Photos

Many, many thanks go out to Shawn Lortie for the images added to yesterdays post below

more images can be found at UltraRobs site and more links in 303Cycling

I failed to mention one other great side story yesterday. It was Danny Summerhill, super honch, pro for Garmin Slipstream sitting on the trainer in the pit area after his win...cheering on his Mom who was racing in the Masters Women group....yep..it's a family sport!

Pikes Peak Supercross #2

Local racing is the finest kind of racing, Saturday was a nice change of pace, no packing the car the night before, no alpine start to Boulder County and then having to deal with football traffic on the drive south, not having to sit alone in a darkened kitchen with my bowl of oats. Our dog won't even hang out with me on these early cold mornings. But Saturday was nice, a good leisure start to the day.

Course conditions were once again, primo. By our start, the frozen ruts had just become to transform themselves into a slippery skim layer of mud on top of frozen ground. I walked the course on Friday and immediately decided then that the Michelin Muds were going to replace the Griffo's again and I wasn't disappointed, tires were hooking up like velcro and if I didn't have any control over a line choice, it didn't matter, these tires are just amazing in slippery conditions. Thanks to a smaller field size ( 41 starters ) and a overly-caffeinated cheering section, I pulled off one of the best races I've had in ages, a 7th place which will hopefully enable me a semi-decent start spot at States in 2 weeks. Bob Prieto from BSV and I shared leads for a about 4 laps where I would pass in the barriers and running sections and then he would crush me on the paved climb. Fellow finishers from our little Avid family was Jim Mathis in the 18th spot and Matt Hunt in 36th. Obviously super pleased with my top ten, but even more so by how the remainder of the day unfolded. I wanted to stick around for the rest of the afternoon to cheer on some co-workers and friends who would be racing in the Cat 4's and 3's.

Chris Wilkerson was one of the guys. He's made 2 prior attempts at racing cross. The first being the Pikes Peak race 2 years prior. That race ended within the first half lap with an exploded rear derailleur and no spare bike. The second attempt was at Chatfield Res last year, I won't go into the ugly....ugly details(again) but it's worth taking a look here. Well, with perhaps a little cajoling and some trepidation, C-Dub decided to throw his hat in the ring again and nailed it finally. It was a ride inspired ! He sat at the back for the start ( to smartly avoid any calamities )and steadily wound his way up to 18th spot with a massive grin most of the way.

Also racing in this group was longtime friend/co-worker Jeremiah Boobar, fresh off back surgery from about 8 months ago followed by more months of rehab and a super focused effort to whip himself back into shape. He's dropped a heap of beer gut and was also on the tail end of some kind of sinus infection. Perhaps it was the antibiotics, but he sat near the finish line at his start time wondering where the rest of the field was until realizing that the whistle had just blown on the other side of the river and he was placed on the exact opposite side of the start line and just missed his start. Thus began a massive TT/chase. He was well over a minute back on the last guy after the last lap. In chase mode, he was going way...way faster than the leaders of this field. By the time the 45 minutes were up, he had moved into 11th place ! With a proper start. it would have been a podium day.

Next up, the 3's. Matt Klick had driven down with his sweetie to do his best to lay waste to his speedy compadres. I haven't stuck around a race for the entire day in a long time and let me tell you these guys have it tough. By their start time, the sun is already sinking below the mountains and the temperatures are dropping quickly. Volunteer officials and race organizers are literally breaking down the course as the races progresses. I think I counted 5 spectators, all significant others helping with encouragement and hand-ups.... "go babe!!!..you're doing great !" The venue is mostly quiet, no bells, horns, kids running around...nothing. Matt had a phenomenal couple of laps but was victim to some coordinated attacks that came from behind and wound up 6th.

I'm not ready for the end of the season that's rapidly approaching. I'll be extending by a week and heading up to Bend for Nationals where my primary responsibility will be work related in regard to the Shorty Ultimates but will try to grab a spot for a "B" race prior to the championships races.

