Put me in coach, I'm ready to play

Well, taking a mandatory break is never a good thing, even if your hematocrit is not above 50. After taking on the bog at Interlocken and losing out to a sprained ankle, I was finally able to get back on the bike and raced this weekend. Damn, it is hard to get going again after being out for 3 weeks.

Saturdays race in Highlands Ranch was a great way to get back into the swing of things. The Frites en Mayo squad was a co promoter, so racing was bevrijd (free) for us. Good thing, since I started DFL and then rode at the back, giving out pointers to guys falling down in front of me. In the end, I finished and the ankle was good. Cant say the same thing about the lungs though.

Sundays race at the Fed Center was another eye opener. With a dirt "wall" to climb every lap and a cement drainage ditch that was eating tires on every turn, I thought I would go into survival mode early. There was a small turnout, 35 or so, for the beer drinking dad's league race. After the first lap and my legs burning again, I was told 19th place. They must of have missed some people I thought.

Rode the next couple laps with the same group, each taking pulls and trying to scratch our way to the next group up the road. Going out on the last lap we had a good gap to the chasers. Up the dirt "wall", which had to be about a 60 degree pitch, I looked over and here comes some guy from CO Bike Law, full gas towards us. I took off and rode quick and told my legs "dont fail me now" and motored to the finish. I got 18th, not a great result, but a finish with speed is a good finish.

Brian rode to a 10th place finish on Sunday. This is Brian's first year of racing cross. He has been killing it all year. He also finished 18th on Saturday. When you see a really really big guy in the Frites en Mayo argyle kit riding an Orange Kona, stay out of his way. You will know when he is coming up to you, his brakes squeal really bad.