Sunday was a special day for the Colorado ‘cross community. It was the third annual Breaking Barriers race to celebrate Boulder’s Amy Dombroski and honor the short but promising career of this young 'cross racer. Amy D, as she was known throughout the cross scene, was killed while training in Belgium just before diving into a grueling season of European racing three years ago. She was a fierce competitor who pushed the limits and helped shaped our current 'cross community.
While the story is tragic and we all ride with sadness in our hearts at this annual race, it’s incredible to hear the stories of Amy’s influence and effect on so many people. The race pulls an eclectic group of women to the line in support of the Amy D Foundation and this always shakes things up from the normal who’s who of contenders.
This year, retired pros Meredith Miller and Nicole Duke were on hand to support the foundation and remind the rest of us that “retirement” means nothing when it comes to the competitive spirit. Both women landed themselves on the podium, taking first and third respectively with 15-year-old rising star Katie Clouse sandwiched between them in second. Talk about a symbolic changing of the guard moment at such an appropriate race.
As for my race - since this post is supposed to be a race report - well, it’s pretty short. In fact, it can be summed up in exactly two words: Shit Show. I had one of those days where everything seems to go wrong and everything I did just made things worse. The race went down like this: tired legs, soft rear tire, bike swap to my single speed, lap on the single speed that probably wasn’t much slower than my geared bike, back onto the geared bike, crash and bust my ribs, hobble into the finish line humbled and defeated from the day.
Thankfully, I’d raced the single speed race earlier on Sunday morning and had much better luck with a fairly clean race from start to finish. Going head to head with the dudes was a new challenge to me but ended up being a wildly fun and positive experience. The confused cheers you get for being one of only two women in a field of 30 guys is hilarious and this definitely helped make my pitiful second race of the day a little easier to swallow.
Win or lose, the camaraderie that came from Amy D’s race (from men and from women) was inspiring in the cheesiest of ways. It was a reminder that racing is fun, even when it feels like you’re bleeding out of your eyes or you have a punctured lung from that last crash, and that racing can be more than just an elbows out pursuit to crush each other. But I think it was Liz Barcheck, a great friend and great voice for Colorado women’s cycling, who best explains the influence of Amy D and the power of a community that rallies behind women’s cycling.
“This picture is not about me on the podium (there were two racers in the women's singles peed category). It's about the fact that there IS a women's single speed podium now. And it's about KP, who pulled me up on the first podium block with her. And it's about my girlfriend Lentine who gifted me a superwoman cape to race in for good luck. And it's about the pro racer who once cheered little old me on during my first ever cx win (Amy D). And so on. Lady power is the most powerful when we're all working together. Today was a great reminder of that and of the fantastic ‘cross community I am lucky to feel a part of (guys who cheer us on in the race, shout out to you!). I'm certain Amy would be so proud of the good that she has inspired. #BandeDeFilles”
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