Till RRV, here's wishing everyone a Happy Thankgiving, I hope you're all able to share the day with those you cherish. Cheers !
Digging for photo's from Saturday, if you find some please post a comment with links, Thanks

Shotty

Not so pro-file

Head on over to The Road Diaries to get the skinny on where were at with Shorty Ultimates, if you see me or my fellow Srammie, Jim Mathis at any of the remaining front range races and want to take a squeeze, give us a yell, (be forewarned though, I run mine moto style )

Thanks to Zellman who got it mostly right, except for the fact that I race in the slow Masters category. if anything it's worth taking a look at the New England Cyclocross Mafia Mob Boss, Stu Thorne cleaning my filthy bike

Saturday!!!.....Saturday!!! Pikes Peak Velo Cross....see you there
Shotty

Community

Woke up feeling pretty darn good after flying in from Taiwan the day before. I look outside, it's spitting rain and snow, low grey clouds and temps hovering around freezing. Perfect. Might as well race off the lag and besides, getting to Sundays race in Boulder sounds like a dodgy affair with a bunch of snow on the menu. I was running around the house in super panic spaz mode trying to gather all bits and pieces of bike stuff that I needed for the day. The bike wasn't really prepped. I was pulling clothing off the line that had been left there from the last race. Everything is chucked into the car and off I go, almost an hour late.

I arrive at the venue with about 50 minutes to spare. Jim rolls over looking for a pump, " you look like hell " he states, since I hadn't yet looked at myself in the mirror yet, I can't disagree and no , I managed to forget my pump at home, along with chamois lube and embrocation. After paying for my number, I huddle in the back of the Element and change as quickly as possible, apparently too quick as I zip up the skinsuit and realize that I forgot to attach the number. Off comes the suit again, pin on the number, suit up again and then I think I've lost a glove. By the time I dial in tire pressure and use the facilities one last time, any opportunity for a warm-up or course re-con has evaporated. I just pull up to the line, pass on a call-up and think I'll figure out the course as we go.

Oh to be 18 again...no seriously, This is the 3rd time this year that I've slotted into this position. I am pretty darned pleased with this race despite my body not really knowing what time zone it's in. The course had a nice mix of wide open power sections, a Return of the Jedi type singletrack and of course some sand.

Thanks for the folks at the ICCC and the FMVC who put an emphasis on a family/community day of cross racing. There was a newbie race which I think is badly needed in our area. Starting out, even in a Cat 4 race could be WAY more intimidating for a first foray into cross racing. Nestled into the newbie race was also a tandem category with some pretty impressive coordinated dismounts and remounts. Hot Dogs on the grill, huge pots of hot cocoa, a nice fire pit to keep spectators happy and also a very well attended memorial service for a club member who was tragically struck by a motorist a week prior.

It was a nice low key day at the races, and the atmosphere was quite unlike any other event that we've had this season. well done.

Thanks for reading and Jim at Six Degees to Slush for the photo's

shotty

Life on the ROC

the Republic of China, Taiwan or "backwards land" as I like to call it because as I'm turning in for the night, everyone back in my original time zone is just beginning to start their day. I haven't done a tally as of late totalling the number of trips here but believe it's somewhere in the high teens. Their culture never ceases to disappoint though, they are the most outgoing persons who will make sure that every single one of these visits is enjoyable.

Their work ethic is bordering on obsessive and it shows with the recent success' in building up and modernizing their infrastructure, and the ability to build things like very cool, lightweight carbon fiber bicycle bits, although at a severe cost to the environment. Thankfully there have been many improvements in that arena as well. Perhaps it's their independent nature, while technically they are under the thumb of the nearby behemoth of China, there's a very visible streak of individuality, the language is slightly off from traditional Mandarin, the politics are polar opposite of China and the food is wayyyy better. When China requires that they they fly a "Chinese Taipei" flag at the Olympics instead of their national flag, I think that just adds fuel to their motivation.

Go to Taichung and hurl a rock in any direction and you'll hit a supplier making some widget for a bicycle, it's all here. If it's not here than a Taiwanese based company has opened a plant in China to supply factories building and shipping bikes from the mainland. There's some quality road biking once you leave the urban areas but mountain biking is just about non-existent. That's slowly changing as there are many DH specific gravity trails popping up in the steep,

densely forested hills above Taipei city. Shuttling is accomplished by attaching a tow-rope behind a scooter.....they are resourceful and you can fault them for that.

Cross "racing" plans will be dictated by quality of sleep tonight and road conditions. Hope to see you out there.

Power Trip

It's currently 1:15 am in Colorado, I'm sitting in the United lounge in Tokyo/Narita airport, filled to the brim with Sushi and missing my girls already!

