360 Degree Adventure Festival
Telluride, Colorado
July 12 -14

Hi everyone,

This was the fifth weekend of racing for myself and I can definitely say I'm ready for a break. We are on the home stretch of two Norba National races and two World Cup races. The Telluride Adventure Festival is a new creation, care of Rick Sutton (the creator of the hugely successful Sea Otter Classic) and Clif Bar was a major sponsor. That meant that our teamís presence was extremely important to Clif Bar and Luna Bar. So we all had to go. I wasnít too upset about the whole thing because I enjoy racing in Colorado and it was another chance for my family to see a national level race. My husband came as well as mom, dad, my sister, her husband, and their Border Collie Jigs.

The other advantage of racing in Telluride was that the accommodations were stellar. We stayed up on the mountain close to the start/finish area. Because Greg came, I was lucky enough to get the master suite in our condo. It was quite palatial and almost felt like a honeymoon suite. Yippie!

The Adventure Festival brought together many different sports. There was a downhill World Cup, a cross-country stage race, rock climbing, fly-fishing, adventure racing, and trail running. And everything was taking place in the same general vicinity. The event was quite exciting and had a great atmosphere.

Our cross-country race was on Friday morning. The field was smaller than usual, but most of the top Norba riders were on the start line. The course was your typical ski area mtn bike race. Climb climb climb, and then one big descent. Add in the fact that we started at 9300 feet and you had one tough race. Jimena started off with a bang and dropped us all within the first kilometer. Lucky for me we were at altitude. She quickly faded and imploded, losing over three minutes to me by the finish. I rode steady and strong on both the climbs and the descents. My family hiked backwards up the course and positioned themselves around one of the slower technical sections. The first time down I saw all of them and as I went around the corner my sister gave me a slap on the butt. We both laughed. I won the race easily over Shonny Vanlandingham. Jimena Florit was 3rd. Clif Bar was thrilled! So was the family.

The next day was the short track. Instead of racing for time, we raced for points. It is a different way to score a stage race. First place in the cross country was awarded one point. Two points for second and so on. Same for the short track. Adding up the two events, the rider with the least amount of points won the overall. In the event of a tie, the higher placed rider in the short track would win the overall. This can make for a different race strategy when overall time isnít a factor.

Luckily none of that mattered. I attacked a third of the way into the race and dropped everyone. I rode alone to another short track win. Jimena was close behind in second. My teammate Katerina Hanusova had an impressive day and was 4th! I ended up winning the overall and Katerina was 3rd overall. It was a great weekend and Clif Bar couldnít have been more thrilled.

That night Greg and I drove from Telluride over to Ouray and went up Yankee Boy Basin. We met up with the rest of the family, already asleep in their tents. It was 2am by the time we crawled into our sleeping bags. The next day we all climbed Mt. Sneffels. I thought my legs would be like jello from all the hard racing, but I actually felt strong all day. Sneffels is over fourteen thousand feet high. One of the easier fourteeners to climb because it is only 3.5 miles to the top. Lucky for me because I have no hiking endurance during the racing season. We had great weather and even Jigs the Border Collie made it to within 100 feet of the top. He was turned back by a tricky rock-climbing move that had too much exposure for a small dog. So we tied him up and went on to the top without him.

It was another great weekend. I really enjoy racing in Colorado. Hopefully the Adventure Festival will grow and maybe next year the race will be a world cup.

Until next year!

Cheers,
Alison