Bicycle Hill Climbs and Dirt Bike Enduros

It was another typical weekend for us beginning with the first race in the Winter Park Mountain Bike Series - the 'Hill Climb' - on Saturday morning.

It was a perfect summer morning and after having slept at the condo, we were refreshed and ready to rumble. This was Bryce's first attempt at the 5.2 mile race that climbs from the base of the mountain to the very top. He was 3rd almost the entire race until the got pipped at the line for 4th. He did, however, have a great race and a respectable time.

I'll post a full race report shortly, but I too had a good race. I didn't have the legs to stay with Sara (who crushed her time by over 3min from last year), but I was able to hang on for 2nd. I had a good friend lingering around 15-30sec behind me the entire time so there was no giving up. I finished 90 seconds faster than last year and was very pleased with my performance. It was a bummer I wasn't able to stick around for the awards or the podium but we had event #2 of the weekend to get to.

After a quick drive back from Winter Park to Boulder, we showered, jumped into the already packed up van and headed another 5hrs north to Upton, WY. We grabbed a pizza on the way for dinner, mingled with a few people when we got there then slept like babies in our little mobile home - i.e Hotel Savana. Albeit the 95 degree temps and ridiculous amounts of dust, the race was a total blast. This is one of my all time favorite races because of how fun the trail is and as in year's past, it did not disappoint. Since this is a National Enduro event, all the big boys (and girls) were there. It's crazy to see how fast some of the top ladies are and I was pleased to have finished 6th considering I lost my rear brakes in the 2nd test and almost killed myself on a cattle guard in the 3rd test - oh and I'm pretty sure I crashed at least 3 times from getting lazy about pulling in my clutch on the 3rd test as well...oops! I finished in one piece and that's all that matters. Bryce had a great race as well finishing 32nd overall. Like last year, we brought home a couple of the top racers to come play on Colorado soil for the week. We're excited to have Russell Bobbitt and Nick Fahringer here hanging with us for a few days and look forward to some good laughs and fun times on the bicycles!