Brecktober CX

This was a fun traditional start to the Colorado Cyclocross season. This has been the first race I've done the past two years. This year however, it was the second. Sounds like the ACA will be moving it back to opening weekend next year. It's a good race up at the Breckenridge Nordic center. It's a fun mix of single track, neighborhood roads and hills. It's different than most of the races we do because there are trees, its not some mowed down field.

I was starting this race two races behind with no points. So no call ups for me. I got lined up early and ended up starting in about the 5th row, in the front 3rd of the pack. The start had us all sprinting into a section of recently scattered (1-3 inch deep) wood chips. It was like riding through sand, people were all over the place. Fortunately no one laid it down in front of me.

The rest of the first lap I just tried to remain patient. I did until we got to the first big climb. People were stacked up and moving slow. So I jumped and passed about 10 of them. It was a big effort but I made it to get past ten. Then I just had to hold them off. Through out the race we caught a few more racers and I was only caught by one guy, Josh my teammate. He bridged up without bringing anyone else and was finishing strong. In the end, Josh was tenth and I was 12th (one better than last year). That puts Josh in 20th for BCR and me in 23rd. The team is now in 9th place.

If we can repeat this in the coming weeks we'll be in good shape when the races move back down out of the mountains.