The Rez Strikes Again

The Boulder Reservoir course is my nemesis, today made it two for two, I managed to pick up one of those filthy little goatheads..again. Last year, a puncture ended my race in the first lap since I didn't have a spare set of wheels in the pit. This year played out a bit different. I watched the weather Saturday night which called out sunny bright skies and temps in the mid 60's. I've been in Colorado just long enough to throw a long sleeve jersey in my bag before stepping out the door this morning. Good thing, when Jim and I arrived at the Rez, the wind had kicked up something fierce, literally sending the registration crew into hiding and whipping up huge whitecaps across the surface of the water. My warm-up ride was just about pointless, despite wearing just about everything I brought that day, I was still shivering at the line. I got a call up with a decent spot 3 rows from the line and played a start safe by leaving a generous amount of room around me. The start here is super sketchy, very high speed pavement into loose gravel that's 3 inches deep in spots. The course laid out today was working to my favor, pretty techy with some loooooong deep sand running sections. I was steadily moving forward and latched on to a group of 4, I felt amazing...really strong and smooth.

During lap three I counted out my spot to be somewhere in the top 15..very stoked!! , there were a handful of riders in front and felt confident that I could pick them off with 3 to go , perhaps earn myself a top ten finish which would be a personal best for a Boulder Series race. During lap 2 I was up, out of the saddle rounding a short uphill pavement turn when I felt my front end push hard......a puncture..again! Realizing that the tire wasn't going flat fast, I rode it as long as a could on the pavement and some "smooth" dirt sections and ran everything else. Needless to day I was going backwards quickly...I came into the pit and swapped my wheel, while some bystander thankfully helped hold my bike up as I dealt with loosening and tightening the skewer to get around the fork tabs (lawyer lips.....mental note to self....must grind off after this )

Back on the rivet, I had one lap to make up as many places as I could. Getting around the previous lap basically riding on the rim had taxed me heavily. With a half lap to finish, there was a group of 5 closely bunched in front of me.. I stood up and passed all only to have a quick wave a nausea roll over me. "Whoa"...sit up again, gather myself and just finish. 38th place. Definitely mixed emotions today. I can't and shouldn't get all worked up about the placing in the "old guys who work 40 hour plus work weeks and don't train" group, but on the other hand I wanted to race a clean race after last weekends little mishap...well chalk it up to a really worthwhile practice session, perhaps these mid-race mini calamities and chase from behind are good for motivation, fitness but above all else, remembering to enjoy myself and not get bent on results, It's not what matters at the end of the day. Perhaps it's working, today's course was pure joy to race on, really challenging and well constructed so kudos to the organizers.

This week will include a complete teardown of the drivetrain after all this sand. Next weekend, the Boulder Cup and the pro's arrive into town. Saturday, back to the Rez ( I'm not tempting fate and will skip this race ) but plan on attending Sunday's event. Till then, thanks for reading

Shotty