New trails and a good race in the books!

Well, a lot has certainly happened since my last blog post so long ago, but in the interest of keeping things reasonable, I'll just stick to the most recent racing and riding action for this latest installment. Perhaps the most interesting trail to hit Boulder in more than a decade opened last Tuesday and turned out to be a fantastic trail! The new Benjamin Loop trail was a bit wider than I would have hoped for, but had amazing views, great flow, and added a much needed extension to the rather short existing Betasso Trail Loop. Amazing work by all the trail builders up there!

On Sunday, Sara and I made the trip up into windy Wyoming for the Gowdy Grinder at Curt Gowdy State Park. I've heard great things about this race, and with a $10 entry fee, how could we go wrong? The race distance was a short 18 miles, but past winning times were around the 1hour 40 minutes pace, so I was expecting technical and challenging trails. WOW! They did not disappoint! The trails were amazingly well constructed, and featured long flowy sections, tricky technical bits, and actual 1 foot wide singletrack. It was love at first sight... I will definitely be back to explore around this place a lot more in the future.

Anyway, the race went reasonably well, and I was able to pull off a top-10 in the stacked Men's Open race with a solid 8th place finish. Boulder Cycle Sport team leader Pete Webber came in 2nd to fly the BCS colors on the podium. The LenzSport 29er rolled over the technical like a sweet buttery steam-roller, and the Stan's ZTR 29er Race wheels took the sting out of the many many accelerations on the technical terrain.

Big Jorge of the Horizon Organic road team leading the charge up the start hill, with me sitting back behind Pete (about 8th-ish place), right about where I would finish almost two hours later. (photo by Eddie Clark)

Sara wiped away the doubts surrounding her post-injury race fitness by winning the Women's Open race with a solid margin. A great write-up and a few sweet pictures by Mountain Flyer Magazine can be found HERE. Can't wait to head back next year and race again...

Until next time!

Lenzsport 3" Travel Leviathan For Sale - Size Medium

Lenzsport Leviathan

http://denver.craigslist.org/bik/1557759958.html

WP Valley Point to Point

Well, the WP win streak was cut to just a single race, as I came in second this week by about 50 seconds after and hour and forty-nine minutes of racing. I had my first reasonably out of control crash on Lower Cherokee about 15-min into the race, and seriously hit the lower part of my left quad, just about 1/2 inch above the kneecap. It hurt with each pedal stroke, so I really wasn't giving 100% after that little mishap. Anyway, the form seems to be coming along nicely for Nats this coming weekend...

Test

Fw: IMG00031-20090704-1003.jpg

Bud ponies at Breck!

One Step Higher at the Firecracker 50!

With a slight change in the starting order this year, Sara and I were able to pull off the win in the Maverick Co-ed division of the Firecracker 50! She went out to do the first lap with the parade, and I finished it off on the second lap. The weather held off for the most part, with only a few short showers while I was on the course. As usual, the town was packed with people for the holiday festivities, and the Maverick Sports crew put on an amazing race. No, really, they probably have the best feed-zones I've ever seen during a race, not to mention post race food/beers, and a great schwag bag at registration. You can bet that we'll be back next year to defend the title!

1st EXPERT 30-34 WIN!!!

Finally, after starting to race at Winter Park in 2006, I've won a Cross-Country race in the Expert Class! The brand new course was relatively short at only 17 miles, and definitely more technical than usual... which is always a help for me!