Veldrijden Colorado: School Bells

The beginning of the season, to me feels a little bit like the first day of school, a little exciting , a little awkward...we're out on the playground and there's some "sizing up" going on, wondering about who's prepared for this, who's clearly not, showing off our new Trapper Keepers. If I had to use one word to describe yesterdays race, I would pick ,HOT! Too hot for my liking, I welt under conditions like that and yesterday was no exception. This did not come as a surprise, it felt super good to be racing, I felt like I cleaned all the barriers, sand pits and techy sections nicely but it felt as though my head was going to explode from the heat. I think I finished mid-pack somewhere, I wasn't putting any pressure on myself for results, after a solid week off the bike and a trip to Taiwan, I will be racing myself into shape this season. Curiously, the ACA officials decided to not post results for our group if we weren't in the top 25 ! I'm really not sure if they started getting confused with lapped riders in a large field( 92 riders! ) or someones hand cramped up, perhaps they were short on volunteers but we had the same size fields last year and ALL results were posted ( sometimes they were incorrect but nevertheless, they were up ) so, kind of disappointing to not know exactly who's race I was obstructing.

My fellow Srammies, Jim joined me as well as Andy who showed his appreciation to us for introducing him to this fine sport by coughing up a nice bit of bile with blood mixed in after he crossed the finish line...yep , he's hooked. It was great to see the usual suspects out and about yesterday. Keller from Boulder Cycle Sport/Mud and Cowbells, Big Tom was out as always, I was particularly stoked to re-connect with Matt, a riding partner friend of mine from back in Maine. Despite a huge chasm in levels of fitness between us, Matt always humored me by dragging me out on some beautifully loopy, hilly road rides and I'd show him our local trail rides. After we'd come back to town, I would collapse on the couch while Matt would change out his gear and go for a 3 hour trail run. After we left Maine for Colorado almost 5 years ago, Matt headed East, way East to one of the "stan" countries to climb, then picked up a Masters at UAF in Alaska and his pursuit of a PhD landed he and his wife to be in Denver recently. My cycling family never ceases to amaze me, despite years that may go by without a word,that time or distance doesn't diminish the strength of our friendships, thankfully cycling is still the tie that binds us all and I am forever grateful.