And I am not talking about the Cheech and Chong kind. I’m talking about the kind that lights on fire given how fast the racers were tearing it up at Interlocken this past Saturday. Unbelievable speeds on an unbelievable course assembled by our friends at Boulder Racing. And much to the dismay of our really good Mass-hole friend and eternally-Colorado-‘loving’ Mr. Chandler Delinks (who incidentally will be here for the Boulder Cup weekend so cheer him on Coloradans!), the course was super sweet. Nearly 100% grass, technical off cambers and all kinds of fun shit to get yourself into trouble at high speeds with. Interlocken proves year in and year out to be a fave in the Front Range.

Even though not a Colorado Cup race, the weather was too epic and the course so well known so all the usual suspects in the Master’s A group (save a resting Mr. Robson) were there to light it up and have some fun at Interlocken. I had a pretty killer front row start position again and was amped to tear it up. We got off to a ripping start on a long grass slog….so fast that we came up blazing on a group of racers who’d just finished their event and were cooling down on the open course…not realizing they were on course, of 'course (yeah, I meant that). Our Buffalo-stampede catching those guys by surprise caused some dismay to the group to say the least but generally speaking we got off fairly cleanly (for what could have been a pretty bad debacle).

The whole fam was there to watch the suffer fest

The start launch brought the large group fairly quickly into a fairly tight cooridor that weaves into the first obstacle of the day in the form of a run up. A group of 6 or so of us splintered failr quickly taking advantage of the hole shot and pushing super hard on the run up and sand pit to get a gap quickly...

Ⓒ Ⓒ Annette Hayden - Mountainmoonphotography.com

Frank was fastest out of the obstacles and got us up to speed leading the first lap…

Frank grabbed the hole shot and ripped for a great placing

And from the lens of Mr. Dale Riley...first and second laps.

Boulder CX series #3 - Interlocken - 35+/35+3 Lap 1 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

Boulder CX Series #3 - interlocken - 35+/35+ cat 3 Lap 2 from Dale Riley on Vimeo.

By the mid laps it was clear that Chris Phenecie was on a tear. He went to the front on lap 2 and proceeded to stay there. Perfect course and a perfect ride for him. The next 5 guys (me, Frank, Dennis, Upton and Scott) would have to be prepared to keep attacking each other and fend off positions trying to sneak up from behind…

Phenecie on his way to a great “W”

The course demanded a ton out of the rider. Sustained power on the Cross Vegas-esque grass yet concentration and well dialed-in treads/tire pressure while driving the bike through the numerous downhill grass chicanes. I think I swapped treads and pressures 10 times pre-riding and stuck with Typhoons as they gave me a ton on confidence coming in hot into corners while I watched guys slide in the corners as if in snow by over cooking them on over-inflated rubber or file treads…

As for the race, I kept a hard tempo all day and felt great. I am feeling decent about the racing I am doing…staying smooth and truly being in the moment and making decisions that I am satisfied with in the heat of the moment…although need to improve upon. What I am learning after all these years of racing is that everyone is suffering. Even when you’re on a  ‘no-chain’ day, efforts still need to be gauged, technique still perfect and bike driving as smooth as you can make it needs to be done without thinking..thus leaving you to focus on your strategy for the day. I need to push to that next level of being able to hang on the wheel (like Phenecie’s on Saturday) when I could see that it was going to be the wheel. I love that this gane still brings me things I need to discover and conquer….90% of ‘cross is half mental, right?

Most impressive were two guys: Scott Upton who railed his Spot single speed to a great 4th place finish…

…as well as Dennis Farrell who continues to be a cyborg of catch-kill-move on to the next guy. Amazing race bringing him to 3rd place…

All said an done, I finished 6th on the day. Another fast one in the books. Za form, she ist continuing to please and I will continue to throw coals on the fire to see where this all ends up this season. I’m super hungry and supper happy.

This coming weekend we have a massively anticipated pair of races coming up here in the Front Range. We have our now annual ‘Boulder Cup’ weekend with Saturday’s Colorado Cross Cup at the infamous Rez and Sunday’s Boulder Cup at our Valmont Bike Park. It’ll be interesting to watch the weather play out as there’s a storm-a-brewin here that could dump 8” of the pow on us…rendering the courses nice and muddy by the weekend.

Bring your A games, kids.