People for Bikes is one of Trek’s most important parters, Trek is a big partner for the Bell’s Beer Iceman Cometh. People for Bikes is currently conducting a survey as part of a new initiative called Places for Bikes. The survey closes on 4/15, and we are helping them make a final push to get responses to the survey. Whether it can be shared through the event channels or you’re willing to share to your personal group of friends and contacts, anything you can do to help share this survey and help People For Bikes work toward a better world for cycling.
It’s with a heavy heart we report that Steve Tilford, 57, the first US mountain bike national champion in 1983, died early this morning in a car crash on I-70 in eastern Utah. Tilford was an ageless bike racer winning multiple national championships and a UCI Masters World Championship over his decades long career. He was the Iceman champion in 1999 and 2000 beating riders almost 20 years younger. It didn’t matter if he’d been riding or training recently, if there was a race that captured his interest, he’d be there. He had an ability to focus his spirit and drive onto that particular event that set him apart from the rest of the field……and his “form” was always “coming around”. We’ll miss you, Tilley. Like (1) Dislike (1)
Specialized pro rider Howard Grotts won the 2016 Bell’s Beer Iceman Cometh Challenge with a time of 1:23:36 on a day that saw perfect “niceman” conditions.
He knows he got lucky with the weather but plans to return this year.
“No matter what the weather,” he added.
“I’d always heard about the race. Never had a chance to make it out, it’s kind of a fun time of year,” he said.
Coming at the end of the season he said conditioning is always varied amongst the pro riders, but the $6,500 payday for winning ensures the pros give it everything they’ve got when the tires hit the trail.
“Everyone is treating it as a fun race, but they put in a hard effort,” he said.
Grotts recently returned from South Africa and the Cape Epic stage race. He and his partner rode in support of Specialized Bike’s “A team”. They are allowed to help with a spare tire or bike in case of a mechanical failure. The team they were in support of finished the 7 day race in second place, 8 minutes down to the leaders.
Grotts is looking forward to a year of domestic races this year after racing UCI World Cup events in preparation for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
“It’s a good time to step back from hunting UCI points,” he said.
He’s headed to events similar to Iceman to mingle more with fans in the United States.
“It’s an important aspect of being a pro racer, interacting with all the folks that are buying the bikes that I’m riding,” he said.
Entering his 6th year as a pro he’s still having fun and looking forward to races he plans to do for the first time this year, the Leadville 100 and the Breck Epic as well as the Epic Rides Off-road race series.
Grotts enjoys the early part of the race season.
“You constantly see results from training,” he said.
His weekly schedule includes two rest days, Monday and Thursday generally, sandwiched between rest days are an interval training day, tailored to whatever the next race is followed by a longer endurance day. For Leadville he’ll work on longer (30 minute) intervals, shorter races mean shorter intervals he said.
And yes, his job is still fun.
“Getting to explore new trails, whether they are in Africa or California, that’s probably the best part of this job,” he said.
Woodruff races to a 9th place finish at the Pan Am Championships in Paipa, Columbia
2015 and 2016 Iceman Pro Woman Champiton Chloe Woodruff traveled to the Pan Am Championships in Paipa, Colombia, where she finished 9th on her Pivot Mach 4 with Stans Valor 27.5 wheels set up with Maxxis Ikon 2.2s and a Fox Transfer dropper. With the race still being early season, Chloe went into the race with uncertain expectations as she is in a building phase for her upcoming season. “I’m used to coming into the race season full throttle. While my result wasn’t great, I felt good on my Mach 4 and had some fun racing in front of a fun Colombian crowd (and to see American Erin Huck win the gold medal!).” Chloe’s 9th place finish earned her UCI points, which is beneficial going into the later season world cups.
With the Sea Otter Classic (April 20-23) and Whiskey Off-Road (April 28-30) coming up, the Pan Am Championships showed to be a good opportunity to get back in the routine of traveling and racing
