Going the Distance
Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker. Race season is here! It was with stout heart and sore achilles' tendons that i traveled to Santa Clara county fairgrounds for the first race in the '98 surf city series. I was expecting a thorough thumping to my lack of training time and my overcooked legs (too much ultimate frisbee). The course was fast and flat, well designed for roadies, except for a few sketchy, loose bits. Everyone took off at about the speed of light, with Buckwheat, Anton, Me, and a couple other fellows towards the front. I got a good enough start to stay out of any trouble, so i eased up a little and tried to draft. A few riders came around me (including John Elgart, who cut in on me in a most agressive and roadie-like fashion). I drifted back to 7th or 8th place when, happily, the whole field started to take a wrong turn. Good sport that I am, I yelled to them to keep going straight (the course was clearly marked, i don't know what those guys were thinking. They only lost 4-5 seconds, but that was enough to catapult me undeservedly into the lead. Sweeeeeeet.
Pretty quickly after that the group splintered a bit, with me, anton, and jim gentes in front, and buckwheat in hot pursuit. I was gradually losing contact everywhere fast, then catching back on everywhere technical. With a few laps to go Anton punctured, and when Jim and I came through on the bell lap, Jim attacked so hard I was dumbfounded. I just pooped out and coasted the last lap for 2nd place. Anton ended up nipping buckwheat for 3rd, despite a wheel change. I woulda stayed for the A race, but we started moving into our new house that evening, so I blew it off. Dave Carr has a nice writeup of it at http://www.cyclo-x.com, the surf city website.
Argh. Sand. Argh. I didn't do all that badly at this race, it just felt like it. The Fort Ord course was very beachlike, lots of sandy sections, one huge sandy runup, then some more sandy sections. There was nowhere to hide behind good technique, and since that's pretty much all I bring to the table, I suffered in comparison to the guys who really have horsepower. I buckwheat looked stellar, and was just riding away from us until he broke his bike. I caught him while he was running, then he got a bike change and dropped me again. He kept it up until he caught anton, then dropped him too. Sheesh!
In the meantime, I was getting slower and slower. My arch-nemesis from mountain biking, Kai Brown, suddenly turned up next to me. Kai has obviously been doing secret squirrel cx training. He rode away from me pretty easily. For a while I caught him again in the technical spots, but finally he just out powered me and left me with my tongue hanging in my spokes. On the one hand, it was very demoralizing because it marks the first time he's ever beaten me in a cross race. On the other hand, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. It's great to see kai making so much progress. God help us all if he ever learns to go downhill fast.
This time I stayed around for the A's, and was treated to a pretty good race. The same ol' guys went away early, Brian Miller, Justin, Damon, Larry Hibbard, Dave Wyandt, Brent Prenzlow and new addition Will Bachar. I called will a sandbagger a bunch of times last year when he was just crushing the B field, and I guess I was right. Right behind them was BlackMarket's own Todd Hoefer, with Napa Velo's Dave Carr having a breakthrough day a little further back.
Just when it looked like Dave was going to make his move and recreate his race #1 victory he had some sort of grievous bike trouble, leaving Brian miller alone at the front. Just as Todd got by larry hibbard, he broke his bike, and switched to an mtb. The one actual downhill on the course was pretty vicious, and it kept spitting out victims. In the end, miller won alone, followed by justin robinson, followed closely by will bachar. Todd was 8th , followed by Dave in 9th. All the attacks and bike changes made for pretty exciting racing from a spectator's standpoint. All the more so because my teammate todd was right in the thick of things.
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.
This is a one-day event put on by Dave Carr and Napa Velo. Dave's a pretty good 'crosser, so I expect the course to be a pretty good course. I don't know anything else about it, but I'll be there. It's the day before a Surf City race, but cross races are short enough that racing twice in a weekend is usually ok. Check out the Napa Velo Website for more info.
Produced by Mark Weaver
Hate this page? send cranky e-mail to mlweaver@pacbell.net.