Stinger Buzz

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.

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

Team Honey Stinger rider Bryce Gordon rips down Zippity Do Da

If you were anywhere near the trails of Fruita, CO this past weekend, you likely heard the buzzing of Team Honey Stinger, as 20+ team riders, kitted up in black and yellow honeycomb, hammered through a good chunk of the area’s world-famous singletrack.

Rob Peterson donated some flesh to mtb gods on behalf of the team

It was an awesome weekend of riding as the team ticked off rides at Loma, 18 Road and then pre-rode the Mountain States Cup TT and XC racecourses in Rabbit Valley. (If you’re interested, here are the course profiles for the TT and the XC course). In three days of early-season, testosterone-fueled riding there were limited mechanicals, only a handful of flats and just one trip to the ER.

Team Honey Stinger would like to extend its gracious thanks to our sponsors: Honey Stinger, Big Agnes, Trek, Alpina Capital, Boa, Mountain Flyer, Osprey, SOLE Custom Footbeds with supplier sponsors Smith, Giro, BAP, Smartwool, Bontrager and Paceline Products (Chamois Butter).

Special thanks to Carmichael Training Systems coach Brady Irwin for joining us as well.

We’re off to the races…see you on the trails this summer.

We couldn't get everyone on the team to stand still long enough to get a complete team shot, but here's a sampler of our motley crew.