I had the day off today and Joscelyn was working. After putting 20 miles on some Boulder singletrack in the hot afternoon, I decided to go watch the Boulder STXC races. These races are held every Wednesday night through the summer. It’s held on a portion of the CU campus where they built a trail system that looks like a BMX track. They break it into different skill levels within both male and female categories. Tonight, I was able to catch the Men’s B and the Women’s A races. I had to get home and cook dinner for Jos so I skipped the Men’s A race. Usually in the A races, you will see many pro’s. As I think about it, everybody in Boulder is a “Pro”.
We finally had a day off together so we decided to make the most of a warm sunny day. We went to the open space trail system right in our backyard for an 18 mile bike ride. I felt good starting out but by the time the ride was over I was exhaustated while J was ready for another loop. I hadn’t rode in while and it showed. I managed to talk J out of another loop and going out for dinner. Don’t forget to check out the cool pink bike jersey J got me last year so I could at least “look” the part.
We left our apartment Saturday night after I got off of work. The night before I70 was shut down due to snow from Golden to the Eisenhower Tunnel. Jos and I kept an eye on the conditions all day prior to leaving and it seamed to be getting better as the day wore on. WE WERE WRONG!!! As soon as we hit Loveland, a snow storm erupted. It was white knuckle driving all the way to Vail. I’m not a big fan of wind, snow, pitch black, and mountain roads at the same time. Luckily after Vail it was dry and clear skies to Grand Junction.
The next morning came early! We drove the last 25 miles to Fruita, CO to be checked in by 7am. When my race started, the course was planned for 8 mi and 45 degrees at the start. Last minute changes made it 17.5 mi and it turned to 70 degrees during the race. I was not ready for that! The start was good and I was in 2nd place going into 4 mi……that’s when it happened. I broke my chain and watched everybody in my class pass me. After an half hour walking to find somebody to help, I was able to piece the chain together to finish the race. It was such a beautiful day! We stayed for a little while to watch the other classes race.
Being so close to Utah, we decided to hit the border for a photo op. We then took are time driving back the 230 or so miles back home. What a difference a day makes!
Raccoon Mountain(just outside Chattanooga, TN) was the site of the SERC (Southeastern regional championship) #7 for mountain biking. We went down to Joscelyn’s parents house for the weekend but her parents were not there so we visited with Brittany and Blake and grandma and did some grilling on Norman’s new grill. By the way congrats to Debra and Norman for climbing Mt Leconte!!! The weather was perfect for the race,a balmy 70 in June, who could not beat that!! I started the race with 9 others riders in my class and was off to a fast start at the beginning but a big rock managed to get in the way and trip me up about 3 miles into the race. Joscelyn meanwhile had found a shade tree and sat down to do a little studying while she waited for me to return from the 12 mile course. But about 20 minutes into the race I came riding back to camp, scaring Joscelyn half to death and holding my shoulder and talking about “the rock.” I logged a DNF(did not finish) for the race but gave a valiant effort, according to my wife!!!!
I went out to compete in my first XC race of the season today. It was called the Monkey Grinder XC Race at Montgomery Bell State Park in White Bluff, TN (Just west of Nashville). My biggest fan, Joscelyn, came out to support me. We arrived at 10:30 am to watch the other division kill themselves on the crazy course. I had to kill 2 1/2 hours before my start time. I paced back and forth with anxiety while Joscelyn studied in the sun.
Once the race director called my division to the starting line, I was ready to go. I looked the other 3 guys up and down to see who I could beat. One guy stuck out at me. The gun went off and we were sprinting through the woods. I stayed at the back of the pack until we hit the hills. That’s when I dropped the guy I thought I could beat. The two other guys quickly dropped me. I settled for third place and got a water bottle, patch kit, and some lubricant for the podium finish. At least I’ll be ready for my next race on June 8th!!
Next Page »
