U.S. Built Custom Bicycles in Titanium and Titanium-Carbon Mix
U.S. Built Custom Bicycles in Titanium and Titanium-Carbon Mix
We’re please to announce that team Kenda-Seven riders Mary McConneloug and Mike Broderick have been selected to the U.S. National team to compete in the World Champions on August 31 in Livigno, Italy. This is Mary’s third trip to the Worlds and Mike’s second. Mary is currently the top-ranked American in the World.
From all of us at Seven Cycles, best of luck Mary and Mike!
Team Kenda-Seven racers Mary McConneloug and Mike Broderick write in from the road. Their recent adventures in Colorado included some racing, some training, and some inspiring words for some young aspiring cyclists.
Mid-summer in the remote, high-elevation regions of Colorado is beautiful beyond description. Incredible Aspen-lined trails, 14,000-foot snow capped mountains, secluded hot springs on raging rivers. And, of course, overfull campgrounds teeming with vehicles that dwarf even our 40 feet of van and trailer. The summer population outnumbers the actual Colorado residents by more than double, resulting clogs at every inch of recreational space each weekend. This leaves us thankful for the quieter weekdays, which allow us some time to experience the open space—or at least find an open campsite.
Snowmass is a destination winter resort town near Aspen that boasts some really great skiing and some sweet high-elevation (8500 feet at the base) mountain bike trails, as well. The NORBA race venue seemed to fill the entire town. It was hectic and cramped, so Mary and I instinctively ended up 40 or so miles away, camping down a quiet dead end canyon road to keep us from getting caught up in the chaos.
The racecourse was set up in the typical alpine style: one steep long climb at the outset and a fast technical descent to the finish. And it was long, with each lap taking around 40 minutes to complete. Mary and I rode a lap the day before the race, but she decided that it would be best to sit this one out, since a huge effort at this elevation with the extra dusty conditions could set her back from her recent recovery from bronchitis—and there was still plenty of race season ahead of her.
Race day was hot and dry. The 100+ men’s field went off at 3:00pm creating an enormous cloud of dust. The opening climb seemed endless: 30+ minutes of struggling even in one of the smaller gears, keeping the throttle pinned just to creep upward and stay on the wheel of the sweaty dude in font of you. The long descent to the finish brought some relief, as we railed down twisty off-camber singletrack through beautiful Aspen groves and the occasional mountain stream.
I was surprised to see the cloud cover start to roll in during the second of three laps, but there was no mistaking the cooling effect and the rain drops as they started to fall. This was without question a good thing, given the intense heat and dust. As I summited the huge climb for the final time and dove into the dark singletrack descent, the rain had started to fall in force and made things a little trickier. It took a bit more effort and a little less speed to navigate; but after the severity of the climbs that were behind me, it was still really enjoyable.
I managed to pass a few key riders on the final climb and was able hold them off on the descent to collect an 11th place finish. I was stoked to cross the line and be done for the day—especially since I noticed that the cloud cover was turning from gray to black. A stiff wind-driven rain began to pelt the large crowd that had gathered for the finish. Lightening striped the sky as thunder boomed in unison. Spectators struggled to wait for their riders to come across the line, determined to tough it out and feel a little of the pain that the riders go through. But the stone hard ice-cube size hail changed those hardy fans (and myself) into scurrying rats diving for the closest shelter. Hats off to those who struggled in and finished in that mess. Racing is always a bit painful, but I know firsthand that this one was over the top.
Mary and I spent almost a week in Basalt, CO before we knew it. Our quiet campground was surrounded by incredible roads and trails that kept us from thinking about much else. We found ourselves climbing thousands of feet on 2-hour singletracks, turning around at the top and descending for a fun-filled hour back to the trailhead. I tried in vain to do some “easy spins” on the road bike, only to be lured into a 5-hour epic to summit a 12,000′ pass. It was just irresistible.
Our next move was towards Telluride, CO to contest an Inter Mountain State Cup Series race. Telluride had already played a part of both our pasts in some way. Mary learned to snowboard here, and it is where I spent a winter working a nighttime sales job to support an advanced snowboarding habit. Summer in Telluride was a first for both of us, and we were both struck by how incredible this town is. As real estate prices clearly indicate, many others feel the same way.
