Deer Trail Road Race, June 21, 2014

The Deer Trail Road Race was scheduled for April 27.  Unfortunately, as the date neared, the weather started taking a turn for the worse.  Finally, with really nasty weather on the horizon, they postponed the race indefinitely.  I assumed it was just going to be canceled and we'd never hear about it again.  That seems to be what happens.  Sometimes you check the race calendar, and something is just canceled without warning, and the promoters say to stay tuned for an update, and that's it.  Which is too bad, because there aren't a ton of road races out here, so every cancellation hurts.  With various races all over the state happening nearly every weekend, there isn't a whole lot of room to reschedule without overlapping someone else's race.

But then something fortuitous happened.  The Tour of Westcliffe on June 21 was supposed to be the Jr. and Sr. Road Race State Championships.  But then it was suddenly canceled.  Sounds like some sponsors backed out or something.  Canceling a random race is one thing, but you can't just cancel the state championships.  Luckily, the Deer Trail promoters were still trying to find an open weekend when they could have their race, and now a date just opened up.  The Junior Road Race Championship had already been rescheduled to a different race, so the Deer Trail Road Race was rescheduled to June 21 and became the Senior Road Race Championship.  Since I'm an old fart, this didn't really matter to me.  I'm in the Masters category now.  So this was just another road race for me.

The race was about 42 miles, in an L-shape along two roads.  At the north end and east end of the course, you actually do a 180-degree u-turn around a cone, and head back the other way.  Kind of crazy, so I was interested to see how it played out.  The course was somewhat narrow rolling country roads out in the farmland east of Denver.  Parking was at the local rodeo grounds, advertising that they hosted the World's First Rodeo.

We had a neutral start right in the town of Deer Trail, quickly heading under the highway and out onto the open roads.  For some reason, the race seemed to be moving pretty slowly for a while.  I was anywhere from the middle to the back of the pack as we leisurely made our way down the road.  The pace picked up a bit as we closed in on the first u-turn.  Stuck at the back of the pack, I could only watch as the leaders eased around the cone and took off again, while the rest of us came to a near dead-stop at the traffic jam.  Eventually, we were all around the cone, and catching back up to the leaders.

After about another 15 miles or so, we closed in on the next u-turn.  Not wanting to get left behind again, I sprinted up the inside, making my way to the front of the pack.  I was probably 3rd or 4th around the cone, and in a good position.  One rider started to make his way off the front of the pack, but nothing to worry about.  But then one of his teammates took off, joining him off the front.  It was only a 2-man breakaway, but with two members of the same team.  I don't know a ton about racing, but I know that a breakaway with two team members can be dangerous, so I decided to chase them down.  I didn't have any grand designs on winning this race, so I figured I could expend a little energy.  I got out of the saddle and pulled up behind the breakaway.  We ended up riding like that for a couple minutes, before the guys gave up and the pack came up around us.  I don't know that I actually did anything, but it felt like I did, so I was happy.

After killing myself to catch the break, I was running out of gas, and the main field slowly passed me until I was hanging on the back.  I relaxed a bit and ate a gel to try to make sure I had fuel for the end of the race.  We turned to head east again, and I was still hanging off the back, slowly getting dropped.  At that point, I joined one other racer to try to get back in the race.  After a bit of effort, we were back on the tail end of the pack.

At some point, we had to weave around a mysterious piece of junk in the road.  We didn't see what it was, but it was right in the middle of the pack.  A few minutes later, we found out what is was, when we saw a guy riding without his saddle.  Talking to him later, he said it was loose while he was sitting on it, so he stood up to mess with it a little bit, and it fell right off.  He ended up riding the last 10 miles or so without a saddle, standing for most of it and occasionally gingerly sitting on the top of his seatpost.  It didn't sound like a lot of fun, but he finished.  A pretty ingenious way to shave a few ounces off his bike, too.

Anyway, after expending that much energy catching back up to the group, I just barely had enough left to hang on the back.  As we made our way around the last cone of the race, I was on the back again, and was stuck in traffic.  The leaders took off, and the rest of us struggled to try to stay with them.  But they were long gone.  In the end, I finished about 90 seconds behind the winners, in 29th place out of 56 racers.  But my teammate Keith ended up sprinting for the win, so it was a good result nonetheless.  Chalk up another win for Psimet Zilla Racing.

And that looks like my last race for a while.  There are a couple races in July, but nothing I'm particularly interested in.  I may do a crit on July 13, but not sure yet.  There's a 3-day race in Salida, but I'm not planning to do that.  And I'm going to be on vacation for the Mt. Evans Hill Climb, so I'll have to skip that, too.  There are a couple races in August, but not many.  But the season is really winding down.

Keith Collins on the top of the podium.  Sorry for the blurry picture.  Not sure why they did the podiums in a dark barn instead of outside in the sun.

