Kurt leading the feild just to get us started. He won this race. Here is how the rest of the weekend went down:Day Two(Saturday): An early rise at 5:30 to get breakfast and then to the race to register and warm up. Alan fed us really well and we ended up going through 40 lbs. of bananas throughout the weekend. Alan although a little crazy was very generous and kind to help us out in all the ways he did. Of course Men's C rides first in the cold because nobody like us. We went off at 8:00 am. Lets just say i was nervous. I couldn't calm down all morning. i tried warming up on the trainer with the ipod but was just racing inside all morning. We finally got on the road and i just tried to keep up the whole time. The pack wa together until the first climb when CSU got to the front and set a fast pace and split the group. I would liketo think i could have stayed with them but i just got caught between two other riders and the gap just got bigger and bigger. I found a teammate and pulled him up a bit on the climb. He got past me but couldn't make it across the gap either. So i was left out in no mans land for about 6 miles. It was painful because we had a strong head wind a couple climbs and then a long false flat. On the flase flat i grouped up with a Mesa State College guy to try and catch a Colorado School of Mines guy 200 meters infront of us. Just after we caught him he fell off but we got caught by two Denver Unuversity riders and some other guy. I rode with them pulling here and there until i started pulling into a big head wind and they decided they didn't want to ride with me anymore so they attacked and i just waited for the other guy to match. He kind of did but not enough to catch them. On the second to last climb i was catching then all but the top screw in my water bottle cage fell out and so i almost lost my bottle and i couldn't get the bottom screw out while riding. So i had a dangling cage and every few turns on the crank it would catch my chain. All in all it slowed me down a bit but i didn't get caught by anyone behind me so i guess it was all the same. Final Standing: 21st, 15 minutes down or something.
Later that day was the Team Time Trial. We fielded a team of three because our forth, Clark, crashed out of the Road Race and had to get stitches in two of his fingers. Eric and I were both new to racing and Joel is coming off an injury and didn't have the legs to really crank it up on the TTT. But we finished ahead of one team and got Third.
We went out to dinner and then went to bed.
Tyler ended up winning this sprint for fourth during the Road Race.
Day Three(Sunday): Another early morning, awake by 5:45 and drive to Fruita. Again the Men's C division went first again and it was a bit cold. Eric had to go home early so it was just Joel and I in the Crit. We had a two lap clinic where we worked on cornering and closing gaps. Funny thing those were the two things I was nervous about going intothis. Unfortunatly the clinic didn't help. Right out of the gate we approached the first turn and i got cut off and locked up my back wheel. I stayed upright but lost my position completely. Well i knew that CSU was going to set a hard pace from the start so i tried to keep up with that but ended up in no mans land. I don't think anyone made it up to that group for the rest of the race. I ended up getting caught by the chase group and stayed with them for the remainder. I finished three seconds down on that group only cause i was dead tired and didn't feel like sprinting to the finish for 22nd place so i ended up in 23rd. We watched the girls kill it in their race and then the B division guys did really well also getting 1st, 6th and 7th. We went to lunch at a local pizza shop and headed home. I took some pictures and here they are.
Here is Dave during the Men's B Crit. After a Third place finish in the Road Race and going on a solo breakaway for a lap during the same race he said he didn't really have the legs to place well in the crit. I guess 6th just isn't good enough for this guy.
Here we have Sarah and Zoey respectivly. They are both Nordic Ski Racers for the U and did really well in the 90km Nationals Race. Zoey went on to win this Crit.
Alisha is Dave's wife and loves to climb. She doesn't love the Crit style so much but she still puts the hammer down.
