Race #2 takes shape

Surrounded by snow capped mountains the NICA Round Valley Race is starting to take shape. The temperatures are in the mid 40's with a strong wind drying out the course.

Tomorrow morning promises to be cold with an afternoon high temperature of 55 degrees. Dress warmly and don't forget your cowbells!

Practice Thursday 26 Sep….. Still on!!!!!

Yes there is a winter advisory, but coach Bethany is on the ground up there and says it still looks good.

Thursday 26 Sep Practice update

Great practice tonight! 

During practice this evening it was determined that only 6-7 students would be able to attend practice on Thursday.  Of those students many of you expressed an interest in pre-riding Saturdays race course.  With the help of Steve Gunn and Beth Ann Schwarz we can logistically get up to 10 riders to pre-ride the course on Thursday afternoon.  Please keep an eye on the team web page for any last minute cancellation notices due to weather.  Wear warm clothes!!!  Current forecast shows a high of 59 degrees F and a 30% chance of rain showers in the PM on Thursday.

Details:

Where:
Meet at Quinns Junction in Park City.

When: 5pm-7pm Thursday 26 September 2013

Note:  If you are interested in carpooling we will depart the Sugarhouse SHOPKO parking lot (east side close to Red Lobster Restaurant) at 4:30pm and return at 7:30pm.

Results and videos from Race #1 Corner Canyon Kick Off

Preliminary results are up on the UHSCL website here.  We are protesting Noah's results and have verbal assurance from the director that it will be resolved.  For some reason he did not get timed, but we all know he rode his heart out!

Our top finisher for the day was Freshman Sam M. who took the WIN by 23 seconds in Freshman Boys Division 2, which had 39 competetors. (Division 2 is teams with 12 or fewer racers.) Way to go Sam!!

Ben R. from judge and Thomas J. missed top ten in their categories by only 1 place.  Ben's finish-line leg cramps probably kept him from the podium.

All 15 of our racers completed the full course in good health.  We came out with only two small flesh wounds and one lost contact lens.

Great job by everyone.  Now enjoy some fun short video clips.  Never mind the hysterical coach screaming her lungs out cheering on the riders.

Sam winning

Division 2 Junior Varsity start

Galen lapping

Christian lapping

Seiji lapping

Patrick lapping

Thomas finishing

Noah finishing

Noah interview

See yesterday's post for pictures.

Photos from UHSCL Race #1 Corner Canyon Kick Off

Today we had an awesome first race of the season!  Here are some photos.  Videos and results coming tomorrow.  Great job everyone!!

Parents and athletes, let me know if you want the full size version of the photo and I can email it to you. -Lucy

Hacky sack passes the time until race start.

Thanks to Wasatch Touring for the tent.

7 of our 8 Freshmen Boys raced today.  We own this cat.

Awesome parent volunteer #1

Awesome parent volunteer #2

Sam M.

Noah

Freshman Ben R.

JD

Matt, who started 5 minutes down on the day because of a flat at the start and a lousy pit crew (:-).

Kayden

Coach Steve was working it double duty today.

Ian

Parent Marty

CRAMPS!

Double team coaching

Thanks to Guthrie bike shop for the banner.

Our top finisher on the day - Sam M. first place Division 2 Freshmen Boys!!!!!!

Here is tomorrow's course

I (Coach Lucy) have some Google Earth image print outs that we will use to discuss the race course tomorrow at our team racers' meeting at 10:30 AM.  It would be a good idea to pre-ride the course before the first race starts at 10 am, but it is not essential. 

I rode this at a pace comparable to our middle-speed riders.  The re-routed course is considerably longer with more climbing, BUT there are many more areas to to pass than the original course. Passing will be key tomorrow with 500 racers!

The course goes clockwise. Out of the start gate there is about 100 yard of pavement, then, BAM, into single track for 0.5 mile (same as original course).  It will be tough to pass for this first half mile. Then there is a 0.5 mile section of gravel road that is good to pass. At the three way intersection of the canyons, go over the bridge onto ST and up to the start of Gas Line trail. Instead of cutting right onto Gas Line like we did on the original course, we go left down the road, over 3 concrete drainage channels. Very fast, but room to pass there.

