10,800 feet and the course climbed to a maximum elevation of 11,250 feet! Each lap of the course included lots of great singletrack, and gained about 600 feet in elevation over the 4.4 miles.

Pros and Experts raced for 3 laps totaling 14.4 miles, while Sport racers competed over 2 laps and 10 miles. These were a bit shorter than normal XC race distances. This made for some lung-searing high intensity efforts, as racers battled over the rugged high altitude terrain for about an hour to an hour and a half.

The Feedback Sports racing team had a line-up of 13 riders out competing at the Mountain Top Circuit race:

Scott Tucker turned in another top-ten finish at Winter Park, and currently holds a podium position in the overall Expert 35-39 standings with one race to go.

Ed Tokarski finished in 8th place in the Pro Men's field and came away with the fastest time of all Feedback Pro/Expert racers, 1:16:34

Jim Bergman, pictured below, on his way to a 6th place finish in the Expert 45-49 race. Throughout this season, Jim continues to garner solid points for the Feedback Sports Red team, which is leading the team completion at Winter Park.

Lisa Hudson finished 5th in the Pro Women's field and leads the overall Pro Women standings with 6 of 7 races completed!

Drew Adams and Steve Vanderburgh tuned in top ten performances at the Mountain Top Circuit race, less than one week after completing the Leadville 100. These guys are tough. Not even Todd Wells raced the weekend after competing at Leadville.

Craig Hofer continues to have a great season as he placed first in the Expert 45-49 race!

Rob Batey tuned in the second fastest time of all Feedback Pro/Expert racers with a 1:17:47, which was good for 4th place in Expert 35-39. Rob sits in second place in the overall standings in the Expert 35-39 category with 6 races completed.

Emma Dunn placed 4th in the Sport Women 35-39 field with a very strong race.

Jeff Connors, pictured below, looking so smooth on that singlespeed.

Doug Meegan and Doug Hudson finished 5th and 6th respectively in the Expert 40-44 field. Doug Hudson is sitting in 2nd place in the overall season standings with 6 of 7 races down.

And, Mike Schaub came in with yet another top-ten finish in his first year of racing expert!

As the Winter Park season is quickly coming to a close for 2011, the Feedback Sports Red team is still holding first place in the overall season standings. A number of racers are also contending for podium spots in the individual season standings. Everything will be finalized after the Tipperary Creek race on Saturday the 27th.

All photos are courtesy of team photographer Mountain Moon Photography

CrankworX Colorado

2011-08-08T12:17:00.007-06:00

The CrankworX Colorado mountain bike festival in Winter Park is the largest gravity fueled mountain bike event in the United States. This year it was held from July 28th through the 31st, with competitions in Dual Slalom, Downhill, Slopestyle/Freeride and Cross Country. A whole host of competitors were vying for $35,000 in prizes. There was also a huge crowd out at Winter Park enjoying the Vendor Village, Expo, Demo Area, Live Entertainment and of course the great competition.

The Feedback Sports racing team came out on Saturday 7/30/11 with a full contingent of 20 racers to compete in the CrankworX Colorado cross country races. It was a great day for mountain bike racing with warm temperatures, sunny skies and excellent course conditions. The CrankworX course (for Pros and Experts) was 25.7 miles long, running from Fraser to the Winter Park resort.

It included a number of long climbs (at altitudes up over 10,000 feet) and steep, technical descents. The course was very demanding, as it required strong overall mountain biking skills and excellent fitness. Team photographer Annette Hayden from Mountain Moon Photography was out on course capturing the racing action.

Our team fared well at CrankworX with 1 win, 3 podium finishes and 12 top-ten finishes. These were all in very competitive fields. Craig Hofer led the way with a win in the Expert 45-49 race.

The other podium finishers were Rich DiGeronimo taking second in the Sport 30-34 race and Bryan Myers taking third in the Sport 35-39 race:

Other Feedback Sports top-ten finishers were Heather Brion (Expert) and Lisa Hudson (Pro) in 4th.

Jeff Connors powering up one of the steep hills on his way to a 5th place finish in the Singlespeed division.

Scott Tucker took 5th in the Expert 35-39 race while Rob Batey finished 7th.

Doug Hudson finished 6th in the Expert 40-44 race on his 18.6 pound hardtail race bike.

Steve Vanderburgh and Pat D'Innocenzo placed 7th and 8th in the Expert 50+ category.

And, Drew Adams finished 10th in Sport 40-44.

In the Winter Park team competition, the Feedback Sports Red team finished 1st with 319 points for the race. The team also sits in 1st place in the overall standings with 5 of 7 races completed. See below for other Feedback Sports race team news for the month of July.

July Racing News

2011-08-05T17:23:00.013-06:00

Updated 8/5/2011!

July was an exciting month for the Feedback Sports mountain bike racing team. We had racers traveling the US and Canada testing themselves against some of the top competition around. Feedback Sports team members came away with wins in Endurance, Cross Country and Super-D races during July at the Laramie Enduro, the Winter Park Epic Singletrack race series, the Breckenridge B-32 and the Keystone Super-D.

Laramie Enduro:
Many of the top names in endurance mountain bike racing made their way to Southwestern Wyoming for the sixth annual running of the Laramie Enduro. The 72 mile race took place on Saturday July 30th under sunny skies and warm temperatures, adding difficulty to the already challenging course. The course included a diverse cross section of Rocky Mountain terrain, including dirt roads, singletrack, rocks, hardpack and forest.

Because of the excellent course, the friendly atmosphere and its uniqueness, the Laramie Enduro has to limit field size to the first 750 registrants. Feedback Sports racer Eric Davis has done the race in the past and reported back that this year's edition was very tough because of the hot and windy conditions. Proper hydration and nutrition were keys for success in 2011.

Eric certainly knew what he was doing as he won the Open 50+ Laramie Enduro race with an excellent time of 5 hrs and 46 minutes! Way to go Eric.

Steamboat Stinger:
On Sunday July 24th, Steamboat Springs played host to the first annual Steamboat Stinger mountain bike endurance race. The race was sponsored and organized by Steamboat Springs' own Honey Stinger energy bar and nutrition company. Of course, the Feedback Sports racing team is proud to have Honey Stinger as our energy and nutrition sponsor as well.

The 50 mile Steamboat Stinger race included 2 laps of a 25 mile course comprised of 90% singletrack trails with over 4,000 feet of elevation gain. It was a chance for the town of Steamboat to showcase a number of new mountain bike trails, that have been under development for years. Most racers had lots of positive comments about the challenging, fun and picturesque terrain out there.

Feedback Sports had a team of five racers out at Steamboat for the inaugural running of the race. Four Feedback racers competed in the 100 rider "Open Male" category, which drew a stellar field of Colorado's best endurance racers. Rob Batey led the way for Feedback with a 32nd place finish followed by Jason Amrich in 51st, Jerry Kopack in 64th and Rich DiGeronimo in 65th. Jeff Connors competed in the Singlespeed category and finished in 8th place. The reports back are that this race should definitely be on racer's to-do list for next year!

Keystone Classic:
The 7th race in the 2011 Mountain States Cup series was held over the weekend of July 23rd and 24th at the Keystone Ski resort. The cross country race, on Saturday, was held on a 10 mile course with 1,900 feet of climbing. Much of the course was on either tight singletrack or rocky and rooted descents. Feedback Sports' Steve Warfel was there competing, and finished with a fine second place finish in the Cat 2 30-39 XC race. Steve also raced on Sunday and placed 2nd in the Short Track race. He ended the weekend in 1st place in the Overall Mountain States Cup Cat 2 (30-39) standings. Steve has a lead of 448 points, with four races remaining for 2011.

USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships:
The 2011 National Championships for Professional and Amateur Mountain Bike racers (XC and Short track) were held in Sun Valley, Idaho from July 14th through the 17th. The race course for the Cross Country championship races was short (less than 4 miles long) with most of it being either steep uphill or steep downhill.

Rocks were brought in to make an interesting downhill rock garden section for racers to navigate on each lap. There were no "rest" sections on the course. And of course, with the races being for the stars and stripes jerseys, the pace was blistering. This year, four Feedback Sports racers make the trip to compete against the Nation's best; Doug Hudson, Ken Benesh, Kyle Henley and Lisa Hudson.

Ken Benesh competed in the Mens Pro XC race and finished a very strong 26th in a field of 60 top National and International Pros. Wow!

Lisa Hudson also had a great showing competing against the Nation's best cross country racers, finishing 27th in the Womens Pro XC race!

Doug Hudson competed in the Category 1 (40-49) Masters class and finished 16th, while Kyle Henley finished in 8th place in the Category 2 (30-39) National Championship race.

Silver Rush 50:
Two Feedback Sports team members headed out to Leadville on Saturday July 16th to race in the Silver Rush 50 Mountain Bike race. The race is used by many competitors to prepare for the Leadville 100, which will be held in August. But, it is a very difficult and fun race in it's own right. It is a 50 mile long out-and-back course that includes about 7,500 feet of elevation gain, and surpasses 12,000 feet in elevation at its high point. Yea, it has a lot of climbing! But the course also includes a bit more technical descending than it's big brother race, the Leadville 100.

Rob Batey pulled off an excellent race at the Silver Rush 50 and finished 11th overall out of 750 starters! His time of 4hrs and 31 minutes also put him in 4th place in the 30-39 age bracket. Feedback's Drew Adams also competed in the Silver Rush and chose this as his first 50 miler mountain bike race. Let's just say that he chose a tough one, with all of the climbing and the altitude. Drew, however, came through in flying colors and finished 47th out of 175 in the 40-49 age group with a time of 5 hrs and 36 minutes.

Breckenridge B-32 Race:
Hundreds of endurance racers converged on the town of Breckenridge on Saturday July 16th for the Breckenridge 100 series of races. There was the Breckenridge 100 race, which is probably the toughest 100 mile mountain bike race in the country. It is on the NUE (National Ultra Endurance) series calender and drew a national field of ultra endurance racers.

In addition, organizers offered shorter B-68 and B-32 races for those desiring a bit less challenge. Feedback Sports racer Pat D'Innocenzo competed in the B-32 race, which was held on a super fun, but tough, course through some of Breckenridge's best backcountry trails. Pat finished first in the 50+ age bracket.

Keystone Super-D:
Emma Dunn traveled to Keystone on Friday evening July 15th and competed in the brand new Keystone Super-D race series. The Super-D races are held on 4 different Friday evenings during the summer and are promoted by Maverick Sports Promotions, the organization that runs the Firecracker 50 and Summit Mountain Challenge XC series.

The race on Friday the 15th was the second in the 2011 series. Emma competed in the Open 35+ category and won the race. Emma also finished with the fastest time of all Woman racers! She loves those Super-D's.

Full Tilt in Telluride:
Steve Warfel made the trip out to the Telluride ski resort during the weekend of July 9th and 10th for race #6 in the 2011 Mountain States Cup series. This year, the "Full Tilt in Telluride" race also served as the USA Cycling Colorado State Championships! Steve made a full weekend of it and finished in 2nd place in the XC race on Saturday and 2nd place in the STXC race on Sunday (Cat 2, 30-39).

BC Bike Race:
Feedback Sports team member Eric Davis traveled to British Columbia to participate in the BC bike race, a seven day stage race from Victoria to Whistler. The race route took the 500 participants on a tour of British Columbia's west coast each day. Eric reported back that it was a super fun race, with challenging courses, exciting scenery, top notch competition and excellent logistical organization. No wonder it's so popular each year.

The courses included lots of moist, rooty, heavily forested and highly technical sections of trail. Not what one normally finds in Colorado. Eric adapted and came through strong, with a 21st place finish in the Masters division. He finished the 7 day stage race in about 22 1/2 hours. That's a lot of racing!

Tour Divide

2011-07-19T20:27:00.019-06:00

If you recall, Feedback Sports racing team member Ross Delaplane embarked on the epic, unpredictable, unsupported Tour Divide ultra cycling challenge on June 10th. It's a 4,418km Mountain Bike journey between Canada and Mexico via the Continental Divide. Some riders, like Ross, chose the northbound route from Antelope Wells, New Mexico to Banff, Alberta. Most chose the southbound route, which did prove to be faster, with less weather and course re-route delays.

This admittedly very brief pictorial summary of Ross' Tour Divide can hardly capture what it was all about, but it will have to suffice for now.

Here's Ross, prepared for the start . . .

Ross ate lots. Every Day.

Ross slept little. Every Day. Usually in worse accommodations than these.

Ross saw lots of breathtaking scenery. Every Day. Even better than this.

His bike broke and had to be welded back together along the way. He developed tendinitis in his knee. He had to wait out weather delays. And, he self navigated the entire route and detours without a GPS device. Oh, and by the way, Ross finished the "tour" in 24 1/2 days, 4th place among the 15 Northbound Tour Divide racers.

Thanks for flying the Feedback Sports colors along the way!

Winter Park -Valley Point to point and Super-D

2011-07-14T19:21:00.026-06:00

Races 3 and 4 of the 2011 Winter Park Epic Singletrack series were held on July 9th and 10th. The following race report covers both days. All photos are courtesy of Mountain Moon Photography.

Valley Point-to-Point:
The weekend kicked-off with the Valley Point-to-Point Cross Country race from the Winter Park resort out to the woods in Fraser. The course was 23.5 miles long with plenty of tight turns, rocky and rooty sections, fire road climbs and undulating forested terrain. Conditions were somewhat muddy and slippery with all of the recent rain and snow melt.

The Feedback Sports race team was represented by a strong contingent of 17 riders out testing their mid-season form. Our team went into the race aiming to hold on to our first place in the team standings, and selected racers were also looking to solidify their individual series standings. With a full field of slightly less than 500 racers out there, it was sure to be a tough task. But, the Feedback Sports team came through strong.

We finished with 8 top-ten placings, 4 podium finishes and 1 win! Craig Hofer, fresh off of competing at the Firecracker 50, took the win in the Expert Men 45-49 race.

Other podium finishers were Lisa Hudson in 2nd place in the Pro Women's race. Lisa came in with the second fastest time of all women!

Rich DiGeronimo finished 2nd in the Sport Men 30-34 category.

And, Bryan Myers came in 2nd in the Sport Men 35-39 race.

