Photos from Louisville 'Cross - Cat 3

Sorry to the other categories - I only have time to watch the Cat 3's these days!


Isaac and Bill on the run-up.


Chad on the descent.


Dan's permanent race face.


Bryan mastering the barriers.


Jocelyn and Grace cheering on Beck in the kids' cross race.


Aidan had a special Blue Sky kit!


Here it is a little more clearly!!

Jen's long awaited cross debut

Last Saturday our very own Jenny Hettich made her cyclocross debut on a course that, well, almost reminded me of a cyclocross course. . . sort of. Most of us throttle back on a first race, trying not to apply too much strategy. But Jen was determined to get a good start so as to avoid getting in a wreck in that first tight right turn. As the field hammered down the long drag race start and through the tight turn, Jen sat comfortably 8th place. Just as I thought to myself "this is going to go really well" Jen was promptly forced out of her line into the knobby grass, resulting in a small crash(#1). No big deal, except there goes the field.

Jen's strong motor allowed her to pass girls throughout the race. This effort to move forward was briefly interrupted when she over cooked a piece of singltrack and found a tree(#2). No worries, it was a small tree.

Jen attributes her nice technique to Jeremy Powers

On the final lap Jen caught a friend of ours, Michelle, that she had been chasing down for 2 laps. She was able to pass her on the straight away. The cross-eyed fatigue of racing must have set in, because Jen clipped her toe on the first of the quadruple barriers and she went down (#3). This gave Michelle a free pass in the barriers. But in a moment of cyclocross irony, Michelle returned the favor over the fourth barrier, allowing Jen to overtake again and hold her off to keep the spot. I believe the finish was 18th overall.

It was a great first race for Jen and she's looking forward to racing with Blue Sky Nation in the future. It's always exciting to see yet another Blue Sky racer passing people through the barriers!

In other news, Andy suffered again. . .

Boss of 'Cross

Yesterday the Cat3s ascended to the CSP track in Golden to start chipping away at Rocky Mounts' formidable BCT advantage. As Bill says, we showed up for a 'cross race and a criterium broke out!

Early in the race Bill and I hooked up and we were able to play a little cops and robbers. I attacked our group like I stole something and Bill hung back to play the policeman. The group looked at Bill to pull so he spun it out while I rolled up a big enough gap to hold to the line for 3rd.



Bill, the policeman as well as the magician, hung on for 10th.



Farrell, looking dainty as always, plugging along for 22nd.



Harwood is looking down so the puke doesn't get on his skinsuit. He battled some digestive issues for 15th.



Kevin was riding strong in the top 10 when a flat tire ended his day. Well, err, actually what ended his day was thinking I wanted his pit bike ... which I kinda did, I wasn't sure if I was losing pressure in the rear ... Oh Behave!



This is a gratuitous picture of my porting technique after Marty made me blush on Saturday. Those barriers were high!



All told we may have managed to cut into the Rocky Mounts' lead by a half. The results aren't posted but I know their big guns had some bad luck. We've got a few more tricks up our sleeves too...

DAVE HARBER IS THE MAN

THIS JUST IN: DAVE HARBER MIGHT AS WELL BE KNOWN ON THE CX CIRCUT AS CHARLES BRONSON, BECAUSE HE BROUGHT A DEATH WISH TO THE SINGLESPEED RACE TODAY DOWN AT CHATFIELD. NOT ONLY DID HE KICK EVERYONES A$$ IN THE SINGLESPEED FIELD AND BRING HOME THE DUBYA FOR BLUESKY, HE STUCK IT TO 80 PERCENT OF THE 3'S FIELD ON A COURSE THAT WAS 40 PERCENT SINGLETRACK.

ADD IT ALL UP, AND THE EQUATION COMES UP HARBER.

ALSO, I HAVE NOW FIGURED OUT HOW TO TYPE NOT ONLY IN BOLD CAPS, BUT HUGE ORANGE FONT.

NICE WORK,

ROB.

SUSAN PRIETO IS RAD

THIS IS A MESSAGE TO LET ALL NON-BELIEVERS KNOW THAT SUSAN PRIETO IS RAD. SHE BROUGHT THE HARDCORE NOISE TODAY AND TOOK 8TH IN THE WOMENS OPEN CX RACE DOWN AT CHATFIELD.

ALSO, I AM TYPING THIS IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE I WANT EVERYONE READING THIS TO UNDERSTAND THE VOLUME LEVEL THAT I AM TYPING AT RIGHT NOW.

STAY CLASSY,

ROB

Saturday morning ride in Fort Collins

Dave and I joined up for an easy ride around Fort Collins this morning. As we neared the Budwesier brewery, I joked about stopping in for a drink. Dave didn't need any convincing, but we decided Budwesier was not the best place for us to be in bike clothes. New Belgium, however, was a much better idea and we bellied up to the bar for a full selection of samples. Incidentally, If you're wearing a jacket over a jersey, you can put one beer in each of the 6 pockets and take home a six pack. (Hypothetically speaking of course.) Check out the cool new tap handles they have made of bike rims.



Dave and his bird-sized bladder found a convenient port-o-let on the way home too and a construction worked was nice enough to let him use it.



I wish all bike rides could include a stop at the New Belgium mother ship.

Blue Sky Nation Storming the Beach

Day one of the Boulder Cup at the Boulder Rez and the Blue Sky Nation was in full effect.

A guy will do anything to get a good starting position

A serving of sand with those thighs?

Harber spinning the single speed

Chad working his way forward

Isaac and Bill working the barriers

Kevin getting ready to pick his line through the sand

Dan O my this hurts