April 17-18 was spent down in Colorado Springs.
Saturday morning was spent actually sleeping in to a few minutes past 7 a.m. and did a mental checklist to make sure I had everything I might need to for weekend. In Greeley, Colorado in the morning, the weather was nice 60 or so degrees outside around 9 a.m. but I as I drove down to the Springs the weather quickly turned. Heavy fog and rain moved in fast around the Air Force Academy along with a strong wind. Luckily, I had some time to hide out in the car to keep warm and prep because the races were all pushed back around 40 minutes.
Today's field for the criterium was a rather small one due to the weather. I believe we just had 10 women at the starting line and a wide variety. Riders from Wyoming, Air Force, U. of Denver @ Boulder, Colorado State, U. of Northern Colorado, Mesa State, Colorado School of Mines, & Fort Lewis. The race started out relatively slow compared to former races and did not really begin until 10 minutes left. The course was good but became a challenge due to the weather conditions. The field dropped three girls prior to two laps left me being one of them. I stayed within sight but cruised into the finish. By this point I was just looking forward to a nice hot shower.
Sunday: Arrived at the course a few minutes later but the fields ended up being delayed by about 50 minutes each giving everyone plenty of time.. By the time I got started at 8:55am, the weather was awesome with partly sunny skies. The field consisted of ten women and we stayed together at first. Once we hit the base of the climbs, an Air Force and DU girl were dropped. We had a total of 2 laps. Coming into the last 1 km of lap 1, I zoned out horribly and unfortunately did not notice the sprint. When I finally clued in a gap formed and I wasn’t gaining because I didn't shift into the big chain ring. Oh well. I rode solo with the field in sight into lap 2 to the base of the climbs again. At the finish there was a 90 second gap between me and the finish sprint so stupid move by me but it was still fun!
The course was amazing. I found out afterward it was the same exact course from the 1986 world cycling championship. If you ever get the chance to ride the 13 mile course at the US Air Force Academy, do it!
Attached below is the VeloNews article about the race weekend:
http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/04/news/air-force-hosts-rocky-mountain-conference-for-hot-and-cold-weekend_112186
