Angel Fire Pro XCT

A little late but here is my write up my week in Boulder and the Angel Fire Pro XCT. (Feel free to also checkout my interview with Cyclocross Magazine about my weekend of racing here!)

The Monday after the Mt. Morris WORS race I hopped on a plane from Madison to Denver and took a shuttle to Boulder. Tuesday I did a big ride up in the mountains to get as much high elevation training as possible.

Valmont Bike Park in Boulder where the CU Short Track was held

Wednesday I raced the CU short track which was an absolute blast. Surprisingly the elevation(5280) didn't effect me much and I took 3rd! 

This Trek Top Fuel shredded the mountain!

Thursday it was back up into the mountains for another awesome ride full of long climbs, dirt roads and rad single track. 

Friday morning I hitched a ride with Boulder area pro Chris Baddick, for the five hour drive down to New Mexico. When we got there I did two laps of the course to check it out and dial in my lines. The course went straight up and then straight down with 700 feet of climbing and a killer fun descent on the way down. After pre-ride it was burrito time with the Arizona Devo squad and then recovery time.

Burrito time with the Arizona Devo team

Saturday morning I just chilled out until noon when I kitted up, dialed in bike. and started my warm up. During my warm up I felt a little lightheaded and started to get pretty worried about how the altitude would effect me while racing. 

However when the official blew the whistle I forgot my worries and focused on what I do best. I was third into the first corner and jumped ahead into second place before the single track. The first place rider ran out of steam pretty quickly and all the riders were together wheel to wheel half way up the climb. I made the pass into first and laid down some power immediately getting a gap on the rest of the field. I dropped into the downhill with a ten second gap and let it rip. 

One rider caught me on the downhill and another reestablished contact part way up the climb on the second lap. Connor Patten led the first 3/4 of the climb and I let it rip in the last quarter putting Connor off the back. Ethan Moyer lead into the downhill and I discovered I had an advantage over him on the descent. 

Going into the third lap Ethan hit the gas all the way up the climb putting the hurt on me. I held on tight and counter attacked at the top heading into the descent first. I let it all hang loose and put in a 20 second gap on Ethan. On the final lap I put in my fastest time on the climb and my overall fastest lap time to take the win by almost forty seconds. 

This was my first ever UCI win and I was absolutely thrilled about it. My goal was to win this race and score some serious UCI points for staging at nationals and that's exactly what I did!

After I made myself some food and showered I cheered on TJ Woodruff and my teammate Brian Matter with the rest of the AZ Devo squad. Then it was time for podium and dinner back up at the condo.

To top off the perfect day we were treated to a killer Angel Fire sunset in the mountains and ran into half the juniors at the race in the grocery store hunting for Ben & Jerry's ice-cream.

The next day I raced short track early in the day at nine. I pretty much ate breakfast and hopped right on my bike. I warmed up and went to the start line without getting a chance to pre-ride the course.

I lined up first row and pulled the hole-shot which gave me an open shot to checkout the course. Then I settled into the front group and worked to cover the attacks of two Whole-Athlete guys who were working together. I was hurting pretty bad halfway through the 25 minute race but I hung tough to the select front group of five. Partially out fatigue and partially because of tactics I kind of rode my own race letting the other riders surge ahead while I gradually closed the short gaps expending less effort.

Missed my podium, whoops!

By the time the last lap came around I was feeling more recovered and was ready for the fireworks. The five of us soft peddled up the gravel climb waiting for someone to make a move. I knew I didn't have the energy to out-sprint all five of these guys at the end so when no one else attacked I figured I would do it to at least secure myself a podium. I hit the gas over the top of the climb surprising the other riders and kept the pedal down. Only one other rider stayed on my wheel and when we came to the short climb before finish he counter attacked and I didn't have enough left to fend him off.

To come away from the weekend with a first and second place was everything I had hoped for. It was so much fun riding and racing in Boulder and Angel Fire. I'd like to thank Eric Stonebraker and Carrie Morrill for hosting me during the week in Boulder. I'd also like to give a big thank you to Chris Baddick for giving me a lift down to Angel Fire. Next I'd like to give a big big thank you to Brian Matter, TJ Woodruff and the whole AZ  Devo team for letting me crash with them for the weekend and for all the help with bottle hand-ups, tactical advice, cheers and more!

Lastly I'd like to thank my team and sponsors for making this possible, so huge thanks to Linear Sport, Trek Bikes, Bontrager, Wheel & Sprocket, Styled Aesthetic, Kettle Moraine Preservation and Restoration, and David Hobbs Honda, as well as Honey Stinger, Mike's Mix, Englewood Grass Farm, Wolf Tooth Components and ESI Grips for all their amazing support.

Lastly, get rad(Not sure what happened to the video quality)! WORS Cup this weekend and then nationals in two weeks!!! Thanks for reading.