Next is a steep but short ST section, then, at the most northerly point on the track, the course turns south onto Corner Canyon road for about a half mile climb.  Best to pass here!  Tie back into Gas Line ST over to the river crossing (same as original course).  But from there, instead of contouring over to Silica Pit on the new trail, we go down the road.  At the big 3-way intersection, go up to the new Creekside trail.  Creekside was part of the original course.  Down Creekside to the lower loop as in the original course.

Race category color codes

League Twitter address

Race #1 course changes

Team members and parents. Coach Wilson, Lucy, and myself were out working on the course today. Due to the heavy amounts of rain the course has been slightly re-routed. In my opinion the new corse is better! The good news is the course is fast and there are more sections of trail with passing options. The bad news is the course will take longer than 40 minutes to complete for our Freshman and Sophomores. I would expect it to take you 35 minutes per lap. Coach Lucy will try and post the gps track on the team web page later tonight 9pm'ish. It is approximately 5.8 miles long and 800 feet of climbing. The corse trails have a lot of sand that is hard packed and very fast. When racing downhill remember to keep your weight back and use the front brake sparingly.

The weather shows more rain in the forecast tonight with clearing tomorrow at 7am thru 3pm. This course can handle the rain and the course will be fast! Once again coach Lucy and Drew will be set up at 8am. If you want to pre ride come by early and we will set you up on the course.

See you all tomorrow!

Regards
Coach Drew

Course changes

Coaches Jordan are preriding now. There are a lot of changes due to the rain. Will post a course map tonight.

Thursday 12 Sep Practice CANCELED

Due to heavy rain showers and muddy conditions at Corner Canyon as well as isolated thunderstorms throughout the afternoon. Practice is canceled today.......

Nice sunset tonight

Practice is always fun, but tonight it was beautiful too.

Patrick enjoys the sunset and JD? rips a turn.

Tuesday Sept 10 and Thursday Sept 12 practice

1)  Tuesday September 10th 5:30pm - 7:30pm:

Location:  Red Butte Garden Entrance

Optional tire changing clinic AFTER practice. Goat head season is in full swing. Don't get caught out on the trail or DNF the race because of a lousy flat!

Meet at Colorow Rd and Wakara Way near the entrance to Red Butte Garden and the Natural History Museum.

Bring $35 if you owe money for a jersey.

2)  Thursday September 12th 4:00pm - 6:00pm

(These practice times will provide the best traffic congestion avoidance.)

Location:  Corner Canyon Equestrian Center Draper

Map here or click on the map below and pan south to Draper. The blue marker SE of Draper is where we meet.

View Practice meeting places for SLC Conglomerate MTB team in a larger map

                                  IMPORTANT NOTE

Note:  This practice is optional.  Any student who wishes to pre-ride Saturday's race course is welcome to attend this practice.

***No staff carpooling option from Sugarhouse is available.  Students are responsible for transportation. Meet at the Equestrian Center at 4 PM***

If parents are interested in contacting others to share in transportation please send coach Drew an email and he will connect interested parties.

Photos and slideshow from the team meeting

Friday we had a team social and meeting.  The purpose was to let the students and parents get to know each other and talk about team activities.  We also introduced the team to a few of the sponsors that were able to attend.

Below is the 7-minute slideshow of pictures from the first few weeks of practice.  Below are some pictures from the meeting.

We had the good fortune to be able to conglomerate at the Salt Lake Regional Hospital Physical Therapy Center, which is part of SportsMed Utah. One of our coaches, Collin Bywaters, is a therapist there.  He and his colleagues were gracious enough to let us chow pizza in their space.  They even gave us cool musette bags full of S.W.A.G. (stuff we all get) goodies.

Thanks also to those parents who brought tasty side dishes to compliment our pizza!

Enjoy the video.



And the pics.

And here they are: SLC Conglomerate Teammates!