Some of the other Feedback racers who finished the Valley Point-to-Point included:

Jeff Connors

Ed Tokarski

Doug Meegan

Drew Adams

Jim Bergman

Marjie Tokarski

Steve Vanderbergh

And, Jerry Kopak

Jerry took 5th in the Expert 35-39 XC race on Saturday and 5th in the Super-D on Sunday.

We ended the day with the Feedback Sports Red team taking first place for the day, and adding to the lead in the overall team competition. After the racing was completed, team members enjoyed the food and hospitality of Doug and Lisa. Thanks! In addition, the Upslope Brewery Craft Lager was a big hit with racers and visitors alike. Thanks Upslope!

Super-D:
The cross country race on Saturday was followed by the Winter Park Super-D race on Sunday July 10th. For 2011, organizers designed a brand new course that was a bit longer than prior years, with more sections requiring explosive pedaling to keep the momentum going.

The race also began with the racers on their bikes, in contrast to the Le Mans style start in previous years. With sunny skies, crisp temperatures and a mostly dry course, it was a great day for racing!

Jeff Connors, above, warming-up prior to finishing 4th.

We came with a full line-up of 16 racers for Sunday's Super-D. And when the day was done, the Feedback Sports team left with 5 wins and 7 podium finishes!

Race winners were:

Rob Batey (Expert Men 35-39)

Mike Schaub (Expert Men 50+)

Rich DiGeronimo (Sport Men 30-34)

Lisa Hudson (Pro Women)

This was Lisa's second podium finish in two days!

Emma Dunn (Sport Women 35-39)

Emma had the 3rd fastest time of all Women participants.

Other podium finishers were Dan Dunbar in 2nd in the Expert Men 35-39.

And, Doug Hudson in 3rd in Expert Men 40-44 category. This followed-up Doug's 5th place finish in Saturday's XC race.

Bryan Myers finished 5th. (In Sport Men 35-39)

As did Drew Adams. (5th place, Sport Men 40-44)

Scott Tucker finished a strong 4th in the Expert Men 35-39 Super-D, less than a second behind 3rd place.

This was another successful and fun filled weekend of racing for the Feedback Sports mountain bike race team.

With 4 of the 7 races in the Winter Park series completed, the Feedback Sports Red team sits in first place! More race reports will be coming soon.

Post-race recovery drinks by Upslope Brewing

2011-07-08T13:26:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Upslope Brewing in Boulder for providing the Feedback Sports Race Team with post-race recovery beers. Stop by the Feedback team tent this weekend after the Winter Park Point to Point and Super-D to try Upslope's new Craft Lager.

Firecracker 50

2011-07-07T20:44:00.018-06:00

The 11th annual edition of the Firecracker 50 mountain bike race took place on July 4th, 2011. The town of Breckenridge welcomed a full field of 750 mountain bikers for some classic Colorado mountain bike racing, as well as a vast array of July 4th events, concerts and celebrations.

The Firecracker 50 mountain bike race began at 9:30am as hundreds of racers staged themselves downtown to kick off Breckenridge's 4th of July parade. Spectators lined the streets, cheering the beginning of the race and the parade. Each age and ability group began their race with a neutral roll-out down Main street.

After passing through the downtown area, the flag was dropped and the racing began.

This year, there were some modifications to the race course to improve safety and to circumvent wet trails. The course was a tough one, as it was about 27 miles long with 4,000+ feet of elevation gain per lap. There were a number of steep sustained climbs, rocky descents, muddy roads and twisty-turny tree lined sections. It was REAL mountain biking. And, we had perfect weather conditions for mountain bike racing!

The race usually turns out to be one of attrition as the altitude, steep climbs, technical descents and distance take their toll on racers and their bikes. Somewhere close to 1/4 of all starters never finish! This year was no exception as flat tires, crashes and extreme fatigue ruled the day.

Team Feedback Sports had a strong contingent of three racers in the Cat 1 40-49 race, with Craig Hofer, Chris Phenicie and Ed Tokarski. They were racing against a deep and talented field that included former pro mountain bike racers, as well as a number of past and current national champions! Our guys ripped it up with Craig Hofer finishing 4th,

Chris Phenicie 5th (after crashing)

and Ed Tokarski 8th.

In the Pro division, Ken Benesh finished in 15th place in another stacked national caliber field of racers!

The super strong field was due to the Firecracker's inclusion in the brand new USA Cycling Pro Ultra Endurance Tour (UET) as well as its $2,500 cash prize payout! Ken finished with a time of 4:25:49 which was one of the top times of all 750 participants. Not far off were Craig Hofer in 4:33:34, Chris Phenicie in 4:35:34 and Ed Tokarski in 4:48:29.

In the women's Maverick/Open division, Marjie Tokarski finished on the podium in 3rd place! She completed the 54 miles in 5:50:10 which would have been a very solid finishing time in many of the men's races.

Rich DiGeronimo raced in his 5th solo Firecracker 50 and this time competed in the Maverick/Open category. The Maverick/Open division consisted of upper level male racers of all age groups, and was one of the largest and most competitive categories at the Firecracker. Rich finished in 39th place out of about 120 starters.

Also of note was that Adam Williams from team sponsor Golden Bike Shop was out racing the Firecracker. Adam competed in the Singlespeed division and finished the full 54 miles in less than 6 hours, including a crash. Racing the Firecracker course on a Singlespeed bike is no easy task by any stretch of the imagination.

It's great to have a sponsor, like Adam and Golden Bike Shop, who are so passionate about mountain biking. Thanks for all you do to support our sport and our team!

Other Feedback Sports racers competing at the Firecracker were Brian Taylor, Mike Schaub and Pat D'Innocenzo. They only had to ride one lap of the course, as they were competing in the duo/team divisions.

June Racing News

2011-06-28T20:07:00.016-06:00

The Feedback Sports mountain bike racing team was out in full force during the month of June. We have completed two Winter Park races, multiple Mountain States Cup races, and lots of other mountain bike races along the way. Team photographer Annette Hayden from Mountain Moon Photography traveled the region and got some great photo shots of the racing action at Winter Park and the Ridgeline Rampage. Separate race reports on those races follow this post.

MSC Wildflower Rush:
The classic mountain biking town of Crested Butte was the setting for the fifth race in the 2011 Mountain States Cup series, the Wildflower Rush. During the weekend of June 25th and 26th, there were lots of activities in town to keep visitors entertained, but most racers were there for that classic Crested Butte singletrack.

The reason why the race is named the Wildflower Rush. (click photo to enlarge)

Feedback Sports team members Steve Warfel and Dan Dunbar made the trip and raced in the cross country races on Saturday. Steve came away with the win in the hotly contested Cat 2 30-39 race, doing the Feedback team proud!

Dan raced in the Clif Bar Fat Tire 40 "cross country" race for Pros and Cat 1s. It was on a classic, tough but scenic course around Crested Butte. Of course, many top mountain bike racers from around the state were there, challenging themselves on one of the best courses in the state. Dan finished in 17th place in the Cat 1 30-39 race. Then, on Sunday he did the Pro/Open Super-D race, finishing 16th.

Bailey Hundo:
The second annual Bailey Hundo mountain bike race and fundraiser was held on Saturday June 18th. The 100 mile race runs from Bailey, through Buffalo Creek, the Colorado Trail, Deckers and Wellington Lake. The trails are some of the region's best and most picturesque. Because of the popularity of last year's race, entries had to be capped at 250. Racer entry fee "donations" directly benefited three youth biking initiatives in Colorado; Trips for Kids, the Colorado High School Mountain Bike League and Kids on Bikes.

For 2011, Feedback Sports racer Steve Vanderburgh took the challenge and entered the Bailey Hundo. Steve had an excellent race, completing the 100 miles in 8 hours and 28 minutes, which was good for 2nd place in the 50+ age group! Steve's finishing time was only a minute and a half behind first place, after 8 plus hours of racing.

Beti Bike Bash:
The Yeti Beti Bike Bash was a tremendous success in its second year. It was held on a 4 mile loop through Bear Creek Lake park in Morrison, under warm, sunny and dry conditions. The races were for women only and were put on to encourage more women to take up the sport of mountain biking, and to give those who do race the chance for a unique women only racing experience.

There were categories for all ages and abilities from top national pros to first time beginners. In fact some of the most accomplished mountain bike racers in the world were out there racing, including Georgia Gould and Katie Compton. Two Feedback Sports racers competed at the Beti Bike Bash, with Lisa Hudson finishing in 8th place in the Pro division and Heather Brion finishing in 12th place in the Open/Cat 1 division.

Tour Divide:
One other bit of news is that Feedback Sports racer Ross Delaplane is riding in the Tour Divide 4400 km race between Banff, Alberta (Canada) and Antelope Falls, NM (USA). The route follows the Continental Divide from the Canadian Rockies all the way on down very close to the Mexican border. This is an unsupported bike race/adventure that takes racers 20 + days to complete. The route includes about 200,000 feet of climbing, snow covered mountain passes and many unique obstacles that go along with the rugged terrain.

Ross is an accomplished Road, Cyclocross and Mountain Bike racer, but this will be a totally different kind of challenge for him. Here is the website for the Tour Divide where you can check on Ross' progress. He began the Northbound route on June 10th and is hoping to finish in less than 30 days. Go Ross, we're pulling for you.

Teva Games:
On Saturday June 4th, Ken Benesh traveled out to Vail to race with the top professional mountain bikers in the country at the Teva Games. The Teva Games Pro XC race always draws a large and talented field due in some part to the generous cash prize payouts. The big name Pros also come for the tough course, the large crowds and the excellent competition. Ken finished the 18 mile cross country race in 23rd place in a field of 46 top pros. Way to go Ken.

24 Hours of E-Rock:
Also during the first weekend in June, Feedback Sports assembled a team to take part in the 24 hours of E-Rock mountain bike race. There were somewhere close to 100 teams and individuals lined up to race around an 8.25 mile loop in the Greenland Open Space. Team Feedback Sports consisted of Doug Hudson, Lisa Hudson, Jeremy Brion and Heather Brion. They competed in the 4-5 person Co-ed division, and finished in 3rd place. We're not sure if each rider did 8 laps, but the team did complete a total of 32 laps over the 24 hour period!

Chile Challenge:
We began the month with team member Steve Warfel traveling down to Angel Fire, New Mexico to race in the Chile Challenge on Saturday June 4th. The Chile Challenge XC race was the 4th stop in the Mountain States Cup series, and took place on parts of the former World Cup course at the resort. Steve represented the Feedback team well, taking a strong 2nd place in the Cat 2 30-39 race!

Winter Park -Cross Country Super Loop

2011-06-28T19:20:00.015-06:00

Saturday morning June 25th saw sunny skies and warm temperatures at Winter Park for the second race of the 2011 Epic Singletrack Mountain Bike Race series. There were somewhere around 420 racers out for some classic Winter Park mountain bike racing. The "Super Loop" race route for 2011 was brand new, and was designed to bypass the major wet, flooded or muddy trails.

Race organizers chose a challenging 23 mile course with numerous climbs, fun descents, high-speed fire road sections and (of course) generous helpings of sweet Colorado singletrack. Conditions varied between dry hardpack, rocky, rooty and muddy. The course did not disappoint, bringing many smiles to racers' faces.

The Feedback Sports team was out with a full lineup of 22 riders at Winter Park for the race. It turned out to be a great day of racing, results wise, for our team. We came away with 14 top-five finishes and 6 podium placings! Podium finishers included:

Doug Hudson, 2nd place Expert 40-44

Rich DiGeronimo, 2nd place Sport 30-34

Heather Brion, 3rd place Expert 30-39

Marjie Tokarski, 3rd place Expert 40-49

Craig Hofer, 3rd place Expert 45-49

and, Steve Vanderburgh, 3rd place Expert 50+

In the team results, the Feedback Sports red team finished 1st for the race and sits in 1st place overall after two races. Our Feedback Sports white team is in 7th place overall and the carbon team is in 16th place overall after two of seven races. All in all it was a good day of mountain biking for the Feedback team.

Ridgeline Rampage

2011-06-14T21:58:00.015-06:00

Mountain Bike racing came to Castle Rock on Sunday June 12th, at a brand new venue . . . Ridgeline Open Space park. It was the inaugural running of the Ridgeline Rampage Endurance race, which was the third stop on the Rocky Mountain Endurance race series.

The course for the Ridgeline Rampage was mostly smooth, dry and hard packed. But, it did include lots of tight turns and short rises to keep racers on their toes. It was a power rider's course which also required good cornering and bike handling skills. With each 10 mile loop including almost 1,000 feet of elevation gain, it wasn't just a "Sunday ride in the park" as they say.

The Marathon race began at 8am under sunny skies and warm conditions. Marathon racers completed 6 laps around the 10 mile course. Three Feedback Sports racers competed in the 60 mile marathon race. Rob Batey finished on the podium (in 2nd place) in the 30-39 race. And that was after racing at the Winter Park Hill Climb the day before!

Marjie Tokarski won the Women's Marathon 40-49 race with an excellent time of 5 hours and 24 minutes.

She finished with the 3rd fastest time of all Women, winning a nice cash prize along with some cool merchandise.

Ed Tokarski also raced the Marathon, finishing 6th. Ed had lots to smile about with a strong performance on his "home" course.

The 30 mile half marathon (XC) races rolled out at 2pm, under hot and sunny conditions. Feedback Sports racer Jason Young raced in the Pro/Open division and finished 3rd. Jason, below, ripping through one of the short descents.

And on the podium for his award.

Team members Pat D'Innocenzo and Mike Schaub competed in the 50+ race and finished 1-2.

Team Feedback Sports, well represented on the podium.

Winter Park -Hill Climb

2011-06-14T21:01:00.007-06:00

On Saturday morning June 11th, approximately 400 mountain bike racers kicked off the 2011 Winter Park Mountain Bike race series. The seven race series is very popular with all levels of mountain bikers with its excellent courses, reasonable entry fees, great amenities and intense competition. It's also very popular with our team. This year, Feedback Sports will have three separate 8 person teams competing in the team competition at Winter Park. Yes, we will have a strong presence at Winter Park.

