Fresh, modern, photo-friendly layout for cycling community site

Looking for a clean, fresh portal site design for local cycling enthusiast with articles, a forum, and photos.

Logo provided in the full brief.

I'm an experienced contest holder--I give useful feedback and don't abandon contests! See the full brief for specifics on what kind of feedback to expect.

Idaho Velodrome & Cycling Park

Tagline:
BMX • Mountain • Road • Track • Free-Ride • Cyclo-Cross (optional)

Desired Color Scheme:
needs to fit well with the logo but we don't haven anything super-specific in mind

Desired Style:
Clean, fresh, modern (see full brief)

Accepted File Formats:
Layered Formats (.psd or .tiff); Fireworks layered PNG

Audience
Primary audience is web-savvy male cyclists between the ages of 18-35. However, secondary audiences include women of the same ages, families with kids, and older riders, so the design should maintain a balance between masculine trendiness and general appeal.
What we like
Far and away, our favorite "model" site is coolinarika. We'd like to achieve a similar look-and-feel as well as functionality (but we don't want to just copy them, obviously).
The green shades are not our favorite, and obviously, we're looking for a unique look, not a knockoff, but here are some specific things we like about coolinarika:
- regular use of photos adds a whole lot of visual appeal to the site
- easy access to search box
- attractive, visible, usable top navigation
- lots of sidebar modules
- most recent article displayed very prominently with older articles also shown
- the modern, clean feel to the whole site layout
- overlapping tabs provide a clever way of featuring basic infoOur content
It will shift over time, but at this point we're looking at primarily articles with accompanying photos, a poll, a call for donations, basic merchandise sales, and a link to a forum.
Our organization's logo is available in EPS format, and we're reasonably flexible with its use; the cyclist and red "swoosh" should be kept as is, but the wording can be rearranged (e.g. to fit a more horizontal space, etc.) and only the words "Idaho Velodrome & Cycling Park" are absolutely required. The others can be included or excluded as you think makes the most sense.
We'll be running the site on WordPress, so keeping it fairly modular will help us.
Feedback policy
I feel that all entries deserve feedback, so I promptly (every business day) rate every entry. However, because I usually receive many entries and only have an hour or so per day to review them, I am only able to provide detailed feedback to entries that are fairly close to what I'm looking for (usually those rated 3 stars or higher).
If your entry is given 1 or 2 stars, it's not personal; it just means it's not a good fit for this project. If you wish to continue submitting entries for this contest, you're welcome to do so, and my best advice is to re-read this brief, look at my example sites, and look at the entries that have received higher ratings. Try to identify what makes them a good fit, and emulate those concepts (but don't copy someone else's entry!).
Here's what my star ratings mean:
1 star = Can't imagine using it for this project
2 stars = It would require too much time to modify it for our use
3 stars = There is potential here, with some changes
4 stars = Very good fit with few changes needed
5 stars = A final contender with no changes needed