Rubber Side Down

Sorry for the long radio silence here, but there just wasn’t much going on the fat-tire world for little while. But now, I have a few news flashes for you.

Topping my personal list is the fact that I’m finally back on the dirt. I can’t even describe how awesome it is to be back into the woods. A trip to Buffalo Creek this past weekend made me so happy I got more than the usual dose of dirt on my teeth. The pine trees smelled so good; the blue sky over the trail looked so vibrant; and the bike felt better than ever. Folks, don’t ever take the ability to mountain bike for granted. It’s one of the greatest pleasures and privileges of life, in my book.

Enjoying the Baldy downhill

The goal was to pre-ride the race course for The Burn mtb time trial, held May 31st. In spite of the fact that I’m probably not ready to race, I wanted to scope it out, just in case. Hope springs eternal, as they say.

We ended up riding a mix of trails – some part of the race and some not – because the course doesn’t take advantage of the best trails in the area. While I can understand that the promoters are trying to protect the area as well as be able to run an event, I’m left with mixed feelings about the race. The nail in the coffin that made me decide I probably won’t race it is the finishing stretch. We ended up driving it in the car as we left, because we didn’t feel like we needed to ride this long section of road between Gashouse Gulch and Wellington Lake. And thank god we didn’t. It’s a long, uninspiring, uphill slog along a very boring forest service road. Now, granted, I don’t know exactly how they will structure the race and how much of this road they will actually use. But if they start near the lake, every rider will be hating life as they return up this rutted, constantly-varying, crappy road. And there are SEVERAL miles of this. Plus, if riders are still starting down the road while others are riding up it, that’s going to make it even more frustrating.

Now, I’ve been accused of being a singletrack snob, and I won’t deny it. I love singletrack the way that good skiers love black diamond runs. However, I’m not categorically opposed to riding doubletrack or dirt roads when there’s good reason to be on them: to get to other singletrack, or to avoid driving your car to a trail, etc. But riding a really boring road for a long time in a race situation just bugs me, especially when there is no shortage of great trail to use instead. Plus, it wouldn’t be that difficult for race organizers to drive farther along that road and put the start a lot closer to Gashouse Gulch (we drove the road in Rob’s low-slung Mitsubishi Lancer wagon with no trouble).

Now, don’t get me wrong. I want to support an event like this, because there are so few mtb time trials around, plus, Buffalo Creek is a fantastic place to ride. But as Rob and I were discussing, does it do any good to support a race that (I feel terrible saying this, because I try to never criticize hard-working race promotors) just isn’t that cool? We were left feeling like we’d rather just come ride here for free and really enjoy ourselves, than pay money to ride the less interesting trails — and then spend way too much time on a fire road.

So there’s my two cents, for whatever that’s worth. I’m sure my judgment is also clouded because my injury prevents me from riding too hard right now, and that road looks painful. I may well include this race on my calendar next year, because I still love the idea of it.

If anyone out there races it, please send me a report! I’d love to hear how the start/finish is actually set up.

Also, stay tuned to this space…as soon as I get the full 411, I will have news about our beloved Boulder short track series.

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