Flow

Flow comes in many forms, sometimes it's nailing a chunky section of trail, sometimes it's the effortless execution of a race, yet other times, it just means the ease of living for a weekend in the presence good friends and bicycles.

Saturday morning, Sarah and I put the Front Range firmly in the rearview and headed to Salida for a quick ride. It was a nice way to break up the drive before heading over the hill to Gunnison and the weekends objective of racing the Growler. Once at casa de Eszter we chilled for the night and talked with both old and new friends about the many facets of riding a bike on dirt.

Sunday morning came soon enough and it was time to ride 64 miles of prime Hartman Rocks dirt. Temps were the warmest I can remember at this event (meaning above 40 at the 7 am start) and it was only going to get hotter and windier as the day wore on. My race was pretty alright, nothing to write home about, but solid considering how much I've ridden this year compared to past years and that it was really my first race on a SS which has a different learning curve than a geared bike. All in all, I'm fairly happy with it.  Results say I got 9th overall in the SS class which is a tad disappointing but it was a tight race and only 20 min separated 4th place from 9th with about 4 of us within 3 minutes of each other. On the 2nd lap there was 5 or so of us SS nerds turning the screws on each other and unfortunately I faded in the last 5 miles and finished 4th out of those 5.  Also, if I was to do it over again I would run a slightly different (lighter) gear. After all, bad gear choices and lack of saddle time are what the single speeders complain about right? Any disappointment I had quickly faded as the afternoon wore on, the beer flowed into and out of my cup, and I hung out with good friends, both old and new, all afternoon. All in all, the Growler is one of the best run and most enjoyable events on the calendar year in and year out.

After breakfast in CB with Eszter on Monday morning Sarah and I headed back towards home. However as we stopped for gas outside of Salida, we ran into a group from CTS. Sarah knew one of them from her prior racing life and I had raced against closely against another the day before. 10 minutes of gas station parking lot talking later and we were all headed to Buffalo Creek for some riding, 3 hours later and we were all hurting and ready to part ways. Good times with new friends indeed.

And as the cherry on top of the weekends cake, once home we cooked up some burgers and corn on the cob in the fire ring in our back yard. 

Good flow indeed.