AZ DEVO Junior/U23 Cycling Team | Developing the future of cycling!

Mens Cat 1 (17-18) Cross Country Rankings (2011)
	Name	License
Rank	Points	Results
1	485	8	Ryan Geiger	258285
2	375	7	Tyler Coplea	196300
3	336	6	Casey Williams	227522
4	270	4	Anthony Smith	205657
5	242	5	Ryan Odle	301917
6	240	4	Richard Cypress Gorry	219681
7	235	7	Cody Phillips	318790
8	214	6	Kyle Willett	290452
9	180	2	Keegan Swenson	282247
9	180	3	Jake Richards	265418
11	179	4	Zeb Leister	304146
12	175	3	Max Houtzager	286995
13	170	3	Benjamin Senkerik	294148
14	150	4	Casey Hildebrandt	296192
15	140	3	Myles Beach	208348

Great weekend at the Whiskey 50 Off-Road with the AZ Devo crew. The downtown of Prescott AZ was transformed into a massive race venue for this weekend of shredding! I arrived in Prescott on Friday afternoon and immediately went down to grab my packet. From previous years of doing this race I was expecting a couple of tents and maybe one or two booths. I was wrong! An assortment of teams from Luna Chix to Giant Factory Off-road lined Whiskey Row. Seeing this I immediately was stoked and ready for the next day’s race. I stuck around and watched the downtown crit, which looked really tough, and then headed back to the hotel to get some rest.

The next morning came quick as I arose at 5:00 am in anticipation for my 7:30 start. I ate some good food and tossed on my kit as I got ready to head over to the venue. It was pretty chilly with temps in the low 40s so I limited my warm up time to about twenty minutes to try to keep warm. That might have been a bad idea because as the 500+ riders left downtown Prescott the race got fast quick. I was able to kind of suffer through as my legs got warmed up and settle into the front group. By the time we had finished the 4 mile pavement climb I knew my legs just kind of felt a little off. I just put that aside and hopped on the single-track within the top ten. The pace settled down just a little bit when we hit the trail with an exception of two guys who took off. I had a clean ride up the “water bar” climb and down the gnarly steep descent that followed.

I hit the bottom of the long double track descent and then the course headed back uphill. At this point I just couldn’t get my legs to start clicking. I just kept telling myself they would come around as a couple of guys passed me up the climb. A couple of miles later the course turned down again. At this point, we started the descent into Skull Valley. I was interested to see what I would be climbing up in the near future. The road was not to steep so there was a lot of pedaling on the way down, this was good and bad. No recovery on the way down but not too steep on the way up. It seemed like it took no time to get to the bottom so I gladly turned around at the checkpoint with the attitude of “this won’t be so bad.” I was a little mistaken. By this point, my legs finally started coming around but that didn’t make the climb hurt any less. I pushed it hard on the 10+ miles of pure climbing on the way up, catching a few of the guys who passed me when I wasn’t feeling good. This gave me extra inspiration, I saw people really starting to fade as I was finally feeling good! I kept chugging along taking a short stop at the aid station at the top of the Skull Valley climb. Luckily they had some HEED and it is amazing how hard you can go for so long when you are properly fueled by a quality drink like Hammer Nutrition’s HEED.

I hopped back on my bike after refilling my bottles and quickly got back in the rhythm. I picked off a few more guys and then it came; the top of the climb!! After nearly and hour and a half of solid climbing it seemed like it would never come. I saw the single-track and just knew I was getting close to finish. This lit a match I didn’t know I had because I just let it rip. Despite being pretty wasted from the first 40 miles of the race I knew if I rode smooth I could pass quite a few more people. This turned out to be the case; my Trek Superfly 100 guided me down the trail with precision. Where others struggled through rocks and switchbacks I was able to float with the amazing ingenuity they engineered into that bike. The trails were a perfect way to finish off the race, they were well built, flowy trails that were amazingly fun to ride. As I reached about 4 miles from the finish the course hopped on a pavement descent which would lead us back down to Whiskey Row. This was one of the toughest parts of the race, it was definitively not one of those descents where you tuck down and coast to the finish. It was suffering the whole way down. I saw a couple more guys up the road and was determined to get before the end. As I finally exited the pain cave when I caught the last guy I could see, I was welcomed to be able to draft. I sat in for about a minute, but as soon as I saw the finish I attacked. He sprinted, trying to follow. I got a bit of a gap but couldn’t let up until I crossed the line. What a way to finish a 50 mile race; a sprint finish!

