2014 Old Cazadero Grasshopper

[Jim Hewett]

January was a pretty low month for me.  I was sick for a bit and spent a lot of time out of town working.  Despite the all-time-great winter riding conditions in Marin, I had not been able to ride as much as I would have liked.  Of course, the first Grasshopper Adventure Series race of 2014 caught most riders in a relatively unfit period.  This is my favorite 'Hopper of the year and always brings out a large, enthusiastic, and diverse crowd.  Roadies, mountain bike racers, and 'cross guys were all there on their ideal Old Caz steeds.  Is it faster to ride a mountain bike with small tires or a road bike with 28c tires?  Perhaps a 'cross bike is the best mix of the two?  Once again, I chose a 16lb carbon 29er mountain bike with a carbon rigid fork.  For tires, I went with fast-rolling and decent volume instead of grippy.  I ran a Schwalbe Furious Fred rear with a Maxxis Maxxlite front at 29 and 27psi.  My drivetrain was a 38 tooth front ring with a 10-42 11 speed cassette in the rear.  Regardless of your weapon of choice, it was going to come down to fitness, toughness, and luck.

I rode up from Marin with Phil Mooney and Shiloh Kantz.  Shiloh has done a lot of mountain biking and recently bought his first road bike;  Phil just retired from pro road racing and is looking to try his hand at some mountain bike racing.  We represented the gamut of bike choices, with Shiloh on a Trek Domane, Phil on a Jamis carbon 'cross bike, and me on a rigid Highball.  We had a lot of fun discussing previous 'Hoppers and possible scenarios for the day:  who was going to be there?   Would there be ice on Willow Creek Rd?  Would Austin Creek be low enough to ride?  Would this be fun or just painful?

The weather was cold at the start, but I lined up without knee warmers or arm warmers.  We would be starting up Coleman Valley Rd from Occidental, which is a steep paved road that would warm us very quickly.  It was great to see so many familiar faces, but I have to admit that I did not know most of the 400 riders in the sold out field.  I took my place up in the third row or so and prepared myself for the first intense effort in 6 weeks.

The pace up Coleman Valley Rd was fast but not so bad.  We topped out in a large group and rolled over to Willow Creek.  I must have gone into Willow Creek around 8th.  We blasted down the loose and dry fireroad in pretty much single file.  I passed Ben Capron as he came to a stop with a mechanical problem.  Some positions were exchanged, but I kept it conservative, anticipating that the group would come back together at the bottom.  As the terrain leveled, I found myself in a group with Stettina, Leipheimer, Fant, Zanetti, Vigus, Finnerty, Kilun, Hosey, Kessler, and a couple other guys.  It wasn't long before we saw a chase group in the rear-view, but we kept on the gas a little and they did not catch us until we were onto 116 on our way to Duncan Rd.  Once they caught us, we had a long paceline and took turns working.  I tried to stay near the front as we neared Duncan Rd and made the left in a good position.  We all geared down and started the real climbing.  Through the gate the group dwindled a little.  More people fell off the pace a little on the descent.  Kabush was a little slow on a road bike, but hanging in there.  I made it around him and tried to use the advantage I had on the dirt descent. I found myself in the top 5 as we headed over to Cherry Rd and the Cazadero climbing.

Once we started the long paved climb, the front group was decided and we had come back together.  Stettina, Leipheimer, Kabush, and Kessler pulled away as Hosey, Vigus, Finnerty, Kilun and I dialed it back a little.  The front four slowly pulled out of sight and the rest of us sort of stayed together up the steep paved climbs and over the rolling climbs to the fireroad that descends to Austin Creek.  The other four made it around the gate ahead of me, but I soon passed Kilun and Finnerty.  I also passed Kessler on the side of the road with a flat tubular tire;  he was out of the race.  Finnerty overtook me before the creek, which I was able to ride across with no problem (quite different from some years, where you must wade across with water up to your thighs).  Hosey, Finnerty, Vigus and I regrouped for the dirt climb after the creek, but Kilun wasn't with us anymore.  We did see him a bit later on a big steep switchback on the climb.  He was about 25 seconds back and we weren't waiting up.

We descended to the Osmo feed station, grabbed some fresh Osmo Hydration and started the long, relatively flat pavement section that would return us to Willow Creek.  Working together in a strong headwind, we were well behind the lead group of three but far enough ahead of any chase group that there was no one in sight as we made the left on Highway 1 and then the left on Willow Creek Rd.  We slowed a little in anticipation of the climbing that was coming.  Once we hit the dirt climb, Finnerty went to the front and drove the pace.  Vigus fell off as Hosey, Finnerty and I kept it steady.  Eventually, Hosey made a little attack.  I matched it but Finnerty faded a bit and fell back.  I stayed just behind Hosey for awhile.  I should have been steeling myself for a savage attack to close the gap and break his spirit, but all I could seem to think about was eating a bag of chips at the finish line...never a good sign.

Hosey kept it up and eventually pulled away from me, getting out of sight.  I kept a healthy gap on Finnerty and we rolled up in that order to finish and enjoy some Osmo Recovery, Coke and chips.  I finished 5th on the day, which was a good enough result for me with my current lack of fitness.  We all talked and greeted the riders that we knew as they finished.  Stories of missed turns, flats, crashes, suffering and general adventure were told as we all enjoyed the gathering of the clans that is the Old Cazedero Grasshopper.