Eagle, ID — Tonight was the first in a series of four training criteriums at the Idaho Center in Nampa. It is put on by the Snake River Cyclists and Lindsay’s Cyclery. Since I knew the race would be short, I did a mountain bike ride with a buddy from ProClarity at lunch. I rode into Boise and met Tim at Camel’s Back park and we proceeded to do a “dork” loop. I rode the Santa Cruz Blur to get used to it since I’m planning to do a couple of the spring mountain bike races. I have to say, I love that bike! Coming down Hull’s was a blast! After riding my Yeti AS-X all last year I forgot how responsive the Blur is. After the loop I rode home the same way I came (on HIll Rd), but I tried out some trails by the Veteran’s Cemetary. I didn’t realize the trails were there until I looked at the updated map at the top of Hull’s. It’s a short trail, but it was pretty fun and all single track. It also allows you to ride more dirt on the way home from downtown.
As for the Nampa Crit…Klaas drove Ted and I to the Idaho Center. We all brought trainers so we could warm up. We were supposed to go for 28 minutes, but they said they’d shorten it if daylight, became an issue. I got a short warmup and during my pushes, it felt better than last week, but still not great…so I wasn’t hoping for much during the race. I lined up right in the front and went from the whistle. I hammered at the front for an entire lap and it didn’t feel that bad. Then Matt from Hyde Park Cycles pulled through and I just tried to hang on his wheel. He’s been winning all the local races and is fyling right now. I had a hard time hanging on during those first few laps. The course is a parking lot crit marked by cones so it also took those laps to figure out how to best take those corners. Finally, after we had been hammering for a while I look down at my computer and we’d only been riding for 7 minutes! We eventually formed a break of five riders; 3 George’s, Matt and myself. There were attacks and things got split up, but all five of us lapped the field. I think I ended up getting 4th, but I’m not certain of that. They should have official results by next week. It was a good training race and it definitely hurt. The race only ended up being 17 minutes long, but it was hard and fast 17 minutes!