Part 2 - Crusty Butt

As I last left some of you we were out of Utah, in Steamboat, and on our way to Crested Butte. As you might know in between all of that my Sarah duked it out with a tree and lost. So the whole family getting psyched to head to the meca of mtb was a bit subdued. The five and a half hour drive down form Steamboat had us drive through the most beautiful parts of Colorado. Stopping for a hotdog and a bad smoothy in Leadville we drove over two 11,000+ passes. The Rav-4 with its little v4 was hating it for sure. So arriving to the Butte was like I remembered. Big Valleys and big mtns set at 8,800ft. The place we stayed was perfect. Right in town and next to the coolest place to eat, The Secret Stash. And a stash it was, too bad we couldnt eat there more as we went smart and bought a ton of food before we left S-Boat.

The PreRide: Thurs. was a travel day and with Sat being the mtn. states cup race #3 that ment fri must be the preride. A ten mile loop, 1800ft per lap, and yes I found out that I was doing 3 laps. I chose not to really think about it till I prerode. Got rained on during and kept waiting to feel that hair on end feeling that you get when lightning is near, Ive felt it and it sucks. Tough Singletrack climbs and super tech singletrack downhills with thick grass hanging over so you couldnt see that babyhead stuck in the side of the trail. Okay I made the lap now when do I do my race plan?

Friends come to Visit: Our dear friend Cristian and her b-friend Josh show up just in time to help Sarah with the Simone watching duties as her half a body passes me food and drink for the race. Warm-up was riding from town (3mi), and we had the second start time so time went quick.

Off we go: So heres the plan, go out slow because you know this alt is going to get to you. Do the first lap, in about 20th. The Second lap, moved up to 15th or so. Then came the third lap. Sufferfest forsure. Diet played a huge part in this and I learned big time from this race. I hate using alt. as an excuse, it doesnt effect some as much as others. Well lets just say Diet and some alt. did me in as the race started at 9400ft. So to cut to the chase I got passed by ten guys in the last lap and about half way through that lap I was reminded by myself that I am on vacation and that there is much more riding to go, so just make it down that last sketch downhill. With a strong kick into the finish against no one, the anouncer called my name and number for some reason. Must have been the killer finishing speed. No hanging out after this race, I think I was the loner CA guy there. No one wanted to hear my story anyway.

Is it Beer thirty yet: So vacation it is and the part everyone had fastforwarded to. The epic riding that the Butte has to offer. Well I bombed the first day and rode this over ridden trail #409. Never do it. The next day was an Epic. Rode through Gothic to Schofield pass to get to the #401. This trail took the high line back down just outside of wilderness area. SICK! Today was another epic. Deer Creek, a big loop around the mountain of Crested Butte. Steep climbs and long decents. Both rides were sold 3hr rides and worth every minute of it.

Fat Tire Bike Week has started here and the place is over run with bikers, but it always is. But this is where we have to cut out . We head back west in the morning with an itch to move here during the summer and serious hangover from riding to many good trails, well maybe not all of us.

Pictures later. ohh theyre good to.

Part 1

With a small child driving 11 hours in one go is not feasible so I decided to fly with Simone to Salt Lake City while poor Chris shleps all our stuff via automobile. We raced the dirt crit, woke up at 5:00 and off he went. I was in a packed flight with a monster child but happened to have a great guy sit next to me who promptly picked up Simone and she - being the lover of all things boy played with him the entire flight. He told me he lives in Park City and jokingly I said, maybe I could bum a ride off you as my hubby is not going to make it to SLC the same time as me. He obliged as well as offered me the car seat of his 4 year old. Soooo I bought him a mocha at the airport and off we were, driving away in a van filled with crayons, crackers, and other kid stuff. I believe in the laws of attraction, trusted this guy, and I did not feel like waiting in the airport for 2 more hours for Chris to get me. So my new friend Brent dropped me off at our condos door which was at the race site. In fact the course went directly behind our condo and we could see it from our deck.

What a great place Deer Valley is, the trail system is vast and the single track plentiful.I recommend it to everyone, I was laughing the entire time, it was so fun. I pre-road the course the next day. It was a 7.1 mile loop with 1400 feet climbing each loop - just what I like. It was spectacular, the climbing was followed by killer downhill- all single track. Chris raced Friday afternoon in his debut semi-pro race. He had to do the loop 4 time in the heat of the day. The race started with a huge climb so he went out conservatively and road strong, finishing at 24th in a field of 50 plus riders. His goal was top 20 but he still did awesome and road his heart out.

I raced Sunday at 8am. We watched the pro womens race after and I got teary eyed seeing Georgia Gould and the other studly chicks kick some major ass on the course. It is so inspiring to see the nations best duking it out. We chilled out saturday before my race on Sunday. The day was a bit cooler than Chriss race day and I started at 8am rather than his 12:00 start. It was perfect, light breeze, nice fresh mountain air. Almost enough to make me move back to a mountain town. Nothing beats that smell in the summer.... So I think there were appx 15 girls in my race expert women 30-39. I wanted to get top 10 but I was nervous as hell which meant I was going to have a good day. I started in 2nd to last as the hill climb start was brutal - and we had to do it 3 times. I promptly caught 4 or so girls and we had a few others get out fast from th get go so I really was not sure what place I was in.

I started passing some of the classes ahead of me, some men as well, some single speeders, etc... A couple girls would catch me on the decents where I was being a weenie but I got them again on the climb. I felt so good though and kept powering. I road a hard second lap with a girl in the next cat up where we worked together (she had one lap less than me)and when I saw Chris at the feed zone he told me I was in first and I said "no way," but was pretty psyched. I started cramping a bit at the last climb so I dropped down to the granny and spun for a while before screaming down the hill to the finish where I finished not first but third. I am glad he told me I was in first because it made me ride my last lap hard as hell. He just mis counted as it does get confusing at these big norba nat. events. I got 10th overall among all the expert women and 3rd in my 30-39 group. I was stoked with that because this was a tough race and my goal was top 10 in my age group. Chris and I then took and hour nap with our girl before his short track race. What an arse kicher this race is. This is all out for 20 minutes and then you must do 3 laps after that. They pull you if you are too slow, so the goal is not to get pulled after you have worked so hard just to reach 20 minutes. Chris did not get pulled but he did get passed in the end to get 8th place out of quite a few semi pro men. For not being his type of race, he hung in strong and felt the burn for the full time. We then cheered on Katarina Nash our Truckee girl Luna Chick to a win in the short track before calling it a day. We decided to stay one more night here in Deer Valley with some old friends from Truckee and we will leave tomorrow for Steamboat Springs, CO to stay with some college friends of mine and partake in some midweek training rides. Thursday we are off to Crested Butte for the Wildflower race and Fat Tire Bike Week. I will report back after our Crested Butte sojourn and until then, happy trails....sarah and chris

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