A few observations from the world I live in, just a snapshot. Prompted by my experience as a finisher at the 2007 Tour d’ Front Range.

It’s no surprise when Chris Plesko shows up with extra miles put in before the main ride starts. Last year he became the only Single Speed rider to finish the Tour. This year he showed up at the 8am start on a geared full suspension bike. But he also showed up with an extra bunch of miles of riding, and lots of climbing on the clock, riding from his house to complete a loop of Centennial Cone before the Tour even was underway. Chris and I rode much of the Belcher climb together. The standard course was to take the more reasonable Short Horn option. But the technical at the intersection of those two trails was calling his name so Chris headed down that. That technical is hell by the way. He then went on and did the rest of Longhorn. Which is much more hell. It’s been 8 years or so since I made the mistake of going to the bottom of Longhorn. I think the only thing at the bottom of that gully is a visitor center for purgatory, snakes that have yet to be classified by science, and the souls of riders who vow never to get on a bike again. Plesko was probably still smiling as he rode by them all. Actually it is so bad down there even Chris had to walk, but he was still probably smiling. When there was a choice of the easier route or extra climbing, extra miles, Chris choose the latter every time. The only exception was when he left out Dakota Ridge because he hung back for another rider who was struggling at that point. Struggling rider happened to be me.

Nigel Thompson. One of the best aspects of my experience competing in the Clydesdale class at Winter Park this year was getting to know some of my competition. Nigel Thompson scorched the earth at a couple of those races,  and was incredibly consistent all season. I was happy when he agreed to join with me and some of the other WP Clydes to form a team for Moab, and I was happy to see that he was planning on riding the Tour d’ Front Range. About 1/3 of the way through the Tour, I was with a group of about 8 riders who had just finished the second major climb at Chimney Gulch. We headed across the road to descend Apex by way of Enchanted Forest, a sweet swoopy run through the trees. But before that was a nasty steep chute with a 4 inch deep erosion rut in the middle of it. A rider crashed pretty hard there. Nigel took the lead on calling the ambulance, talking with the paramedics, the rider’s wife, made sure that his bike was taken care of. That was the end of the day for the rider who crashed, and it was the end of the ride for Nigel because he volunteered to help the injured rider. He definitely was riding strong enough to finish.

Brady Hill was another Clydesdale at Winter Park, with consistent visits to the podium. He runs a great website, TrailsCentral.com, and he is one of the principal organizers of the Tour d’ Front Range. He was knocked out of the race early with some bad mechanical mojo this year. Not able to complete the ride, he did support for the rest of the day, meeting us at Matthew Winters, Falcon (top and bottom) and then at the end at Lair O’ the Bear. Then bought dinner in Golden. I don’t think I could have finished without the water, Gatorade and granola bars from Brady. I also get to have this guy on my team at Moab.

 Life is good.