Going the Distance
Actually it was East Bay #1, because the real #1 was cancelled due to site difficulties. At any rate, it happened at the Rowell Ranch Rodeo grounds off 580, between Dublin and Oakland more or less. The course was similar to the last few years there, which means tight turns, fast dismounts, a short runup, and lots of off-camber, awkward turns.
I decided to race with the big boys everywhere except surf city this year, so I lined up with the A's class in a reasonably strong field, ready to get whupped. Last year's winner, Mark Legg, was there, and he went out mighty hard. I tried as much as possible to hang with Dave Carr and Dan McNally, but Dave finally dropped us. Dan and I were trading places once a lap, which made me feel good, because he's pretty fast. Then we came up on Dave again, who had apparently crashed on the sketchy off-camber descent, dismount and runup. The three of us rode together for a lap, or maybe two.
I was feeling reasonably comfortable with those two, until I hit the bottom of the semi-bumpy descent, and one side of handlebar continued to descend on its own, having snapped off right at the stem. As you can imagine, my steering accuracy suffered somewhat. Fortunately, only one side broke, so instead of smashing my face right into the stem, I sort of rolled to the right, off the bike, onto the ground and back up again, upon which I loudly exclaimed "Holy freakin' cow! My bars broke!" Fortunately I had a backup bike, my Gary Fisher SuperCaliber mtb. Even more fortunately, my accident occurred only 50 feet or so from where my bike was parked. Even more fortunately, I had remembered to bring my old shoes since my other time pedals were on my road bike, which I left at work, so my mtb had my shimano bmx pedals from last year. I quickly changed shoes and bikes and leapt back into the fray. Dave and Dan sped away, and I was also passed by Steve Delacruz, but my switch was quick enough to limit the damage.
At this point I gotta say that people who spaz out about mtb's in cross races are kinda confused. I don't care what anyone says, mtb's are lame for cross. Even with skimpy Geax Revert tires, I was unable to muster the same acceleration I had on the cross bike, and the damn mtb is a bitch to carry. To make matters worse, I don't really train for cross on it, so my dismounts became a little more hesitant.
Despite my annoyingly slow bike, the time gap stayed pretty even between me, dan, dave and steve. I thought I was going to catch steve towards the end, but he had a little somethin' left, and ended up 8-10 seconds clear. I ended up having to scurry to keep ahead of Leroy Zampa (singlespeed winner of the Revenge of the Siskiyous the year I pierced my knee there), who has obviously been training this year. End result, mark legg in 1st, Dan McNally in 2nd (put on a ferocious surge on the last lap), dave carr in 3rd, Steve Delacruz in 4th, me in 5th, and some guys behind me.
Put on by Dave Carr and Napa Valley Velo, the Vineyard race took place in Aston park in east Napa. I thought the course was vicious, but maybe I just suck. We started with a steepish paved climb, onto a wet cement runup (complete with little rocks mixed into the mud), then a flattish, windy section where we were all trying desperately to get through the mud and into our pedals, then a fast bumpy downhill, complete with a run down through a ravine and up the other side, then a short hill with a barrier at the top, then right down to the start and do it over again.
I thought the descent was a little mtb-ish at first, because I seemed to be losing ground there, but then I realized that guys who know how to steer their bicycles, like George Hope, were taking fat time out of me there on cross bikes too. I got utterly waxed by George, Jim Moser, Miguel, and Ron Antholzener. I gotta say, those Gianni guys (george, miguel and ron) can handle their bikes. I was just plain smoked.
Due to the drying concrete consistency of the mud, I was having terrible problems (as was everyone, it seemed) getting into my pedals, even though I now ride Time. Half way through I wised up and started spraying down my shoe and pedal with my bottle handup each lap. It only took a little water to make the pedals reliable again, and I started going faster at that point, but not fast enough to catch Ron. Rats!
In local news, owner Chaz Fetrow of Hub bicycles in Cotati, got 2nd place in B's. Pretty soon we're going to start applying the peer pressure to get him to move up. He was one of the only guys to race in Napa who didn't just totally flail at Surf City the next day. The other one was Buckwheat (Rob Meighan) who sandbagged in B's and won by about 17 laps, then turned around and just dominated the Masters race the next day in Santa Cruz. I hate that guy.
The 3rd race of the Surf City series took place at the county fairgrounds in Watsonville. It was a little different from the mud bog of last year, but I was so weak from the day before in napa, that I might as well have been riding in 6 inches of mud. In the masters race Buckwheat and Anton just blew right off the front in the first half lap and were never seen again. After that I slowly slid backwards, getting passed by Joe Blanco (who's looking pretty fit again, finally), kai brown, and then finally by superchicken Kyle Brutschy. Fortunately despite his impressive fitness, Kyle still hasn't learned how to steer a bicycle. He crashed and rolled on the last lap and I coasted past him for 5th, feeling pretty worked.