Team ride, lots of climbing - June 14, 2014

Racing season is starting to slow down.  Most of the road races are done for the year, and crits are becoming few and far between.  We're running into weekends when there are no races, or maybe it's a hill-climb or a time trial.  On the weekend of June 14, there were two races.  The Best on Hess time trial, which was actually my only race last year, and helped me decide I wanted to join a team, and the Sunshine Hill Climb on Sunday.  Although I liked the Best on Hess TT, I just wasn't really in the mood for it this year.  And I could have done Sunshine, but wasn't sure I wanted to pay for a race just to come in last place.  Apparently, many people on my team felt the same, and instead of racing we pulled together a really nice team ride.

We rode a bunch of roads I'd never ridden before, starting in Morrison, Colorado and heading south and west from there, up into the foothills.  From Morrison, we headed south through some beautiful foothills neighborhoods and a lot of houses I'll never be able to afford, until we got to Deer Creek Canyon.  Until this point, the ride was pleasantly rolling, but once we hit Deer Creek, it was just "up".  Then, instead of continuing on Deer Creek Canyon, we headed up High Grade and Pleasant Park Road, which involved a lot more climbing.  But there was a nice bonus, because at the top of the climb on Pleasant Park Road, you find the Pleasant Park School, built in 1894 and now on the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties.  Currently operated by the Pleasant Park Grange, they offer a great rest stop for cyclists, with coolers full of cookies, water and Gatorade, and asking for donations.  It was a nice little pit stop after all that climbing.  We rested for a few minutes and fueled up before moving on.

Robert and Scott enjoying a break at the Pleasant Park School.

The Pleasant Park School was the highest point of the ride, so it was generally downhill from here, although we still had a little bit of climbing to do.  We did a little climb through a neighborhood, and then a whole lot of downhill, heading down to Turkey Creek Road and past Tiny Town, which I had heard of but never seen before.   Then we had to do a quick ride on US 285, which was interesting.  It's essentially riding on the highway, which was a little nerve-wracking.  From there, we took a left and headed up the last climb of the day, up Parmalee Gulch.  After another downhill, we ended up at Bear Creek Road, which takes you back down into Morrison.  A few of the group took another turn and headed up Kerr Gulch for some more climbing, but the rest of us, including me, just headed back downhill into Morrison and our waiting cars.

Peg and Troy

Robert

I'm still trying to get some confirmation, but the people that climbed up Kerr Gulch seemed to have ridding on I-70 as a part of their route, which seems insane.  I haven't seen any of those guys since then, so I am still waiting to find out.

All in all, a fun day of riding.  It's nice to get out into some new territory once in a while.

Sonic Boom Criterium - June 8, 2014

On June 8, the day after my 5k with my kids, I raced in the Sonic Boom Criterium in Louisville, Colorado.  Basically over many of the same streets as the 5k the day before.  This is a cool crit that actually uses downtown city streets, so it has a whole different atmosphere than some of the other ones.

This was also the state Master's criterium championship, so I hoped to do well.  I got there early in the morning and started warming up.  My family showed up a little later, just before my race.  I would be racing in the Cat 4 35+ race again.

A number of races occurred before mine, so I got to see some of them.  It was a little crazy.  Everyone was crashing on the final turn before the finish.  And some of the crashes looked pretty bad.  It was a fast turn, with a couple bumps in the road.  The medics were very busy.

Peg

Craig, who ended up getting 3rd in the Cat 5 40+ race.

After the race before mine was completed, I was able to take a practice lap.  There was a long straight uphill on one side of the course, and the rest seemed flat or downhill for the most part.  It seemed pretty easy, and given how I felt at the City Park Crit the weekend before, I figured I could expect the same type of race.  I was wrong.  This race was just plain hard.  It was very fast, and the racers seemed a lot tougher than City Park.  Maybe it was because this was the state championship, it brought out a higher caliber of racer.

It was a 40-minute crit, and I think I hung with the group for about 20 minutes or so.  Then, I got blown off the back during the uphill section of one lap.  I tried to catch back up, but just didn't have the legs for it.  After that, I was on my own for quite a while.  There were a few other stragglers I could see in front of me and behind me.  But we were all kind of in no-man's land.

After about 10-15 minutes of riding alone, I could hear the lead motorcycle coming up behind me.  The guy pulled up and told me I could keep racing but had to stay to the right to let the group pass me.  I'm happy they didn't pull me.  That would have been really disappointing.  So, over the next minute or so, the field passed me, and I just let them go.  And I watched them disappear again, for the second time in the race.  As I got the bell for the last lap, I ended up meeting up with one of the other stragglers, and we rode the last lap together.

Coming up on the final turn, a bunch of people were out on the course, waving for me to slow down.  A crash.  Again.  I slowed for the turn, and saw a couple riders crashed into the barrier, receiving treatment.  I couldn't believe it.  The amount of crashes in this race was insane.  I crossed the line, said hi to my family on the sidewalk, and took a cool-down lap.  Coming around the last turn on my cool-down lap, the medics were there putting someone onto a backboard and getting ready to load them into the ambulance.

