Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Early Season Success!

The early season has been quite successful for our team!  Starting with our ladies, Heather Smith is showing some strength in her first few races as a Cat 3.  She was recognized at the Bikes4Kids Stage Race a week and a half ago for her strong pulls and bridges during the criterium.  B4K was also a huge success for our sprinter Kelli Winder.  She took the criterium title and ended up 2nd on GC by just 4 seconds!  Joan Meiners has been representing the team very well out in California.  She's seen the podium at local crits and circuit races multiple times and had a top 10 finish at the Sea Otter Classic.  Our ladies rock!

Our men have been improving as well.  Ben has finally found some sprint legs at the weekly RMR Crits placing 5th, 2nd and 6th the last 3 outings.  Farrell Spackman is also on fire at the Logan TT series leading his age group and knocking on the door of the overall.  We haven't stopped at cycling either.  Kevan Steed took in his annual sprint triathlon taking 2nd in his age group.

Keri Gibson and Heather spent last week touring Utah with Keri's Road Respect campaign.  They went from St. George to Logan and everywhere in between sharing the message that cars and bikes can exist safely on the road.  Over 500 miles in the saddle with multiple press and community gatherings to spread the word.  Its a great campaign and worth checking out!

Summer will see the team contend the State Criterium Championships and other great races, including the epic Tour de Park City.  Watch for our Chick-fil-a Bike rodeos soon as well!

Monday, May 14, 2012

Bear Lake Classic

One of the best events of the year, the Bear Lake Classic road race, was well attended by Chick-fil-a/Excelerator Sports over the weekend.  With beautiful weather and stacked fields, it was a memorable event for the whole team.

Our men did exceptionally well.  We had personal bests for Kevan Steed and Jim Streuglemyer and Ben Towery animated the 102 mile Cat 3 division.  In the Masters 55+ category, it was forever young Farrell Spackman who really impressed on the day.  With over 35 riders in his field he sprinted to 9th place.  That's saying a lot considering he was just behind a Masters World Champion.

It is our women however that continue to field the best results for our squad.  Our Cat 4 ladies, Rachelle Lyle, Heidi Moser, Kelli Winder and Jen Droke put in fantastic efforts and were rewarded with Rachelle and Kelli taking 2nd and 3rd place respectively.  Our Cat 3 ladies were also on it.  Heather Smith, who was racing her first event with the elite category women hung in for 8th place while current LOTOJA champion Keri Gibson kicked for 2nd place.

The day ended with a delicious BBQ and massive carrot cake cupcakes and a pleasant afternoon for all.  Racing is best when its a family affair and with kids in tow the event had a great vacation-y feel to it.

We have a number of races coming up including the Bikes4Kids Stage Race, State TT Championships and Sugarhouse Criterium.  The team will be well represented at those event and watch this space and our Facebook page for updates.

 A huge thank you go out to our friends, fans, families and sponsors!

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Tax Day Circuit Race

Chick-fil-a/Excelerator Sports was well represented this past 2 weeks at the Tax Day Circuit Race and the Antelope Island Classic.  While we did quite well as a team at Antelope, it was Heather Smith's win at Tax Day that's the real news.  She's been battling a few years now to upgrade to the Cat 3 Women and she did so at tax day with an inspiring win.  Check out the following report in her own words:

