East Bay Alleycross: Hella

I think it was about when we passed the Pink Lady that I realized I was less than two miles into a 40-mile ride, and already redlined and ready to puke.



The East Bay Alleycross started with a climb straight up Tunnel Road, one of the tougher climbs in the Bay Area. Evan started the 70ish riders out with a few words about hitting the checkpoints in order, and a warning about the slipperiness of Pinehurst Road, and then sent us off.



Davin and I, not being familiar with the East Bay roads, were looking for someone to tag along with. Morgan Fletcher graciously offered to lead us around, and we jumped on the chance. Which, unfortunately, led straight uphill.

Tunnel Road is, I understand, pretty tough in the best of circumstances. Following fast riders, at the start of a race, without a warmup, was not the easiest way to learn a new climb. There was a huge scramble at the beginning, and it shook out with Davin, Murphy and me all slotted in with Morgan and a few other folks, with about a half-dozen people ahead.



The pace was high. My legs were cold. It was not the way I planned to start the day.I hung on as long as I could, but eventually I cracked, and let the rest of them get away. Fortunately, it turned out to be about 100 meters from the top, so I caught back up pretty much immediately at the first checkpoint. I was the 14th, I think, person to hit this checkpoint, which would likely be my high position for the day.

The course then took a loop through the Sibley Volcanic Preserve. The opening section was fast, muddy, and slick. Davin ended up going off the trail into a thorn bush. It was at this point that we lost Murphy, Morgan and crew for good. Once Davin got it back together, we rolled onward, joined by (among others) eventual winner Blake VK, one of my nemeses from cross season, and at the first Stamp Point (an unmanned checkpoint, basically), Alex Mouton, another cross compatriot, and apparently SFFixed den mother Adam.

Sibley was pretty rocky, but otherwise really fun, and we hit the Water Tower checkpoint in good order.



We then hit the longest road stretch of the day. Pinehurst Road rolls along the East side of the East Bay Hills, and starts out steep, sharp, and twisty, and then mellows out a little to become a nicely graded, rolling piece. We headed out around a half-dozen strong from the water tower, and picked up a couple more folks on our way. At one point, I went to the front with a guy named Ricardo (who was riding a single speed!). When I looked back, only Davin was behind us. Everybody else had dropped off the back. When we hit Pinehurst gate, though, and took the opportunity to pee and grab a quick bite, most of the rest of them caught up. We headed up the trail for a couple minutes before we realized that we had missed a stamp point. Davin and I doubled back to get our stamp, and ran into Isaias Job, who had just finished struggling up with a broken rear derailleur. He needed a multitool, so I lent him mine, while Davin went ahead. I helped Isaias switch the gear his bike was stuck in, and then he just took off as I was repacking the tool. I headed along the trail, slowly passing a few people. I eventually ran into Matthias from Sycip, who was lollygagging along with a friend, telling some incomprehensible-without-context story about some pro racers.

I saw Isaias a few hundred feet up ahead, and left Matthias and crew to try to catch him. It took me probably a mile to catch up the 250 feet. Finally, I caught him, and we rode the rest of the East Ridge Fire road together.

Davin and Alex were waiting at the end of East Ridge. As was our team mate Sam, who was manning the checkpoint, armed with a pen she was using to write two four-letter words on our knuckles.



I wanted to get "bite me", but realized, even in my haze that that wouldn't work. I settled for "pain bite", which, while not particularly coherent, was at least within the rules.



Alex needed to catch his breath some more, so Davin, Isaias and I left him there,; and headed out West Ridge toward Joaquin Miller Park. shortly after that, we ran across another racer having trouble pumping up his tire. We stopped to let him use Davin's good pump, and Isaias headed on.



This is the point at which things started to go a little pear-shaped. We made the next two turns correctly, but then started to question where we were, and whether we were going the right way. It turned out we were, but we spent almost 5 minutes trying to make sure--Davin even went back to the previous intersection to confirm. Eventually, we figured out we were going the right way, but we'd been passed by quite a few people during that time.

