University of Colorado Athletics
Buffs Participate In Buffalo Bike Classic
September 14, 2015 | Skiing
BOULDER—The defense of a national championship unofficially began on Sunday. In what amounts to an unofficial start of the dry land training session for the Colorado Ski program, many of the team members participated in the grueling Buffalo Bicycle Classic on Sunday.
There are six rides to choose from, but the majority of the Buffs participate in the Buff Epic, a grueling 110-mile loop that includes over 6,000 feet of elevation gain. “The race was great,” CU coach Richard Rokos said. “I always hold judgment until everybody gets back to see if we have any bruises, we didn't and everybody had fun and met a lot of people.”
110 mile bike ride has @cubuffsskiing like... https://t.co/kvHAY9vxRW
— Colorado Buffaloes (@cubuffs) September 14, 2015
Starting in Boulder, the course heads west up Boulder Canyon to Nederland, before heading north along the Peak to Peak highway through Ward and Gold Hill until intersecting with Highway 7 which leads into Lyons before the course continues north almost to Loveland around Carter Lake and back to Boulder.
"You start by going up the canyon, that's the road we take every day to training at Eldora," senior Thea Grosvold said. "We continue up to Ward, it's a really good climb. Then there's a lot of downhill and you get to rest your legs before another climb up to Carter Lake."
“In a race like this, you spread out and meet a lot of people,” Rokos continued. “There is a social element involved. We do this for the team building, but everybody loves it, we've done it every year it's been in existence. It also gets the new kids introduced to Colorado, to see a lot of it first-hand. It's especially fun riding up the canyon with no traffic and that never happens.”
"It's something we've done every year as part of our training," CU Nordic coach Bruce Cranmer said. "You get to support the community, support scholarships. It starts on campus, the campus is really involved in it. It really shows what an active community we have here."
Established as a fundraiser, the BBC has raised over $2.5 million in support of student scholarships at CU Boulder. Dating back to 2003, the race credits its success to lessons learned from the Bolder Bike Classic, a race in the late 1990s developed under the Bolder Boulder umbrella of events.