The Hill Climb race is fairly straight forward. It's a mass start race, (by age group and category) 5.2 miles from the base of the resort up to the top of the Super Gauge chair lift. Total elevation gain of 2,100 feet. This year, there is a ton of snow still at Winter Park, but resort personnel plowed the service road that the race is run on, a few weeks back. That gave the road (i.e. the course) a chance to dry out. Hence, conditions were dry and hard packed, which led many racers to compete on Cyclocross bikes.

For team Feedback Sports, it was a very good race. We had twenty racers out competing! Of the twenty, we had 14 top-ten finishes, 5 podium finishes and 1 win! Podium finishers included Rich DiGeronimo in 1st, Marjie Tokarski in 2nd, Craig Hofer in 2nd, Ken Benesh in 2nd, and Bryan Myers in 3rd. Ken Benesh finished with the 2nd fastest time of all participants and Chris Phenicie finished with the 12th fastest. Lisa Hudson was the 4th fastest of all woman participants.

Here's a rundown of the Feedback Sports racers who raced. Competing in the Pro Category were Lisa Hudson, Ken Benesh, Chris Phenicie and Ed Tokarski.

Racing in the Expert category were:

Heather Brion (30-39)

Marjie Tokarski (40-49)

Scott Tucker (35-39)

Rob Batey (35-39)

Doug Hudson (40-44)

Doug Meegan (40-44)

Craig Hofer (45-49)

Jim Bergman (45-49)

Steve Vanderburgh (50+)

Mike Schaub (50+)

In the Singlespeed category, it was Jeff Connors:

And racing in the Sport category were:

Rich DiGeronimo (30-34)

Bryan Myers (35-39)

Jeremy Brion (35-39)

Rob LaMielle (40-44)

Drew Adams (40-44)

That's the majority of our team, but there are still other Feedback team members who will be making their Winter Park debut at future races.

National Trails Day

2011-06-07T18:49:00.010-06:00

Saturday June 4th was National Trails day, and some members of the Feedback Sports team were out doing their part. The Tokarski family have been instrumental in bringing new mountain bike and hiking trails to the town of Castle Rock. They have worked with town officials to secure land access, design trails and help oversee trail construction. The result of more than a year's worth of effort from many people was the completion of the Ridgeline Open Space trails in Castle Rock.

On Saturday morning June 4th, the Tokarskis hosted tours for both hikers and mountain bikers during the Ridgeline Open Space "Hike it, Bike it" kick-off event. There were a good number of residents out there, enjoying their tours and enjoying the new network of trails. Here's a photo of the Tokarski family at Ridgeline (Ed, Lucas, Marjie and Maddie):

Not pictured is Ed's brother Rob who pitched in with lots of help as well.

Next weekend, the Ridgeline Open Space trails will play host to the inaugural Ridgeline Rampage mountain bike races on Sunday June 12th. The races are being promoted by Warriors Cycling and include a 60 mile endurance race, a 30 mile half marathon/cross country race, a 20 mile cross country race and kids races. There will be a number of Feedback Sports racers, and their kids, out there on Sunday.

May Racing News

2011-06-05T16:51:00.002-06:00

There have been a number of great mountain bike races throughout Colorado during the month of May, and our team members have been taking full advantage. Feedback Sports racers were out and about, racing at the Gunnison Growler, the Mountain States Cup Riverside Rampage, the 18 Hours of Fruita and the 12 Hours of Mesa Verde races.

Gunnison Growler:
The fourth annual Growler and Half Growler mountain bike endurance races were held in Gunnison, Colorado on Sunday May 29th. In four short years, the race has become very popular due to its excellent organization, challenging terrain and great riding. For 2011, the race "sold out" up to its field limit of 350 racers. The Original Growler" bike race is two 32 mile laps for a total of 64 miles around such Gunnison classic trails as Skull Pass, Top of the World, Rattlesnake, Ridge Trail and Joshos. The Half Growler race was one lap around.

Eric Davis was out in Gunnison representing the Feedback Sports team on Sunday morning, racing in the "Full" Growler. Eric filed the following report describing the race:

"At the entrance to Hartman’s the Sherriff’s car pulls away and all hell breaks loose with a mad sprint to Kill Hill…appropriately named. Straight up Kill Hill then 1.5 miles of Double Track before getting to the Single Track. The next 30 miles is a great mixture of sweet flowing single track with enough loose and technical track to keep every rider on their toes. Every few miles the course opens to short sections of duel track that allow racers to get by riders unwilling to give way. While this is a tough course, every hard effort is rewarded with a great descent. You just have to remind yourself to recover a bit on the flats and descents or you won’t have much left for the lap two."

"With both half and full Growler racers on the course, you have to be careful not to get too caught up in other people's pace. More than once I caught myself pushing the pace to realize the person I was trying to stay with was only racing one lap. The weather was warm for the race and the winds were blowing up to 25 miles an hour at times. The winds did make for some additional challenges on the Ridge, which is a fairly technical section of the race course. A lapse of concentration almost anywhere on this course can cost a little skin, fortunately most of the crashes result in only minor scrapes."

"When this race is run clockwise the start of lap two is the most difficult second lap I have ever raced. Rather than riding up Kill Hill for lap two racers go up a trail called the Notch. The trail steadily gets steeper until it becomes hike-a-bike, once you are on top of the Notch you can remount for a quick descent where you are met with more climbing…more climbing with quick technical ups. Each year the race has gone this direction I have questioned my decision to go out for lap two. With only half the number of racers on the course for the second go round, everyone is spread out and it is not unusual to ride for 10-15 minutes without seeing another racer. I know that many racers, me included, question whether they have missed a turn. It is also easy to catch yourself backing off the pace since you can’t see someone to catch up to or to ride away from. This is where I have to start the self-talk to keep pushing. After one last heinous climb up the Ridge, the race ends on a downhill section of single track that is banked like a luge course…it is a fun way to end a race."

Eric had an awesome race, finishing in 3rd place in the 50+ category! 6 hours and 32 minutes.

Riverside Rampage:
The third race in the Mountain States Cup series, the "Riverside Rampage" was held in Salida, Colorado over the weekend of May 21st and 22nd. The endurance racing weekend included separate hillclimb, short track and cross country race competitions. The courses were on the newly developed Salida Mountain Trails (SMT) system, on and around Tenderfoot Mountain.

A small contingent from the Feedback Sports mountain bike race team were out nice and early on Sunday the 22nd for the cross country races. The XC races were held on very challenging and technical 10.8 mile (Pro and Cat 1) and 8.4 mile (Cat 2) courses around the mountain. There were lots of tight turns, sharp rocks and other technical obstacles requiring each racer's full attention and skills.

Feedback Sports team member finishes included Steve Warfel in 4th place in the Cat 2 30-39 race. Steve sets up for a tight turn, below.

Greg Gorrell finished 6th in the Cat 1 40-49 race.

And, Rob LaMielle finished in 7th place in the Cat 2 40-49 race.

Hats off to all Feedback racers who challenged themselves on this tough day of racing in Salida.

18 Hours of Fruita:
Loma, Colorado and the Highline Lake State Park was the scene for the seventh annual running of the 18 Hours of Fruita endurance race. Race Director Troy Rarick led a sold-out field of 100 individuals and teams on a neutral parade lap start at 12 midnight on Friday May 6th.

The 18 hour journey took place on a 6.5 mile twisty-turny race course around the lake. Feedback Sports team members Jason Amrich and Brian Taylor competed in the duo male category, going up against nine other teams. The guys were banging out pretty consistent 30 to 33 minute lap times, except during evening hours, for 18 long hours.

Team Feedback completed 32 laps between midnight on Friday and 6pm on Saturday, which was good for 2nd place in the 10 team duo male category. Jason and Brian didn't have any mechanicals over the 18 hours of racing, but Brian did have a pretty good crash. Great job guys!

12 Hours of Mesa Verde:
On Saturday May 7th, there was another endurance mountain bike event taking place in Colorado, and that was the 12 hours of Mesa Verde. The fifth annual version, in 2011, was held under sunny and warm conditions in Cortez, Colorado. The course was 16.5 miles in length and traveled over the "Phil's World" trail system on the outskirts of Mesa Verde Park. The terrain was mostly desert hardpack, with some rocky technical sections and also some juniper tree lined areas thrown in.

About 342 teams were lined up for the 7am Le Mans style start to the twelve hour race. The race included 16 different categories for competitors including Solo, Duo, and Four-person teams. There were lots of big names out there (like Ned, Overend, Gretchen Reeves, Juli Furtado, Dave Weins and Josh Tostado among others) enjoying the excellent trails and nice weather. They, and all racers, were also helping raise money for programs to benefit at risk youth in Montezuma County.

Feedback Sports team member Eric Davis teamed up with friend Steven Riggle to race in the 50+ duo category. They both raced on single speeds to finish in 4th place, even with multiple flat tires slowing them down. Eric reported back that it was an excellent race, and that the Phil's World trails were fantastic, and well worth the 50 minute trip from Durango.

Front Range 60/Battle the Bear

2011-05-10T20:24:00.010-06:00

The Feedback Sports mountain bike race team did not have far to travel on Saturday May 7th for the Front Range 60 and Battle the Bear races at Bear Creek Lake Park in Morrison. The races were the second in the Rocky Mountain Endurance series, and included a 60 mile "marathon" race, a 30 mile "half marathon" race and a 20 mile "cross country" race. About 500 mountain bikers were out there testing themselves against a deceptively challenging course.

The race course was 10 miles in length, encircling the lake and the park. It included 5 climbs, some straight wide open flat sections and some twisty singletrack bordering the creek. The dry hardpack trails were in excellent shape, making for fast racing conditions.

About 250 racers lined up for the 8am "staggered" start to the 6 lap marathon race. The fields for the marathon race were pretty deep with experienced and accomplished racers. In fact there were a decent number of Pros out there. Even this early in the morning, temperatures were already warm. By the time the race was over, the sun was shining brightly and temperatures were in the low 80's. Yea, the heat was definitely a factor.

As for our team, six Feedback Sports racers finished the race, with four racers garnering top-ten finishes. Lisa Hudson won the Women's 30-39 race and placed 3rd overall among Women!

Pat D'Innocenzo placed 4th in the Men's 50-59 race, Heather Brion finished 6th in the Women's 30-39 race and Marjie Tokarski placed 10th in the Women's 40-49 race.

In addition, Mike Schaub finished 11th and Ed Tokarski placed 17th in their fields. And, Ed Tokarski had the fastest finishing time of all Feedback racers. Mike Schaub pictured below.

The half marathon and cross country races began at 2pm, at the height of the afternoon heat! Feedback Sports racer Jason Young had an outstanding race, finishing 2nd in the 30-39 half marathon, which was the 5th fastest time of all participants!

In addition, Doug Hudson finished the 40-49 half marathon, in 17th place.

Jeremy Brion did the cross country race and placed 14th in the 30-39 age group.

We also had a few other racers out there competing strictly for training purposes, mixing it up in some of the various races.

A number of Feedback mountain bike team members were featured in stories and photos in the cycling press. Check out these three articles about the Front Range 60 race:

Singletrack.com/VeloNews

Mountain Flyer magazine

CyclingNews.com

Many thanks go out to team photographer Annette Hayden for braving the heat all day and coming up with just tons of great shots. You can see all of her excellent work here:

Mountain Moon Photography

Early Season Racing

2011-05-02T20:35:00.033-06:00

April marked the beginning of the 2011 season for the Feedback Sports mountain bike race team. This year, there were a number of good early season cross country and endurance races throughout the region to choose from. Most Feedback team racers have yet to begin their season, but for those who did, there was plenty of excellent racing to be had. The Feedback Sports team took 4 wins and 6 podium placings in early season racing through May 1st!

Rabbit Valley Rally:
Sunday May 1st marked the date for the second Mountain States Cup series cross country race of the season, the Rabbit Valley Rally. The race was held in Fruita, in conjunction with the long standing Fruita Fat Tire Festival. The race course traveled over the Kokopelli and Western Rim trails, through pristine Western Colorado terrain. Pro and Cat 1 racers completed one 32 mile loop, while Cat 2 racers did a single 18 mile loop.

Two team members traveled out to Fruita to race, with Ken Benesh competing in the Cat 1 race and Kyle Henley competing in the Cat 2 race. Ken finished first in the Cat 1 19-29 XC race at Rabbit Valley! This is Ken's second consecutive Mountain States Cup victory for 2011. Kyle also rolled out a strong race to finish 11th in the Cat 2 30-39 race.

Mellow Johnny's Classic:
To close out the month of April, Jason Young trekked down to Lance Armstrong's ranch to race in the "Mellow Johnny's Classic" XC race. Conditions at the Juan Pelota Ranch in Dripping Springs, Texas were dry and HOT. Jason fared well, finishing 34th in the the Pro race while competing head to head with many of the top Pro XC racers from North America.

VooDoo Fire:
The "VooDoo Fire" Rocky Mountain Endurance series opener took place on a chilly and cloudy Saturday morning on April the 23rd. The day's festivities included both a half marathon (35 miles) and a marathon (70 miles) race, with both courses running through the desert like terrain surrounding the Pueblo reservoir in Southern Colorado. This was the first running of this race, and it drew a large crowd of more than 460 mountain bikers looking to get in some early season racing.

In the 70 mile marathon race, Feedback racing team members Eric Davis and Steve Vanderburgh laid down some strong performances to finish 3rd and 4th respectively in the 50-59 race. Brian Taylor and Jerry Kopak also raced the marathon, with Brian taking 15th and Jerry 30th in the 30-39 race. In the half marathon, new Feedback Sports team members Pat D'Innocenzo and Mike Schaub finished 1st and 3rd in the 50-59 race.

Eric Davis on his way to a podium finish.

Steve Vanderburgh descends one of the rocky ledges.

Brian Taylor seems to be enjoying the 70 mile ride.

Jerry Kopak chose to race on his new single speed.

Sea Otter Classic:
Just 5 days after racing in Colorado Springs, Jeff Connors and Jason Young ventured out to Monterey, California for the Sea Otter Classic. Jason mixed it up with some of the nation's top pros in the XC and Short track races. Jeff raced in the Pro/Cat. 1 single speed cross country race, finishing in 14th place.

