Blue Sky Velo Cup

Yesterday my team put on a huge race, and it went off in a major way. Our race, the Blue Sky Velo Cup, was part of the North American Cyclocross Trophy series, and a UCI C2 categorized race. (The UCI is the international cycling organization.) What all that means is that this race would have the eye of the national and international cycling world and we'd play host to some of the best cyclocross racers in the country.

In the end, everything went amazingly well. The UCI official on site was shocked that this was our first UCI race. The lion's share of credit for the quality of the race goes to our race director, Bill Teasdale. Throughout the year, he has put in a ton of time getting all our ducks in a row and dealing with the UCI, USA Cycling, and ACA to make sure our race was a professional quality event. A lot of thanks also goes to the volunteers. We had an army of people setting up, tearing down, marshalling, registering racers, and more.


In week leading up to the race, Colorado saw some record snowfall. I wasn't sure what to expect of the course Friday when I prerode it. I was surprised to see that the course was mostly free of snow. They didn't get as much snow there, plus our setup crew did a good job of clearing snow in a lot of areas. With the sun out and the snow melting, there was a lot of mud. Sticky Colorado mud. It was clearly going to be a fun course.

After my win last weekend, I got a sweet front row call-up and I was hoping to perform well at our home race. My legs were a little tired from pre-riding the day before. I guess I worked harder than I meant. I went hard up the long uphill starting straight and went into the first corner in the top 5.

The cold overnight temperatures froze the all the muddy ruts from Friday's preriders, and that made for some tricky racing. I hit one section of ruts that bounced me around so hard that both of my feet popped out of the pedals. As the race went on, though, the course warmed up and there was a tricky mix of frozen ruts and mud. Every lap brought new conditions and challenges.

By the second lap, there was a group of 4 of us off the front. I drifted on and off the back of this group, but felt pretty comfortable for the most part. With a long climb to the finish line, I knew I had an advantage over most people. With 1.5 laps to go, tragedy struck.

I was running my tubeless tires and I burped some air out of my front. I rode gingerly for a little while, but then it was just futile and I had to run. I picked up a wheel a little while later and got back into race mode. I didn't know how many places I had lost, but I figured I'd at least try to finish strong.

I gave it my all for that last lap as I saw someone closing in on me. Every corner I'd check my progress and I was happy to see I was keeping my distance. Through all the mud and slop, I was trying to be careful while still riding fast. When all the mud wrestling was done, I finished in 8th place.

It's a little frustrating, because I just knew I could have gotten on the podium. But at the same time, it gave the feedback about my form that I was looking for. Was I just lucky in winning last weekend? I guess not entirely. I actually *am* in good shape right now. Now, I wonder if I should upgrade to the next category and get my ass handed to me all over again.