Boulder CX Weekend

After a great weekend in Louisville, I was hoping for another great weekend in Boulder. Meh. Didn't happen.

Dave McElwaine photo at the Boulder Res

Saturday's course at the Boulder Res was about as interesting as watching paint dry in the grand scheme of cross courses. Few turns, nothing really technical and lots of sand. But hey, a course doesn't have to be interesting to make you suffer and race hard! I hear the views were awesome...but I was clearly riding with my head up my you-know-where and didn't take the time to appreciate them.

On Sunday, the crowds were thick, the Halloween vibe was strongly represented with great spectator costumes and the racing was exciting. There were too many crashes and mass pileups to count. I got caught behind a few and also caused a few of my own solo wipe outs.

Dave McElwaine photo at the Boulder Cup. Teal gets heckled by bigfoot and BIG crowds!

Sunday's course was killer. Who knew racing in a mall parking lot could be so challenging and fun? Lots of climbing, tons of off-camber grass and technical riding. I loved it but struggled with my tire choice and pressure, was sliding all over the place, wishing I had run something more aggressive and a lower psi. Oh well. 1/2 through my shifter came loose and was sliding down and across my bar-nothing race ending, but just enough to annoy my already not-there-brain. Just another day at the races: lessons learned, should-of-could-of post race laments and most importantly a lot of fun, painful suffering.

Dave McElwaine photo at the Boulder Cup.

I generally rode like a weenie both days this weekend and had less than spectacular rides, coming in 14th on Saturday and 13th on Sunday. All bike racers have these kids of days: you just feel "off." I wasn't riding my bike well, was not nearly as charged as I should have been and nothing was quite coming together for me. I failed to dial in my tire choice and pressure and I probably cruised into the weekend with too much fatigue from travel, sleeping on bad couches and training hard. Again, meh.

But this is all part of the deal. Bike racers, like everyone on the planet, do not operate in a vacuum. We have to manage our real lives alongside racing. I spent 8-6 on Wednesday babysitting 2 of the best parts of my real life:


My favorite part of racing so much in Colorado is that I get to see my niece and nephew a lot. Alyson and Dave actually trusted Auntie Amanda with the kiddos for an entire day. It was awesome! We had a great and relatively easy-going time: multiple walks and trips to the park, stories and too many diapers to count. But, let me tell you: the easiest part of my day was the 2 hours I spent on the trainer doing VO2 efforts when Alyson got home from work at 6!

Up next: ICEMAN! I LOVE this race. Although I heard a rumor that the party bus may be out of commission this year, I am still just as excited as ever to race. The weather looks pretty darn good and I'm stoked to spend a weekend with my fellow Kenda/Felt teammates, to see some of our amazingly generous sponsors, to stay with our team manager in at his home in Ann Arbor and to beg him for some Mighty Good Coffee to take home. I'm also going to do my best to earn this plate back: