Devo Alumni Taylor Borucki placed 2nd in the DH and 3rd in the DS for FLCThe A mens race saw Devo Alumni Joe Schneider line up on the front row with a 42 pound DH bike. He didnt make it far.The A womens race saw former Devo U19er Kaila Hart and Devo U14 Coach and FLC teammate Annie Cheeney talking strategy from the far left.Devo U19er Howard Grotts, riding for Mines, had crankarms that hung a lot like his legs. He unfortunately had to drop out of the cross country race due to the mechanical.
U19er Howard Grotts had a terrific summer season with DEVO and now is taking it to the college kids. Racing for Colorado School of Mines, The Hammer has managed to win 4 of the 6 races he has entered. Way to Go Howard!
DEVO alumni Tad Elliott has morphed from ski racer to bike racer in the blink of an eye. Check him out in California for the first round of the USCup Triple Crown. This will be Tad’s first pro race on a factory team. The cross country is saturday and the stxc and super d are on sunday.
Durango DEVO Alumni, Chase Orrick is currently attending college at the University of Colorado. He has reported that the riding there is ok and he prefers to drive to Golden to ride. He is looking foreword to being back in Durango this summer and has been working on gaining acceptance to a Film School in California. Below is his video application to the college. The application asked the students for a 2 minute film, with the objective of showing personal interests with no shots of the face. Check it and Good Luck Chase!
2008 U23 national Champion and Devo Alum, Tad Elliott has signed with Team Sho-Air for the 2010 race season. He is moving to the new team from the U23 National Team which ended its team racing program for the upcoming season. Team Sho-Air is one of the top teams on the pro circuit after only 2 seasons. Tad will continue to ride Specialized brand bikes.
Chase Orrick has graduated from the program. He will be missed and is on a mission to be a pro filmer at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Chase was on the first DEVO team in 2006 and won 2 overall series Super Downhill Championships while racing. He also shot and produced 2 full length bike films documenting the 2007, 08 DEVO race seasons, as well as working for IDTV in 2008, making monthly 2 minute short films that updated the community on the happenings of DEVO. Keep up the hard work Chase and have fun in college!
Q: How did you first here about the DEVO program and what did you expect?
A:Well I first actually heard about the program through Ben Kraushaar’s mom. My mom was an orthodontist assitant at the time and Ben’s Mom happened to come into the office one day. Ben’s mom mentioned the program and gave me Chad Cheeney’s phone number. I gave Chad a ring and had a little informal meeting with him and joined the team at that time. I really didn’t know what to expect from the program, especially since this was the first year Durango DEVO was around. But it was amazing. I think there were like 9 kids on the team or something like that so it was SUPER sweet!
Q: What is the most bestest skill you learned while training with DEVO? A: Probably just learning how to be all around a good rider. The program really emphasizes the importance of being good at everything on every kind of terrain. That’s super key to being a strong racer, being all around good at everything. Being a great descender wont win you a race, nor will just being a great climber. You have to be both in order to succeed in racing.
Q: What has been you favorite day of practice? And what makes it stand out? A:Oh man, that’s a difficult question for sure. They all were favorites, there are definitely some that stand out. If I had to pick one night out of any I actually am going to pick the night that I shot Chad’s Movie Segment for my first Film, Durango DEVO. I know that it wasn’t really a practice and I was filming instead of riding but that night still stands out hugely in my mind. Chad was shredding hogsback apart over and over again, and I was just in awe of Chad’s skill and control. Then Chad proceeded to hit pretty much every jump up on powerlines on his singlespeed hardtail with the seat fully raised. I was just so excited because a segment that I really really wanted to come together ended up being better than I could have ever hoped.
Q: How about race results, What has been your biggest accomplishment? A: I’ve pretty stoked on my 2 Mountain States Cup Super D Series Championships that I won in 2007 and 2008. And also in 2008 I got 3rd Place at the National Round in Dear Valley for Junior Super D which was sweet because the field was STACKED with fast dudes.
