Crankworx Colorado Cross Country Race

The Crankworx Colorado Cross Country Race was today and as with every race it offered many lessons to be learned. With only 7 days of recovery from The Laramie Enduro, I went into it with no expectations. The course was filled with lots of climbing, technical singletrack and a huge overall field due to the Crankworx event. The race was a point to point, with the start in Fraser about a 30 minute ride away.

I arrived at the start line Saturday morning fatigued from a minimum-rest work week and staying up late Friday night getting my mom, who had just arrived from Baltimore, settled. I also was suffering from an upset stomach that was much worse than the usual pre-race jitters. It was so bad that I was afraid if I sprinted off the line I might have an "accident". Nothing is more fun than racing with gastrointestinal unrest!

In a typical sport move, one guy went out super hard off the start, followed by a group of 5 riders. I took it easy, but managed to work my way up to the back of this group in the first mile. I was positive the guy who sprinted off the line would crack and thought this would be a good group to position myself in. Soon 3 guys broke away and I listened to my fatigue and resisted the temptation to follow. I wanted to save enough juice to open up my legs at the end of the 24 mile race. I settled in with a guy from Green Mountain Sports and we rode much of the race together. The guy that sprinted off the start cracked spectacularly near the top of the climb.

I spent the rest of the race riding a couple shades below race pace, respecting my level of fatigue and conserving energy for the finish. My stomach issues never really went away, I just rode through the pain and discomfort. Having no expectations I did stop twice to pee which cost me valuable time. The second time was during a river crossing where in an act of expert multitasking I managed to cross the river, pee, and put air in my rear tire all in about 2 minutes.

After the river the course followed a short climb and flat section leading to a steep climb up to the very descent were I lost 1st place in the last Winter Park Race. Lack of course knowledge hurt me here again. I should have opened up my final effort to catch the initial break away as soon as I crossed the river, but I didn't. My GPS was reading a shorter distance than the profile I had memorized and I put my trust in the GPS. The result was I waited too late to open up my sprint and never caught them. I finally realized this when I passed a 1 mile to go sign, but it was too late to close the gap.

I crossed the line 1 minute and 25 seconds behind 3rd place and 2 minutes and 22 seconds behind 1st. I wish now I'd had some expectations. I have no one to blame but myself, if I had just done a little more homework I would have known the GPS was reading short. If I had just taken the race more seriously or not stopped to pee so many times I could have easily got on the podium or even closed the 2+ minute gap to win. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. It's nothing but a learning experience now, but next time I race just for fun I'll have Saturday's lessons in the back of my mind!

Jo was the only woman man enough to race a single speed on the course so she won her category and beat quite a few geared expert women's times. We met up with my Mom at the finish and after the awards ceremony checked out the Crankworx Slopestyle Qualifiers. We got a killer spot right at the base of the last jump. It was amazing to watch all the tricks and jumps and a few terrifying crashes in person. It's way cooler up close and in real time than in the edited slow motion of a mountain biking movie. I was so tired in the morning when we left that I forgot my camera - Idiot! Instead, here are a few pics from the website, http://www.crankworxcolorado.com/: