On this page you will find news, announcements, results and the Highlands Ranch Cycling Club Newsletter. Thanks for visiting our News Page you'll be glad you did.

HRCC News Updates:

• Cycling Headlines from around the world:
  
  
  

• Announcements: Remember to check the HRCC Forums Page for the latest news, announcements and Ride Schedule Changes.  You can also find the latest news for each of the HRCC Committees there, so visit the forums daily for the latest on happenings in the HRCC.  Ride Reports can be found by clicking on the link below for each ride.  The HRCC Forums will have the most up to date HRCC info.

• Vita Cube Systems: For the best in the highest quality pro level supplements, the HRCC is proud to be sponsored by V3S, the best supplement and health products around.  Click here for more.

• Reynolds Composites: HRCC is proud to welcome Reynolds Composites as a sponsor.  You can get more information on the Sponsors Page.  Reynolds Composites makes the best carbon composite forks and wheels you have ever seen.  Check them out and watch for our meeting where you can order these incredible products.

• Living Chiropractic Center:  Welcome Darrin Robertson, D.C. of Living Chiropractic Center to the HRCC family of sponsors.  HRCC members with their membership card receive special discounts at the Living Chiropractic Center, so make arrangements to call Dr. Robertson, meet him and get your body in tip-top condition for cycling and other adventure activities.  You can reach Dr. Robertson at: (303) 347-1909 to schedule your appointment.  Dr. Darrin is a bike racer himself and has special knowledge of cyclists the needs of their bodies.  Check out the Living Chiropractic Center, you'll be glad you did.

• Mountain Fitness Training Center:  Welcome to MFTC as a sponsor of the HRCC.  MFTC is the finest high tech modern physical training center in Colorado.  Whether you are an elite cyclist, triathlete, or weekend warrior, you can ride better, stronger and faster with the help of MFTC.  If you are just into studio cycling or Pilates and even Yoga, then MFTC is the place for you.  Best of all, MFTC is located on the 2nd floor of the new Bike Source.  Arrange to stop in and meet Marji or Neil of MFTC today, you'll be glad you did.

• 2004 Ride Schedule:  The 2004 HRCC Ride Schedule is posted so check it out, you'll be glad you did. You can also find our Ride Schedule updates in the HRCC Forums.  Check there daily for announcements and schedule updates on the HRCC Forums Page.

• 2003 HRCC Awards:  Visit this link for the 2003 HRCC Awards:  Awards.

• Boulder Center for Sports Medicine Lecture: Click here  for the details and notes.

• 2003 Ride for the Roses: The 2003 cycling season ends now each year with the Lance Armstrong Foundation Ride for the Roses.  This incredible event is in Lance Armstrong's hometown of Austin, Texas.  The 2003 ride will now be at the end of October.

• 2003 Elephant Rock Century:  Click here for a report.  
  

• 2003 Alternative Rock Ride:  Click here for a report.
  

• 2003 TourdeCure: This fun climbing ride benefits the Colorado Chapter of the Diabetes Society.  You never know who you might see on this ride, from Ron Kiefel to Bruce Schwab, this ride offers some great climbing, some great food and a fun day in the sun (unless its raining.

• 2003 MS 150: This great two day ride is the HRCC's signature event.  Colorado's longest running recreational cycling event, it is also the best.  The HRCC boasts past winners of this great ride as members and has won the team competition as well.  Many pictures on our picture page are from the MS 150, take a look and see how much fun this ride is.  Also, the HRCC was honored for 2002 by being named the host team for the 2002 MS 150 High Rollers Ride held in June.  Here is the report:  

  The 2002 MS150 the day began by being picked up by Tad and Wolf at 4:30AM.  Just imagine what you need to have done to be ready at that time.  We arrived in Louisville at the Storage Tech facility and it took a while to find parking because in the dark we didn’t realize that we had a reserved spot.  We got going and enjoyed some cool weather until lunch which was at the traditional start of the TourdeCure.  Nothing much occurred before lunch except one guy who flipped himself off his bike right at the turn off to Carter Lake.  He was uninjured, but it was interesting to watch.  After lunch Tad went on the Century loop and Bernie and Wolf continued on up Big Thompson Canyon.  Climbing Big Thompson was a kick since we had a major tail wind.  If you haven’t climbed a mountain canyon in your big chain ring, you are really missing something.  We were flying and only a Euro pro from Domo Farm Frites and the motorcycle patrol could get by us, what a rush.  We flew through Drake and Glen Haven, topping up our water bottles at a water stop at the Post Office to begin Devil’s Gulch.