We pushed on, and then made what wasn't actually a mistake, but still would cost us. We dropped down Cinderella trail, a steep, stepped, muddy mess. It got us where we needed to go, but not where the map seemed to say we were going. We ended up riding around for 10 or more minutes until we ran into someone going the other way, who pointed us in the right direction. We eventually found the checkpoint, but had lost significant time doing so. Still, that time was spent riding around on some pretty cool trails, so it was pretty well spent.



The stretch after this checkpoint was the last bit of trail, but had the best views of the race.



We then dropped down through Montclair to the old fire station, which had the last stamp point of the race. Here, we ran into Ricardo again, along with his room mate Jeff, and one other guy.



We milled around in back of the building trying to find the stamp pad, and found it only after several false starts. Davin and I took the chance to pee for one last time while Jeff, Ricardo and friend took off.

As we were leaving, we ran into another racer we knew, Brooks, who'd already missed a few points, and was happy to roll back down to the finish line with us. We dropped back down to Lake Temescal, to find the party already in progress.



Arena was the second woman, and May rolled across the line in third, just as people were starting to wonder where she was.



Murphy was fourth-fastest overall, but by following Morgan the entire way (our original plan!) had missed a couple stamp points. Still, he ended up with a pound of coffee, and like all of us, had a really great time.



This was a great race. It was manageable by mortals, the directions were really good, the riding was pretty spectacular, and there was a great party at the end. Although it was hard, it never became a death march, and every dull uphill stretch was rewarded with some exciting trails, great views, or a combination.



Evan deserves major props for putting this thing on.

(All pictures by Davin, except for the one I took of him).

Only eight months

till cross season starts again

"La Rentrée 2009" Movie Cyclo-Cross by arnoyo
Uploaded by arnoyo

Dates. Medjool that is...

Why is Emily putting up a posting about Dates, you might ask? In a show of sisterly support (and because I like dates!), I am using this entry to enter a recipe contest my sister is hosting on her blog: http://talesofexpansion.wordpress.com

Simple though this recipe is, I think I may have hit upon a tasty little calorie bomb that might be good for a hand-up or, for example, as a featured item on our race snack table at Boggs. Powdered sugar coated date, walnut, and butter balls; look for them at a race near you!

1 cup dates
1 cup walnuts
1 tbl butter
confectioners sugar

combine dates and butter in a food processor and blend until a paste forms. add walnuts and chop some more. form balls and coat with confectioners sugar. voila!






p.s. if you have a dates recipe enter the contest -- real quick like. it closes tomorrow night!

Peak Season #4: Everybody Else

OK, we finally have pictures of the B race (thanks, Jeff!), so here goes :

The B race: (I was racing during this, obviously, so I all pictures by Jeff)


Jeremy rode his first race in a couple months, and remembered that it's actually useful to warm up, as he went straight backward for the first lap or so before finally getting into gear and holding his own.


Murphy continued his long return from injury by putting together his first race without a major mechanical (although he did crash on his weak shoulder, but avoided injury).


Joe Taylor had an uneventful B race, but was the star of the relay, as we'll see.

New rider Peter stepped up from C to B, and suffered for it, as is often the case.


Derrick crashed in the first 150 meters of the race, and was put immediately out of contention by the time he took he straightening out his stem. He worked hard to get back into the race, though.

Women's race:

This was a tough one for a lot of folks. The only Sheila Moon woman who raced this one and had raced in the last couple weeks was Sam. May had been sick, Arena had been on vacation, and Kathryn had been sick while on vacation.

Nonetheless, they all stepped up to race.


Kathryn, who I think had not been on the bike in a month, had it toughest, and lasted a couple of laps.


May was able to soldier through, and even rode most of the race with her trademark smile.


Arena had a tremendously strong race, battling Sam for second most of the way before succumbing a little to her lack of racing, and ending up in third.


She didn't let second go without a fight, though, making Sam work for the pass.


Sam was able to get her eventually, though, and ended up taking second by 20 seconds or so.


Still, two of our teammates on the podium was pretty awesome.