Cheyenne Mountain Explosion:
The 2011 Mountain States Cup cross country race series kicked-off with the "Cheyenne Mountain Explosion" race in Colorado Springs on Sunday April 10th. The 5.4 mile XC course around Cheyenne mountain (home of NORAD) included lots of tight turns and some challenging technical sections that caused many riders to dismount or crash. The Pros and Cat. 1s raced 4 laps while Cat. 2 racers completed 3 laps.

New Feedback Sports team member Ken Benesh kicked off his season in flying colors by taking the win in the Category 1 19-29 XC race! Jeff Connors finished 4th in the Single Speed race while Steve Warfel took 4th in the hotly contested Category 2 30-39 race. Other team finishes included Dan Dunbar in 8th in Cat. 1 30-39, Jason Young 23rd in the Pro race and Kyle Henley in 16th in the Cat. 2 30-39 race.

Dawn Til Dusk:
On April 9th, Feedback race team member Eric Davis ventured down to Gallup, New Mexico to take part in the endurance racing season opener, the Dawn Til Dusk. The twelve hour race began at the crack of dawn under cold and fairly calm conditions. As the morning progressed it became increasingly windy, to the point where gusts were reaching 50mph and up.

After that, it began raining and later still, the snow began!! Organizers decided to cut the race short at 10 hours as conditions were unbelievably windy, cold, wet and snowy. Eric Davis soldiered on through all of this and came out with a hard fought 1st place in the 50-59 category! Mountain bike racing in April certainly has its unique challenges.

2011 Race Team

2011-04-29T07:29:00.007-06:00

Welcome to the Blog site for the 2011 Feedback Sports mountain bike race team. We will be updating this site with race reports and other pertinent information throughout the year.

For 2011, we will be going into the season with a team of 32 mountain bike racers. Our men and women racers span all age groups and compete at the Pro, Category 1/Expert and Category 2/Sport levels. The Feedback Sports race team will be focusing on selected national races as well as regional Cross Country, Endurance, Short Track and Super-D events.

You will be seeing many Feedback Sports team members out competing in Winter Park, Mountain States Cup and Rocky Mountain Endurance series races. In addition, look for us at some of the big endurance MTB races in the region like the Gunnison Growler, Breck Epic, Leadville 100 and Laramie Enduro.

Winter Park/Snowmass Races July 2010

2010-07-13T12:17:00.009-06:00

Another great weekend of racing here in Colorado. Feedback Sports MTB team had racers in the Winter Park cross country and Super-D and also racing XC and Short Track in Snowmass. We were on the podium 15 times and our Winter Park Red team is closing in on 1st place in the series.

Lisa Hudson won the Pro XC at Winter Park and we had 4 XC podiums (Heather Brion 1st Cat 1, Jerry Kopack 3rd Cat 1, Steve Warfel and Brian Myers both had 2nd place in their age/Cat 2)

Super D was equally strong for us with 6 podiums. Heather Brion ,Jeff Conners and Steve Warfel won their categories. Jerry Kopack went down hard in practice but toughed it out and raced for team points.

Super D report from Doug Hudson:

I lined up with 26 other 40+ Cat 1's for the WP Super D. Our bikes were in place about 30 yards up the fire road. We sprinted off the line and I found myself in the top 5 to the bikes. I grabbed my bike and continued to run about another 20 yards. After a cyclocross mount and sprint up another 200 yards to the single track, I was surprisingly in 1st place!!! I was gassed at this point and glad to be going downhill. I was able to maintain a couple second lead on the pack until the flat section at the top of the 2nd climb where 2 guys caught me. This was about 1/3 of the way down and I was able to hold onto 3rd place with a time of 12:33. It was so much fun, I decided to sign up for Super D at Nationals coming up next weekend.

Snowmass report from Jason Young:

The XC course at Snowmass is incredible. Of course the climb is looong and brutal. Jay Henry lined up at the back of the pro field (on his way to the win) because he knew he had plenty of time. I felt better than the day before, and managed to pass a few folks who got complacent and didn’t shift when the slope eased up a bit. The downhill through the aspen trees is phenomenal. The rain made for a pretty tacky trail punctuated by sometimes wet and slippery rocks/roots. My bike and I parted ways briefly once on the first lap due to the latter. I collected the contents of my pockets, that had been strewn across the trail, decided I only had scraps, and hammered on. There was no powerline climb so the transition back toward the start/finish is a bit less painful than a few years back. The pros did two long loops (same course as last year when Lance rode it) so on the second time up the slope Jenny handed me a bottle and I did the whole thing all over again. This time I was relatively flawless and I caught and passed a couple pros on the descent. All in all 2:11:33 is three minutes faster for me. A little improvement still lands you 12th of the 16 pros racing. Oh well, it was just a training race...right?! Next weekend I'm headed to the national championships in Sol Vista....Jason

Nick, Tracy and Kirsten all logged 1st place wins in Cat 1 races at Snowmass.

What to do when you're not racing...

2010-07-06T09:29:00.002-06:00

Bailey HUNDO

2010-06-24T08:16:00.007-06:00

We had four Feedback Sports riders participate in the inaugural Bailey HUNDO on June 19, 2010, an invitation-only, underground dirt century race that started in the town of Bailey, situated about an hour west of Denver. The event was a fundraiser for Trips for Kids, the Colorado High School Cycling League and Bailey Trails. Kyle Henley, Jeff Connors, Eric Davis and Steve Vanderburg all toed the line at 6 a.m. and rolled out of town to the blast of a 12-gauge shotgun. Quite a few big names were in the field, including JHK, Dave Weins and Travis Brown. Not too shabby for a first-year event.

After a hilly dirt road section spread out the 200+ pack, the first 60 miles of the course were amazing -- mile after mile of ripping singletrack in the popular Buffalo Creek trail system. Riding Buff Creek is a treat in and of itself, but to get the opportunity to race on it was just amazing. Aid stations were interspersed every 10 miles our so, with lots of killer singletrack in between. It helped to know the climbs and the descents in the area. The singletrack portion of the race ended with a loose and fast descent to the Platte River. Eric noted that he and many other left some skin and blood on the trail from spills taken while negotiating some of the tough bits of the descent to the Platte River.

From there, it was a big, hot, nasty ride back on about 40 miles of road and fire roads. After a pleasant and flat spin along the Platte River, things got ugly with a monster climb that started around mile 70, a slow slog up a shadeless fire road. For Kyle, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. He pulled the pin at mile 80 and got a ride to the finish with his tail between his legs. The rest of the Feedback crew pushed through the seemingly endless false summits and punchy climbs that punctuated the road to the finish. The most cruel aspect of the race was a ridiculously steep 200-yard climb right at the finish. It left many of the racers walking the last bit of the ride.

In the end, Feedback riders put up a good showing. Eric and Steve -- both extremely experienced endurance racers -- finished in under 9 hours. Eric, in fact, was third in the men's 46+ division. Jeff, known as a skinny, fast climbing specialist, pushed through and finished his first dirt century in about 10 hours. In the pro field, JHK stomped it in 6:38. Sick fast.

All in all, it was a killer event. Thanks to all the volunteers and organizers who put on the Bailey HUNDO. I know we're looking forward to doing it again next year.

Winter Park Hill Climb 2010

2010-06-24T07:20:00.006-06:00

After being postponed due to nasty weather the previous weekend, the weather was perfect and the Feedback MTB team fielded 15 racers for the kick off race of the Winter Park series. The hill climb is a seemingly never-ending 5.2 mile 2,062 ft climb up to 11,142ft. It starts at the base of Winter Park Ski Resort and ends at the top of Mary Jane.
Of course a light bike is an advantage in a pure hill climb. I mounted up my Maxxis Maxlite 310g tires on my 26" Hardtail which weighed in at 18.8lbs. The non-technical fire road even allowed a dozen or so people to race on cyclocross bikes.

Team record for the day was set by Jason Young at an impressive 36:35. Kat Statman (37:11), Jerry Kopack (39:19) and Doug Hudson (39:29) also broke the 40 minute mark with most of the other team members not too far behind.

We had one podium finish with Heather Brion finishing 2nd in the women's expert class.

Feedback has 3 teams of eight people competing for the series title. We had several members missing this race to do the Bailey Hundo, but we should be in full force for the next race on June 26th.

2010 Gunnison Growler Report

2010-06-02T15:00:00.002-06:00

From Feedback Racer Rich DiGeronimo:

The Growler was relentless again, this year with heat instead of freezing rain. The track was very sandy & loose, and exceptionally technical for a x-country race. I had three major crashes, including two times over the bars and one that left me gasping for breath and thankful I didn't break a rib or separate a shoulder. This is a real deal mountain bike race. Feedback Sports had great representation with all five racers finishing, which is no small accomplishment as 20% of the men DNF'd.

There were about 200 folks racing the Full Growler (64 miles), with the main men's category being 30-39 with 83 racers. The top Feedback finisher was "Not Cramping This Time Fancy" Dan Dunbar" with a finish in 52nd place overall (27th in 30-39) and time of 6:34, Rob "Ullrich" Batey came in slightly behind in 54th overall (28th in 30-39) at 6:37, Eric "AARP Member But Still Faster Than Rich" Davis came in 56th overall at 6:40, Rich D came in 67th overall (30th in 30-39) at 6:48, and Jeff "Hill Climb" Connors survived his first endurance MTB race with a time of 7:36 (43rd in 30-39). Major kudos to Eric for taking 2nd in the 50-59 age category with a really consistent race.

I was pumped to shave 24 minutes off of last year's time, but surprisingly my short distance/cross training because I now have a baby didn't really translate to a long distance race. I was 90 seconds behind Dan at the 4 hour mark and ahead of Eric, but at hour 5 my lack of long distance training sent me straight into the pain cave and I couldn't claw out. That's when Eric passed me while I was going backwards...Overall: great race, well supported, great vibe, and Dave Wiens is the man. Click here for full results if you're interested: http://singletrack.competitor.com/2010/05/race/2010-original-growler-complete-results_8402

Chalk Creek MSC

2010-05-24T12:48:00.006-06:00

Feedback Sports racers rode in the Chalk Creek MSC part of the Triple Crown All Mountain Series this last weekend.

Super D results:

Doug H 3rd cat1 30+ (on his hardtail)
Jason Y 14th pro

STXC results:

Tracy T cat1 19+ 2nd
Greg G cat1 40+ 5th
Dough H cat1 40+ 6th
Nick T cat1 30-39 7th
Jason Y pro 14th

XC results:

Jason Y pro 29th
Kat S pro 39th
Nick T cat1 30-39 23rd
Doug H cat1 40-49 24th
Tracy T cat1 30-39 2nd
Kyle H cat2 30-39 11th
Rob L cat2 40-49 14th
Ashley H cat3 30-39 3rd

Sea Otter 2010

2010-04-21T14:07:00.011-06:00

The Cat 1 Sea Otter MTB race confirmed that I am out of shape. I had a bunch of excuses...sick the weekend before, bad weather in Colorado, no sleep, etc., but I naively thought it was possible to do OK at Sea Otter...heck it was at sea level. I knew it would be tough, but the 38 miles and 5100ft of climbing was worse for me than expected. I made it thru the first lap in exactly 1.5 hours. Pro Feedback racer Kat Statman handed me a new water bottle at the feed zone and I thought, "this isn't bad, 3 hours total would be respectable". Then about 20 minutes into Lap 2, I starting feeling little signs of cracking....slight spasms in the legs and my power dropping. I fueled up at the halfway point of the last lap with 2 gels and some water, but this didn't seem to help because shortly after, I really slowed down. It turned into a battle just to finish. After completing the long final climb that ends at what I thought was the finish area, I was physically and mentally done. What I didn't know was the cruel fact that we had another 15 to 20 minutes of up and down to ride on the Pro XC course. I was barely moving at this point, but managed to finish after 3:33 on the course. (32nd/48). They were already giving out awards and annoucing "Mike Hogan in 3rd Place" as I came across the finish line

On the positve side, the weather was perfect and the course was great. Lots of 5-10 minute climbs and steep decents thru a good combination of fire roads and single track. Much better than the Pro XC course which was at least 1/4 pavement.

The whole Sea Otter event was a blast. Feedback Sports had an expo space in the team area and people were coming by the whole time to check out our products and talk. Todd and Rusty (Organic Mechanic crew) were in the Feedback pit area helping people with their bikes. It was definitely worth attending and I plan to be back next year...in better shape. - Doug Hudson

Let the Front Range Racing Begin

2010-04-05T09:04:00.002-06:00

This weekend, Dan, Rich and I toed the line in the first race of the Front Range MTB series put on by Race Pace Promotions. The course was a 3 mile circuit at Bear Creek State park. There were a couple punchy climbs, but overall the biggest factor was the wind. The first third of each lap was spent riding directly into 20 mph winds. Once the course changed directions, it was all about throwing it in the big ring and powering it through the lap.

Men’s A Race

The A race featured 75 of our closest friends lining up at the start, including many Pro riders and both the men’s and women’s national champions. Dan and I started near the back row. When the start whistle went off, the pack shot straight up the dirt road climb meant to thin the field out. The start of the race was definitely a shock to the system after not racing since August of last year. I spend the entire first lap in the red, hoping that some way I’d be able to recover and actually finish the 5 laps. Throughout the first lap, we had managed to gain some positions and rode about mid pack. Dan was able to get in a group about 50 yds ahead of me and stayed there pulling a small group around the course for the majority of the race. I spent laps 2-5 trying to chase this group down, but seemingly making no progress. Finally at the tail end of the 5th lap, I was able to make contact. On the final climb, I went for all the glory and sprinted past the group, including Dan, in the final 30 yards of the race for that prestigious 38th place. Dan, followed me in for 39th.

Men’s B Race

Rich decided to toe it up in the B race this weekend. This race featured 26 local racers. As the whistle went off, Rich shot off the line and led the field into the first lap. He spent most of the first lap setting the pace. By the end of the first lap, he was sitting comfortably in second place. Coming around the last corner into the final climb an ill timed lapse of concentration caused him to wash out and loose all momentum, letting 4 more riders by. The top 5 riders we able to able to work together into the wind and put a gap back to Rich. The rest of the race was spent chasing and trying to recoup from the first lap’s effort. A very respectable 5th place was earned.

