flogging it...

Me Flogging it like a Rented Mule

Boulder was on the docket for the weekend with 2 UCI events and our last chance to spread the word on our UCI MountaineerCross this coming weekend. Not too mention shopping for the baby (he scored) and ourselves - Gunnison does not lend itself to shopping, and there is no Whole Foods. And Sunday I jumped out there with the 35+ for my first and only CX race of the season.

Once again DBCEvents and Chris Grelish put on a hell of a weekend of racing in Boulder, continuing his vision of holding premier cross events. If you haven't, thank this man for his hard work - and believe me it is hard. Boulder Res served up day one, and shortly after posting our bills for our event, it was off shopping. Besides many thing for Colin, I bought my first pair of Organic Jeans at REI, something I have sworn I will only do in the future - buy consciously sustainable and ethically produced consumer goods.

Afterwards, I pulled some laps in a park in LoDo to prep myself - I certainly haven't ridden at all - for a puke fest the next day at the Boulder Cup. Reverting back to Standard Time not only gave us an extra hour of sleep, but made life much easier getting out to the venue. Sandi went for a spin on my new SSX prior to the my race, while Colin and I posted some more bills for MountaineerCross.

After catching up with a few old friends, I suited up, MIB style so as not to draw any attention to myself, it didn't work for Vino or Rasmussen, but it seemed I was under the radar. I started dead last, I mean dead last, which was fine because I felt my race was a crap shoot. The top 10 in 35+ are freaking fast, and with no training this fall, I wasn't going to get myself into dicing it up with those guys. After a five sec delay from hearing the start, we got rolling. I pick and chose some lines through the back of the pack, slowly working my way up through the field. While I had no speed on the flats, I was actually dropping or picking up guys on the climbs and sandtraps (I rode all of them except on the first two laps in heavy trafic). Anither thing I noticed was the lack of handling skills in the back half of the field, guys would blow it on corners, and pick poor lines, and I was the only one where I was riding cleaning the sandtraps. I saw the leaders on occassion, opposite of me on other sectors, but I kept "Flogging it like a Rented Mule" as Dave Thile would say. A couple last lap surges put me into the top half of the field, where exactly doesn't matter. It was fun. It was fun because unlike in years past, I had no expectations, and was doing it for the joy and pleasure. Also a reminder for what I want to accomplish in the future in my racing while keeping grounded on what is really important.

Afterwards, I threw Colin in the BabyBorn for a mid-afternoon dinner at Whole Foods with Sandi, and it was great to see him looking around and absorbing it in. I enjoyed being close to him and looking at things through his eyes. And the smiles he put on others faces was priceless. I look forward to many more experiences like this with him, and getting to relive childhood through another person.

If you haven't thought about it, think, no, make plans to come up to our race this weekend, the MountaineerCross. Beers and Wine at number pick-up Friday evening at the Brick Cellar winebar, great racing all day Saturday with some big names from this weekend and top ACA races. Killer prizes and the fun will continue the next day in Durango at the SqwakerCross.


SSX 953 Stainless Steel IF