The capper for the day was the team relay. Each relay team had four riders. At the beginning of the race, they made everyone take their back wheel off. When it was your turn, you had to first put your wheel back on before heading out on your lap.

The Sheila Moon team was Joe, Arena, Sam, and our friend Uri.


The race started with a Le Mans start, and Joe gave good account.



He was pretty quick about getting his wheel on as well. Unfortunately, once he got going, disaster struck:


The Agony of Defeat from daten on Vimeo.

He was back up right quick, though, and handed off to Sam, who was followed by Arena, with Uri finishing it off. As is typical for this kind of event, I was adamant about not riding it, but by halfway through the relay, I totally wished I was out there.


It looked pretty damn fun.

Peak Season #4: my report

The Peak Season series is over, and for many of us, so is the cross season.

We ended up with something of a bang at the last Peak Season race. Literally, unfortunately, for one of us.

The course was great. Each lap started with a sharp paved climb, followed by a brutal run up. Steep, muddy, and slippery, that thing was nasty. After a quick spin through the woods and another sharp paved uphill, it wended its way through the school grounds. An unfortunately fast, flat stretch with one set of steps and several sharp turns. The second half of the lap was pretty much all dirt, with some marginally ridable uphills and an extended off-camber section.


This "run"-up was brutal

I came into the race 5th in the series, theoretically within reach of 3rd. So I was motivated to do well. I was so motivated, in fact, that for only the second time this year I got the hole shot. In fact, I looked back as I entered the first dirt section, and not only was I ahead, but there was no one even on my wheel!

It will likely not surprise you to read that this did not last. A guy in a DFL jersey caught up to me by the end of the first chunk of flat pavement, and passed me shortly after, only to overcook a turn and go down.

Around the end of the first half of the lap Blake from Oakland passed me, and most of the rest of the race was an exercise in damage control. About one person per lap got by me, even though Murphy and the rest of the team were doing their best to hold off the flood.



Around lap 4 I caught and passed Evan Sarna, who was riding in the open Bs. I'm used to seeing Evan ride a single speed, but on this day he was riding a geared bike. He put it to good use by passing me back at the start of the paved half lap. He was nice enough, though, to let me hang on his wheel through the spinny parts, and then let me by when the going got dirty again.


Evan spent some time hauling me around at one point

At the end of the penultimate lap, I was pretty much exactly where I ended the race before: 5th, with the same four people ahead of me. At this point, barring major crashes or mechanicals, there was not really any way I could do anything to move up or down in the series. Which was good, because out of nowhere, Tom Taylor from Roaring Mouse was on my tail. Tom got by me at the end of the dirt (again!) and graciously waited for me to get on his wheel so he could pull me around the pavement. In less-than-gracious fashion, I was planning on paying him back by getting by in the dirt section that would close the lap, but I stupidly tried to ride a small embankment I'd been running every lap, and stalled out, giving Tom the couple seconds lead he needed to get clear of me. I rolled in sixth for the day, and fifth for the series.


The guy in the yellow kit eventually caught me

It's certainly partially due to the smaller fields in this series, but I was very pleased with how competitive I was able to be. I've been laboring smack in the middle of the 35+B field for the last couple seasons, and to be able to fight for the lead (even for a lap) and contend for the podium in the series was a real step forward. And while I don't regret racing the entire series on a single speed, I certainly feel that I ran up against the downsides of the choice a few times. Would my results have been better with gears? I think so. Certainly, at Harbor High racing without gears was a huge disadvantage. And there were periods in every race where I ended up losing ground on the flat stuff because I didn't have a high enough gear.

Wold it have been more fun, though, to race a geared bike? Judging by how indifferently my geared bike's been behaving this season (I've suffered a broken shifter, a jammed shifter and innumerable dropped chains) it's been a relief to just ride a bike that works. And my Sycip single speed is a very nice-riding bike. Still, for the long term, it seems smarter to become a better mechanic than to limit myself to a single speed bike. As gratifying as it is to beat the geared guys, I don't think I'm capable of competing with them long term on a single speed.

