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.