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Posted by Insight Designs | September 20th, 2010 | No responses
Posted by Insight Designs | August 25th, 2010 | No responses
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Here I am again bragging about my amazingly talented business partner Nico Toutenhoofd, who just won the 38th annual Mt. Washington Auto Road Bicycle Hillclimb in Gorham, New Hampshire.
For the non-cyclists out there, this isn't just any old bike race. It's one of the most famous cycling events in the United States. It's a 7.6-mile grind up the highest peak in the Northeast with an average grade of 12% nearing 22% at the finish. It makes Boulder's Flagstaff seem flat.
And not only did Nico win it at the ripe old age of 42. He beat professionals half his age.
He also got tons of press coverage:
Posted by Insight Designs | August 10th, 2010 | No responses
Grab your running -- or walking -- shoes, and help us raise money to support the Humane Society of Boulder Valley.
Insight Designs is sponsoring the 21st Annual Cause for Paws Doggie Dash (4K run and 3K walk) on Saturday, Sept. 11.
All proceeds benefit the Humane Society, which provides shelter and care to more than 8,000 homeless, abandoned and abused animals each year. Your participation could literally save the life of a cat or dog.
Insight partner Beth Krodel will be there with her family - and of course JavaD! Hope you'll come, too.
Here's the skinny:
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 • 7 AM TO NOON
HUMANE SOCIETY OF BOULDER VALLEY, 2323 55TH STREET [MAP]
Posted by Insight Designs | August 5th, 2010 | No responses
Last August, I proudly told you that Insight Designs designer Keith Harper won the gold medal in the Madison event at the USA Cycling masters track national championships.
Well this August, we have another national champion on our hands.
This time, the big winner is Insight Designs partner Nico Toutenhoofd. After nearly 30 years of competitive cycling, Nico claimed his first stars and stripes jersey. Way to go Nico!
On Monday, Nico and his teammate Ben Blaugrund of Gold Hill, Colo., won the USA Cycling Elite National Tandem Time Trial Championships in Louisville, KY. The duo finished the 25-kilometer course more than two minutes ahead of the second-place team, and they had the fastest time of the day out of all of the time trial events.
Both Nico and Ben had competed in the individual time trial just a couple of hours before the tandem event. In the individual, Ben, 37, placed third in the 35-39 age group and Nico, 42, placed sixth in the 40-44 age group. "I'm sure we could have gone faster on the tandem had we not raced the individual two hours earlier," said Nico, not sounding cocky, but just very matter-of-fact. And that's saying something considering they averaged over 30 mph and hit speeds of more than 50 mph on the descents.
The rest of us at Insight Designs are humbled by our incredibly talented co-workers. Not sure we'll ever be able to add a third person to our national champion roster, so we'll settle for two.
Posted by Insight Designs | August 4th, 2010 | No responses
Last month, my husband and I took our kids to a community bike race - the North Boulder Park Classic organized by Insight Designs' own Keith Harper. After watching Sofi and Laird muscle their way through the kids' race without crashing, we walked around checking out the booths promoting everything from energy bars to day camps. At one booth, I saw a familiar face in Kimmerjae Johnson, a Boulder artist whom Insight had created a website for back in 2001.
Kimmer was promoting the US Cycling Monument, featuring a sculpture called "Momentum" that will be installed in North Boulder Park, home to the famed final stage of the Red Zinger/Coors Classic cycling series that launched the careers of many U.S. cycling legends and hosted the winners of 18 Tours de France. As Michael Aisner, race director of the Red Zinger/Coors Classic, put it, North Boulder Park is the "petri dish where American bike racing germinated, where Davis Phinney watched his first race at 15 and then won it 7 years later, live on CBS Sports. It is where a screenwriter first raced and was inspired to write “Breaking Away” and then “American Flyers,” which was shot with Kevin Costner at the race. It Is where three-time Tour winner Greg LeMond emerged as a world-class talent, racing his first senior stage race & almost winning it at 17!"
When I went home that evening excited about my city's place in the history of cycling, I took a look at the monument's website and was less than impressed. So I offered to have Insight create a new and improved US Cycling Monument website. Turned out that my timing was perfect, because Kimmer and her cohorts were just starting to kick their fund-raising efforts into high gear. We took the site from start to finish in 2 weeks flat and launched it this morning: http://www.uscyclingmonument.com
Another reason the timing was perfect is that this very morning, Lance Armstrong and Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter are meeting at the state capital to announce a new top-level, eight-day cycling event called Quiznos Pro Challenge to be held next August in Colorado. It will be one of only two major stage races in the U.S. next year.
Hopefully, the new race will help bring some attention to the US Cycling Monument. The sculpture has been designed and approved by the City of Boulder. Now, they just need enough money to build and install it. Maybe you'll consider joining Insight Designs in supporting this effort? You can make a donation directly from their new site.