Topham Racing

I ride City Creek Canyon at least three times a week. So, I figured I should probably do the City Creek Sprint. This is a very short bike race up City Creek Canyon. The entire distance is only 5.7 miles, but it is a steady grade with very few breaks. It is also a very fast pace–just think of it like a 27 minute interval.

I sort of forgot it was a road race, and I jumped out in front like I usually do in my mountain bike races. This was a mistake. There is no single track or slow riders in groups ahead–just pavement and headwind. I would have been better off letting someone else set the pace. Oh well, it was fun to lead the race for thirty seconds or so.

I ended up having a personal best of 27.29. That was good enough for fourth place in the 40 to 50 category and 17th overall. Before the race, my best time to the top of the canyon was somewhere around 29.30. The best part was that I rode to the start line from my house (2 minutes 37 seconds) and I rode home from the finish line, which was almost entirely downhill.

Photos of the race are available here:

http://www.zazoosh.com/events/searchPhotos/246

Racing season is over, so I generally don’t write new posts this time of year. A few weeks ago, however, John sent me a link to a great video from our Solitude race. I meant to publish it earlier, but I got distracted. The video does not come close to conveying how difficult the Solitude course really is. On the other hand, it does do a good job of showing how easy it was for John to pass me about twenty minutes into the race. Anyway, here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cW3NssmdD-Y