Topatio Spring MTB Race
(2/4-5/2006)

"We’ve got a 40mph Wind"
Justin Crmer

It’s a great course: very rocky and a good amount of climbing. It’s a little short, but 95% of it is tight and technical singletrack, so I love that.
I went in to the race pretty tentatively – I didn’t have a solid idea of where I was fitness-wise, so I treated this race like an early season test. So, I started slow and didn’t push it 100% every second, but tried to keep a quick pace, saving the racing for the second lap. The first real trail was a decent with some more-than-180-degree switchbacks, which I really sucked at. After almost putting in the dirt the third time, I’m thinking. Look, pay attention and race your damn bike! It took a couple more dabs before that really sank in though.
 
Back up the hill. I was pleased to seem to be gaining on the climb. Although the little chaingring was tempting, I was in the middle chainring and feeling fine about it. A couple more tricky switchbacks and the incline gradually faded away. I started picking my way across a super rocky and rooted ridgeline and right away, I realized I had totally jacked my suspension up. It was rock hard and beating the crap out of me. Every time I tried to speed up and ride across the rocks, the bike bucked like a rigid frame.  I spent the rest of the first lap trying to mess with the damping to compensate, but it was no good. I finally decided to throw caution to the wind and unscrew the valve cap on the rear shock and let some air out on the fly. Crazy, yes, but miracle of miracles, I seemed to let just the right of air out and I instantly started going faster over the impossible assortment of rocks.
 
Coming in from the first lap, I was feeling fast, and feeling like I could go faster, so I went! I made a turn and 4 guys behind me shouted “wrong way!” (as they blasted by). And just for good measure, I FELL while I was turning around (like I had extra gas for catching up!) I guess I was a little pissed, because I caught up pretty fast and was trailing the last guy on my hit list as we approached the trailhead. Knowing that we were going to be in the tight and rocky for the next 15 minutes, I gassed it and swept under him into the trail. Now we’re racing! I blasted those pesky switchbacks and nailed everything. I blew out of the woods into the open pavement.
 
A little rise in the pavement reminded me that I didn’t quite get the base I was hoping for, and I resigned to the middle chainring. Better than blowing up, I thought as one of my pursuers eased by. I ended up following him up the hill and across that rocky ridge. He was really impressive: steady, smooth, never bobbled, and never dabbed. Must not be from this part of the country, I thought. Sure enough, as we picked our way through the rocks, he asked me if I knew my position, in some kind of European accent. Was it French? Spanish? Italian? All of the sudden, he left me. Damn, Justin, pay attention!  He used one of my tricks: the trail flattened out and smoothed out just a bit so he grabbed a bigger gear before his brain had a chance to consider taking a break. So I doubled up on him and pushed the big ring. I caught up to him just as he caught up to the next guy and we turned into this freakin wind! Jeez! The only part of the course that’s not kicking my ass and we’ve got a 40mph wind!
 
The end was getting near, and the cramps were twinging in my quads. Every turn, I pushed and tried to get them to make a mistake or at least be ready if they left room for me to wiggle by, but they didn’t. We charged into the final turn like a group of motorcrossers and “sprinted” for the finish line. I just didn’t have anything left for a sprint and we finished with pretty much the same gap we carried for the last 30 minutes.
 
Overall, it was a pretty good race for me. I had fun and felt like I was racing. Not to shabby for my baby-hauling-mtb-commuting training scheme. Next time!  Next time it’s ON!