Acme Shorty #4

[Mark Gibson]

There was a really good turn out of "A" category racers this week, with lots of blazing fast High School racers, who are all in good form right now being in between the NorCal Champs race last weekend, and State Champs coming up in 10 days. Amongst these were San Marin rider Sebastian Dow who just finished 3rd overall for the season in Varsity and is looking good for a podium finish at State Champs; Sean Middleton, Redwood, who's crushed his competition in every single High School race this season, won the NorCal Champs, and is a good bet to win State Champs; Dylan Anderson (Redwood) and Otis Lyons (Drake) who are very strong top 10 Varsity riders; my team mate Wilson Perry (San Marin), who's crushing it in JV this year; Robert Raffo (San Rafael) sitting in the top 5 overall for JV; and Santiago Maldonado Sciutti who not only has the best name in the entire HS league, but who's the overall leader of the Sophomore category. So, a great turnout, and we were only missing Phil Mooney, who was unable to race this week as he was on babysitting duty.....
Now, this was kind of a crazy race this week for a couple reasons. First, the head wind going up the climb was absolutely brutal, one of the strongest I can remember. Second, riders were going down, left, right, and center. It was carnage out there. Sebastian was the first to spill, apparently ripping his leotard, err, skinsuit, in the process. But it seems it was contagious, with both Otis and Santi getting overly familiar with the dirt also......
Anyway, lining up at the start was the usual jostle to get a good position with Jim using some well placed dry humor to "suggest" that anyone who was not likely to finish at the front might want to reconsider whether they should be starting at the front.....
After a bit of a reshuffle, and with the usual absolutely terrible 80's music blaring, Jim got us underway. Otis got a great start and moved to the front. I had a hard time clipping in, and had to battle Wilson for next slot, just getting there ahead of him. I think Sebastian also had some difficulty getting clipped in and ended up a place or two back with Dylan, Robert, Sean and Santiago right there also. Somewhere along the singletrack on that 1st lap, Sebastian had a spill, losing a few seconds and a few places. Going up the climb, I sheltered in behind Otis as much as I could, and then took the lead at the top of the climb and going into the 2nd lap. Otis was right behind me going into the singletrack on lap 2, but then he crashed and lost a bunch of time on that lap. Sebastian put in a huge effort on the climb, making back up the few seconds he had lost on the 1st lap, and going up to the front near the top of the climb. By that point, there were about 6 of us in a lead group, with Sean, Dylan, Wilson, and Robert all still right there behind Sebastian and me.
On the 3rd lap, we dropped Robert and Santi, so were now down to a group of 4 (Santi crashed on lap 4 or 5 and was not able to finish). Sebastian put in a strong effort at the start of the climb. He gapped me enough that I was out in the wind, and I had to dig in but made it back to him by the top of the climb dragging the other 2 with me. I went around him at the top of the climb, knowing that I was faster on the singletrack downhill and could use that to gain a few seconds on him before the next climb when he would try to gap me again and make it stick.
Sure enough the small lead I had at the end of the downhill was enough to allow me to conserve a little on the first part of the climb, and then get in behind Sebastian and Sean on the 2nd half of the climb. Dylan was sitting right in behind me, riding smart and staying out of the wind, saving his energy to try and make his move around me on the last lap.
The 5th lap was similar, except this time I had no gap at the start of the climb, and Sebastian and Sean got away from me, probably 8 seconds in front at the top of the climb. By the time we hit the singletrack again on the last lap, I had reeled them in. At that point, I was a few seconds ahead of Dylan, but Sebastian and Sean were going pretty slow down the singletrack, which allowed Dylan to get back on my wheel. We hit the climb, and Sebastian and Sean gapped me. I knew I wouldn't get back up to them. Dylan was doing the smart thing, sheltering behind me, getting ready to make his move near the top of the climb. After 20 minutes of hammering I was feeling it and not sure I would be able to hold him off. Near the top he made his move and started to pass on the inside line. I thought he had me, but one last little dig got me to the top just about a wheel ahead of him, and I was able to hold it down to the finish.
Sebastian came in 1st, with Sean 5 seconds back, me 8 seconds further back, and Dylan 5 seconds back from me. Otis finished strong, just 20 seconds back from Dylan, but the crash on his 2nd lap ruled him out of what would have been a really tight race between him, Sebastian, and Sean.
My finishing time of 22:13 was the slowest of the 4 races so far, but that's not surprising given the brutal headwinds.
Thanks as always to Jim and Scott of Acme Bikes for organizing this awesome local race series. Grass roots racing at its best!