Tri Club Tuesday: Altitude Multisport Club at Xterra Buffalo Creek

Xterra Buffalo Creek by Without Limits is a hard race.  The swim is cold (although the water is calm).  The run is a manageable combination of trail and fire road that also involves stairs by a waterfall.  And the bike….  Its a challenging 21 miles of singletrack, double track, kitty litter deep sand, and a @#$@!#$ 3 mile climb up a steep fire road to the finish.  Honestly, its the last 3 miles of the bike that make this race a challenge.
But what makes this race incredibly fun?  The option to camp at the venue and racing as a relay with people from your club.

This was the Second Annual Xterra Buffalo Creek Camp-Race weekend for Altitude Multisport Club.  We reserved 2 group campsites, organized relay teams, and planned out a healthy beer selection for a full weekend of racing and fun.  We had 3 relay teams, 3 individual racers, 2 volunteers, and a bunch of happy spectators for the race.  We set our tents up Friday afternoon, had dinner by the fire, and crashed for the night.  The next morning was a nice 6 AM wake up call followed by a 10 minute bike ride or drive over to transition.

Side note: In years past, transition was actually held within the Wellington Lake Campground.  This year, the venue host forced WOL to change the location of transition a day prior to the race. This was a fairly big change and WOL handled it exceptionally well.
Race morning air temperatures were in the mid-40s, water was somewhere in the 60s and the forecast was looking good.  There were about 300 triathletes and 30 mountain bikers (there was a separate MTB race that morning) who were ready to see how they fared on the longest Xterra course in Colorado.  The race started at 8:10 and most swimmers were out of the water by 8:40.  Relays exchanged chips or those brave enough to do the race as an individual were now off to conquer the bike.  While everyone was off riding (or relaxing on the beach as their rider was on the course) I headed out with a club-mate to set up Aid Station #2 on the run course, conveniently located by my campsite.  The lead racer was headed off to the run course after a speedy 1:32 bike split and we had a steady stream of runners come through our aid station over the span of 1.5 hours.  The weather was nice and cool, with cloud cover and some rain sprinkles.  The run is a speedy and scenic ~5 mile run around Wellington Lake with a screaming downhill to the finish line.  All of our AMC racers finished – and one of our relays was on the podium!
As much fun as the race is, its the family-friendly atmosphere and camping that really make it a special weekend.  After the race, our club ate lunch and swapped stories over beers while our kids were off fishing and exploring in the woods.  After dinner was the real reward – sm’oreos.  Yes, smores with oreos instead of graham crackers.  It’s life changing (really) and a great way to replenish those depleted glycogen reserves.  AMC had so much fun as a group that we’re already looking forward to the next Xterra Camping adventure for 2017.