Me, post-double heel-click reverse(photo courtesy of NinjaPonyMom)
After last weekend's snowfest and "true" cross weather, it was looking good for a muddy race at Arapahoe Ridge High School in East Boulder. Some guys rode the course last night and spoke of mud and muck...then today when we woke up it was bone dry, almost dusty in places!? What happened?! It was the Chinooks - the winds that whip off the Divide and dry out Boulder in the winter. BH said it was 60 degrees and howling wind in town last night...so what was muddy became dry in the matter of an overnight. Crazy.
The course was a bit like the South Boulder Rec Center (Harlow Platts) race with lots of grass, twisty turny offcamber S-turns, a long sand section that very few could ride, a long road section, and very little room for recovery.
So it was.
The 35Plus race went off at noon. I got the best call-up of the year (5th i think?) and was in the front row on the start. This was NOT my kind of start - a LONG road slight uphill that hairpinned into a long downhill on the bumpy grass, then back UP that same long road to depart on the regular course in a right turn. A good start (I thought) as I got to WB's wheel and thought that was it..we were in the lead...but then a series of huge sprints by some others including the one and only DrCross (Mr.Keller) left us in the dust. DrCross went SO fast by us that I thought it was his day to take the V. I really wish I could've witnessed that, but today was not the day. After the half a lap, things settled down a bit and JJ of Spike, JC of the Moots tribe were looking strong - by the end of Lap 1 they had already made a gap in the rest of us. I was trying to get my heartrate down from that cardiac arrest start and catch up to WB who was dangling off the back of the JJ/JC duo. For this group of 4, the race didn't change much from here on out. JJ and JC duked it out at the front - taking turns working eachother over - I was impressed at how JC was staying with JJ on this type of course (JJ's type). Me and WB were duking it out ourselves staying from 10-15 seconds back from the top 2. WB was strong today and I thought he was going to gap me for good when I tried (for the 2nd and last time) to ride the sand on the outside as he went inside and ran the inside route. It took me a half lap to catch back up with him and when I did I sat in for the rest of that lap just to recover. As I sat on WB's wheel I noticed 5th place - some dude I don't know - was gaining on us. WB was slowing a little and this guy was gaining. So there it was, it was time to try to go gain some time on JJ and JC. There were 3 laps to go. JJ had just dropped JC and looked like there was no catching JJ. So I passed WB and mumbled something to the effect of "blahblah...LETSGOGET THEM...mumblemumble" and I tried to increase the pace a bit. In doing so I guess I gapped him and realized I actually felt pretty OK - I had finally recovered from that start! With 1 lap to go I had a gap and could I was slowly gaining a tiny bit on JC, but I knew it would take more than I had today to catch him, in time and ability....so that was the race. JJ in first, JC in 2nd, and I got the last podium spot. A 6er of Hazed and Infused, $25, and a bronze medal marked the end of my cross season.
Reflecting back, I am really happy I decided to race. It was a difficult summer of moving and getting the ranch set up doing more manual labor than I've done in a long long time. Lots of things have changed in the cross world since I "retired" in 2000: the most noticeable on the surface is that almost everyone has much lighter bikes - carbon everything is the new trend and only a few dinosaurs like myself have steel frames. But other than the obvious technological differences, the cross culture remains the same. A great degree of camaraderie on all levels for participating in a sport that to me defines racing. It is good to be back, and I plan on returning next year with a better base of fitness to give the Open category a run for the money.
The Open race was really fun to watch with Dubba, JW of Mafia and Paco duking it out for a sprint finish. Dubba came back after having to top and hammer his seat back into position after the nose of it dove down to the top tube on a remount. Not only did he catch back up, but he motored to the front and did his best to drop the other two for 3 laps. They got him in the end: Paco 1st, JW 2nd, Dubba 3rd, but he gets the most aggressive rider award in my book.
Until next year. Now let ski season BEGIN!!
1 comment:
cotton tee? well done, sir.
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