Sol Vista Mountain Bike Nationals

Cycling Videos on CyclingDirt

This past Friday I was able to participate in my first ever National caliber cycling event. I qualified for the Category 2 (sport) class back in June when I took 2nd at the Sand Creek International/U.S. Cup race at Cheyenne Mountain State Park here in the Springs. Both the U.S. Cup race and Nationals have been on my calendar since February when the majority of 2009's races were announced but, I had no intention or interest in either race until recently. They were on my calendar as back-up plans or "filler" races in case I couldn't find a road race on those particular weekends.
Well, plans and goals often change and mid-way through this season I changed my goal of becoming a Cat. 3 roadie to becoming a podium finishing Cat. 1 (expert/semi-pro) mountain bike racer. After taking 1st & 2nd (each 2nd was due to mechanicals such as flat tires & broken chains) in 4 of the local series races I applied for an upgrade to become that Cat. 1 mountain racer...and was denied. I felt like a sand-bagger at the local races and felt it almost necessary to explain that I had applied for an upgrade and was denied. Ah well, it gave me some extra incentive to finish on the podium at Nats.
And I did just that. Honestly, I expected myself to win but, a kid from the 'Boat (steamboat springs) sponsored by Moots put me in the red from the start. I had failed to get a pre-ride of the course and at 2.25 miles in I had to let go of the kid's wheel and ride my own race. I was unsure of how long he could keep up his pace since I had never ridden with or raced against him. But, before he dropped me he was talking like the pace and elevation weren't hurting and I was barely breathing. I ended up finishing in 2nd, just 2 minutes behind him.
Overall I'm pretty satisfied about the result. I'm now officially a Cat. 1 and having a blast. First test as a Cat. 1 will be on my own stomping grounds...State Games of the West's race at the Air Force Academy's "Falcon Trail." Hopefully I don't get stomped.

I'm a Little Excited

It's finally here! SRAM finally released the 20 speed mountain bike group set. I've been bitching to some riding buddies over the last few months about how I never use my "granny" gear and would love to see a "compact" style mountain grouppo. It just makes sense to me.

Available to the public in July.

http://velonews.com/article/92426/sram-launches-20-speed-mountain-bike-group

A Bit of Riding

Been doing a little riding lately. Last weekend I raced up in Boulder and after the race fellow Saluki cycling buddies Jeff and Brent and I did some mountain biking in Lyons, CO. The trail was rad, the weather was super hot.

Yesterday my newest roommate and recent SIU grad, Jeff and I headed up for the Koppenberg circuit that was rescheduled from March. We arrived in Superior, CO at about 7:30 to find the race director turning people away...again. You see, the Koppenberg is modeled after a European Roubaix race. A good portion of Colorado's Koppenberg is on gravel roads and the 3 straight days of rain prior to the event would've made the 17% grade on the gravel climb a little more than difficult. So, I think the race is officially canceled for the year.

We had planned on doing a little more riding after the race anyway so I wasn't totally disappointed that the race was canceled. We drove on into Boulder and headed up Left Hand Canyon. A group of 4 guys were time-trialing up the canyon and Jeff & I blew by them. We had no idea how far the canyon went or how steep it would get. We were just riding, having a good time. The 4 dudes caught up with us about 10 miles later in the climb. We sat in with them and it turned out they were doing some watt testing or some crap. They suggested a route and we decided to just ride the route with them....until I broke my chain. We fixed it and continued the climb up to Brainard Lake.

Jeff & I couldn't help but smile & laugh at the views. We were surrounded by 12,000+ foot mountains and the snow banks were still above our heads. The ride took us to over 10,000 feet and 24 miles of continuous climbing (over 5,000 feet) before we were greeted by deep snow. The weather turned cloudy and I knew I was in for a chilly ride back down to the car. With about 22 miles to go it started to rain. Hard. Then I started to freeze. I'm now convinced that I was in the early stages of hypothermia. I was shaking so bad at some points that I could barely stay on the road. There were also times when I felt like I just wanted to go to sleep....while traveling at 45 mph. I was out of it. And nauseous. When we finally got down to the car we went to a coffee shop. I couldn't get comfortable and 20 minutes after the ride I was still shaking uncontrollably.

While I was sipping on my coffee outside this guy was inside grabbing a coffee then came and sat at a table next to us. Boulder is kind of a big deal for American pro cyclists. Will Frischkorn was in the Pro/1/2 race in Boulder last weekend. He finished 14th.



Here's a ride we did on Tuesday: This was my first century. Total ride time was just over 5 and a half hours.

Crit Club

I got a phone call from a buddy who works at a local bike shop inviting me to an underground nighttime crit series that will be taking place every Wednesday night for the duration of the season....or so we hope it will last that long.

The inaugural crit went down last night. 8 racers showed up including co-owner of a local bike shop, a local frame builder, an elite level track racer who is also a pro roadie and some other local cycling enthusiasts.

The crit was in a very quiet, newer housing development on a half mile loop with a bit of a climb. And wouldn't you know it, a local smoky lived on and had his patrol vehicle parked on our "course."

The rules for Crit Club are simple and are as follows:

You must have front and rear lights.
You must wear a helmet.
You must be as quiet as possible while racing.
You assume all responsibility for any injuries to your person.

The crit lasted 30 minutes and had prime laps at 10 and 20 minutes in. Primes were a 40 and a smut mag. The track racer took both primes and "pulled out" of the race a lap after he won the primes.

I attacked with what I thought was 2 laps to go but I had read the clock on my computer incorrectly. I tried to hold off my fellow Crit Clubbers for an extra lap than I had anticipated completing and it stuck.

It shall be forever known that I won the inaugural Crit Club race. More importantly, since there are no points or upgrading involved, I had a freakin' blast. Sure it was a little dangerous with the crit being on an open course. A few cars came through but, we kept things clean. The whole idea may be somewhat illegal but, it was a rush and some great training to boot.

We all enjoyed some PBR's after the race and had some laughs until the fuzz showed up. What a scene it must have been for that cop. A bunch of grown men in spandex drinkin' beers in the middle of a suburban street at 10:30 at night. He brought back-up too.

The cops ended up being totally cool. They asked what we were up to and they seemed fine with the idea that we were doing a "team training ride" through the little neighborhood. They asked if the drivers were sober and asked how much longer we were gonna be there. So we finished our Pibbers and drove back to the west side of town.

Awesome time, awesome folks and an all around awesome time. Can't wait for the next installment of Crit Club.