Cross At the River

Buena Vista XXX Cross at the River - SM 4 from Russell Harding on Vimeo.

Pikes Peak Velo Cyclocross Race #1

We kicked off the cyclocross racing on the front range yesterday with the Pikes Peak Velo cyclocross race at Bear Creek Regional Park in Colorado Springs. As the first race and the distance to the Springs, this race historically has a low attendance and that was true yesterday with only 10 starters in the Mens 4 race but that was going to stop me from going out hard and racing-- none of this, "It's a training race" nonsense.

First lap through the double barriers. Photo: Bill Keller

As you can see in Josh's Video, I took off from the start and set into a strong lead out which I held for the majority of lap 1 and 2. There was a brief moment that I sat 2nd wheel but the lead rider laid it out going around a loose off camber turn around a fence post on the backside of the course. Then I started having front dérailleur issues- a la Andy Schleck-- and lost the second and third position.

With first through third strung out, I pushed on to stay in fourth for the remainder of the race. There were a few modifications to the course this year including a new uphill finish, different barrier placement and a 3 turn hairpin twisting section which was a good test of bike handling skills. I am still waiting for Josh to post the section of his video from when he struggled through that section. the course was as dry, bumpy and dusty as one would expect from this course when the last rain was 3 weeks prior and the average temperatures have been in the 70s to 80s.

For a first race, I'm pleased with how it went but know that I need step up my barrier speed to stay fast throughout the racing season.

off to pack and kit up from Green Mountain Cross.

2010 Sponsors Update

I made an earlier reference to my 2010 teams and sponsors in my January 14 video post but hadn't updated the rest of the blog to reflect new sponsors and all. The list this year is a good one and I am looking forward to putting it all together.

For the mountain bike season, I'll be racing with the guys from ALL MTN Racing and we've picked up Bicycle Outfitters up in Evergreen as our shop sponsor. Most of us will be riding Gary Fishers and a few will be on Niners. I'm excited to give 29'ers a go since I've been running a 69'er setup on my singlespeed for three years now and spent a season on Trek's 69'er Top Fuel. We have kept WTB for our tires, wheels, saddles and grips and added Honey Stinger for energy gels, bars, chews and other food needs and also added Rudy Project to the list as well.

For the cyclocross season, I'm planning on riding with the Boulder Cycle Sport crowd again.

Saturday Ride

I found this video as part of MTBR's Virtual Interbike coverage for WTB.

I'm looking forward to getting set up with some new WTB tires for next season with the Tubeless Compatible System (TCS). It takes the strong wire bead of a true UST tubeless tire and matches it with a standard casing to work with a sealant system to drop the overall weight of a tubeless set up by dropping the UST casing weight. I have been running the WTB Mutano's all year on my Bionicon and just recently put on as my rear tire on my Surly 1x1 for Single Speed World Championships. The high volume, light weight of that tire makes it a great choice for racing on the mixed conditions at Winter Park.