http://bcove.me/swqr2xe8
The video link above highlights the Gunnison Growler 64 and 32 mile from the weekend. The scenery of Hartman's in it is stunning and Brian is making it look... well how we all want our riding to feel.
With so many Alpine Orthopaedic team riders out in force: riding, racing, supporting, organizing, this video is one of our stories.
It was a really neat experience to be part of such a successful positive team effort.
Congrats to everyone who competed in the Growler event and thanks to everyone who supported the racing. You all made it smooth and fun.
Check back during the week for more pictures and results.
cheers
Jenny Smith
Monday, May 30, 2011
Salida MSC #3
Great weekend across the way in Salida with some REAL mountain biking on hand. Team AO was out in force with 5 riders taking on the 3 stage race weekend.
Results are definitely early season but Brian and Jenny Smith showed some great results with a 2nd (Jenny) and 4th (Brian) overall. Travis had some bad luck with a super fast and twitchy Short track start that put him back in Gunny in the good hands of Alpine Orthopaedics for some stitches in the elbow. But that didn't stop him from accelerating like a bat out of hell after getting up and trying to get back into the race. Both Laura and myself got a good beating out there, but it was one for under the belts and getting some race legs in.
Monday, May 16, 2011
12 Hours of Mesa Verde
The 12 Hours of Mesa Verde is an awesome event right outside of Cortez held on the Phil's World trail system. This year registration filled up in record time as it seems like all the popular events are doing these days. However, this event is not about the hype like some others, it is about having a good time and getting to ride one of the best 16 mile singletrack loops around!
Team Alpine Ortho had a great showing this year at the event. Laura Anderson and Jenny Smith teamed up to take on the women's duo field and ended up showing the competition how it is possible to throw down fast laps all day long! They took the win with 8 laps.
Stew Gross and Jeff Irwin both went solo and rode right in the thick of the competition. Stew hung tough all day and hammered lap after lap to do 7 total and come in 6th place(out of 58 solo males)!
I teamed up with Jon Brown again to race duo with our eyes set on the top of the podium. Jon was sick coming into the race but rallied(as usual) to race fast all day. We ended up putting down 9 laps and taking the win!
Next up is the Mountain States Cup Salida Stage race this weekend.
Stew Gross and Jeff Irwin both went solo and rode right in the thick of the competition. Stew hung tough all day and hammered lap after lap to do 7 total and come in 6th place(out of 58 solo males)!
I teamed up with Jon Brown again to race duo with our eyes set on the top of the podium. Jon was sick coming into the race but rallied(as usual) to race fast all day. We ended up putting down 9 laps and taking the win!
Next up is the Mountain States Cup Salida Stage race this weekend.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Whiskey 50 - Single Speed Style
I've been known to choose races to go to based on two criteria: Good trails and a good party.
Whiskey 50 offered up both, so months ago, I put it on my calendar, fully intending on racing my geared bike on it. When it was announced that the winner of the single speed category would win a round trip ticket to Ireland for Single Speed Worlds, I contemplated the possibility.
I really like riding my single speed. And I really wanted to go to Ireland. So I ponied up my $10 to switch my registration a few weeks prior, put a suspension for on the single speed, and headed south.
The single speed category was raced with the amateur classes on Saturday. 600+ people lined up, but luckily, they made a last minute call to bring all the single speeders up to the front line. This was great for approximately the first 100 yards, then the road went downhill and seemingly 589 people passed me.
But with a solid 30 minute road climb, I was able to work my way through the majority of the traffic, and while I was still in some conga lines for the first stretches of single track, I never felt terribly hindered by traffic. I think there were only a few down-to-up transitions where I was behind geared riders wanting to tell them to stop shifting and start pedaling. Plus, I got clean runs down on both single track descents, so I'm in no position to complain.
The majority of the course was perfect for single speeding. Short, punchy climbs and very little flat ground. Until the 9 mile coast downhill on a jeep road halfway through the race which definitely got me questioning my single speeding love. I got to spend a lot of time contemplating the meaning of life while tucked up watching people pedal by me in their big rings. These same people became my rabbits when we pulled a u-turn at the bottom of the hill and started the 13 mile climb back up.
This was the first time I got to see where the other girls were. I had been climbing for a solid 10 minutes before I saw the next gal on a single speed, which gave me hope that as long as I didn't implode on the climb, crash, flat, or have a catastrophic bike failure, I was going to be able to pull off the win.
Lucky for me, none of the above happened, I was able to rail the descent, spin my brains out back into town, with a police escort nonetheless, and pull off the win.
Round trip tickets to Ireland. Pretty spectacular if you ask me.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Whiskey 50
There was allot of racing to choose from this past weekend. The Gila road race was happening in New Mexico. The mountain states cup kicked off in Rabbit valley, Colorado.
Brian Smith raced the inaugural ITU CROSS World championship triathlon ( competing for the USA team) He exited the swim in 32nd and went on to post the 6th fastest bike and 9th fastest run to finish 13th! Perhaps most note able for this blog is that he's exactly 12 months out of Pec tendon surgery from Alpine Orthopaedics and this is just his second triathlon since surgery. Successful!
I joined two other Team Alpine Orthopaedic racers ( Travis Scheefer and Eszter Horanyi) in choosing to race the Whiskey 50 in Prescott Arizona.
This event has been on my radar for a while as it is ridden in memory of our friend Mike Janelle.
Such a great race! An excellent mix of single track and jeep road plus 7000 feet of climbing. Prescott is a cool town and Epic rides put on an event with a great vibe. Add the whiskey 50 to your list.
From all accounts Eszter rode phenomenally in the single speed race. She won both the event plus a trip to IRELAND. She'll have to fill you in more on her race.
My trip has been a spring break with fabulous riding in Durango, Sedona, and Flagstaff. I am happy to say that other than the Whiskey pro Road crit on Friday, my riding has all been on DIRT and it's been amazing.
The pro race started with a ridiculously hard road fat tire citerium. (or slick tires if you knew and bought them with) It had a monster hill that we climbed more times than I can remember. Mainly it just hurt ALOT and I behaved like a slobbering snot monster resembling a cyclist and came home in 10th place.
In the Whiskey 50 mile race. I rode much better. Among a stacked Pro women's field I moved between 5, 6th and 7th place. The 1 hour 30 jeep road climb out of the turn around point saw me in seventh. A minute or so from 6th dropping into the final rocky singletrack back to Prescott. There I cut a side wall of my rear tire. That turned into a bit of a tire change fiasco. Lesson 101 'shortcuts don't work' and 'Stan's doesn't hold in a sidewall cut!' So I wasted a ton of time fluffing around babying 8 lbs of pressure, before actually stopping and putting in a tube. I rolled home in 9th.
The highlight of my day was meeting Joe Breeze. I'm soon to be riding the Breezer cloud nine 29er bike. To meet Joe Breeze and hear his story about Breezer bikes was really neat. He started making mountain bikes again in 2008 because his son outgrew the old generation Breezer bikes and needed a new frame!
Ezster and Travis will hopefully post their reports, A trip to IRELAND.. is super exciting!l
cheers
Jenny Smith
Brian Smith raced the inaugural ITU CROSS World championship triathlon ( competing for the USA team) He exited the swim in 32nd and went on to post the 6th fastest bike and 9th fastest run to finish 13th! Perhaps most note able for this blog is that he's exactly 12 months out of Pec tendon surgery from Alpine Orthopaedics and this is just his second triathlon since surgery. Successful!
I joined two other Team Alpine Orthopaedic racers ( Travis Scheefer and Eszter Horanyi) in choosing to race the Whiskey 50 in Prescott Arizona.
This event has been on my radar for a while as it is ridden in memory of our friend Mike Janelle.
Such a great race! An excellent mix of single track and jeep road plus 7000 feet of climbing. Prescott is a cool town and Epic rides put on an event with a great vibe. Add the whiskey 50 to your list.
From all accounts Eszter rode phenomenally in the single speed race. She won both the event plus a trip to IRELAND. She'll have to fill you in more on her race.
My trip has been a spring break with fabulous riding in Durango, Sedona, and Flagstaff. I am happy to say that other than the Whiskey pro Road crit on Friday, my riding has all been on DIRT and it's been amazing.
The pro race started with a ridiculously hard road fat tire citerium. (or slick tires if you knew and bought them with) It had a monster hill that we climbed more times than I can remember. Mainly it just hurt ALOT and I behaved like a slobbering snot monster resembling a cyclist and came home in 10th place.
In the Whiskey 50 mile race. I rode much better. Among a stacked Pro women's field I moved between 5, 6th and 7th place. The 1 hour 30 jeep road climb out of the turn around point saw me in seventh. A minute or so from 6th dropping into the final rocky singletrack back to Prescott. There I cut a side wall of my rear tire. That turned into a bit of a tire change fiasco. Lesson 101 'shortcuts don't work' and 'Stan's doesn't hold in a sidewall cut!' So I wasted a ton of time fluffing around babying 8 lbs of pressure, before actually stopping and putting in a tube. I rolled home in 9th.
