Ciro Zarate and I carpooled down to Castle Rock to participate in the race. Lots of construction on I-70 as well as C-470 around Denver, so to miss the work, we ended up detouring through Morrison as well as driving back and forth across Highalnds Ranch trying to find our way out of suburbia hell. But eventually, we made it.
The weather was awesome - low 60s with some clouds rollin' in toward the start time of our race, which dropped the temp to around low 50s.
The course was a super watt-sucker. Lots of off-camber turns and several sloggy mud pits. The grass would break off when you rode through the mud, so it formed a stiff adobe-like glop on the bike. Not conducive to braking or to shifting. What wasn't really wet was softened up quite a bit from the snow the Castle Rock area got the night before. Even spots that looked like you should be able to rip you just couldn't, because of how soft the ground was.
There were some fun spots, as the uphill turns were pretty easy for a mountain biker (hint...me), a run-up was also included that you could crank up if you so wished. I managed to do it every lap, but there were a number of people that were running it...hmmm.
Then there was the barrier. Only one barrier on the entire course, but it consisted of a little technique section where you dismounted, hopped across a ditch on stride #1, hopped over a 15" barrier on stride #2, then up a short little run-up of about 15 feet, then remounted on a really bumpy singletrack. The barrier was made larger than the true 15" because the barrier wasn't on flat ground, it was at the start of the run-up. It was closer to 24". Watching Ciro (who's about 5'7") get across the barrier was comical in itself.
The conditions, combined with a layout that NEVER let up (you should see my HRM graph - between 188 and 195 bpm the entire race) meant it was an absolute suffer-fest. This is the first course I've ever raced that there was truly no place to hide and recover.
Got a call-up to line up on the front row, and had a great start, getting out of the chute in 4th place. Made it through the first section of the course, but proceeded to cough up a couple of spots. I had the start I was looking for, but just couldn't maintain the pace. As soon as I tried to settle in from the 115% effort to something more manageable, racers started passing me.
The middle third of the course sucked for me, as it dealt with a lot of quick elevation changes and some pretty technical maneuvers in the mud, combined with a run-up up a muddy hill. Seemed to hurt quite a bit going through that section.
Anyways, I was at the back end of the front group for most of the race. On the first lap, the entire race split into two groups right down the middle - thirteen up front and twelve behind, with about a 20 to 30 second gap between the groups. Ciro had a great day on the bike, as he came from behind to grab a 7th place finish. I had a great race, all things considered. I haven't been to a 'cross race in three weeks, and really haven't been on my bike at all much since then, either. I saw a guy coming up hard behind me with half a lap to go...just buried myself on the part of the course that suited me the best, and finished in 12th.
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