City Streets Criterium#1

               July has come and the City Streets Criterium Series has begun, so being young and poor, I volunteered. This worked out great, not only did volunteering allow me race for free but I met a lot of cool folks and had a blast setting up the course. For the last few years the Fort Collins city streets department has been allowing the guys from Pro Velo and Yougroupride.com to build a criterium circuit on their property, pretty cool industrial vibe going on...I liked it. The track was short only about half a mile long but consists of several turns ending with a 180 that lead to the start/finish.

                After setting up the course I marshaled one of the turns for the kids races and then headed off to get warmed up for my race....wait, wait, wait. Let me back it up a bit. A few weeks ago I sold my Corsa and bought a Cannondale Caad9 and built it up with some 9 speed Dura Ace and let me say, I'm a big fan. Since building it up I have yet to race it and I was super stoked to finally try it out!

                I got a few good laps in on the track before the start of my race and worked out what lines I wanted to take through the turns and then rolled up to take a place on the line.  Apart from a new bike this was also the first race I’ve been in in Colorado where I had some friends to the field, at the line I had my friends Malcolm, Mikheil and Paul in the field, I ate a peanut butter cup and a roctane and then we were off.

                Right off the start Paul, Mikheil, I and one other rider were up front and after about three laps we had made a small gap and stayed off the front for about two more laps. After falling back into the main field I sat in towards the rear of the group battling the yo-yo effect and soon I was dropped off the back. Now in my right place dangling off the end of the main field I got into a small group with only two other riders, we worked together taking pulls and kept the tempo high but we never regained contact with the rest of the peloton. With about ten minutes remaining in the race the I was finally lapped, first by the two riders who had made an attack and were now off the front and shortly after by the main field. 

                As the countdown of 5 laps to go started, they began pulling the lapped riders off the course, this allowed me to catch up with Malcolm, who had been dropped pretty early on in the race as well as watch the two leaders duke it out for the final two laps. So, in the end I finished a lap behind but I feel that I was riding well; perhaps I just should not have tried to get in a break away from the very start. Anyway, I had a lot of fun and plan on doing the rest of the series so; keep post this month for more race reports from the City Streets Criterium series in Fort Collins.

New belgium Short Track #4 (recap)

  So as most people who have discussed riding with me might know, I follow a "very" loose block training program...anyway, it worked out that I had a recovery week leading up to the final race at New Belgium. So with a weeks worth of fresh legs, wrestles legs Malcolm, Ashton and I once again loaded up and headed to Fort Collins for one more short track race.

Off the front?

  For the last weeks event Malcolm decided to enter the intermediate race with me, we arrived in just enough time to get registered and get in a short warm up which ended up being one of the shortest warm ups I've ever done and I don't this think I even got my hearth rate up above zone 3. I made my way to the side of the start line early and once again took a good place on the starting line when we were called onto the track, this week the field was a little smaller with only about 40 riders, the organizer gave us the rundown and we were off, into the first turn I was sitting in the top five and quickly moved my way up to the front. Coming to the end of the first lap I was off the front, but not far enough to be safe, I held my position until the end of the second lap when a rider on the e2 team came around me and made his attack. Another rider came up next to me and we chased together briefly before he too rode away from me just as we were approaching the start/finish going into the third lap.

 During the final lap a third rider passed me dropping me back to fourth position, I pushed big gears and hammered hard to try and make up distance I had lost, turning into the final straight away before the finish I was close to catching 3rd but lost him going through a couple of turns leading to the finish line, finished fourth place and Malcolm and I ended up making out like bandits with a large box of (slightly expired) gu's and about 13 New Belgium tall boys. For the final race of the evening Malcolm became super fan, getting down to his undies and cheering on riders with a megaphone, afterwards 400Smith threw a toco party, so with our new found stock

of brews Ashton, Malcolm and myself headed around the corner for a home made taco feast.

New Belgium short track series #3(recap)

Coming into the final turn of the 1st lap.

