Colorado 2005 Populaire Results

129km -- 2 October 2005 -- Rabbit Mountain

RUSA#	Time	Rider
153	4:34	Ellis, John Lee
2032	4:35	Foss, Tom
	5:51	Garcia, Sheridan
	5:34	Knoblauch, Tom
	4:34	Kolm, Christopher
2856	4:03	Kraychy, Jim
	4:50	McDonald, Sargent
	4:08	Newton, Gerry
1140	4:37	Noris, Peter
2712	6:12	Quince, Devin
	6:12	Quince, Heidi
	4:03	Rudolph, Steve
	5:08	Snavely, Henry
	4:21	Zeisig, Theo

Record Warmth and a Mountain Thrown In!

The final randonnée of the year saw 88 degree temps, plenty of sun, plenty of wind, and a smattering of fall colors on the Plains. Road construction in Lyons nixed the spur up Apple Valley, the linchpin of the ride, so riders instead climbed the Rabbit Mountain road.

Thanks especially to ride leader Carol Chaffee, taking a break between setting a new UMCA Colorado border-to-border record the week before, and winning Furnace Creek 508 one week later!

- John Lee Ellis

122km -- 18 June 2005 -- Copper Triangle

RUSA#	Time	Rider
	5:40	Benoit, Diane
	5:49	Billings, Marland
2855	4:40	Chaffee, Carol
	5:34	Clark, Drew
1471	5:04	Foley, Paul
	5:04	Liedtke, Brian
	4:33	Rosenthal, Harris
	4:28	Rudolph, Steve
	5:07	Shannon, Kelly
	6:57	Snavely, Henry

Brilliant!

Under virtually cloudless, bright blue skies, brightened further by hefty leftover snow in the crevasses, 17 starters (yet only 10 finishers) soaked up the pre-summer mountain scenery for this clockwise Copper Triangle. Some club-ride riders choses to ride counterclockwise, providing yet another chance for social encounter.

Times for mountain routes tend to spread a lot, even moreso on this one as some riders went for the optional, hilly Turquoise Lake loop out of Leadville, boosting the fun quotient even further.

Another big thanks to Carol Chaffee for leading this "challenging" populaire!

- John Lee Ellis

122km -- 23 April 2005 -- Lefthand Canyon - Estes Park

RUSA#	Time	Rider
	6:03	Carlson, James
2855	4:38	Chaffee, Carol
	5:17	Clark, Drew
1471	5:39	Foley, Paul
	4:18	Gregory, Robin
	6:09	Hoff, Peter
	5:11	Howard, Mark
2866	5:50	Jeter, Lukas
	5:25	Kahler, Geoff
	4:18	Kalisch, Tim
	5:39	Liedtke, Brian
	4:57	Marquette, Brian
	4:20	McDonald, Sargent
	4:53	Michel, Mark
	4:59	Oehman, Amy
	4:20	Rudolph, Steve
	6:17	Russon, Rick
	6:17	Seidel, John
	5:15	Snavely, Henry
	5:21	Zeisig, Theo

Neither wind nor snow!

As other RMCC riders bronzed themselves on the Spring Contrail in New Mexico and Arizona, a great turnout of 21 riders were blessed by an absence of both chinook winds and spring snows as in years past, so we can declare success with this Populaire!

Once again, a big thanks to Carol Chaffee for leading these April populaires. Carol is fast enough to finish in time to meet and greet most every other finisher - an added plus!

- John Lee Ellis

122km -- 10 April 2005 -- Horsetooth - Ft. Collins - Windsor

RUSA#

Time

Rider

Winterlike Weather Nixes Populaire!

Balmy weather into the 70's on Friday bore no resemblance to Sunday's wintry blast, a foot or more of heavy, wet snow blowing in in blizzard, near white-out conditions!

Peter Noris e-mailed ostensibly from the ride start asking where everybody was - what a randonneur!

- John Lee Ellis

116km -- 3 April 2005 -- Ft. Lupton - Keenesburg - Brighton

RUSA#	Time	Rider
	3:50	Benoit, Diane
	4:25	Busch, Mike
2855	3:44	Chaffee, Carol
	4:42	Clancy, John
2844	3:40	Dodge, Tim
1576	4:04	Favreau, Robin
2434	3:44	Flanigan, John
2032	4:04	Foss, Tom
	4:36	Garcia, Sheridan
	4:45	Haas, William
	4:34	Hartman, Bob
	4:10	Knoblauch, Tom
2856	3:52	Kraychy, Jim
	3:40	Memelink, Chris
	4:04	Miller, Bob
1140	4:48	Noris, Peter
	4:04	Oehmen, Amy
2299	4:04	Phelps, Val
	3:44	Prendergast, Michael
2712	5:13	Quince, Devin
	3:40	Rudolph, Steve
	3:57	Snavely, Henry
	5:08	Walker, Charles

A Springlike Start to the Populaires!

Balmy weather welcomed 28 riders on the traditional plains-fest out to Keenesburg for the season's first populaire. Riders included Val Phelps and Robin Favreau, who came all the way from Durango for this one. Val was a great help leading many a populaire before moving out west. Val and Robin are also riding the Casa Grande AZ brevet series.

Peter Noris replied to the observation that this was a recumbent-friendly course, that "it may look flat to you, but from down here ..."

Big thanks to Furnace Creek 508 veteran and all around bonne vivante Carol Chaffee on leading her first populaire - she has graciously volunteered to lead the April populaires!

- John Lee Ellis