After resting for a bit, we got ready for my son to ride in the kid's race.  I like that they do these at the crits.  Most crits give the officials a lunch break, and let little kids do a lap of the course.  This one was supposed to be age 8 and under, so my daughter didn't race this one.  But I got my son ready and lined up, and he headed out for his lap.  He was rockin'.  At that point, it was pouring down rain, but he was a trooper.  A watched the start, ran up a side street to see him come around the other side of the course, and then sprinted back to the finish to see him cross the line.  Unfortunately, I didn't run fast enough, and missed his finish.  But my wife and daughter were there cheering him on.

Braving the rain in the kid's race.

A pretty disappointing day, race-wise.  But doing a 5k and a crit was fun, and as a bonus, we got to have lunch in Louisville:  Lucky Pie Pizza followed by Sweet Cow ice cream.  Awesome.  After pizza and ice cream, we headed back to the car to go home.  But as we were walking, we heard the ambulance once again.  Getting close to the car, we saw the ambulance pulling onto the course, heading to that final turn.  There were racers sprawled out everywhere.  Once again, the medics were loading people into an ambulance.  I saw a couple teammates on the sidewalk not too far away, so I went over to see what was going on.  Turns out, a former Psimet Zilla racer, Lloyd, was involved in that accident.  He was sitting on a bench, looking disappointed and annoyed.  Sounds like someone took a turn poorly and fell into him.  I found out later that Lloyd ended up in surgery that night with a broken hip.  We'll see if he changes his mind, but he's currently saying he's done racing.  At age 55, you just don't heal like you used to.

I'm not sure what it was about that course that caused so many crashes, but it kind of scared me off crits for a while.  I've had a pretty good season so far, and would hate to ruin it with a nasty crash in a crit.

My end result wasn't very good.  32nd out of 44.  After 33rd place, they gave everyone else a DNF, so I was pretty much right at the end.  Definitely a difference between the Cat 5s and Cat 4s.  Oh well.  Nothing I can do but get ready for the next race.

Taste of Louisville 5k - June 7, 2014

On June 14, I ran the Taste of Louisville 5k with my kiddos.  Last year, I ran this with my daughter, and she did great.  I looked at the calendar this year, and I didn't have any races going on, so we decided to do it again.  My 8-year-old son has recently decided this was something he would want to do, too, so I signed up the three of us.  We were all supposed to do the Home Run for the Homeless 5k back in May, but it was snowing and miserable, so we didn't end up doing that.  We decided this would make up for it.

Due to the massive flooding in the Boulder area last September, the route changed quite a bit.  The couldn't even do the half-marathon this year.  They ended up doing a 12k instead.  And the 5k route was completely different from last year.  It started right in downtown Louisville, running past people setting up their tents for the Taste of Louisville going on that day, and then headed around the outskirts of the town on some trails in their open space system.  It was actually very nice.  A beautiful area, and some beautiful homes along the route.

Because my 9-year-old daughter had run this distance before, and was used to doing this type of event, I decided she could just go ahead and run her own race while I ran with my son.  This was his first time running this far, and I knew it would be slow going.  And my daughter is very comfortable on her own, so I told her to do her best and she could just wait for us at the finish.

Everything went perfectly.  My daughter took off right at the start, and we didn't see her again.  My son and I jogged along at the back of the group.  We slowed down to walk once in a while, but never actually stopped.  He was pretty beat by the end, but we made a big push for the finish, where my daughter was there cheering us on.  It was a lot of fun.

Here's the photo of my son and I crossing the finish.  I'm too cheap to actually pay for the picture, which is why it's covered in watermarks.

Not sure if we're going to be doing any more of these running events this year.  They are really expensive, especially when you get a bunch of us going.  I'm more than happy to run around the neighborhood for free, though.

Boulder Time Trial - June 4, 2014

When I volunteered to work at the Superior Morgul Criterium a few weeks before, I earned a free race with that promoter, Without Limits Productions.  Looking at their remaining races for the year, it looked like getting a free entry into the June 4 time trial in Boulder.  This is a monthly series throughout the summer, on Wednesday evenings.

The route is 12 miles from Lyons to Boulder on US 36.  It's a tough route, with a couple decent hills.  Time trials aren't my specialty, but I kind of like them.  I think if I had true time trial equipment, I could do a lot better.  I seem to have pretty good leg strength for this sort of thing, but I really can't compete against people with a full set of aero equipment.

We had a few people from the team heading to this race, and we all met in Boulder near the finish line, then used the 12-mile ride to the start line as our warmup.  We got to the start, helped each other pin on our numbers, went to the bathroom, and were ready to go.

I ended up placing 4th out of 7 in the MM Cat 4 35+ category.  Not great, but I was fine with it.  Like I said, I don't have a time trial bike and other aero equipment like others in the race.  I do have some clip-on aero bars, which helps, but that's it.  No aero helmet, shoe covers, skin suit, etc.  Truthfully, if I want to do better in time trials without dropping a lot of cash, the best thing I could do is just lose some weight.  Which I'm working on...

