North Boulder Park

The classic North Boulder Park Crit was held this past Saturday. It has been around for nearly 30 years and is a race not to be missed. The Vic's team has won the 45 Plus race the last 3 years, but a small group of Mix1 riders were out to change that. In the 35 Plus race Excel has won the race 2 years in a row and boys in red looked to change that too.

Here is the race report on the 45 Plus race from Peter I: the Mix1 45+ guys had 3 guys in the North Boulder Park Crit, Larry,Chris L. and Peter. They were ready for early break attempts from the gun. Several attempts were made by other teams, but nothing stuck. Peter and Chris rode on or near the front for most of the race, while Larry was solid in the pack. The race eased up later on once it was realized that no one was going to escape successfully. The pace picked up the last few laps as other teams took some turns on the front. Peter and Chris took some turns on the front as well to cover any late breaks, aware that Larry was not far back.

On the last lap Peter stayed protected, but was forced to the front after "the alley" to avoid getting swarmed by the group. Joe Paulson from Vics came around Peter on the last straight section and took the win. Peter hung on for 2nd, Chris and Larry (getting caught behind another rider's dropped chain) finished 9th and 17th. Joe Paulson did a good job of positioning himself in the right spot for the final sprint. It was a fun race, no crashes, and everyone still got a good work out despite no successful breakaways.

CJ's race report for the 35: we lined up 6 guys (CJ, Matt G, Jim, Marcel, Pete, and Josh) and decided we wanted to be aggressive as this race has ended in a break the last 2 years. Josh and Jim covered the early moves along with Pete. About 10 minutes in a move went up the left side and it was CJ's turn to go. He ended up getting away with Keith Harper from the very strong Hotel San Jose Team and local cat. 1 stud, and new dad, Max Clausen (prerace.com). It took a few laps, but they 3 of them got it together and started to extend their lead. This was a perfect move for the guys, as it allowed uber sprinter Josh to sit on, Matt G. rode the front to cover any moves, and it put the pressure on the other teams.

With about 20 minutes to go it looked like this was the winning move, but alas it was not to be. Several individual riders got excited and started to chase and the team of ex-professional Michael Carter also went to work. They brought the break back much to CJ's disappointment and ex-professional Carter launched the winning move solo. The field eventually sprinted in for 2nd place, with Josh taking 4th in the sprint and 5th in the race. It was a day where the boys did everything right, but it just did not work out as well as it could have.

Photo 1: Jim leading Josh into the only right hand turn, photo 2: Jim exiting the alleyway, photo 3: CJ in his 3 man break with Max and Keith, photo 4: Peter and Chris on the front of the 45 plus race, and photo 5: Pete on the podium.

The first 3 photos compliments of http://www.303cycling/. The last 2 photos are from Jonathan Bartlett Photography, bmxrdr.redbubble.com. Please go directly to his web site to see more of his work and purchase his photos.