I suppose that since I haven’t blogged much recently, the riding I did while in Colorado could be considered ’secret’. Spending a couple of weeks in Boulder was a great way to split the travel from Tucson to Wisconsin. There are so many mountain roads to explore that the rides seemed to go on and on. And that’s a very good thing. It felt really good to get into the riding groove again as for a while it seemed as if I was only racing and recovering. Getting back to big rides on consecutive days was just what I needed for the body and mind.
My CO stay ended with the Teva Mountain Games which once again proved to be a super fun weekend. There aren’t many races out there where cycling is part of a bigger festival, so it’s a nice change of pace and a good chance to see what ‘other’ people do. The huge prize checks made for some highly competitive racing which was a lot of fun. There were quite a few fans who hiked the mountainside to watch the xc, but this number was tiny compared to that of the other events. The World Cup climbing and kayaking competitions seemed to draw the most fans.
The XC was your standard slow motion altitude climbing race where it always seemed as if I should be going faster. But as soon as the effort is increased so is the fatigue since there’s not much oxygen available up there. This meant that nice and steady was the name of the game. I might have been one of the fastest sea level guys there so that’s got to count for something…
For the hill climb I was super pumped about the massive tailwind we would have. Last year we weren’t so fortunate so it was easy to take a big chunk of time off. I rode the flat part of the course conservatively so that I could let it rip once we started up Vail pass. This negative split seemed to work well as I turned in a pretty solid effort. No records were set on my part, but both the Men’s and Women’s winners set new course records.
Chloe blogs less than me these days so I’ll let you know that she had an awesome weekend, placing 5th in the xc and 3rd in the hill climb. She made some big payout and enjoyed the occasion. She even got to practice with some TT gear before really putting it to the test at the Nature Valley Grand Prix where she’ll be racing as part of a collegiate ‘all star’ team. This is an awesome way to experience the high level of women’s road stage racing. Six races in five days ought to be great.
Up next for me will be the Subaru Cup. I’m pumped to be back in Wisconsin and the thought of hitting up all the local stuff is exciting. It ought to be a good time as the local scene will be more hotly contested than ever this year. See you there,
-TJ
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June 14th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
[…] Somewhere between La Vuelta de Bisbee and the present I’ve flown to California a couple times, once from Colorado and once from Arizona. I’ve also driven the distance from Tucson to Boulder three times and moved out of my apartment and back home. A few weeks ago I started a couple of summer courses online–government and nutrition. Sometime in May I raced Collegiate Road Nationals and did well enough to find myself on the Ryan’s Collegiate All-Star Team (a composite squad) racing the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Oh, last weekend went pretty well at the Teva Mountain Games–TJ did an update for me. So here I am, in Minnesota and happy to say I’ve kept the rubber side down, haven’t been time cut, and actually sit somewhere in the top-50 GC. There’s one criterium left but this particular crit has a climb with a 20% grade. I guess if you’re not one of the top climbers in the country, it’s not a matter of if you get dropped but when. Amanda Miller, one of my teammates for the week has some good blog updates about the racing so far. Since she’s not a slacker when it comes to blogging, I’d suggest reading her posts and not bother with mine. […]
June 15th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
TJ- your in Colorado and you don’t even give the states newest resident a call!?!?!?!? WTF dude, you better call me on your way back home so you can stop and we can hit up some sweet rides!