Elephant Rock 2014

On June 1, I decided to recover from the City Park Crit by riding in the annual Elephant Rock Ride down in Douglas County.  If you remember from last year, I was scheduled to do the 62-mile ride with a bunch of people from work, but had broken my arm about 3 weeks before.  Since I was still recovering, I wasn't able to do a big ride, so did the 8-mile family ride with my wife and kids instead.    This year, I was in good health, and was looking forward to doing the 62-mile route.

Last year, this was a big event with my office, and we had about 15 people participate.  We have put a lot more effort into our "Davis Active" activities this year, and anticipated another big turnout.  But we only had a few people this year.  I think there were a few reasons:  1) It's expensive.  2) The mountain-bike route isn't very exciting.  Just a dirt road.

We tried to entice employees with an after-ride party at someone's house nearby, but that didn't work either.  So, we only had about 5 or 6 people show up, and not everyone showed up for the party afterwards.  Pretty disappointing.

The ride is nice, though.  It's a beautiful area down there.  Lots of rolling hills and expansive views.  I spent the day riding with Keith, another architect from my office.

Keith, with Pikes Peak in the background.

I had a good time.  It was a nice break from my usual races.

City Park Criterium

On May 31, I raced in the City Park Criterium.  After my Superior Morgul races a few weeks before, I moved up from a Cat 5 to a Cat 4 racer.  So this was my first race as a Cat 4.

This criterium is a series of .6 mile laps in City Park in Denver, CO.  It is essentially flat, with three turns per lap.  Kind of a triangle course.  My MM Cat 4 35+ race was scheduled for 40 minutes.  I was going to be the last race of the day, but we got there really early so my kids could ride in the kids race at lunchtime.

After the kids race, I started to get my stuff together to do my race.  I walked back to the car to get ready, and ride the trainer for a bit.  Then rode back to the start line to pick up my bib number and get in a final warm up.

On my way up to the line, a couple team members started yelling for me, and it turns out my number wasn't pinned on very well.  While they fixed it, I ended up losing a good spot at the start line, and started close to the back.  Not a good place to start, especially in this race.

The race started, and we rode fast.  Checking times at the end, the average speed was about 25 mph.  It was a pretty big field, so we had a lot of racers on the course, on narrow roads.  And the turns came up really quick, so it was hard to make any kind of moves.  As I said, I started near the back, and with the crowded roads, I had a tough time moving up.

It was a pretty hectic race, with a lot of very close riding.  This was definitely a 'bumping elbows and shoulders' kind of race, but there was only one crash, I think.  I felt pretty good about my finish.  Not too far behind the leader, in the main pack for the whole race.  I wasn't too tired when I was done, so I had a lot of gas left in the tank, but couldn't maneuver around people to actually use it.  Oh well.  Better luck next time, I suppose.

Final finish:  26th out of 62.  6 seconds behind the winner.

Bolder Boulder

On May 26, Memorial Day, I ran my first 10k.  I mean, I'd run a 10k distance before, but this was my first event.  It was the Bolder Boulder, billed as "America's All-Time Best 10k".  I hadn't really been training for it, but my work was participating in the "business challenge" and encouraging us to enter.  I didn't have an bike races going on that weekend, so I figured 'Why not?'

I'd been running quite a bit, but usually shorter distances during my daughter's soccer practices and stuff.  But I have been getting into much better shape.  And I'd run 10k a few times so far this year, as part of Strava Challenges.  Every month, the Strava web site posts various cycling and running challenges.  Sometimes, they are as simple as "how many miles can you bike this month", but they also have additional challenges, like "can you get this much climbing on your bike in X days", or "run a 10k this month".  Then you compare results with other Strava users.  They've had a couple 10k challenges this year, and I've done one or two.  And as luck would have it, they had a 10k challenge for the month of May, which worked out perfect with the Bolder Boulder.

So I signed up.  I think we had nearly 20 people from my office there.  However, I never saw any of them.  I believe there were more than 55,000 people participating this year, so the chances of seeing someone you know if pretty slim.  We didn't plan any kind of meet-up as an office, and I had no idea who else was running, so it would have just been chance to run into anyone.

I've done a bunch of 5k runs, mostly with my daughter.  When I'm was running with her, I mostly just kept to her pace, but try to push her a little bit.  This would be too far of a run for her at this time, so this one was just me.

With 55,000 people flowing into Boulder on a single morning, they recommended taking one of their buses into town, which seemed like a good idea to me.  I drove to one of the park n' rides and hopped on the RunRide bus, which took me right to the start line.  Piece of cake.  Once I got there, I walked around a little bit, and got in a warm-up jog.  Shortly before my start time, I wandered around to find my place in line.  They start you by your estimated finishing time, which you give them when you register.  I ended up in Heat G.  I think they were sending off a heat about every minute.

