Glahsta

On a scale of 1-10, my trip to Boston was a 9, but my races were only a 3...maybe a 3.5. Day one went something like this: line up in the third row, get crashed out by a Human Zoom girl within 10 seconds of the gun, wait for her to get off of my bike, drag my bike out from under her and hop on hoping nothing is broken, make my way through the slower girls, crash again, wait for a girl to get off my bike, finally pull it out and tell her that we're at a bike race not a tea party, frantically haul ass to re-pass slow girls, crash again, begin the second lap, try to channel my frustration into riding fast, end up spent and in 20th, definitely behind the result I was hoping for. Not fun. And racing in Gloucester should be mad fun. Day 2 was better because I didn't get caught up in any crashes, but I rode so tentatively that I still only finished 19th. Amy D dominated the field both days. I have so much respect for her, she is such a good rider and a nice person. I felt sooo good on the new gnarly run-up, thanks to running lots lately. Maybe Sunday I will do a cross-country running race instead of the cyclocross race up in Fort Collins.

The highlight of my trip was seeing some of my best friends. Katie, Cosmo, and Fairhurst all came out to the races to support me. We all had dinner at the Publick House on Sunday, where I tasted lots of delicious new beers, including some that will definitely be on my "best of" list for this year.

Lessons learned:
-the Colorado women's peloton is really safe compared to the rest of the country
-good friends (and heckling from the beer pit) can make bad days disappear

Colin R took a fantastic seatpost-cam video of the Mens 2/3 race

Up the brutal start/finish stretch. (Thanks Michele for the photo!)

The crappiest beer served at the Publick House is Sam Adams Light.

I went for a trail run in Concord on Monday

I ran on this stuff called soil.

Katie rode horses while I ran

The foliage was mad colorful.

I miss New England!