October 25, 2010
Posted by admin
NorCal MTB Championship Series!
Race: Lagrange Fall Classic MTB Cross Country, Weaverville, CA
When: Saturday, October 23rd
Red Peloton Riders: Keith Flood, David Wolbeck, Josh Dorris, Curt Kimble
So on Friday at 2:45 the players showed up at my house in Eastern Santa Rosa to pile into the “monster truck” for the trip to Weaverville, CA for the last race in the 2010 XC NCCS. I took down the “spiderweb” halloween decoration to use as the bungee cover for the fully loaded truck. I tucked the propane heater in the left front corner of the truck bed…ok, ok, no, its not going to be one of THOSE race reports….
The race started off as a mass start with the 4 TNCBS teammates lined up in the third row under a light rain. I was in the front long enough to spin out my 29er singlespeed mtn bike, something I have become used to. Thanks to NorCal Bike Sport for the pro-deal on this bike, it has been my most AMAZING season after 20 years of racing!
Once off the fire road we started up a meandering singletrack that was part flume trail and part fire road. I settled into a group including an expert woman, singlespeed expert with the wrong gearing and the guy that would eventually claim 3rd place in Curt’s, Dave’s and my geared category. We YO YO’d back and forth for the entire 1:30 minute climb. Parts were great with good traction and the sweet spot for my single speed and legs, other parts were miserable with peanut butter mud and hike a bike sections. I felt good having honed my pre race regime to avoid too much in the stomach vs. too little in the stomach. The legs felt well tapered and I really felt sorry for the expert singlespeed guy as he was pushing his bike where I was riding mine. We chatted a bit and he confided in me how 2:1 gearing was just WRONG for this course. There was an average amount of climbing 2400 feet per 20 miles but the fact it was almost all in the first half of the race made this especially difficult.
Having never ridden the course before, I keep asking other racers if we were close to the top. In my mind I tried to reconcile Curt’s verbal course description, the course map I had seen online and what I was actually experiencing. On the final summit ridge I finally had a grasp of where I was and felt that the top must be near. But alas, this ridge was like most other mountain ridges with a series of summits and saddles, with each false summit higher than the last. Finally, there was a lasting downhill and I felt the worse was over, until I saw the road in front of me rise up yet again and my heart sank for a moment….that is until I saw the yellow course maker arrow pointing toward the single track that veered directly left and off the ridge, downhill! This trail hooked up to yet another old flume trail which are fun to ride. Gently descending, twisting with some sections that are knife edge with sheer downhill drop offs.
I heard a guy (lets call him Mr. Grumpy Speedy Expert) come up behind me and he yelled out “on your left!”, so I nudged to my right and allowed the faster rider to pass but immediately jumped on his wheel and followed. We then caught a slower rider just before the trial dropped to a creekbed and a short hike a bike section for all riders. The rider in front clearly timid amongst the technical hike a bike section got off his bike as though he were on a group ride and not racing. I took this opportunity to make up some time and pass both him and Mr. Grumpy Speedy Expert. As I did my best CX dismount and ran past Mr. Grumpy Speedy Expert my handle bar make contact with his handle bar. He then yelled out a “mellow out dude!!!!” to which I replied “sorry” (in the second that this took place my mind processed my gut reaction- “hey were frigging racing and I it’s not like I knocked you over AND you ought to know this is a prime opportunity to pass and make up some time”. No instead I took the opportunity and scrambled up the hike a bike section (thank you Bike Monkey for the Cross Races!). I was on a roll, cruising the next section of flume trail but yet I knew I needed either more steep up hill or downhill to keep people off my back.
Sure enough Mr. Grumpy Speedy Expert caught me on the flat flume trail and once again, this time more deliberately, I pulled over and said “you got it” as he passed me and then said “your welcome” after he failed to acknowledge my gesture. I once again jumped on his wheel which I think annoyed him – a single speeder on his tail. The flume trail ended and we were on a fire road again with full on peanut butter mud. Mr. Grump Speedy Expert was suffering, trying to get through the fly paper mud while I just up’d my cadence and rode his tail. Just as we came out onto better dirt, we found a rider fixing a flat, I yelled out if he needed anything and he replied “no, one of your guys already helped me out!” This was a real cool moment of the entire season for me. Team NorCal Bike Sport left a lasting impression on another racer who previously had no ideas who we were or what we were about. I was also disgusted that Mr. Grumpy Speedy Expert would blow by a rider in need and not at least offer to help. It’s an unwritten rule in in the dirt whether racing or not, you offer to help someone with tools, tube or help if they are injured, its just the right thing to do.
So I poured it on and blew by Mr. Grumpy Single Speeder as we approached a gate. Soon I dropped off the edge of the fire road and onto a steep switchback single track through a freshly clear cut logging operation on and insanely steep hill. By the time I got to the bottom Mr. Grumpy was no where to be seen. I then continued to fly as I knew the downhill and technical sections were mine to make up time. I started passing other riders and felt great. There was a quick cold ford or a swollen stream followed by an amazing descent on single track along the bank of the same creek for a 1/4 mile or so. I was flying, to the point of being too fast and came to an abrupt right jog in the trail. I locked up the brakes and slide sideways, heading for the 10 foot drop to the creek. For a split second I thought that was it, I was about to crash REAL hard! As quickly as I had started my slide, I let up the brakes and the “Specialized Captain” tires dug in and was instantly had my line corrected and made it through the turn. I felt invigorated and continued to fly as fast as I could to the finish. Paranoia is my friend. The finish was mostly on the same flatish fire road we started on and I thought for sure I was going to get caught. I kept my cadence maxed out and finished out of sight of anyone behind me. The funny thing was as we waited to use the hose to rinse off after the race Mr. Grumpy Speedy Expert showed up and I was waiting for him to let loose with some more “dude…” comments but instead he said good race and offered to rinse off my backside (get your mind out of the gutter!) Mr. Grumpy managed to get third in the expert/Cat 1 45+ category,
All was great for 2010 with two first places in Sport/Cat 2, my only podiums in 13 years of solo cat 2/Sport racing! I ended up 1st in single speed sport for this race and 3rd overall for the season in NorCal Series which was an honor since Team NorCal Bike Sport swept the podium in Cat 2/Sport 45+! Curt Kimbal got 1st and Dave Wolbeck got 2nd. Also, Josh Dorris easily took 1st in the Cat 2/Sport 35+ for the season, never placing less than first in every race!!! Best of luck to all for 2011!!!
~Keith
