The Air up there.

Raced up Lookout Mtn. on Saturday. It's pretty much in my back yard, so I felt obligated. Got me arse whooped soundly, but that was expected. I did set a PR, though, however lame it is by local standards. 24.01. The winner did it in 18. Tommy D. set the record at 16:02.

It's good to have goals.

The start was wicked fun. It was like a cross start, but there was no first corner to race for. It was all out for the first 5 minutes. Then there was this loud popping sound and I was out the back. But I did make a new friend and ran into an old one from Jersey. Ben was there in his rutgers jacket.

They have a website? Whacky.

Oh!...the files are IN the computer...

First Race in CO!

Well, it was last Sunday, but I'm just getting around to posting about it. Since I'm not out "opening up" for tomorrow's race cuz it's raining, I feel like I should do something cycling related (besides read other cyclist's blogs).

So it was the last "Crit at Stazio". A nice low-key crit in Boulder put on by the THF - yes the same series Tugboat, I mean Tyler, got kicked out of a few weeks ago. He did show up sporting an Ulrichesque doo, though. I mean the thing is not sanctioned by anyone - uscf, aca, obra - so what's the big deal. Whatever.

That's my apathetic version of an argument.

So, anywho, it was a fun race and it felt great to be racing again. I had been planning on starting racing all month, but with birthdays and 60 mile hilly roadraces on the calendar, I put it off until I could wait no longer. The weather was perfect, the bike was ready, my lungs were (almost) ready and I was jittery as hell.

The course was a pretty typical 4 corner crit with a short steep hill just after the start/finish. Actually, it was a right hand turning course, which - at least on the east coast - is fairly rare. It was a nice change. After warming up making left turns for 15 minutes it dawned on me to go the other way.

The race started pretty easy. The first few laps we just sprinted up the hill and then looked at each other. There's a few big teams here that looked like they were ready to control the race. Since I'm not on any team yet, I could ride kind of incognito, though I got lots of "who are you?" looks. After about 20 minutes a break of 5 with most of the big teams on board took off. There was a small chase for 2 laps and then we sat up and the break went bye-bye. A couple small chase groups went after the break every few laps but didn't get anywhere. I took 2 one lap flyers, just to see how my lungs felt. Both times at the top of the hill I was breathing like Adam Sandler's fat kid and was caught soon after that. So I sat in and waited for the sprint. It was pretty disorganized, probably cuz there were no prizes left, and I wasn't too commited to being first across the line. So I came in 10th in the sprint, 15th overall. Pretty satisfying for my first race at altitude. Of course there's plenty of room for improvement, but not bad for cx training in April.

Tomorrow is the Lookout Mtn hillclimb. 8:15 am. Forcast is 40 degrees and raining. Sweet.





















This'n's fer the ladies.

New Stats

For those of you keeping score at home,

Here's some new bits about me:

Where I live: Golden, CO
Where I work: Big Ring Cycles
Fave local beer tryed: Brekenridge Oatmeal (though the Hefe's good too)
PR on Lookout Mtn.: 25 min.
Fave climb: Genesse Mtn. - best views so far.
Lbs lost since leaving NJ: 12 (wft?!)
New leg veins: 3 - "Zee more veens joo haf, zee faster you weel go." - luc faucher
New puppies: 1
Number of times new puppy peed on my clothes: 4
Months til 'cross season: 5

Hmm, that all doesn't look as exciting as it sounded in my head. Owell. It's fun starting a new life, though.

I think that makes me a very lucky person. Better count stars tonight.