Also still feeling the effects of Saturday's Schoolyard Cross which despite the warm , dry conditions might go down as one of the most enjoyable races I've had this season. I didn't experience my typical "2 to go fade" in fact it felt as though I ran out of real estate and time. The course was predominately flat and non-technical..read: FAST, stupid fast and requiring a massive wattage output. This is typically not my style of course or conditions ( warm, sunny ). Despite having a pathetic points standing, I still received a call up and slotted into the 2nd row. Whistle blows and the rider in front of me slips a pedal and does a couple of swaps/tripod moves in before regaining control. By now, a good third of the field was up the road, I got pimped in a couple of turns as the course narrowed and I was immediately relegated to the middle of a 80 rider field. Time to chase and pick off as many spots as possible.

Super thankful for a few things that worked to my favor: 1 ) the double rings up front as I spent a considerable amount of time in the 46T. 2) a mud pit, while we had a hefty dose of summer on the front range this past week, the race organizers took it upon themselves to break out the hose and water down a long straightaway, I was able to pick off a few spots every lap through here. By 2 to go, a Crossniacs rider and I were sharing an epic battle for who knows what placing but you'd think it was the last chance for the green points jersey at the TDF. A few gentlemanly passes on both our parts. With 1 to go he was clinging to my wheel as we headed up what was easily the toughest long uphill bumpy grinder of a climb with 2 barriers at the top. We both exited the section cleanly, jumped back on the pavement for the finishing straight. I've never possessed any type of sprinting skills whatsoever but I was fired up for this one and besides, Dave Towle was announcing and whipping the 5 spectators into a frenzy, I barely kept my spot on the line, good enough for 19th spot. Past the line,we both congratulated each other on a job well done and then Mr Crossniacs went over to a nice shady, patch of grass to puke.

Love this sport.

Flight Plan

One more derby for me this weekend at Schoolyard Cross in Louisville on Saturday and then on Sunday, it's off to Taiwan for the next iteration-pilot build of our cross brake. 13 times zones away, 3 flights for a total amount of flying time of 15-17 hours, which makes a door to door excursion of about 26 hours ( give or take a few minutes ). To get an idea, don't sleep for about 3 days and then spend a full day inside a carnival fun house. That's the closest analogy to describing how I feel when I get home again. The Cross Crusade race is out, and the Boulder series wrap-up is a definite maybe. I'm going to do my best to race off jet lag...for sure, steer clear of me if you pass mid-race and my eyes are closed...it's just a quick nap.

Here's to an early arrival of the cold front on Saturday as this weeks weather on the front range has been positively un-crossy....can't really complain, we've had a really nice balance of perfect ( snow, cold , mud ) and not so-perfect ( sunny, warm )

Line Choice

Although I haven't found it yet, I'm pretty sure I'm labeled with the following statement " For best results, best to operate in temperatures between 25° -55° F" .

Saturdays race was a blur and seemed to end mere moments after it started, which was a shame. Pure joy, playing in the mud, the filthier the better. It feels as though the body is pulling energy from each new glob that flicks off the tire tread into your teeth. For many of us, the individual reasons that we gather every weekend are as varied as the lines we choose across a mess of goop, although I think that at the core, all our reasons are exactly the same. Camaraderie. If I raced with you or encouraged you from the other side of the tape it's because we can all relate to the ability to push ourselves to the best our abilities and leave nothing on the table. To suffer like hell for 45 minutes and hope to come out of it smiling, to share our battles on the field.

Shawn Lortie, super fast dad, who shared his secret to speed, don't ride during the week and partake in Margs at the Rio whenever possible

At the end of my day, I filled up the 18th position on what is consistently, one of the best courses and well run event on the calender ( there was even a high school marching band in attendance )The fact that it was an NACT race, made it that much sweeter. It was great to spend some face time with some long time New England Cyclocross Mafia members, and witness Tim Johnson putting on a clinic on how to race cross by besting his teammates by a solid minute and a half !

Jesse Anthony, consummate pro and gracious enough to lend his hand to the product development process

A few factors figured into my decision to pass on Sundays race. First was that my start time was 8am ( too early ), The venue was changed to the Res ( once a year is enough ), a Halloween party the night before ( cheeks sore from laughing at absurdly creative costumes) and it was just a perfect Fall day to spend with my honey. I did get out on a dusk ride on the Indy Fab down the Sante Fe trail as the moon rose over downtown....perfect weekend

Check out Rob O Dea's pictures from Saturday on Kellers site....amazing.

Thanks for reading

shotty

Saturdays Pics

Thanks to Lortie for the photo's

The Perfect Storm ?

Here's what the weather service has to say about the next couple of days:

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DENVER CO416 PM MDT TUE OCT 27 2009...
MAJOR WINTER STORM FOR NORTHERN COLORADO TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY....

