The Boulder Cup is always a huge event.  This year was no exception, and Boulder’s Valmont Bike Park was packed with expo tents, team trucks, and drunken spectators in costumes.

I’ve had bad luck at previous editions of the Boulder Cup.  In 2010 I crashed in one of the first corners and broke my brake lever off.  I grabbed my townie from the pits but was quickly pulled out of the race.  I wore a costume for that race, but I didn’t want to be the guy off the back making a joke of the race.  I wanted to be the guy who could get a laugh as well as be a serious competitor.  I would have to wait until 2012 to get my revenge, as I watched the 2011 edition from the sidelines with my arm in a sling.

I’ll keep this race report short and let the photo gallery speak for itself.  My costume doesn’t reference a specific character (although cheers of “Silver Surfer”, “Silver Bullet”, “Silver Guy”, and “Tin Man” were heard on course).  The weather warmed up quite a bit and I was overheating badly during the race.  I still had a great time, chugged a beer on the runup, and still finished 28th place on the lead lap!

I’d also like to thank photographers Brian Patrick, Dejan Smaic, Annette Hayden, Yann Ropars, and Rob Jones for providing photo and video for this post!