The racecourse began out of a mountain village at a literally breath taking 9,500′, then climbed fiercely for 800′ or so through a mix of painfully steep fire roads and beautiful traversing singletrack. There was no more than 1k of flat riding on the entire course and just a fraction of it at the top of the climb before we were sent down a beautiful rugged 2.5km switchback descent to the finish. Mary and I raced at the same time and we both really enjoyed the course and the well-planned venue. The promoters (Cycle Syndicate) really put on a good show for everyone.
Mary was psyched to be back racing and didn’t bother to hold back from throwing down a big effort at the start. This resulted in her dropping the entire women’s field and launched her solidly into the expert men, who had started 2 minutes prior. Mary took advantage of the men’s field to hone her race tactics, using her climbing skills to pass as many of them as possible to get a clear, dust-free shot at the descent. Mary finished her three laps with a six-minute lead on the closest woman and an unofficial fifth position in the expert men’s field. She was stoked to be back to her racing ways and seemed better off overall from her short mid-season break.
I was wondering how my big week of training would affect my race form and was thinking twice about my decision to go so big as I saw some familiar Colorado tough guys at the start. I was treating this as a training race—and good training it was. I followed a big attack that started at the gun and lasted all the way through the long climb to the top. Ouch! On the second of four laps, I had settled into a more comfortable third position. I saw throughout the race that I could make a lot of time on the second place guy on the difficult final descent. It seemed that what I needed to do to beat him was hang on to within 20 seconds at the top of the final climb. It’s really more my style to push it throughout the entire race, but the elevation was forcing me to be more strategic. I used as little energy as possible on the final climb and made my attack on the descent, quickly finding the wheel of second place through the thick dust. As I applied the pressure looking for a place to pass on the impossibly narrow trail, he frantically picked up the pace, took a bad line, and kissed the ground in one of the soft corners just 1km from the finish. I was able to cruise through to a second place finish on the day.
Mary and I took some extra time for a bit of fun to the highly attended kids’ race that was taking place a few hours after our finish. Mary led out a group of 12 girls ranging in age from 3 to 12 and even more widely spread in ability. It was beautiful to see the affect that she had on them. The girls loved that someone so personable was out there, and the parents were even more stoked to have their kids racing with an Olympian. Mary had a rewarding autograph session after the race with the majority of the kid racers and their families. She’s genuinely stoked to inspire people—especially kids—to get out and ride their bikes.
My experience leading out the 10 or so little boys’ race was an equally cool experience. It felt really good to give a little something back to the sport that has given us so much.
We were able to squeeze in a fun ride the next day out of Telluride that started with free gondola ride up past 10, 000 feet. Telluride is the only town in the states that offers a free year-round gondola service that you can use for commuting from town to the mountain village or just to get in some easy vert on the mountain. We ended up on a 2.5-hour ride mostly downhill on remote single track. For us, it doesn’t get much better than that.
Mary and I are now driving from Colorado and across to southwestern Utah to stop # 6 on the NORBA National circuit in Brianhead, UT. We are really enjoying this segment of our trip, but are also looking forward to heading back to Europe in three weeks to contest the World Championships in Livigno, Italy and the final round of the world cup series in Fort William, Scotland.
All the Best!
Mont St. Anne, Canada is a familiar and favorite place of Mary’s and mine to spend some time and race the bikes during the summer. This year’s late June mountain bike trip turned out to be one of the best to date. Although it was a bit difficult to pry ourselves away from the awesome trails and Mary’s family in Fairfax, CA, (where we spent our first week home from Europe), we hitched up our trailer and made the drive across the spring green desert of Nevada to Salt Lake City, Utah. We managed our first high elevation ride along the way, stopping in Truckee, California where we sampled a bit of the fun and fast Emigrant Trail, which was the heavily traveled route of many early settlers who passed through the Sierra Nevada mountains on their way to California.
Mary and I decided forgo the previous week’s NORBA National Series race in Deer Valley, Utah and take a rest week so we could be more prepared for our goal of racing well at the World Cup events. We flew from Salt Lake to Montreal, Canada, rented a mini van and drove the three hours east through Quebec City to Mont St. Anne.
This is a four-season resort town, which specializes in skiing and mountain biking and hosts World Cup events in both sports. The multitude of condos situated at the base of the green mountain is a clear indication that this is a serious recreational outlet, drawing tourists from far and wide to this French speaking community.