All in all, it was a great day to be out racing. Race Pace put on a well organized quality event. And the Trek & Gary Fisher bikes rode flawlessly.

CX Nationals 2009

2010-01-09T09:31:00.031-07:00

Doug and I made the trip to Bend Oregon for this years cyclocross nationals. Doug flew in Thursday night from Seattle after his "business" trip to Portland and Seattle to watch the USGP, and visit some bike shops. I flew in Wednesday night with my 2 1/2 year old daughter Kaiya. We stayed at my parents house on the Deschutes river. It was great to have a home base, and someone to help watch Kaiya. Anyone on the team is welcome to crash here next year.

I went to the venue around 11am on Thursday to pre-ride the course for my race on Friday at 3:30pm. I stopped by Todd Gold's trailer, sponsored by Feedback Sports, who drove out over 60 bikes and equipment bags to the race from Colorado. He had a sweet setup with and enclosed tent with heaters, and the inside of his trailer to change clothes, warmup, and hang out after the races. Todd and his crew wrenched and helped pit for a lot of the racers. It was great. I got my bike, put on lots of clothes for the 20 degree temps, and headed for the course. It was open for preriding from noon to 1pm everyday. Otherwise the course was closed to everyone but the racers who were currently racing. Whoa, everyone else had the same idea. I would have felt just as comfortable in a herd of lemmings blindly headed for nowhere. There were so many people, you couldn't ride fast enough to get a feel for the course or conditions. The course was covered in a couple inches of snow with frozen ground underneath. Whenever there was a slick corner, sidehill, or tough spot, there would be backups big enough that you would end up walking them anyway. I would try and wait for large groups to go by, then jump in with some speed, but in 15 seconds I would catch back up, or get swallowed by a new group coming up the course. So much for opening up the legs, testing air pressures, or lines through corners.

The course was fun. Half of the course was through dirt fields with fun features, and turns, while the other half was on the manicured grass of the Deschutes Brewery warehouse. They actually used a snowblower to remove snow off of the course in an attempt to save their grass. There was a run up of 23 steps, a nasty off camber section, and a steep dirt runup that was half frozen. It was a course better suited to someone with good bike handling skills vs. someone with good top end power. I went and did some openers and a couple of intervals on the icy streets around the venue, which was right next to a mall and shops across the river, then checked back with the parade around the course. Not much better. I stayed and watched some of the races from different vantage points around the course, especially around 3:45pm. The conditions changed every lap! Some parts that were rideable, were now frozen, and sending bikes and riders to the ground. Tomorrow was going to be a race of being smooth, no braking in the corners, staying loose, sprinting in the short straightaways, and surviving the start.

The masters 45-49 race started at 3:30 on Friday. Doug and I went to the race early so he could register, and take part in the lemming-parade at noon. I ate some lunch, then took a power nap because I felt like I had already done 10 intervals. I was not feeling great. The alarm went off in the rental car. Time for action. I got my bike, checked it over, and set tire pressure. I decided to run 26 psi up front and 28 psi rear on my No Tubes 355 29er wheelset, after some highly illegal tire testing from yesterday. I started warming up in the trailer on a trainer. It sure was better than warming up next to a rental car in the parking lot. It felt like a pro setup with 60 bikes on Feedback Sports racks, racers warming up all around you, mechanics mingling around the racers handing out drinks, taking clothes etc. I warmed up for a solid hour and fifteen minutes, mostly spinning easily and drinking lots of fluid, interspersed with trips to the portable bathrooms. I finished warming up, put on dry clothes, and headed for the start line. I had bib #49. I had been talking about start strategy with other racers. It was obvious to sprint on the pavement, but should I spend a lot of energy passing in the snow and bad lines the first lap, or go a steady tempo the whole race? I decided since I was going to get off the bike where the course turns and narrows down to 8 feet from watching previous starts, that I would go for the steady tempo.

It is different hanging around the start with 130 nervous racers waiting for their callup. Everyone has a jacket on that covers their starting #, so you kind of have the push a little so you don't hear your number called, and find yourself 5 rows from the entrance gate. I lined up one spot from the right edge, in the 8th row. The temperature was in the low 30s with no wind, so it was easy to stay warm until the gun went off. I got on the pedals fine, but the other racers in front of me were not moving very fast. Something most have gone wrong up near the front. At least 2 rows surged past on either side of me. We finally got moving. A space opened up on the outside. I jumped in and started sprinting as fast as I could. I passed a lot of people, but the left turn uphill to the narrow section came too soon. I jumped off the bike early, passed a few more people, shoved my way through the narrow section, got back on, back to speed, and was psyched to make it through the start without any mishaps. I was racing in the national championships. It took a lot of mental effort not to start passing people. 45 minutes is still a long time to race.

I was around 35th after the first lap. Time to keep the pace high, pass people as soon as I get on their wheel, stay smooth through the corners, not braking too much before the turns and staying off the brakes once the turn started. Then standing up and getting back to speed once there was good traction again. My tires were hooking up well. I would bottom out on some of the rougher sections, but they did not loose any air. Racers were still going down around me. Some even went down in straightaways that were slick. There was a nasty off-camber section on the grass where there were a lot of people sliding out. You can see someone sliding out in the photo on the right in front of me. The other nasty section was in the woods on another off-camber section that was only 10 feet long, but claimed many riders. The sun was off the course now, and was completely gone half way through the race. The course conditions were changing every lap. I kept talking to myself about the basics, staying loose, and going with the flow when I would slide.

Around the 3rd lap, traffic thinned out enough to start riding parts of the course faster that had bottle-necks earlier. I hit the stairs fast after 2 steps off of the bike, tried to change direction on the first step, and slid out. I then stumbled up the stairs like a drunken Belgian fan after swimming in mayo and frites. (Play fabulous video above for the visual!) Luckily, I didn't do a face plant. After the grass sections, there was a steep 40-foot hill that we were riding up during warmups, but now it was frozen on the bottom half. I got off my bike early, and ran up the hill every time. It worked out well, as I passed people every lap in this sectioon. I was now around 20th. Other Colorado racers were letting me know my position and were cheering me on every lap from the pits. It was great to have the support of other racers. 2 more laps to go. Things went well, and I found myself in 16th place. Once more up the steep run up, and a sprint to the line were all that was left. I got passed in the final 100yds., and got 17th place. I was psyched to get top 20 in the nationals.

Doug raced in the masters 40-44 on Saturday at 9:30 am. He started #113. There were 192 entries in his class. What a backup in the first turn! He had a good race, moving up to the mid 60s after 2 laps, but then got a flat. A stop in the pits cost him about 2 minutes. He kept on the gas and ended up 78th.

Doug has some more pics and text we will add soon.

Racing with Lance

2009-11-13T20:40:00.004-07:00

Feedback rider Jason Young #41 at the start of the Snowmass MSC race in August 2009.
"At 10 seconds into the race I believe I could say I was ahead of Lance Armstrong (#71)..."　

Winter Park Hill Climb -- Feedback Sports Red Team On Top

2009-06-15T10:32:00.011-06:00

In his first appearance in the expert class, Feedback Sports rider Jeff Connors picked up where he left off last year -- standing on the top of the box. Jeff stomped the competition in the Expert 30-34 class at the Winter Park Hill Climb on Saturday June 13 to take his first win of the season, ascending the 5.2-mile course in a smoking fast 39:29. Last year Jeff won the Mountain States Cup Sport 30-34 class with a steady string of 1st place finishes. No pressure, Jeff, we expect nothing less from you in '09.

If you want to get technical, however, about which Feedback Sports rider was the fastest on this course -- which climbs more than 2,060 feet -- then that honor goes to Doug Hudson, who put up 39:04.9 on his way to a 3rd place finish in the Expert 40-44 class. Doug is known for unleashing the beast within on the race course and he certainly did not disappoint Saturday. No doubt, it didn't hurt that his Tomac Type X weighed about 19 pounds on race day, complete with 310-gram Maxxis tires. Let's be honest, as the founder and president of Feedback Sports, Doug's got more pressure than most to make sure he wins the team's internal weight weenie contest. Hats off for the performance and the bike.

Heather Brion rounded out the Feedback Sports trips to the podium on Saturday, pegging it for 48:24.2 minutes to deliver a 3rd place finish in the women's Expert 30-39 class. This was a great showing for Heather, too, because it was her first race as an expert following a very successful 2008 campaign as a sport rider. She's clearly on track to have a breakout season.

The rest of Feedback Sports racers all had fantastic showings at the Hill Climb, with 9 riders earning Top 10 finishes in their respective classes. In the Expert 35-39 class, Scott Tucker jumped out with a strong 6th place finish and a time of 40:16.5. He was closely followed in the same class by Jerry Kopack, who nabbed 7th place with a time of 40:34.4. Jon Harrach sailed up the mountain in 43:31.2 for a 5th place finish in the Sport 25-29 class. Steve Vanderburgh, riding retro-style in the old yellow and blue Feedback Sports kit, put up a 45:54.2 for 7th place in the Sport 45-49 class. Kyle Henley put a personal record of 44:28 for an 8th place finish in Sport 35-39. Jim Bergman, riding in the ridiculously strong Expert 45-49 class (seriously, look HERE at the times these old guys put up), went 44:03.8 for 10th place.

All in all, strong performances from riders across every racing category helped vault the Feedback Sports Red Team into 1st place in the overall team competition. Great job to everyone.

NEXT UP: We've got racers who will be in Crested Butte on June 20-21 for the Wildflower Rush, a MSC race. We are all pulling for Jason Young, one of our first-year pro racers, as he heads to the Butte. Wildflower is a course that really suits his talents as an unbelievable climber and smoking fast descender. Good luck to you, JY!!

The next Winter Park race will be June 27 for the Cross Country Super Loop, the first XC race of the series.

Chili Challenge

2009-05-26T16:06:00.006-06:00

Details are filtering from last weekend at the Chili Challenge in Angel Fire, New Mexico.

Here are some picture from Tracy...

The captain's pre-race ritual

How can this weigh the same as a FS race bike?

Here's a brief race report from Doug...

My pre short track rest strategy didn't help too much. It was kind of
strange having a race start at 5:30 in the afternoon. Jason didn't start
until ~6:15pm.
Tracy carried the torch this weekend with two podiums. Greg G also podiumed
with a 3rd in STXC. Good job!!
We had a double wide tent/pit area with Zach's sprinter van, which was nice
for the intermittent rain.

STXC: short loop with a 100 yard climb, a washboard straightaway, a few
turns and a high speed loose gravel corner.

Tracy T = 2nd
Greg G = 3rd
Nick T = 4th
Doug H = 9th
Jim B = 10th
Jason Y = 12th

XC: The usual 2K feet of climbing/lap with crazy but super fun descent. We
all did 2 laps except Jason Y with 2.5 loops. Weather was cool and it
rained off and on during the expert race adding difficulty to an already
technical course.

Tracy T = 2nd
Doug H = 6th on the old Yeti Hardtail using Sean Madsen's newly dialed in
fit dimensions.
Greg G = 8th
Jim B = 14th
Nick T = 15th
Jason Y = 25th/43 on Lisa's hardtail Scott. He broke a suspension bolt and
realized it ~45 min before start time.

I have a bunch of pictures also that I'll send out later.

Doug

3D Bike Fit at Boulder Center for Sports Medicine

2009-05-01T13:11:00.004-06:00

Last week I made a trip over to the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine (BCSM), a sponsor of the Feedback Sports Mountain Bike Racing Team, and got a 3D performance bike fit. In my case, I don’t have any major medical or pain issues to work out, but I am interested in getting the most out of my pedal strokes. I worked with biomechanist, bike fitter extraordinaire, and Feedback Sports teammate, Sean Madsen. He measured up my existing bike setup, and then measured me up too. Sean did the initial assessment of my muscle strength, flexibility, and any notable issues/concerns. The first basic principle of bike fit is measuring the rider and then adjusting the bike to match.

In the following picture Sean holds the reflective balls that will be attached to my lower back, hips, knees, ankles, and toes while Jason Amrich (BCSM Admin Director, PT, OCS, CSCS, teammate, and interested observer) looks on.

In the following picture I’m pedaling (nice and easy) on my original setup while Jason Amrich adjusts the power-scaled resistance.

In the following mid-adjustment picture Sean checks the position of my knee over my pedal axel.
Sean and I discussed the captured video images and computer model as well as changes to the bike configuration that he wanted to implement. In the following picture Sean describes how fast I’ll go if these adjustments work.
In the following picture you see me test ride the improved configuration. Note the less rounded back and improved reach. The new standard cleat placement also allows me to better engage my muscles without sliding forward on the saddle. It might take me a few miles to adjust to this new postion.

The Boulder Center for Sports Medicine sent me a report summarizing the before and after details of my fit including computer models of my pedal stroke from the side, top and front. You can learn a lot about yourself, prevent injury, and likely gain some efficiency.

In the end good bike fit is an evolution. I feel much more comfortable and efficient after implementing the prescribed changes to my bike setup. After I pedal for a few more months I’m likely to stop back by the BCSM to further fine tune my fit.

You should drop by and get a better fit too!

Team picture and new kits

2009-04-21T15:37:00.006-06:00

Last Tuesday was the first Tuesday night shop ride from Big Ring Cycles in Golden for 2009. The redesigned Feedback Sports kits were handed out. They look great. After wearing blue and yellow for 4 years it's going to take a little while to get used to the new colors. Most of the team showed up to get their new kits and to do Chimney Gulch / Apex loop.

We're the total package -- fast and good looking...

Rabbit Valley Time Trial Pics

2009-04-18T19:51:00.005-06:00

Below are a few Rabbit Valley Time Trial pics courtesy of a post on the Mountain States Cup forums. Notice the brand new kits! The cross country is tomorrow (Sunday).

Jason Young making his Pro debut

Nick Thelan

Greg Gorrell

Tomac Type-X

2009-03-23T18:54:00.005-06:00

I am one of the lucky ones. My brand new Tomac Type-X arrived at Big Ring Cycles on February 27th and I had it built up and ready to ride the next day. Being a Feedback Sports team member meant that there was one thing to do though before I was able to hit the trails - weight it. And, thanks to the 2.5 lb frame and insanely light Stan's ZTR Race wheelset, she came in at exactly 20.0 lbs! (I've heard rumors that Doug's bike will shatter that number.)

