3 races in 5 days.

I’ve hit the ”parcours” pretty hard the last 5 days – two crits and another short track. This has been a record season for me so far with the amount of racing I’ve done; 13 including the Bolder Boulder (see heinous skinsuit photo below ). Remarkably (especially for the Longmont crit on Sunday) I’ve managed to keep the bike upright. Longmont was a scary race. People flying off the course and seconds later hearing their tires explode (twice!), a pothole covered with a sheet of wood, 60 minutes of surges in ~90 degree heat. I finished 20th but frankly, I’m just happy my bod (and my new neon green Oakley Radar’s!!) stayed in tact.

This weekend Clare and I are going to Durango for a wedding and an overdue reunion with our old abode. The following weekend is back to Salida for the omnium Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I’m going to try my damnedest to get off work early that Friday so I can make it down for the time trial. Boups, my raw-butt teammate and time trialest extraordinaire, said he would loan me his full-on TT bike. I’ve yet to do one this year but in the past, TT’s have served me quite well…given the tree trunks of which I’m equipped. I think if I put in a good time trial and then stick with the front group during Saturday’s grueling (so I hear) road race I’ll be able to finish high in the overall. Sunday is the downtown crit. What’s rad for a broke m’effer like me is that if you have someone volunteer for the omnium on your behalf, the race entry fees are waived! Clare’s dad volunteer’s as a course marshall every year and has offered to be “my” volunteer for this one.

 I need a real vacation sometime this summer or early fall and it will likely be a maiden voyage for Clare and I across the pond. She’s getting her passport soon and we’re always scoping out cheap fares, so I will likely be fitting in with like minded Euro trash in no time. I’ll have to let my mullet grow and wear a super long striped scarf, of course. I wouldn’t dare allow someone to take me for an ignorant Americain. Getting out of the US and a break from work will do a world of good. Got to make this happen – I’ve had my passport since I was 18 and have yet to earn a single stamp in the thing. I’m going to do some core exercises now AKA excruciating sit ups and leg extensions. Fun. Not sure why, but I’ve been playing The Strokes a lot lately, particularly the song “Razorblade.” Been rocking to The Artic Monkey’s a lot, too. There’s nothing like some pissed off, bar-rat Brits to get your booty shaking. Peace!

Tour Tour Tour Tour Tour Tour Tour and I dunked today

The magnificent Tour de France has started and today I dunked a basketball for the first time in like three years. All is well in my world. I’ve short-tracked two weeks in a row now and each time I have had my ass thoroughly handed to me on a muddy, bloody platter. I was really determined on Wednesday night to get the hole shot (“hole shot??” I hate that term. I’m going to come up with a better way of saying “I secured a good position in the opening seconds of a mountain bike race”…maybe Dave Towle can help me with this) but I ended up having another pedal snafu as well as a nice touch of wheels with 2 people in my area AKA in my way. I liked the course setup this week much better though and after one lap I was making the most of the wider sections and motoring by people, passing maybe 5 or 6 people. Coming around for lap three, I again tried one of my world-famous surges but this time I ended up on the ground. A guy dressed like Capitan America just edged me out as the wide trail become narrow and I touched his handle bars leaving me with a little more blood trickling from last week’s almost healed wound and my handlebar’s rotated about 300 degrees around my top tube, not before letting some silly brake and gear cables get in the bar’s way. After collecting myself, checking my bike’s pulse (sorta flat lined) and watching some 15 dudes pass me, I remounted and began the furious chase I’ve become known for out there. I picked off 5-6 riders but for a second straight week I let my overzealous lungs and erractic handling skills get the worst of me. But as they say, there’s always next week and I hope to improve on whatever back of the pack place I managed the other night. The short track photos below demonstrate two things - 1) me chasing Capitan America after he crashed me out and 2) me being completely boring over one of the two rhythm jumps (I need to let it fly over those things!) I’m tired. I’ll explain the other 3 photos tomorrow. Sweet dreams blogosphere!

Back on the trizz-ain

 I haven’t raced my bike for what seems like forever and today I finally had enough of my wimpy, can’t-do attitude, so on this, the 25th of June (also Bike to Work Day if you live in the “bubble”), I took my new mountain bike to task with the Wednesday night short track race, sanctioned by none other than my Alma mater’s fiercest rival, CU Cycling. Wow, that was a long sentence. So, Jesus Christ, short track racing is intense! It’s like the first lap of a road crit where you’re fighting for position and pinning it to try and get to the front…but for the whole race! Add to that a dusty course, super tight corners and 50 other racers and you’ve got a harried 25 minute sufferfest. Going to into it I thought “25 minutes? that doesn’t seem like much,” but when you’re out absolutely busting ass to hang on, 25 minutes feels like juuuust the right amount of time. As for the race itself, I got a tremendously crappy start, it was pure chaos with that many dudes trying to clip in at once and get a good position. I bumped into some people and then about 50 feet later there were the first of several little rhythm jumps and then you hit tight single track where passing is largely fruitless. I think I kept my position of somewhere between 20-30th the entire race. My pedals definitely need to be ratcheted down because through countless corners my foot would just slip out – a total momentum killer and an invitation to crash out either yourself or some unlucky rider near you – sometimes both. I think I dumped it 2 or 3 times, losing 3-5 places each time and then having to bury myself to catch up and pass the same 3-5 people half a lap later. The final dump-truck happened when I found myself screeching through a corner on the second-to-last lap when all of I sudden I missed the turn and went plowing into the course tape, resulting in a less than graceful tumble (withcut-up knee, to boot) and a mouthful of white, Shimano plastic. I’m guessing I finished somewhere in the 25-30 range and while I’m never happy finishing halfway down the results list, I learned some valuable lessons tonight that I’ll take with me for the next races. Fitness-wise I know I can finish top 10 so I’ll be gunning for that next Wednesday. Part of my buying the new mountain bike was to race these short tracks and after not being in Boulder the past couple summers, I’m so thrilled I’m here now and out racing them! The races are packed with riders, spectators, beer guzzlers, and the entry fees are just right. Tomorrow will probably be a lunch time Betasso ride.