A STRONG STORM SYSTEM WILL DEVELOP NEAR THE FOUR CORNERS LATE TONIGHT AND THEN MOVE SLOWLY ONTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS THROUGH THURSDAY.THIS STORM WILL BRING HEAVY SNOW TO THE NORTHERN COLORADO MOUNTAINS TONIGHT AND SPREAD ONTO THE NORTHEAST PLAINS WEDNESDAY MORNING. IN ADDITION TO THE SNOW...GUSTY NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS WILL DEVELOP PRODUCING AREAS OF BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW.TRAVEL WILL BECOME DIFFICULT OR IMPOSSIBLE BY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON.RESIDENTS SHOULD PREPARE FOR A LONG DURATION OF WINTER STORM CONDITIONS FROM WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY.

Sweeeeeeeet. I'm hearing a total accumulation of at least 8 inches or so which will turn most of Saturdays course at Xylinx into a cold, frozen, quagmire of muck. Michelin Mud 2's are mounted and clean, all I need to do now is avoid my workplace which resembles an infirmary right now. There might be 3 of us that haven't yet caught the crud sweeping through our building.

A Tale of Two Venues

Let me first say that the planets aligned in perfect formation to bring the Front Range the best cyclocross conditions we've seen in awhile. Temps were cool and sunny on Saturday and Sunday brought a blanket of low grey menacing ceiling of clouds, and rounds of light snow showers all day.

Saturday: Castle Cross
On the drive up from PPTP (Pikes Peak Trailer Park) I started spotting big remnants of a snowstorm that blew through mid-week. While we didn't receive any accumulation of snow in the Springs, by Monument pass and all the way to Castle Rock there was still a decent coating of the white stuff left on the ground. Me thinks there could be mud today !!! By the time I pulled in the lot, my hopes were confirmed, super dirty riders pulling off the track onto pavement and leaving long strips of mud down the road as their tires cleared. A warm-up lap confirmed that 1. This was going to be HARD, lots of elevation gain and loss, super muddy, 3 run-ups, and lots of off-camber jogs. 2) I had the wrong tires on, the Griffo's were not cutting it (pun intended) so it was back to the ever-reliable Michelin Mud 2's which were absolutely perfect for the greasy conditions.

Not sure if everybody was scoping bargains on a Coors Light Team Jersey from 1989 at Velo-Swap or saving their legs and lungs for the sand trap that is Boulder Reservoir but the field size was low, perhaps 50 guys in our group. Because of this I actually managed a front row slot and managed to pull off a very decent start. I was sitting top five for most of the first lap. Then everyone got serious and realized they had numbers pinned on so this must be a race and should get down to business. There was a particular mud hole that I was wary off, since the least goopy line felt as though there was a rock hidden underneath the soup. I felt a rim strike and made a mental note not to hit it again for fear of pinch flatting. So I return to said mud hole on lap 2 and decide to pick a line to the left, I drop in and literally "drop in", over the bars (again) and I land on the backside and now completely covered in mud. I grab my bike and there is so much viscous fluid trapped between my gloves and bar tape, I can barely control my bike, the chain is off so I just slam the chain into the big ring just to get the chain onto the rings again. Despite the lack of control and a few choice words, I'm back on the program and actually having a seriously good time trying to maintain control and not slip too far backwards.

Clydesdale extraordinaire Brian Graves from FMVC caught me after my swim, gave me a very polite "on your right" then promptly rode away from me. I put my head down and started to slowly bridge back when I saw him duck around some bushes on an off-camber sharp left then I hear a string of very vocal expletives and I round the corner to see an impressive bike toss (mind you, not quite as impressive as this guy, but pretty good). Turns out, his sidewall was sliced open on a rock and that was the end, too bad too, because he was really on a tear (pun intended) yesterday.

The remainder of the race is just taking care of damage control as the soggy ground is sapping any kind of power clean out of my legs. Riders a strung out in huge gaps and I seem to be in no-mans land. No one close to bridge a gap and no one behind for a ways. I roll through in 12th happy as a clam, deep in...mud.

Thanks to the crew at Green Mtn Sports, the course, organization, and volunteers were phenomenal.

