Team Rio Grande

The face of your typical teenager…is what the N. Boulder Park crit resembled. Potholes, curbs, rocks, cracks were what we raced on this Saturday. It’s a great location no doubt. Local boulderites can see their heroes in action and don’t even have to drive their Audi’s, Mercedes, or BMW’s more than a block to do so. I wouldn’t be surprised if some could still get wireless internet from their houses to order up some lattes and cappuccinos for delivery.

Allen and Brad Cole had a great race. Allen placed a mighty fine 9th and Brad almost finished until a mechanical ended his race. T Shelden was also up there but his seatpost broke. The rest of us either got stuck behind guys who decided to lock up their brakes, crash, or stop pedaling. With such a rough course I decided to opt for the big lens glasses to get a great view of the course.

The Brad Bingham Show did appear nervous at the start since he is coming off of a collegiate nationals involving 3 crashes, including one in the team time trial.

So with that out of our system, some of the guys opted for a Mt. Evan ascent on Sunday while the rest of us hit up the Coal Miner’s Classic. I don’t understand roadies. They claim to dislike mountain biking and yet when there is plenty of tarmac available they always seem to go careening toward the first dirt ditch they can find. Come on, the course was 4 corners, with 4 perfectly straight sections of road (okay one curved a little bit) between them. And yet, about every three laps someone would try to ride the skinny tires in the dirt. Needless to say, again there were some riders out there needing some of Allen Krughoff’s patented bike skills clinic.

Anyway, Allen tried some fine attacks but couldn’t get away, I sat at the back and gave running commentary on the progress of the race, the canadian dreamed of maple syrup, and mystery teammate Dan Workman was riding strong. Finally, enough people crashed, quit, or got tired of my talking that the field thinned and I could move up near the front. I think things would have been fine, but even on the final lap some BMC guy decided he too wanted to try his hand at mountain biking and took to the ditch at nearly 30 mph. I think the tattoo of the flame on his calf set fire to the grass too. He actually stayed upright but I was too amused by all this and got shuffled a little farther back in the field than I should have. I managed to do a fine sprint though for 17th place just nipping Alex Howes at the line. I like Alex, he always calls me ‘horse’, which is what my uncle calls me. If Whitey had been there I would have beat him too.

quote of the day goes to Jorge (pronounced Hor-hey) Espinoza (former CU cycling coach).

Collin: “Jorge, why did everyone stop pedaling, we’re barely moving, this is too easy.” (this was sort of a false statement, at any second it was about to be super hard)
Jorge: “Hey Collin, you know that carnitas burrito at Chipotle, the shredded pork one, that’s how my legs feel right now. Yeah. Like shredded pork”

–collin