March 31 - CCCX MTB #5
Race info

Results and photos

Report: by Dennis Pedersen, Santa Cruz County Cycling Club

Report by Dennis Pedersen, Santa Cruz County Cycling Club


CCCX Cross-Country #5, Toro Park, Salinas, CA USA, 3/31/2007

"Just a training ride, just a training ride!" I had to keep reminding myself of that before this mountain-bike race. I'm training for hilly road courses, so I'd done 5-minute threshold hill repeats with Mark Edwards of Bicycle Trip the previous weekend. But he was racing Ronde Van Brisbeen which only has short climbs (he took first!), so I was on my own. The race at Toro Park seemed a much better choice than just riding everybody's favorite, the Crow's Nest ride.

I hadn't raced Toro Park before, but I heard there were some tricky sections of trail so I brought some spare 2.1'' tires for extra grip. The climbing didn't sound bad, 854 feet per lap, so the added weight wouldn't matter much.

The next decision was whether to continue to race in Sport category, or advance to Expert. Several friends had joked about me being a sandbagger, with my three straight wins. Since the CCCX series isn't part of the NORBA series, I could still race in Sport at other races like Sea Otter. Plus, on race day I was running late, so the 1:00 start time for Experts was like a gentle inducement from the Gods to get me out of the comfort of the Sport nest. Expert it was! Even though it meant I'd race more laps.

On the drive down the morning fog cleared and it was a gorgeous summer-like day. We racers got in the park for free, and $10 off the entry fee thanks to David Gill. At registration I talked a bit with Larry Hibbard, who was impressed that Rob Anderson of Discovery Channel's Masters team, and Corey Ward, were entered in his race. It was kind of cool to be part of the Expert scene! I noticed that he was riding around on an old rigid steel bike... with slick tires!!! Like those I use when l commute on my mountain-bike! He claimed this was the hot ticket so I decided to keep my small 1.8" tires on, and I even aired them up to 50 psi. Larry is a neat guy, but maybe I should have stuck to my original plan.

Dan Henderson and Erik and Darik Thunstrom were hanging out under the SCCCC awning they'd erected, and they'd finished first and second in Sport Singlespeed. Cool! Dan gave me some tips about the course, and so did my friend from San Jose Bike Club, Richard Jacinto. I warmed up a little, filled both of my bottles with sports drink, ate another banana and lined up at the start line. Steve Hess was lining up too, in his first Expert 35-44 cross-country of the season. Nice!

I only saw three others in my race; Brett Lambert, Bill Hall and Rich Henthorn. As we were about to start the organizers decided to group us with the Expert 35-44 and 55+ races. We all took off and this bigger group gave us some shelter from the headwind as we sprinted up the hill on the paved section. We rode hard!

Brett pulled ahead while I stuck to Bill's wheel (he likes tall gears). Rich disappeared to the rear. The steep climb was pretty long, more than the five minutes I was hoping for, and followed by a long gradual climb through cattle pastures that prevented recovery. I was wheezing from the effort of maintaining contact.

I rode well, until we hit the descent. That's when I wished I had ignored Larry's tire choice. The first few turns were off-camber and loose, with a big drop on our left. (Nice view though.) I nearly lost it several times, and had to apologize, and yield, to several guys behind me. There were several switchbacks, water bars (one of them a big drop), and some tricky rock gardens and roots near the end. My ancient shock banged loudly. The hard-partying Sport SCCCC racers cheered me on, yelling "Dennis is racing Expert!" Woo-hoo!

At the start of the second lap I was still winded from the descent. I lost sight of Bill, and hoped he and Brett had gone out too hard, and that I hadn't. But my legs were feeling my long training rides of the past two weeks and I could no longer push myself hard enough to wheeze! Instead my legs just burned, though I managed to gain back some lost positions. Which I promptly lost back on that darn descent again.

On the third lap I started to just conserve energy. The field was totally blown apart so I was often alone with the cows crossing the trail. No kidding.

My gradual disintegration became undeniable on the fourth lap. I always get tired then, but this time my hands were so tired I couldn't use the brakes fully, and the descent became ever more treacherous! I almost rammed a tree in a switchback, and into a hillside after a drop. I had to completely stop trying to race on the downhills. That's when I started treating this race as the hard training ride I meant it to be. I even grabbed an extra water bottle from the feed zone.

The fifth lap was merely a formality, and I just held on. Perhaps that's why I felt a little better. I noodled down the hill and was happy to cross the finish line at 1:59:57, which was 7:57 back from Brett, 4:32 from Bill! I sure do prefer the short climbs of Fort Ord; they suit my sprinter's style better.

Rod, from scoring, had to double-check that I wasn't the winner; he had gotten so used to me coming in first in Sport. So l got my third-place medal and helped Dan clean up. Larry admitted to me he'd crashed. Duh. And got third as well. I guess small tires put you in third!

I had time for a couple of recovery brews with Steve and Grant, and had to hurry off for my sister-in-law's birthday party. Man, I was so drained the next day! At least I got in that tough workout! Let's hope it pays dividends later.

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