Boise

Hi all- Traveled to Boise, ID this past weekend to race in the Boise Twilight Crit.  I have to say, these past several weekends of "local" racing have been a nice break from all the time spent schlepping a bike box through airports which is a must for the majority of the racing season.   Matt and I drove to Boise the day of the crit and arrived with plenty of time before the race.  Laura Van Gilder had invited us to stay with her in Boise, so we settled in and then rode over to the course to  check-in for our race at 7pm.  The race was fun and pretty smooth...unlike last year when the clouds opened up spitting rain and people were going down left and right.  Exergy and Primal were the most aggressive and represented teams out there, with some dangerous breaks and lots of prime winning.  I got to where I needed to be in the last several laps and stayed towards the front.  With three to go I was on Tiffany Pezzulo's wheel, but then in the re-shuffling of 2 laps to go found myself no longer on a good wheel and in poor position.  Not sure what happened...regained some of the aggressiveness I lost in that 1 lap to get back up to the front, hauled it into the last turn, and sprinted to the finish not gaining or loosing much ground on anyone.  Finished 11th.  Clearly fighting for position in those last laps has been a challenge for me.  One of these days.....

SKINourishment p/b Paceline Projects and Mellow Mushroom spin through Boise

Coffee...bacon...gnar. 

After the race, we went to FORK...which is now a Boise Twilight tradition.  Enjoyed a great dinner and dessert :) with Matt and Laura.  Super awesome company and a neat place Boise.

The next day, we decided to stick around for the ID Crit Championships.  Matt and I went to BACON for breakfast, another Boise Twilight tradition.  After enjoying a tasty breakfast, I left with a maple bacon, oat, chocolate chip, and walnut cookie.  A treat for the long ride back to UT that may have been nibbled on here and there throughout the day.  The women raced with the masters guys and a lot of UT riders came out which made for an aggressive race.  The race doesn't offer any prize money, but usually offers cash primes.  I'm not oppose to this approach for local racing actually and think it makes for a fun racing atmosphere.  I was definitely wishing I was not alone in the race though, as it seemed like Primal and the DNA riders were going off the front constantly (with the guys too) and I was getting pretty tired out there in the heat.  I heard the bell ring for a prime and heard either 50 or 15, so decided to go for it and won it.   After multiple attacks, Tiffany went off the front towards the end of the race again and held it.  I came in 2nd for the field sprint.  Glad to get some water and into the shade.  After the race folks were wondering why I went so hard for the prime. Turns out it was a cookie prime.  Well, I'm all for cookie primes too... Kim & Jake's Cakes has sponsored cake primes before, and I've entered races solely to compete for those primes.  Watts well spent if you ask me.  So when I found out it was a cookie prime I wasn't bent out of shape that it wasn't a cash prime.  I'll admit though I was slightly put off when I went to collect the prime and was thrown a bag of melted subway cookies, like the leftovers from the volunteers' lunch cookies. Oh well, at least the course was good and the women raced hard.  Plus I did have some of my bacon and chocolate cookie left.  Delicious.

Next on the calendar... Prairie State Crits in Chicago.  4 days of crit racing starting tomorrow!