New Year, New Coach, New Bikes

This year, the team has received a lot of new, shiny items.

We have received new bikes for our track project, and for the next month will be traveling to Colorado Springs to train a group of riders to compete in the Collegiate Track Nationals in Frisco, Texas on September 14, 15 and 16. There are a group of 12-15 that will compete for the National title that weekend.

We also have started a coffee business to help provide scholarships for our riders. It costs $12 a bag, grounds or beans, dark, medium, decaf or espresso. If you are in Grand Junction, we deliver it for free right to your doorstep or office every Tuesday! And it’s super delicious! 😉

This year, the team has tripled in size since last semester! From people that have had professional careers, to beginners, we are an eclectic group of men and women varying in ages and majors. We are all learning from each other and helping each other learn. Anyone is welcome to the team so don’t hesitate to join or even come ride with us once in a while!

On the list of new things, is our new coach Rick Crawford. He has been coaching for over 30 years and coached some of the greats throughout the world and country. He and his family has joined our team as a coach, a friend, a family member, and here to stay “until he dies,” he says.

The last thing we have new is our team kits. They are pretty good looking.

Stay tuned for a calendar to link to your phone and personal computer to keep updated on training sessions, and races.

 

 

Related articles

• Tour of the Valley Back in Grand Junction (krextv.com)
• BMX Riders Compete in Grand Junction (krextv.com)
• Cyclists have the ride attitude for Colorado Bike to Work Day (denverpost.com)

Recap and Outlook

MTB season is wrapped up and cyclocross season is in full progress. So far the  team has been racing the local cross series. The only conference race we have done this season took place last weekend. Pat, Sam and I went out to Cortez, CO to qualify for Nationals, which will be held in Madison, WI in mid-January. Since we spend quite a bit of our budget on MTB season this year and since we only have 3 National level CX racer this year, we are keeping the seaon pretty simple.

Other than that the team has been spending quite a bit time in the gym. Tuesdays and Thursdays we do weight training. This year I have implemented a new system that allows us to work as team, but still pushes each athletes individually. We warm up together and do out core circuit together as a team. Then we work in groups of 2-4 and each athlete uses a certain percentage of their 1rep max for each exercise. This way everyone uses optimal workload and we still get to train as a team. Wednesdays and on the weekend we ride. During winter break athletes will work individually in accordance with a training outline. As soon as the spring semester starts we’ll start adding another gym session and a spin session at least until it gets warmer outside again.

Lots of work lays ahead of us, but I am excited for the new season. The team is bonding and most of the new guys are making serious progress. Even though we might have a few less top guys this year, the base is coming along nicely and we are finally getting the depth of a National Champion Team.

 

Richard Geng, Head Coach