Sol Vista

We just returned from a week tour in Colorado. Grand Lake, Sol Vista, Leadville, Red Cliff, Minturn, and Vail. After getting to Sol Vista and putting in two laps of the xc course it was obvious that racing was going to be pretty difficult with the hand injury every bit as bad as it was a week ago. Descending was almost impossible even with a custum padding to put inside the glove. Matt's race was Saturday morning. We left Matt's cabin in Grand Lake bright and early but just missed his start as he motored up the first, very steep climb. After watching most of his class come through the start/finish we got a little worried until he came walking down the mountain with a flat. Bad start to the weekend of racing.

I had a good call up in the mid twenties for the start. We started on a hill which almost required a granny. By the top of the first bit of climbing I found myself pretty easily inside the top 20. Perfect start. As we turned into the singletrack part of the course I fought through a bit of pain and got started climbing the rest of the way to the top. I tried to ease off, just to make sure I didnt overdo the intensity at high altitude and some guys started going by. By the top I was in a decent position and started the descent. The pain was pretty huge and I could barely hold the bars, guys were going by left and right. This sort of killed my motiviation and I struggled to the bottom and started a second lap. By the end of this lap I was ready to call it a day as I wasnt having much fun going up or down. At the end of the third lap I was going to pull off, but got pulled by the race official anyways. 54th, not what I was hoping for.

Sunday I got dressed and out to the short track course early to see if I had a chance to race. After a few laps it was obvious that the course didnt suit a one handed rider and I decided to be a spectator. Matt had a nice ride in the Cat. 1's in his first Short Track. Shortly after Matt finished my parents packed up and headed for home, after watching the rest of the races Katie and I headed for Vail.

We met up with Ryan & Jill at the Red Lion and went on to have a great couple of days relaxing in the village. The only bike riding was done on the bike path and after another visit to the doctor today Im hoping for a miraculous recovery so I can go out and ride.