Well, the A4 is still under the knife, so I threw down and rented a manly PT Cruiser for the trip down to Crested Butte on Friday morning... Since I've been down HWY 285 way too many times, I decided to take I-70 out through Copper Mtn. and down through Leavdville. Much to my suprise, the route I decided to take was the same route the Ride the Rockies group was on. Although seeing several thousand cyclists is pretty cool, it got a bit old to drive so slow and constantly pull over to the side of the road and stop... Oh well, at least they were riding their bikes! Once past that mess, I rolled down into Buena Vista, and up over the imposing Cottonwood Pass.
The XC race on Saturday was brutal to say the least. 12.5 miles and about 2,000 of feet climbing per lap, with 2 laps slated for this cat. I had a bit of a slow start, but managed to come into my own on the first big climb and pass almost everyone in my class, all the women in the expert class, some single-speeders, and a few unlucky beginners. About half-way through the second lap, the baggy-short wearing, 575-riding, guy that beat me in the Angel Fire race came riding past. I hung on his wheel, drafted through the flat stuff, and passed him back before the next singletrack section. Well, as I had gathered from the previous race, this guy is fast and he quickly put on another attack to pass me, and three other straggling expert-class riders. I tried to hang on, but he was just gone.... and I came in 27 seconds back after chasing him for an additional 20-minutes or so. Somehow a guy managed to get off the front and stomped us both by 2 minutes... Oh well, 3rd ain't so bad, especially after riding flat-out for almost two hours.
Amazing scenery pics to come...
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