9/29 - Primalpalooza

Not much to say here, I warmed up for two laps was ready to race, did 1/2 a lap and pinch flatted in a gravel section on a large rock.  I was going pretty fast, but ruined my race.  Tomorrow an extra set of wheel will accompany me.  Maybe tubulars some day...

9/22 - Xillinx

Xillinx was the 2nd cross race this season, the weather was great and my race was early at 9:45.  All I can say about this race was 'Crash', in the 50 mins of racing I had 3 good crashes.  I started near the front and only fell off a little at the start.  The first crash was over a log that was just high enough to catch the chain ring.  I made it over each lap but the 2nd when I took a different line to try and pass another rider, I went over the bars and down the hill.  The 2nd crash was a little higher speed down a hill on a dirt path, I just lost the path and fell off the right.  The 3rd was a simple wash out around a turn, taking down another rider with me.  I also almost fell over a berm trying to get some air for a photographer as well, I rode around a few logs off course but managed to keep it upright.  I ended up 8th over all at the end.  Maybe a little bit less air pressure next week.

9/16 - Valmont CX

It's cross season!  That means racing every weekend locally starting at the Valmont bike park last weekend.  Last season I started out with CX and loved it, did a bunch of races, moved from CAT 4 to 3.  This season the goal is to increase my skills and place in the CAT 3 races through the season.  The CX races in CO have updated the start times this year, meaning my races start at 9:45 or so, this is much better than 3 PM like last year.
Valmont is a bike park here in Boulder with tons of jumps, skills parks, and trails.  They also are setup to host CX races, 2014 will be the national champs.  It is a tough course each lap has 2 sets of stairs and 2 sand boxes.  The field was a decent size and everyone was ready for the first race of the season.  I started pretty much in the last row with no call up.  I got caught up in a crash in the first sandbox with a group of guys, when I picked up my bike I realized I was dragging someone else bike too.  The first few laps I just tried to stay out of trouble and get past the main field.  I made it to about 12th place or so by the last two laps, and passed a few more to place 9th by the end.  We were supposed to race 50 mins, but it was only 40 mins this time.  I feel I should of pushed a little harder in the middle, but its the first race I needed to get my CX pants on.

CAT 3 - 9th place

The best part of the day was the pre-jr race, we had two competitors from our family, Riley 9 and Corrie 6.  Usually the jr course is cut a little short to make it easier, but not here they did a full lap.  I rode with Corrie and helped her carry her bike through the sand, up the stairs, and over the barriers.  Riley only needed assistance from Shanon on the stairs, and ended up taking 1st for the girls.  But the 2nd place girl was hot on her tail.  Corrie did great too, and was in the middle of the pack of older kids.
Looks like the kiddos will be coming to more CX races if they know that they can race too!

9/1 - 9/3 Steamboat Springs Stage Race

I decided to do the Steamboat Springs Stage Race this year with our Sonic Boom Team.  Shanon and the kids came with to Steamboat for the first time and we stayed in a condo, brought all the bikes along for the adventure.  We got the take in some of Steamboat attractions – the Strawberry Hot Springs, the Alpine Slide, swimming in the creek, biking around town and to the Botanical Park. 

Day 1 was the Time Trial, a 12-mile, hilly, out & back course.  With the last name being Anderson, I got the honors of leading the CAT 3 race.  After the start, I felt good and was pushing over 400 watts, but found myself unable to maintain a little over 20 mph. After the first mile, I was already passed by the guy behind me and miles, 2, 3, and 4 were respectively the same so I knew then that something was majorly wrong.  I could smell the scent of burning rubber.  When I looked down, I noticed the problem: my rear wheel had slipped (at the start) in the horizontal dropouts causing the tire to rub against the frame.  The harder I pushed, the harder the tire would push against the frame so I had no choice but to stop.  I stopped on the side of road and readjusted the wheel and got back on to continue my ride.  The rest of the TT was uneventful with good climbing, but I believe I lost about five minutes on a thirty-minute race.  Walter and Andy had a good TT and were well in front of me on the GC.