Impressions:

At its weight, there was no doubt that this bike would climb, and climb it does. What has really impressed me over the past couple of weeks is how well the carbon frame calms the trail noise. While this bike is super stiff and efficient, it never feels like it you are getting beat-up for riding a hardtail. At this point, I honestly have no reservations about switching off a full suspension for this coming race season (hopefully I feel he same way in September). Another nice feature is that the bike seems to rail the corners thanks to the low bottom bracket, although this makes navigating Jeffco's famous water bars slightly trickier...

I can't wait to log some more miles in on the Tomac and look forward to what this race season brings.

...and we're back

2009-03-23T12:06:00.004-06:00

It's been a quiet winter here on the Feedback Sports blog. Now that spring has officially sprung, there should be a lot more to talk about here soon. Word is that the new jerseys a due to arrive in a couple weeks. More Tomac frames should arrive soon (the TypeX carbon hardtails are already here). And the first race of the year (MSC Rabbit Valley Rally in Fruita) is only 4 weeks away. Check back for updates.

Several of us took advantage of the 70 degree weather on Saturday and rode just about every inch of trail at White Ranch. Minus one small patch of ice on Maverick, the trails were in mid-summer form (I can't say the same for my fitness, although everyone else seemed to doing pretty well). Here's the group:

L2R: (Scott Tucker, Jason Young, Rob LaMielle, Rich DiGeronimo, Jerry Kopack, Kyle Henley, Jeff Connors)

3D Bike Fit at BCSM

2009-01-06T15:39:00.001-07:00

Nick Thelen writes about his bike fit experience:
----------------------
Tracy and I both had the 3d bike fits done. We were both very happy with them. I will let her add her thoughts if she wants to. Here are my thoughts.

* You arrive, front desk, paper work etc.
* Trade your car keys for a locker key.
* Sean came out to greet us / took our bike with him.
* We were brought back to the fitting / testing room.
* Sean takes you into a smaller room - private so you can discretely talk about issue you have, your goals, pretty much any reason why you are here.
* He does some body manipulation and checks for any body discrepancies and flexibility (or in my case - lack of).
* You go back to the fit room - he puts reflective balls all over you (12x i think)
* You get on your bike - already in a trainer with a road wheel in it (if a mountain bike).
* You ride - he observes - asks you questions and vice verse.
* After warmed up you ride at a moderate intensity and he shuts a certain and runs the cameras that record the reflectors.
* You get off the bike and Sean reviews the data.
* He discusses with you what he wants to to - does it - you get back on and the process continues until improvements were maid.
* When done you go change (there are showers), Sean gives you a document with all the info from the fit on it, you leave.
* We are supposed to get a PDF of the 3D data reviewed sometime this week.
---------------------
* I had about a 15% decrease in perceived effort at the same wattage output (went from 70% perceived effort to about 55%) due to the modifications Sean made to cleats, saddle type (width for me), saddle location, and bars.
* They have some saddles, stems, and bars there to they can tweak your bike and prove with quantifiable results that it made improvements.
* I left with a pair of mtn bike shoes with wedges between the shoe and cleat, my proper sit bone width, stem dimensions, and my fit dimensions so i can double check them when i get the new items on my bike.
* I was very satisfied, not rushed, and Sean (whom I have never met until this fit) is very knowledgeable & patient about this process answering all questions and while dishing out tons of good info was listening to you the whole time.
* My Buddy Dan from Golden sat in on this fit because he was curoius. I think when he purchases his new mtn bike this spring he is sold on getting a 3d fit from Boulder Sports Med.

Increase in power for free, better fit, and no better excuse to buy some new bike stuff.

Hope this was informal without blabbing too much,
Nick

Feedback Sports to Ride Tomac Bikes for 2009

2008-11-14T11:50:00.005-07:00

Feedback Sports is proud to announce that the team will be riding Tomac bicycles in 2009. It's a partnership we are pretty excited about. I mean, come on, John Tomac is a MTB racing legend, so just being associated with his bike company is amazing. But it is a lot more than that. About half the team members had a chance to throw a leg over Tomac's Carbide XC and Type-X bikes recently, and we all came away impressed.

The Carbide XC is a light-weight full-suspension racer with a 5.4-pound carbon frame. Our weight-weenies estimate that this bike, with a standard Feedback Sports X.O/XTR/Stans race build, will come in around 22-23 pounds, which is world class. We definitely noticed that the Tomac design features substantially stiffer front and rear triangles than a lot of the other carbon bikes. That translates into more watts driving the bike forward and less power lost to unwanted flex. The suspension is well designed, too, working in concert with the Fox RP23 shock to create an extremely efficient climber and ripping descender. Also, all the testers came away with a sense of the Carbide's great handling characteristics and trail manners, very well balance and predictable. Bottom line: The Carbide is a blast to ride, and the team can't wait to unleash it on the race course next year.

We only had a medium Type-X available to demo, so our bigger riders weren't able to give her a whirl. But several of Feedback Sports racers were so impressed with the Type-X that they plan on abandoning full-squish bikes to run the Type-X next year as their primary race rig, including Pro Lisa Hudson and Expert 30-34 rider Jeff Connors. The gorgeous carbon frame is ridiculously light -- 2.4 pounds -- and our riders raved that it struck a perfect balance between stiffness and compliance. The last word: The Type-X is very, very fast.

Lastly, a big thanks to our long-time partners at Big Ring Cycles in Golden, CO, for making the introduction between Feedback Sports and Tomac. Big Ring will be carrying the full line of Tomac bikes next year, they've got several available to demo now and I'd encourage folks to swing in to the shop to check the Tomacs out.

12 Hours of Snowmass

2008-09-16T20:26:00.004-06:00

Here's a race report from Jason Young...

So Tuesday afternoon of last week Lance decided to join a local all star 3-person team at the 12 hours of Snowmass. The inaugural year of this race was destined for greatness! By Thursday night Jason Amrich had set up a team to compete in the same category consisting of himself, Jason Young and Sean Madsen.

I warmed up with a headlamp before the 6:30am team meeting. The skies were clear but the temps were still pretty chilly. At 7am all the racers were crammed into the start area. Some folks wondered if Lance would start for team Livestrong. I knew he was starting because he had quietly worked his way into crowd near me, but closer to the front. The race started smoothly and I threaded my way through all kinds of traffic as we worked up the steep lower slopes of the Snowmass base area. I settled into 5th right behind Lance and sat there while Jay Henry pushed the pace up front. Lance looked back to see me and the somewhat strung out group behind us a couple times. I was right there…at least for 5 minutes or so. Eventually Jay Henry pushed the pace. Lance and others responded. I didn't.

The course was very similar to the short loop of the MSC course. There was some ice on the grass and mud on the first lap which made things interesting especially when combined with the rising sunshine occasionally obscuring the trail ahead. The first lap went by in about 46 minutes for me. The best pro times were closer to 38 minutes. Jay Henry had the fastest lap on the day. We alternated JY, JA, Sean throughout the day.

I think Jason Amrich's second lap was our team's fastest at less than 45 minutes. JA even had a lap where Lance was right behind him on the downhill. Thanks to his downhill prowess, Lance didn't get by.

Sean was riding the last downhill section of his lap 3 on a soft front tire when things got crazy (even for him). He ended up running his bike into the finish (only a couple minutes off expected lap time) with some decent cuts and a ruined helmet. The guy couldn't walk or sit too comfortably, but he sure did crank out a fast 4th lap! Sean also met the man...Taylor Phinney before the race. As the story goes, Sean walked right past LA and said hello to Taylor who he knows from work at the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine.

Overall, our team was pretty darn consistent and we had a blast. We finished 6th of 13 teams with 14 laps (we had time for maybe one more lap but it likely wouldn't have changed the outcome) Attached are a few photos. My wife, Jenny, and Jason Amrich's best girl, Andrea, were our chief supporters and photographers on the day. Attached are a few samples. Our team name was Feedback Sports / Anna Power. Anna is Sean's 2yr old daughter who would have undoubtedly cheered him on if she could have been there to watch.

Thanks to Doug and Lisa for the use of the easy-up tent. It was essential team base camp equipment. The fast folks at Feedback Sports and Doug Hudson of Golden got somewhat lengthy mention a couple times while Nat Ross was announcing.

Jason Amrich

Jason Young

Mountain States Cup Series Awards

2008-09-09T07:44:00.005-06:00

Jason Young on the podium and taking the win for the overall Expert 30-34 MSC series title.

Jack Hudson (standing in for Dad) and Greg Gorrell on the podium for the Expert 40+ MSC series title.

Jeff C. on the podium for the Sport 30-34 MSC series title.

Lisa Hudson on the podium for the Pro Women MSC series title.

Kyle Henley (and Darcie & Sydney) on the podium for the MSC Sport 35-39 MSC series title.

Fall Classic Race Report -- MSC Finale

2008-09-09T07:34:00.003-06:00

Thanks to all who made it up this weekend to race, especially Nick, Jim and Jon H. You guys rock! Jon H. delivered a big win for us in Sunday's XC, Feedback's only trip to the top of the box all weekend. Nick rocked it out both days in the Circuit Race (CR) and XC and Jim raced the CR, drove home and then drove back to lend moral support for the XC. Thanks for making the effort for the team.

Feedback had a killer weekend up in Breck, with a ton of great performances and results. Jeff Connors was 2nd in CR and 3rd in XC. Jason Young was 2nd in CR and 3rd in XC. Lisa Hudson 5th in CR and 5th in XC. Jeff, Jason and Doug H (Jack Hudson stood on the podium in Dad's absence) collected jerseys for winning the series titles in their respective categories.

Sadly, in the end, we couldn't overcome CoMotion's numbers. We generally beat them in heads-up racing, but they just had too many other folks in smaller categories, such as sport and expert women. We ended up in 2nd place, a mere 28 points behind. I won't lie, I think we were all disappointed that we couldn't pull it off. It is some consolation that the best we've ever done is 5th, so 2nd was a significant improvement. I think it is damn impressive that we pulled off a near upset with a fraction of the riders of teams like CoMotion and RMR. They may have quantity, but we've got the quality. Hats off to everyone that helped contribute to the Feedback Sports performance this year.

So I tallied some of the season numbers from this year -- including the WP and MSC results -- and we produced some impressive stats:

5 Series Title Wins -- 1st WP Pro Women, 1st MSC Expert Men 40-49, 1st MSC Expert Men 30-34, 1st MSC Sport Men 30-34, 1st WP Sport Women 30-39

13 1st place finishes

13 2nd place finishes

11 3rd place finishes

2nd in team overall standings MSC

3rd in team overall standings WP

That's without question Feedback's best collective season of racing to date. Not too shabby.

Feedback’s Lisa Hudson Wins King of the Rockies, Overall Winter Park Series Title

2008-09-03T08:02:00.003-06:00

GOLDEN, Colo. (Sept. 2, 2008) – Third-year pro Lisa Hudson, Feedback Sports, won King of the Rockies on Aug. 30, the final leg of the Winter Park Mountain Bike Race Series. And, for the second year in a row, she won the overall pro female title in the six-race series.

“The King of the Rockies course is one of the true Colorado classics, and it’s an honor to get my first win of the season here,” Hudson said.

“I’m also really proud to have defended my overall title,” Hudson added. “The competition here at Winter Park is always stiff, but I just tried to stay consistent this season and it obviously paid off.”

Hudson is a co-owner of Feedback Sports, the Golden, Colo.-based maker of a line of digital scales, quality bike stands and other tools. The Feedback Sports mountain bike racing team is also sponsored by Big Ring Cycles and Scott USA.

Hudson, riding a 19-pound Scott Scale hard tail, completed the 25.8-mile Tipperary Creek Point-to-Point Race and its more than 4,000-feet of climbing in 2:11:46. Eszter Horanyi (Waltworks/Fuentes Designs) took second with a time of 2:13:38, and Becca Blay (Sobe/Cannondale) was third with a 2:16:09.

“My form always seems to come on during the last half of the season and that makes a difference on some of these tough late summer and early fall races,” Hudson said. “Hopefully that bodes well for me going into the final Mountain States Cup events and later for 24 Hours of Moab.”

Hudson is sitting in second-place overall in the Mountain States Cup Endurance Series with one weekend of racing to go – the Fall Classic in Breckinridge. The two-day MSC finale includes a 5-lap circuit race and a 28-mile XC. Hudson won the MSC overall title in 2006, her first year as a pro.

In October, she’ll be part of a Co-ed/ProAm team at 24 Hours of Moab, one of the largest mountain bike races in the nation. In 2007, her team placed third in the Co-ed/ProAm division.

“It’s always fun to be in the hunt at Moab,” Hudson said. “We definitely plan on bringing a strong team again this year and giving it a run.”

IN OTHER FEEDBACK SPORTS NEWS:

The Feedback Sports Blue Team placed third in the overall team competition for the Winter Park Mountain Bike Race Series.

Heather Brion, Sport Women 30-39, also won King of the Rockies and the overall title for her division.

Scott Tucker, Expert Men 30-34, landed in fourth place at King of the Rockies and took second place for the overall title in his division.

Winter Park Pictures - King of the Rockies and Overall

2008-09-01T11:16:00.001-06:00

Lisa Hudson - 2008 Queen of the Rockies

Heather Brion - Sport 30-39 winner

Jon Harrach - 2nd Sport 25-29

Lisa Hudson - 1st Winter Park Series - Pro Women

Scott Tucker - 2nd Winter Park Series - Expert 30-34

Heather Brion - 1st Winter Park Series - Sport 30-39

Series Cups (...and yes, Scott's is the smallest)

Lisa and her protégé, Heather

Feedback Sports 3rd Overall

Juice boxes are required after 400 laps around the parking lot

Eldora Short Track Pictures

2008-08-29T10:33:00.001-06:00

Lisa Hudson

Lisa leading a group through the Euro-grass maze

Rob Lamielle lining up the straightaway

Doug Hudson

Greg Gorrell getting a bit of cyclocross training in

Jim Bergman

Jason Young off the front

Jason, Doug, and Jim

Doug finished 2nd in STXC

Jason on top of the box

Jason Young - Expert 30-34 Colorado Short Track State Champion (and happy about it)

Heather Brion - 1st in XC Sport 30-39

More Eldora

2008-08-28T15:31:00.002-06:00

This year the traditional Eldora rain and lightening mostly held off until everyone was off the course. Jeff C. covered some of the highlights from earlier in the day so here are some notes on the Feedback Sports expert and pro riders. There were some excellent performances over as-good-as-it-gets course conditions.

