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My pride is causing me great emotion at this moment...

Colorado has crushed it at Nationals this year....and I am so proud. Life has not allowed me to attend and play this year, but I'll be back. More importantly is the witnessing of my friends...my FAMILY...kill it in Bend. Webber, Ward, Jon Baker, and my mentor Dubba. Watch this face for a few seconds. I am intimate with it. I train with it, Get to see it. Brandon is in his element for this brief few seconds and it is beautiful. He is a champion and I am surrounded by humility while stars and bars dress their shoulders.

We. Live. This.

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

Colorado States Photos | The amazing lens of Joshua Duplechian.

For a year or more now I have been enamored with the PDX crowd and their ability to capture cyclocross in a way that is not just focused on the racer. It’s everything AROUND the race…namely the people and the sites we see every weekend that burn indelible images into our brain. These are the images I hope to remember above any single race when I am old and gray.

Alas, Colorado too has a ‘Visual Historian’, Joshua Duplechian. An artist of there ever was one who uses his glass to capture what we all see, taste, smell and hear every weekend.

Click here to see his 2009 Colorado States photographic essay, but I highly encourage you to go and scope out his many visual projects. Absolute genius.

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Cross Racing Week 12 | 2009 Colorado States and CycloX

I can barely type at this moment. Absolutely no feeling in my fingertips due to the insanity of participating in my 'last' race of the season today, CycloX, in sub arctic conditions. My body is cashed. My mind is too...although 'at peace' that another season is done and the Holidays are here to enjoy. There's talk of some races popping up on the schedule in January but I am officially done with any racing that requires focus. Racing's always fun, but no need to "think" so to speak.

Cross Racing week 12. Let's get to it.

2009 Cyclocross State Championships - Arvada CO

This is 'peakin' season' for us all as States is always followed by Nationals. Thus folks want to be feeling as much spring in the legs as possible. The week had been snowy as all get up here in Boulder-ville and we all knew we were in for an epic Saturday. It didn't fail. It was my 12th week straight of racing and everyone was tired (save the smart ones mind you...). I took the entire week off except for some roller time in the basement to come in as fresh as possible.

Photo by Dan RieberThe warm up lap I got to take showed that I felt good and the course had no monster climbs which would negate any one single dude from dominating. The course was snowy almost exactly like the 2007 State Champs on that bitter cold day. I brought the de-icer and ran Dugast Typhoons at 30psi. I'd never need to change bikes all day amazingly...even with crashes.

All the usual suspects were lined up save Denis Farrell. I had a 2nd row call up today as I've been suckin' but I knew that being behind Jon C and Timmy I'd get off the line safe, smartly and clear.

TWEET! We're off and as anticipated I snake through a hole with Timmy taking the hole shot along with Michael, Jon and Glen Light. I am feeling really pretty light and spinning well. When we took off the course was frozen but in 45 minutes it would all change.

(See Dan Rieber's photos of the race like that to the left, here).

First lap and I am rolling beautifully along. No issues, keeping The WB in my head to stay conservative and not attack or do anything stupid. Coming over this set of barriers the racers would re-mount then get sent through this completely UNSHOVELED sidewalk (the course guys should have really paid more attention here as this was fairly B league ATMO). There were two lines, the right one being next to this orange plastic hurricane fencing. Exactly like that moment in the 2003 Tour when Lance is pulled down by that kid's mussette bag, my SRAM lever gets snagged in the orange fencing and brings me down so fast it was incredible. Hogan comes by me and my bike takes him out (we have a habit of doing this to each other! Ha!) He asks if I'm OK and we get up and hammer.

Long story short, I suffer two more of these similar crashes. One I will admit was particularly scary. My hand slipped off the hood as I came into this apex and the front tire went into a divot. The hand slips off and I hit the deck super fast and super hard face and arm first. I felt this shooting pain which I literally thought was my arm braking or maybe my shoulder. I get up and look at my skin suit to see if there is some sort of bone protruding! Ryan and Glen Light ask me again If I am OK and I remount and get the diesel working again. It turns out I bruised the bone and my tricep muscle and had some shoulder pain but all will be OK (as you'll see by me racing the next day at CycloX below).Photo by Photo by http://markwoolcottphotography.com/

Last lap and this is where I need to pause and explain something that needs explaining as it has relevance below further down in the post...

