Press Release: 

"MOUNTAIN KHAKIS® TEAM MK  #1 IN NATION!

Jackson Hole, WY – October 2, 2009) Mountain Khakis®, a premier outdoor-lifestyle apparel brand “Built for the Mountain Life”, proudly announces Team MK ranks #1 in the U.S. in the 2009 USA Crit Series.

It’s good to be Team MK! The season’s final USA Crit Series race was held Thurs, Sept 24 in Las Vegas; it was here that Team MK dominated the field with Eric Barlevav’s win. His win, coupled with Team MK Mark Hekman’s race from behind to win the field sprint, placed Team MK #1 and #3 in the individual standings (1-Hekman, 3-Myerson) and #1 in the team standings for the overall 2009 UCI Continental Pro season.

Thursday night’s 60-lap race was held under the lights of Las Vegas in front of the Mandalay Bay Casino, and coincided appropriately with the international ‘Interbike’ trade show. According to Team MK Captain, Mark Hekman, “It’s been a good season; the team has raced so good all year long. I love this team.”

Managed by Premier Sports Partners of Winston Salem, NC, Team MK blistered the competition with its dominant streak through the 2009 season. The team competed in over 90 international, national and regional races, with over 31 wins, 65 Top3 finishes, and over 120 Top10 finishes - leaving opponents gasping for air and spectators begging, “Who are these guys…?!”

“Our partnership with Mountain Khakis has helped us coast to coast with success advocating this national brand,” said James Bennett, owner of Premier Sports Partners. “In return, we have brought them to the forefront of the dedicated and loyal customer base of the cycling community. We anticipate this partnership lasting for years to come........”

Click here for full press release (Pdf)

It’s every cyclist’s dream to wear the national champion jersey of their country. For an American there is little else that can equal the feeling of pulling on the stars and stripes. With Team Mountain Khakis’ goal of developing the nation’s top talents, it is one of the few that still has an all American squad.

Last weekend the guys made the trek to the famed Downer’s Grove, just outside Chicago, in order to pursue the ever elusive jersey at the U.S. National Criterium Championships. Expectations were high and the guys prepared themselves for the battle that was sure to ensue.

Here is a Chicago race recap from Isaac Howe’s point of view. Isaac is a 23 year old rising star and we look for really big things from this kid in 2010. 

 “After standing on the start line for 15 minutes in the rain, they decided to delay the race. Two 30 minute delays later roughly 100 riders started the race. The slick wet condition halted any attempts from the peloton to start racing. We cruised around the 1.2 mile course more than 5 times before people became brave enough to start racing. Immediately Luis Amaran (Colavita-Sutter Home) got away and quickly started taking time on the field. The field hardly reacted. Tom decided to test his luck off the front, and he too starts to get a big gap on the trotting peloton. Amaran ended up staying off the front for more than half the race, taking the halfway prime and at one point only 20 seconds off the back of the peloton. Tom gets within seconds from catching Amaran, but Colavita had to interest in joining forces, and Amaran would not wait up for Tom. Tom ended up being off the front for probably around 8-10 laps.

In the field it was mass carnage. I personally crashed 4 times! Turn 7 was where 90% of people were going down but every corner took a few victims. The field barely chased, and barely raced until the last 10 laps of the 60+ lap race. With about 20 laps to go, when Amaran was just 20 seconds off the back of the field, Ouch put 3 riders on the front and quickly shut Amaran down at a rate of 17 seconds per lap. For about 6 laps the race got fast. During which time there was a crash on turn 7 EVERY LAP!

After Amaran was caught, Kelly put its entire team on the front. They set a comfortable pace that kept their sprinter Jake Keogh out of trouble. Very few people tried to sabotage Kelly’s attempts to lead out, but each time someone got off the front Kelly would neutralize the move very quickly. It became apparent that there would be a bunch sprint as it came down to the last few laps.

With 3 laps to go the race was being lead out by Kelly, but the field only consisted of about 20 riders. Everyone else either crashed out, or just wimped out, because the race wasn’t going that fast but the crashes were frequent.

With 1 to go, the field was 10 riders strong. I lingered 10 meters off the back. So few riders left in the field made the corners only moderately safer. Bahati led into turn 7 but hit turn 8 too fast and lost control of his bike…. and the race. The sprint! Adam takes 5^th. I was the only other TMK rider who got back up to finish. I was rolling in for a top 15, but coming around the last corner I collided with an EMT riding a bicycle on the course backwards attempting to assist Bahati. I ended up rolling in 20^th.”

Adam was so close!!! Bahati in the background on the ground in the final turn.	Adam looking stylish on the podium with his Tifosi glasses.

Although the guys weren’t able to grab the jersey, they can take solace in their domination of the USA Crits Series. Mark Hekman is in 1^st followed by Tom Soladay in 2^nd and Adam Myerson is in 4^th. Will Hoffarth in his first year as a pro has shown he means business and now sits in 12^th. With TMK in three of the top four spots they are easily in the lead of the team standings as well. With control of the USA Crits Series becoming almost secondary, we are also very proud of the guys for putting TMK in the top ten of the NRC team standings. This is a huge achievement for a team dedicated to developing riders. It shows the program is truly a success and the guys are progressing as professionals. Thanks again to everyone who helped make this possible.

 Up Next:   8/29 and 8/30   USA Cycling Professional Time Trial and Road Race in Greenville S.C.    

Come on out and cheer the team on up the infamous Paris Mountain climb in Greenville.   Let us know you are coming and we will do our best to get you into the team car to follow the race for a lap or two.   

THANKS!