Sunday Boulder # 3
After spending a good part of Saturday afternoon cleaning mud out of socks, ear canals, shoes, nostrils, gloves, etc. ( I am certain that cleanup lasted longer than the race ). I prepped for sand-fest 2009. I have serious love-hate relationship with the course at the Boulder Reservoir. I think there's something fundamentally wrong with riding/running/struggling through an inordinate amount of waist deep sand. I know that there are specific World Cup courses held in Belgium on courses similar but much, much harder than this, but that's why the punters sit by the sidelines, drink copious amounts of alcohol and hurl verbal abuse at their favorite riders. The pro's should race courses like this, that is why they are pro's and they get paid good money to ride thier bikes in ridiculous conditions. For the rest of us, it's just not that pretty to watch the fumbling, stumbling, tri-poding and wallowing in the sand. (the exception was Matt Pachocha from Velo-News who while warming up, was making everyone look like idiots as he easily rode through a slight uphill, long section of sand that every other mortal was shuffling through)

So why race this ? When I put together a solid race, I have OK results here and actually have decent time ( but I still detest so much sand )The past 2 years, I've been plagued with flats, first time with no spare wheels or a bike, the second year, I was sitting easily in the top 20 and flatted in the front and shanked my wheel change, losing heaps of spots. Today, I ran a super durable fast, fat tire, the Michelin Jet. I have been a huge fan of this tire for a long time. It provides decent flotation, good traction in most conditions and has some hefty casings. I can run these at very low pressures without worrying about finding some sharp object lurking underneath the sand waiting. With some light snow showers overnight, the sand pulled in a nice amount of moisture so some sections were fairly fast and starting to pack down. Despite one of my worst starts in a long time, I was able to put together a pretty solid race with no issues (except for pimping another rider in one of the sandy switchback turns and causing him to topple over--sorry! but I was stuck on a line). I finished up in 20th and got my single BCR point....whooo hooo !

For Halloween, the NACT circus arrives in the Peoples Republic and we are in for a treat(pun intended) as we get to watch how cyclocross is done by this countries best.

Thanks for reading!
Shotty

Movie Fans

This Thursday the 22nd, Race Across the Sky is playing at theaters all over the country. a documentary about the 2009 Leadville 100 Mountain Bike Race and the epic battle between all-around super nice guy,mountain bike honch, Dave Weins ( 6 time winner ) and some roadie named Lance Armstrong. Check out the details and the move trailer here

Shankapotomus

Race # 5 today at the Tony Grampsas Park in lovely Golden, CO. ( basically across the street from the Coors brewery, based on the smell that was a cross between burning tires and hops, I'm going to guess it's not brewed from the fresh, clean waters of the Colorado rockies ). A beautiful Indian Summer day here on the front range with temps pushing 80. I should have taken this as an omen and stayed home. I pre-rode the course which presented more than it's fair share of challenges, but also a super sweet piece of very fast, shady singletrack, a nice place to gather your thoughts and recover. A clever use of a sand volleyball court and which we went through twice, one short route, one long. There was also a very short, but steep set of stairs that dumped us out onto a bumpy flat before a sharp left, steep drop-in back to the track. While I was watching the 35 opens tackle this section, the treads on the wooden stairs were coming loose and there were a few riders botching the remount and having to run down the drop-in.

After missing Valmont, my call-up was on the bottom of list but still enabled a pretty good spot on the 3rd row. Attendance was down but still a sizable field ( 80 maybe ?). Start was ridiculously hard, a gravely loose, uphill onto freshly mowed dead dried out grass ( so dry, it's slippery!). Brian from FMVC was shouting out encouragements behind as I swept across his line about three times almost sending him into the weeds. The first lap was producing carnage everywhere, it's been a long time since I've seen this many riders hit the deck. One endoed right in front of me heading into the sand pit which sent me off course and over the tape to avoid running him over. By laps 2 and 3, the mayhem seemed to be settling down, I was picking off a few riders and saw my rabbits in front of me to start chasing down. And that's when everything came unglued in one lap. I came up to the stairs and had a clean dismount and run-up, as I went to remount, the back wheel hit a rut and bounced high and to the outside, I had to quickly abort the remount and when I came down, I lost my footing and fell down the drop-in, leaving the bike at the top. I scrambled back up and pulled my bike out of the way and got back to making forward progress. This little episode has spiked my heart rate so high, it was all I could do to spin nice easy circles and any bike handling skills previously available were absent now. I was shanking all the good lines in a desperate attempt to move up again. That's when I came up with the brilliant idea to come warping into the sand pit at full speed and keep my momentum as high as possible. I went in and misjudged the depth of the sand in my line and promptly buried my front wheel and did a super high speed superman over the bars.

