This last weekend, several members of the Frites en Mayo Velo Club (FMVC) squad loaded up the bikes, wheels, and other CX essentials and headed to The People's Republic of Boulder for States...............
.............Now, I see from the ClustrMap that someone from Iran tunes into this site so, let us digress a bit and explain the facts of life about CX in Colorado for that person and anyone else who is not familiar with the CO CX scene. It is a known fact that are a butt-load of cyclists in Boulder, Colorado. This in turn, leads to a very healthy CX contingent. If you follow the adventures of G. Keller , you know that the Wednesday morning training sessions in Boulder regularly draw 70+ riders. Now, from the casual outside observer such as moi, your common Boulder CX racer falls into one of two groups. Group A is filled with characters like Mr. Keller, Aaron "Boups" Bouplon, and several others. These guys are at nearly every race, every weekend, everywhere in the state. Group B is loaded with individuals who live in mortal fear that their Subaru will blow up if it crosses the Boulder County line. If you don't believe me, just go to the ACA website, pull up the 2008 CX results page, and look at the number of racers that show up to each race. If you are a promoter who has a race outside of Boulder county, you can expect a 25% drop in total number of racers. If you are a promoter with a Sunday race held outside of the Boulder County and the Saturday race was in Boulder County......... yeah....well... good luck with that. I am not compling here. Just pointing out the facts.
This leads to the canons of CO CX. 1) States will always be within a 20 minute drive of Armate Coffee in Boulder. It has to. Everyone who has a desire to win states wants to beat any and everyone in order to prove they are truly the best in the state. In order to make sure that will happen, the phenomenon I describe above requires that the race be in Boulder. 2) 1/3 of the guys racing at states will have been to 10 or less CX races during the year. Some of them you will not have not raced aginst all year. But..... everyone of these guys will be seriously fricken fast.
OK, back to the race. This years race was promoted by Chris Grealish of DBC Events. He of Boulder Cup and CrossVegas fame. OK..... I gotta digress a bit here about Chris. On race day, most promoters are making decisions a mile a minute and barking orders at volunteers to be immediately carried out in an effort to insure that the race runs smoothly. Not Chris. At a DBC Events race you will find him always on the move about the course. Always with an intensity about him..... and always with a trash bag in hand picking up what others are too lazy to. I always want to say something like "Hey Chris, you are the head guy at this thing, shouldn't you be making decisions a mile a minute and barking orders at others so that this place looks better when we leave than when we got here?" But one look at the intensity he has and I always decide to choose life instead. People, I shit you not. CrossVegas this year.... The Men's Elites are on lap 2, Dave Towle is screaming in the mic "They are absolutely throwing body blows out there!!!!", the beers have been flowing in our group and many others for a while now. The one community trash can had reached overflow proportions. And who walks up, changes out the liner bag and hauls off 5 cases of empty beer cans? Chris Fricken Grelish! Was he watching one of the best CX races to hit the states? Hell no! He is making sure I got a spot to to dump my next dead solider. Chris sets the example that many others should follow.
Ok.... back to the race. Rich and I were up in Boulder the day before and there was a couple of inches of snow still. With temps predicted to be in the 50's, the melt would be on and we were certain then that the states course was going to be muddy. However, about 2pm on Saturday, the snow eaters started and by Sunday morning, the course was nearly dry. The course design was just loaded with 180 switchbacks, side hill traverses, barrier sets with barriers at different heights, and a sand pit just so you could get some in your shoes. It favored those with lots of explosive power and good technical skills. Having left most of my explosive power in the porta-potty about 20 minutes after arriving at the race, I did not think highly of my changes for a decent finish.
Dash decided that this was the day to race the 45+ open instead of the Beer Drinking Dad League (BDDL) with us. Or, in other words, Dash decided to see if he could turn himself completely inside out on the course in an effort to not get lapped by multi-State and National Champion, Karl Keister. OK.... I must digress......So, here is a question to ponder. It is well known that humans do things for two reasons. Either to get something (gain pleasure), or to avoid something (avoid pain). Does that work for bike racing? I mean, it does not really strike me that Sven Nys wins races because he wishes to avoid the pain of losing to Lars Boom. I think that Sven Nys wins races because he wants to kick ass and takes immense pleasure in it.
Anyway..... back to the race. Rich, Scott, Vegas and I went down to watch Dash start. He had a decent one and went out of our sight sitting somewhere mid-pack. We went back to the car to continue the change/warm-up routine. Five minutes later, Dash showed up looking none too happy. I turned out that he flatted 100 yards past the pits on the very first lap. That put him with close to a mile to run. A crushed man, Dash returned, changed out of his kit, and began drinking. That's PRO man, totally PRO.
The DBBL went about as well as I could have hoped given my trials, tribulations, and resulting form this year. The main highlight of the race happened about 30 minutes in. The race was pretty strung out. I was pushing the limits but not making up much ground on the group in front of me. As I was going along a side hill that was one of the few muddy parts of the course, I saw off to the side a guy who was walking along the course with a certain intensity and carrying a trash bag. Yup, the man himself. As I rolled my I said, between gasps for air...."Hey Chris! Great Race! Thanks for putting it on!" Chis replied.."Hey, Thanks!" I was already past him so I did not see his face, but it actually sounded like he smiled! Right then an there, my race was made.
Here are some pics of the day
The essentials of CX. Pit wheels and post-race Hoegaarden
Dash chose to fire the FMVC team kit for his final race of the year. We now know that this pissed off the Belgian Frites Gods
and the result was a flat 2 minutes into the race and a DNF.
Here is a pic of Rich chasing Scotty B around the course. Funny ass event that happened right at the beginning of the race.
The BDDL was still an 80+ rider pack and Scott buried his
front wheel in pot hole that he never saw.
Cries of "Donner's Down!!!! Donner's Down!!!!"
where heard through the pack.
gets stiff at the site of white Sidi Dragons. But people let me tell you.
I heard that these new MAVIC shoes were coming out in July.
I got my hands on them in August and exactly 6 seconds after I got
my hands on them it was seriously pissed. That's when I was told
that they don't come in my size.
Why do the French gotta hate on big guys with big feet?
Action photo of some Cat 3's testing how deep the sand is.
The competition was fierce it tell ya! This little guy kept riding the sand pit over and over.
He did not care who or what part of the race was coming through.
He was determined to get the line perfect.
And finally, a word from one of FMVC's sponsors.
If you are ever in Denver and want to enjoy the best
Belgian Beers on tap in a place where the frites are served with mayo....
There is only one place to go.
Best of luck to all those racing Nats!
....cuz big guys are meant to be racing bicycles>>go play football
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