2018 CCCX #4 Fort Ord

[Mark Ingwersen]

With the California Dirt Series' first race cancelled due to weather, I'd stripped my Trek Top Fuel 9.8sl of its dropper post and mounted up a pair of Ardent Race 2.2 EXO's. Not the lightest or fastest hoops, though surely better than the winter set up I'd been on, I was confident I wouldn't be dealing with a puncture on this course. Pressures set at 25 psi seemed to be a good choice for the smooth trails. Two days before the race my dual fork/shock remote wasn't working again after having just bled it two weeks prior. With my 120mm RockShox SID adjusted to be fairly soft, having a functioning lock out is vital. I managed to fix that problem but ironically never used the lock out once since I was rarely out of the saddle at Fort Ord. Thinking back, I think I should have either locked out the suspension or run a firmer set up overall along with the frame's "flip chip" in the high position.

Though it was an exceptionally cold morning (the doors of my car were frozen shut) as Jim, Simon, Greg and I met up for the drive south, the temperatures climbed to perfect 50's by 11 am at Fort Ord. Ditching sleeves and leg warmers Greg, me and the other CAT 1 riders lined up behind the fast company of the pros. Barely 1 minute after their launch up the paved road, the whistle blew and we were off. A fair sized pack of 30+ riders jostling for position before the right then left onto the course, the speed was already quite fast considering there'd be nearly six laps of high speed chasing for about 30 miles of singletrack.

There wasn't much room to maneuver but I held a good line as we veered onto the trail from the road. I managed a couple of quick passes and grabbed onto a lead group of maybe 10 riders. It was a fast moving train and we were riding close, single file. Thankfully, I made mental notes of some sand pits during warm warm up laps and stayed out of trouble through the first half lap. I was trusting those in front to choose a clean line because I really couldn't see the trail among the tight, bush lined corners as we headed for the first bermed downhill. Just before we got to the fun stuff, the riders out front seemed to disappear and I was caught behind a moving road block. He was working way too hard and getting sloppy so I knew I'd have to make a fast, aggressive pass to not be part of a crash. As the trail opened up enough I powered by and gave chase to the leading riders not far ahead. Sand be damned. Just as I regrouped before a right hander I washed out in the soft stuff and went down. Angrily sharing my vocabulary with the world I yanked up my bike and jumped back on before anyone else caught up. Once again I gave chase. I managed to reach the group ahead once more but the sprinting was hard. I managed to stay with them past the future finish line and up the painfully long but shallow climb to where we'd first hit dirt a lap earlier. A rider dropped off the back and I passed him. This motivated me as I pushed hard to keep pace.

Normally I am pretty good about settling into a maintainable tempo, but this time I got it wrong. By now the lead group had gotten away and I was more or less solo as I pedaled uphill to begin the third lap, suffering from the hard efforts I made early on. As my tires scratched over the sandy trail floor I kept thinking someone was catching up to me; I tried to pick up the pace, but I realized it would be wasted energy so I focused on the various short descents that allowed me to gain ground on a few riders. These are some fun trails, so at least I was enjoying this part of the race! Lap races can be mentally challenging and this race was getting to me. As I passed the #4 lap card I felt spent. The last two laps were agony and my lap times clearly reflected my rapid decline. The wholly unimportant fact that I didn't get my Garmin started until half way into the race was distracting me almost as much as getting passed by riders I'd overtaken earlier. I still had some fire left, just not enough for any superhero moves and managed to keep going (I'm blatantly stealing here) "shut up legs!" and cruised into an uneventful finish for 5th place with Greg coming in sixth only seconds behind. Congratulations to Simon on his first place (sorry we couldn't see it live!) and Carson and Jim on their podium finishes!

My wife asked a good question when I got home: "was it worth it?" Well of course it was! Okay, so this one was a struggle and I expected to do better. BUT: I got to hang out with our ACME gang, ride new trails and add insight to a long list of things to be learned about mountain bike racing. I'd like to blame bike set up ("it wasn't the cape!") but since I am my own mechanic and pit crew that just comes back to me anyway. On my bike commute to work this morning, on the same bike I just raced, my frustration washed away and I started planning for next time.