time - 35:10

distance - 12 miles

place - 41st

n watts - 337

Day 2 was the Road Race, a 82-mile, scenic ride through Steamboat Springs and into the surrounding area with almost 7,000 ft. of climbing.  Walter, Andy and I road with the pack for the first 55 miles or so until a long climb towards the town of Oak Hill, but Andy fell off, Walter was not too far behind and I tried to stay with the pack with about 15-17 riders.  I made it almost to the summit, but fell off hard right near the top.  After descending and going through the town of Oak Hill it was going back to climbing again.  Right after Oak Hill and the water station, I could see Walter and a group of about 5 behind me and I was still hurting from the last climb so their group caught me.  I knew I had enough in me to stay with their group so I climb to the summit with them and we were now about 12-14 miles with one last switchback climb up.  On the last switchback climb up, the group feel apart, but I was feeling better so I climbed ahead of them and could see 3-4 guys down the road so I sat my sights on them to catch before the end of the race.  With about 2 miles left, I finally caught up with them and we took pulls for about a ½ mile or so and on my last pull and I knew I could get away from them so I gave it what I had left to finish the day and put in a considerable gap between the groups and ended up in 12^th place for the road race. Walter finished a few places back and Andy only a few minutes back.  Overall, a good day for Sonic Boom.  None of the RMRC finished before me, which was a goal of our team.

time -3:56:08

distance - 82 miles

e gain - 6434

place -12th

n watts - 278

Day 3 was the Criterion Race, .8 kilometers around for 45 minutes near downtown historic Steamboat Springs.  Andy, Walter and I just had to finish within the main group in order for Sonic Boom Team to take the Rocky Mountain Cup for the season.  The course had one uphill, a gradual downhill, but was moßsßßre or less rectangular – the pace was fast right from the start and at about 10 minutes in, I decided that it would be fun to lead for about 3 laps, but was quickly pulled back in.  Andy did the same after about 30 minutes in and he too was pulled back in.  There was one crash on a straightaway, but fortunately none of us were involved and nobody was seriously injured.  45 minutes came pretty quick and soon we were at 4 laps to go and the pace picked up even more so.  I kept trying to find a way out in front, but soon ran out of time and laps.  There was a good sprint to the finish.  Walter and I were still in the main pack and finished with the same overall time.  Confirming the Rocking Mountain Road Cat 3 Team Cup for the season.

time -0:44:38

distance - 20 miles

place - 22nd

n watts -333

GC place - 20th

Overall, a great stage race.  Good time and memories with the family as well.  We will definitely be back to visit Steamboat again this winter to ski! 

8/19 - Keenesburg RR

Due to the wild fires in northern CO this year the state RR championships were canceled and moved to this Keenesburg.  I only registered a few days before the race, it was a long one too 92 miles, I had never done a RR that long before.  The CAT 3 group was supposed to start with the 1/2's as well but we ended up having 15-20 guys so we started 5 mins after them.  Walter rode over from Louisville with me for our noon start time, it was a 4 hour race flat 4 loop course on a hot sunny day.  The race was very well run, the only issue was that it was self supported, which meant only 3 bottles for 92 miles unless I wanted to stop.  Walter an I started with the 15-20 CAT 3's, the first 3 laps were uneventful.  A few breaks which I tried on each were caught quickly.  The 4th lap I was down to half a bottle of water.  At 12 miles to go 3 of us went on a break, one guy fell off so it was Steve from Foxtrot and myself for a few miles.  We worked really hard together to put in time on the group, one more guy bridged up Chris from RMRC, he sat in for a bit till he got his breath back.  The last 8 miles or so all three of us took pulls and steadily put a gap between us and the group.  I was hurting really bad, but so were the other two.  I knew I had to go a little earlier than them to win the sprint, at 500 meters to go I took off right in the middle of my pull.  I don't think they could react or just did not expect it at 500 meters, I got the win by about 3 seconds over Chris and Steve took third.  I was beat up and thirsty that was a very tough RR, but should put me in great shape for Steamboat in two weeks.

1st place
Time - 3:38:50
92 miles
24.6 avg
268 watts