Often times when I am preparing to race I will have non cyclist friends that wish me luck and ask me something to the effect if I am really pumped up for the race. What they picture is the athletes with Beats headphones on listening to music and getting amped to explode into action. Although that would be great if it was part of the program the facts are that for racing bikes it is counter productive to be on the start line seeing red and psyched to sprint off in a daze of adrenalin. In…

It is time for race #2 already! Wow time does fly when you are having fun, and summer time in Colorado Springs is about as fun as it gets. The added daylight hours and warm temperatures mean big weeks of riding for me. In the winter time it takes 30 minutes just to plan my riding clothes to match the route and temperature and then actually crawl into all those layers. I create a load of laundry every ride at some points in the Winter. Summer time and you throw on shorts and a jersey and…

Ahhh! Sweet satisfaction. Race 1 in the books for the Ascent Cycling Series. Bikes were broken, blood was spilled, and a great time was had by all. The Pro/Cat 1 field was the biggest I have ever seen for a Wednessday night! That is very exciting and several youngsters on the line is a particularily good sign. One thing about lots of youngsters is you know we will go hard from the start, those kiddos are always motivated to sprint from the line.

Youngster extraordinare Kyle…

Local racing is back in action! Tomorrow night kicks off the 2014 Ascent Cycling Sand Creek Series here in Colorado Springs. Race #1 will be held at Palmer Park, the first races starting at 4 pm and the Cat 1 and Pro races cranking away at 6:15 pm.

My first Sand Creek race was 4 years ago and also at Palmer Park. I was fresh in town and had never even ridden in Palmer. My mind was blown! That particular course took you on a substantial chunk of Templeton trail (seeing that for…