USA Cycling National Championships

Heidi Godsil powers to her 2nd national championship title

Chipotle Titus riders, Keith Sanders, Heidi Godsil & Karen Hogan were all crowned USA national champions this weekend in Sol Vista Colorado. Under perfect crystal blue Colorado skies, with thin air at over 9,000 feet & on a challenging beautiful course they all bested elite fields to bring home the stars & stripes jerseys. Keith & Heidi won the XC titles while Karen won the short track title the following day.

Heidi Godsil

Keith Sanders

These are repeat titles for all these riders. Keith has a national 24 hour title from 2002, Heidi won the 24 hour duo in 2008 & Karen has multiple marathon titles, including the 2009 title, though this is her first short track title. This brings Chipotle Titus to 6 national championships this year & 19 titles over our 4 year team history.

Jamie Kilkoyn descends the technical drop flawlessly

Geer on his Titus X Carbon cleaned the drop all 3 laps

The course was truly designed to separate the best riders. Keith Sanders helped design the Category 1 course. It was help on a 9 mile loop & 2 - 3 loops were run depending on racing class. The start was up a brutally hard 20% dirt road climb followed by some switchback single track. Even on the single track , there was opportunity to pass making for a open & fair race. The "Keith"' loop was a 2 mile twisty, narrow, rocky piece in dense trees. At a pre-ride pace it was a trick to roll over all the rocks but at race pace this was an absolute treat to ride. After a fast descent there was a second climb on smooth path to the top of the ski area where we dropped into a huge descent back to the base. The first 30o meters of descent challenged a riders skills with loose dirt, roots & a very steep drop. The remainder of the descent was very rough & required you to stay alert.

Karen Hogan piloting her X carbon to 2nd place

Keith Sanders across the top of the Sol Vista Course on his final lap

Thomas Dooley across the "top of the world" at 9200 feet racing to a podium place

Mike Hogan

Chipotle Titus started 14 riders coming home with 3 wins & 6 podium places. In addition to our champions, Thomas Dooley climbed onto the podium in 4th, Michelle Bliss was 4th & Kay Levesque also rode to 4th on a single speed. Jamie Kilkoyn finished 23 (35-39), Drew Geer 12th (45-49) & Jack Boltz 13th (50+) & Davis Haberkorn raced a strong race in the junior field. Sherri Boltz was 7th (40-45) Mike Hogan was riding a strong 2nd but missed a turn & honorably DQ'd himself.

The drop was not all fun & games. Heidi shows an alternative line here & still manages the win.

Sherri Boltz picked another "less optimum" line but came through

Not one single mechanical or flat tire on this demanding course! This remarkable feat repeats our record from the marathon national championships. This course again ripped up equipment & tires. The X Carbon was certainly the optimum machine for this race - supple, smooth & light up the rocky climbs & screaming fast down the brutal descent. Most of our riders were on Schwalbe Racing Ralphs at 24 - 28 psi & Crank Brothers Cobalt wheels.

Drew elected to use his Powertap & collected some interesting numbers. In the first 5 minutes of the race he set his personal 1 minute power record of 549 watts - despite being nearly in last place at this point. This shows the speed of the field. His average watts (including descents & zero watts) was 186 for the 2 1/2 hour race. Overall climbing power was 265 watts for lap 1 but had dropped to 220 by lap 3.

Power Curve data for this bottom of the pack 49 year old rider are:
30 sec: 594 watts
1 min: 549 watts
5 min: 381 watts
10 min: 302 watts
30 min: 269 watts

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