  Devil’s Gulch is a nice little climb approx. 1 mile in length and with grades up to 16%--its wicked steep.  We passed a poor woman who made the really bad decision to get off of her bike in cleats.  As she was walking, she would take one step and her foot (in cleated shoes) would then slide back the same distance.  She was really upset.  Devil’s Gulch is one of the few things steeper than Lee Hill Road which we rode at the A Rock.  At the top, they handed out medals for those who rode up and then we had a nice little 40mph+ ride down into Estes Park.  Not a bad day at all with over 31 miles of climbing.

  The overnight was uneventful, with a little rain and some cool breezes.  One fun thing was watching all of the people jammed into the beer tent.  We decided that those folks were sagging on Sunday except for Tad who needed the beer for recovery.

  Sunday dawned cool and sunny in Estes Park, but the amazing thing was all of the riders who decided not to ride.  They actually got stuffed into buses and taken to the second rest stop (our breakfast stop) where the bus actually disgorged (no kidding) them.  Anyway, we skipped breakfast due to the long lines.  What a mistake if you normally eat breakfast.  Bernie spent the rest of the day eating anything he could get his hands on.  The ride was great, just a five mile climb out of Estes to the Peak-to-Peak Highway.  A very fun descent down S. St. Vrain canyon took us to Sunday’s lunch in Lyons.  Now it was getting hot.  Bernie did a funny interview with the V3S film crew, funny because as they asked questions, he had no idea what he was saying, but they said the answers were perfect.  When the commercials come out, we will see.

  Tad went to the front after lunch and rode tempo that was fantastic and brutal.  As soon as riders would join us, they got spit out the back.  One set of women racer types tried to attack repeatedly, but as soon as they got out of the train, the wind just hammered them.  You have to give them credit for trying to attack the Tad train, but man they were just frying their brains out and by the time we made the turn for Louisville, they were hammered to smithereens.  That wasn’t so bad, but so was Bernie who limped home a few minutes after Tad and Wolf and immediately began looking for some more food.

  By the finish, the temp’s were approaching 101 and Tad’s camp shower was very warm but it felt great.  All those walking by Tad’s car got a show, but hey, it was time to take the kits off and get into some shorts and sandals and eat some more food.  The 2002 MS150 was one of our fastest ever due to favorable wind conditions and by going into the mountains instead of another ride into summer hell, was one of the best ones ever.

• 2003 MS 150 High Rollers Ride: HRCC hosts the 2002 High Rollers Ride.  Open only to qualifying riders, this ride is a honor ride for the top performers from the 2001 MS 150.  The 2002 High Rollers Ride takes starts at Bike Source where the fun and festivities will occur.  Prizes, food and a catered lunch are only part of the benefits of being an MS 150 High Roller.  The HRCC is proud to have many high rollers in its ranks and honored to be the host team for this great event.  On June 9th, our ride started hot and promised to get much hotter.  Instead it just got weird due to the approaching Hayman fire and an absolutely incredible smoke plume that covered the entire front range.  Len, Wolf and Bernie finished 1-2-3 and got in just as the ash started to come down.  Riders finishing later looked just devastated by soot and ash from the Hayman fire.  Our route was a familiar HRCC ride as we rode through Chatfield to Titan to Roxborough Park Road to Wadsworth to Deer Creek with a full loop of Ken Caryl and then back to Bike Source.  We were greeted by the wonderful staff of V3S handing out some much needed EForce and the great buffet provided to the riders by the National MS Society.  This ride is wonderful event and a great way to honor the big producers in the MS 150.

• 2003 Triple ByPass:  From Ed Wolph: We had a good Triple; we started at dawn and beat the early heat.  No rainthis year but it did get hot from Keystone to Avon.  The highlight of myride was 55.7 mph down Loveland pass.  It made up for all the 6-8 mph lowgear grinding.  I sure could have used Tad's wheel to follow.  Our total"ride time" was 7:45 for 120 miles. From Fran Summerhill:  Daniel and I had agreat time and he finished with energy to spare - all the encouragement he got from folks at the rest stops really spurred him on!  From Chris Sandalcidi: This was my 1^st  Triple and I must say it was wonderful. Good support and incredible good weather – sunny and very little wind – most of it being a tailwind! It was great to see Ed Wolph during the ride. The fact that I had no flats or mechanicals certainly added to this great experience!

• 2003 Ride the Rockies: People have asked me what I like about Ride The Rockies—why I do it.  I like to ride my bicycle—a lot.  I like to think I’m suited to such endurance events.  I enjoy the camaraderie of the other cyclists and support staff.  The scenery is spectacular and makes me feel lucky to live in Colorado.A group of us from the U.S. Geological Survey (where I work) ride and present information about the geology along the ride route.  (This is the “busman’s holiday” aspect of the ride, but if you are acquainted with any geologists you know that’s just how we are.)  Our Regional Director gave a talk complete with slides during the Cycle Seminar at the end of our 102-mi day.  We distributed brochures that described day-by-day highlights of the geology and featured a simplified geologic map with the ride route superimposed.  This year we were fortunate to have a support person who set up a canopy in virtually every town where we displayed posters of the simplified geologic map and a Landsat 7 satellite image on a shaded-relief base as well as CDOT’s Colorado Bicycling Map.  CDOT provided 2000 of these maps for distribution and they were a hit.  All of the information we presented can be viewed and downloaded from http://www.cr.usgs.gov/rtr.htm  We got some press coverage this year as well; if you want to read the article, it’s online at http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1413,36%257E53%257E1461480,00.html 