Thankfully the sand was soft and loose, I was up quickly and unharmed but I was completely spun and slogged through the remainder of the sand pit. I rolled back into the grass and started up through the start-finish area and noticed that my right shifter had suffered some sort of life changing event and wouldn't release cable. I was stuck in my 27, and there are much worse gears to be stuck in but after everything that had already happened, I wasn't in the mood to "2-speed" it through the remainder of the race. I was finished getting in the way of competent riders and pulled off course.

That's when I ran into honchy racer/photog/artist friend Lortie, who offered up his sweet full carbon Scott so I could jump back in, but at that point, I was finished. Pretty frustrating but it's been awhile since a course has gotten one over on me so I offer my congratulations to the designers/builders/hard working volunteers of the course today. I thought one lap through was sufficient and they proved me wrong. Lesson learned. I nice little shaded "picnic" with the FMVC boys post-race brightened my mood considerably. I now have 6 days to re-focus and try to get my game back. Let's hope for better weather.

Thanks for reading
Shotty

Really.

Sundays forecast, that's a bummer. I can't rally for an 8am start up at Valmont on Saturday so RRV # 1 in Golden will be my pick for the weekend. Whomever has been responsible for laying out the Red Rocks courses over the years, they deserve heaps of credit in my humble view. The races at the Morrison Elementary School were phenomenal, for not that large an area, they used every foot with a purpose in mind, it was super fun, especially when when nasty weather was involved. The track at Bear Creek flowed like water and a single race up in Evergreen was pretty epic, so I looking forward to yet another new venue in Golden. Best of luck to everyone pining on a number this weekend.

Shotty

The Real Deal

That's me (#567) scoping out my competitor from Blue Sky Velo and their nifty knee warmers, one is white ( left ) the other, maroon (right ). OK, now that's smart because it never, ever fails. I arrive at a race confident that I have not overlooked any details as far as what I need for the day. So, is it a cruel joke, some sort of sick collaboration between those who make gear bags and those whom manufacture cold weather cycling accessories that they all must come in the "color" black ? I mean really, I open up the cavernous black fabric-lined hole of a gear bag peering at more black headbands, black gloves, black knee warmers, black arm warmers, base layers, caps and I'm completely spazzing out because for sure I can't find the one piece I need. It's inevitable that I end up hauling everything out, it's strewn randomly around the interior of the car until I sort out my mini-crisis. It's like a kid losing their favorite blankey, all is well again once favorite and treasured Sugoi headband is found, like the day would be ruined without it! We all know that black is slimming on our svelte figures and as far as an accessory goes, it matches everything but I'm thinking it's time I start a color-coded accessory plan and put an end to the madness.

Sunday was # 2 in the 4 part Boulder Series Races. This was my 5th year in a row attending one of my all-time favorite venues. Nothing but deep green, lush grass, a sandpit to contend with and lots and lots of turns, thankfully off camber ones. I was extremely tentative about how the day would play out and if we would even be able to reach Boulder, thanks to a very foggy, raw, cold,very un-Colorado-like weekend. Everything was coated with a layer of heavy frost and the side streets resembled an ice skating rink. I reached Jims place without incident and he greeted me with a " Good Morning ! This is stupid!" By the time we rolled up on I-25 headed North the roads were clear and actually dry as soon as we departed the Springs. This eased my mood considerably and I started looking forward to some REAL cyclocross conditions and that was exactly what was delivered.

Thanks to a couple semi-decent finishes at Frisco I was treated to a call up ( albeit a 3rd row callup but I'll take it, especially with our group filling out at close to 100 riders, so much for weather conditions hampering field sizes ) I had a great start after a very short warmup and not even checking out the course. By lap 2 I couldn't feel anything past my wrists, complete solid blocks of ice, so shifting and braking was interesting. I was seeing riders ahead of me that I had passed the previous weekend but the course and cold were working slightly against me as I couldn't manage to bridge the gap. I would catch them through the barriers and sand pits, they would ride away from me on the switchback climbs back through the trees. I did a fairly decent job of damage control and managed to never really slide back during the race but never gained any ground either. I finished in 23 place and am very pleased with that. It was pure joy riding across a blanket of downed leaves and frozen wet, icy grass in such cold conditions, it felt very much like New England conditions in the heart of the season.

Due to an 8am start time, I think I will pass at the Valmont event next weekend, although I'd love to see the progress on this park. For sure I will be attending the RRV race at a new venue in Golden, has anyone ridden this yet ? Any feedback would be welcome

Thanks to Six Degrees to Slush for the pics

Thanks
Shotty