While many of us were biting our nails watching the Broncos last Sunday, there was a different sort of high-stakes competition at Boulder’s Valmont Bike Park where the USA Cycling Cyclo-cross National Championships were wrapping up. Cyclo-cross is bike racing, yes, but it is held on grueling, multi-surface courses that often require competitors to pick up their bike and walk, hike, or climb over obstructions. As the saying goes, “there will be blood” as racers stumble, fall, and muck their way to the finish line. When they get there, they deserve a hearty round of applause, which is exactly what Jonathan Page of Northfield, New Hampshire, got as he worked his way to a sixth-place finish in the Men’s Elite race. —Natasha Gardner