Bike Race Photos

a dusting of snow in town breckenridge

You know you’ve done your homework when you get called up 3rd and can line up front and center without camping at the start line. The course didn’t suit me last year. It is held where they run the Boulder Short-Track mid-week series. It looks like a bmx course to me. Tight twisty, whoppy, off-cambery, etc. But, today’s course and the Ritchey Carbons with the Tufo Flexus tublars and the all-mighty Salsa scandium ate up the course. The tublars stick like glue. It was a perfect mix of technical and a long road section. The gun went off and it was a race to the single-track. I went into it 4th so I was happy with my start. Hole-shot Greg rocked out of the start and opened up great gap and was making the race happen. But he has been in tire hell all year with a rolled tubular at Breck and today he blew a tire. The next race I’m swapping his wheels with one of my sets and not taking NO for an answer. A few guys passed me and I was sitting somewhere top 10. I really need to get a good warm-up in prior to racing. It usually take me 10-15mins into the race to start feeling good. My plan was to get there early today, but a car accident and re-route of the highway sent me scrambling to get there 45mins prior to the start. As the legs started to warm-up at the 15min mark I started picking guys off and a few mechanicals were happening as well. At one point I was rockin with the WB. We battled it out in the early season 3 races last year, so I knew we would work well together. He had a mechanical a lap later. Jeff C caught me at one point in his first 35+ race after his recent upgrade to a 2. I had the the chase group (2nd-6th) for 2nd in my sights and just kept putting on the pressure when I could. They were playing a little cat and mouse because there were 2 green mountain guys in the chase group and a green mountain guy was in 1st, so the green mountain guys weren’t working. This worked out for me cause their screwing around allowed me to hammer the road section and catch on. At this point I made an attack on the pavement and had my head down and my HR maxed and almost went off course and had to slam on the brakes.. they flew by me.. I don’t know how I misjudged the corner, but when you are anaerobic crazy things happen. O2 is going to your lungs and leg, not your brain. I caught back onto them a 1/2 lap later but I was cooked. I rolled in 5th.

Thanks to hole-shot Greg for the pics

Congrats Ann and Jake D