Stinger Buzz

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

It was another great weekend of racing for the Honey Stinger/Trek team.

With a few subtle nudges from his sometime training partner, Lance Armstrong, Len registered for this year’s much-hyped Leadville 100 at the last minute. Len won the Silver Rush 50 earlier this season, but he hasn’t raced in anything longer than 50 miles all season.  Len had the opportunity to pre-ride some of the course with Armstrong two weekends ago and he, Manny Prado and his Honey Stinger teammate Max Taam rode once before the race, but needless to say, he was pretty nervous at the start line.

Len on Lance's wheel

It was brutally cold and wet for the first 60 miles of the race, but Len held on to the lead pack of riders until the Twin Lakes aid station at the base of the Columbine climb. The group split up at the aid station as riders took on food, drinks and in some cases warmer clothes.

Len reports, “Everyone’s hands and feet were freezing but I had been given advice by a friend to start with warmer gloves and a skull cap under the helmet so that helped big time. I’m guessing I downed 12-15 Honey Stinger gel packets and 6 bags of our energy chews along with some other food throughout the day. Eating and drinking enough turned out to be even more important than I expected given the cold conditions.  Huge shout out to our support crew and my wife Jeanne! Couldn’t have finished that one without you guys. ”

Lance made his move on the climb and exploded to a 10 minute lead by the turn around over defending champ Dave Wiens and the rest of the remnants of the lead group. Lance eventually went on to win by over 30 minutes and set a new course record. Both Len and Max stayed strong through to the finish and ending up in the top ten.

Len finished in 5th place, just one day before his 39th birthday. Max finished in sixth.  Interesting side note: five of the seven top finishers were on Trek Top Fuels.

Max and Len relaxing after 7 hours of brutal racing

Down the road in Gunnison, Team Honey Stinger/Trek also had a strong showing at 24 Hours in the Sage.

Kris Cannon powered her way to a  first place finish in the solo women’s category and Nate Bird eschewed gears with three other strong men to win the Single Speed Four category. Full results here.

More images and tales from both races to come…

Nate Bird courtesy ActionPhotographic.com

The night before the 2009 Laramie Enduro was more than a bit ominous and foreboding as a novel would start out. Having joined a lot of other Steamboaters at a more than gracious local’s house for a nice carb-loading pasta dinner, I made my way to the trailhead to camp with the Honey Stinger mascots (my dogs) the night before the race. Practically hydroplaning the entire way from Laramie to the trail, I felt as if I were on the East Coast heading into a hurricane. Needless to say, I was not that psyched for the next day’s 70 mile adventure on my 31st birthday. I almost had a minor breakdown trying to prepare camp in the back of my truck with my gear, my bike, my two dogs all while trying not to get absolutely soaked.

The next morning, I awoke to clear skies. The race went off at 7AM in some nice weather and a very large pretty stacked field. I went off towards the front, but didn’t push it too hard. Within about 20 miles I had caught up the the lead paceline (with places 1-3 farther ahead, I never did see them). We all worked together really well and reeled in a lot of riders. After the long fireroad fast climb, I linked up with friend and Team DEAN (sponsored by Honey Stinger) rider Scott McCalmon. The two of us hit the singletrack treating it as a fun ride and quickly ditched the other 15 or so riders that were with us. We never really saw anyone again, save for a few for the rest of the race. It was a long fun race, so much of it seemed to be so remote and true backcountry riding, it was great. I felt great most of the way with the usual lulls in some spots, but recovering well using the feeds. I flatted at about mile 50 and Scott took off, I got my tire to reseal with a CO2 and continued on quickly. I eventually caught Scott and was headed towards the last long climb feeling confident and strong in 4th place. In hindsight, I should’ve put a tube in the first flat, because I went flat again. Not the best place into the race to flat, and to add to my frustration the first tube I put in was bad, making it a super long flat change. By that point I was in 8th and that’s how I finished. I was in the strange spot of being angry and happy with my result all at once. But happy to be top ten and 3rd in my age group for a podium in the WY Marathon Championships.

All in all it was a great day for team Honey Stinger/Trek. Teammate Pete Kalmes had a strong race, beating me and finishing in 5th place overall. Rose Alford took 12th overall in the pro/open category for a nice finish as well. Honey Stinger sponsored rider of MOOTS Kelly Boniface took 2nd place overall and 1st in her category, Scott McCalmon of Team DEAN ended up fifth, Jen Wilson took 1st in singlespeed and her husband David Wilson garnered a podium as well in 3rd for men’s singlespeed.