Frisco Cross Recap

Well, Frisco Cross is wrapped up and in the books.

The event organizers and sponsors put on a great event this year, with a pretty massive turnout, considering the fact that the races are up in the mountains instead of in the Front Range.

Both courses were the typical fare at Frisco Cross - relatively technical, with lots of landmine rocks, gravelly/woodchippy sections (typically involving tight turns), a moderate length hammer climb up pavement, and the famous log barriers.  Saturday's course was a little too technical for me - not so great at tight turns on loose ground.  But it did have the longer climb of the two days, which helped me considerably.

Day 1 was shaping up to be a great race.  Got the call-up in the Cat 4 race (tied for 20th overall), so got to line up second row or so.  Major field - 58 racers in all.  Here's some vij of the start:


Things went off pretty hot off the front.  I made the mistake of sitting in too early, not wanting to blow, and ended up dropping back to somewhere between 20th and 25th.  So I spent a lot of the early part of the race working my way back through the field.  The long climb was super helpful; I was just hammering past people on the uphill.  Too bad I was giving it right back on the technical spots.

Shouts to a couple of my friends - Ciro Zarate (Colorado Bike Service) just got back from vacation and, in the words of Elgee (our guest announcer for the weekend), 'fell apart like a cheap suit' on lap 2.  Barry Davis (First Descents) worked his way into the top 5, then promptly flatted...he got back on the circuit with me on lap 6 or so, and I tried to hold his wheel as long as I could.

At the start of the bell lap (#7), I figured I was in or around 15th, and had a couple of people between myself and Barry.  Knowing I wouldn't catch him, I wanted to sit the wheel of the guys in front of me, and try and win it at the end in the grassy sections.  Then I flatted on a gnarly little loose technical section, with about a 1/4 lap to go to the finish.  Rode it as far as I could, but when I came out onto the grass, the tire just wanted to peel off the rim.  I hopped off, shouldered the good steed, and ran it in the last 200 yards.  Meanwhile, I got passed by 7 or 8 guys, eventually falling back into 22nd.

Day 2 wasn't looking so hot on the outset.  Temperature was in the upper 40s at race time, and got progressively cooler as the afternoon went on.  Looked like snow coming in over Peak 1 just outside of Frisco during the Cat 3 race.  Honestly, I felt like shit leading up to the race, like I was coming down with something.  Legs were sore from Saturday, and just wasn't feeling the vibe.  Even worse standing in the starting queue, waiting for the race to start.    Not quite as big of a pack; heard someone say 48 total in our race.  The course Sunday split the climb into two different sections, took some of the tight, twisty turns out of the race, but put a bunch more mountain bike-type technical parts in as well as an absolutely heinous run-up.  Like 25 feet of elevation gain heinous.

Start took off hot like yesterday, but I put in a better effort on the front to try and stay up with the leaders.  Worked for the first three laps - stayed within view of the front of the race, but I felt like I had to dial it back a little, because I was afraid of how my body would react to racing yesterday.  Long story short, this track suited me more than yesterdays, and it gave my body a chance to settle in and just get a steady race going.  Felt pretty strong throughout, save the run-up.  EVERYBODY was suffering on the run-up.

Ciro held my wheel for the first two laps, then started fading.  About that time, Peter Fralick (Mountain Pedaler) and Barry Davis came roaring by me...those guys came up from dead effin' last at the start to take 4th and 3rd, respectively.

Seven-lapper again...on lap 6, I found myself in a three-man race with a guy wearing all black and a Rocky Mounts/Izze guy.  They both passed me on a woodchip section and tried to bolt - but I caught on and rode the back wheel for a couple hundred yards.  All of a sudden the Rocky Mounts guy puts a move on, and I took off after him to reel him back in.  Between the attack and my chase, we popped the guy in black off the back.  So I raced against this Rocky Mounts guy for the remainder of the race, and almost was able to pass him on the climb on the bell lap, but wasn't able to get in front.  He was clearly quicker than me through the second section of the course, so he opened up about 30 yards.  I closed it back down to about 10 feet, and just didn't have the gas to get around him.  Ended up finishing in 12th - considering the field, pretty good finish for me.  There were a lot of the big hitters in the 4's out this weekend that I hadn't raced against at Breck or BV.

So that's it, kids.  No wheels flying off cars, just good ol' fashioned 'crossing at 9000 feet above sea level.  I'll leave you with some more footage from Saturday - barrier running, and more barrier running.