Well, it was just a "practice" race, but nonetheless #2 is in the books. Due to the snow/rain/wind along the Front Range and in the northern mountains, not many people showed up. Probably 25-30 people total, for all xc categories, men and women. I had 3 pros and 3 other experts to ride with, so not too bad. Stayed up late the night before, and legs were flat in the morning...dohh. Woke up Saturday morning to driving snow, which soon had me engaging 4WD on the way up Hoosier Pass. But as soon as I crossed the Divide into Park County, there wasn't a drop of snow, just a bunch of wind.
This Yeti Spring Series race, along with the Mountain State Cup's Chalk Creek Stampede both take place on a private cattle ranch in Nathrop, about 7mi south of Buena Vista, just east of the Collegiate Peaks. Elevation around 7,000', so high-desert terrain, composed of sand, rock, yucca, cactuc, juniper and some pinon pine. Pretty nice to be riding singletrack. Since it was early season, the course hasn't been burned in by previous riders much, so it was very loose, sandy in spots, quite rocky in others. Keith Darner of RPM Yeti gave us the quick lowdown prior to the start. It was cool...he said that "Jethro" has the right of way. Jethro is Keith's father-in-law's 2000lb prize bull. Okay, no problemo, I'll certainly yield to this beast. Then Keith proceeded to say that if we veer off the trail, there's "about a 50% chance of running over a cactus, and about a 40% chance of runnning over a cow terd. Sweet! Anyway, course was the same one I've raced on for 4-5 years. Flat fast jeep road start in the big ring, headed down the swale towards the highway for about 1/2mi. Then we turn north, into the wind, and start the climb up to the top of the desert mesa. Up top involves a couple stiff climbs, some flowing singletrack, then a couple more loose, rocky descents across gulches, then the dreaded "fence climb." The fence climb is a horrendously straight climb along this livestock fence, heading us straight west into the downsloping wind coming off of Mt Princeton. Typically just a middle ring climb, but throw in a sustained 30mph wind, add the mental torture of seeing the trail 1/2mi in the distance, and it was tough. Then after the fence was our reward. About 1mi of 30+mph high-speed singletrack down the top of the mesa, then descending into the Chalk Creek valley and then some undulating singletrack along the creek back to the finish. Three 7mi loops. I let go of some good wheels in front of me early, then rode my own race. Luckily I had one rider to pick off during the 2nd lap, and on the 3rd lap I pretty much rode solo in no man's land. 3rd out of only 4 experts, but still a great training effort for late April, esp. considering next weekend's race is on the same course.
Looks like nice weather here til Thurs, so that'll be my only rest day. Gotta get the time in now, before our vaca in mid-May fattens me up and I lose some precious fitness.