  I wore my HRCC jersey on Day 1 and the long day (Day 4), but I didn’t meet any other HRCC riders.  If you were out there, I’m sorry I missed you.  If you didn’t ride this year but you think you might like to give Ride The Rockies a try, I highly encourage you.  I plan to go again next year!I mostly rode with a colleague from California; we determined ahead of time that we probably rode about the same speed.  Not only did we ride at about the same speed, we also had a similar riding style.  Made for a ton of fun and a lot easier ride.  I’ll recap the days below.

  Day 1 – Cortez to Telluride (Lizard Head Pass – 10,222 ft)A beautiful day.  I rode this leg on my first RTR in 1999 when it rained/hailed/snowed at the top of Lizard Head Pass.  I remembered the “extra” uphill after the pass and I was ready for it.4:58:19 76.19 mi (77 mi)    15.3 mph   44.1 maxmy time            my mileage (RTR’s)            my average            my maxDay 2 – Telluride to Montrose (Dallas Divide – 8,970 ft)Couldn’t have been better.  From Ridgway to Montrose, we had the “USGS train”; three of us pulling (we don’t know how many) at a blistering pace up to 33 mph.  Don’t think I’ve ever had a faster average speed for a ride ofthatlength.3:03:2464.29mi(65mi)21.0 mph      46.8 maxDay 3 – Montrose to DeltaFun—takin’ it easy before the long day.  I thought this day’s ride would be boring, but I was wrong.  We had several hills and wound in an out of the river valley, up and down terraces.  I was surprised at my average speed when we reached Delta, because we were conscientiously trying to conserve for the next day’s ride.1:35:13 32.19 mi (32 mi)            20.3 mph      39.2 max Day 4 – Delta to Gunnison (featuring 7,000 ft of elevation gain)Much easier than I thought it would be.  We rode so conservatively that once we reached the highest point of the ride (at about the halfway point) with the majority of the climbing behind us, we were all smiles and high-fives.  We came across wet pavement at about mile 80 where there had clearly been a cloudburst, but I wouldn’t say we rode through rain.6:29:46 101.33 mi (102 mi)            15.5 mph      40.9 maxDay 5 – Rest Day in Gunnison

  First time in my five years of participating in RTR that we’ve had a rest day, and I believe only the second time in the history of RTR that they’ve had one.  Earlier I had suggested that we all ride to Crested Butte for the day—only 27 miles up the valley.  But we heard from a local that the road above Almont was in terrible shape and there was a lot of construction; so we gratefully opted out of that.  We had a lot of fun nevertheless.Day 6 – Gunnison to Buena Vista (Cottonwood Pass – 12,126 ft)One of the most beautiful passes in Colorado.  I rode most of this leg two years ago when the ride started in Crested Butte and went over Cottonwood Pass to end in Buena Vista.  Then, the weather was unimaginably perfect.  Not the case this year.  We saw the dark clouds building early.  When we saw the first crack of lightning at Aid 3 (34 mi), we hightailed it out of there.  In 2 mi, we hit the dirt (oh yeah, the western side of Cottonwood is unpaved for 14 mi) and it began to rain.  It was 9:30am!  The rain subsided by the time we reached Aid 4 (43 mi), but were we ever muddy!  Wiped off our little USGS pins affixed to our bike bags and we were on our way.  Clouds were building again when we were at the pass.  A long line of people waited to get their bikes power-washed, until one of the staff people shut it off and told us all to head down.  Using our water bottles, we squirted off our rims and brakes quickly and tried to leave before we got into a mass-descent situation.  All went well (maybe we got ahead of the crowd).  Entirely under my own power (no drafting), I set a new max speed record for myself.4:48:38 68.65 mi (69 mi)            14.2 mph      56.1 maxDay 7 – Buena Vista to Copper Mountain (Fremont Pass – 11,318 ft)Perfect finish to an excellent tour.  After quite a bit of rain overnight in Buena Vista—unusual for the “Banana Belt”—the morning dawned clear.  Three of us rode together most of the way and had a blast.  The ride down Fremont Pass is a straightaway made for high speeds.  The finish in Copper Mountain wrapped through the village and was filled with well-wishers—made you feel as though you’d finished some big race in Europe.  Alas, I did not win the Serotta, but there’s always next year!3:35:30 58.67 mi (59 mi)            16.3 mph      52.6 maxTour statistics24:30:50  401.32mi(404 mi)   16.3 mph      56.1 new personal max speed!If you have questionsorcomments,please feel free to get in touch with me.