I was happy to see that George Hope and Miguel were also pretty used up from the previous day's festivities. They looked like they were pedaling in glue in the A's race. Dave Wyandt appeared not to be pedaling in glue, even though he (along with several other top 10 finishers) raced the super cup in Boulder the day before. Dave and Daryl Price just gradually dropped everyone, until finally Dave made his move and won convincingly.
SoCal stalwart Brent Prenzlow was one of the few crossers bunnyhopping the big plastic pipe. Unfortunately, he got it wrong one lap, crashed, apparently jacked up his bike, and lost contact with the leaders because of it. Remarkably, he came back and took 3rd, but then we're talking about a guy who ripped the sole of his spd shoe off at districts 2 years ago, then grabbed a converse sneaker out of his car and rode the rest of the race with one spud and one sneaker and still got 3rd.
Chaz Fetrow continued his meteoric rise to the top of the b pack by grabbing 8th place, despite the very strenuous napa race on Saturday. I predict we'll see him on the podium soon.
#3 was at the bumpy church in Dublin. The course was a little too bumpy for my taste, but mostly I just sucked. Jim Moser and Mark Howland (of blackmarket) both stomped me into the ground. Jim was riding an uphill on his mtb that neither of us could come close to riding, plus he's just plain fit. I was miserable the whole race and just got slower and slower until I realized 3rd place was in jeopardy, so I sped up. Howie was 2nd to Jim, not bad for his first race back after a life-threatening blood clot in his leg.
#4 was at Greenville yard in Livermore. It was another sorta bumpy one, and also soft. I switched to my mtb after one lap. I'm happy to say I finally felt like I was running well, and I made big time just by getting into my pedals 20 yards earlier than everyone after the first barrier of the lap. I soared to victory in front of dan mcnally (who's hammered me a couple times this year).
#5 was at Camp Parks in Dublin, famous because Heidi Fleiss was incarcerated there (but not martin sheen). The course was a pretty good cross course I think. There were 3 runups (concrete steps) a couple fairly fast double barriers, 3 crossings of a 10 foot deep ditch, and a few hundred yards of pavement. The ditch crossing had vicious mud on the sides, which stuck to shoes, pedals and every thing else it contacted. I found that my planting both feet firmly in the foot deep water at the bottom, that I carried enough moisture up the side with me to loosen the mud enough that I could still clip in.
Junior Sterling Magnell raced A's and took off like a rocket. I must say I was hurtin', due to excessive eating, drinking and riding over thanksgiving, but after a lap or two Ron Antholzener and I reeled in Sterling and I set off on my own. I was the only rider in A's using Time pedals, and as a result, I was the only one who could consistently clip in, and as a result, I won despite feeling kinda crappy.
Another course at the fairgrounds in watsonville, only this one had 2 short and 1 long runup and was pretty fun. I couldn't stay with Anton, but no one else got close to me so I took 2nd and felt terrific. Since I drove all the way down there, I figured I should get a real workout, so I entered A's too, and ended up 30th out of 50 or so riders. Black marketeer Todd Hoefer was in 3rd for a while, and ended up in 6th. He now sits in 6th place overall in the series as well. Go Todd.
The grand daddy of cyclocross on the west coast is the Surf City Series, put on by Jeff Clark. As of October 2nd, their website isn't up yet, but it will be soon. Typically there are 5 or so separate races. Field sizes of 70 and up for A's are not unusual, and top international riders like Thomas Frischknecht, Bart Brentjens, Don Myrah and Mark Weaver have raced at Surf City in the last couple years. If you take cross seriously, this is the series to contest.
Promoted by Bob Leibold, the east bay series is grown into the #2 spot on the NorCal calendar. Last year BlackMarket team members took 2nd overall in A's and 1st in Vet. Most of these races take place somewhere along Hwy 580 near Livermore and Dublin. Bob has toned down the "Jungle Cross" aspect, and now all there is is good, hard racing. Call Velo Promo at (209) 533-4996.
Also put on by Velo Promo's Bob Leibold. The extra competition from the Central Coast series hurt participation at these races last year. There's a little less conflict this year, but now that I don't live in Sacramento, it's just too far for me to go. There are always a couple races at various apple ranches in the Sonora area, which are really fun. There's also a nice course at Jeff Rapetti's ranch near Murphy's. If you live anywhere near Sonora, these are fun races. Call Velo Promo for more info at (209) 533-4996.
I haven't done any of these races. They were way too far from sacto. This year there are some conflicts with east bay, but I'll try to do some of the central coast races. Judging by the results last year, they were drawing some good fields. Check out the Central Coast Website.
If you live in the Sierra or Reno, or you visit Reno, check out these races. Both series have excellent courses for real cyclocrossers. Plus, since everyone in Reno (except maybe Sean Kelsey) is pretty slow, they're good for the ego. I'm 4 hrs from Reno this season, so I probably won't do any of the. Call (702) 885-7352 for more info. They're putting on districts this year too (jan 3rd), so it might be worth a trip to one of their races to check out the course for districts. If I get any info, I'll post it here.
Produced by Mark Weaver
Hate this page? send cranky e-mail to mlweaver@pacbell.net.