Team News

May 21, 2008 - Banner Spring for Rocky Mountain Spine & Sport Cycling Team!
At Rocky Mountain Spine & Sport Cycling Team, we've made it our mission to be great friends, great stewards of cycling, and competitive and competent racers, in that order. And while the first two qualities have not been diminished in the slightest this year, the third one is really taking off. Already this year we have ten wins, and it's not yet June! Ed Yousse, Mike Catterall, Tim Lucking, Mark Mangold, Ben Stewart and the Rabbit Mountain Team Time Trial team of Yousse, David Bertino, Matt Jaeger and Jeremy Ramsey have all finished number one in their fields. And at our given rate, if we bring three racers to an event, one has been finishing in the top-10. Suffice to say, we've had a remarkable spring and are looking forward to making more waves in the ACA. All four State Championship titles are still up for grabs, and we've got some serious talent ready to go out and get some jackets and headlines. Congratulations to everyone so far!

April 23, 2008 - Two wins in one day!
Now in it's fourth full season, the Rocky Mountain Spine and Sport Cycling Team has had many great moments over the years. But on Wednesday April 23rd, Ed Yousse and Mark Mangold combined to do something that had never been done before - two wins within minutes of each other!. Ed took out the Senior Men 3s category in the Karen Hornbostel Time Trial with a blazing time of 22:54.9 to win by over 7 seconds. Mark Mangold had a much tighter race in the 4s, winning by 0.9 seconds over 2nd and 2.6 seconds over 3rd with his time of 23:48.4. Perhaps the extra little motivation that Mark needed came from the fact that it was his birthday! Excellent job guys! Although they were the headliners, solid performances were turned in by David Bertino (4th - SM3), Matt Jaeger (6th - SM3), Jeremy Ramsey (9th - SM3), and Matt Mebane (9th - SM4). Way to represent for the orange & white everyone!

April 12, 2008 - Podiums aplenty!
On Saturday, April 12th, the GS Boulder cycling team hosted the Haystack Mountain Time Trials and by the time it was over, Rocky Mountain Spine & Sport was all over the top of the results sheets. The morning kicked off with the individual efforts, and the standout here was Ed Yousse with a smoking time of 37:05 to take 3rd place in the Senior Men 3 category. Ed is a consistent top-finisher in all the local time trials and this morning was no exception. Former State Champion David Bertino was not far behind with a 6th place finish in the 3s as well. Rounding out the 3s were newcomers Mike Burton and Tim Lucking who turned in fine performances. For the 4s, Matt Mebane and brothers Chris and Mike Duarte represented well for the orange and white. Matt Allen (Senior Men Pro/1/2) and Michael Raczuk (SM35+) were the lone RMS&S racers in their respective categories and handled themselves quite well amongst loaded fields. For the team time trials, the 3s team rocketed their way to the second fastest time in their category, but due to technical errors, took top honors as the first place team ended up having their results nullified. Regardless of the placing, the team of Ed Yousse, David Bertino, "Superman" Matt Jaeger, Jeremy Ramsey and JP Robb averaged over 28 miles per hour in completing the windy 16.8 mile course in 36:02. The next three teams were only 6, 18, and 27 seconds behind, so the practice sessions and equipment selections really made a difference. Apparently technical errors were contagious as the top RMS&S 4s team was removed from the results, but that only moved the B team up into third place! The B team of the Brothers Duarte, Nate Adams, Derrick Norris and Luke Price rolled in with a 39:46 for the final podium spot. All in all the 3s and 4s teams continue to roll along in the early season, with many more highlighted races on the calendar to come!