The group of guys we have in the 35A's here in Colorado are absolutely, positively something special. I am not sure what it is like elsewhere in the country but we generally and fully enjoy each others company as we attempt to slay each other week in and week out. Whenever we come across the line there is always a gaggle of hugs, back pats and recounts of the race. Genuine joy between us. The fact is that we all end up trading emails, calls, TXT's etc during the work week as we prep for another weekend of racing and share a bit of the work and family week stuff we all have to balance in our crew. Mutual respect if there was ever a phrase to apply to a group.

(See Mark Woolcott's photos, like that to the right, here!)

So back to the action and the above known, the closing laps got faster and more chances taken. Matty Opp was having a banner day bridging to us dangling off the leaders. As the race wore on the course changed dramatically. Mud was becoming an issue and my cleats and pedals for the life would not engage. I was sore as a mo-fo and chasing Opp hard yet I could hear LG on the mic shouting about my hombre Ward~The WB~Baker's ride. Timmy early on had an unfortunate tire failure taking him out in lap 2 and Chris Phenecie unfortunately suffered a worse fate about the same time with a crash and ankle injury. These gaps allowed a spilt group to simply ride ride ride. Robson, Cariveau Ward and a strong JJ Clark who'd made it through a number of folks to bridge to try and re-claim CO States after his 2008 win. But if you have ever seen Ward ride a mountain bike, you know that this was his day.

Almost every soul hit the deck Saturday. The best of us struggling. The greatest of us, though, stayed as smooth as he typically is and Ward came across the line arms held high in a much deserved win. LG's words on the mic were motivating me to no end shouting out his gap times to chasers. Hearing Ward was going to take it made my hair stand on end as I was racing and made me go harder still.

Last lap and I am with Glen. We bridge to Ryan and coming into an icy cement corner and I wash out quickly. We're all pinned but to show the class of the guys we ride with (and my sentiments above about our group), Glen pauses to tell me to get up, get control, get my breathing in order and throw in another interval when I get up and going. Class. Ryan, Glen and I come flying into the last stretch: a muddy run up, then immediately flip to a slick down hil. I'd railed this all day with a foot out but this time I wash out. I am up in seconds and remount as Glen begins to stand to sprint for the line with Ryan starting his sprint as well. I can hear our gears changing to find that 46 x 12...Clink clink clink clink! I miraculously find the big ring and drill it, all three of us basically throwing with me taking the print for 9th. Yup, knife fighting the whole way.Photo by Greg Keller

Ward, I love you like a brother and am so proud of you. Every single one of us knew it was your day. You did it man.

Have a look at my photos of the State Championships (mainly apres-race photos) here in my Flickr gallery.

With a pint or so of my bud Joe Ball's home made Westmalle clone in my gullet, I proceeded to don the smock and rubber gloves to pit for my bros Brandon Dwight and Pete Webber in the open men's race. Let it be known that I indicated to anyone that would listen that today would be Pete's day. I know how hard he is training (and resting!) for Bend, and today woudl suit him well. He and Ward are in fact extremely similar riders.

Photo by Philip BallSo with a small posse in hand, we dialed in Pete and Brandon's bikes for what would be an absolute frozen mudfest. The pit crew work (if I don't say so myself...) would be decisive as we watched lap after lap of the pro men struggle with mud that was freezing in massive chunks around the every concievable place.

Lap after lap Brandon and Pete simply stayed smothed, changed bikes and kept gapping the field by a large distance. It all came down to a sprint between these two old best friends with Pete taking the roses.

See an amazing set of photos here by our team mate Philip Ball including the dramatic sprint finish to the line.

 

Photo by Philip Ball

CycloX - Boulder, CO

I woke up today (Sunday) feeling like my body had been hit by a freight train. Legs heavy arm sore. I peer outside and it's snowering out and we'd gained another 1.5". Oh and it's 16 degrees.

I guess I'll just 'have' to race one last time, right? The good news is that the race course is literally right down the sreet. So I embro-up right there at my house, grab my de-icer and roll down the street with my two bikes...in the snow...with cars nearly stopping to oggle me as if I am absolutely psychotic. 

I roll up to the start line and ask someone to pin me up, drop my jacket and discover it's literally just me and two other guys at the start line! Tim Allen and Jon Baker. We're all freezing and we essentially roll off the line, Tim taking off on a tear (Jon and I would not bridge to him for the whole race).

(Click here to see Six Degrees to Slush great photos like that to the right of the day!)

