Halloweekend

Hockey, bike racing, concert, looking at naughty......ness (?), bike racing. That was my Halloween weekend and it was pretty fun. By Friday night I was pretty fried and ready for the weekend and it just so happened that DU hockey was in town and I have season tickets. Went to the game and had a couple beers, and although it was a bit uncertain at times, DU ended up winning. We usually go out afterwards but since I was racing early on Saturday, I called it a night.

Saturday morning I was up at 6:30 to get ready and make the 45 minute drive up to Longmont. There were two times I seriously questioned why I race today. One of them is always about halfway into the race where you've already committed enough and know you have to keep suffering while trying to hold off anyone you've already passed and work to catch the guys you can see just ahead. That happens every. single. race. Without fail. The second time today was actually first. The alarm clock. Waking up earlier on the weekend than during the work week? Awful. Nonetheless, up I was and it was out the door. Because it was the Boulder Cup weekend (which means that all the pros were in town to race this stop on the circuit), the start times for the rest of the categories were moved around and I was starting at 8:50. I didn't have quite as much time as I would've liked to warm up but I still got to see the course. They did a good job of moving the snow off, but the ground was basically frozen ruts which made for a bumpy ride. Even though it was only about 40* when we started it felt a lot warmer, and as we raced it continued to warm up.

Once the gun went off it was up a hill, around a soft left and off the road to the dirt. Or at least to the ruts. Try as you might to hold a line, you really didn't get much say especially if you were the guy that got squeezed out of the course and ended up over the front of his handlebars. The lines were all being dictated from the lines that had been taken from earlier racers. And apparently some of the earlier racers took shitty lines! Really though, it was going all over the place but the course had a bit of everything and was set up well. The front side was some good S-turns with a couple off camber corners. That led into a paved section with a fun wall to ride up and down through a corner, some barriers and a sand pit. Then the back was just plain old sloppy. And hard. Off camber hills, muddy steps, slippery corners, and once you hit the pavement you were rewarded with a hill.

After about the second lap, right when you were starting to get a feel for the lines, it all changed. The frozen mud thawed out and turned into slimy mud and it was going everywhere. Pretty sure I ingested a good amount but I certainly wasn't alone there. Of course, it probably didn't help that I went down once. After a run up (that was rideable on the first two laps with firmer ground), there was a sloppy downhill with a right hand turn that led to some steps. The descent looked like this:

Except for when I went. Then it looked like this (pic isn't of me, but the result was the same):

What was once a nice, light bike instantly added 10 lbs of grime and became harder to pedal, not to mention lift over the barriers. But the riding also became more fun. It wasn't any easier, and in fact, just the opposite, but definitely more exciting. At one point, on about the 4th lap, I remember wondering how in the hell I was going to make it through the typical 7 or so laps. Whether it was pedaling my easiest gear uphill, trying to run through the sand or up the steps, or re-mounting my bike, I was quickly getting down to having burned my last match. The good news was first that the lack of oxygen to my brain kept me from realizing we were turning laps a lot slower. So when I came through on the next lap it was the final lap. Awesome. The next part was that everyone else was starting to get tired too, and somehow in that final lap I was able to move past 4 more people and hold off the final one on the last sprint up the hill to the finish. When it was all said and done I had finished 23/43 which I was definitely pleased with. A very challenging course, changing conditions, and always good competition, not to mention that I was able to finish ahead of a guy that has consistently beat me by a handful of spots in all of the races we've entered together.

Not a lot of pics of me from the day but here's my bike post-race:

Here's a picture of my friend Adam's bike post-race. There really is a crankset, front and rear derailleur in there somewhere. Makes for some nice, smooth shifting.

The organizers had already planned ahead to prepare for the mud and dirty bikes (and people) and had pressure washers for some post-race cleaning:

Since it was Halloween there were a few costumes rolling around, including the support from the Mavic sponsored pits:

And this guy (yes, it's a guy):

All in the name of fun, of course. Speaking of costumes and fun, that night I went to the Jason Isbell concert. It started pretty late but there were some interesting "outfits" being worn that night. None by me, but to keep this blog from quickly becoming rated R or worse, there will be no pics of the costumes or body parts that may have been seen. However, I'm pretty sure there was no shortage of nurses running around should their services have been needed. Services, in this case, probably has a pretty loose interpretation!

On Sunday it was back up to Boulder for some more bike racing but this time it was just watching. To be brief, watching the pros race was a completely different world. From floating through the sand, sprinting over the barriers, or just laying it down when they needed to, there wasn't much that they made look difficult. Pretty cool experience. More pics on that another time.