March 22, 2008 - Another March Win!
On Saturday, March 22nd, Tim Lucking brought home the third win of the early season for the Rocky Mountain Spine & Sport squad. At the Promontory Park Criterium in Greeley, Tim worked with teammates Corey Cope and Mike Catterall to take top honors in the Senior Men 4 race. As told by Tim, Mike found him on the last lap and brought him on the outside of the pack up to the front. Coming out of the last roundabout in a perfect 5th position, Tim used his smarts to let the other racers sprint in the wind, stayed on the leeward side and executed a perfectly-timed bike throw to take it at the line. All 5 racers were within a bike length of each other in an exciting finish. Congratulations, Tim Ð you earned it! Tim turned around the next day at the CU Criterium in Boulder to race to a 3rd place with the combined Senior Men 3 and Senior Men 4 groups. These two results prompted Tim to upgrade to the 3s where his presence will undoubtedly be noticed immediately. Nice job Tim!

March 15 & 16, 2008 - The weather on Saturday March 15th was not what the racers from Rocky Mountain Spine and Sport had in mind when they planned a team training day. Meeting in northwest Boulder at 9am, the riders were met with heavy fog and temperatures in the high 20s. Nevertheless, 11 of them set out to pre-ride not 1 not 2 but 3 time trial courses that the team will be racing on during the season. The first course to train on was the Haystack Mountain time trial course, a 17 mile loop on the roads of north Boulder county. The 4s joined forces and worked together while the 3s recruited lone cat 2 racer Matt Allen for their test run. The course proved to be as fast as predicted and a great slugfest surfaced as the 3s and 4s drag raced each other to the finish. With that effort in the books, the team rode a textbook double paceline up to the start of the Rabbit Mountain time trial, where the 4s split up into 2 teams and the 3s got together once again. This course again proved to be quite difficult with the steep finish putting everyone into severe oxygen debt. From there the group rolled back to Boulder via highway 36, covering the Boulder TT Series course. It was great to see so many people out and a great way to see and get familiar with some challenging courses in the area. On Sunday the 16th the temps were again chilly as 12 more racers met by the Koppenburg course in Superior. After a preview lap, a hot lap and only one flat tire, the group was lead by Matt Allen and headed through Boulder over to the west side to climb Sunshine Canyon. Predictably, this hill sent people into the red quickly and it was nearly every rider for himself going up the canyon. No one was completely isolated though, and while not everyone made it to the summit by Gold Hill, all racers did get a chance to see the early steeps and get some good training in. Two days, five courses, 23 racers, 40 degrees, and zero injuries or accidents made for a hard and great weekend of training. Let's hope we can turn some of these efforts into more podium placings!

March 8, 2008 - On March 8th and 9th, the Rocky Mountain Spine and Sport team headed to two different races and stood atop the podium at both events! In his second season of racing, Mike Catterall got his first win of his career at Sunday's Denver University criterium in City Park. After several attacks throughout the race, Mike got a textbook lead-out from teammate Corey Cope and won the drag sprint out of the final turn for 1st place. The victory was shared by fellow teammates Mark Mangold who was also on the attack, Matt Mebane, Luke Price and Nate Whitney. Nice job to everyone and congratulations again to Mike! In a repeat performance of ast year, Ed Yousse headed north on Saturday to take on the Frostbite time trial, this time in the 3s as opposed to 2007 when he was a 4. The category was insignificant, though, as Ed crushed it going out with the wind and kept the pace high coming back in to win by almost a minute over the rest of the field. The victory confirmed Ed's good form and gives he and the team good confidence heading into the April and May time trials. Nice job to Mike and Ed - way to get the season rolling with a couple of wins!

February 9, 2008 - On Saturday, February 9, 21 racers from RMSS met at the famous 56th and Pena parking lot near DIA for a pre-season day of training. Chilly temperatures and harsh winds met the riders mid-morning, but by noon the weather was much better. Lead by Category 2 racer Michael Raczuk, the group quickly formed a double-paceline and made great time getting to the open roads of the eastern plains. After going over the basics of how to rotate in a double-paceline, the riders broke up into teams of four to practice a Team Time Trial. Some teams decided to go all out while others held back on the gas to focus on form and execution, but regardless it was a good lesson for many who had not done a TTT previously. After a quick debriefing the team then traveled to a quiet office park from some criterium-style racing. With marshalls staked out at each intersection, the group rolled for 20 laps with sprint laps at 5, 10, 15, and 20. After each sprint lap, the marshalls would be swapped and a breakdown of what happened in the race as well as recommendations were given by experienced racers Matt Allen and Michael Raczuk, both Category 2 racers. The group then took the scenic way back to the cars to wrap up roughly 3 hours of riding with lots of intensity. It was a great day to see faces both new and old, as well as get a feel for where everyone is fitness-wise. We're hoping to do another day before the real racing starts and hopefully the next one will be just as productive.