  I was feeling very tired and lethargic last Tuesday, still trying to recover from moving apartments and the polo tournament a couple of days before so Ashton and I went and met up with Malcolm at Crankenstein for coffee prior to heading over to the brewery, we quickly finished our drinks and made our way to the track. I went to the registration table, signed in and then got a brief warm up before heading over to wait for the end of the beginner mens race.
  At the start line there were 61 riders, I had managed to once again get a good place in the field and by the end of the first lap I was sitting in second position. I stayed up front until the end of the second lap when my brake jammed and I quickly began to slide back as I fumbled with my barrel adjuster trying to release my rear brake. Although my brake was definitely dragging I feel that I rode well and finished 13th.

  After the race was over and I was able to catch my breath, I realized the cable housing for my rear brake had become hung on the top tube cable stop and I could have remedied the problem by thumping the cable housing one good hard time...oh well. Anyway, now that Ashton and I are good and settled into our new place I should be able to get around to posting a more detailed race report after this weeks final short track race at New Belgium.     

Inaugural Polo at the Pasture, Cheyenne,Wyoming

  A little while ago Todd and Liz asked if I would play a polo tourney with them, there had been a considerable amount of time pass since the last time I had played in a tournament...or even picked up a mallet period, so I said yes. Well, like all things that I am unprepared the day came way too soon and I was unable to get any real practice in, but I figured 'oh well, it's a 1-day tourney, it's all for fun'.
  Saturday evening Ashton and I went to a graduation party in Fort Collins for our friend Cindy, Liz volunteered to watch Orson for us while we went out, that way when we got home we could make our way up to Wyoming. Me and Ashton did not end up making it back home to Greeley until around 11pm, so Todd, Liz and myself decided that it would be best if we waited 'til morning to drive to Cheyenne, so I packed my gear and we all turned in for the night.  
  The next morning we woke up around 6am, I ate a quick breakfast and then we got on the road. Driving north out of Greeley highway 85 will take you directly to Cheyenne, about 20 minutes out of town the landscape begins to change pretty dramatically, leaving the high plains of north Colorado and entering a sea of rolling hills and a couple of windmill covered mesa. the court was in a park on the south side of the city and we found it in no time.    
  The guys up in Cheyenne put on one top notch tourney, we arrived just as breakfast was being served.We made out way to the breakfast table and had our fill of coffee and breakfast burritos before heading over to the registration table. Like I said before the organization of this tournament was top notch, games started right on time and before we knew it our team was on deck.
  Our first game was against a Denver team called Killdozer, it was a close game but the put us into the losers bracket beating us 5-3. Once in the lower bracket we began to play much better, and won our next three games. Todd and I have played on several teams together at a few different tournaments and we usually seem to do best when we take an early loss and then work our way up through the losers bracket..and it worked for us in Cheyenne too. We played some tough games and we worked well together as a team given that we have been playing polo together longer than most. Finally we worked ourselves up to a game for 3rd place, this game pitted us against Bike Kwan Do featuring Kelly J. from south Florida and Tall George from Colorado springs. 
  Before our game we talked over a little team strategy and I volunteered to stay back and play defense and let Todd and Liz play forward and mid where they could run some of their plays that they had been working on. First off, I love playing goalie, I think I have more fun blocking shots that I do trying to make them and my strength as a road rider on the court makes it easy for me to take breakaways from the goal line. But like every polo game positions are not permanent and I did end up playing up the court a few times. On one such occurrence Liz was playing goalie and Tall George ended up sneaking a slow (lucky) shot behind her back wheel. I got back in goal and blocked several of Georges shots in succession but with a minute and a half to go he finally got one by me. I took the ball and ran it up the court with Liz, both of us took several shots but neither of us made any of them and the clock ran out with the score2-0. This put us out of the tournament, but all in all I would say that we had a good day finishing 4th, 3wins-2 loses

Team photo with Liz's free bike. Thanks Cheyenne!

  Once again Cheyenne did an awesome job hosting, all throughout the day they raffled off bike gear and around noon they brought in a seemingly endless amount of pizza! After awards were given out they raffled a complete ss bike and a Fleetvelo Scrabler frame set, Liz won the bike and George won the fame set! Needles to say I had a blast and definitely plan on coming back  for the second edition of Cheyennes polo in the pasture.