In short-track action on Saturday Jason Y. held off all the other 30-39 experts to earn short track cross country state champ status. Dan D. finished very well at 3rd in the same category (although the MSC results haven’t caught up). Doug H. had a fantastic day and landed 2nd in the 40-49 category. Greg G. and Jim B. did very well and finished a few seconds apart in 4th and 5th respectively. Jason A. finished 10th in a competitive semi-pro field and Lisa H. raced to 7th place in pro women.

The Eldora cross country course always inflicts some suffering (especially after short track racing the afternoon prior). After Jeff C. and Heather B. started the day with 1st place exclamation mark finishes, Jon H. landed 4th with post Leadville legs, Rob L landed 7th for the second day in a row, and Steve V. managed 12th of more than 20 with his post Leadville legs. Doug H. finished an impressive 3rd on the day while Jason Y. came in 4th behind some really fast expert racers. Greg G. and Jim B. stuck together in the rankings again and went 5th and 6th. Dan D. also managed a 6th place finish. Lisa H. battled tire issues and ended up 13th on the day, while Jason A. put up some speedy laps, tried the traction with the rubber side up, and landed 14th.

Nice work team and thanks to all the cheering team-members, family, and friends!

Eldora Escape Race Report

2008-08-27T08:18:00.005-06:00

Last Saturday and Sunday was the second to last stop of the Mountain States Cup endurance series - Eldora Escape. Feedback Sports had a great showing at both the short track and the cross country. According to the points tally on the website MSC website, Feedback has leapfrogged CoMotion and is now sitting in first in the team competition. Assuming MSC has finally straightened out their results database, the Fall Classic in Breckenridge will decide who the 2008 Endurance Series team champion is.

Summary of the Sport class action at Eldora (from Jeff Connors):

From my perspective, on Saturday I confirmed the fact that I am an awful Short Track racer, but due to a lack of competition in the 30-34 class, managed 2nd place points. On Sunday's XC race had much more fun. I started about 5th out of the gate, but by the end of the first small climb, had taken the lead. I ran into some traffic halfway through the first lap which allowed one other guy to catch back on. After trying to play some roadie tactics with him through the flat bottom of the course, I was able to gap him again on the short climb and ride alone for the next two laps.

I know that Heather had an exciting race, coming back from a flat while leading the race to catch and pass the race leader in the final stretch to win by 3 seconds!

I think that Rob L. had a solid race in the ultra fast 40-49 Sport Class the top 3 guys in that class are basically the fastest sport riders in the series. Jon picked up some points rolling across 4th in the Sport 19-29 class.

Winter Park #6 Race Report

2008-08-25T21:18:00.003-06:00

Much of the Feedback Sports team was in Eldora for the Saturday short track race; but Jerry, Heather, and Scott made is up to Winter Park for the Mountain Top Circuit Race. This brand new course is a real mountain biking course - lots of rocks, roots, twisty tight single track descending, and some borderline bushwhacking thrown in for good measure. After the race I heard quite a few stories about crashes and flats. In my opinion is was a great course. If they could figure out a way to add a little length per lap or maybe an extra lap for the Pros (and maybe Experts), it would be even better.

Results
- Heather Brion: 1st in Sport 30-39
- Jerry Kopack: 5th in Expert 30-34
- Scott Tucker: 3rd in Expert 30-34

Team Standings
Currently, the Feedback Sports blue team is sitting 4th overall. With a good showing next week at the Tipperary Creek race, we should move into 3rd overall and possibly 2nd after drops are figured. Considering Sean's unfortunate injury took him out early in the season, making the team podium would be a great accomplishment.

Scott's Race Report
Knowing that I was racing against a couple guys that could out-power me on the middle ring climbing parts of the loop, my plan was to burn a match or two and go into the single track first and try to open up a little gap of the first descent. I didn't quite have the punch to make the final acceleration and ended up 2nd going into the single track. I managed to make the pass midway down and opened up a tiny gap. But the gap wasn't much and when I rode out of the single track and started up the steep access road, I had a minor explosion and was riding in 4th at the top of the road. My race strategery had failed. The good news was that the four of us had managed to put a little time into the rest o the field. The bad news was that it took me the rest of the 1st lap and part of the 2nd to claw my way out of the pain cave.

On the 3rd lap, I closed the gap on the Chipotle-Titus rider in 3rd. He faded a bit on final switchbacks up Icarus and I passed. On the Icarus descent (an awesome trail by the way) I managed to ride off the trail which required me to stop and clip out. A couple minutes later I made an attempt to knock down a large tree with my shoulder. It didn't work. My 30 second gap became more like 5 or 10. I regained my composure and held on over the difficult (and fun) Jackalope trail to finish in 3rd.

Leadville 100 Race Report

2008-08-21T13:17:00.007-06:00

Feedback racers (and masochists) Steve Vanderburgh and Jon Harrach both rode the Leadville Trail 100 a couple weeks ago. Jon managed to beat 9 hours in his first try at Leadville, and Steve managed to come real close to the 9 hour mark. Nice job guys!! Here are the results.

Here's a race report from Jon:

Steve and I got up at 5am from camping in a parking lot in the center of downtown and we brought our bikes to the start a laid them down to hold our spot for the race.

It had rained off and on throughout the day on Friday but the weather warmed up come morning time. Once the race started it was mayhem, there were couple crashes within the first 5 minutes because of the traffic congestion.

The trails were perfect, not too dry or too wet, fast. I did my best when the trail flattened and I could power my way on the road. I did my fair share of drafting and pulling, moving from one group to the next. I got passed the most when it came to the hills and I made up the time and then some on the downhills and the flats. I had been riding as if I was on a normal training ride throughout the race knowing that I was close to making the under 9hr mark. It wasn’t until a guy I was riding next to said that we needed at least 55 minutes from the top of the last hill to make the under 9hr mark that I really began to push myself. I was at the top with only 53 minutes left and I pushed hard, no brakes on the downhill and cranked on the short little hills passing a few guys. I was thrilled when I heard that there was only 1 mile left with I thought that I had 3 and my time was running down.

I think I did pretty well all in all for not have ridding a lot of long rides. I think my longest ride prior was 3hrs. That was thing I noticed the most, cardio wise I felt great but my legs were tired from all the pedaling.

Check out my motionbased track. The elevation is not correct; I usually have problems with it when I transfer from Garmin to motionbased.

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/6483189

Here are some of Steve's photos:

Steve gets a quick snack...

...and off he goes.

Winter Park #6...Postponed

2008-08-16T07:01:00.003-06:00

I had mentally prepared myself to suffer today in the wet and cold, eaten my pre-race breakfast, loaded the car, and put down a couple cups of coffee...But alas, they've postponed Winter Park race #6 until next Saturday.

As you can see from the web cam at the top of Mary Jane, there is a dusting of mid-August snow. The top of the Icarus trail crests just to the right of this view. According to the WP Comp Center it pretty much rained/snowed all night. It would have been miserable and nasty, but I was ready to suffer...I guess I'll be doubling-down next weekend at Winter Park and Eldora Escape.

SolVista XC pictures

2008-08-04T21:50:00.004-06:00

Thanks to Lisa for the SolVista XC action shots...

Mr. Feedback (aka Doug) during the Export 40-49 start:

Greg (front) and Jim in the same group:

Jason headed out for lap #2:

Dan headed out for lap #2

Nick taking a bottle from his support crew:

Doug:

Jim:

Greg:

Dan:

Doug gritting his teeth and heading out for lap #3:

Jason took 2nd in Expert 30-34 (only a minute out of the state championship jersey):

Jack getting in on the action at Sol Vista pump track:

Crankworx Colorado (WP #5) Photos

2008-08-04T21:37:00.004-06:00

Below are some Feedback Sports podium photos from 2008 Crankworx Colorado. Nice job everyone!

Lisa takes home some cash for 3rd in Pro Women on a course that suited her climbing ability

Heather is back to racing after a great showing at Firecracker 50 (with Lisa) and is back on the WP podium

Scott took 2nd in Expert 30-34

Jeff took 2nd in Sport 30-34 despite a flat

MSC #6 - Sol Survivor

2008-08-04T11:31:00.001-06:00

It was a hot day on the freshly cut tracks of the Sol Vista XC course before the lightening and the rain changed everything.

Early in the Day: Kyle was 5th and Rob was 9th. Nice work!

As things got warmer: Jason Y. was 2nd, Dan was 5th and Nick was 7th. Feedback did a pretty good job of stacking this category. Nice performance on the second day in a row of racing Nick. Doug was 9th, Jim was 13th, and Greg was 17th. Doug and Jim also doubled up their racing efforts over the weekend. Doug and Greg were working out the time spent at sea level in far off places.

Things got really hot as the pro races started. Shortly thereafter the lightening began and rain turned the fresh dirt tracks into muddy river ruts. Lisa and some of the other pro women bailed as the lightening and thunder became simultaneous. It looks like they placed her 11th (although no times were posted for this category). Jason A (also recovering from time spent at sea level...and in the classroom) put down some speed on lap 1, got really muddy on lap 2, and didn’t seem too sad when the race was called after two laps.

Jenny took a few pictures. I'll pull those off the camera shortly and post them. Nice weekend of racing Feedback Sports Mountain Bikers!

-Jason

Winter Park #3 - Valley Point to Point

2008-07-19T12:00:00.000-06:00

The Feedback Sports Winter Park team didn't have a full complement of riders for the Valley Point to Point, but we managed to make 3 podium appearances. A quick summary...

Lisa Hudson - 2nd, Pro Women
Scott Tucker - 2nd, Expert 30-34
Doug Hudson - 2nd, Expert 40-44

Additionally, Jerry Kopack managed his best Expert result to date, 6th. Nice job Jerry.

Here are some podium and hanging out pics...

...Oh, and look who made Velonews.com: http://www.velonews.com/photo/80666

Results Catch Up

2008-07-13T10:10:00.003-06:00

I think that our team blog authors (including myself) have been a little busy with work and domestic duties of late (not to mention training and racing). So, the blog has gotten a little out of date. In the meantime the team has been having some great results. Here's some brief highlights...

Mountain States Cup #4 - Wildflower Rush in Crested Butte (June 21st)

Lisa Hudson, 5th Pro Women -- Lisa is riding strong...of course.
Jason Amrich, 14th Semi-Pro -- Jason made his semi-pro debut at the Butte. 14th out of 37 starters ain't a bad way to start.
Jason Young, 1st Expert 30-34 -- Jason put up the fastest expert time of the day. 2nd place is his group was 13 minutes behind him. Wow!
Jeff Connors, 2nd Sport 30-34 -- Jeff is first overall in the MSC standings (once MSC gets around to correcting their results, that is)
Kyle Henley, 4th Sport 35-39 -- Another strong ride by Kyle.

Winter Park #2 - New and improved Cross Country Super Loop (June 29th)

Lisa Hudson, 4th Pro Women -- Lisa was only a handful of seconds from being on the podium.
Doug Hudson (aka Mr. Feedback), 5th Expert 40-44 -- Doug's form good right now. A podium appearance is due soon....stay tuned.
Scott Tucker, 5th Expert 30-34 -- I managed to ruin a potential podium finish by crashing hard on Chickadee.

Boulder Short Track - July 9th

2008-07-12T15:07:00.002-06:00

Firecracker 50

2008-07-04T15:40:00.000-06:00

Congrats to Lisa Hudson and Heather Brion who teamed up and placed 3rd in the women's team category at the Firecracker 50 with a time of 4:53:27.

Jason Amrich also had a strong showing placing 6th in a very competitive men's open 30-34 category with a time of 4:18:16. His time would have almost put him in the top 10 of the pro field who were competing for the US Marathon Mountain Bike championship jersey.

Boulder Short Track - June 18th

2008-06-18T22:19:00.006-06:00

The Feedback Racing Team was represented in both the Men's B race and Men's A race at the Boulder Short Track Series on June 18th, 2008. In fact, Dan pulled a double and raced in both Men's B and Men's A races.

Men's B Race

Men's A Race

Nice Racing, Feedback!

Winter Park Hill Climb Report

2008-06-16T12:09:00.006-06:00

Feedback Sports had a great showing at the Winter Park Hill climb last Saturday. Both Lisa Hudson and Heather Brion climbed the podium to receive their highly coveted Winter Park medals (and beer glasses). Lisa got 3rd in Pro Women, and Heather got 2nd in Sport 30-39 women with a time that would have landed her 3rd in the Expert field.

Here's Lisa...

and Heather...

The rest of the Feedback Sports "Blue" team raced too. Doug, Jim, Nick, Jerry, Sean, and Scott all put up good enough results to put the team in 2nd overall. The highlights include PR's from Nick (42:46) and Scott (39:16) on a course that, according to a number of racers, might have been about a minute or so slower than last year.

Next up in the Winter Park series is the Cross Country Super Loop on Sunday the 29th of June. They are planning to add some distance for the Pros and Experts.

Boulder Short Track - June 11th

2008-06-11T21:50:00.005-06:00

The Feedback Racing Team was represented by Dan, Jerry, and Jim in the Men's B race at the Boulder Short Track Series on June 11th, 2008.

Dan at the start.
By the finish he was 3rd.

Jerry at the start.
By the finish he was ~10th.

Jim battled for a mid-pack finish, which
was great considering he had no warm-up
and a poor start position.

Well done Feedback!

Jason Amrich Upgrades to Semi-Pro

2008-06-04T14:43:00.004-06:00

Feedback Sports' Jason Amrich has upgraded to semi-pro for the rest of the 2008 season. Though he faced mechanical problems in Fruita, Amrich earned his upgrade by dominating the Expert 30-34 category during the early part of the season. He was 1st in the Battle the Bear XC race, 1st at Chalk Creek Stampede XC and 3rd at the recent Burn Time Trial at Buffalo Creek.