The course was pretty damn fun. I rolled in 28psi, unbelievably low, and found myself hooking up well. I rolled consistently with Baker at 15 seconds, Tim 30 seconds in front of Jon. My fingers numbed horribly and contacts froze and rolled right out of my eyes. The atmosphere was super fun with us all goofing off. My family walked down and braved the elements with Seamus and Aiden hucking snow balls at me.

I pull across the line with my bike above my head, Stybar-style, in celebration of a fun race and my last race of the season.....although my fingers are still frozen and I fear a 2007-like scenario where they stay numb for a month or more. Arrgh.

So that's it friends. I am capital C cooked and happy with the season. I'd probably give myself a B- overall but know that my focus needed to be elsewhere this season and not going to go down some woe-is-me path. I did my best and I did what I could do weekend in and out, essentially relying on racing as my training.

Best of luck to all my friends going to get thier game on in Bend next week. I'll be thinking of you...as I down a beer and go out on a 1 x 1 ride.

Adios.

Photo by Philip Ball

Cross Racing Week 11 | Don’t overlook the obvious

image“"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once and a while, you could miss it.”

 

-Ferris Bueller

We all work so hard and manage our own versions of the three part teeter totter. It’s who we are and what we do. Week in and week out. Round and round…or up and down as the teeter totters. We…eat, work, contrive a smile, work, eat, am i getting a cold?, try to stay sane, be present with our kids and loved ones, work, stress, don't eat that cookie…OK just one, work, sleep, wake, eat…and so it goes all week thinking of the weekend ahead, the weather in the forecast and the venue that will allow us to release ourselves and purge the demons over barriers, up hills, on sweet trails and on great rubber.

But there has to be more. There is life beyond our self-centered universes. Right?

For each day you spend in this vicious cycle, a bit of distance grows between you and what is important. For me that is obviously my family and friends. How many times are you driving or on the bus and you have your cell phone in hand, see a name of your friend in your contacts list and don't hit ‘call’ to say hello. “Ahh, I’ll give him a buzz tomorrow.” And tomorrow turns to weeks. How often are you avoiding obligations that could ‘interfere with your legs-up time’ and before you know it, opportunities to connect with neighbors is wasted. It’s a tough balance.

This Thanksgiving week brought a lot of that to the surface for me personally. Our dearest family friends, the Balls, came into town to celebrate what is becoming our collective ‘tradition’. We all looked forward to this for weeks if not months. Joe is the one responsible for my ‘cross fixation having effectively taught me everything I know back when we lived in SF, pre-kids, careers just starting. So lots of talk of ‘cross would happen this Thanksgiving. Lots of beers downed. Lots of laughs had all the while our children getting to play together like cousins. But alas, we virtually ALL got sick with a vicious flu. Down like dominoes we went one by one. You could imagine how the moods would spiral into the darkness. I found myself going there fast. Bitter. Snapping at my boys. Patience completely lost. Bummed that I am going to finally go down the sickness path I’d been avoiding like a hypochondriac all season so I dare not miss a single one of my races. Digressing into a vinegar-filled little boy.

And then it hit me: Stu Thorne is not waiting with baited anticipation for the ‘right moment’ to call me and beg me to come race with TJ and JPows on his team with a large six figure contract and free Dugasts for life.

This…is…my…hobby.

Life happens people (and yes, I’m telling myself this too). My friends being in my house this Thanksgiving, spending priceless time together even while we’re all sick, was such a great reminder of ‘life’. Real honest to goodness life. Laughs still happening even while vomiting in syncopation because you’re in such proximity of your close ‘family' having such needed time together.

Relax. Try your best in everything you care about and do what you can to maintain happiness. Holding onimage too tight merely strangles the life out of anything good. I generally do this….but I have to remind myself (or get reminded) of my idiocy from time to time. It’s hard though, because I love it all so much.

So with that diatribe known above, the weekend had some great racing action and I needed to let things roll off my back. I was simply out of commission and I relaxed and simply…forgot about racing! While Friday was spent in bed almost the whole day, Saturday was spent resting and re-entering civilization. If I felt semi-alive Sunday, I’d go and race in Golden at the RVV race.

Sunday came and when my eyes cracked open while still in bed, I did one of those full ‘body scans’: Do I have that fever? Is my stomach still in knots? Do I have to rush to the toilet? Luckily, I felt fairly alive.

