Sunshine Canyon 55+

Race Report and Results - Sunshine Hill climb, Boulder, CO - Vic's Espresso
Jon Montag, Bill Simmons, Barry Messmer (author)

We were the last group on the road which is fine. We get to pass a lot of riders from other groups, makes you feel strong. But, we also get to see a lot of riders coming down after they finish, that gets depressing.

Started off nice and sensible for the first mile or so. We had a group of maybe 10 riders, I decided to see who had legs today and did a mild acceleration. Only Bill and Kim Workman could follow. Kim was more than happy to sit on the front, so Bill and I were glad to sit on. I tried two or three attacks, but Kim would just motor up with Bill in tow.

I decided just to continue at his pace and see what happened. Another mile or so, and Bill signaled he'd had enough. So I just continued on Kim's wheel. At the first downhill, I hit him hard before the crest and got a good gap. It was too early to go it alone, so I just kept the pressure on making him chase. He went back to the front. Nothing to do now but sit and wait

After maybe 3/4 or so on the dirt, I hit him again. This time he didn't get back to my wheel. I kept riding at a comfortable pace, and if he closed at all, I'd hit it hard for a short section. On the false flats near the top, I had a really nice gap, 50 or so meters. With 2 k to go, he decided to try and reel me in. So I kept the pace high enough to keep him at a comfortable distance. With the 200 m sign in sight, he was 15 - 20 meters back and really trying to close. That was my cue to light it up over the last little rise inside 200 to go. Once over the top with the finish line in sight, Kim was well back, so mission accomplished.

Bill came in a strong third, well clear of anyone else. Jon came in a bit later (don't know how far, didn't check the results.)

A good day for the 55's.

Side note. It's really cool to see our ladies in the race! You see a Vic's jersey up ahead, you get motivated, and get to cheer on a teammate in the middle of a race. How neat is that. Good job ladies.

Barry