Cross Season Enters October

courtesy of mountainmoonphotography.com

It was an emotional, beautiful and successful weekend of racing for the Evol team, and the broader Colorado cross community. October opened the month with snow dusting the high peaks and aspens at their peak. Following the tragic news of our friend Amy Dombroski's passing, racing resumed with many honoring Amy with stickers, socks and arm bands. Sunday's race saw the women's open field take a silent first lap and at the UCI races in Providence and across the pond in Belgium, her presence was strong.

With a bit of extra motivation in everyone's pedals, the racing action was top notch at Frisco in the thin air and at Sunday's Primapalooza CX at a new venue at the JeffCo Fairgrounds. Both day's saw the men take 2 podiums for 2nd and 5th, with Ken consistent as ever and Josh and Spencer trading spots for the 5th step, though the action couldn't have been more different.

Thanks Dejan for standing in the cold to grab this shot!
sportifimages.com

Saturday's women's race started early as usual, but with a solid 4-6 inches of new snow and freezing temps. Kristen and Jess raced valiantly, and Jess took 5th, albeit with frozen fingers and toes. By midday the Colorado sun had done its best to make for perfect conditions—just enough moisture for tacky and soft dirt and a few muddy spots throughout the course. 

Even the infamous and usually mandatory hill run up was now rideable. From the start, Chris Baddick of the Gear Movement took the hole shot and never looked back, eventually finishing 30 seconds ahead of Ken, who dispatched our chase group with 3 or 4 laps to go. 

After working hard for Ken out front for the first few laps, Spencer faded but dug deep for a strong finish of 7th, thanks to some crafty barrier-hopping. Josh stayed with the main group through the race and after following a number of attacks by Chris Case, he finished 5th.

Sunday saw warm temps and a new course with two sections of tight S-curves, heavy grass, big hills and slippery mud bogs next to the rodeo ring. 

In the men's race, the action was tight until the last 50 meters, with Ken and Spencer holding court in the main group. Once again, Chris Baddick and Skyler Trujillo were there. 

Robin Eckmann took the holeshot and traded leads with Ken and Chris, but after battling back and forth, Ken pipped him before the last S curves. It was a very tight finish, with Baddick again on top by just a few seconds.

For more, check out Pro Velo Passion great race reports and pics.

Next up, the big show comes to town with the double and only UCI weekend in Colorado, at the Boulder Rez and Boulder Cup at Valmont Bike Park. We hope to see you out there!