I made the drive down to Golden and figured I’d do a hot lap and then make a decision. The gut still sort of ached but the legs felt decent yet the course Clay Harris and the RVV crew created was too irresistible to pass up. Honestly, it was too fun to say no to. Thus the decision was made to stay and go and race in the blissful sun.

image I won’t bore you with the blow by blow of my 35 A’s race. It was another top 10 (10th), fought hard for, with not enough power to stay with the chase group trying to nab Jon and Timmy, but enough power and flow to keep the wolves at bay trying to take me back. No complaints.

What I will spend time on though was the course:

Grass, sand, perfect grade climbs and fun rolling and flowy paths to put the hammer down on. They also injected a set of steep man made stairs to get your Belgie on which was super fun.

So, the ‘official’ season is almost done. CO States is this coming weekend. I’m feeling better and still excited to race…albeit with a reminder of what I am doing and why I do it. I pan across my group of racing compatriots…virtually every one of us…with more-than-full-time gigs, a gaggle of kids, tons of obligations…all of us balancing. And I smile. I can’t be the only knob stressing about these things, can I?

Nah. I’m not the only one who overlooks the obvious on occasion.

OK, maybe I do a little more…

Oh, and if you made it this far, here's a vide encapsulation of EXACTLY what I am talking about above.

Cross Racing Week 10 | Exiting the mosh pit

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Whoa. You ever get to that point in a season where you are like: “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, get me done already!!” And when the season finishes you suddenly start longing for ‘do-overs’. I equate my cross seasons to be somewhat like finding yourself in a mosh pit at a hard core speed metal show for 5 months straight, getting the absolute snot kicked out of you by some dude’s black leather jack boots, then leaving the theater after the encore with a bloody nose, ears ringing, ribs bruised….but then suddenly longing for one more song. Just one more….

We’re nearing that point in the season where the smart ones are peaking and the passionate ones are flailing (me). Races are raced hard, yet the smart ones are resting infinitely harder. (Make mental note: must practice this…). So as we’re growing close to season’s end, there is still racing to do. This past weekend saw some great racing action in Colorado Springs and Golden. You could literally see the exhaustion on, in and around most racers yet the courses were delectably fun.

Colorado Springs- Pike’s Peak Cyclocross No. 2

(All pictures below thanks to Ultra Rob unless otherwise noted. See album here.)

Driving 2 hours to a ‘cross to do a 45 minute race is…well I guess you can consider it an obsession. Co Springs is quite a hike but the folks that put the race on are great and the course I like…even though it is the antithesis of a course I know I can excel on. Needless to say, it appeared that ALL of us from the Boulder/Denver area are obsessive as it was a good sized field that showed up to play. All the usual suspects were there for the call up and would make for another hard day of racing.

The course in the ‘Springs is classic Colorado. Lots of bumpy rhythm-less paths, a death climb….and now Colorado’s new feature for ’09: mud! Many of the corners were super greasy making the tempo a bit slower and the need for bike handling a must. I took a total gamble before the season started and opted for Tyhpoons as the last few years have been super dry and fast. This year, however, the moisture gods have opened up with 2X the amount of snow we get on average here in the Front Range. Couple that with radically swinging temps and you get mud fairly quickly.

I decided to chill out and save a few matches for Sunday so with the whistle to send us up the paved straight, I just sat in the front 5 or so. I felt OK the first few laps but by the end of lap one, it was clear that Jon C was on a tear and he was gone. The only one realistically who could (and did) cover that obscene display of kick-ass-ness was JJ who left us all behind to play cat and mouse with Jon. The rest of us would scramble for the scraps of top 10 positions.

As the laps wore on I could see the exhaustion settle in. Mistakes made, lines blown, power lost. I bridged to my good friend Michael R who has been on a tear this season and even he with his MTB skills found barriers to be ‘just that too much high’. All of us were losing that slight bit of concentration and the flow became choppy and for some, true squares were being pedaled. Nonetheless it was super fun to be railing (or sliding!) with your buds in and through these muddy S turns. The bike and the Typhoons (32 today) railed well. The tire pressure was dialed in perfectly and I found myself only un-hooking once unintentionally. Everything else seemed to grab well even in intentional controlled slides to get through some dicey corners. I came across the line conservatively in (drum roll….) 8th with me gauging how hard to go to keep a late charging Robson and a resurgent Shawn Lortie at bay. No complaints, I rode well and kept to my plan to not blow my wad on day one as I wanted to go well at the Golden course the next day.