Q: If you could have one bike for the rest of your life, what would that be? A: I would definitely have to say my Tomac Carbide SL. It’s a way sweet bike and Tomac has really helped me out this year by letting my ride for them. It’s just a great all around bike that does just about everything well. I love it and thanks to Joel Smith over at Tomac for all the help and support this year.
Q: You made two killer films about DEVO during your time on the team. Is filmmaking something you are going to keep on pursuing? Will you shoot another for us in the far off future?
A: I’m actually going to school for film so I”m definitely trying to pursue it for my career. I just really love everything about filming from shooting to editing to finally seeing the finished product up on the big screen. As far as shooting further stuff with DEVO I would love to. With how busy I was getting ready for college this year I wasn’t able to make another DEVO film, but who knows, I”ll be back in future summers and would love to shoot some more 😀
Q: What classes are you taking this semester? Have you had time yet to sample the local singletrack. A: I’m taking some film classes right now as well as some Communications Classes mainly. All stuff thats going towards my major as a Film Studies Student. I actually haven’t had a chance yet to sample very much singletrack. I’m going for a ride this weekend though with the ‘ol Mountain States Cup Crew that lives up here in Boulder. It’s awesome seeing all these kids who live in boulder that I have raced with for years now over the circuit. They have been awesome so far in showing me around and letting me know the best spots to shred.
Two Durango athletes, DEVO alum Tad Elliott and superstar Todd Wells made the cut to represent the US squad at the World Championships in Austrailia. Props to them. Props also should be given to U19 ladies team member Kaila Hart. A sport racer last season, Kaila made it a goal to make the team for her last year as a junior racer. She had two races to prove her worth and she did just that by placing 3rd at the US National Champs in Granby and 3rd in Vermont last weekend. In Granby she was in 2nd place going into the final lap, only to be chased down by junior Boulder honch, Jill Behlen and then in Vermont was in 5th place and threw down a last effort to get the 3rd spot. Kaila worked very hard all year and her accomplishments are not overshadowed by the fact that the US team did not select her. We know it is not about being picked or not, it is about the development and the life experiences learned along the way, that is what it is all about. Nice work Kaila and good luck to those of you who did get picked.
“The race I won was called the Taeler Cup in Wittnau Germany. I think that it would be the equivalent of a Mountain States Cup over here. I have attached some pictures from the race. I told mom this but we had to cook over here and I was put in Charge of shopping and cooking by Marc Gullickson. He said that I was really good at it. My race schedule now is Friday-Sunday Road Stage Race. Fri-Road Stage Sat- Road Stage Sun- Road Stage in the morning then in the Afternoon a 1:30 Circuit race. Next Thursday one day road race. Sunday Road one Day Road Race. Week off then on Sunday travel to spain race 5 days six stages.” -Tad Elliott team Durango DEVO Alumni read more here
Nice work to Alumni Tad! Here is the results Q: Was this the biggest race you have ever done? Got any stats?
A: Yes, man was it huge. Here are some quick stats. 220 Starters. 30,000 Fans. Town Population under 1000. Start Lap plus five laps. Start hill 20% Grade.
Q: What did you do the morning of your race? Did you see any fellow
competitors doing anything weird?
A: I woke up ate some delicious potatoes and drank some coffee. Rode my bike around for a minute in my Pajamas, then started to crank some JT to get ready to race. I only saw some weird stuff the day before the race. A whole factory team riding in a peloton being motor paced by a huge van.
Q: There were billions of people on the course cheering, did anyone scream
your name? Did you hear anything funny?
A: There were some cheers for me out there with my name in them. Mainly american women that had already raced. Nothing too funny out there. Just “Go American.” My team mate always reports back they he gets cheers like “Go OBAMA” and “YES WE CAN” all the time.
Q: How did your race go? A: My race was awesome. I finished on the lead lap and was riding around 70’s 80’s and with one and a half laps to go, then I bonked super hard and tried to make it to the finish.
