Join the Albion Brewing ride every Wednesday, 52 weeks a year, at the Canyonside Park off Black Mountain Road in San Diego. Meet at the far west end of the parking lot. Ride starts promptly at 5:45 PM. This is a fast paced 15-20 mile ride that requires an Intermediate to Advanced level of mountain biking skill. Night lights are required from mid September until early April. After the ride join the group for pizza and beer. Also check the Upcoming Events to the right for Albion Brewing weekend epic rides and races.

More success was the story for Team Albion at the Racers & Chasers Sycamore race on Saturday, January 28. Ken Winston competed in his second Racers & Chasers Marathon and proudly took home another victory in the 50+ age group. The win did not come easy as Ken edged out perennial favorite Dee Folse by barely one minute in a race that lasted just under 4 hours. Ken finished 3rd overall in the Marathon. Elizabeth Daubner finished 2nd in the Womens Open Marathon despite suffering a massive tire blowout that left a 4" hole in her tire. At the time Elizabeth had a comfortable lead over her competition but walking the last mile+ obviously impacted her finish time. Pat Daubner took 4th place in the 50+ Marathon division while Andy Green completed 3 laps in the Open Marathon.

In the Sport XC Cesar Mora took the overall victory along with the 35-39 age group title. Cesar had to dig deep to maintain his 1+ minute margin over Thomas Esbeck. Expert rider Randy Liechty took the win in the 50-59 division by less than 1 minute while Tim Neuschwander took 2nd place in the expert single speed division, his first Racers & Chaser competition. Collin Valentine finished 8th in the ultra competitive 35-39 XC Sport and Lynn Trimble took a DNF and hiked his way back to the start line after suffering a sliced tire on the second lap. Elizabeth and Lynn will shopping for tires this week. The next Racers & Chasers event is February 25 at Black Mountain.

Although the day started out cold and dreary, the sun eventually shined on Team Albion. Every rider for Albion Brewing took home a medal on Saturday, January 21. Jeff Fischer took the win in the Sport Solo division with an amazing 13 laps, only one lap short of the winning Professional Solo rider. Ken Winston made his debut in the Solo 50+ division with an impressive 12 laps. Ken managed to move into first place late in the race and held on to win by a mere 4 minutes. Albion Brewing’s Salty Dog 4 person team consisting of Osamu Chiba, Bryan Jones, Dave Krosch and Lynn Trimble claimed another victory with 15 laps. In the 6 hour race Andy Green took home a 3rd place medal in the Solo Sport category while Miguel Louza took 5th place in the Solo Singlespeed category. The results of the So Cal Epic 50 are now available at the So Cal 12 Hour website. The next 12 Hour race is June 9.

Albion Brewing Riders made another impressive showing at the first Racers & Chasers event for 2012 in Balboa Park. The high speed anerobic and cylclecross friendly course was approximately 3.75 miles per lap with about 300 ft of climbing per lap and a short slightly technical downhill section. The marathon consisted of as many laps as possible within the 3 1/2 hour time limit. The Sport XC event was 4 1/2 laps long while the Experts raced for 5 1/2 laps. The Andy Green completed 13 laps in the Marathon race earning him 5th place overall. In the cross country race Cesar Mora took first place in the Sport 35-39 age group with a time of 1:07:31. Cesar’s time was good enough for second place overall in the Sport division. In the Sport 50-59 age group Lynn Trimble also claimed first place with a time of 1:10:29.

Albion Films released their first mountain bike video filmed at Anderson Truck Trail. A number of Albion Team riders were caught on film in this first video attempt. The video is currently posted on Vimeo but a link can be found on the Albion Brewing Video page or by clicking on the Vimeo logo to the left. This first 3+ minute film was captured with a single GoPro HD Hero. We have since expanded our number of cameras for our next film effort, possibly a segment on the upcoming 12 hour race.

Crank Brothers has joined the Albion Brewing Team as an official sponsor. Crank Brothers recently signed on as a sponsor of the 12 hours of Temecula race. Thanks to Tim Neuschwander our Sponsorship Director for recruiting Crank Brothers. The Sponsorship will allow Albion Brewing Team Members to take advantage of Crank Brothers special Racer pricing on most of their incredible product line. The initial product order has been finalized but stay tuned for future opportunites. Tim is working on additional Team Albion sponsorships including possibly a major bike manufacturer in association with Moment Cycle Sport the official bike shop for Team Albion.