Septempber 22, 2007 - The 2007 road racing season is winding down, but the Rocky Mountain Spine & Sport Cycling Team is as busy as ever. The road season has seen us compete in 350 races, comprised of 80 different events, with 14 victories and countless podium spots! Congratulations to all the big winners this season. Now that it's September, our hardened Cyclocross racers will take to the dirt around the Front Range of Colorado, competing in the ever-growing discipline of cyclocross. Look for Luke Jay, Sean Steeves, JP Robb, Matt Jimerson, and more to be tearing up the category 3 and category 4 fields. In other news, our recruiting has started for 2008! We like to start early so, please join us for one of three rides to take place on 9/29, 10/7, 10/13. For times and locations, please contact info@rmsscycling.com and we'll get right back to you. Of course these rides are open to everyone, and we encourage all of our friends, family, and sponsors to join us! After the first few cyclocross races, we'll surely have some more good news for you, so please stay tuned!

March 5, 2007 - RMSS Cycling Scores First Win at First Race of 2007! It took a hardy soul to brave the elements on March 3rd at the Frostbite Time Trial outside of Fort Collins, CO. And it took an even hardier to soul to win - but that is exactly what Ed Yousse did in the Category 4 Men's race. Ed blasted through the course in 26:54, a time only bested by three riders in the Open category, to win by almost two minutes. Nice job, Ed! David Bertino also rode to a very impressive 3rd place, clocking in at 30:25, less than a minute from the win in the Category 3 Men's race. Seth Mincks finished off a great day for RMSS by taking a top-20 in the Men's 4's.

October 1, 2006 - The 2006 road season is winding down but there's no shortage of news from the Team. Our last update was May 10th, but a lot has happened since then. In the win column, we start not on the road but in the world of Triathlon, where our resident road racer, mountain bike racer, triathlete, and all-around uber-athlete Luke Jay won in the male 25-29 age group at the Pelican Triathlon in Windsor, CO, and placed an amazing 6th overall out of 279. Back on the road, big Ed Yousse took the overall cat4 win in the Cherry Creek Time Trial Series. And with just one week's rest, Luke Jay comes back to win the category 4 race at the Denver City Park Criterium. A week later our resident Master's racer, Tim Dixon, won the 35+/4 race at the New Belgium criterium in Fort Collins. But for Tim it just wasn't enough, and on July 1st he again won, this time at the Vail Valley Jet Center criterium on July 1st. You would think Tim needed some rest after that, but when you're on a roll, you have to keep going, and Tim won again at the Festival in the Park criterium in Fort Morgan on July 15th. Two weeks later in the mountains, Brad Marshall won the first stage Time Trial in the Salida Omnium in the category 4 field. Not to be outdone by his co-worker Brad, Marcus Danko decided to show Brad who is really the boss, taking the 35+/4 race at the Longmont Criterium on August 27th. In the Cat 3's, John Carnie and Sean Steeves came on strong in the latter half of the season. Check out the results page to see the excellent results these guys put up during the August and September races. Congrats to John for ending his season with an awesome 6th place GC finish at the Parker Omnium! That's after top 5 finishes at the Gateway Canyon races and Gore Pass RR in the weeks before! Look for John to be a serious factor in the 3's next year. Congrats to Sean "The Workhorse" Steeves who had a great race at the Gateway Canyons road race (among others), hanging on the climbs and single-handedly driving the pace on the long descent into Whitewater. Watch for Sean's results in cyclocross this fall, as cyclocross is one of Sean's specialties.

