Colorado Springs UCI MTB Stage Race

Friday afternoon, after 4 days of rest following the Marathon National Championships (Firecracker 50), it was time to race the Colorado Springs UCI Stage race. I haven't been doing the ProXCT series (formally known as NMBS and before that as NORBA) this year due to lack of travel funds but I needed 20 UCI points to race the World Cup race in Windham, NY Aug 29th. All the points I have from last year will expire by then, so my goal was to attend both the Colorado Springs UCI stage race and next week's XC National Championship race to get my 20 points.

Long story short, I had a good weekend and have 30 new points. 

I was a bit worried because I broke my Scalpel when I wrecked in VA a few weeks ago and am waiting on a new frame. The Flash was going to have to take on the rocks and we would all have to pay attention to the super-slick pea gravel over hardpack, it was like riding on ice.

Friday's TT - check out the Stan's NoTubes ZTR Race 29er front wheel.

This proved to be my best event and I finished in 6th place with a time of 20:31, 12 seconds back from 3rd place Heather Irmiger (Subaru-Trek). The pre-race rain was a good thing, it helped keep the tires from washing out in the pea-gravel turns. 

Saturday I placed 8th in XC finishing with a bent derailleur hanger from running/dragging my bike on the first lap to get around racers who stumbled in the rock sections. 

Sunday I wrecked hard in the one hour circuit race placing 10th after a great start. Did I mention the rocks and loose gravel? You needed some smarts as well as skill.

After hitting the deck hard it is mentally difficult to get back into the race.

There is a good description of the TT course and what the racers thought here.
XC article
Circuit Race article

Cannondale riders at the medics tent.

After the circuit race I headed to medical. It is not good when the medic, says "oh, that is deep" and calls over another guy. Then that guy says "oh yeah, that is deep" and calls over a third guy, he calls over a fourth guy who pulls out the iphone and takes pictures! Luckily they had a numbing cream that was awesome. I didn't feel any scrubbing or cutting (they cut off all the flaps of skin and asked me if I wanted to keep them). I asked that they please fix it so my knee wouldn't look horrible when it healed, all five guys who were kneeling around me looked up at me with blank stares. A little later Ben walks in after a hard crash which forced him to pull out of the race.

On to Nationals!