Cyclo-what!?

This past weekend was the Dillon and Copper mountain crits. I made it up for the Dillon one on Saturday. Jessica, Neo and I jumped in the car and drove up to the mountains. The rain just barely held off for our race, which I think everyone was more than happy about. Especially since it was a tight, short (under 1k), twisty course. Not typically my sort of course, but I was feeling good, so the race went fairly well for me.

I spent the first 3 or 4 laps frustrated, near the back of the pack. The legs felt good, but it was really difficult to move up. Then people settled into the course (myself included), figured out how to ride it, and things got better. I was able to get up to the front and do some work. Worked chasing down some people, followed some wheels into breaks that didn't really materalize, and worked to string out the field and make things uncomfortable for those following. I think I spent over 15k on the front of the race. It was one of those days where you pound yourself into the ground, figure you are done, but then are able to recover and do it again. Even better when you are able to do that at 9000ft! So I was pretty happy with my race. Unfortunately Paul went down in the last corner, but Brent still wound up in 6th at the end.

It's been a rough summer, but I have been feeling MUCH better lately, and this was another race where I was feeling strong. I was hoping I would feel good, as I was riding well all last week. Hopefully I can hold onto some form as we head into cyclocross season!

Sunday Jessica, Neo, Lucy, Alex and myself got up early, and went for a hike up to the top of Twin Sisters. It's usually a great hike, nice and quiet without people, and there is no drive involved. A nice way to get out and feel like you did something for the day, nice and early! Plus, the views are awesome. It's amazing how green everything still is, even this late in August!

Last night was a funny Bus Stop ride... it's always funny when guys roll up with World Champion jerseys on. One of my pet-peeves - you just shouldn't wear the stripes if you didn't earn them. They are something special. Of course, you also shouldn't wear your national championship jersey for winning Cat4 races, but that's a whole other story. This time however, Ivan Stevic decided to join us for a ride! Pretty cool, just so I don't have to sprint him... there are fairly often some big guns that make it out for the ride. Testerone is a funny things, and yesterdays ride was a great example; suddenly, you have all these guys that feel like they have to show Ivan how fast they are. Guys you have never seen on the ride, since they are usually safely tucked in at the back, are trying to drill it at the front, during what's normally the nice relatively mellow cruise going north. The slowest we went going north, was when Stevic himself was on the front. People are funny.

This morning it was tough, but I made it out of bed in time to hook up with the Wed. morning cyclocross ride. I'm glad I did too, it was a fun ride! It's only the second week for it, and road season is still swingin' so there were only 6 of us. But it was great to get out and hit some dismounts at full-speed, and get used to diggin' deep on the cross bike again. Plus it was a beautiful morning, and it's always better when you are missing a little bit of work to ride your bike! I should have stayed out longer...