This is a big deal and we're all stoked for Jaybird. This is his first year riding for Feedback Sports, but Jason has put up great results in the expert category over the last few years. He'll no doubt rise to the challenge of racing in Colorado's super tough semi-pro ranks.

24 @ E-Rock & Burn TT

2008-06-03T08:01:00.007-06:00

Feedback Sports riders were at it again this past weekend, with two teams making the podium at 24 Hours of E-Rock and a rider landing on the podium at the Burn MTB Time Trial in Buffalo Creek.

E-Rock

Here are some thoughts on E-Rock from Greg Gorrell: The Feedback Sports team of Jim Bergman, Heather Brion, and Greg Gorrell won first place in the coed 2-3 person team category at the 2008 24 hours of EROCK. They completed 36 laps of the 8.5 mile course at Greenland open space.

Jim rode awesome. He just kept turning out lap after lap. He picked up the slack when the rest of us were having a hard time. Heather was competing in her first 24 hour race and can't wait for the next one. She rode her first night ride as her first night lap at 11 p.m., only riding 5 minutes slower than her very first lap during the day!

Greg felt the effects of no long training rides after 10 of his laps were done. Sore butt, sore legs, sore hip, sounds like he is getting old ...

In the solo category, Nick Thelen rode 27 laps, earning him his first podium appearance ever on his MTB, with a 3rd place. Nick rode strong the first half of the race, but the conditions started taking a toll on him. Nick was reduced to walking up some of the climbs for the last couple of laps. He was psyched to finish another 24 hour race, and get on the podium.

The course was smooth and fast. There was a gradual uphill, an undulating 3.5 mile climb on a dirt and sometimes sandy road to a 500' climb up to a ridge. The course then hit rolling hills and fun downhills to the start/finish. Everyone enjoyed the course and scenery until a stiff 20mph headwind started blowing down the dirt road at hour 16, lasting until the finish. We all started dreading riding up the road with the wind blowing, no easy spinning for us the last 8 hours of the race.

BURN TT

Jason Amrich, Expert 30-34, was the sole Feedback Rider to participate in the Burn TT. He ended up in 3rd, which is a great finish. Some thoughts from Jason:

"Had a B to B+ day but was able to pull off a third place podium for the team. My warm up stunk ... maybe 10' and didn't feel quite right until half way through the race. It was a pretty fun event though, with some great single track riding ... or should I say sliding because of all the loose gravel on the trail."

MSC Team Standings

2008-05-29T11:28:00.005-06:00

So here is how the MSC team standings should look if you do the math and factor out the results from the beginner on the Optimized Endurance Services team. CLICK THE PHOTO FOR LARGE VERSION.

RACE REPORT - MSC #3 - Chile Challenge

2008-05-27T15:39:00.007-06:00

Three in a row.

Jason Young continued Feedback Sports' dominance in the ripping Expert 30-34 class by winning this weekend's Chile Challenge XC race in Angel Fire, NM. It was the third stop of the Mountain States Cup MTB series.

Jason, 3rd in the Expert 30-34 overall MSC points competition, put 2 minutes on his closest rival on a classic ski resort course, which featured about 1,500 vertical feet of climbing per 9-mile lap. Obviously, Jason was crushing it this weekend and deserves some major kudos.

The exciting piece for Feedback Sports is that Jason's win in Angel Fire makes it three-in-a-row for the team's Expert 30-34 riders. Jason Amrich, who couldn't race in Angel Fire, recently won the XC races at the Chalk Creek Stampede (part of the MSC series) and Battle the Bear. The performances by the two Jasons shows the depth of the team's bench among expert riders. Pretty damn cool.

The Feedback Sports elder statesmen also had a solid outing at the Chile Challenge. Doug Hudson, Expert 40-49, drilled it for 5th place and Greg Gorrell, Expert 40-49, rolled it home in 8th. Dan Dunbar, Expert 30-34, was fighting food poisoning during the race and wasn't able to finish.

Jon Harrach-Salazar picked up where he left off in Fruita -- on the podium. The Sport 19-29 rider drilled it for a 3rd-place finish. Rob LaMielle, Sport 40-49, showed he has some serious climbing chops with a 5th-place finish. Steve Vanderburgh, Sport 40-49, was on his game in New Mexico, too, crossing the tape in 7th.

Lisa Hudson, Pro, had another strong outing, battling it out with Kelli Emmett, Jenn Smith and Katie Compton for 11th.

Couple of updates. We now have five races under our belts in the MSC series. Feedback Sports riders are doing very well in the overall points races. Here is an update of our riders in the Top 10:

Doug Hudson, Expert 40-49: 1st
Jeff Connors, Sport 30-34: 2nd
Jason Young, Expert 30-34: 3rd
Lisa Hudson, Pro: 3rd
Greg Gorrell, Expert 40-49: 3rd
John Harrach-Salazar, Sport 19-29: 4th
Rob LaMielle, Sport 40-49: 4th
Kyle Henley, Sport 35-39: 6th
Jason Amrich, Expert 30-34: 7th
Heather Brion, Sport 30-39: 9th

Last but not least, it is worth mentioning the team standings. MSC has struggled to get it right on their web site and they still have not succeeded. It is a bit of a cluster and a bit frustrating to be truthful. Anyway, each team is allowed to count their five best results per race (beginner categories excluded) for the overall team standings. If you calculate that, Feedback Sports is sitting solidly in 3rd. Also, we believe that MSC has mistakenly counted the results of a beginner racer in one of the other teams. When that is factored out (and hopefully that will happen) we should be sitting in 2nd. One of our top goals for 2008 was to improve on our customary 5th-place finish in the overall team standings, and it looks like we are well on our way to doing that.

We've got a couple of weeks off before our next MSC race -- the Wildflower Rush in Crested Butte. Feedback Sports will be in action between now and then. We look forward to the start of the Winter Park Racing Series, with the season opener Hill Climb taking place June 14. There reportedly is still a lot of snow at the top of the mountain, so we could see a repeat from a couple of years ago when they had to plow the last 1/2-mile or so of the course to make it happen. Also, we have some riders racing 24 Hours of E-Rock this coming weekend. Good luck to Nick Thelan (riding solo) and to Jim Bergman, Greg Gorrell and a rider to be named later.

RACE REPORT: Battle the Bear/Front Range 50

2008-05-19T08:34:00.004-06:00

It's nice to win on your home turf, and that's what Feedback Sports Racing Team did this weekend at Battle the Bear and the Front Range 50. The two races were held at Bear Creek Park in Lakewood, literally the backyard for many members of the team.

The new course was a significant improvement from past years. Yes, it is still pretty much a flat, power course that can be ridden on a cross-bike (and there were a couple of 'em out there this weekend). But the new course design was more interesting and, in my humble opinion, more fun. Thanks to the folks at Warriors Cycling for putting on a great day of racing.

Jason Amrich, Expert 30-34, delivered his second win in a row, demolishing the rest of the field to finish three,10-mile laps in less than 2 hours. Jason put 2 minutes into his closest rival. Other expert racers did well, too. Jim Bergman, Expert 40-49, rolled in for 6th and Greg Gorrell, Expert 40-49, brought it home for 13th.

Heather Brion, Sport 30-39, delivered her biggest result of the season, finishing 2nd. Heather really smoked this course, putting down two laps in 1:35.42. Just to put her finish in perspective, that would have been a 4th-place finish among the sport men 19-29. Great job, Heather!

Kyle Henley, Sport 35-39, and Jeff Connors, Sport 30-34, took advantage of the race's backyard location, using the short ride to Bear Creek from their Golden homes as a warm up. It clearly paid off. Following a chaotic mass start with like 80 other riders from several combined categories, Kyle grabbed his best result of the year – 2nd – with a 1:24.24. Jeff nailed it, too, bringing it home for a 4th-place finish and a time of 1:25.52. Rob LaMielle, Sport 40-49, was on his way to a strong finish when an errant turn took him for a brief detour off course. He got back on track pretty quickly and turned in a 17th-place finish.

Also, Feedback Sports had three riders among the 169 riders competing in the Front Range 50, which ran simultaneously on the same course as Battle the Bear. First, big props to the folks with the chops to bite off the ride. It was a long hot day in the saddle for all of them. Categories were only separated by age, so it means pros, experts and sports all raced in the same group. Dan Dunbar, usually an Expert 30-34, put in a solid performance in the Mens 30-39 class, which had 67 riders. Dan rode his Cannondale 29er to a 25th-place finish with a time of 3:45.07. Jeff Vorhees, a Sport 35-39, put it on the line and finished 53rd, with a time of 4:21.23. Steve Vanderburg, usually a Sport 40-49 rider, turned in a solid ride, too, ending up 24th out of 53 riders in his category. Great job to all!

Next up, a big contingent from Feedback Sports Racing Team is headed down to Angel Fire, N.M., for the Chile Challenge. This race marks a turning point in the season as we put the flat, power courses behind us and turn to heavy climbing. Good luck to everyone heading south.

Chalk Creek XC pictures

2008-05-06T16:36:00.007-06:00

Nick and Tracy took some great photos of the team at the Chalk Creek XC on Saturday. Here are a few (click to enbiggify). I'll try to get the rest posted tomorrow...

Jason A. en route to his Expert 30-34 win:

Heather is either screaming in pain or extremely happy to be part of the Feedback Team:

Kyle playing it smart on the road:

Lisa comes through the start/finish on her way to a strong 7th place Pro Women's finish:

Mount Princeton behind the MSC banner:

RACE REPORT -- MSC #2 -- Feedback Earns Two Wins at Nathrop

2008-05-04T19:47:00.008-06:00

NATHROP, Colo. (May 4, 2008) -- Doug Hudson and Jason Amrich both delivered huge wins for the Feedback Sports Racing Team during the second Mountain States Cup stop this weekend at the Chalk Creek Stampede.

Trips to the top of the box by Hudson and Amrich put a big exclamation point on one of the team's most successful weekends of racing in recent memory. Feedback Sports riders were mixing it up and delivering consistent Top 10 finishes in every age group and class. It will be interesting to see where we sit in the team standings after this weekend of racing. Rest assured the blog will be updated when that information becomes available

Doug's win in the Expert 40+ STXC on Sunday was especially sweet for a lot of reasons.

No. 1 -- it was Doug's first win as an expert. He deserves this win ... big time. Doug has slogged away as a solid expert racer for four or five years now, with a lot of great results but never with the big win.
No. 2 -- Doug started Feedback Sports, started the team and there's something right about seeing him get this win.
No. 3 -- Doug just turned 40, soooo he's not getting any younger.
No. 4 -- Doug has historically had bad luck at Nathrop -- flat tires, sickness, you name it -- so it was great to see him turn that around. Big props to Doug, who also drilled it in Saturday's XC for an 8th place finish.
No. 5 -- This was a nice way to cap a stressful week for Doug. Big changes are afoot for Feedback Sports. More news on that later.

Jason A., Expert 30-34, put up one of the most dominating performances of the weekend. The dude was on fuego, winning Saturday's XC race by more than 3 minutes. No doubt, Jason A. had some frustration to take out and he unleashed it on the course. Mechanicals and flat tires spoiled his races in Fruita a couple of weeks ago. Just this week, he broke his race bike and had to roll to Nathrop on a borrowed 29er. Point being -- Jason A. wins when he races angry. We might want to think about locking him in a cage the week before each race and regularly poking him with a sharp stick. It's also fair to note that it was Jason A's first win as a Feedback Sports racer. Way to go big fella!

There's no doubt that Saturday's XC was the main event of the weekend. The Feedback expert men demonstrated that they will be a force on the MSC circuit for the 2008 season. Jason Young, Expert 30-34, scorched the four-lap course on his way to a 4th place finish. Scott Tucker, Expert 30-34, made his 2008 racing debut and brought it home to finish 8th. Nick Thelan, also Expert 30-34, stomped it for 9th place. Big up to Nick, too, for being a major team workhorse. Nick dragged Doug and Scott along the fence-line straightaway on the last lap, demolishing himself in the process and essentially launching his teammates into the finishing stretch. Nice work Nick! Let it sink in, that's four Top 10 finishes for Feedback riders in the crazy-fast Expert 30-34 class.

The guys in the Expert 40-49 had great XC races, too. Besides Doug's 8th-place finish, Jim "All 44" Bergman jammed it home in 11th. Greg Gorrell put up a solid ride and rolled across the line in 17th. An interesting note here – the Expert 40+ class is freakin' huge and fast this year. More than 30 guys lined up for the start of the XC and the winner put up a 2:06.17. Just for comparison, that was two minutes faster than Jason A.'s winning time in the Expert 30-34 class. The old dudes rock!

Lisa Hudson, Pro, definitely showed that her form is coming on. Faced with stiff competition from NMBS riders from the Giant and Trek VW teams, Lisa rode a super strong XC race and ended up in 7th place. And -- for the first time EVER -- we have another female rider to talk about. Heather Brion, Sport 30-39, rode a smoking XC race and put up a 4th-place finish. We're stoked to have Heather on the team, and her first result of the year shows she will be in the hunt for a spot on the podium all season long.

And, last but certainly not least, the sport men put up some good results for Feedback Sports. Rob LaMielle, Sport 40-49, rode hard and nabbed a 6th-place finish in the XC and then turned around to put up a 3rd-place ride in the STXC. That's Rob's first podium for 2008! A big congrats to the big guy from Arvada. Jeff Connors, Sport 30-34, showed he will be in the hunt all year, drillin' it for 4th in the XC and 5th in the STXC. Kyle Henley was consistent throughout the weekend, going 6th in the XC and 6th in the STXC.

Couple of odds-and-ends here:

I'll update the blog with more STXC finishes once they're posted on the MSC site.
A huge, huge, huge “THANK YOU” goes out to Charlie and Sally Tucker – Scott’s folks – for hosting a team BBQ on Saturday evening and letting a bunch of smelly, dirty mountain bikers into their hot tub. This is the 3rd year they have hosted such an event, and it makes the race in Nathrop something very special. Thanks again.
The next race is Angel Fire, NM, the first major climbing race of the season. We’ve got some unbelievably strong climbers on Feedback and they could really torch it on this course. Stay tuned …