"We had twelve in our start group and we pretty much stayed together until we got to the base of the circuit course. Up to the circuit I felt like my legs weren’t feeling it and I would maybe finish middle of the pack. Little did I know, they just weren’t warmed up enough yet. As the group made the climb up the first lap, it started to spread out and really spread out as it got steeper. I guess I must have been fourth to the top because I remember descending and catching Kelly Dailey (Bountiful Mazda, masters), Chelsea Smith (Simply Mac) and Anna Gunderson (Idaho). Anna had quite a lead up the hill, but we caught her on the decent. Anyway, the four of us worked together really well in an echelon. Then we climbed up the hill again it was just 3 of us. The remaining three of us still worked together. The third climb was so hard and I was thinking to myself, “Why is it so much harder than the last two?” I feel like molasses riding up this hill! Then as we descended, I went to shift into the big chain ring and I was already in it! I couldn’t believe I climbed that hill in the big ring! Up the third climb, Kelly fell off the pace. We hoped she would catch up to us, but didn’t, so Anna and I worked together.
"Just before the U-turn up the last climb a bunch of men passed us and Kelly joined us, again. As we headed up the last climb I kept on Anna’s wheel. Kelly said to me, “Heather, you can do it. Just stick on her wheel.” Then we dropped Kelly. I had so much going on in my head up that last climb. When I saw Anna climb that first hill so quickly, I pegged her as the winner. I was thinking, “Second is good.” “You can let up.” “No! you can win this.” “You can do it.” “Keep going.” I felt I had a good pace going at 1 km. I didn’t know if I could or should push harder, so I kept Anna’s pace. Then as the road got steeper, I gained on Anna. At the last switch back where it levels off, I was passing her, so I shifted down and peddled faster. I pushed as hard as I could and felt like I was going to vomit. I wanted to look back to see where she was, but I thought, “Just focus on the line.” I peeked back for just a second when the line was in sight and saw that I had a really good lead on her. As the road leveled off to the finish, I let up a little and crossed the line 8 seconds before Anna. I definitely didn’t think I would win on Saturday. I was sure glad my third climb in the big ring didn’t affect my last climb and was thankful for Kelly’s words of encouragement.

"I was so excited about the win.  I think my biggest takeaway is to keep pushing and don’t settle for “good enough.” I’ve done that before. I settled for fourth in the Tour del Sol RR. I probably could have pushed harder. Don’t give up on chasing down the leader. I like descending and I think that helped catching the other ladies on the downhill. Chasing her down was huge to how the race played out.

"Now I’m going to submit my upgrade this weekend and race Bear Lake as a CAT 3 (my first A race of the season, perfect timing)! Whoa! Deep breath. I’m going to get my butt kicked, but I get to race with Keri and Joan!"

Monday, April 30, 2012

Our ladies have it!

The early season has been the best yet for the Chick-fil-a/Excelerator Sports ladies!  We've been to a variety of races all over the state and the results have been fantastic.

After Tour del Sol, Heather Smith repeated her success with a win at the Wildcat Rally road race.  At the same event, LOTOJA winner Keri Gibson also took her category with a nice sprint.  We also had a great showing at East Canyon with 5 of our ladies racing.  Rachelle Lyle, who is transitioning from triathlon, performed great in her road racing debut.  The same weekend, Joan Meiners took 8th at the ultra competitive Sea Otter Classic in California. 

The winning ways continued this past weekend at the Tax Day Circuit Race in Idaho.  Heather took the surprise win in the Cat 4 women with teammate Heidi Moser also doing well. 

Coming up we have the Antelope Island Classic and then on to Bear Lake.  Watch for our ladies to continue tearing it up!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Tour del Sol

This past weekend Payton Nishikawa, Heather Smith and I went racing in St. George at the Tour del Sol.  The event kicks off the UCA season and we were met with a mixed bag of weather and our results could be described the same way.

The 2 day, 3 stage race started with a 12 mile time trial in perfect St. George conditions...sunshine, warm temps and no wind.  Payton and Heather put in solid efforts and I was able to knock almost 5 minutes off of last year's time.

After some lunch and a little rest we made our way up to the old airport for the afternoon criterium.  The wind was howling.  It was blowing across the bluff at 40 mph wreaking havoc on the peloton.  Heather kept in contention in the 15 rider Cat 4 Women. 

In the Cat 3 Men, Payton and I kept it competitive.  My first Cat 3 race was eye opening for sure.  The wind made the long south bound straight away a tactical nightmare.  With 5 laps to go, I was pushed into the rocks and took a good 100 yards to get back on the concrete.  Once back on, the wind blew me back into the rocks and I was dead last.  As the group rounded the turn they lit it up with the wind.  At that point I was dropped.  I tried desperately to get back on but with the wind it just didn't happen.  Payton however, stayed in there.  He looked strong among the 37 Cat 3's and sprinted with the group.

