Crested Butte

I'm back in the mountains! However, it was no easy task. Due to some plan changes...I ended up driving out here myself, and the drive was not fun...with tornado warnings and hail west of Grand Island, NE - I was stuck there for 3 or 4 extra hours arriving in Denver at 8am Friday morning. Four hours of sleep later I'm on the bike to trying to loosen up the legs before I hop in the car another 3 1/2 hrs to Crested Butte for the race Saturday morning. I was still pumped for my first mountain race of 2009 though! Driving up through the different mountain passes on the way there just takes my breath away every time. I was feeling relaxed when I got there - probably due to the lack of sleep - but things went 'smooth' from there.

Saturday morning comes and I'm still feeling the effects of the stressful sleepless drive of Thursday night, but it is what it is and focused on a good breakfast and a good warm up. Rolled up to the line at 10:03 and one minute later...we're off! Immediately into the long sustained climb to the top of Mt. Creste Butte. Now, even though I've raced the mountains many times before...the first lap of the first race is ALWAYS a shock to the system. Those climbs seem to go on FOREVER! Afton Alps has some really good climbing, but still doesn't have this long of a sustained climb at that kind of a grade (This is a reason I like to do a mountain race sooner in the season - it really puts the midwest climbs into perspective for me and I just seem to handle the midwest stuff better after that).

The first lap was tough - I just couldn't stick with the lead group up that mountain. So I was excited for the second half of the lap - the downhill back to the start/finish. I realized real quick that my back was not holding up to the strain I put it through on the climb an the fresh cut singletrack did not help the situation - I wanted to pin it so hard but just couldnt with the pain in my back. Actually considered pulling off it hurt so bad. I had no idea how was going to survive another lap with this pain...but I wanted to find out - passing through the start/finish though going into lap two there were so many people watching and cheering (heard Mom's words of encouragement from the chalet deck)...I kept going and decided to keep on keepin on.

Lap 2 - Suprisingly, I felt better by the minute...slammed a GU at the start of the climb and focused on riding posture more, and no back pain! I lost a lot of time on the first lap but the group that 'was' catching me at the end of the first lap, I dropped as I started up the climb to the summit - and the downhill I was able to hit 'almost' as hard as I could - railing turns left and right dodging trees and BIG rocks for miles with that sweet Crossmark on the front and wide open top gear descents on the fire roads brought nothing but smiles to my face as I caught and passed a few riders here and there. I found a groove with my body and the Orbea worked absolutely awesome!

Some know about my struggles with the back pain last year...I'm hoping I'm on to something between gear selections and riding position on climbing. I'm back in Thornton, CO now and have some sweet and tough climbing workouts coming up over the next two weeks. That should tell the tale. I will update probably a few times a week now until nationals.