I happened to be watching the weather last night (or at least checking it on my iphone), which is important as we roll into fall. Sounds like a good front is going to blow in this evening. I decided to be a little pro-active and get in a ride this morning. Out to my favorite workout hill, Lookout Mountain.
My legs felt... trashed. Actually, I would say they hurt. Not a good sign. I've been trying to work on some cyclocross specific workouts and since a cross race is typically a time trail with other people on the coarse at the same time, I had planned to just TT to the top. But the thought made me cringe. Instead I bumped up the intensity a little and backed down on the time... intervals. It's actually a good workout for me, above threshold to strain the body and hopefully adapt. Had I time trialed to the top it would have taken 23-25 minutes. With intervals I get an average power output higher than what I would have put out in a TT and the total intervals time is ~25 minutes (I went to the mansion). Not bad.
Now, it's time to rest and get ready for this weekends Frisco adventure.
A photo from the top this morning, pretty clear air. Nice morning. Quiet.
This past weekend the only points race was Sunday, up in the Mountains, in Buena Vista - Cross at the River. It was a no brainer, this would be a great place to do well. The non-points race was the first Boulder Cyclocross Race (on Saturday). Boulder Racing always does a great job and their races are top notch so I was expecting turnout for their race to be crazy, making the Sunday race... less attended and a potential opportunity for me to catchup and earn some BCR points.
My guess was right, 93 racers toed the line for the Boulder race in my category! 93! Wow. The ACA had so many problems with lapped riders they had to take extra time to get the results out. I'm sure it was a lot of fun but it's hard to get good results in a race like that.
Sunday, two other teammates and I made the drive to Buena Vista. Yes it was a long drive, almost silly for a cyclocross race, but it was great to ride with friends I don't get to see enough. All of us have active families making extra time hard to find. It was a great coarse, right next to the Arkansas river. It had everything, run ups, grass, pavement, barriers, sand, wind and low humidity. Only 24 racers showed up in my category, sad but when your looking for points the odds are in your favor.
The three of us were nervous for the start but all of us got 1st and 2nd row starting positions. The first lap I just tried to be patient (see previous race posts). I actually didn't want to be alone because there were some long drags into the wind. Having someone to race with would be helpful. It felt like people were just dropping off the pace. By half way through the second lap I was spit out the front in third place. The first two were working together and gone. I had a big gap but it felt like no mans land, and it was, I hit it. Maybe I could help my teammates by allowing them to sit on others wheels. Maybe I could hold it?
In the end I was caught by a few people but I still finished in 6th place. To cap things off my teammates were in 9th and 14th! Great results for all of us! We got in a nice cool down and enjoyed a beer while laughing and telling stores about the race.
All in all, I had a great time. Fun suffering with friends and enjoying the conversation during the drive. Next year I hope more people go to this race. It was well done and deserves more attendance.
ACA hasn't updated the BCR/BCT points yet but we should move up a little.
Sorry I didn't get any pictures, but here is a little video someone put together of the race.
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.
This past weekend in a park near our house, there was a firefighter appreciation event. (We didn't know about it until I happened to pass by while out for a ride). We took the kids and the new neighbors. They had loads of fun, got their faces painted, ate snow cones, sprayed the fire hose, jumped in the fire truck jump castle..... but when the flight for life helicopter landed in the park... it blew the boy's minds. Here are some photos.
Last Friday, after returning from my short notice work travel, I was the volunteer at Kailee's preschool. Typically this is a role my wife fills but this time Kailee specifically requested that I come to her school so she so she could be the special helper (children of parent volunteers are the special helper). Since I'm not typically chosen like that, I made every effort to attend. Kailee and I arrived early to help set things up. We started off with recess time, then we sat around and explained what we were going to do. Then it was activity time, puzzles, art, water table and making apple pie. We were off to wash our hands then it was snack time. We ate cheese, grapes (cut in half) and the apple pie we made. Then we read some books and soon it was over. I had a great time and all the kids were very helpful. It was funny how they would correct me and tell me what I should be doing.
It felt good and I had a great time. It's fun to see how many fundamentals a child learns in preschool. After school I brought Kailee to work for about an hour... but thats another story. You'll have to ask her what she thought.
Cyclocross season opened up this past weekend and I got in my first race. I took on the Colorado Springs race this past Saturday. A venue I've had mixed results on. The entire family was down in the Springs anyway so it worked out good.
I had a front row start due to my series points from last year. It was fun to see all the familiar faces and catch up with friends. The start was a short paved climb that dropped us into some single track. I was in about sixth place going through the first set of obstacles. As we were working are way to the first big run-up the guy in front of me started opening a big gap to the lead group of four. I really wanted to be in that group. So I down shifted and set off into the rough to get around the guy. Sadly I hadn't given my derailleur enough time to execute the chain shift and it skipped, dropping my chain! I had to stop and lost about 30 places. A mechanical on the first lap is about the worst thing that can happen to you in a cross race.
I was able to quickly fix the problem and was promptly on my way. I chased hard for a couple of laps. Then faded from the effort but was able to pick things up for the last few laps. To my dismay, I finished 21st..... first guy to get NO points! Sweet.
If I had only been more patient on the first lap everything would have been fine. Almost all of the four guys in the lead came back to the main group. If I had waited, I believe I would have had a great finish.
Sunday I didn't make the race so now I'm starting two races down for points. Next Sunday is the Breckenridge race. I have done well there in the past. If I get a good start and keep my head and patience the first couple of laps, I'm hoping things will improve.
Funny, I've never done well in a CX race when I put a lot of presure on myself. I need to be patient, race my own race, ride a "smooth" race and things seem to workout. I learned that last year, too bad I forgot this past weekend.
So, something special is going to happen today? Why... because 9 is a (magic) number.
Anyway... I hit lookout this morning. I didn't do the Bear Creek Lake TT series this year like I did last year. It was hard to stomach the $25 race fee for an 18 minute race. I decided to use Lookout in an similar manner, 20-25 minute race pace for free! I hope it works. The power data looks promising.
View from the top this morning. Its a little hazy today, some brown cloud action. In other news, I've had the mountain bike on craigslist for the past week. I've had three people email me saying they were interested. We talked on the phone and set up a time for them to come see the bike. I have changed my plans to facilitate them, all three have called or emailed right before they were to arrive to let me know they couldn't make it. Only one told me the truth and admitted he couldn't get the money together. It's been a little painful.
