Every year Boulder brings in the baddest local and national racers for a UCI Cyclocross extravaganza. Oh, and I also raced. The Boulder Cup draws thousands of spectators and some interesting Boulderites out of the woodwork. Just when I start getting sick of the "26 miles surrounded by reality," the Boulder Cup comes calling...
Yesterday's pain fest was held at the Boulder Reservoir. I'm not entirely sure what the deal was with the course designers, but they obviously had a "thing" for sand. The back half of the course was basically one big sand run, with a couple of barriers thrown in for good measure. I had a hard time getting a rhythm down, but ended up finishing 27th overall, which I guess is a-okay. To think I was racing RAAM four months ago.
Today's race was held at the Harlow Platts cyclocross course, set up against the flatirons. I was feeling pretty decent but couldn't uncork anything special during the race. For the uninitiated, it's amazing how hard a cyclocross race is right from the very beginning. If you don't hit it hard on the first lap, well, you might as well be resigned mid or latter pack riding. If you don't get the holeshot, you're "race" is done. The course was really fun and had it's own version of sand riding on the back half of the race. It was great to try and ride the sand parts of the course, though you were really screwed either way and got the life sucked out of you if you ran, or if you rode through. I did a little bit of both for good measure.
Just like any good cyclocross event, the race was only part of the fun. Mass quantities of PBR and Old Chubb turned an "ordinary" race into a wonder, and it was definitely great to catch up with some racing buddies, new and old. Guys dressed like bottles of Duff Beer, guys dressed like dolls and various stages of undress (see above) made this a great weekend of racing...
Tomorrow I'm heading up to Vail for some single-speed road riding. Stay tuned for that...
Keep the rubber side down...
Tim
No comments:
Post a Comment