It wasn't super speedy or anything impressive, but I had a solid race and finished 5th. It was another whirl wind weekend, but as usaul I had a bitchin time.
Saturday I got to sleep in (6:30am) which was nice after a week of waking up at 4:30am. I cruised down to CB with the iPod pumping and my head banging. Did a quick lap of the Upper Upper bike trail to test out the bike and the legs. My parents and I camped that evening in what ended up being "tent city." I think a quarter of the race was camping there! It totally reminded me of Wildflower.Pre race was typical, other than the fact that I had absolutely no idea of how the race was going to go. Normally I can tell ahead of time if it feels like a good day. Today was all up in the air. The gun went off and I had a rather lathargic start. Up until this point in the year I have beaten Brian Smith out of the water everytime, but not today.
I had planned to take the first part of the bike a bit chill and warm up. I had a hard time not hammering right from the start, but I held back and it worked alright. I crashed in the first part of the bike and it was quite surprising. I haven't crashed in a race in a long time! When I hopped back on the bike I rolled into the next corner and BAM! Crashed again. My back brake had failed. I got up again and crashed in the next corner as well. Its really hard decending without a rear brake!! I took it chill from then until I reached the road. It turns out a large leaf was caught up in my rotor, which caused the brake to have very little stopping power. I pulled it out and motored on. With my fitness rather lacking, I cruised the bike in and got psyched for the run.
I wish every run could feel like this one did! Just like the bike I wanted to take the first part easy and build into things. As I left transition, I thought I was jogging, but apperently I was moving pretty quick. I dropped the 4 guys I came into T2 with and just kept putting time into them. Knowing that 4th place was to far ahead to catch, I just ran a solid race. It felt AMAZING!! I know I wasn't setting any records, but I felt great. I finished strong with my usual grin.
After the race, my friend Erin Kummer and I drove down to Gunnison and hung out with Brian and Jenny Smith for the evening. I massive BBQ filled us up and got us ready for the next days ride.Monday Erin and I did was can only be described as an epic ride! We did over 7,000 ft of climbing, rode through a hail storm, and decended through massive fields of wild flowers, all on tired legs from yesterdays race.
After the ride we started what should have been a 5hr drive back to Boulder, but my dumb ass turned to early and went up the wrong road. We lost a little bit of time and I lost a little bit of pride, but I rolled back into Boulder around 8pm and hit the sack almost immediately. What a weekend!