The victories and successes are not likely to end anytime soon, as the cyclocross season is just underway. Some of our strongest dirt riders will be out there to extend their season of suffering. We're all looking forward to watching Sean Steeves, Scott Fleming, Matt Jimerson, and others mix it up in the rain, snow, mud and whatever else mother nature throws at them. Also there have been more top 5 and 10 placings than we can count, so a big congratulations to everyone who ended up on the podium!

Off the bike, we're always busy with wives, kids, golf.....and yes, jobs. This time of year we're planning for next season, and it promises to be our best season yet. We're happy to have Rocky Mountain Spine & Sport back as our Title Sponsor for 2007, and we're looking forward to continuing our relationship with Maxxis, Ritchey, Honey Stinger, YMCA, Smith Barney, and more! We'll also have some new sponsors in 2007 to be named shortly. As always, it's the sponsors that keep the team rolling, so if you have a chance, let them know that you've been following the team and appreciate their support.

Finally, as we prepare for 2007, we're looking for a few good men.....and women. If you have some cycling or racing experience and want to be a part of the team, please let us know. We're especially looking for entry level cat4 racers, cat1/2 men, and we're going to try to put together a women's team for 2007.

Thanks for reading, and look for another update next month.

May 10, 2006 - BAR / BAT is underway, and RMSS is leading the way! With the BAR / BAT calendar not starting until May this year, riders along the Front Range had ample time to get in their practice runs on Lookout Mountain as well as the Rabbit Mountain Time Trial course. The extra time and practice was evident in the results, with faster than normal times being recorded all day Saturday.

Starting things off at Lookout was John Gaensbauer in the P/1/2 category. With a couple-hour warm-up under his belt in the form of riding from his house in South Denver to Lookout, he was able to drop nearly 2 minutes off his 2005 time and secure 28th place against some real fast cats. Next up in the 3s was Mark Beaty, Andrew Kurzon and JP Robb. JP was able to secure the first BAT points of the year, dropping 40 seconds off his PR to secure 15th place in the 3s. Beaty came in with a 21:53 and later went back in the 35+s and dropped a 22:15, both formidable efforts on a chilly morning. Bulldog, not known for his climbing, held his own and went under 23 minutes for the first time and had a great overall ride.

In the 4s, Luke Jay dropped a bomb on the field, finishing 4th (3rd was a possibility, but Luke showed great etiquette and didn't hose the guy he was tailing for a while) with the fastest time for an RMSS rider with a 19:37! Keith Fox was also in the mix but due to a scoring error did not show up in the results. Rounding off the 4s was David Konyndyk preparing for Iron Horse with a 24:11.

Jim Todd represented in the 35+ 4s going under 23 minutes and finishing in 28th place out of 80 while Tim Dixon took up the charge in the 45+ and threw down a 22:17, good enough for 29th out of 67.

The next day the boys in orange and white clipped in for a fantastic day at the Rabbit Mountain Time Trial. Starting off the day in the 4s were: Ed Yousse, Brad Marshall, Jay Buntmeyer, Luke Jay and Dan Page. That was the order in which they finished, and the results went like this: 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 31st. The utter domination by the 4s team would be a build-up to the TTT later in the day, in which Yousse, Marshall, Luke Jay, and Page dropped an astounding 18:19, good enough for first place in the 4s by almost a minute! The other 10 teams really had no chance, and RMSS ran very smooth and obviously very fast. Nice job boys.

In the 3s, David Bertino lead the way with a 13th place with a time of 18:16, while a tightly-packed field saw Sean Steeves finish 30th (19:23) with JP Robb in 32nd (19:26). After picking up Matt Jaeger for the TTT, the 3s team sought better results than the ITTs of the morning, and got the job done. With good communication the 3s took home 5th out of 10 teams in a time of 19:31.

Finishing off the day was strong man Keith Fox in the 35+ 4s, taking second place in a time of 19:23.

