M-B-K

I was at the Boulder track earlier tonight, Tuesday evening, watching some of the men's A/B racing leagues. By the way, I saw Charlie there at 7pm finishing up a track workout as well. For the race night, they had 4 racers for the A races, and 5 racers for the B races. The racing was pretty informal, and the track official called the race event type right before it started. The races alternated between the A and the B group, and included a combination of points and scratch races, with 3 races each for both A and B fields. During the 2nd B race, a rider lapped the field, and the other B riders forced him to cat up into the next A race right afterwards. Not only did this B rider hang with the other A racers, he won the 90 lap point race. Impressive (Sandbagger). Overall, the racing was exciting and inspiring to say the least. I'll have to try some B races some time myself.

Between races, I was chatting with a guy who works at the track, (Allen?), about the postponed Koppenberg race. Most of us now have probably heard from ACA and Boulder Racing that the Kopp is tentatively scheduled for this Sunday, April 5th, OR possibly to have the race as part of a Memorial Day omnium.

Allen said he heard that the second option is now more likely with the upcoming snow on Friday/Saturday of this week, causing Sunday the 5th to be thrown out too. That makes sense. Allen also told me he heard the race promoters are trying to enhance the Koppenberg race given the extra time for planning. While the Koppenberg is a pretty infamous local Spring race in of itself, rumor has it they're trying to make this race even bigger by adding in the classic Morgul-Bismarck loop as well.


You heard me right. M-B-K! Can you imagine a Morgul-Bismarck-Koppenberg race!?! What could be more awesome than riding the Morgul-Bismarck course from the Coors Classic AND the Koppenberg circuit in a single race!?!? The proposed course supposedly will still start behind CostCo/Target, then head out South on McCaslin to tackle the Hump (8%), then the Wall (12%), followed by the FeedHill on 128 (6.5%), head north on 93, then cruise up Marshall road back to Superior. After crossing the start line, riders will still have to face the Koppenberg circuit(s) including the crazy 18% dirt climb before finishing at the original start line.

The tentative plan supposedly has Cat 3/4 Men and all Women ride one lap of the Morgul Bismarck Loop followed by 1 or more laps of the Koppenberg course, depending on category. Pro 1-2 Men would have to do 2 full laps on the MB loop plus 4 circuits of the Koppenberg. Sweet. Here's a google maps link (see screenshot below) I mocked up (unofficial) to get an idea of the course mileage and elevation profiles:



To make this MBK race even more special, the Boulder Racing promoters are close to getting Davis Phinney, the last winner of the Coors Classic in 1988, to be there as race marshall. If Davis Phinney wasn't cool enough, the word is his son, Taylor "Mini" Phinney, recent World Champ in 4k Pursuit, will also be making an appearance. Taylor is planned to be there signing autographs before the Pro 1-2 race. And last but not least, all podium placers in each race category will be awarded a collectible "Mini" Phinney World Champion bobblehead in addition to the original prize list:

Sooo, if you missed the Koppenberg registration the first time around, here's your chance to be part of local cycling history for years to come. Don't miss it. M-B-frickin-K. I can't wait to hear more info from Boulder Racing / ACA as the race date gets closer!

Eric