USGP New Belgium Cup, CO 'cross racing wk #5

This past weekend was the biggest weekend of racing here in Colorado, thanks to the New Belgium Cup held at the same venue as last year in Ft. Collins. Last year it was a cold, thick, muddy challenge for my bike and I. This year, the USGP schedule had the Ft Collins stop moved up a month to October 8-9. I thought that was fantastic, as I am usually racing pretty well in October, and I also thought having the event in October might offer a better chance of a fast and dry course. I was very wrong, as a very cold, moist system moved into Colorado Friday night. I was up with family on Sugarloaf, and awoke to an inch of snow. Driving down the canyon into Boulder it was raining, and most of the whole drive north through Longmont, Loveland and Ft Collins it was raining as well. I was mentally prepared for a fun day of riding on a slippery course. I wouldn't call myself a mudder, but I've always believed I can ride okay in the mud.

During warm-up the heavens opened, and it was raining and blowing pretty hard. Not sure how smart my 2-lap warm-up was on the rapidly deteriorating course, but it was good to see it mentally. I had about 24/25 psi in the Cubus and they were hooking up about as well as I could hope, and I could feel the rim a couple times each lap but it wasn't a problem. Leading up to staging and the call-up process I was getting cold quickly. I decided to jog around the block a couple times, as I was downright frosty. Big mistake to not have brought my trainer to spin in a tent somewhere. I hand my jacket off to Tim Assor and we line up in the chute. It was pretty cool to get the call-up, and I was surrounded by some fast fast dudes. There were 13-14 guys from out of state who had placed well at the first USGP stop in Wisconsin in late September. I knew they would not be messing around, having made the investment of time and money to make the trip out to Ft. Collins. Thanks guys! And, since they were undoubtedly in pursuit of call-up points for their nats->masters worlds trajectory, I also lined up with Pete Webber and Brandon Dwight from the BCS Ambassador Team. Now that was bad-ass! These guys are absolute studs, and are representing Colorado in a great way! Then of course were the usual suspects of Greg Keller, Jon Cariveau, Michael Robson, and other fast dudes.

The whistle sounds, and i find my pedal right away. Unfortunately I am in the 3rd row and am ready to go quicker than the guys in front of me! I have done a good job practicing starts and can usually rocket off the line very quickly. But I was a bit caged in, and am not as sly as the wizard Pete Webber. so I just sat back a bit and found myself in about 20th hitting the dirt. No worries, plenty of time to ride smart and maybe save that start match for a finish lap match. But soon I realized my legs didn't show up to race with me. I was trying to apply the pressure on the pedals, but it didn't seem to happen. I also was in the wrong gear almost every climb. Just didn't have it. So I rode and eagerly gobbled up the mud riding practice. But I was racing no one. Prob 30 or so guys passed to maybe 2 or 3 that I did, and I wound up 50th. Ouch! Bike worked okay, but my chain was stuck in the big ring on a few occurrences. Luckily the SRAM dudes styled me out on Sunday! I only hit the deck once, and it was pretty comical as I slid down the off-camber DH corner. After the race was the huge problem of warming back up the core temperature. I was in the car, heater blasting, for about 30min shivering uncontrollably. At least I had a good view of the TRP run-up for the womens elite race. Had to get back to Boulder to try this racing thing over again the next day.

Sunday the course was an entirely different beast. The mud had dried out almost entirely by our 1:30p start. What were sketchy slow turns became high-speed corners. I was so stoked during warm-up, I knew this was a better day. The Specialized Tracers at around 28/29psi were perfect today, tons of traction with a very fast tread pattern. Guys with many tire options were running file treads. It really was what us mtb'ers call hero dirt. Same call-up procedure from the day prior had me safely tucked up in the 3rd row. Whistle goes and we're off. Again I am locked in my pedals and ready to apply some power, but I don't have a clear path in front of me. I bide my time and again hit the dirt in about 15-20th position. Not terrible. This time, as we head down the high-speed back section of the course, I hit the long climb in a really good gear and pass a few guys. This would be a pattern for the rest of the day. Maintain on the descents, a few passes on the climbs, and ride the corners smartly. I still was tapping the brakes more than I wanted in the techy corners, but i didn't appear to be losing time to the guys just in front of me. Seeing the lap times in the results docs is pretty cool, and it confirmed I was riding about my fastest lap times on the last 2 laps. I came across the line in 16th, close enough to my goal of top 15. More importantly than the result, i didn't make many mistakes, rode negative splits, and finished strong. Great day on the course with a stacked field. Just the confirmation I was looking for that I can hang up near the front of the masters field.

Not going to nationals or worlds, now my other goals remain a good showing at the Boulder Cup wknd (10/29-30), a strong ride at States, and a good showing in the overall CO Cross Cup series. We'll see!

Picture courtesy of Shawn Lortie.