Golden-Green Mountain Sports ‘Cross

(All photos below by Dan Rieber unless otherwise noted. Buy some of his pics here!)

image When the eyes opened on Sunday morning, I could feel the boogers in the nose, scratchiness in the throat and some swollen lymphs in the neck. It was a bit more pronounced than Saturday but not enough of a cold to keep me from ‘crossing. I dosed up on the secret cold serum and packed up the grocery getter with my equipment to make it down to Golden for the last race in the Green Mountain Sports series.

Golden is Boulder’s neighbor to the south and only takes 30 minutes or so to get there. When I pulled into the driveway of the venue, the car got immediately gunked with mud. It was incredible. Having raced this course before, I knew that it would be an absolute classic Belgian farm-field style race with essentially every square meter of course covered in mud…and so it would be!

When I left my house it was 30 degrees. By the time I hit the course for warm up it was 46 and rising fast. What were once trails frozen with snow were rapidly decelerating into a muddy mess. I love this course as it actually reminds me of the terrain in Belgium. If you added more trees it could be Baal. Not a lot of climbing and flowy undulations of the terra firma. Most similar however are the fields we ride on which are just like a prototypical Belgian farm fields. My warm up had me smiling given the fun factor but quickly I realized a) ‘wow, Typhoons are a pretty tough call on this course…’ and b) ‘holy crap, my bike in warm up is completely gunked with mud….and there’s no water source!’. image

By race time we’re nearing 50 degrees so I embro’d up with Sportsbalm Hot (finding this to be pretty good having used Freddy’ Choice Extra for 2 seasons), grabbed my clean bike and lined up. They had us use a  start chute on this grassy infield that was still covered in snow. At the whistle, I failed to do what I usually remember to do….and that is to ensure the cleat you have on the ground is clear of mud or in this case snow to get in the pedals quickly. So upon the whistle, I proceed to slip my left foot once…then twice…the three times. IMMEDIATELY in the back 15 or so. I tried like hell to push through the mêlée and get to the top 5 but the bottle neck was incredible. Today was a day that should have suited my off the line style…and was an absolute need to get out front…and I failed! ARRGH!

The first lap was all a mad scramble to position. The chaos of people losing their shit in the lines was incredible. I was able to scoot up to about 10th controlling my speed and trying to just stay smooth. The lines were unbelievably greasy and those that could flow would maintain their position. If you could do it from the get go, even better as the pack behind was a fumbling mess. By the end of lap one it was true attrition. Bikes were already a mess. The mud was thankfully not Colorado clay, it was wetter and soupier, but it was also filled with grass. I went two laps before I needed to dump off that A bike and grabbed my muddy B bike from my teammate John who was carefully watching us racing.

Photo by Linard CimermanisMy A bike was on 32 Typhoons and when I jumped on the B bike, I could feel the difference positively with my 34’s. The larger surface area hooked better. Unbelievably, the SRAM Red on that B bike was shifting like a champ. Even with a caked front mech, it still got up and down from the 46 to the 39 without problem. The rear was also perfect with a SRAM Force cassette on the back which ejected the mud well. I’d ride this bike for the rest of the race…even as it gained an additional 15 lbs in mud!

For the middle set of laps in the race, I was railing with my team mate Mark Wisner and David Overstreet. On specific sections, I was amazed at David’s traction with his Tufo Cubus. It was spectacular. I would be slipping and unhooking up these sextons where I’d literally watch his rear tire dig in. (I will be trying these next season…). With my heart rate pinned and my body not able to keep the wheels railing, I lost contact with that group. The rest of the race was pure attrition. I could feel yesterday’s ‘reserved’ effort tear me apart in closing laps. Robson was dangling in front of me as I worked to bridge to him while I gauged my intervals to keep a charging Clay Harris from catching me. I had zero idea where we were. Just that I knew I wanted this ‘fun ride’ to be over. We all came across the line and dudes…FIT dudes mind you…were sprawled out on the snowy grass absolutely positively spent. It looked like a MASH unit in a combat zone. It was…awesome. 13th place. An anonymous 13th place that was harder than any placing I think I’ve ever worked for…save maybe for my absolute-crap ass showing at Nats last year.

And we do this every weekend to ourselves?

3 hours to clean the bike…including taking all those cassettes off the bikes to clean every square inch of mud out. I am still in disbelief this shit shifts under those conditions!

