My call time for Sundays XC race 8:30, which
meant I received a 5:30 wake up call. I arrived at Laguna Seca around 7:00, got
changed and headed into to the track. The weather was cold, foggy and
drizzly, so at this point I'm doing the usual debate of how many layers to
wear. I ended up wearing minimal layers and figured I'd be cold on the
start, but would warm up once we were a few miles into the race.
The XC race warms up, starts and finishes on the
speedway, which for me was a cool bonus. There's something really special
about being on a legendary racetrack and being able to see the
corkscrew up close as it faded into the morning fog.
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| The early morning view from the top of the Corkscrew. |
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| Staging for the start. |
The energy on the start was great. Music
was playing and there was quite a few spectators cheering on their friends and
family. I was a bit more anxious than usual because I
didn't know any of the riders and had no idea what to expect out on the course. Was the guy
in the tri jersey going to be fast? Was that guy with the camel back a
sleeper who would sprint off the line and take the early lead?
Before I knew it, we were off and the usual
sprint took place into the first left hand turn and then into the first 180
right and up the hill. I settled into the lead pack and waited for
the first big surge, which never seemed to happen. As we left the
speedway and headed toward the first major paved climb I was wondering if everyone
was taking it easy, or if I was just in the zone. On the first downhill
the guy that had led the entire race up to this point (and was super strong on
the climbs) came to a crawl. "HA! ROADIE!" is all I thought as I went
by. Over the first few miles the pack of 10 or so slowly became 8, then
6, then 5.
I was in the lead group of 5 and we were setting
a good pace as we entered the long paved road before the first section of
singletrack. I looked back and saw we had a good lead over the rest of
the pack (maybe 100 yards) and 2 of us went to the front to do some extra
work and try to build an even bigger gap. At one point I realized
"Hey! I'm leading!" Now don't get me wrong... at no point
was I WINNING, but I was in the lead, which was cool.
I felt good entering the singletrack climb but
had been cycled to the back of the pack. I looked back and didn't see
anyone, so I figured I would settle in and see what I had in a few miles.
That didn't last long and a mile later I was struggling to keep the pace.
The only thing I had going for me was that 3rd and 4th looked like they
were hurting too. Then... Out of nowhere... comes the
ROADIE!!! All I'm thinking is WTF as he shows up out of nowhere and works
his way past all 5 of us and disappears.
A few minutes later we caught some slower riders
from the wave in front of us and I, being the last in our group, got tangled up
with one of them as they struggled to get out of our way on the tight trail.
And just like that my group was gone and I was all alone. It was
one of those classic "position is everything" mistakes. I knew I
shouldn't be back there and that I was vulnerable to mistakes and changes in
pace, but never really fought to move up because I was too worried about having
enough in the tank for later in the race.
The next several miles were fun, but painful.
My pace dropped considerably for a few miles and my legs seemed to go
flat. By this point there was people passing me and I was passing other
people, but had no idea if any of us were in the same class. Before I
knew it, we were at the Cat 1/2 split from Cat 3 and the long, fun downhill
that followed. The next few miles were worth all of the suffering up to
that point. Some of it was through big fields of grass and the rest of it
went through a section of trees that is unlike anything in So Cal.
The majority of rest of the course can best be
described as riding on the Main Divide: Gravel roads with long uphills with
several steeper sections along the way. Yeah, there were a few singletrack
sections and a few downhills, but the majority of the time was spent grinding
along.
As with most races, with about 3 miles left, I
got a second wind and found myself charging again. I was quickly moving
past the Cat 3 riders we had caught and started picking off Cat 2 guys that
passed me earlier. I got one guy I know was in my class just before the
last singletrack climb to the speedway and saw one more just in front of me
that I assumed was in another class, but that that I might be able to make a
charge and catch.
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| The last climb before reentering the speedway. Michelle Lowry photo. |
I put in a big effort on the last short climb, made some good time on him, and was only about 15 yards back as we reentered
the speedway at the top of the hill. All that was left was the long
downhill and a sweeping right turn to the finish. I contemplated waiting
and setting up a sprint at the end, but then I figured I would go now, way on
the outside, and hopefully he wouldn't follow. So I dropped back a bit,
swung wide and pedaled as hard as I could. I thought I was clear than as
we entered the right turn I saw he was right behind me!!! He started to
drift wide, so I covered and he went inside. After 1:40 of racing the two
of us were in an all out TDF style sprint to the finish.
For the second race in a row, I ended up beating
some random racer to the line by less than a bike length, and for the second
race in a row I saw that person was in my class when I checked the results.
As always, thanks to Red Monkey, Fullerton Bikes, TLD, Swiftwick, Kenda Tire, KMC Chain
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