The mountain itself is a steep 2000 feet of jutting rock and black dirt rising up from the banks of the St. Lawrence River. The mountain is covered with a mix of open grassy slopes and dark forest, riddled with rooty east coast single track. The XC racecourse incorporates 5 km of the lower trails that continually switch back on themselves. This is a great place to have a bike race: challenging and fun for the racers and equally good for the large number of Canadian fans who come to watch.
Mary’s claim of “not having a perfect race” was hard to believe, since she ended up on the podium in 5th place. In order to get to the tight single track with the top of the field, she burned some candles and, as a result, her technical descending skills were compromised on the first challenging, rocky downhill; she took an uncharacteristic spill and had to get off and run down part of the fast descent.
She did not get hurt or lose many spots, but any crash definitely distracts the focus, and it can be difficult to find the inner rhythm that we strive for in racing. Mary managed to stay in the top 7 for the first 3 of 5 laps. Slowly and steadily, she regained her composure and settled in—charging up the short steep climbs and threading her bike down the dark rooty maze in the woods.
Mary rode on with determination and steadily closed in on and passed German, Ivonne Kraft to take over 6th position. On the 4th lap, Mary caught up to the fading Irina Kalentieva of Russia and moved into 5th place. Mary rode steady and had a clean ride for the remainder of the race, finishing 5th on the day. She is psyched to have three World Cup podium finishes in a row, and the confidence that goes with the consistent finishes on three very different courses that cover the spectrum of what makes cross-country mountain bike racing so difficult.
Mary rushed home to quickly shower and gather her podium ware before the awards ceremony, which she almost missed. She received flowers and kisses and gleefully sprayed champagne with the other women celebrating another great day of mountain bike racing. Her five minutes of glory were over all too soon as she rushed back to the condo to get her recovery drink and then head back to the feed zone to handle the critical logistics of being in my feed zone.
It was a welcomed first to start in the second row of a World Cup race. I was called to the line in 19th position due to my overall ranking from the early season overseas. I took the last spot on the second row and just tried to relax and enjoy the experience of being staged with the top guys. I tried to ignore the searing heat as I stood out in the open sun crammed together with all these warmed up athletes, but there was no missing the puddle of sweat that was accumulating in the dust at my feet. As the start pistol fired, I managed to swing around the right of the mass and lock into a comfortable 5th to 10th place for the first mile of the dodgy start loop. I was happy to be with the front group of 15 as we cleared the first decisive climb and dropped into the technical single track, since this is where things get strung out and where the first selection of the race is made.
My game plan was to ride somewhat conservatively, since this is the type of course that can really wreak havoc on the equipment. I saw plenty of evidence of this on race day: guys flying over the bars in front of me, others drifting backwards with mud caked to their helmets or on the side of the course repairing some damaged component. It took a lot of focus to safely negotiate this incredible twisty course, and because of this, the six laps (2 hours) seemed to pass by really fast. Nonetheless, I was starting to feel the pangs of leg cramps on the last big climb. Fortunately, the dark woods were waiting at the top and my pains were put aside as I enjoyed the course’s technical challenges. I was really happy to finish 18th: my best World Cup finish to date.
We celebrated Mary’s 34th birthday in a laid back cross-country racer fashion the night before the race. Someday we will have a proper party—maybe when Mary turns 45. Still, we enjoyed being able to spend some time with my mom who came to share the condo with us for the weekend and with our friends Ritchie and Jenny from Ireland. It was a luxury to be able to entertain in a condo rather than the usual cramped camper trailer or RV.
We are now in Heber City, Utah staying with our friends Kathy and Chris Sherwin for a few days before setting off to find a high mountain to park the trailer on. We are looking to get in a bit of altitude acclimation before the 6th and highest elevation World Cup in Angle Fire, New Mexico on July 10th.
Thanks for all the support and interest in what we are doing.
All the best!
Mary and I are recovering from a full weekend of racing in the beautiful Sonoran desert located in the foothills just outside of Phoenix. The Nova Desert Classic was the second round in the seven-race NORBA Series. This was a true desert experience complete with 30+ foot Saguaro cactus, desert tortoise, rattle snakes, and coyote. Not so true to form were the mild 60-degree temps and overcast conditions that persisted throughout the weekend, which made things easier on us northern-blooded racers.
