4 November 2008  |  Race Reports

Boulder Cup, Day 2: Race Report

The second day of the Boulder Cup featured a much different type of course. It was mostly grass, with a paved, uphill to the finish, some shallow sand pits and a bunch of short, punchy climbs. My strategy was the same as the strategy I use in all the races: go as hard as I can from the start to the finish. I knew I wanted to get out ahead so I would have a clean line through all the corners. I got the hole shot again, and led for the first part of the course but then Rachel attacked hard on one of the short climbs and I jumped to stay on her wheel. She led going into the sand pit, but she got bogged down in the sand and I rode by her, opened a gap and tried to set a hard tempo. At the end of the first lap I had 10 seconds or so, but I just put my head down and tried to stretch out the gap as much as I could. At this time of year, a lot of my intensity training (most of it, really) comes from racing, so I try to make the races hard. Racing is the best training anyway, and it is easier for me to push myself in a race than on a training ride. Anyway, the rest of the race wasn’t too exciting, I won and Rachel finished second. Kelli put in a strong attack to ride away from the chase group and finish 3rd.

Thanks Trent Davol for the awesome photos!