Boulder Roubaix recon

Today, a bunch of us from the Reynolds Roofing / CRJ Racing team decided to get together for a recon ride of the Boulder Roubaix course.  This is a race that takes place in a few weeks on the roads northwest of Boulder.  The course is about half packed-dirt, half pavement, switching between the two a few times per lap.  Each lap is about 18.7 miles, and the Cat 4s do two laps, for a total of 37.4 miles.

This is a very popular race in the area, typically taking place every two years.  I think the team is planning on a large turnout for this event, and we decided today would be a good day to do a recon ride, to take a look at the course and understand what we're in for.

We met at the offices of Collins, Rafik & Jacobson (CRJ), a Boulder criminal defense attorney and team sponsor.  Keith Collins, the "C" in CRJ, is also a Cat 4 racer on our team.  Once we gathered the 12 team members who were riding today, we headed up north out of Boulder, and towards the Boulder Roubaix course.

Pre-ride, outside the offices of Collins, Rafik & Jacobson.  Photo: Troy Reynolds

We plowed through the first lap, a bouncy, windy, pummeling course, with a number of rolling hills and lots of turns.  We gathered at the end of the first lap, with many of the riders ready to call it a day, a couple just tired of dirt and planning to do some more riding on pavement, and three of us, including me, deciding to do another lap.  So Keith Collins, Brad Clemmons and I cranked out one more lap of the course, and finally headed back toward the cars.  It was a tough day or riding, but I think very helpful for those of us planning to participate in this race in a few weeks.

I came to the conclusion that I really don't like riding on dirt.  Especially turning.  I always feel like the bike is just going to slide out from under me.  And all that washboard road is really tough on the body and the bike.  One of my bottle cages actually rattled loose, and I had to get out an allen wrench and tighten it up in the middle of the ride.  I definitely feel I am in shape for this race, but I am a little concerned about my technique on the turns.  We'll see.