Stinger Buzz

     As is proving to happen regularly these days – Team Honey Stinger/Trek mopped up with the results this past weekend at a couple of different venues – USA Cycling Cross Country National Championships and the Breck 100/Breck 68.
     Most notably – Peter Kalmes – continuing on a season of high-place finishes, stood atop the box to earn the stars and stripes jersey and the 20-29 Men’s Cat 1 national title. This comes only two weeks after he took 2nd place at the Firecracker 50 – marathon distance nationals for USA Cycling. Nate Bird, Ben Portilla, and Ryan Dorsey represented Stinger/Trek in the men’s pro field at nationals – all finishing mid-pack in a large, deep, and fast field.

    Honey Stinger/Trek also brought some heat to the Breckenridge 100 this past weekend. As part of the National Ultra Endurance Series, a stacked field started out on course and set blistering first lap times. The brutal course made racers climb over 12,000 feet once and over 11,000 feet four times. All racers were well rewarded with some great sections of classic Colorado single-track that made the climbs worth every ounce of energy. Top honors went to Max Taam for finishing 5th overall. Josh Cullen and Todd Kennedy also were in the mix finishing well at 18th and 47th respectively. It’s such a tough race; Honey Stinger extends big congratulations to all finishers.

    The B-68 is the little sister to the Breck 100, and has competitors race the 2nd and 3rd laps of the 100-mile course. Scott McCalmon and Daniel Matheny attacked after the neutral start and never looked back. Finishing 1st and 2nd overall, Scott narrowly edged out Daniel for the victory. It was a super weekend for Honey Stinger/Trek in Breckenridge.

Nicolas Roche out in front

Young Irish-Franco Ag2r rider Nicolas Roche (and son of the legendary Stephen Roche) is having a great Tour so far. He finished 7th in yesterday’s stage and sits in 13th in the overall GC standings. Somehow, after each stage in the Tour, Roche also finds the time to write a diary of the day’s events for his local paper, the Irish Independent. In addition to being a world-class rider, Roche turns out to be a talented writer, providing a fascinating and often humorous look at life in the peloton.

A few days ago on Stage 6, Roche wrote this:

“Yesterday, I was eating some of the energy sweets the team use when Lance Armstrong came up alongside me for a chat. We talked for a few minutes as we rolled along and ate and he asked me how I liked the sweets. I told him they weren’t great, but were a change from the muesli bars we usually get. Today, midway through the stage, I got a tap on the back. I turned around and it was Lance with a handful of Honey Stinger organic energy sweets. “Here you go Nick, try these. They’re the best around. Let me know what you think,” he said.

Even in full flight, during a stage of the Tour, Lance is a good businessman. He recently bought into the Colorado-based company that makes the Honey Stinger sweets, energy bars and gels and who better to have as a mobile sales rep in the middle of the peloton? He was right, by the way, they were really nice.”

It’s pretty amazing that Lance is rolling around the peloton handing out Stinger chews to other riders. You can’t ask for a much better brand ambassador. Thanks boss!

It’s about the middle of the summer riding season here in Colorado and Team Honey Stinger/Trek is hitting its stride. The MSC Blast the Mass was this past weekend and with a familiar XC course for our local Roaring Fork Valley riders, the team had a strong showing and landed two more podiums. Check out photos from the race below:

Len Zanni in the Pro Men's start

Team Captain Len Zanni battled it out with Jay Henry and Travis Sheefer in the pro men’s race to finish in a strong second place.

Jay, Travis and Len grind up the climb on lap 2

Also in the pro men’s race, Max Taam finished 6th, Ryan Dorsey in 8th and Ben Portilla ran his bike across the line (tubulars proved to be a bad idea) but still finished in 13th.

Ben Portilla

Josh Cullen and Michael Hayes had solid finishes in the Cat 1 division.

Josh (center) and Michael (right)

In the pro women’s race, Kelley Cullen continued her winning ways with another second place finish. Sari Anderson, 3-months into her post-kiddo comeback, fought through the hail that started just minutes after Kelley finished and ended up in a solid fifth place.

Kelley Cullen leads out the pro women.

Sari grits her teeth through the hail at the finish.

Dirty girl.

Next up for many team riders: XC Nationals in Sol Vista and the brutal Breck 100.

Check out the latest from Bicycling Mag – talking about the new big man on campus – he’s almost earned his own cubicle here at HQ.

Team Honey Stinger/Trek showed up in force for the 2nd annual Fat Tire 40 race in Crested Butte on Saturday, the fourth stop of the Mountain States Cup race series. Featuring 40 miles of riding on some of the Butte’s best singletrack, including over 8,000 feet of tough climbing and some pretty technical descents, the race put riders and their gear to the test. Our team brought home some well-earned hardware, as well as plenty of bumps, bruises and big smiles.

Nate Bird, following up on his 7th place finish at the Bailey Hundo last week, had a terrific race and landed on his first pro podium in second place behind local Travis Scheefer. Kelley Cullen finished in third in the pro women’s race, hanging close behind winner Gretchen Reeves and runner-up Jenny Smith for the whole race. Peter Kalmes also finished in second place and Rose Alford finished in fourth place in their respective Cat 1 age groups. Team riders Ryan Dorsey, Ben Portilla, Len Zanni, Bryce Gordon, Michael Hayes, Sari Anderson and Tammy Jacques all finished the race as well – some looking a little more cooked than others, but all happy to have completed it.

Here are some some photos from the day, mostly taken at a creek crossing at the 20-mile mark.

Nate Bird crushing it across the creek en route to a 2nd place finish

Kelley Cullen cruising to 3rd place

Ben Portilla's Specialized S-Works shoes with boa are dialed in

The team’s Specialized S-Works shoes with boa technology were perfect for the wet, technical course, allowing riders like Ben Portilla to micro adjust the fit throughout the race.

Sari Anderson racing just 3 months after giving birth

Sari gave her prototype women’s specific Osprey Verve 4 hydration pack rave reviews.

Len Zanni

Lenny learned you might need more than one (or 2 or 3) extra tubes for a 40-mile mtb race. Nonetheless, he finished the race by running down most of Mt. Crested Butte