Q: What will it take to break the top 50? A: A top 50 over in Europe will be hard. It will take some experience at being over here and knowing how to prepare for a World Cup. Maybe some more short track work outs would help. Its feels like a short track that lasts for two hours.
Q: What World Cup woman do you dig the most? A: Oh there is no Question its Lea Davison. She went to the riser bars right before Offenberg, so she knows what is up. All the american women over here are super rad so lets hope they kill it this season.
DEVO alumni Tad Elliott just completed his most massive World Cup to date in finishing 138th of 180 in Offenburg, Germany for round 2 of the World Cup XC series. Here are the results and story.
Q: Did you know anybody around you at the start line? What was that like? A: I did know one person, I was near Barry Wicks. He was easy to spot since he was about a foot taller than anyone else around us. I also met Kris Sneedon on the start line and we started right next to each other. It was nice to see some friendly faces amidst a sea of Euros with their game faces on.
Q: How did the first 5 minutes of the race go for you? Describe the feeling of being in that massive pack of hammers on the start.
A: The start really is crazy. The first five minutes for me were tough. I managed to stay upright which was goal number one. The feeling of being in massive pack of hammers was GRIPPED. There is a lot of dust you can’t see that well and you are trying to pass guys. It was intense, but now I know to stay relaxed and go with the flow.
Q: How did you finish? A: I finished well started to move up the last couple of laps and came in 138th. I was more pumped that I did not crash or flat or walk any decents.
Q: Was there anything techy on the course that messed with you? A: Yes. There is this 90 degree left turn off a log drop into super steep roots and ruts and then another flat 90 degree loose gravel turn to a rock drop off with hay bails on both sides for protection. The first day a girl crashed crazy hard infront of me and I could not get that image out of me head. On race day there were probably 1000 spectators there with huge speakers blasting music and a guy was anouncing over the loud speaker who you were and what country you were from before you dropped in. There was a little NASCAR vibe with people wanting to see some CARNAGE.
Q: Who is your favorite German World Cuper? Besides Sontagg. A: Sabine Spitz she won gold at the Olympics last year. Getting to see her race and hearing the cheers of the crowd when she would came by was pretty cool. The loudest I have ever heard fans at a bike race.
Durangoan Todd Wells took his first victory of the year at the Sea Otter Classic Short Track race this past weekend. DEVO alumni Tad Elliott placed 15th in the exact same race. In the Cross Country Todd paced 6th and Tad came in 30th. Read and look here. Video’s and tons of stuff here.
Durango DEVO Alumni Nora Richards took 2nd in the collegiate B Women criterium. Alumni Joe Schneider placed 2nd in the Collegiate B road race for the Colorado School of Mines. Alumni Grady James took 5th in the Collegiate B’s for FLC. DEVO U-19er Elliott Saslow placed 19th in the cat 4/5 men, Sepp Kuss placed 12th and Howard Grotts was 7th in the super climby road race. Coach Chad Cheeney placed 8th in the road race and 3rd in saturdays criterium. The DEVO team is gettig warmed up for their first team race of the season this weekend in Fruita at the Rabbitt Valley Rampage.
DEVO alumni Tad Elliott took 6th place in last weekends US Cup round 3. Check the full story and results here. Tad is the current U-23 national champion. Booya!
U-19 DEVO alumni Tad took the pan American championships on last weekend to a 13th place finish and the highest u-23 in the strong international field. It was his first big mtb race of the season, and he has plenty more upcoming. After domestic packed 2008 race season, 2009 offers up a more international menu. There are too many world cups to remember, but Tad will be there and not so much at the big Colorado races. Good luck Tad. results
Former Durango resident, Chris Van Dine earned the Gold medal is the weekends downhill championships. BooYa.
Keep up with the FLC road team this spring on their new blog, http://cycling.fortlewis.edu/. There are races every weekend until late may. Durango DEVO has several riders competing for the road squad. Nora Richards, Ben Kraushaar, Grady James and Colorado School of Mines rider Joe Schneider are all big on collegiate cycling. Ride on.