I found my spot, and a couple minutes later, we were off!  I quickly realized that I probably should have been in a faster heat.  I think I could have entered in one group faster, but that was about it.  Once you try to register for one of the even faster groups, they need you to provide results from another race, or results from a treadmill test at a qualifying place.  Since most of my previous timed events were run with my daughter, I didn't really have any good times to show them, and I didn't feel like going to run on a treadmill to qualify.  So, I put myself in what I thought was a reasonable category for someone like me.  Unfortunately, I ended up having to weave around tons of people as I was trying to pass them all.  I've learned my lesson for next year, I suppose.

Bolder Boulder is a pretty amazing event.  Boulder is an awesome town, with great views and beautiful neighborhoods.  The route weaved through those neighborhoods, where people everywhere were out on the sidewalks, their front lawns or their porches cheering on the runners.  There were bands playing along the course, an Elvis impersonator, slip n slides, belly dancers, and frat guys offering Doritos and beer.  It was quite a spectacle.

There are an insane amount of people at this race.  This shows one wave going off.  Racers waiting to start extend off into the distance.

I felt really good the entire race, and think I could have gone faster if I didn't spend so much time weaving around other participants.  The race ends at Folsom Field, the University of Colorado Stadium, which is cool.  You enter the stadium and run around the field with tons of people in the stands cheering on the runners.  I would have loved to make a sprint for the finish, but just like the rest of the race, it was crazy-crowded.  People were slowing down or walking, and I just couldn't do anything about it.  So I eventually made my way to the finish line with everyone else.  My official time was 54:31, or 8:46 / mile.  This was a personal-best 10k for me, which is awesome.  I had a great time, and am looking forward to doing another one of these.  And I plan to come back to Bolder Boulder next year.

Folsom Field, with the Flatirons in the background.  Great place for a run.

There are pictures available from course photographers, but I don't feel like buying them.  Just pictures of me running, which isn't all that exciting.

Here's my Strava info:


OK, that was fun.  Now back to biking . . .

Golden Gate Canyon training ride

Following the 3-day Superior Morgul event the weekend before, I decided to take the weekend off of bike racing.  I'd spent the week riding my bike to work, which is always nice.  I also got in a decent run at my daughter's soccer practice, her last of the year.  I did a little 1k lap with my 7-year-old son, and then stopped at the car and grabbed his bike, and I ran another three miles with him riding alongside me.  This is one of my favorite ways to run.  It's good to have company, and his casual riding speed is a pretty good match for a nice running speed for me.

That Saturday, May 24, my daughter had a soccer tournament in Arvada, Colorado.  She was going to have a 12:30 game and a 6:30 game, which is pretty ridiculous.  Her coach offered to take the team to the movies between games, which was awesome of her.  Since the tournament was fairly close to the foothills, I decided to bring my bike and go for a ride between games.  So after that first game, we headed back to the car and I got changed and grabbed food, drinks and some extra cold-and-rain gear.  My wife and son headed off to lunch and to do some shopping.

It was a little after lunchtime when I started, so before I even really started riding, I stopped back at the soccer fields and plowed through a PB&J bagel I brought with me and hit the porta-potty.  Then I hit the road.  I was pretty much fully-loaded for this ride.  The weather was ok at the time, but a little chilly.  I was wearing my team kit of bib shorts and jersey, along with arm warmers.  I also had a light rain jacket, snacks, phone and a few other things jammed in my pockets, ready for what I was thinking could be about a 70-mile ride.

I was planning to do a route I've done a number of times.  Up Golden Gate Canyon, over to Rollinsville, and down Coal Creek Canyon.  Golden Gate Canyon made it through last year's floods relatively unscathed, although Coal Creek Canyon had some significant damage.  From what I'd heard, the damage was repaired and the road was fully open again.  The different part about this ride was getting from soccer to Golden Gate Canyon, and from Coal Creek back to soccer fields.  Other than that, it was pretty straightforward, and I had the route programmed into my Garmin to help guide me.

The ride to the "start" of my ride was on some busy roads, but uneventful.  I made my way into and through Golden, hitting the big Ford Street hill for the first time.  I've heard a lot of people talk about climbing it, but I'd never been there before.  Man, that's a steep one.  I got a little lost trying to figure out how to get out to 93, but eventually found my way there, crossed the road, and started up Golden Gate Canyon.  I really like this road.  Lots and lots of uphill, with a couple steeper sections, and a few downhill sections.  After about 18 miles and over 3,000 feet of climbing it takes you to the high point of this ride at the Peak-to-Peak Highway.  Take a right and enjoy some downhill for a while, with a few occasional moderate climbs.  A quick step off the bike in Rollinsville to eat and drink, then back on my way again.  Shortly after Rollinsville, you take a right turn onto Coal Creek Canyon Road, and keep heading downhill.