Sunday was the road race.  This course is challenging starting and finishing at Gunlock Resevoir taking in the loop that includes the infamous "wall" and the Utah Hill for the Cat 3's.  I didn't fair so well.  I woke up very tired and made it to the wall before being dropped like a bad habit ending my first Cat 3 race with a DNF.  Payton stayed with it though and represented well.  The best finish of the day however went to Heather.  She rocked it taking 4th in the day and moving up to third overall on GC!!  It was great weekend for Heather which saw continual improvement for the weekend, proof that never giving up can pay big dividends!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Welcome to Season 5!

Chick-fil-a/Excelerator Sports Cycling Team heads into the 2012 season with great anticipation.

2012 marks our 5th year as a team. In 2008 and 2010 we raced as Team Excelerator and in 2009 as Team Excelerator presented by Pinnacle Auto Company. 2011 we honored our title sponsors as The Bike Shoppe/Chick-fil-a Racing Team.

For 2012, Chick-fil-a at Riverdale and Newgate Mall contiue thier title sponsorship along with Excelerator Sports, LLC. The Bike Shoppe is still supporting us as well along with returning sponsors Harristone and Sun Valley Mortgage. We'd also like to welcome our new sponsors The Jersey Bag, The Joint, Blue Iguana and Cache Valley Women's Center. Without the support of our great sponsors we would not be able to do what we do! Thank you!!

Our roster shrunk a little for this year but what we lack in quantity we make up for in quality. LOTOJA winning duo Justin and Keri Gibson return along with Utah Masters Championship runner up, Ben Towery and Logan TT winner Farrell Spackman. We've also added Cat 3 powerhouses Payton Nishikawa and Jim Struglemeyer. Other returnees are our team players Kevan Steed, Jaren Ginbson, Jerald Olsen, climber Doug Olmstead and Cat 3 rider Rick Seaborn.

Our women's team has grown with the addition of triathletes Rachelle Lyle and Shay Golding, Cat 3 racer Joan Meiners and Cat 4 Heidi Moser. Crit specialist Kellie Winder returns after a year off to have a baby. They join our standouts Heather Smith, Danielle Dahlberg, Jenny Romney and Keri Gibson.
We completed our winter mini camp in St. George 2 weeks ago and look forward to our first Utah racing at the Tour del Sol March 31st-April 1st.

Here's to a great Season 5! See you on the road!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

LOTOJA Success!

The 2011 LOTOJA Classic was a huge success for TBS/CFA!  We had the potential to win or podium in all 5 categories we entered and that potential was realized in a big way.

In the elite Pro Cat 1/2/3 division we were stacked with Darren Goff, Manny Cypers, Jody Harris, Denis Porter and Blake Fessler.  All 5 had high hopes and it was Darren who made it into the day's winning break.  With every leg punishing pull, Darren fought his way to a solid 4 place finish!  At LOTOJA, that's a podium finish! 

Justin Gibson repeated his winning ways this year winning the Cat 3/4 division.  His day was made all the better with his wife, Keri, also winning the Women Pro Cat 1/2/3.  They did this on their 18th anniversary!  In the process Keri took Queen of the Mountain honors as well.  Not a bad way to celebrate almost 20 years of marriage.  Trent Olsen also rounded out the Top 10 of Justin's group with his first attempt at the 206 mile classic.

We had great performances across the board.  Some bad luck hit Farrell Spackman as he took a tumble over someone who crashed in front of him ending his day.

Up next is the season ending Harvest Moon Criterium hosted by the team on September 24th in downtown Ogden.  Look for more great finishes from SMr Crit series winners Ben Towery and Darren Goff and the rest of the team.  This year's Harvest Moon will see the largest women's cash purse of the year in Utah!!  http://www.teamexcelerator.com/