• Santa Fe Century 2003: We arrived in Santa Fe on May 17th, Friday and had a great dinner at the Blue Corn Brew Pub.  When you go to Santa Fe be ready to eat SW style for the duration.  Its great fuel for cycling and beer has good carbs so I’m told.

  Saturday morning we met at the Fairfield for the HRCC group ride as we scouted the start of Sunday’s Santa Fe Century and part of the out and back loop that most were riding.  We had a group of about 12 and all those HRCC jerseys were a great site riding up Zia road to the Capshaw School.  Melody was graced with two flats and promptly committed to sliming her tires.  Everyone went back to their hotels and then some touristy stuff at the Plaza, Jackalope and the outlet mall.  As an example of SW style dining, at lunch on Saturday, a simple turkey and swiss was SW’ized with a green chili glaze. It was actually very good.

  Saturday evening was the HRCC dinner at the world famous Garduno’s, who claims to have the best margaritas in Santa Fe.  Several of those attending tested this thesis and seemed to agree.  This restaurant overlooks the famous Santa Fe Plaza.  It is an interesting spot, but don’t think “piazza”, you’d be disappointed.

  Sunday brought the traditional opening of the recreational cycling season, the Santa Fe Century.  Dave, Mike, Ed, Jack and Melody set out on the 100 mile route.  Wolf, Dave, Chenille, Cathy, Bernie, Neil and Jane did the out and back.  Dave, Chenille and Jane rode 60 miles and the rest rode the traditional 82.  For some wonderful reason, this was the first Santa Fe ride in many years where we enjoyed some great tail winds for most of the ride.  Those experienced Santa Fe riders were wonderfully and pleasantly surprised.  We cruised to Galisteo and the only mishap to that point was Bernie’s flat tire 5 miles into the ride.  Now the ride from Galisteo to Stanley is a grind, uphill the whole way and this year into a headwind.  But the last section run in to Stanley was a gas as Neil took the bit in his teeth and pulled us in to Stanley.  Now here is the fun part: from Stanley all the way back to Santa Fe, 41 miles was with a major tail wind.  Major sections of the course just disappeared as we were spun out in our biggest gears.  Mike, Dave and Ed absolutely hammered the 100 mile course.  Jack and Melody completed their first ever century and were gushing.  We hated to tell them the tail winds were the exception and not the rule.  Wolf and Bernie both rode their fastest ever rides in Santa Fe.  Neil was flying the whole day, just tearing everyone’s legs off.  Unfortunately, less than a mile from the finish, Neil suffered a terrible accident.  He caught his front wheel in a lip in the pavement and crashed at over 30 mph.  He suffered a broken left hip, covered himself with an interesting red road rash and had emergency surgery that evening.

  After making sure Neil was settled and appropriately drugged, we had our Santa Fe closing dinner at the Blue Corn.  Except for Neil’s crash, this was a great Santa Fe and well attended by the HRCC.   We have some changes in mind for next years ride, so stay tuned.  Thanks to the HRCC members who made Santa Fe possible and a speedy recovery to Neil.  

  
  
  HRCC Team  Vests & Jerseys.  To order your 2003 HRCC cap,jersey or vest by famed cycling company Louis Garneau, please email Bernie at bernie@bhgreenberg.com right away. You will want to get yours right away and you'll be awfully glad you did.   To see the jerseys and vests, just go to the HRCC Picture Page.

• Photos Page:  Check out our picture page by clicking on the link on the left margin of this page.   You'll be glad you did especially if you want to see yourself on the internet.

• News Archives:  Are you missing last year's reports so soon.  Well, don't despair, just click on over to the HRCC News Archives and live in the past glory of last year's accomplishments all over again, you'll be glad you did.

    Results:

• Have results?  Want to see them posted here?  Email them to: bernie@bhgreenberg.com.

Membership Applications and Dues: Applications now available on the club’s web site!

Send your dues for 2003 to: Highlands Ranch Cycling Club, 8413 S. Painted Sky, Highlands Ranch, 80126. Dues for 2003 have increased.  An individual membership is now $28 and a family membership is $38.  Join today because  you want your membership current so you can participate in all club activities. If you want a membership application, please download it directly from the club’s web site. Please have your dues paid so you can participate in all club activities and they are so great, you won’t want to miss even one.

Individuals: $28.00 per year  Family Membership: $38.00 per year, for couples, brothers, sisters etc.; if you are in the same family.  Send your dues to: Highlands Ranch Cycling Club, 8413 S. Painted Sky, Highlands Ranch, CO 80126.

Meetings:   :   Check the Ride Schedule and your email for the latest meeting and location.