Steamboat Springs Stage Race - Day 3

Day 3 of the Steamboat Springs Stage Race was the Moots Road Race which consisted of a 55 mile out and back course with 2300 feet of climbing. The stage started out with a moderate climb and finished with a gut punching double climb at the end. In the middle was rolling terrain that was similar to that on the Highway 128 portion of the old Morgul-Bismarck course. The goal was to stay with the lead group as long as I could.


After the 3/4 mile neutral rollout, I found myself on the front of the race with fellow Longmont hard man Steve Leblanc of Coloradobikelaw.com. Not ideal for saving energy, but I decided that I could at least control the pace and keep the mountain goats in check for at least a few miles. Steve and I set a moderate tempo and took the group up and over the first climb. It made me laugh as we got to the summit to see everybody in the group try to get around us in order be first going down the technical descent to follow.

After the descent the group came back together and everyone settled in. Nobody was eager to work and the pace was pretty moderate, but each time we hit one of the rollers the pace would pick up and you'd feel a little pain in the legs. Before you knew it, we made it the turn around point without incident, everyone behaved in the feed zone, and we were on our way back. Physically I was feeling pretty good, but my legs were hinting at cramping. I started to wonder how many more rollers I could take before I got my walking papers. Long story short, I made it all the way back to the final two climbs (the last one reportably at 10 percent) in the last couple of miles of the race before getting dispatched. In the end, I lost 2:42 to the winner.

I was happy with how things went and the fitness seemed to be coming around.