Johnson goes back-to-back in Boulder

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After winning the previous day's mud-fest, Tim Johnson (Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com) displayed his versatility with a victory in dry and dusty conditions at the Boulder Cup at the Boulder Reservoir. His win was like déjà vu, with teammates Jeremy Powers and Jamey Driscoll once again taking second and third respectively.

"This feels awesome, I don't even know what to say," said Johnson. "Never did I expect to do well at altitude. You can't go full throttle and recover well. After all these years, I guess I finally figured it out. Two days in a row is pretty sweet."

The Boulder Cup marked round eight of the North American Cyclo-Cross Trophy (NACT) series and afterward, Johnson sits perched atop the charts as the overall leader. Only one weekend remains in the series. The Super Cross will be run in South Hampton, New York, during the last weekend in November.

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"I haven't looked at the points at all, but I would like to win this jersey," Johnson said. "Before that, we have the USGP jersey and then we have the nationals, so those are the last three big races of the year. If there is a way to stay healthy through that will be good."

As the saying goes in Boulder, if you don't like the weather, wait 30 minutes, and if you don't like winter, wait a day! The elite men's cyclo-cross field experienced all four seasons in just three days, beginning with wintery storms that left a five-foot blanket of snow and ice on the ground. The freezing temperatures turned mild on Saturday at the Blue Sky Velo Cup, turning the course into a sloppy mud-fest. Finally, Sunday morning was a warm summer-like day, with the sun drying up any remaining mud in the afternoon at the Boulder Reservoir.

Obstacles on the circuit included a wide sandbox followed by a barely legal sandy run, which had the cyclist jogging more than they would have liked. The course went on to show off a set of barriers through an S-turn, close enough to the beer tent to allow locals to savour a Boulder brew whilst heckling the 'cross participants.

"These are great venues, and Boulder has so many people," Powers said. "You're riding and you're racing and people are just screaming and they're on top of you and you feel like you're in Europe and that's the best. That's what was propelling me during the first half of the race. Then I had to dial back just a little bit on the last two laps."

Powers blasted out of the gates and had a string of talented 'crossers at their limits by the end of the first lap. He built a gap big enough to cause panic from behind, with Canadian National Champion Geoff Kabush (Rocky Mountain-Maxxis), Jesse Anthony (Jamis), Davide Frattini (Fuji), Johnson, Driscoll, Chris Jones (Champion System), Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski (Subaru-Gary Fisher) and Danny Summerhill (Garmin) forming a group.

"I think I was a lot better than yesterday," said Powers who attributed his success to coach Rick Crawford from Colorado Premier Training. "I was hurting last weekend, and now to grab second place at altitude both days - that is good for me. Being fresh definitely says something because I was resting hard."

Powers' gap grew to a sizable 15 seconds. Johnson snapped from the chase group and close the distance alone. He caught up to his leading teammate by the fourth lap's end. Driscoll worked his way through the crowd and attempted to bridge across, too, but the effort proved too demanding, and he remained stuck in no-man's land for the remainder of the race, finishing a respectable third.

"Jeremy was killing it at the beginning, absolutely destroying it," Johnson said. "When I caught up to him, he certainly wasn't waiting for me. We were racing against each other. He slipped up on the back-side, and I got a gap."

Behind the Cannondale-Cyclocrossworld.com trio, Kabush made a break for it, hoping to capture valuable UCI points. Kabush continued in fourth place, followed by a familiar local professional competitor, Horgan-Kobelski, who placed fifth.

"I don't do the whole series, so I'm not in the front row," Horgan-Kobelski said. "I felt pretty good just for coming out and training, and it was nice to mix it up a little bit. All things considered, I'm happy with the way this weekend went. I'm usually a spectator at these events."

Boulder native Carl Decker (Giant) worked his way up to sixth place after picking off one rider at a time during the last half of the race. Jesse Anthony was noticeably missing from the top 10 after he crashed into a stake positioned near the exit of the sand pit. He finished the race in 16th place.

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