New Belgium Short Track #2

(Sorry for the delayed race coverage, Ashton and I moved, very unexpectedly.) 

Another Tuesday and another short track race, couldn't ask for anything more.

Malcolm"drag" racin'

I started my pre-race with a stop at Roma for a large order of lasagna and several liters of water. After lunch I headed over to pick  up Malcolm, I arrived as he was finishing up his costume for the race, we ate some homemade brownies and headed over to Fort Collins. We arrived at New Belgium as the women's race was about half way through, so I headed over to the Lee's Cyclery tent to get changed and ready to go.
  The ladies race ended and the beginner mens race rolled to the line, after the beginner field was was a good 60 seconds out on the course I got the o.k. from the organizer and headed out onto the track to get warmed up. The course was the exact same as the week before, except run in reverse and the one muddy section was now dry. I got about three warm up  laps in before I headed back to the Lee's tent to get a fresh bottle, down a gel and get ready for my race. As I made my way to the que for my race I was starting to feel a little nervous about the next half hour, at registration I put the roster at 33 riders and it looked as though more had come since then. As we took our places at the start line the organizer informed us that we were the largest field of the day with a total of 55 people...yeah, biggest field I've ever raced in at a mtb event.
  With the course being run in reverse, from the start it took an almost immediate left turn and headed into as set of steep off camber switchbacks. I took a good position on the start line and jumped onto third wheel as the lap started. Coming to the top of the second switch I slid out taking the turn, quickly jumping back onto my bike I was able to keep my position and kept hammering. About a minute or two into the race I noticed that I forgot to start my Garmin at the beginning of the race so I have no technical data or any nerdy stuff like that for this report...sorry. Near the half way point of lap#1 two riders came around hauling ass, I didn't react fast enough and in no time they were a gone, not chasing put me back to about 5th position, shortly after I wiped out coming through a very loose and gravely gravely corner, I stayed calm and got back on my bike but this crash allowed a couple other riders to make it around. During the next three laps I held a good pace but was still passed by a several more riders, I kept calm, held my tempo and finished 15th. After my race I got a chair massage and had a few beers, I watched the end of the single speed/open race,  went and picked up Ashton, then head to old town burgers with Malcolm and Chris and Mandy from Lee's.
  
   

New Belgium Short Track Series May 8th race # 1

  I'm going to start this one off by stating that since moving to Greeley I have not ridden a mountain bike... That being said after discussing a couple upcoming events with my friend Malcolm I decided to do a short track mtb race on the back portion of New Belgium Brewery's property. Tuesday afternoon I(very begrudgingly) put sealant tubes tubes in my mtb...yeah, yeah, yeah, I know I need to get Stans, but oh well. Anyway, Ashton and I loaded up the car, picked up Malcolm and headed to Fort Collins.
  By the time we arrived races were already well under way, so we quickly got to registration and then watched the end of the high school race. The organizers of the race were really on there 'A' game, races were starting and finishing right on schedule, the high schoolers finished and the beginner mens race rolled up to the start line. Ashton and I watched the start of the cat3(beginners) race and then I headed off to the car to put on my kit and get warmed up. I got in a decent warm up and headed to the start line, stopping on the way to say hi to my friends on the 400 Smith team. I got to the side of the start line where my race was in que only to realize I was about to go up against a very large field(for a mtb race) and so I worked my way up as close to the front as possible. The organizer called us out onto course to take our place at the start and I was able to move up several more positions during the shuffle to be in a decent starting spot. The organizer went over a few specifics of the race and then sent us off.
  The Course: 1.3mi.
This track was a lot of fun, It was mostly single track with three gravel jeep tracks(good for passing, or being passed), a couple sections of off camber switchbacks that made a loop with a large mound in the middle which the course climbed repeatedly before coming around to the start/finish.
http://connect.garmin.com/course/1195702
  Lap1: 6:40:00
The first lap was wicked fast but I managed to move my way up to fifth wheel and hold it for the remainder of the lap. Not getting there early proved to make the beginning of the race interesting for me, with no pre-ride I was a little sketchy on a couple of the the smaller more technical sections.
  Lap 2: 6:55:00
Coming around to the start of the second lap I was feeling good but was finding it a bit hard to breathe, the air was crisp and dry and for the most part the track was extremely dusty. About half way through the lap, approaching a small climb I realized that I was still in my big ring from the initial acceleration of the start, I decided it would be best to start spinning a higher cadence and shifted down. Coming through a couple of slick switches a rider in front of me slid out and I had to all but come to a stop to keep from going down as well, during this brief delay a couple of riders made it around me and I began chasing.
  Lap 3: 7:14:00
The third lap I really started feeling it, I decided to back off a bit and try to recover a little, focusing more on cornering and handling and less pushing a hard tempo. This allowed me to catch my breath a bit, but it also meant that a few more riders passed me during that time.
  Lap 4: 7:05:00
Going into the forth lap I knew recovery time was over and went right back to hammering. I kept the pace up the whole lap, no one passed me...but I didn't pass anyone either. I came around through the last corner and finished strong.
  After the race I found  Ashton, caught my breath and we headed to the beer garden for New Belgium tall-boys, we watched a bit of the expert race, said goodbye tour friends and headed out for dinner. The organizers were very quick to have results posted but because they didn't have the timing system up and running yet only the top group of riders were scored, but from my guesstimation and reports from both Ashton and Malcolm I finished somewhere between 12th & 15th in a field of roughly 30. I had a lot of fun and plan on doing the rest of the series so keep posted for more stories from New Belgium.