Past the town of Pinecliffe, there is another good 3-mile climb to WonderVu.  At this point, it was getting a little late, and I was a little worried about being late to my daughter's 6:30 soccer game.  I stopped at the top of the climb at WonderVu to call my wife and let her know where I was.  But no signal.  Oh well.  The majority of the rest of the ride was typically screaming-fast downhill, so I shouldn't be too much longer.  Just as I start to ride again, though, it started to rain.  I probably rode for about a minute before I decided it was raining hard enough for my rain jacket.  Another quick stop, and got the rain jacket on just before it started to dump on me.  I started riding again, but it was slow-going.  I didn't want to risk slipping on a turn on the descent.

And then it got worse.  Hail.  I've never ridden in hail before.  It sucks.  It felt like I was being attacked with a stapler or something.  Arms and legs were getting pelted, and I could hear the hail plinking off my helmet.  I was heading downhill somewhat quickly, so I was hoping that as I headed down, the temps would warm up and it would turn back to rain.  And that's pretty much what happened.  Eventually I was riding in the rain again, which is better but not great.  And by the time I got back down to highway 93 again, it was pretty dry.  Now I just needed to find my way back to the soccer game.

At this point, my Garmin let me down a bit.  I'm not exactly sure what happened, but I ended up on a wrong road for a while.  It wasn't too bad, since I was still heading the right direction.  But my Garmin kept just telling me I was off-course, without really helping me get back on-course.  I looked at a map on my phone, and figured out how to get back, eventually getting back to my pre-programmed course.

By the time I got back to the soccer fields, the game had started, but I hadn't missed much.  They had started a little bit late.  I found the car and sat in the back to start getting changed back into normal clothes.  That's when my phone started buzzing.  I looked down, and I was getting a tornado warning.  This had already happened a few times over the last few days.  Definitely some crazy weather in Denver.  I'd basically been ignoring them, since I was typically in a big concrete building at work.  This was a little different, since we were kind of in a big wide-open area.  And the weather was definitely looking sketchy.  I was hoping for some peace and quiet to get changed in the back of my car.  But I looked up, and started to see a lot of people walking by.  One of them was someone from my accounting department at work, which was weird.  I chatted with her for a few minutes, then saw my kids coming.  I thought they were coming over to say hi, so I yelled out "Hey kiddos!" and gave them a big wave.  Then I noticed they were both crying.  Interesting.  I asked what was going on, and they both started screaming and blubbering about a tornado coming.  They were like "I wanna go home right now!!!"  I wasn't too worried, and told them to calm down and get in the car.  My wife came walking over a minute later.  All games were canceled and everyone was told do leave.  So that was basically it.  Hopped in the car and drove home.  We started by driving basically straight into the storm, which the kids weren't happy about, but eventually got on the highway and headed away.  No big storm story or anything, but it was definitely interesting.

Nasty weather

Caitlin was so freaked out she thought she was going to throw up.  Fortunately, we had some baggies in the car.

I got in a really good ride, and didn't really miss any soccer.  The next day was similar, but with games closer together.  Had one game in the morning, grabbed some lunch, then came back, only to have it start raining.  After sitting in the car for a while, they eventually postponed the game until the next day, Memorial Day.  This was certainly a long weekend of soccer.



I had to get home to get ready for a 10k the next morning.  Come back soon for my write-up on the 2014 Bolder Boulder.

Superior Morgul - Omnium Weekend

I can't believe it's taken me so long to post this one . . .

On May 16-18, I participated in a race called the Superior Morgul, a 3-day "omnium" race in Superior, Colorado.  If you are familiar with a stage race, this is similar in that it includes multiple days of racing with prizes awarded for each day, as well as a competition for the overall winner of all races combined.  In a traditional stage race, cyclists compete based on time, with the lowest total time being the winner.

In an omnium race, prizes are awarded for each race, but the overall results are based on points rather than time.  In this case, the race consisted of a Friday time trial, a Saturday criterium and a Sunday road race.  For each individual event, you received 10 points just for completing the race.  This has the effect of rewarding the racers who compete in all three races, so someone can't just come in and win one race and win the entire weekend.  After your 10 points for just completing the race, you are awarded points based on your placing in each event, with the maximum amount of points awarded to the winner.  In this way, you don't necessarily have to win any events to win the overall.  You have a chance to win the overall just by placing fairly well in all three.

The points breakdown for each event.

Before I talk about each race, I just wanted to apologize for the lack of photos.  I only had family out to watch the crit, so they weren't taking pictures.  And it seems like the pros on course didn't feel like shooting the Cat 5's.  Oh well.  There were a couple pros at each race, and there was not a single photo of me.




Superior Morgul Time Trial, May 16

I raced this entire weekend in the Cat 5 40+ category.  We don't get a whole lot of respect, so they stuck us way at the end, when pretty much no one would be watching.  My start time was at about 7pm, with just a couple guys starting after me.  I decided to just throw my bike on the car when I went to work that day, put in pretty much a full day of work, then headed to the race.  I managed to get there plenty early, and got in a good warmup and some calories and hydration.  I also had a chance to chat with William Brunk (I think he said to call him "Chip"), a fellow Cat 5 40+ who was parked nearby.  He would be starting about 2 minutes ahead of me.