I was tired. I shook the guy’s hand that I had battled it out with and then sat down. I drank some Recoverite and then headed back to the hotel for a great shower. Clean and re hydrated I cruised back down to the venue to hang out with some AZ Devo teammates and wait for awards. I was pleased to be greeted with the news that two of my teammates and taken first and second overall in the 25 mile event. Great job Cypress and Ty! Awards were cool, with some schwag and some interviews, which I was really stoked about. All in all it was a great weekend in Prescott. Although I didn’t have the best race of my life I was satisfied with my pushing myself the best that I could and getting a great result out of it. When it was all said and done I ended up winning the Junior category and placed solidly in the top ten overall!

~ Ryan Geiger
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The week approaching the Whiskey Off-Road race in Prescott, I was very excited to actually be feeling good for once this season. By the morning of the race I was very confident that I would do well. With a spot on the front line, I was feeling great from the start as I took the hole-shot. Glancing back, seeing Tyler right behind me, I eased up a bit in order to let some other riders do the work. Not working very hard to sit on we waited till another rider attacked. Going with him, we got a gap from the rest of the field. At this point the gap was quite small and Coach D bridged up to us. Giving us a good long pull, Darrin gave us a huge gap from the field. After the amazing pull it was up to Tyler and I for the rest of the race.

Through the first couple sections of single track Ty and I worked together as much as we could. My Trek Superfly seemed to be the perfect bike for the course, with the long gradual climbs and fun, fast descents. As we came to the end of the longest downhill section of the course there was a lengthy section of rolling hills along a creek. I picked up the pace and soon realized I had dropped Tyler. Continuing the effort, I climbed and climbed. And climbed some more till finally there was some downhill. Still feeling great, I was flying on all the downhill sections. With a few shorter climbs left I was hammering up all of them. From here there was really only a long downhill section to the finish back in town.

Soon I noticed my front tire getting pretty squishy. No biggie, I would just pull over and use my Genuine Innovations Big Air. This was great in theory, but I hadn’t ever used the new quick fill heads. Not having the brains to figure out the device on the go I used the whole big air and still didn’t have any more air in my tire than before. Great! Next thing I know I find myself running down the trail just wondering when Tyler will come blazing by me. Finally, I arrive at the junction from trail to road where I’m greeted by the lead motorcycle. Getting back on my bike I hear, “Hey, that front tire’s looking a little flat there.” Riding with a front flat was no easy task while yelling at everyone who passes me in an attempt to obtain a quick fill. After many failed attempts I figured Tyler would be coming by soon and hopefully be kind enough to lend me some air. But no, a Bicycleworld.tv rider came to my rescue! With a front tire once again full of air, I was ready to rock. Not expecting me to be going again, I flew past the lead motorcycle. “Now here we go!” he exclaimed as he gunned it to get back in front. From this point everything went great. Hammering in the rest of the way to the finish, I took an overall first on the day and set a new course record with Tyler taking the second place on the podium just a couple minutes behind me!

~ Cypress Gorry

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The Whiskey Off-Road is always a race to look forward to every year. I won the 25 miler in the 18 and under class and took second overall the last year. This year I was looking to win the overall. My teammate Cypress was going to be in the race with me and I knew we were going to be able to work together. Our strategy was to sit in for the first mile on the road, and with about two miles to the single track, we were going to attack. Our plan went beautiful and our team coach Darrin attacked and we got on his wheel. From there we all worked together and got a huge gap in a matter of a minute. Then, Darrin pulled off and Cypress and I started our two hour time trial. Cypress and I worked together in any way that we could. After we reached to top of the climb we had a nice ten minute decent to the bottom with some much needed recovery. Once that was over we began the 45 minute climb to the top. This climb wasn’t necessary insanely steep or super long, but it just comes at that point in the race where it can make or break your race.. Unfortunately, it broke mine. Cypress has always been a super awesome rider when it comes to these kinds of climbs. I on the other hand can kill it when the climbs are constant and short pitches and especially if they are super steep. Unfortunately, that is not what this climb was and I knew the only way to stay with him was to go all out to stay on his wheel. I knew that as long as I could see him that I could stay with him. That didn’t work out so well for me. He was just powering away up this hill. Yes, the 100 pounds Cypress “The Pole” Gorry powered away from me. He was a beast going up the hill and I just couldn’t do it. My legs were not tired and I wasn’t breathing hard, I just couldn’t get my legs to work. So from there I just got into my rhythm and rode my way to the finish hoping that I would catch him. Before I knew it I was coming up to the finish without catching him. I was super bummed, but at the same time had tons of fun riding with my teammate and was happy for him to get the win. I finished the day in second in both Jr’s and overall. I don’t think I could have lost a race at a batter time. Races like this makes me train twice as hard it comes at a great time with the Europe trip coming up and the World Cup race that goes with it.

