Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Steamboat Stage Race

Nathan on his way to a great TT finish:

Coach EK measures his effort in the tough and technical 4.5 mile TT (no TT bikes allowed!)







The first edition of the Steamboat Springs stage race saw many from the EK Endurance Coaching team racing and racing well! 2 riders in the Pro-1-2 field, 1 in the women’s cat 4 field, 1 in the masters 35 field.


Jennica very happy about 3rd over all.



Chris Carr and Nathan West rode hard and consistently in the pro field agents the likes of Ben Day, the Garmin team and many local Colorado heroes. The exception was Nathan’s near total melt down on day 2. After a great TT performance on day one the body was rejecting the effort of the grueling stage 2 which had upwards of 6000+ feet of elevating in only 45 miles! I to was feeling the lack of power in the body. One of the toughest days a rider can have is when there not themselves. Nathan measured his efforts and got to the finish line. In my mind the best ride of the weekend.
He and Chris fought hard on day 3’s road race, a brutal day, to make the first group going into the days last climb.

Jennica Rodriguez continues to make huge strides forward in her first full season of racing. after some major mechanical issues in the TT she rode hard forcing the winning 3 rider move on day 2 taking 3rd place and moving well up on GC. Day 3 saw more of the same on the hilly finish where she moved into 3rd over all and held that position all the way to the final podium! She has come along way from not finishing crits earlier this year to 3rd on the podium at a 4 day stage race!
Brandon Eifrid put his MTB legs to use at the race as well riding hard and finishing off his season Nicely.

Result highlights:
Jennica: 3rd stage 2, 4th stage 3, 3rd overall.

Nathan: 13th stage 1
Chris: 13th over all

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