Today was the 3rd Annual Mile High Urban Cyclocross Chaos. We had 10 people signed up to do the Adaptive Handcycling Course but due to the weather that hit Colorado over the weekend, 4 of the riders could not make the trip.
This year we had two Lasher Sport All Terrain Handcycles, a Reactive Adaptations Bomber, a Reactive Adaptations Nuke, and an Explorer II that raced.
The course started out with a little snow on pavement. We went through a 1/4 mile winding path that led to a small pile of dirt that dropped us into a ditch. We rode along the ditch then did a 180 to ride up the other side. This is where they had large PVC tubes for us to traverse (the ones they had at angles gave the handcycles a huge challenge as we could not get enough grip to get over them). We jumped up onto the pavement again with 4 switchbacks that would drop us in and out of the ditch (as pictured here)
After a short trip on pavement, we made it to the sand pit. The sand areas are quite a challenge for the handcycles since we tend to get buied and do not get much traction. Fortunately there were plenty of volunteers to help get us through.
About half way through the course, there was a huge hole (50' x 140') that made a huge dirt pile. We climbed the dirt pile first, then dropped down into the very muddy hole.
The second half of the 2 mile course consisted of rock gardens, ramps, stairs, pallets, curbs, pavement, and lots of bumps. In this section, there were not many areas that the bikes could not perform very well. The pavement sections had lots of tight turns but even the longest handcycles could traverse it without any issues.
Since this was a 35 minute critirium race, the leaders finished the first lap in about 22 minutes. John Vcelka was leading and was determined to continue on for the additional 13 minutes to see how far he could get. Most of the volunteers (and many of the racers) thought we were just doing one lap. This made the second lap much more difficult. There was not a horn to signal the end of the 35 minute race so the riders just continued onto the start/finish line.
David Ortiz took first place on a Lasher Sport 26" All Terrain Handcycle. John Vcelka took second place on a Lasher Sport 29" ATH, Rick Marion took third place on a Reactive Adaptations Bomber.
Overall, the race was an awesome time. The ability to really showcase what these athletes and bikes are able to do on such an incredible course really epidomizes everything that adaptive sports is about.
We really want to give a big shout out to Deirdre Moynihan for hosting such a great event and having an Adaptive Catagory a priority. Also, thank you to Lasher Sport, Reactive Adaptations, and Invacare for providing bikes. I also want to send a person thank you to Elizabeth Conrad-Posey, Steven Posey, and Crystal Black for their team support and all of the pictures.