Central Coast MTB Race Report

CCCX #8, Fort Ord
June 23, 2007

Another go down at Fort Ord. Sunny skies and a cool ocean breeze were on the menu. As well as six laps around the sandy course. The usual suspects were in attendance and I marked Brock and Keith closely as they shot off the line at the start. Within two minutes, we had caught the tail end of the under 35/ singlespeed field. Brock slipped ahead through the crowd and kept hammering forward, looking for Jason Rahwles and/or Hibbard (in the pro field) to latch onto. Keith couldn't stay on Brock's wheel today and after pondering a moment, I gave it some more gas and came around him. He didn't seem to want to stay on my wheel either and I motored forward, moving up through the younger riders and singlespeeders.


Off the line.


Moving up.

Starting the second lap, I was riding solo maybe twenty seconds behind Brock. He was a bit spent from his first lap effort and slowed a bit, allowing me to ride up to him by about halfway through the lap. We began working together for the next few laps. Taking turns pulling for about half a lap each. Things got interesting again late on lap 5 when we caught the two leaders of the singlespeed field. Brock smartly got around them and promptly opened a gap on the shallow decent down towards the start/finish. I had to wait a bit for a good spot to pass and then pinned it to close the gap. I caught him near the end of the lap and tried to recover a bit. But that effort proved to be my undoing as Brock managed to gap me on one of the climbs about halfway through lap six. He stayed strong and held it for the remainder. I rolled in for second place, about thirty seconds back. I'll have one more shot it next Saturday at the CCCX finals. Good fun.


Latched on.

Thanks to Rick for the photos.

Lake Sonoma race report

How did I let myself get talked into this? I've been doing well to ride twice a week. Busy at work, busy working on the house, and now I'm fat and out of shape. But my buddy Thomas told me about a mountain bike race at Lake Sonoma, which had a cyclocross category. How could I refuse. I shot the promoter an email during the week, asking what to expect. His thoughts were that riding the course on a cross bike was insane. Steep ups, steep downs, and a few rock gardens would make for a painful race.

Race was on Saturday, so what better way to prepare than by converting the CrossDresser from a single-speed back to a gearie on Friday night? Oh, and finding the fattest tires in my garage that would fit, which ended up being a set of Continental Cross Blaster 37's. (glad I didn't take the chicken levers off last year) In hindsight, I really should have swapped cranks with my SS as well. The single ring 42 is perfect for cross. Not so much for a mtb race.

Seven CXers on the line. 4 guys from CycleSport team, one local who warned us all that we'd be walking some of the downhills, and another guy on a Poprad with disk brakes. With absolutely zero fitness, I did no warm-up other than rolling up the start hill a couple of times. We raced with the Sport and SS guys. No way was I sprinting up the hill, so I hung at the back of the field, 6th CX onto the singletrack. First corner, one of the CycleSport guys overcooked it and ended up in the trees. Two corners later another one spun out on a short climb. (ummm, you can't stand up like a road bike without a little technique) Couple of stretches later, another one launched himself over his bars trying to avoid a rock. Then on one of the faster downhills, I decided that disk brake guy is going too slow and took to the weeds to pass him. I ended up in a little stretch of babyheads, but managed to pull off the pass without flatting. The rest of the descent was pretty fun. Passed and gapped a couple of SSers, but was having trouble on some of the short numerous ups. The 42x27 was a problem, and was only going to get worse as the race went on.

The disk guy came around me while I was hoofing up a steep pitch, but I could still see him on some of the many sections where the course double-backed on itself. My buddy Thomas was up the road a bit more, and I knew I was never going to catch him on the climbs. The second lap was wicked fun. Nobody to slow me down on the descents, and I could just let it all hang out. I was bunny-hopping rocks, carving berms, and having a blast. Until I had to climb. 42: bad gear for weak legs. Third lap was all about conservation. I was 90% sure I was in 3rd place, and hadn't seen a cross bike behind me since we started. I didn't want to pinch flat, but knew making up time on the descents was a key to holding on. So I threw caution to the wind and railed the descent one last time. It all worked out and I held on by 6 minutes. Thomas ended up double-flatting on the last lap, getting passed by disk guy, but was able to ride it in for 2nd.


