Fort Collins midweek Cyclocross

After a few days of rain it was inevitable that the course held behind the New Belgium brewery would have a bit of mud in the previously loose dirt sections.
That mud and the packed dirt that was found on other parts of the course were ideal for me. I didn't have any fear in corners, railing on the packed debris like a Tyco slot car. I got out fast and never looked back as I went on to solo the 30 minute affair.
$20 for the win - woohoo! They have now bumped me up to the A race only.
My once pristine clean Ridley Supercross was now a mudcake.
Well since it's only mud I guess that I might as well race the A race too.
Lapped around fairly easy with Anthony from Rio Grande giving out pointers for the fastest line. It was pretty nice not to have to ride all out. I took my time sitting up when I started gettting too far ahead. This went on for half the race before the leaders passed us up. I had decided that Anthony had had enough of me and took off alone. I was riding pretty good still. even after the first race. What a difference a couple a weeks make. 2 weeks ago I could barely walk after 2 races.
I'm really digging the CX stuff. We'll see how long this high lasts after it turns nasty cold.

Foothills Cross and snow

Yesterday came home from work and saw that there was snowed piled up against the north sides of the house and garage. Not very much mind you but jeez, this is still September.

Finished my first official CX race of the year Sunday. I raced only the 3s. It sure sucks when most of the Cat 3s are half your age and can recover at the speed of light. I did enjoy the race even though due to the bumpy nature of this course my back was screaming - STOP!!
I hope to do much better with a bit more intensity in my diet. Motivation to ride hard sure has dropped since the end of Road Season.

Tonight's practice CX race should be fun if the course is still muddy from the 2 days of rain we had.
Oh yeah, I have a new ride for CX season, a Ridley Supercross in blue and white.

Road season is over. It's SKUNK season now!

Well the road season is over. It is now the time to have fun in the mud/snow/sand as Cyclocross is now at hand.
So I go out yesterday to check out a possible course to set up here in Cheyenne. It's complete with a steep run up, sand, gravel, and grass. I just needed to mark out a loop for the riders here to do laps on.
Not 5 minutes into the ride with my dogs and I smell this HORRIBLE acrid nasty stench. I look back and Nikki is coming toward me with some kind of liquid on her face with one eye closed.
CRAP she got hit by a skunk!
Lucky for me Axel was not involved in the skunk encounter.
I rode back to the truck to wash off her face. I was in front of her buct I was still gagging from the smell.
I had made the mistake of touching her face with my gloves on. So now I'm down for a new pair of gloves (and handlebar tape which has absorbed the skunk oils)
We race home to give her a good washing.

Note: consult internet first for proper way to eliminate odor

Tomato juice (as recommended by my neighbor) does not work.

2 washes later and she still stinks, just not as bad. We go for a ride to dry her out (and tire her out as she is going to be spending some time in her crate)

Well my neighbors swore by tomato juice so I tried that after the run. Still no dice so into the crate she went.

Any clothes that made contact should be thrown in the trash not the wash machine. Now I have a wash machine that reeks of skunk. People are telling me to run a bottle of Coca Cola in the wash mashine to clean it out. Hmm, I remember what happened last time I listened to this kind of advice. I'll seach the internet first.

Tonight I will do the proven solution to skunk odors on pets

http://briansplace.ynt1.com/skunk.php

If all goes well the unlucky girl will be sleeping on the bed tonight.

They say there are 2 types of dogs in this case.

(A) Those that learn the first time to stay clear of danger and (B) those that never learn.

I'm stocking up on De-skunking supplies. I'm fairly certain that she is type B.

4 days of racing

4 straight days of hard saddle time has prepared (forced) me to take a short break before the Parker Twilight Crits.
Saturday thru Monday I was riding it out in the Santa Fe Trail stage race. 20 miles of time trial followed by 75 mile road race then a 40 minute criterium. Finished 2nd out of 4 riders in my category, WooHoo!
If that wasn't enough, yesterday I drove down to Ft Collins after feeling sick most of the day and did 2 cyclocross races. Of which I crashed on the last lap of the first race when I was bearing down on the leaders. So after a 35 minute and 45 minute CX race I headed back up home where I promptly put the ice pack on my neck and shoulder. Evenually cleaning myself up to put new bandages on my hip and knee.
And I thought I was through with the med kit for a while.

