Rist Canyon & City Park Crit

Saturday was the Rist Canyon Hill Climb, west of Ft. Collins. The fields were small, but don't let that foll you, this is a hard climb. In the 35 Plus race the Matt's line up and as things got hot Matt S. got away from the lead pack. Matt G. sat on the pack for a while, then took off. Eventually Matt S. figured it out, looked back and waited for him. With the 2 of them working together there were able to ride a steady tempo and take 1st and 2nd. In the 45 Plus race Jimi lined up with a few teammates to help him got for his first hill climb win of the year, after a flat tire in one day and a day off in another. Jimi did not disappoint and rode away from the field solo for 1st place. All in all a great day for the Mix1 Masters Cycling team, with two wins and 3 of the 6 podiums spots.

Sunday was the Denver classic City Park Crit, held in City Park on the east side of the city. I think this race has been run nearly 40 times and has featured in major stages races like the Coors Classic. The 2010 edition did not have a 45 Plus race and was back on the short loop. The short loop means there is no easy part, it is corner, sprint, then corner again for an entire hour. The technical nature of the course would lend itself to a break, but none got away. In fact over the length of the entire race no one got more than 10 seconds up the road. The team raced strong at the front with CJ, Jim, Pete, Matt and Mark covering a lot of moves. All the action caused the field to shatter and less then half the starters finished. With 7 laps to go LT took off on a well timed solo break and got a nice gap. Unfortunately it was a bit too soon and no one went with him. He got caught at 2 to go and CJ attacked again, but the field was single file and in chase mood.

So that set it up for the field sprint. Josh maintained good position, but it was a race to the last turn and he lost. Josh took 4th place and Pete came from further back to take 8th. showing the dept of the team we then had 4 more from 13th to 18th. We have missed out on the big win, but the way the guys are riding as a team it will come. The team also extended it's leads in the BAT Competition.