This was an 8.15-mile time trial, starting on Marshall Road, turning onto Cherryvale, then onto South Boulder Road with a decent climb to the finish.

I got to the line about 10 minutes before my start time and got myself psyched up to go.  The thing about time trials is that you really need to be ready to go when it's your time.  You don't get to ease into it like you might do with a road race.  You need to be cranking right at the start, which is one reason a good warmup is important.  With twenty seconds separating each racer, I slowly made my way up to the start line.  They have a guy there that holds your bike while you balance, clipped in and ready to go.  They gave the signal and I was off!

I pretty quickly passed a few slower people who started a couple minutes before, and slowly caught up to the guy that started 20 seconds before me, Tim McAndrew.  Within about the first mile, we ran into some cold rain, which people who raced earlier didn't have to deal with.  It was pretty cold and miserable for a mile or so.  Somewhere along Cherryvale, the rain let up, and Tim passed me.  Although he was in front of me, I knew if I didn't let him get too far ahead, I would still finish with a better time.  Climbing the final hill on South Boulder Road toward the finish, a guy named Steve Wens came from behind and passed me.  You're not allowed to draft in a time trial, so I couldn't hang on his wheel like I could in another type of race, but I wanted to keep him close nonetheless.  He apparently had some better legs than me, and pretty nice TT/tri bike, so he really had the advantage here.  At the top of the hill, Tim rolled across the line, Steve a few seconds later, and me a few seconds after that.  Steve had started 40 seconds behind me, so I knew he pretty much crushed me in this TT.

I was pretty dead after this TT, so I enjoyed the cool-down ride back to the car.  The results were posting live online, so I was able to check the results on my phone, and was happy to see I ended up in second place, about 45 seconds behind Steve.  Tim, who as I said was just a few seconds ahead, finished fourth. With my 10 points for finishing, and 14 points for second place, I was second in the Omnium competition with 28 points.  Unfortunately, they didn't do podiums for the time trial, so I just hopped in the car and drove home.

TT results

Summit Criterium, May 17

After a good night's sleep, it was time to get ready for Saturday's Summit Criterium.  Although I wasn't racing until 5:30pm, our team was sponsoring this event, and we were encouraged to volunteer.  So I signed up for one of the 12-3pm volunteer slots, which would give me a nice afternoon outside watching some racing, with plenty of time to warm up before my evening race.  I got there in time to watch the finish of the Cat 4 race, and then found the volunteer coordinators.  I handed out some ribbons to the little kids doing the one-lap kids race, during the race official's lunch break, then worked in the "beer tent" for a little bit (really just a small area enclosed with a fence), and then watched a lot of racing since there wasn't anything else to do.  I watched a few of the women's races, and helped get the podium swag together, then hung around on one of the race corners with one of my teammates to watch the Pro/1/2 race.  Eventually, volunteer time was over and it was time to start getting ready.  That's when I realized that I still had 2 1/2 hours before my race.  So, instead of getting ready, I wandered around a little more and also watched some of the Cat 3 men's race.

Finally, time to get dressed, start my warmup, and all the usual stuff.   About 15 minutes before our race, the previous race ended.  At that point, I joined a few teammates for a couple laps of our course to get a feel for the various turns.  During these laps, it was a little weird that people were still out cheering, apparently thinking we were still from the previous race.  We were just slowly tooling around the course, and these people were yelling and screaming "Keep it up!  You're doing great!  Go! Go!" and stuff like that.  Kind of funny.  Then we got lined up and ready to go.

During the pre-race announcements, they reminded us that this was going to be a 20-minute crit, and they would start counting down the laps when we had 5 to go.  They also mentioned that we would have two prime laps, which I wasn't expecting.  I didn't think the Cat 5's got primes.  A prime is basically a lap for prizes in the middle of a race.  The winner of that particular lap gets something, like cash, merchandise, or in this case omnium points.  On each of the prime laps, the first place racer would get 5 points, followed by 3, 2 and 1 for 2nd, 3rd and 4th place.  I saw this as an opportunity to help me move up in the standings, so I really wanted those points.

And with that, we were off!  After a somewhat tentative first lap, we really started cooking.   On lap 3, I think we got our first bell indicating a prime lap.  I placed myself in the middle of the pack for most of the lap, and on the last turn I picked up speed and made a move from the back to sprint up the side of the pack and win the first prime lap.  The race to the line is all uphill, so the sprint really took a lot out of me.  But it made it worth it to hear the announcer yelling about Psimet-Zilla taking the first sprint points, and he also announced my name.  I thought that was pretty sweet.

I rested a little bit on the next lap, and then we got another bell for a prime lap.  I positioned myself well again, and basically did the exact same thing, thinking I got another first place on the lap. (I found out later that I actually got second, not realizing that Tim, who I mentioned from the time trial, had jumped out ahead and I didn't realize it).

