Dual Purpose Bike Weekend

The weekend was split between Saturday's annual Veloswap meet and Sunday's Cyclocross race at the Boulder Reservoir.Lines were 6 blocks long at 9:00 am at one of the nation's largest gathering of cycle re-cycling fanatics. Over 15,000 riders of all types crowded the Denver stockyards to find their next road bike or dump the beat-to-death downhill rig. Four hours in to it, I had spent $67 and had a bag full of stuff I hoped would fit or come in handy later. Nuts, pins, tools and nothing of any real value. With that out of my system, we readied the COMo trailer for another fun cyclocross race.

The popularity of the sport is evident when you see signs like this one and massive 75+ riders starting lines.

Week by week, the Yeti ARC-CX bike sightings grow in numbers.

This Colorado Bike Law racer adorned what was most likely representative of the "goathead" stickers that plagued riders who ventured off the course main lines.

Early morning junior racers were treated to hot cocoa and cookies to replenish their sugar stores. Word of the cookies started lines forming until they were all but gone...quicker than the beer went in the afternoon.
One of my personal heros of the sport, Stephen Oliver has the perfect l-o-n-g-b-o-d-y geometry required for the running ,jumping and riding of this all-to-the-wall sport. Stephen finished in the top 10 to the delight of his wonderfully supportive daughter who always cheers dad on.

Word was that the best line was IN the water instead of the traditional pack line being taken 12" to the right. Or maybe it was just the free wheel and "arse" washing that resulted from the spray????Stephen Iles again proved to be one of COMotion's most dedicated post-MTB season riders finishing well a head of rival Rocky Mountain Racers boys and a respectable top 10.

CX season provides an excellent opportunity to scout MTB racers for the 6th MSC Series title. Who looks good here in the 40+ woman's category? Dev Peterson or Karin Barclay?
Brian and John put on a hell of a series. Find additional info at http://www.boulderracing.com/ . We all live on the same small planet. Beginning with this series, COMotion Sports team will always provide an opportunity to recycle cans and bottles (and kegs?) yes...wherever we go.

Cyclocross Comes To My Hometown.....Thank you City of Broomfield

A week after the 24 Hours of Moab (736 mile RT) the venue and disclipline changed to my backyard and Cyclocross.
Part of the Boulder Racing Series, http://www.boulderracing.com/ the high-tech home of Sun Microsystems and other Dot-com industries became a cycling haven for racers invading Interlocken's East Park and the golf course like scenery south of the Denver-Boulder Highway 36 Turnpike.

In an effort to diversify our race team participation, we hauled the trailer and set up to support COMotion CX racers Stephen Iles, Todd Carver, Gary Peterson and Seth Ramsbottom.

8 o'clock had the pit poised with percolated coffee, sugar infested sweet rolls and hydration for any tempted souls. Drop-in mechanicals ranged from ..dude---can I borrow your pump (frigg'n valve stem peeked out barely 10mm from the Ksyrium rims) to "what the hell is this wrong with my cantilevers?" Iles even preformed a derailleur hanger-apendectomy on a recently crashed no-name bike.

Rider's complained that they were being run through sewer on the mud- fest crossing but trust me...it's just pure ole hydrogen-sulfide produced from the entirely natural break down and composting of organic matter. Still smells like cau-cau. Use a little Fabreeze or actually wash 'em before the race next weekend at the Boulder Res.

COMotion's Pro racer Steve Iles astonished the crowd with his slingshot start and lead in the 1 hour grand finale contest. A crash later sent Stephen to the ice chest for an ice pack to calm a swelling knee instead of the podium. Next week brother........

24 HOURS OF MOAB AS I SAW IT

COMotion teammate Kris Lathrop is leading in the Le Manns style start and was first to mount the bike on lap 1 at the 12:00 noon Saturday start.

I didn't realize, until I drug out the old 24 HoM long sleeve, that it has been 5 years since I raced the Grandaddy of 24 hour races. It must have made an impression because it seems like yesterday. The honorary "poacher's" lap we took on the course Friday was very, very familiar.

No racing for me this year but all the same, there was a ton of work to be done in my support role for at least 4 teams camped in the "Butler Circle". COMotion racers included Chris Butler, Matt Juth, Bonnie Sandoval, Kris Lathrop and Kalan Beisel. Loose sand slowed the previous years average lap time by over 7 minutes.
I really have no idea how anyone placed, or how many teams were entered or any other worthwhile stats.

All I know is that if you set up a trailer with canopies, break out maintenance stands a 5mm hex wrench and chain brush they come out of the woodwork.

Cris Taylor and I took turns calming down wild-eyed races who all had the same story. "MY BIKE IS SHIFTING LIKE SH*@T!!

The Moab red powder AKA sand was working its way into every derailleur,cable and oily spot on the bikes.

I took a break between about midnight and 4 am but for most of the rest of the weekend stayed busy trying to keep riders riding instead of pushing the 14 mile course.

Two real heros of the weekend were the Honda and Coleman generators that allowed the wrenching to go on all night, re-charging of the critical lighting systems and providing watts to keep the yellow Topeak canopies glowing until dawn.

Mucho thanks to Mrs. and Mr. Joanna Butler for the beds, food and brewskis throughout the weekend. You guys rock.....

Dawn Sunday morning was coffee, smelly desert campfire smoke (no such thing as hickory and oak out here) and total BS stories about why we did not win and what we're gonna do about it next year. And we will......