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Front Range 50 |
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Written by Rick Noyes
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Wednesday, 24 June 2009 |
Front Range 50
Bear Creek Lake Park
Lakewood, CO
May 9, 2009
 Bear Creek Lake Park is managed by the City of Lakewood, Colorado and consists of 2,600 acres of parkland. Lakewood boasts that the park consists of three lakes - Big Soda, Little Soda and Bear Creek Lake. But don’t picture Maine’s Rangeley lakes region. I think of these particular man-made reservoirs as ponds at best, but in a semi-arid climate you take what you can get and they do provide good fishing, swimming, and water skiing. The park is a project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and Bear Creek Dam, the last of three dams built to protect the Denver region from floods, is located in the park at the confluence of Bear Creek and Turkey Creek. The Corps note that the park is known for its diverse bird and waterfowl population and its striking scenic views. The park also has some fun and fast singletrack, even if a bit flat and mild by typical Colorado standards. Lakewood does a great job of promoting biking in the park and has given riders access to much of the park.
The Front Range 50 encompassed much of the trail system of the park. The 10 mile circuit consisted of 1,032 feet of climbing per lap, with plenty of passing opportunities throughout except for the descent off Mount Carbon. The race is part of the new Denver Fat Tire Festival, which offered camping on-site and aid support every lap. Racers who were not up for the 50 miler, didn’t care about points for the endurance series, or wanted a traditional XC race chose the Battle the Bear race going on at the same time. Since the park is close to Denver (takes 25 minutes to get there from the center of Denver), the race has great attendance and is family friendly.
 Colorado is a great place to race as you are likely to be on course with national level racers and/or and legends of the sport. The course was designed by mountain bike hall-of-famer Nat Ross, who also oversaw the mass start. Nat reminded everyone that sportsmanship is most important and that everyone should remember that racing is designed to be fun. The pep talk worked as I’ve never seen such a large mass of racers start funneling into narrow trail with virtually no hot tempers to be found. Riders who lined up in the first several rows had a great opportunity to put good time on the rest of the racers near the back. Behind the leaders, a train of hundreds of riders hunkered down for a crowded first lap. Racing opened up more on lap 2, and I kept moving up a few spots on each lap. A majority of the course is wide-open big-ring racing, and the 29er Salsa Mamasita, with its big-wheeled momentum, was a great choice for this particular course. The Salsa is also comfortable on longer rides, and I didn’t feel punished by the bike in over three and a half hours of racing. I finished well within the top half of the men’s 30-39 open category, which had a large number of semi-pro and expert riders. I was pleased to break the spell of not racing for most of last season. More importantly, Bikeman.com was recognized on the course. I passed a racer in my class who yelled out “Hey, Bikeman, that’s where I buy my chainrings!” I then promptly pulled over and let him pass. Or at least that’s the story I’m telling.
Rick
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