The highlight of my day was meeting Joe Breeze. I'm soon to be riding the Breezer cloud nine 29er bike. To meet Joe Breeze and hear his story about Breezer bikes was really neat. He started making mountain bikes again in 2008 because his son outgrew the old generation Breezer bikes and needed a new frame!
Ezster and Travis will hopefully post their reports, A trip to IRELAND.. is super exciting!l
 |
| Meeting Joe Breeze |
Jenny Smith
Monday, April 18, 2011
Lake Pueblo Arkansas Point Challenge XC
It's not often that I can be talked into a full-fledged cross country race. Two hours of suffering just seems so...hard. Give me 100 miles, or 500 for that matter. But, the stars seemed to align with a pre-planned trip to the Front Range and the Lake Pueblo XC race, which I had raced two years prior and enjoyed, so I put on my big girl pants and saddled up for 28 miles of single track.
And in preparation for the big dance of Whiskey 50 in two weeks, I brought my single-speed with a brand new fork on it. One with suspension. My warm-up consisted of trying to relearn how to ride the bike and pulling myself out of more than one ditch after blowing corners.
The gun went off at the start and I immediately found myself in dead-last after a slightly downhill start. Having the bike geared for Crested Butte hills did not bode well for the mostly flat course and I looked dejectedly at the 100+ people I was going to have to work my way through once we hit the single track.
Sure enough, once we hit trail, I started making up ground. I worked my way through conga ling after conga line of traffic having many near encounters with the cacti dotting the course. But, once I was out on the open trail, I was flying...as long as I could spin at 100+ rpm. Did I mention I was under-geared?
The first hour of racing consisted of trying to pedal as fast as possible, knowing that the last 3 miles of the course were flat/slightly downhill, so if I came into the last bit with anyone, I wasn't really going to be able to hold on to them to the finish. The second hour consisted of holding onto the bike for dear life as the wind picked up, gusting at close to 40 mph, knocking the bike all over the trail as we navigated a twisty-turney trail along the edge of the reservoir, right above a 200 foot cliff. Team Vertigo was not happy.
After I managed to not fall off a cliff and survived the final 3 mile spin-and-tuck to the finish, I found out I had managed to win the pro/expert category. This netted me $40 with which I paid my portion of the gas bill, my portion of the camping spot, and bought myself a Chipotle Burrito Bowl on the way home. All in all, a fantastic day in the office.
And in preparation for the big dance of Whiskey 50 in two weeks, I brought my single-speed with a brand new fork on it. One with suspension. My warm-up consisted of trying to relearn how to ride the bike and pulling myself out of more than one ditch after blowing corners.
The gun went off at the start and I immediately found myself in dead-last after a slightly downhill start. Having the bike geared for Crested Butte hills did not bode well for the mostly flat course and I looked dejectedly at the 100+ people I was going to have to work my way through once we hit the single track.
Sure enough, once we hit trail, I started making up ground. I worked my way through conga ling after conga line of traffic having many near encounters with the cacti dotting the course. But, once I was out on the open trail, I was flying...as long as I could spin at 100+ rpm. Did I mention I was under-geared?
The first hour of racing consisted of trying to pedal as fast as possible, knowing that the last 3 miles of the course were flat/slightly downhill, so if I came into the last bit with anyone, I wasn't really going to be able to hold on to them to the finish. The second hour consisted of holding onto the bike for dear life as the wind picked up, gusting at close to 40 mph, knocking the bike all over the trail as we navigated a twisty-turney trail along the edge of the reservoir, right above a 200 foot cliff. Team Vertigo was not happy.
After I managed to not fall off a cliff and survived the final 3 mile spin-and-tuck to the finish, I found out I had managed to win the pro/expert category. This netted me $40 with which I paid my portion of the gas bill, my portion of the camping spot, and bought myself a Chipotle Burrito Bowl on the way home. All in all, a fantastic day in the office.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Season Opener in Brasil.
I was lucky enough to start my 2011 season on April 2/3rd in Ipitinga Brasil.
I'd been invited down to race the 2011 season opener XTERRA Brasil series race. My husband Brian Smith and I have raced between us five events with Xterra Brasil, and we love their attitude, professionalism, culture and atmosphere.
Xterra Ipitinga was held in an industrial town rich in minerals and agriculture. Ipitanga is home to one of the series major sponsors. The event XTERRA 'VALE DO ACO' translates to 'valley of steel'.
I flew from Gunnison, to DFW to Rio De Janerio and landed in Cococabana beach for the day. It was rad, this was my first time to RIO and its beautiful, the landscape is mountainous and stunning!
CopaCabana beach was insane and to say a culture change from Gunnison in March is an understatement. I was just there for the day, so jet lagged and all took in my share of Acai, beach, ocean, shopping and dinner. It was like a dream!
