My next race after a few weeks interlude since the Vision Quest which went well and the first US Cup XC race which did not was another US Cup. At this race in Fontana which was unique cause the course was based around one small hill in the middle of the suburbs. From any vantage point on the course you could always see signs of civilization, houses, roads Etc. I never raced in such a place; it was not removed from elements of the human world at all.
Anyhow the track was actually pretty cool. Heaps of single-track and most of it for a race was pretty technical actually. I had to do four laps of a 6 mile course, so about 34km all up with about 1200m of climbing over the race. The lap started out in a huge burst as always. People are so dam eager and I gotta say there are some real fit people in my category. A few small pinches to spread out the group a little then into a real gut buster of a climb. Super steep with a huge hunk of rock slab to ride over in the middle of the climb. The top part always had to be walked due to it being so steep and sandy. It was then into some great single-track, it was tight but a hell of a good time except for side-swiping a massive granite boulder with my shoulder. Something to look forward to after the climb for sure especially on the last couple of laps. Next up was gentler climbing to the high point of the track winding round more great flowing single-track. It was then down gradually through berms, sandy patches and narrow single-track. Back up a fireroad for a few minutes before a short fast technical downhill. Flat riding around the backside of the hill and after some switchbacks and a few chutes in front of the spectators it was through the finish line for yet any 3 laps.
For me it went pretty well. 1st lap was hard. It seems to always take me a while to warm up. 2nd lap was not so good due to issues with bottles flying out of my cages again. It seems to be the Don’s Bike Shop bottles. They are soft and ok on the road bikes but when on the dirt they can’t hang with it. 3rd lap was a good time. A few duals going on with some of the fast guys that started in a category after me. Last lap was an effort, starting to cramp near the end though I held it together well and finished in 6th place. It was cool catching up to Lisa. Our girl rider in the Don’s Team. She finished 4th in her class and Jeff managed to get a photo on course with both of us in the frame. So I did much better than last time but the guy that has now won both races in my category was 12min ahead. He is dam fast and I doubt I can even come close to being near him. Still my goal of top 5s is looking a little more likely now.
That afternoon after the race I also headed out for a road ride with Lee and Derek up the big hill to Angelus Oaks. I wanted to do this because I have not been doing enough endurance training. Just no time and the first of the big mountain centuries on the road bike is in a couple of weeks. Yikes. Anyway it was one tough day with the race then this ride. I was stuffed and the legs were dead. Still that’s what it’s all about aye. No pain no gain.
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