Ieal Market WFM Primal Boulder Crit Series 4/25/12

  Every Wednesday night in Boulder during April and May the Ideal Market and Primal put on a crit in a business park across from the IBM building and now having a couple road races under my legs, I decided that it was time to see how I would hold up against these Colorado racers in a criterium.
  Ashton and I drove down to Boulder Tuesday after noon where we stayed up in the mountains with our friends Todd and Liz and I got to take the Madone out for a little climbing. We arrived at their house just as they were getting off work, so I put on a kit jumped on a bike and descended the mountain so I could ride back up with them on their climb back home. From the base of the climb it is a twenty minute ride up to their house including a couple of nasty switchbacks one of which pitches up to 23%. As we approached their street Todd and Liz peeled off and I continued up the mountain. I proceeded to climb for another 40 minutes or so past Bald Mountain scenic area, up to the top of Big Horn Mountain, I reached about 8,500ft and turned around just before the descent to the town of Gold Hill. The climb was breathe taking and the decent back to Todd and Liz's was wicked fast, only taking me about 18 minutes to make it back to the house.
http://connect.garmin.com/course/1091233
  Tuesday evening I changed my Corsa back from its roubaix set-up to my standard road gear with lighter wheels/tires and an 11-23t cassette, Liz cooked us some amazing green curry and we ended the evening with an herbal tea out on the patio. Wednesday afternoon Ashton and I drove down into town, picked up our friends after they got off work and headed out to the race.
  We parked and I went and got registered and started to warm up, which I would have ended up getting plenty of anyway, we all lined up at the start line and the organizer informed us that we were waiting on the medics and that we were to take a neutral lap and then we would start the race, one lap quickly turned into four and finally the ref lined us up for the start. During all of the neutral laps the starting order got shuffled and they decided to send the woman's cat4 race off in front of us, we caught them in the first lap and as we passed we picked up a good number of them into our field.
  This being a criterium I employed my standard crit plan; stay in the top ten riders in the beginning, move into a safe position during the middle and then try to get as close as possible to the front without taking a pull at the end...and that's basically how it went. At about five laps to go my friend Eric on UNC cycling team moved to the front, I tried to get to his wheel to assist him if he wanted to try and make a move,  but another rider came along side me on the outside of the peloton closing my door to get out and I found myself trapped in the group. By 'three to go' I had moved up to fifth wheel and was feeling good, we came around to the first turn again and I got pushed back into the group and that's where I stayed until the end. The sprint started coming out of the third turn in the final lap and I finished a good twenty-some odd places back.
  All in all, I had a lot of fun the course was fast and the pavement was good, everybody there was real friendly and I will definitely be going back to Boulder for more rides and fast crits.