Almost like looking for Camel Toads...

It would have been better if were racing in Camel Toad infested fields, but instead we had to deal with goat head infested fields. The course in Golden, CO was a blast-a technical, Euro-style cyclo-cross course (or at least that is what the flyer stated). It was fun, but I'm not sure if the Euros have to deal with an army of tenacious goat heads at each race. Actually they wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact that we had 40+ riders crammed onto what essentially amounted to a single-track course. This meant that unless you were daring enough to stray from the beaten path, you had to wait until the one pavement section on the course to safely pass. I tried to be daring once and I paid the price-front flat. Apparently I was daring another time in the race, although I don't recall being daring that time, and I paid the price again-rear flat. The rear flat came just as I had worked my way into the top-10, bummer. The only positive part of this flat was that Big Tex and Doug had had front flats, so that left the rear wheel waiting in the pits for me. With only a few laps to go, I contemplated calling it a day but then realized that was a silly thought and that even though I had lost 6 or 8 spots, I could certainly use the training time so I replaced the rear wheel and off I went. The little break that I received from standing in the pits combined with the frustration of getting a flat gave me a nice boost for the last few laps. I started to reel in some of the guys who had passed me while I was in the pits and that fired me up to finish things off. Came up on another guy and could see one more in front of me with just a 1/3 of a lap to go. I got a little anxious and decided to risk passing him in the grassy area so I could have more time on the pavement section to bring back the other chap. Bad call. About halfway up the pavement section I felt the front go soft and nobody likes that feeling. Managed to hold off the guy I had just passed and got to within a few seconds of the next guy but just couldn't quite make it to the guy in front of me. Fighting for a top-20 spot-not exactly exciting but finished with a smile on my face. Big Tex fought his way back to 3rd and probably would have given Travis a run for his money on a better day. Doug rolled in just outside the top-10 in 11th. Decent results but we are all fired up for the upcoming races. Keep the rubber side down and air in the tubes. The next challenge was to figure out a way to get the mud and grime from our bodies. After an hour of running through calf deep mud and murky water we were covered with 3mm of crusty mud and no amount of scrubbing was going to get it off so we headed to the local do-it-yourself car wash to pressure wash the mud off each other. A funny site indeed. Three skinny dudes with ridiculous tanlines blasting each other with the pressure washers. Damn those things hurt! I even managed to break the skin at one point, but at least we went home sweaky clean. That engine degreaser sure worked wonders on us. Until next time...