Chalk Creek Road Race

It seems as though Team Excelerator has hit a streak of bad luck, with 3 crashes in 4 weeks, 2 while racing and one on a training ride. Ben Towery was the un-lucky rider this time around at the Chalk Creek Road Race.

Ben, Joel, Jim and Casey all represented this past weekend for TE. Casey made the jump from Cat 5 to Cat 4 and put in a strong race with Joel. The Cat 4 group is dominated by team tactics, but Casey and Joel are strong enough riders to hold there own. They finished strong with main pack. Jim finished in the top half of his Master's 55+ class. He's made a strong recovery since his traing crash just a few weeks ago. It is exciting to see the team progress through the classes and make themselves known.

Ben made himself known as well, a bit more for his bike and body ending wrong side up on the pavement, however. After winning a prime in last Thursday's final Ogden Cash Crit, he had a ton of motivation going into Saturday's race. A long gradual climb out and a fast downhill back to the finish suited him well. After working hard to stay with the leaders, a few attacked at the turn around. Ben and 3 others managed to bridge back to the front 10 or so leaders when Ben took his eyes of the wheel in front of him a a split second, hit it and then hit the ground. He put his bike back together and managed to finish the race in 27th place out of 50 riders. Bloody, bruised and showing bit too much skin, but a strong finish indeed.

Ben will now join Jim Gilland and Kevan Steed in the ULCER 111 Mile Team Time Trial. Cory Price will also be putting in the grueling and hot ULCER miles with his bro-in-law. Our long hauler Jerald Olsen will spend Aug 4th doing the RANATAD, a 160 mile suffer fest with 12,000 feet of climbing through the Mountains of Utah County. After that, we've got the Snowbird Hillclimb and then LOTOJA. Good luck to all and lets keep the rubber side down, eh boys!

Team Update

Even without the updates, Team Excelerator has been busy the past few weeks. There's been some good training miles put in and some great racing at the Cash Crits.

Casey, Jerald and Russ have been hitting some climbs up the divide and Powder Mountain. Brett Poor has been putting some miles on getting ready for LOTOJA. He ran a marathon this spring and says its good to be back on the bike. Kevan, Ben and Jim also did some climbing up The Divide and Old Snowbasin Road, doing some recon for the Mt Ogden Road Race. Jim hit the pavement, then dirt on Old Snowbasin. He was bloodied up a bit and his helmet looked as though it saved his life. He soldiered on however. Targhee and Cory actually ran into Jim out in Eden on their trip around the valley the next day. Way to get back on it, Jim!

Coming up for TE is the remainder of the Cash Crits at BDO, then the Mt Ogden Road Race Aug 2nd. Aug 9th will see TE represented at the ULCER and Huntsville 100. A week later is the Snowbird Hillclimb. Then on to LOTOJA. There are 12 TE racers participating in LOTOJA this year. We'll be well represented! Good luck!