The locals claim that the desert is the greenest that it has been in 30 years and that we are lucky to see it in such an explosion of color. I can’t help but wonder if they are just making excuses in order to keep this beautiful place a secret for themselves.
If you are looking for some flat fast single track with hospitable temperatures during the winter months, McDowell Mountain State Park would be a good choice. Mary and I spent the race weekend camped in our trailer right across the street from the venue, reacquainting with old friends, and taking the time to make some new ones. Our trailer, though slightly damaged, is turning out to be a really great race accessory. It’s a bit more to handle on the road than the stock van and now we rarely miss a gas station, but it makes up for all this by being much more comfortable to live out of (once we are parked). It has all the amenities that we need to be comfortable and at our best on race day.
This past weekend we competed in a three-day stage race. Friday was an 8-mile time trial contested over a twisty and technical 99% single track course. We were sent out in 1-minute intervals to tackle the course alone, left to push our limits and minimize our time based on strategy and some personal suffering. Mary ended up finishing the course in a respectable 33min 11sec, which gave her 6th place for the day. I ended up turning a 29min 24sec that was good for 19th on the day. It was amazing to see that mere 100ths of a second separated many of the top athletes after the rugged prologue event.
Saturday was a super competitive 25 minute short track held on a .5-mile spectator-friendly dusty loop through the venue. Mary led the women’s race for as many laps as she could hold onto, preferring to stay out of the enormous dust cloud that enshrouded the following riders. This strategy also allowed her a clear line down the courses tough drop, but also gave several of the other women an opportunity to hold onto her wheel and save some energy for a final effort. Mary ended up 9th place, only giving up a few seconds in the overall GC time for the weekend.
The 98 strong men’s field was deemed too dangerous to race all at once on the tight course so we were split into 2 groups based on our time trial finish times. I went off with the group selected from the top half of the time trial finishers, and even with the reduced numbers several managed to find a way to hit the ground on one lap or another. With all the dust and the confusion created by splitting the group, I don’t even know how I finished; but I managed to move up to 18th place overall for the weekend after the times for the first two events were combined. I was just glad to make it through the short track keeping the rubber side down. I’m sure it was pretty ugly for some of the others.
Sunday was the cross country, which we consider the main event. This course was 6 miles of exceptionally fast loose single track. In short, it was much like a road race where drafting was key. Mary made a decisive move in the first lap that separated an 8 women group, which would stay away for the rest of the race. Mary and the other independent riders suffered from some Luna Team tactics, which made for a difficult race. The women completed 4 laps on the course, and by the final mile, the top 5 were within 20 seconds of each other. It was really exciting to watch and I was hardly able to warm up, but I think that the adrenalin more than made up for it. Mary ended up finishing 5th on the day.
I had a great start considering I came up from the second row—I was able to sneak up the right side and drop into the single track in 6th position. The pace was really fast and I was able to hang on mostly because of my technical skills. After a lap up with the lead group, I was forced to reconsider my strategy, tone it down a bit, and consider that we still had 4 laps to go. From there I was on my own for a good bit of the race and able to appreciate the awesome riding even while pushing myself near my limits. I ended up with an exciting and hard fought 15th place on the day.
In a stage race, the times from the 3 individual races are added together into an overall time for the weekend. As we added together our times, we realized that Mary was only 3 seconds out of a 5th-place podium spot for the weekend. Although it is always great to get some podium time, Mary was happy to come out of our New England deep freeze winter and snow training and be competitive so early in the season. To be honest, we don’t really know how I finished overall, since everyone just packed up and left after the top five results were figured out. I really enjoyed the racing and was happy to feel competitive throughout the entire weekend.
RV life remains a constant test, as I guess we should have expected when buying a considerably used second hand rig. This week a blown fuse kept us from using our battery power, and I am just about to get into the issue that caused a small flood inside our home last night. One good thing I am sure is that the pipes didn’t freeze. I have learned once again that diagnosing the problem is more than half the battle. Before I start imagining and expecting a huge fissure broken into in our holding tank, I am hoping to find a loose pipe or fitting.
Mary and I are looking forward to some fun travels exploring the southwest and lots of serious training time over the next few weeks. We are going to be slowly making our way towards Marin County CA to visit Mary’s family and take advantage of the training grounds that we know so well. We are already looking forward to our next competitive event: the 4-day stage race The Sea Otter Classic in Monterey CA April 14th -17th.
All the best!