With the state TT just about a month away, the other teams better have taken notice, because the men of Rocky Mountain Spine & Sport Cycling Team are flying!

While we are waiting for the BAR / BAT points to be tallied and posted, we're sure to see the category 4 men dominating the field in the first place. Nice job boys!

Next up is the Wheels of Thunder criterium in Golden on May 13th. Come out to see the orange and white in action and look for big results in all categories!

March 5, 2006 - The new races at the old course started today with the Orange Crush taking part in the first of four criteriums at the Stazio fields in Boulder. Matt Allen showed his winter form is right on, taking 25th in a Pro/1/2 with names like: 2005 NRC overall champion Scott Moninger, Olympic Gold Medalist Tyler Hamilton, and a host of men from the powerhouse teams of Vitamin Cottage and TIAA-CREF. That's a great result against a stacked field, and hopefully a sign of things to come for Matt. In the 4s, the 1-2 punch of David Bergman and Chris Boyack proved to be a great one with Dave taking 5th and Boyack turning in an impressive 17th overall. Riding solo in the men's 40+ was Tim Dixon, but no teammates didn't stop him from taking 10th place. Excellent work men! We look forward to seeing more RMSS riders as the weeks progress.

March 4, 2006 - Proving that we're not a one-trick pony over here at RMSS, Dan Page showed off the team colors at the Snow Mountain Ranch 21k nordic freestyle race today. He finished in the top 15 of his category at the high elevation site in Granby. In addition to skiing, Dan will be racing on the road and also the dirt for RMSS in 2006. Thanks Dan and good luck!

March 2, 2006 - Tonight the team meeting was held and the Rocky Mountain Spine & Sport clinic in Highlands Ranch. Pasta was consumed, VO2 numbers were compared, uniforms and product was distributed, and all in all a great time was had. Thanks to Andrew and Vint for putting it on and to everyone who took time out of their busy weeks to join us. And special thanks to Rich Merrill for stopping in with special goodies for everyone!

February 19, 2006 - The first results are in! From February 17th to 19th, John Gaensbauer, Tim Dixon, Casey Hill, and newcomer Brad Marshall went down to the Valley of the Sun stage race in New Mexico. It was a hard three part stage race in which our men represented most impressively. Brad Marshall (cat 5A), in his first race for RMSS Cycling took 3rd in the Time Trial, 8th in the road race, 10th in the crit and secured a 3rd place on GC overall in his first stage race ever! Way to go Brad! Johhny G represented in the superfast category 2 for RMSS and came away with a top 20 in the crit for a 38th overall on GC...out of 108 starters! Tim Dixon shook off the winter cobwebs and turned in impressive performances all weekend long to finish 40th in GC out of 82 starters. Good work Tim! Finally, Casey "Damone" Hill rocked to a top-25 in the crit and despite no front brakes (don't tell the officials) in the TT took 64th out of 106 starters in the always competitive 3s field. Nice way to kick off the season men! Look for more results from these fast guys all year long.

February 1, 2006 - Matt Allen goes intercontinental! Matt Allen, one of our very own racers who rocketed his way from the 4s to the 2s in one season is now off to bigger and better things this year. He has been selected to the prestigious Cycling Center in Belgium for the first part of the 2006 program. Matt will be there for the better part of 4 months racing all over Belgium, France and other hotbeds for European cycling. This has long been a dream of Matt, who is most deserving of this nomination and acceptance into the house. Matt leaves late March and will return to the Colorado racing...oops, it's a secret...I guess you'll just have to keep your eyes on the P/1/2 podiums this summer! Although it's hard to keep up with him on a bike (especially in the finishing straight), you can keep up with him at his online diary at the CC website. Congratulations and good luck Matt!

January 1, 2006 - The 2006 Rocky Mountain Spine & Sport Cycling Team is announced! See the roster page for the low-down on all the returning and new riders to be sporting the orange and white this year! Also check out the sponsors page to see the fantastic companies that support our cause! Keep your eyes on the web page as results, photos, and news are on the way!