Mark Gibson's Blog – May 2017 Archive (5)

This was the 3rd and final installment in this excellent series of races held in Nevada County which, this year, are being used as the California State Championship.  I had won the last 2 races (Cat 1, 40-49), and so had a healthy points lead in the State Champs competition, albeit one which could be overhauled if I didn't get a decent result in this final leg.  This race would be 4 laps of riding the "Hallelujah" and "Pioneer" trails--some typical fast flowy mostly buff Nevada County…

For the 4th? time this season, I was racing an event that I'd not entered before.  This was the 2nd year of the Old Cabin Classic (has it really earned the right to call itself a "classic" yet?).  Having pre-ridden the course a couple weeks ago, part of me was really looking forward to this race as it includes some truly spectacular ribbons of singletrack.  Another part of me was a little anxious.  It's a solid course: three laps of ~11.5 miles each, with plenty of climbing (~1,600/lap); and…

The number of racers attending this week was down a little from previous weeks.  This was due to there being no middle school race this week (every other week for the middle schoolers); and the fact that the High School racers who have been coming out to race were either up in Petaluma pre-riding the course where the High School League State Champs will be taking place this Sunday; or maybe just resting ahead of that race.

Last week's shorty race had seen…

Race #2 is held on some private land on Osborne Hill owned by the Sanchez family, and the prior weekend was the scene of "The Dirty Sanchez Enduro".  The place is a mountain biker's paradise.  Since it's on private property, there was no pre-riding (at least…

With temps today getting up into the 90s, the pain cave that is the shorty race was about to get even deeper.  In addition to dealing with the heat, there were a number of very good Varsity and JV racers showing up for the first time, as well as the regulars, to ensure that the pace would be even more frenetic than usual.  With the last NorCal race of the season done the past weekend, and State Champs coming up in less than two weeks, a lot of these kids, who are already very fast to begin…