Monday, October 3, 2011

Crested Butte Classic

I had set this race as my goal for the year, and training for it definitely took a lot out of me. Between drinking a lot less and training a lot more, I definitely committed to being a finisher in what I figure to be one of the hardest mountain bike races around. It really worked out and I felt strong all day.

Sorry I don't have any photos, I was too busy riding. But, Nettles and I both kicked major ass as you can imagine and because the NU-Wisc game kicked off that night, I raced the entire 100 miles in my #7 Eric Crouch jersey. Not practical, and we lost the game anyways. Thanks to everybody from the Brick Oven for putting on what I consider to be one of the most fun, best, and hardest mountain bike races in the country. Free beer, free pizza, and best of all, free race. I give so much props to those guys for what they do. Dave Ochs and the Crested Butte Crew deserve all the credit! To me guys like that are what mountain biking is all about. Period. If you get a chance to meet em, consider yourself lucky!

Here's a video I found of the race. It shows you how we spent our day. This video follows the lead group (of which Nettles and I were never in) but you'll get the idea. We spent hours upon hours winding through firey aspen forest of manicured trail. One of the best days of riding in my entire life. Cheers!

Oh yeah, out of around 70-75 participants, 51 finished, and of those finishers I tied for 36th. Right in the middle! Anyways it was just over 100 miles and about 13,500ft of climbing. I just finished under my goal of 12 hours, I definitely could of finished a bit faster, but I still met my goal. Hopefully I can stay in that kind of shape for next year. What a challenge. Come join me next year. Here's the race website. DO IT!
¡AdiĆ³s Muchachos!

UPDATE 12-29-2011
Turns out after a little searching I found photos from the race!  Neither me or Nettles are in these photos, but they show how great of a race it was!  Also shows how great mountain biking in Crested Butte in the fall can be.  Fantastic.











-Zness