With just a few more laps to go, I was starting to get a bit tired from the sprinting for points.  I managed to hang onto the back of the group, but couldn't really move myself closer to the front.  Finally it was time for the last lap.  I was still stuck on the back of the group, and did my best to move up, but only managed to drag myself up into 6th place, behind the people that I was considering to be my main competition for the overall.

Summit Criterium results

My 6th place finish got me 10 points for finishing, 15 points for 6th, and another 8 points for 1st and second places in the two prime laps, for a total of 33.  And Steve Wens got 1st, giving him wins in the time trial and crit, and a pretty insurmountable lead in the omnium.  My 33 points was still good enough for second in the omnium, but just barely.

Time to get ready for the road race.

 

Morgul Bismark Road Race, May 18

The Morgul Bismark is a famous race course from the old Red Zinger / Coors Classic days, and was featured prominently in the movie American Flyers.  The classic 13-mile loop includes McCaslin Blvd., CO-128, CO-93 and Marshall Road, with climbs known as "The Hump" and "The Wall" on McCaslin.  Unfortunately, for the last two years, major construction on 93 has required a course change.  Now, the course is just an out-and back on McCaslin and CO-128, with both climbs and descents of "The Wall".  The course starts in Superior with a short flat section followed by a climb up "The Wall", at which point they start counting your laps.  The Cat 5's were doing 2 laps, with the finish line at the top of "The Wall".

By this time, I was getting to know the other racers pretty well, so it was all pretty chummy at the start line.  Then the whistle blew, and it was time for business again.  The first lap was uneventful.  Flat, followed by a climb up The Wall, followed by some up and down for a few miles, until we turned around just before hitting 93, and headed back the same way.  Back down The Wall, on a little bit of flat, and back up again.  By this point, we were starting to break up a bit.  I was hanging around the back of a group of about 12 of us.  At this point, I decided to grab a drink to make sure I was well-hydrated by the time we got to our final climb.  While I was grabbing a drink, the group took off, leaving me alone and sprinting to catch up.  Once I caught up to the back of the group, I decided to grab a gel, only to have the same thing happen.  I'm not very used to eating gels at race-pace, and probably need to practice that a bit.  As they took off, I was left trying to sprint to catch up once again.  I finally managed to catch up to the group after the u-turn out at 93.  I hung in with them back to the top of The Wall, and on the high-speed downhill.  Then, with just a few miles left to go, we got onto the short flat area.  At that point, trouble hit.  For some reason, my left leg started cramping up terribly.  Basically, on every pedal stroke, cramps alternated between my quad and hamstring, non-stop.  This went on for about a mile, with no sign up letting up.

As we made our last turn onto McCaslin for the final climb, my leg was going crazy.  I was able to keep pedaling, but it wasn't pretty.  Right about then, we caught up with one of the women's races, who were also heading up The Wall for the final lap.  We got a bit mixed up, with a little yelling between both groups.  Both races were putting everything they had into their finish, and we all headed to the line together.  By that time, my leg was becoming unbearable, and I was beginning to worry that I might be walking my bike across the line.  I thought maybe I could get up out of saddle, and that might use some different muscle groups.  But almost immediately after standing up, my legs gave out and I collapsed back onto my bike.  I was just going to have to struggle up to the top.  By that point, I was once again at the back of my group, and I was fairly certain that the rest of the field was a few minutes behind, so regardless of how much or how little I pushed it the rest of the way, I was still going to end up in 12th place.  So I plodded my way to the top, and just barely rolled the bike across the line.  Definitely not the finish I was hoping for.

Road Race results

The timing system they were using allowed instant results online, even though they weren't posting results at the finish anywhere.  I checked with someone who had a phone, and confirmed I got 12th place.  And I knew my main omnium competition finished ahead of me.  I was fairly certain that Steve Wens was going to remain in first, and I thought Tim McAndrew was going to move up into second.  But I wasn't sure what was going to happen after that.  I might have gotten enough points to hang onto third place, but I wasn't sure.  I got another 10 points just for finishing, and 14 points for 12th place.  And unfortunately, I needed to wait about an hour or so to find out.  There was a decent-sized finish line expo at the top of The Wall, with beer, snacks, massages, and more.  I hung out with a bunch of the other racers for a while and watch some of the other podiums as we waited, somewhat impatiently, for ours.  Eventually, they announced our podium for the road race, but still no omnium results.  So, we waited, and waited, and waited some more.  Did I get third?  The suspense was killing me....

Cat 5 40+ . . . . third place: Brent Murphy!  Woo hoo!

Steve Wens (1), Tim McAndrew (2), and me (3)

Overall, I'm very happy with that race weekend.  I know I could have done a little better on some things in certain races, but I can't complain too much about getting onto the podium in a 3-race event.

I'm a little behind on posts right now, and I've done some cool stuff the past couple weekends, so I hope to get crackin' and write some more soon.