Colorado Springs US Cup
Colorado is pretty rad; mountains, afternoon thunder storms, rivers for creekin’ and some really nice people. It was a last minute decision to travel to Colorado Springs for the final of the US Cup series but it ended up being a really good one.
When I was younger, bike racing was ALWAYS an adventure. Myself and my teammate Zach hitch-hiked between Canmore and Edmonton Canada Cups. Another time, I traveled from Bromont to St. Felicien, Quebec by myself by walking, hitch-hiking and busing my way there. In St. Fe I stayed at a bed and breakfast and convinced the owner to give me a ride to the course in his Chrysler Intrepid that didn’t have back seats (basically a pick-up truck). In Bromont, I stayed at a friend of a friends house and ended up staying with the entire New Zealand mountain bike team. We went to the water park and a few of us almost got kicked out. Cliff jumping in Mont-Sainte-Anne is another memorable one as well. The point is bike racing and adventure…and fun have always gone hand in hand for me. As I have gotten better, I have had more support and I think maybe just a bit of that adventure side of things has gotten away from me.
#adventurebeginshere
So this trip to Colorado, was by mistake, with no planning, an opportunity to get back to that a bit. It was super simple travel wise but it was an adventure in other ways. I met lots of new people on the trip, Mitch Hoke took care of myself and many others big time with transportation and organizing host housing. I rode in two new places, got to see some rad trails and some new towns. I drove a scooter around Boulder, with another cyclist (Tom Sampson), wearing bike helmets, to get groceries. We went swimming in Boulder Creek and for a second I thought I was going to get taken with the current, I got my game face on an made it to shore. I met a guy named Jesse that has lost 60 lbs, lives in a van, and has done the entire US Cup in the Pro category, cool guy! Overall, a really fun trip.
The racing was great too. I was very happy with how I was able to perform under very challenging race conditions. It was really hot (35 deg C with no shade on course) and it was really high (~2000 m). I started very well, and rode a good pace the whole race to finish 25th, just inside the points for this UCI HC race.
Check out a few photos from the weekend.
