colorado

After about a four-week break from racing and primarily training for cyclocross, I stepped up to the start line again. It was great; I felt that nervous feeling again! It’s a feeling I’ve missed and maybe even a little bit necessary. The Niwot CRIT used to be a NRC event but hasn’t been held since 2003. The course runs through beautiful downtown Niwot and features two 100-degree turns on a figure-eight course.

I feel like such a lamo preparing for tomorrow's training ride today. Normally I just do what I have to do but tomorrow involves driving to my destination and beating the afternoon thunder and lighting storms. It will be my last open day for awhile so I figure I better make the best of it and go do a ride I have never done but always wanted to do. The highest paved road in America which winds its way up to the top of Mt. Evans is what I choose. I’m going to start at Idaho Springs so the ride will be 56 miles and 7,000 feet of climbing.

The North Boulder CRIT has always been one of my favorite races and this year was no exception. The boys and I went early so Jake could do the kids race which was right before mine. His chain fell off while racing his age group so he jumped in with the older kids and did a second race. What a stud!

For me, it seemed like there were a million things that I had to do and it felt like I was being pulled from all directions. In fact, I almost missed my race start because I had to return a bunch of cross parts to my old team owner. I rolled up to the start line about 1 minute before the start with no warm up.