A great weekend of racing for GRR!!!

Last weekend's weather was great for bicycle racing here in Nor Cal.  We has a few racers racing.

Fat Tire Festival - Squaw Valley CA:

Aaron has been racing the Sierra Cup MTB Series all season and the finals were held along with the Fat Tire Festival in Tahoe at the Squaw Valley Ski Resort.  Squaw Valley is in the process of making their mountain once again open to mountain bikers for the summer, and the Fat Tire Festival was their way of welcoming us.  Bikes were allowed only for the weekend of the Festival, with plans for full MTB summer operation in 2013. (we had a great time and HIGHLY suggest you attend next year!)

Aaron and Brandy went up Friday afternoon so Aaron could get a pre ride in before his race Saturday morning.
After a relaxing dinner and a full night sleep, Aaron was up early and ready to race.  And and 930am Aaron was off.  For his 2.5 laps of the 5.5 mile course.  This course has been described by many as the toughest course they have seen for a Cross Country Race. (The bike patrol who were former MTB racers said that a few times!)

Aaron raced both fast and smart, and placed 3rd for the day, thus solidifying his second overall for the series in the Cat 2 Mens 30-39 division.  Aaron worked hard all season and we look forward to see the killer racing he will be doing in the Cat 1 division in 2013.  Awesome season and great job Aaron!  Proud of you!!

Aaron heading up the climb...the 2.5 mile climb!

Aaron on the switchbacks.

Sam & Aaron on the climb, lap 2

Aaron on one of the turns of the climb...yes, it is a long climb

3rd place for the XC race. Woo Hoo Aaron!!

Aaron secured 2nd overall of the Sierra Cup MTB Series.  AWESOME JOB Aaron!!

Lagoon Valley CX - Vacaville, CA

Scotty's season has just really started to roll and he has brought Leslie along in his insanity...it's Cross season baby!!  The Sacramento Cyclocross Series kicked off their season at the Lagoon Valley Park right here in our backyard of Vacaville CA this past Sunday.

Weather was perfect and the course was great.  And since Bicyclingevents.com was the promoter, and they do a great job with the Prairie City MTB Wednesday Night Series and the Rockhopper, Team GRR knew they were in for a great event!  Velo Wrench was even out there with Demo MTB bikes too.

Hoping to be heckled...Scott raced hard and placed 12th in his division. Kudos Scotty!  (now an attempt at heckling Scott..."Scotty, next time you need more beer ups and to grab more cash...one dolla don't make anybody holla...Honey Boo Boo Child"!)

Then Leslie was up.  Leslie raced hard in her very first Cyclocross race.  As a seasoned Mountain Bike and Road racer Leslie was up for a new challenge.  So how did she do???

3rd place in her first CX race! Way to go Leslie!!

Leslie with her 3rd place medal.  Now a CX addict.

Recent Race Results

Great Tahoe Flume Race, Sept 9th - Aaron Obelleiro 9th place.  Aaron is currently sitting in second place over all for the series for his division, with one more race left.  Go Aaron!

Aaron @ the start of the Great Tahoe Flume Race

Iron Girl Tri Tahoe, Sept 16th - Amy Rondoni, Charissa Odom, and Kim Booth all raced this tri.  Charissa 3rd in her age division, and Kim 3rd in her age division.  Awesome job ladies!!

We will pump you up!

Charissa, Amy, and Kim post race.

Few Changes

Not that we are done with this season yet...there is still plenty of racing to be had, but as you can see we are starting to make changes and get ready for next season...Team Grassroots Racing will now be known as Team Velo Wrench.  More exciting changes coming!!

2012 Team Grassroots Racing Racers

Photos provided by Ryan Bates Photography.  Check out Ryan's work at http://ryanbatesphotography.com/

Thank you Ryan!

We are proud to introduce to you the 2012 Team Grassroots Racing Cycling Team.  

Richard-(Road, TT, TRI, MTB) 2012 USA Cycling MTB Championship Podium

Aaron - (MTB)   2012 USA Cycling MTB Championship Podium

Scott - (Cross, Road, TT, MTB)   asst. Team Director

Amy - (MTB)

Ryan - (MTB, TRI)

Kim - (Road, TT)

Leslie - (MTB)

Patrick - (Road, MTB, TRI)

Charissa - (MTB, TRI, TT)

Daniel - (Road, TT, MTB)

Vince - (Road, TT, MTB) Velo Wrench Owner & Main Sponsor

Brandy - (MTB) Team Director

I am proud and happy to race with this great bunch of people!  Ride Safe, -Brandy

Kirkwood MTN XC

So Aaron and Brandy drove up to Kirkwood for the Sierra Cup MTB series XC race.  Weather and venue were beautiful.

Heading up.

Hey look there is the turn in!

XC Start finish

Brandy's day ended early.

Brandy has some bike cleaning to do...yuck

Aaron coming around the start/finish for his second lap

Heading to turn up to start the climb

Aaron starting the climb.

This was a tough course.  Aaron had a couple of small wrecks, but worked hard and ended up 4th for the day.  Dry conditions bloody nose ended Brandy's day early than anticipated.

I shot a quick little video of Aaron on his last lap coming through the pump track section on his way to finishing: http://youtu.be/usH3yrJOjSU  Enjoy!

2012 USA Cycling Mountain Bike National Championships

What a trip, what a killer location and what a race course!!  Team Grassroots racing sent three riders to the 2012 USA Cycling MTB Nationals held in Sun Valley ID.  Aaron Obelleiro in the Cat 2 35-39 category, Richard Nagel in the Cat 3 19-29 category, and Brandy Kilkenny in the Cat 3 40-49 category.  Sun Valley quite possible could be the perfect mountain biking town.  It is so pretty, the weather is wonderful and the atmosphere is fantastic!  If you get a chance to go visit Sun Valley, we suggest you do!!  You will not regret it.

So what about the course....well, a brutal 7 mile climb to start the race, then some fast and flowy sections on wonderful single track, and then of course some more climbing thrown in for more pain....and then a ton of switchbacks to finish us off.  Wow!!!  Our legs were toast when the race was done.

Brandy & Richard launched @ 8:00am and after a small delay, Aaron launched around 11:00am.  We all raced on Thursday July 5th.

Let's start with some action photos:

Aaron picking up the pace on the start lap

Richard coming around the final bend to the finish

Brandy coming through the start/finish area on the start lap

yeah....see that mountain in the background??  Yeah, we climbed it. 

oh don't let the beauty fool you...there is some painful climbing in that mountain!

So how did Team GRR do??       AWESOME!!!

Richard on the Podium!!

Aaron on the Podium!!

Aaron and Richard with their Nationals Medals!

Brandy finished strong but just off the podium in 6th.

We all had a blast in Sun Valley.  We want to thank all of our sponsors who make our season possible, Velo Wrench Bike Shop, Rotor USA, Smith Optics, Honeystinger, Crankbrothers, Handlebar Mustache, Kenda tires, Stan's No Tubes, Brubar, Giro, and Integrate Performance Fitness.  

thank you Lindy for taking the pictures.

2012 MTB Nationals - Team GRR on the podium

Quick update of awesomeness - Team GRR had 3 racers go to the MTB National Championships this past week.  Aaron Obelleiro, 5th place podium Cat 2 Men 35-39.  Richard Nagel 5th place podium Cat 3 Men 19-29, and Brandy Kilkenny 6th place Women Cat 3 40-49.  Pics and race report coming 7/17/2012.