And so, the last race is in the books. Sigh. I thought I already said that once and my last race was the Colorado State Championships. But alas, the cyclocross forces that be…forces as powerful as the Death Star’s tractor beam itself…sucked me off the couch, squeezed me into my skin suit and had me racing the open pro event at the Fort Collins/New Belgium Brewery cyclocross benefit to support young Skyler Trujillo on his bid for Worlds in Tabor in a few week’s time.

The race was kick ass! Fort Collins Cross, the organizer, held the event at the New Belgium Brewery grounds….where I’d done a few STXC races in the past.  It was an insanely fun course which had the riders on 100% dirt and grass…albeit snow and ice covered that was melting FAST in the 50 degree weather. It made the course challenging given the endless 180 turns which was SUPER creative given the land. There were plenty of off cambers, run ups and twists to keep you on your toes the entire time. I am confident that this course (with some modifications can be an EPIC place to race in our local ACA series. The host crew is passionate and would pull out all stops I am sure.

Honestly, the race itself was done in a totally fun atmosphere. I wouldn’t say it was a hard course racing atmosphere. Dudes were ‘going’ from the gun but I was more enjoying flowing and staying smooth than making my eyes bleed. About 25 starters toed the line, I flowed in 7th which I can not complain about having parked my ass on my couch pretty firmly since States. I had to extract my bikes from the basement and dust ‘em off!

Most importantly it was a great vibe for Skyler. A great group of companies donated products for a silent auction to help fund his expenses over seas. It still shocks me that this is required of us and USA Cycling simply cannot get it done for our best. But I digress…

8 months to ‘cross season.  I can hear the cowbells already.

(UPDATE: Mountain Flyer magazine has an excellent report on the fundraising race for Skyler here. Have a ready and take a ganger at Eddie Clark's amazing photos like those below!)