Mountain states cup, Nathrop, CO

Realising it isn't possible to be in two places at one time, I forwent my favorite MTB race "the Idyllwild classic" in California for the Mountain States cup #2 in Nathrop, CO.
Nathrop is a whole 75 odd miles from home so Brian and I where excited to get away for the weekend without going too far.
It promised to be a good weekend of MTB racing too with a XC on Saturday and a STXC on Sunday.
I wouldn't say the crosscountry is a whole lot of fun there as its always windy (as hell) basically either rough as Gus (rocky) or very loose and sandy. But it has some redeeming features the sweet single track alongside chalk creek and.... well that's the redeeming feature. Oh its always good training too as it offers zero to zilch recovery. Pedal pedal pedal.
I was excited to see how my form was as I've been feeling recovered from the Epic in the past 10 days or so and nice and strong. I felt good racing and took the lead during the first lap. It was kept honest by being pretty sure I could see Kelli around the end fence line of each lap. At the finish line. I was 1st, Kelli Emmett was 2nd and my teamate Caitlyn Tuel was 3rd. It was a strong race for Caitlyn who showed some very promising form and gritty determination.
Brian was 3rd in the men's race. He led for 2 laps feeling awesome and faded at the end as his breakfast 7 hours earlier and non -lunch/1 gel plan caught up. Hard. The race was postponed a full hour and that coupled with our casualness of hopping in the car and heading out to the race, meant we didn't have any food or xtra water. How pro????

Today - Short track, a fun course including a mountain cross segment of fairly steep bumps. Kelli and I got a good gap and switched up the lead. I took the lead on the last lap and won. A short track win is great for me, so I'll happily enjoy it.
The men's short track was very hotly contested... the usual heavy hitters and a bunch of young fast guns coming through. Watch the CO scene closely, there are some fast youngsters coming up. Jay Henry rode a fast brutal pace on the front to take a deserved win. Brian really fought it out with about 8 others for 4th place.

On the way home we stopped at Amicos wood fired pizza in Salida, CO. Exceptional pizza and beer. If you're in the area make a point to stop. Great food and brewery, really good prices. We sampled a Phil's British style Ale. Too bad we had Monarch to drive over as we would have enjoyed some more beer if we could have.

cheers
Jen