Frites En Mayo Velo Club : BV, Frisco, and a FMVC Team Building Event

I actually broke down and raced! I chose to drive up to Buena Vista for the first race of the season for this FMVC'er. I had circled the BV race as soon as I saw the schedule. Not because I thought it would be a good idea to race at 8000 feet, but because BV is where me mum lives. She has never been able to make it down to see me cook up a meal in the kitchen of pain so the opportunity to take it to her home burg was not to be passed. I did a 3 week taper for the event. Week one was all the BBQ and beer I could stand at the Tour of Mo. Week 2's task was to catch a cold and have it hang on for way too long. Week 3 was way too much beer at Interbike.

The course laid out by the Doug and the SCR boys was top notch. Honestly, it was one of the funnest courses I have ever been on. There were some who complained about the turns being off camber and too soft. I kept my mouth shut but the voices in my head shouted "STFU Roadie! This course rocks!" I managed actually ride all 45 minutes without puking but I sure paid for every beer I had in Las Vegas the previous week. I believe I finished first of the fat guys. The refs had me a just under 2 minutes off the winning time at the end of the race but trust me, there was a big gap between all those little skinny bastards who were chasing Best Cross Rider points and me.

On prominent display in BV was the Colorado CX phenomenon of all Boulder racers' Subaru wagons dying at the Boulder County limits. The race the day before (in Boulder County) had 92 starters in the 35+ Cat 4's. The damn thing was not even a BCR/BCT points race! In contrast, only 24 could make it up the hill for 35+ Cat4 BCR/BCT points the next day.

I sincerely hope that BV becomes a normal stop on the ACA CX calendar, I will plan to hit it every year I can. It was that good.

The CX season was back in the mountains again this last weekend and I was going back to the scene of the accident. Last time I raced in Frisco, it was 6 weeks before I raced again. Cap'n Slow took the cold all of us on the FMVC squad have been fighting a bit harder that the others so he chose to sit this one out. That left Scotty, Dash, Rich and I to patrol the bottom half of the 35+ Cat 4's.

This years course had the same big-ass hill climb in it as last year. Just what my Clydesdale carcass needs. Things started off with a giggle when I actually got a call up. By virtue of the Boulder Subaru phenomenon, I was able to snag 5 points at BV due to the small field. Upon hearing my name called, I politely said "No Thanks". This race was going to take off straight up a hill. Starting at the front only meant that I was going to be in the way. There were 60 35+ Cat 4's in a race an over an hour drive into the mountain so some of the earth nuggets must have grouped together enough to where they thought it was save to leave the peoples republic of B. CO.

The race went OK. I tried to limit my losses on the hill by cresting it well over the 90% max heart rate level each lap and trying to recover on the downhill. The final lap had me battling with another Clydesdale. We sprinted through the last set of barriers side by side. I have no doubt we looked like 2 sorority girls fighting for the ice cream bar. Lucky for me, he pulled a flying bike prang on the remount and I lumbered across the finish line for the coveted 31st place! Mid pack... fricken sweet!

Last night, Rich and I had called for a Frites en Mayo Velo Club team event. The Western Regional tournament for the Womans Flat Track Derby Association was in town. We started things off by meeting at The Monk for several rounds of Belgian Beer and then headed off to the bouts. On the way down the hill from Frisco, I had received a text message from my nephew letting me know that one of Saturday night's bouts was going to be something special. The Denver Roller Dolls' Mile High Club was going against the Rocky Mountain Roller Girls' 5280 Fight Club for the first time since the two clubs had split. (A quick couple notes about my nephew. The damn guy has figured out to get the US Navy to pay him to go to college, remain the apple of his mother's eye and get a gig being a referee for the Denver Roll Dolls roller derby league under the skate name of Cougar Bait! That is a bit tough to top. He also shares the need for beer that I have so we meet up whenever possible.) They had to form some kind of a truce in order to co-host the tournament, but it is well known that these two clubs are not exactly the closest of allies.

The bout was epic, the beers were many, and none of the FMVC crew felt well enough to drive back up to Frisco and race this morning.

The official FMVC photographer called no joy on going up to Frisco so there are no pics of the race. But here are a few pics of the team event.