Anyway, it was a great way to end the season. Now it's time to get back on the mountain bike, and endure the long wait until next cross season starts mountain bike season starts at Boggs at the end of March.

Quickies

I recently put together a Bianchi Cross Concept for a friend of mine. I found him the frame (and parts), supplied him with some leftovers rattling around my house, and put the bike together for him. He's very happy with it.



On a completely different note:

Ever since I heard the story about how he crashed through the ice into a frozen lake in a cross race, and still came back to win, Steve Tilford's been one of my heroes. There's a pretty detailed profile of him in his local paper.

When the race starts, he bolts to an immediate lead. The winding course has been kneaded by the cyclists racing earlier in the day. The mud is the consistency of Silly Putty. Tilford exhales hard through pursed lips. At the back end of the course, he dismounts his bike, braces it against the side of his biceps and explodes up earthen steps made jagged from the cleats of previous racers. A crowd has gathered at the top for a view of the straining athletes.

"Seventeen!" Rebsamen shouts at Tilford, leaning from the sideline, letting him know how many seconds he's got on his closest competitor. "Seventeen! You're OK!"

"Aw, c'mon, he could deliver newspapers right now," a man at the top of the hill responds. "It's over."

The spectator is right. After three laps, Tilford has no competition. His lead grows to 23 seconds, then 25. "Steve Tilford giving a quick look back," the announcer says as Tilford turns into the final stretch. "He knows he has it. He's going to sit up and enjoy this one."

He's had a fascinating journey to get where he is, and the whole article's worth reading.

Peak Season #3: Running up that Hill

This weekend marked the third Peak Season race, held in Pinto Lake Park in Watsonville.

The course was pretty awesome. There was an extensive single track section that ended in a marginally-ridable long run up, some fast gravel bits and altogether too much bumpy, grass serpentine.

We had a good turnout, with Joe and Derrick racing the Cs, Murphy and myself racing 35+Bs (and Derrick coming back for another helping in the Bs), Emily racing Women's 35+, and Sam joining in in Women's open B.


Joe heading up


Derrick up the run up

Results were pretty uneven, with Emily in third, a mere 17 seconds out of 2nd, and Sam in 4th in her second women's B race.


Emily raced Masters Women


Sam raced Bs

Joe put in a good effort in his second cross race ever, finishing on the lead lap.

Murphy went out very fast, but was waylaid by a jammed chain, and never really recovered. Despite losing something like 2 minutes fixing his chain, he was still able to claw back into the top half of the field, finishing ninth. He made it a point to ride the big runup every lap, and made it more often than not.


Murphy cresting the top of the big runup.

I actually finished exactly where I did last time, 5th. For the second consecutive race in the series, I hit the finishing stretch barely ahead of Andrew Yee (editor of Cyclocross Magazine) and was able to hold him off in the final sprint.

In fact, the last couple laps of this race were marked by a three-way duel for 5th between Andrew, me, and Mike Hyde, from San Jose. Mike was having trouble in the twisty parts, and realized that his only choice was to use the power of gears to make up ground on the flats and other fast bits. Andrew was also able to gap me when it was fast, but he was also putting time on me in the serpentine sections. My only saving grace was the uphill sections, where I was able to make time on both of them.


Leading Andrew and Mike

On the last lap, Mike disappeared (he told me after the race that he dropped his chain). On one of the uphill parts, I managed to get around Andrew, and then did the best I could to put power down. I was a tad undergeared at 38x17, so really going fast on the downhills and flats was tough, but I managed to enter the final set of serpentines about 10 seconds ahead of Andrew. Unfortunately, with each switchback I could see him, and with each turn he was getting closer and closer.

The finish line was about 20 meters after the final chicane and a small bump. When I hit that bump I could practically feel Andrew breathing down my neck, and I spun madly across the line to finish about a second up.


running over the barriers

I think I am now 5th in the series, with one race remaining. They're a little slow about posting series points, but I am pretty sure I have a dim shot at third, but will most likely end up 4th, 5th or 6th, assuming I have a decent race next weekend. Not bad for racing the single speed against the gearie guys!