We’re almost there. We’re almost at the close of the 2009 season. Colorado States is December 5th and I am considering hanging up the sew-ups after that. No Bend for me this year. Just too busy with life and work…and the fact that Nat’s has historically been the bane of my existence. Even as a Cat 2 I’ll end up in row 200 trying to swim upstream all day. But alas, I’ll find myself at a Nats sometime again in the future…only after I go feel the energy of the different scenes around the country and report on ‘em. Hmm, where should I go next year?

Hamme Zogge Live this AM | VT4 SuperPrestige coverage

VT4 covers the SP's live via streaming so even us U.S. mopes can enjoy. The Hamme Zogge Superprestige starts at 7AM MST (3PM in Za Motherland). Click here to watch and FaceBook message all your favorite friends in Belgium.

Oh and if you need to remember last year's H-Z...

Cross Racing Week 9 | To the consistent comes the spoils.

image What kind of crosser are you? Seriously. Think about it for a moment. Are you the type who thrives on the early season warmth? Tackling fast courses and using some of your road or mountain season form to go and wreak havoc? Or maybe you are the new generation crosser who is coming into the sport, learning your place in the pack, dialing in your race day rituals, equipment and comfort level on various courses. Or maybe, just maybe, you are the fanatic. Watching weather.com hourly…yet days in advance of the event…to observe the weather patterns and praying for the confluence of cloud, temp and precip to allow the heavens open up and drain what it will on the course. Ultimately leveling the playing field in favor of those with technical skills versus those that are genetically gifted yet ill-prepared to handle their bikes in the bad.

Hi. I’m Greg. I’m a fanatic.

I don’t know what it is but if the conditions foul, I relish. I’m not intending to sound all egotistical, but I sincerely feel better on challenging courses when weather adds its secret sauce: My tires feel great. My power seems even and consistent. It all just seems to work for me. I like zee sheet and zee piss-rain and zee mud.

Well we got the sheet and the mud but replace the piss-rain with snow. Epic conditions greeted the crossers…and DROVES of us…to Boulder Racing’s final in its series. We were all back once again at Xilinx, home to the last mud fest! I had a hold on 3rd place in the series and frankly wanted to reap some rewards for being “Mr. Consistent” this season. And that consistency would play imageits self out yet again Sunday. Ha! Or maybe I should say arrgh!

I’ll give the blow by blow for the Men’s 35 A event…and I’ll use some AWESOME photography from David Kutcipal of 303Cycling.com , the lens of Linard Cimermanis and video from Dale Riley’s Crossin’ Colorado blog. Thanks you guys!!

The 35A’s have the ‘pleasure’ this season of lining up super early. Don't know why this is as for years we raced at 11:30-ish. Now this season we’re leaving at 0-dark:30 to make our 9:45 race time on most weekends. So, with these early start times, the course conditions radically change from AM to PM when the weather is foul. We faced ice, fresh powder and mud…not the pure mud the later races would face. Technical nonetheless.

The crew lined up after call ups and the ACA official sent us on our way. My plan today was to take it easy, save matches and burn slowly into the race. That means not blowing wads on the hole shot like I am just soooooo awesome at.

True to my plan I burn into the start chute up the pavement climb evenly and conservatively. I settle in behind Hogan who I am comfortable with and know how smooth he is to stay out of trouble. Up this 1/4 mile pavement drag, there was tons of melting ice and snow creating a pretty scary situation. Limited visibility due to spray and the fact that a bunch of dudes whom I don’t know and are not familiar with their racing styles were taking chances to get into position before we all converged into this narrow chute into the course proper were sketching me out. So, I had to make a move to stay safe. I jammed it on the outside and railed into the single track first …

Safely in the woods and clear of any disasters I was able to set my own pace. Set my own tempo. Set my own lines. And I felt absolutely great. I carved out the players early on. Ross, Robson and I meandered the course and railed as a three person train and took no chances. Essentially allowing ourselves to learn the course and the lines while pushing a good pace evenly.

image By lap 2 and 3 our group got a bit larger. Dennis, Ward, Brian an Mr. Hogan bridged so we had a group driving a great pace. The course was starting to flow and all of us were literally smiling. It was less race, more like a rad group ride with great friends pushing hard but having fun. Honestly, none of us felt like we were racing but our lap times were telling another story!

