Weekend Close

by Robbie

Friday:
Early morning ride for about a half hour, and then a 30 min. commute. Chris and I drove up to Dillon. Arrived in the dark, ate tasty, expensive Indian food.
Drove around looking for a campsite, all full or closed. Resorted to parking overnight at a trailhead and sleeping in the back of his truck. Should have been fine, but I couldn’t sleep at all. Heard a car roll up around 12:30am, and then footsteps, and then a flashlight tapping against the window. Police guy said we couldn’t sleep there, but we could stay for the night… Then he asked us about the race in the morning. Still couldn’t sleep.

Saturday:
Got out of the truck at 6:30am, but had been awake as far as I knew since 5:30 or so. Really cold at 9000ft when camped next to a lake. Put all of my clothes on and rode to the racecourse, Chris met me there in his truck. Ate a day old PB&J, a banana, a few handfuls of cereal, and a ClifBar for breakfast. By the time I finished pumping my tires, pinning my number, undressing, etc. the race was about to begin. I did two laps around a .58 mile course for my warm up (which I actually got cold doing—how ironic). Really tight, bumpy course. Let some air out of my tires so that the bumpy corners would feel smooth. Started at back of the pack and moved up to the front by lap two. Felt really strong and sat on the front to avoid precarious situations. Someone else got the first prime as I was still moving up in position. I sat at the very front for something like 20 laps, got a prime in there somewhere. Started to get tired so I moved back 5 guys, which turned into 15. Then a crash ensued ahead of me but I had enough room to avoid it. Came into the finish straight-away in position 13 or something. No chance at the overall win.
Stood in Dillon Lake up to my waist for 30 minutes to relieve the knees. Ate a huge hamburger and chugged a Guinness for lunch, yum. Sat in the sun all day watching the other categories race, got the sunburn to prove it.

Sunday:
On the road by 7:30am. Ate a bowl of cereal. Stopped at a bagel store and ate part of an egg, cheese, and ham sandwich + Americano. Plenty of warming up before the race. Really awesome course that wound through the Copper Mountain Village. Totally awesome cobblestone section with a tight S-turn. Felt really good the whole race. Won the first prime pretty easily, pulled the ol’ cut ‘n’ sprint technique, worked pretty well. Pulled back to 5th position or so for the rest of the race. Felt antsy, anxious, energetic, ready to go when I needed to. With 15 minutes remaining I felt a little bounce in my pedal stroke. Looked down and my rear tire was low, then flat, then rolling on rim. Ran about a quarter of a lap (400m, my old running race). Got to the wheel pit, where I didn’t have a wheel because I had loaned it out earlier in the week. Begged someone from the crowd to let me use a wheel. Meanwhile, the pack rolled through and my free lap was up, but some guy still gave me his rear wheel. Chased really hard for the rest of the race. Never caught on but I got a really good workout. Pretty frustrated about the whole flat tire thing… Next weekend, Niwot crit… No accidents, no mistakes. First things first, trash this Vittoria Diamante Pro. Part of the tire's marketing scheme is that you can race at 150psi. That’s total B.S. For example, at the Longmont crit I pumped my tires up to 135psi, knowing that 150 is just crazy. As soon as I got on my bike and rolled two blocks the back tire just went flat. Two weeks ago, out on a TT ride I had my tires at 120psi and the rear tire (again) went flat. Then this race (120psi)... 150psi my ass.
Before I got this tire I had never had a flat tire on my racing wheels, in all of my CU races; on my 210 mile 21st birthday ride; shit, I didn’t even get a flat (on my training wheels) during my whole bike ride down the west coast with a loaded trailer. Grrr. Next weekend…