Ride Against the Machine

The saying goes "behind every good man is a good woman" and that's fitting with Michelle as our next interviewee following her husband Erik's interview. Another cyclist who also races cars, Michelle started racing bikes for CSU in college. Since then she's primarily been a road biker but has slowly been converting over to the dirt. Last year she showed her strength winning the Winter Park Hill Climb for the Beginner 19-29 women. She is also sporting a new Yeti 575 to help tame all those rocks and roots off road. In addition to her spreading her wings into the mountain bike arena, Michelle also did an excellect job racing with the team last year at the Cherry Creek time trial series. This year she's battling a neck injury and trying to get healthy but I know she's looking very forward to being able to get back on the bike as soon as possible.

Let's hear from Michelle herself now...

Erik is an original member of the car club that grew into the bike group that Scott roped into trying the Leadville 100 MTB race in 2005. Always tough and a strong racer, Erik not only finished the LT100 on his first try, but did so through a terrible asthma attack that put him in the hospital after the race! Since then he's finished again in 2006, raced hard in the Winter Park series moving up to the Sport class last season and continually improved throughout two seasons of racing the Cherry Creek time trial series.

Last season a bunch of the team also joined Erik on one of his yearly traditions, riding to the summit of Mount Evans on the forth of July. Erik organized a big group and it was a lot of fun climbing above 14,000 feet on a bike! This year you're equally likely to find Erik on his road bike, time trial machine, singlespeed mountain bike or his full suspension rig. Let's see what else he's got planned...

Melissa is the first rider of this weekend's featured dynamic duo, the Clark sisters. Coming back for her second season of racing, she's looking to build on the experience and sucesses she had in 2007. Last season she jumped into both the Cherry Creek time trial series and Winter Park, doing a great job riding an old Trek hardtail for most of the year. For 2008 she'll be piloting her sweet new Giant Anthem full suspension machine and is hoping to add Winter Park to her list of podium accomplishments!

In addition to racing, she's been tackling both Moab and Fruita and making great strides in her technical abilities. After bombing Porcupine Rim on the hardtail behind Scott, Erik and Craig, Melissa realized she could ride anything. She also has a secret weapon in her corner with her number one fan and daughter, Ayshia, plus our ringleader, Scott, cheering her on.

Now let's hear what the elder Clark has to say herself...

Following close behind DeLeeuw in last years CCTT, at Winter Park and now in the interviews is Marni Plesko. This interviewer's exceptionally cute and wonderful wife is fresh off her first season of racing bikes. While nervous to do her first time trial and cross country MTB race, she persevered and ended up going the distance in both series. With the help of her friends and class partner, future Ride Against the Machine interviewee Melissa Clark, she took 2nd place for the 19-29 beginner women at the Winter Park series. This year she's looking to step up her racing in the sport class and keep pushing her endurance. During the off season you'll find her hiking 14ers, wandering the deserts of Fruita and Moab in search of dry dirt and most importantly, napping.

Let's see what else she has in store for this season...

Next up on the chopping block, I mean to be interviewed, is our primary organizer and leader Scott DeLeeuw. Without him it's doubtful that we'd all be riding together today. He saved our core team from the wrath of an egotistical fixed gear dictator and like a phoenix from the ashes made us into what we are today.

Leadville instigator, Wednesday ride leader and Cherry Creek time trial veteran, Scott is always there supporting his friends, cheering everyone else on and never without a smile on his face. He has put an incredible amount of work into our team this past year, much of it behind the scenes lining up great sponsors and creating this website. And his downhilling is another one of those areas where other riders can see improvement through dedication and hard work. Plus Scott is a great connaisseur of bicycles and cycling related activities. Whether you want to go shred some singletrack, hit up the time trial series, crank around the track on your fixie or ride your highwheeler, Scott is there to try it with you. Now let's hear what this great guy has to say...