Photo: DennisCoughlin.com

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:

• VeloNews Article
• VeloNews Photo Gallery
• 303Cycling Blog
  
• WMUR New Hampshire’s Channel 9 Story
• Boulder Daily Camera Article
  

And what’s truly incredible is that he manages to train and take part in — AND WIN — cycling events all over the country while working full-time and pulling his weight at Insight Designs! His secret? He doesn’t get much sleep.

Congrats partner on another fabulous feat!

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]

• 4K run starts at 8:30 a.m. and 3K walk starts at 8:45 a.m.
• It’s a fun family event where dogs are welcome to be part of the fun.
• There will be a costume contest, agility fun-trials and more.
• The 4K run is an official Bolder Boulder qualifier.
• Includes a Fabulous Pet Expo plus a delicious pancake breakfast.
• Enjoy live music and a bouncy house for kids.
• Form a team of six or more for even more fun.

For more details or to register, please visit boulderhumane.org/causeforpaws or call 303-442-4030 ext. 634.

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.

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.

We just launched a new site for the Boulder-based shoemaker, most known for its colorful, hole-covered, lightweight boat shoes.

We had a ton of fun working with this innovative and clever brand. In our custom design, we integrated both their Feel the Love™ campaign and their Croslite™ characters (personified versions of their trademark shoes) with a lively color palette and a look that is in keeping with the Crocs feel-good image. We handled all of the details, including the photo shoot to get unique full-body shots of the newly-anointed Crocs ambassadors, five lucky folks who get to blog to the world about their love for Crocs via the site’s new Vitamin C blog. Thanks to photographer Rick Cummings (our friend and another Insight Designs client) for the awesome pix!

On the backend, we set up multiple blogs and features, and we integrated the site seamlessly with two other vendors — Taleo who handles the corporate careers search and Thomson Reuters who handles the investor relations content.

In the process, we learned a lot about this revolutionary company. They’ve sold more than 100 million pairs of Crocs in their less than 10 years in business, and since 2007, they’ve donated more than 2.5 million pairs of shoes to people in impoverished areas as well as areas affected by natural disaster, including Haiti.

And their styles go far beyond boat shoes and sandals. They offer more than 120 style for men, women and children. Check them out online. Or the next time you’re in Boulder, stop by their new flagship store at 1129 Peart Street and then come by and say hi to Insight (our office is just a block away at 2006 Broadway)!

Nico Toutenhoofd and Jonathan Baker (the eventual winner) crest the "Super Jamestown" climb on the final lap of the Colorado Centurion.

This week, hundreds of cyclists — professionals, enthusiasts and casual riders alike — took to the roads in the foothills of Colorado for the Centurion Colorado.

The event is both a race and a ride that features 100-, 50- and 25-mile courses so that participants can choose the level that’s best for them. They put the racers at the front of the giant peleton and the folks who are riding just for fun further back. The goal is to get create a mass participation event that celebrates cycling.

We at Insight Designs are proud to have created the website for Centurion Cycling, the organization that put on the July 18th event and has two more Centurions scheduled for this summer (Wisconsin - August 8, 2010 and Canada - September 18-19, 2010).

We’re also excited that our very own Nico Toutenhoofd took second place (finishing just one second behind winner Jonathan Baker of Boulder) in the 100-mile event, and Insight designer Keith Harper finished 16th. See the full results.

Congrats to Nico and Keith. And congrats to the staff of Centurion Cycling for putting on a fabulous event. Best of luck in Wisconsin and Canada!

And if you’re a cyclist - whether you’re a beginner or seasoned amateur - you should consider planning a vacation around one of these events. The Wisconsin event takes place in scenic Dane County. And the Canadian event will be in the picturesque Blue Mountains in Ontario. Find out more at www.centurioncycling.com.

Dorje Designs is doing just that - and getting lots of attention along the way.

The Boulder-based jeweler, run by the wife and husband team of designer Anna Holland and businessman Mark Holland, focuses on original, antique and ancient ethnographic jewelry and beads from around the globe.

Dorje is featured in the July edition of Denver Magazine under the heading “Vintage is the New Green.” And for the second time in two years, Dorje’s creations will adorn the models in Sports Illustrated’s illustrious 2011 swimsuit edition.

Mark is kind enough to give Insight a little bit of credit: “I don’t think we ever could have made Dorje Designs such an international success without such a great website!”

Thanks Mark and Anna!

And congratulations!

We’re looking for a PHP programmer who can work full-time in our downtown Boulder office.

If you’re interested in the job opening, please send your resume along with links to five PHP/MySQL projects you’ve completed to: info@insightdesigns.com.

Spread the word!

The Mercury 100 is a list of the 100 fastest-growing private companies in Boulder and Broomfield counties. The list, which is based on two-year revenue growth, is compiled annually by the Boulder County Business Report. This year’s list is based on growth from 2007 to 2009.

We don’t yet know where we are in the rankings. BCBR won’t release those details until May 27 during the big shindig at the Hotel Boulderado. But we don’t much care.

We’re just excited to be a company that continues to grow with age. (We turned 11 in March.)

And thanks to all of you for your continued support!