5am came around quickly the next day though and I met Camilla from X3M Xterra Brazil to fly to Belo Horizonte and drive to Ipitinga.
It was so hot and humid there and I was pale pale whitey, plus the town was bustling, My culture shock continued. After our arrival I quickly built up my bike and rode at 5pm. OVERWHELMING! this pro cyclist and triathlete does not have the skills or temperament to handle the Brasillian rush hour so I rode seriously back and forward on a 1km section commuter bike path for 40 minutes. Have to say the Numbers of commuters where impressive! Literally Hundreds.
Saturday came quickly and with it the XTERRA race. I was very thankful for sea level and good arms + legs. I had a good swim, then took the lead on the bike in the triathlon and held it throughout the run to win XTERRA Vale Do Aco. It was really fun, and I was excited to win.
Saturday night was social time in the VIP booth at the Xterra village. Found the aged Cuchaca and spoke English to the Portuguese speaking guests while the Xterra night run took place. Good times! ( note to self: need to learn a bit of Portuguese)
On Sunday I lined up in the MTB race. It had a great turn out probably much to do with the $1000 US prize money. There where 350 cyclists there for the race.
We started with a 10km neutral (scarier than hell) start through the city in the rain. What is it with me, Brasil and rain. I've raced my MTB ten days in Brasil and nine of them have been in the rain. Here we go again I thought.
The race was fast and furious being 98% Jeep road. I realised early on that it was April the 3rd and that I was definitely not fit enough to have two good days in a row. I held on to finish in 3rd. two minutes twenty back and with $600 for my effort.
Xterra Brasil do a great job rewarding their athletes!
Here's the weekends highlight video.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9v5kRAy28vg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The highlight of my MTB race was being passed by a one legged cyclist. He had permanently injured his left leg in a motorbike accident so had a modified crank that allowed him to cycle with his right leg only. ( have you ever tried this for 1 minute? single leg pedaling. It was both humbling and incredibly inspiring to me. He was so fluid and fast!
Thanks XTERRA Brasil and X3m for a great weekend. Till next time. Abragda!
Jenny Smith
I'd been invited down to race the 2011 season opener XTERRA Brasil series race. My husband Brian Smith and I have raced between us five events with Xterra Brasil, and we love their attitude, professionalism, culture and atmosphere.
Xterra Ipitinga was held in an industrial town rich in minerals and agriculture. Ipitanga is home to one of the series major sponsors. The event XTERRA 'VALE DO ACO' translates to 'valley of steel'.
I flew from Gunnison, to DFW to Rio De Janerio and landed in Cococabana beach for the day. It was rad, this was my first time to RIO and its beautiful, the landscape is mountainous and stunning!
 |
| CopoCabana Beach |
 |
| Acai: a pretty good reason to get Jet Lag to cure! |
 |
| really the beach, from my hotel room, right there. |
 |
| Where am I? Is this sand? |
 |
| Gotta shop if its right there: bananas for summer riding fuel, haviannas just because,and shorts for Brian to sport! |
It was so hot and humid there and I was pale pale whitey, plus the town was bustling, My culture shock continued. After our arrival I quickly built up my bike and rode at 5pm. OVERWHELMING! this pro cyclist and triathlete does not have the skills or temperament to handle the Brasillian rush hour so I rode seriously back and forward on a 1km section commuter bike path for 40 minutes. Have to say the Numbers of commuters where impressive! Literally Hundreds.
 |
| swim venue |
 |
| swimmers starting to gather for the deep water swim start |
 |
| Including me |
 |
| leading on the bike |
 |
| Aged Cuchaca: mmmm. |
 |
| poor Pic of hundreds of night runners. |
We started with a 10km neutral (scarier than hell) start through the city in the rain. What is it with me, Brasil and rain. I've raced my MTB ten days in Brasil and nine of them have been in the rain. Here we go again I thought.
The race was fast and furious being 98% Jeep road. I realised early on that it was April the 3rd and that I was definitely not fit enough to have two good days in a row. I held on to finish in 3rd. two minutes twenty back and with $600 for my effort.
Xterra Brasil do a great job rewarding their athletes!
Here's the weekends highlight video.
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9v5kRAy28vg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The highlight of my MTB race was being passed by a one legged cyclist. He had permanently injured his left leg in a motorbike accident so had a modified crank that allowed him to cycle with his right leg only. ( have you ever tried this for 1 minute? single leg pedaling. It was both humbling and incredibly inspiring to me. He was so fluid and fast!
Thanks XTERRA Brasil and X3m for a great weekend. Till next time. Abragda!
Jenny Smith
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)