2 weeks of racing

Road cycling season is almost over. I've done some pretty neat races in the last couple of weeks. The Dillon and Copper Mountain races were at 9000+ feet. I went from the lowest point in my season to one of my highest in 24 hours. Lasting only 5 minutes at Dillon, I rebounded the next day and rode well. the course at Copper featured an uphill section with cobbles. It was a pretty cool course. Unfortunatly I held back as I was a bit timid after the prior day's lesson. Yesterday, at Niwot I felt great again (probably something to do with the Red Bull that was provided by Larry). I rode at or near the front most of the race and when Larry was able to slip into a break KOB and I played the perfect teammates and thwarted all efforts to bridge. Larry eventually finished 7th and I wandered through 22nd. I felt so good that I entered the Pro-1-2 race.
That race was FAST from the gun! I started out well, but a crash in one of the two 120 degree corners broke up the race and I found myself in the second chase group as there was a breakaway up the road. About 30 minutes into the race my inner thigh cramped forcing me to sit up and massage it out. 1/2 lap later I fired up the engines instead of dropping out. I was flying through the course but no way as fast as if I was still in the field. 3 laps later and the leaders caught me and I was whistled out. It was a good race regardless.

Next weekend is the Santa Fe stage race and then the final race on the 15th of September, Parker Twilight Criterium.
In between those 2 races I'll be camping/relaxing with a friend from Indiana. Should be a fun next 3 weeks.

I'm Back

After what seemed like a month off, I'm back to try and finish out the cycling season before returning to the N. Platte to fly fish for some monster trout. The break after High Plains Classic took a bit out of me as I attempted to race the Longmont crit P-1-2 category with 2 easy days of riding. 30 minutes later I was in the beer garden enjoying the free beer. Ahh, to be back on the river fighting 20" bows.

Well that butt kicking was enough to motivate me to try and salvage the rest of my cycling season (shoulder permitting). Riding enough to keep me fit and prepare me for Fed Center and Bannock next week, I tested the waters of fitness yesterday.

The CCC road race, 25 miles of rollers and wind, would let me know if I should just bag it or head south on Saturday. Pretty good competition this year had me just hanging in til there was just 3 of us. Even then I was figuring on getting dropped as I was always the one to bridge back up to John every time he attacked, taking a little out of my legs every time. I made my do or die bid with 3 miles to go on the long uphill before the flat to the finish. 30MPH! holy cow I'm moving. Only Cary could follow. we worked together to the finish and I passed him easily to take the race.

The Friday and Saturday before I was camping up in the Snowies for some hiking, fishing , relaxing, and for the dogs to have some fun. Fishing for brook trout in a small stream with a 3wt is fun, as long as the dogs behave and don't jump in the creek. That's a pretty bad thing to happen when you are targeting fish in a 3' wide creek. After a morning of that we (me and the dogs) headed up past the summit for a hike. Hiking at 10,000 feet is a pretty good workout. 3 hours later I was ready for a breather at lower elevation (and to get back home to do a long ride the next day)

So after another long ride today up toward the summit, it's time to take a midweek break before heading to Denver this weekend.

Bike Racing Devils Tower style

I raced the High Plains Classic stage race this past weekend. This race probably qualifes as overkill seeing as it was my 3rd 3 race weekend in a row. (others would call it great training) This year with the race getting a little more turnout than last year was much more competetive. I had hoped to fair better in the 85 mile first stage, but a return of muscle cramps left me just hoping to finish the last 2 miles. As expected, I was unable to hold the pace of the leaders on Bear Lodge Pass which is 6 miles long 30 miles from the finish. In total there was at least 6 climbs on the course including the 2+ mile ascent to the finish. I finished in 7th, 15 minutes down on the winner, not bad since I was basically on my own for 30 miles. Sunday's 2 stage event was a morning 8 mile TT and afternoon 42 mile RR. I did well in the TT (3rd) seeing as I had only spoked Zipp wheels to ride. The RR went off smoothly for the first 21 miles and we even stopped to let the Cat4-5s ride through as we were in no mood to be fighting it out in the heat for the full distance. (Temps were in the 90s both days and the Cat4-5s olnly did 45 miles the day before with less than half the climbing we did) At the turn-around in Avla the smooth ride went into hyperdrive as Brent from MOB Cyclery attacked the climb and everyone jumped to get on his wheel. Then someone else hit the gas and I knew I was in for some pain. As I dropped off the back I could only think of how much I could afford to lose and still catch them on the long descent. As I neared the summit I picked up one of the dropped Saskatchawan jr team riders that came down for the races and told him to grab my wheel and hold on. I knew that if I could not catch them my race would be over. So I opened up the floodgates and picked up as much speed as I could as I downhill timetrialed my way back into the race. When I got there after what seemed like over 5 minutes of chasing, the Junior rider, Steven, that I towed with me was extremely grateful. The thanks was paid back a little later when, unable to grab a bottle in the feed due the high speed, he handed me a bottle of gatorade. I finished 3rd in the field sprint as one of Steven's teammates (there were 6 of them) had attacked on the descent and soloed in the 15+ miles for the win. Next year should be huge after the guys go back and tell their teams (MOB, ColoBikeLaw, Denver Spoke, VC, Montana Velo, etc. about this event.
There is no road race like this in Colorado and once the word gets out about the courses and level of rider support (neutral rolling feeds) The masses will drive more than the 10 hours it took the guys from Team Saskatchawan to make this race.