Author: Chad

“I raced my first Worlds event on Wednesday and you could say that it was one that I will never forget. I did not race until 2:00 and by that time in the day it was about 90 degrees with lots of humidity. I have never raced in those types of conditions and when training I usually try my hardest to not ride when it is like that out. But, since I could not change the race time I just had to go with it. Warming up I stuffed an ice bag down my jersey to keep myself cool before the start, it helped some but not enough, I was still crazy hot. The call up to the start line was the coolest call up I have been in. The staging area was out of sight of the start line. They started to call riders names in about 5 second intervals, once a name was called each rider would ride down the grass to the start line. During this whole time there was really dramatic music playing, it kind of reminded me of the music that was played in Harry Potter during one of the quidich matches. I was the 5^th rider called up which was really exciting. Elke waited for me at the start where she had a cooler full of ice and cold towels which I used to try and cool myself down before the start because I was already so hot. One the gun was shot and we started the race everybody sprinted as hard as they could to the first turn of the course. The course started out fairly simple but before long we where starting the first climb which was really steep and got super clogged up. At the top of the hill it veered off into the trees and the technical section began. However, even though I rode this part in my pre-ride the trail was so congested that I had to run. About half way through the start loop I started to really over heat and I got the chills and feeling all shaky but I ignored that and kept riding. As the race progressed the field split up more and more so it was much easier to ride the course. This course was the most technical one have ever done and probably one of the most technical trails in general. On my second lap on the side of the trail was a girl passed out with heat stroke. At that point the heat was starting to really get to my also. As I was riding I was feeling very sick and light headed but every time that I got off my bike to run a section that feeling intensified by 5 so I tried my hardest to ride everything.  At that point in the race I was not trying to make up any positions because but just to maintain the pace I was going. The girl that I raced with from Chili was riding right with me and we were going back and forth the whole time I would get ahead on the climb and she would get me on the finish. However, on the last lap she never came by on the downhill. The finish of that race was one of the most relieving feelings ever. I was starting to get really light headed and dizzy on my last lap, making stupid mistakes and riding off the course a little. When I finished I tried to get off of my bike but as soon as I stood up I was overwhelmed with the feeling that I was going to pass out. So I just sat on my bike for a little while Mark was pouring bottles of cold water on me. The feeling only got worse so he called over the team doctor and the two of them helped me into a chair where I had ice and cold towels piled on me. While I was sitting the doctor informed me that I was suffering from heat stroke. I was super relaxed until my arms went numb and I could not move my fingers, after that I started to get a little bit worried. I had to lay by the finish tent a little over an hour with ice bags all over me. However, my body temperature was still extremely high. Therefore I was moved back to my hotel room and put in to the bathtub with four bags of ice. After about 45 minutes of that I was finial able to stand on my own and walk around. Even though I did not get the result I wanted I was still very pleased that I finished the race in the top 20. Now that I am done racing I can just relax for the rest of the week and watch the races.” -AliciaRose Pastore

Long title for sure. Wednesdays short track finale will take place at the Factory Trails up on the south end of the Fort Lewis College campus. Parking for the event will be in the Noble Hall building parking lot. Please do not park on the gravel road. The race series is sponsored by Animas Orthopedic Associates and is in its 3rd season of racing. Tomorrows finale will be put on by Devo coaches and 18 3-5th graders of the Jr DEVO ride group, 24/26inch Advanced. Some of them will be racing at 6pm so be sure to check them out smiling their way to the suffer zone.

Sign-ups begin at 5pm somewhere near the race track. The B’s will go first at 530pm and the kids race will follow at 6pm. The A race will finish things up at 630pm. A’s and B’s will race approximately 25 minutes and the kids race 10 minutes. The cost for the race is $5 and we will be paying the top 3 men and women of the A’s and the B men and women’s champ plus holeshot cash. Sounds like good times are to be had. See you there.

Durango DEVO coach Elke Brutsaert, DEVO U19er AliciaRose Pastore, RMCF’s Teal Stetson-Lee and Vixen Racing’s Darien Harvey are on a road trip together to tackle the New York World Cup and the World Championships the following weekend in Canada. SOunds like a good time for sure! Here’s what’s going down….

“So, we are at Windham and the course is great!!!! Roots, rocks, techy wooded sections both up and down and short 20 min laps. In has been raining a ton here recently, so the course is muddy. Teal and Darian are also with us and we are all staying at Onawa Pelham’s family house about 5mins from the venue. They are awesome and have been extremely giving and kind to us. Good Peeps and have a rad house. They said Durango has been great to Onawa, so they feel compelled to take care of us. Onawa’s dad is one of the course builders. He is a “wood” expert, so has made all the ramps and bridges to navigate many wet and gooey quagmires, which is essential, as the Mnt is very wet and constantly seeps water in certain areas.”

“Alicia and Teal pre rode today and then I joined them for a closer and slower inspection of the DH part of the course. We sweet talked our way onto the chair lift, so we could get back to the top of the course without riding. Thus getting in more of the course inspection without getting worn down.”

“Alicia will be racing the actual UCI Jr race! We initially did not realize that their was such a category, but we now have it all sorted and she is in with the Real deal WCXC instead of the local armature race. This means she gets to ride the course during training time with all the honcho WC senior pros and see how they do their thing on the course. Also, this means she gets a taste of international competition the week before worlds in Quebec. Many of the federation teams are here with their national teams for worlds…so its not just a pony show. These are the real live Clydesdale’s and race horses from over seas.”

“Now we are heading back to the Pelham residence…a sweet cabin/home made by Tom Pelham himself. Chickens and all! Did I mention how cool the Pelham’s house is!”
-Elke

From DairenH
The Olive Garden Story: Once upon a time there were four hungry cyclists wandering the isles of an Albany grocery store. Alicia, Teal, Elke, and Darian couldn’t be bothered to spend another 5 minutes deciding on ingredients to make a fourth dinner for the week, so they decided to go out that night instead. After exiting the store, they loaded $200 worth of groceries into their clown car ( which was already packed to the gills with suitcases, duffle bags, and bikes) and drove off in search of a place to eat dinner. The first establishment they stopped at had a 25 minute wait!!!! Being from the great town of Durango, the travelers were spoiled and not used to having to wait this long for a table. This was unacceptable, so they continued their search in hopes of finding a restaurant were they could be seated immediately. Unfortunately, they were in a city at 7:00pm, right in the middle of the dinner rush. The foursome did not realize this until they drove up to an Olive Garden and saw people standing around outside like a herd of cattle. They now understood that they were going to have to wait no matter where they went, so Elke went in and got one of those vibrating pager things and they joined the rest of the cattle waiting for their turn to eat. The promise of all-you-can-eat salad and bread sticks sounded well worth the wait. The group sat and chatted about the up-coming race until the vibrator/pager went off, and went inside to their table. Where it was FREEZING!! The group perused their menus with chattering teeth and growling stomachs. Dinner choices were quickly made and the waitress came to take their order. Yet she brought some distressing news; there were no more bread sticks. Not only could the travelers not eat all they wanted, but they couldn’t eat ANY! Darn you Olive Garden and your empty promises! Elke, in her never-ending attempt to get away with as much as possible, tried to coerce the waitress into giving us their best appetizer for free. But the waitress wasn’t having any of it and brought some strange dinner rolls instead. The cyclists ate their fill of salad and pasta, paid there tab and squeezed back into the smallest SUV known to man. They had survived eating pasta at an Americanized Italian chain that caters to the overweights masses during the busiest time of night. The rest of the weekend should be a piece of cake.
-DarianH