family, cyclocross, trailrunning & Halloween wknd at the Hills

One of the two biggest wknds in Colorado cyclocross was this past weekend. Saturday brought the Colorado Cross Classic, held out at the infamous Boulder Reservoir, home of sand and tire-stabbing goatheads. Prior to the race we dropped off Alina with Mary for the day, and then I dropped off Helen to meet up with a huge group of elite trailrunners for a big 30mi run. I was so happy she was able to get in on a group run with some fast people. I always can find some friends to train with, but for Helen it is not as easy, esp up here in Breck. I mozied over to the Boulder Reservoir to get my warm-up on. I had a great start, held on strong and ended up 10th out of over 70 starters. Pretty stoked on that considering it was a Cross Cup points race with a stacked field.



After Helen's run she enjoyed a great walk with her Grandma Grace (G3 to Alina). I met up with the family up at Bill & Mary's house around 5:30. Surprisingly, there was no smoke in the air from the previous day's Dome Fire below their home in Boulder Canyon. As usual, Bill & Mary prepared a great meal, this time it was wahoo fish tacos. Bill made me a Patron margarita to get things rolling.


I got to check out the fancy new induction range/convection oven Bill recently installed. It is beautiful!


Was nice to see George, Grace, Elaine and her bf Tyler as well.


Saturday eve, it was so easy to fall asleep with a hard race in my legs, a margarita, some fish tacos, and some delicious angel food cake with pineapples. There was also some dark chocolate sauce that most people added to their cake. Soon, we were decorating, trying for the perfect presentation. George added a lettuce leaf for a garnish after Elaine & Tyler reminded us we need some more color.


Sunday morning we awoke to a gorgeous morning on Sugarloaf in Boulder. I just love this view, would be hard to get tired of.


Alina enjoyed a fun morning with everyone while I headed out to Flatirons Crossing Mall for the Boulder Cup, another huge race at an unusual venue, a big shopping mall on the side of the Boulder-Denver turnpike. Holy smokes this course was tough. Multiple crashes, a poor start, and a partially rolled front tubular tire had me in the middle to back of the pack all day. Ended up 28th. Bah. We had a fantastic time, and the weather was perfect, though the Front Range is in dire need of some moisture!