As the season winds down, Team Excelerator p/b Pinnacle Auto Company is still in high gear. Crazy hard races, team time trials, charity rides and gearing up for LOTOJA are just a few things we've been up to.
Jerald Olsen once again tackled the insanely difficult RANATAD, the race around Nebo and Timpanogos in a day. The combination of mileage, heat and 12,000 feet of climbing make this race a doozy. Jerald improved on his time and placing over last year, but it took some creativity to get there. See, Jerald broke some spokes during one of the descents. With no chance of dropping out, he scooted bike to the nearest shop along the race course and they repaired it for him! He climbed back into the route and finished 25th out of 85 riders! The guy's a mountain goat and nothing can stop him!
Kevan, Todd, Blake, Jim, Chad and I all contested the 111 mile ULCER Team TT. The weather felt more like November than August. It was cold! Having the max 6 rider line up was a huge benefit this year and we were able to create quite the draft on the first half of the course. Kevan, Todd and Blake peeled off for the duration leaving me, Chad and Jim to bring it home. I wish I could say I was a huge contributor to the effort, but this was all Chad Holmes! His pulls were wicked strong and he never showed any sign of letting up. The headwind was fierce! Jim, having just completed the 170 mile Tour of Park City and me, having put in intense miles but not long miles this year, really limped to the finish. When we cross the line, we did so in 5 hrs 17 minutes, good enough for 7th place. I have yet to see the full results, but that time beat all the other classes winers, so we feel good about what we accomplished. Looking forward to next year!
Our ladies continued their strong rides as well. Jaqueline Mason rode her goal time in the 60 mile edition of the ULCER. She has been busy this summer riding the Tour of Riverton and will ride the Legacy Parkway ride in Seprember. Keep up the good work Jaqueline!
We also had Todd and Blake riding in the 1000 Warriors ride. This is a charity ride supporting military families that runs along the "queen stage" of the Tour of Utah. It finishes with the grueling 10 mile Snowbird Hillclimb. The race suffered a terrible accident in the beginning as one rider went through the rear window of a lead car. Todd and Blake weren't involved, but we hate to hear of things like
that! Todd was feeling some knee pain and decided to call it early. He needs those knees for LOTOJA. Blake finsihed strong however and it was all for a good cause!
Up next is LOTOJA then a season ending crit at the U of U. We have Todd, Blake, Greg and Jerlad all racing Cat 5 this year for the whole 206 miles. Kevan, Targhee, Cory, Tim and I will once again take on the relay, hoping to improve on our 16 place out of 50 from last year. Rob and Rhonda will also do some marital therapy in the 2 person relay. Good luck to everyone! This is what most of us train all year for!