Next stop, MBAA race in Globe!

~ Tyler Coplea

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This was the first time I did The Whiskey and even though my race didn’t go well the event was awesome. The town of Prescott was amazing with their support of the event. Most towns that I’ve been to for races for the people look at us like ‘what’s with all the weird cyclists’ but in Prescott I felt very welcomed. I talked to several people from the town that weren’t cyclists and had never seen a bike race before that were out at the crit Friday and cheering people in at the finish on Saturday I thought that was awesome.

I started feeling a little bit sick on Friday on the drive up but I was excited for my first pro race so I didn’t worry about it much because I was going to race no matter what. The crit on Friday evening was cool, the town blocked off about 1.25mi in the middle of downtown for us to race. The course felt like it was 90% up hill. The neutral rolling start wasn’t very neutral, we weren’t going full speed but everyone was pushing around for position. I held on for about 15min of pain before I got pulled.

Saturday morning I went down to watch the 25 mile start while still feeling sick. Tyler C. and Cypress were one and two at the first corner and heading out of town. After the start, I went back to the house we were staying at and tried to eat even though my stomach didn’t want any food in it. I did some stretching and relaxing and watched some lacrosse before heading back to welcome Cypress and Tyler back as the first two riders to finish the 25.

I woke up Sunday morning still feeling sick but i got ready and warmed up for the race like everything was fine and tried not to think about being sick and just race. The pace didn’t start as fast as I expected but definitely wasn’t feeling it and was riding in the back none the less. About one hour in, things went from not very good to terrible. I bonked super hard from a combination of not eating enough the days before the race because I was sick and not fueling enough during the race. I suffered for another 4 hours to the finish. My time was way off what i wanted it to be but, I’ll be back in Prescott next year to try again.

~ Travis Glysson

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USA Cycling has selected 3 AZ Devo riders to go across the pond as members of the Junior European Mountain Bike Camp. The goal of this camp is to provide high-level European race experience for our country’s best young mountain bike racers. Tyler Coplea, Ryan Geiger & Cypress Gorry will all represent Arizona and our country when they travel to Germany next month. This is huge honor and the 1st time any Junior 17-18 rider from Arizona has been selected to attend this camp. There are six junior male riders from the USA selected to attend this prestigious camp and AZ Devo riders account for half of them!

The riders were selected based on their results in last year’s USA MTB National Championships, the 2010 USAC Pro XCT Races and this year’s National US Cup Pro XCT Series. These riders will be staying in USA Cycling’s base camp in Kirchzarten, Germany for two weeks. They will have the unique opportunity to work with USA Cycling coaches and trainers. Not to mention that these guys will also be racing for the US National Team at the UCI World Cup race in Offenburg, Germany and the Swiss Cup race in Granichen, Switzerland against the top racers in the world.

The riders will be flying across the pond on May 24th into Frankfurt, Germany. While it is a huge honor to be selected to attend this camp, each rider will be responsible for a portion of their associated travel costs and a camp fee. USA Cycling is underwriting a part of each riders expenses, but with the exchange rate not favoring the US dollar, the associated costs born by the riders is still sizable. AZ Devo is trying to help fund each of these riders to allow them to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. Tax deductible donations can be made to support AZ Devo racers in Europe through our non-profit fundraising arm, the Nova Youth Cycling Foundation (a 501(c)(3) charitable organization). Tax deductible donations in any amount can be made online by going to our donation page. The team appreciates all of the support that everyone has provided as we make strides in helping our riders become their best.