24 miles
1:52:16
Hundreds upon hundreds of Red Bull-drinkin’, saggy shorts-wearin’, DH-sled huckin’, jump-trail jumpin’ tricksters would descend upon the fair village of Winter Park for the annual 2010 CrankWorx Colorado festival over the weekend…
You know you’ve been doing this racing thing for a while when you hear yourself say, “dude, back in the day there WAS no downhill racing or (insert drawn out and sarcastically prounced) “slopestyle” events. Man, suspension wasn’t even invented yet….”
But I actually felt a lot like a bike racer during the cross-country event which featured none of the fanfare and even less of the prize money as that new-fangled sport of “slopestyle”…
photo: www.mountainmoonphotography.com
But I’m still lovin’ it.. hehe. Cross-country racing is where it’s at. Mountain biking’s TRUE bread and butter. And the XC course would not disappoint. Seems the Rocky Mountain monsoons are back in full swing, which would deliver some of the tackiest singletrack around.
Slick, root-strewn singletrack combined with the burliest climb of the series would deliver a memorable race. Trail-wide mud puddles littered the races’ first few miles before the sun created a humid mid-day…
photo: www.mountainmoonphotography.com
…and once it was all sorted out I’d cross the line 14th out of a stacked 45-player pro field. Nice…
And while the downhillers were duking it out on Sunday, me and the Mrs. did our own thing as we watched the stormclouds build…
and then practiced our own “Pacific Northwest” riding amidst the rain…
The Mrs…is kind of looking at the storm clouds like she is going to kick their **&(*&