The Mission Continues: Despite the challenges we all faced in 2021, we continue to strive for our mission to Get Rowdy and Give Back. This year we did just that. After a rough 2020 that saw lockdowns, mask mandates, and social distancing we all had a lot to learn in terms of how to safely socialize and stay physically and mentally well. Thankfully mountain biking is a sport where it’s fairly easy to social distance and we’re always outdoors, soaking up the vitamin D and getting those endorphins pumping. It’s tough to think of anything better than being a Rowdy and riding a mountain bike in Colorado.
Community co-ed group rides were a good success. They started off hot as most were eager to both start riding for the 2021 season but also to get back riding in groups post-COVID lockdown. While temps went up, the quality of our co-ed group rides never wavered and we put down some great Front Range classics as a group. In addition to our co-ed rides, we hosted several women’s rides that had overwhelming attendance. To kick the season off, we had over 20 women charge Dakota Ridge together working on progression and building community amongst the growing numbers of women getting into MTB on the Front Range.
With the stoke building amongst lady rippers, we are adding more women-specific rides next season! With such great turnout for all of our community rides, we are confident that we just might have found some future Colorowdies Ambassadors.
In line with our mission of stewardship, this season we took our Mountain Bike Mission to beautiful Summit County and one of our favorite trails in Colorado, Lenawee. Our crew partnered with Summit County Mountain Bike Association (SCOMBA) and the National Forest Service to do some maintenance and repairs. The trail has been in service for over 80 years and is a huge part of the history in Summit County. Head on over to our Mission Trip – Summit County blog post for the full details. Lenawee saw heavy use the rest of the summer and the trail is still holding strong!
In addition to our mission trip this season, the Colorowdies had the good fortune of connecting with Project Bike Love for the opportunity to help support their efforts to empower women locally, nationally and internationally through biking. We collected slightly loved gear at both our co-ed group rides and Ambassador rides three separate times culminating in donating more than 16 jerseys, 18 pairs of shorts/pants, 8 helmets, 5 pairs of riding shoes, 5 backpacks and 2 pairs of gloves. It was really incredible to see this year’s group of Ambassadors show up with so much to give and spread our love for biking. To be just a small part of the great work Project Bike Love is doing means so much to this crew.
The Colorowdies saw many highs and lows during the season. We continued our group rides, strengthened our relationship in the community with volunteer trail work, and showed some awesome results throughout the race season. We also struggled with injuries that left a number of our teammates sidelined for a period throughout the year. Broken bones, surgeries, casts, and concussions riddled the crew this year. Thank goodness we ended the season on a high note with us healthy and strong as we headed south for the Trail Party Gravity Stage Race Series in Angel Fire, NM.
We had an incredible showing from our team with several podium finishes throughout the season. Racing is the foundation of the Colorowdies – this element continues to be the backbone of our team. Fields are getting tougher and tougher, yet our team continues to rise to the challenge, pushing one another to get faster with each ride. Our team painted the podium red, with an explosion of talent claiming podium spots in each category. We want to congratulate all of our races on a successful season!
As we conclude our seventh season we owe a huge debt of gratitude to our sponsors and supporters. We have several great companies who keep us riding fast and looking good. Thank you to Golden Bike Shop, Smith Optics, Industry Nine, Tasco and Compel. We greatly appreciate your dedication and support. We would also like to thank the fine folks at SCoMBA, COMBA, Team Evergreen, Big Mountain Enduro, Revolution Enduro, and Trail Party for making our sport what it is today. The Rowdies are looking forward to an even better and brighter 2022. Until then — Stay Rowdy!