Post race discussion was fun. All of the CycleSport guys were running sew-ups, one of them on a brand new set of wheels. Great idea! They lasted 10 minutes before he taco-ed the rear going over the bars. They were all complaining about how horrible the cornering traction was before I pointed out that they were on Tufo's. Great for grassy cross races with long straightaways, not so much for cornering on gravel. The Conties hooked up great, and I had a ball. (other than the climbs)

Next race is in August. I'm hoping to have at least some fitness by then. And then it's on.

road bike pics

So I finally got around to taking a few pics of my new road bike. Had it built up for about 3-4 weeks now. Front triangle is Easton Ultralite and the stays are carbon. Weight with pedals and computer: 15.6 pounds. Sweet ride.

clicky on the images for higher res version.

SyCip on Moab Porcupine Rim Trail

A May ride along on the Porcupine Rim Trail in Moab on my SyCip hardtail. Hit a perfect week of weather with no rain, cool, and not that crowded.

nevada city race report

This is one criterium that I've always wanted to do, and finally made it happen this year. Treated me pretty well too. It's basically a long hill followed by a long downhill with a wicked cornering section at the bottom. It was a very warm day, but not unbearable. The cat3 race got started around four in afternoon, but before we could get really going, there had to be a bit of chaos. While waiting at the line, we were informed that a lead moto would take us through the hairpin and up the climb slowly on the first lap, then let us loose at the top of the course. Okay, fine. The emcee calls one minute to go, then counts us down in the last few seconds. People push off and start rolling. Only the lead moto doesn't budge. I don't think he even had his engine on. Guys just roll right into the back off the moto and two guys go down right there. I was on the edge of the group and didn't get caught up in the mess, but it was kinda lame. Roll through the corners the bottom of the course without the moto and the guys in front take off up the climb. So much for a nuetral pace the first time up.


Rolling the corner in the middle of the field.

I had started close to the back and spent the first few laps suffering and working my way forward. After fifteen minutes, I had moved up to the front ten or twelve guys and began to relax a bit. I didn't have to work too hard coming out of the corners of the bottom and that made the rest of the climb a lot easier. Halfway though, starting to feel optimistic, and that's when a minor disaster hits. I was running around seventh coming though bottom of the course when a guy two spots up clips a pedal coming out of the second corner and goes down. The guy in front of me locks up and goes down as well, both of them sliding into the wall of hay bales on the outside. I have nowhere to go and come to complete stop behind them, unclip and put a foot down. I can't get by them on the outside since they're up against the hay bales, and guys are blowing by me on the inside. I wait until there's an open gap between riders, jump back in and pin it going up the climb trying to get back to the lead group. I blow by a bunch of guys that had been gapped and latch back onto the leaders near the top of the course. Spend the next two laps recovering and getting back to my comfortable spot near the front of the group. Phew.


Getting going again.


Strung out going up the hill.



At the front.

I helped cover a few attacks in the last third of the race. Nothing strong enough to stick for more than a lap or so. After my mid-race big effort, I wasn't feeling confident about making any attacks myself. Just waited until the end for things to play out. As we went over the top on the bell lap, guys start surging and I stay up there as best I can. Click into the 11 tooth cog as we start the downhill to the finish. It's pretty tough to come around folks at 45+ mph, not to mention scary. I came across for sixth. Optimistic that I could contend when I come back next year. Great course, great crowd, great event. I can see why it's been running for almost 50 years.

-a

ps. Added bonus of seeing Ned Overend (I think he's 50) come out and hang with all the fast guys in the P/1/2 race. Inspiring.

santa rosa dirt crits

The Howarth Park Dirt crit series is rolling again in Santa Rosa. 4 separate races on Wednesday evenings though August. Juniors, C's, B's and A's.
http://norcalmtnbikeracing.blogspot.com/2007/06/2007-howarth-dirt-crits.html

Jeff and I rolled up early and got a bit of a ride in at Annadel before our race. It was hot hot hot and we stuck to the shady trails as much as possible. Still went through two bottles in an hour though. Thankfully, it cooled somewhat by the time we started. There was a great field of almost 25 in the B race before us, including three or four women. 15 folks turned out for the A race and we started just after 7pm. The course is a gentle climb on fireroad, followed by a gentle descent on twisty singletrack, with a small gap jump thrown in right as you exit the trees and head for the start/finish. We were running about 3 minutes per lap and going for about a half an hour total. I settled in on the second lap and ended up battling for fourth place with one other guy for pretty much the entire time. He rode away from me on the last lap and I had to settle for fifth.



Other noteworthies: Curtis came out and rocked the A's with us. Andrew took 6th on his 24" singlespeed (the anti-29er).

Pics and results:
http://bikemonkey.net/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.dirtCrits2007

Thanks

Thanks for getting the new team page up Hans. The blog is a great idea. Looking forward to seeing news from the pack!

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