A strong turnout from the team for this classic Central Texas gravel event, with good placings in the 50 km, 75 km, and 100 km categories – including third place in the 50 km and a first place in the 100 km women’s singlespeed categories.

    Photo credit to Joy Miller

Many members of the team, including the San Angelo contingent, made their way out to Lajitas, Texas for the Chihuahuan Desert Bike Fest. This yearly event is a 3 day mountain bike fest in gorgeous West Texas and benefits the Big Bend State and National Parks. The drive may be grueling, but it’s well worth it for the views!

Five of the team made it out to Smithville this past weekend. Well done everyone, and congrats to Lucie for getting on that Single Speed podium!

Three of us braved the 40-50 mph gusts to enjoy the 6 Hr event at Reimer’s Ranch, put on by our good friends at 787 Racing, the event benefiting 787’s junior racing development community. The good news – all three of us won a 3rd Place podium position in our respective categories!

Men’s 50+ 3rd Place: Don Smith
Women’s Open 3rd Place: Carrie Arnold
Men’s Single Speed 3rd Place: Tony Fryer

Despite appalling weather, the team and friends pulled off a solid TMBRA event on December 3. 47 racers showed up to ride in the wet, muddy conditions … and most claimed that they had a good time doing so!

Three of us traveled to the Flatlands of the West this weekend, to hang out with the TIPAR San Angelo Division, meet new people, and get some miles in at the annual 6 hour event. The trail network is fun, with flowing singletrack and some decent climbing considering how flat it is. Two of us retired early due to hear, but young Carrie slogged it out until the end, finishing off in the dark. She took First Place in the Solo Female category!

This just in from Team IPA racer, Bill Ables – a worthy second place finish:

“I competed in the Men’s Cat 1 50-59 age group, which consisted of approximately 15.5 miles of single track with over 2,200 ft. of elevation. Had a good start and went into single track in 5th place out of 7 riders. Within 5 miles I worked my way to 3rd position but at this point had no idea how far the race leaders were ahead of me. 2nd lap I was pretty much by myself except for the occasional rider from group that started before us. Feeling pretty good at 12 mile mark I started a push to see if I might be able to close the gap on leaders. With less than 2 miles from finish I caught 2nd place rider and made the pass but the leader was nowhere in sight. Finished 2nd with a time of 1:41:55. The course was set up very nice in my opinion with a lot of climbing but with sufficient recovery time between uphill battles. Kudos to race organizers, volunteers and all involved…See you next year!”

This past Sunday Team IPA stormed the Bicycle Sport Shop Six Shooter Cyclocross race! The weather was beautiful for the first race of the ATX CX Cup series. The course was fairly technical, with plenty of loose ground, a great 2-part sandpit, plenty of barriers, and a challenging hill section with 3 steep up and downs. Ben Adair represented the team in the Men’s Open Single Speed category, while Lucie Hanzlik and Carrie Arnold both raced the Women’s Open Single Speed and the Women’s 3/4.

Ben placed a very respectable 15th out of 21 in the Men’s Open Single Speed. Lucie placed 5th and Carrie placed 6th out of 6 in the Women’s Open Single Speed, and 20th and 23rd out of 24 in the Women’s 3/4. We’re looking forward to next week’s Georgetown Cyclocross Fest!

Lucie looking FIERCE!

Ben is having a good time!

Sand pit!

Sunday the 18th was one of the very first CX races of the season, the Cyclocross Scuffle in Elgin, Texas. It was an extremely hot day and a small turn-out, but still a very fun race! The course was relatively flat with no run ups, but a gravel start, another gravel pit about half way through, a short sandpit shortly after, and a few barriers.

Carrie Arnold represented Team IPA in both the Single Speed Open and the Women’s 3/4, placing 11th and 16th respectively. We’re looking forward to many more races this season!

In the sand pit! (Photo by Nicolle Spurgeon)

Over the barriers (Photo by Nicolle Spurgeon)

Hanging out with Tri star Gertie Adair before the race!