Crested Butte Challenge Too Much...

What a change a couple of weeks and 3,000 foot elevation gain can make!

The Shimano XTR Cross Country race at Crested Butte Resort threw me to the ground, stomped me and took away any cockiness Angel Fire and my fastest century ride may have planted. I came with nothing to offer the mountain and was anaerobic 200 yards from the starting line. Two laps with 1,600 feet of gain per lap threw me into the hunch-back survival mode and brought up the question again-- "WHY THE HELL DO YOU DO THIS? "

I'm just glad I'm not paying a cycling coach this year to tell me how bad I prepared for a particular race. I could list the variables but in reality, sometime you feel good and are happy with the outcome and sometimes you just suck and die. This was one of the races I sucked and died.

Finished 10th out of 10 on this one but still ranked 2nd in the series.

What I will always do despite the pain and results, is have fun!!

The best part of the weekend had to be the Sunday morning 8:00am start of the Super Downhill race. COMOtion chums Cris Taylor, Cary Dunn and I shared a chilly and wet chairlift ride to the top of the mountain for a mud slopped downward hurl. We pretended we were going to beat somebody to the finish line. Mission accomplished!
Yeti "Bossman" Chris Conroy was right there beside us on the SD startline proving the adage "practice what you preach" .

Crested Butte trails are like no others in Colorado with really dark organically rich soils that suck up moisture and produce spectacular wildflower carpets . The off-camber singletrack trails are deep and just waiting for you to bang a rim side into them so they can toss you over the handlebars like a rag doll.

With racing done, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery and reminders we we live in ( and never leave) Colorado.

A picnic lunch along the Taylor River on our way to Cottonwood Pass and home ended another memorable MTBing race weekend.