By the lap 3, Ross had punched to create a gap that no one was bringing back. His skills and his Niner 29’er (Cheater, Ross! HA! Kidding…) helped hgim create a gap that could be maintained by teh type of rider he is: Smooth consistent and technical. By this point I am still grooving until the unthinkable! I throw a chain over the outside ring on the back side of the course. As is customary these days, I lose my obligatory ‘5’ spots. The racing is simply that tight and you can NOT make a single mistake. Unless you have the motor to overcome other huge motors, you simply have to stay smooth and problem free. Bummer but I had to get off and re-assemble the mess.

Dubba was manning the pits for me (and I would for he and Pete later in the day) and I dumped of that bike, imageclogged with ice and muck that caused the derailieur drama. Before the start, Dubba and I could not source De-Icer yet while racing, he was able to get it and load my back up bike with the goodness. It proved effective to keep the drive train clear.

So with the train of dudes now clear of me given my mis-hap and my bike change (as quick as it was), I had my work to do. I drilled it to bridge to my teamie Brian who was gapped by the chasing group going after Ross. B and I would try to push to the next group. The unfortunate part was that we were running out of laps!We wren't going to get on.

Bri and I dove in and out of the single track, in and out of the snow and mud. It was super fast and fun! By the closing of the bell lap, he and I popped out on the pavement together towards the finish and he had a 10 meter gap. Even as team mates, we have to sprint for it! You all know what I’m sayin’! I dropped it into the 46 x 12 and bridged, threw, and B had the distance by a tire to take 7th. Me 8th….again! Ha! Seems to be my number this year.

Good news is that I raced consistently enough over the course of the 4 race series to take 3rd overall…de laatste podium plaats. $100 bucks and socks! Giddy up! So all is not lost, sports fans.

So all-in-all what a great day of racing. Fanatical racers out in the sheet and piss-muck with smiles all over the place. And on the horizon, the state championships are looming. Damn! I think I need to start training. Hup?

Finding my place | A mid season check in...

I hear myself tell my legs on any given weekend "I hope you perform". But as we know, hope is not a strategy. It's a layer somewhere beneath luck, fitness, passion and ultimately skill that can help contribute to a great performance. But on its own, it's useless.

These day's I am finding my place in the crew. Finding my legs...and my head...as I continue 'the balance'. Everyone...and I mean virtually everyone!...is at this new level. Cross is a passion for all those who line up and their strategies are less 'hope', more 'drill it'. It's inspiring.

The place I see myself now and the place I need and want to be are not very far from one another. It's like looking across a small stream....one that you know you can leap across if you nail the jump just right. But you need to trust your legs and your spring to get across. This is precisely the situation I am in. That extra .0001% of effort to take a risk, bridge to where I need to be in the race and settle in.

Everyone is suffering. That needs to be remembered. It's about your ability to block out all doubt for the nanosecond it takes to put in an effort...one that with hanging doubt will never allow you to cross the chasm for fear of too many matches burned.

I can do it.

Training these days is less training and mostly tuning. Each race is its own stepping stone. The big blocks of the summer...early morning pre-work sufferfests to condition the body from long single speed rides to hour-long wattage-fests...was prescribed well. But now, the intensity of work and the need for my family to have a daddy and a husband far outweigh the selfish requirements that many are still putting themselves through to be at the razor sharp edge of the race.

Racing-->rest-->a Wednesday eye-bleed session-->rest-->racing. Eat well. Don't be afraid to have a beer. Sleep even harder. Secret sauces that help me carry on in the fall while my mind still carries me to victories, instigating my passion for the sport and the place I'd like to find myself. Never hoping I am there, always planning to be there.

A cyclocross race decomposed | Brian Patrick's video of the Blue Sky Halloween Cup

Brian has outdone himself. What a fantastic keepsake for our tribe of 35 Open racers out here in Colorado. He filmed this and spliced together all the sound to punctuate the action with the racer's commentary. Listen close and you'll see what I mean.

I can't wait for my boys to see this when they're older.

 

More Boulder Cup Weekend Photos | Shawn Lortie's Lens

Shawn is a local hard man and has shaken up the 35 Opens after a pretty long hiatus from the scene. The man's got that prototypical Colorado mitochondria that mystifies. Moreover, the man is an inspiration to me on the photography front, having lusted his images in Mountain Flyer Magazine for quite some time now. He wanted me to share some of his imagery from this past weekend and so, I am! Click here to see he essay on the Boulder Cup weekend.

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