Annadel XC 2016, 10th Masters 50+

[Dave Benjamin]

 I had made up my mind, I was going to finally race Annadel.  I had pre ridden the course the week before with Carson and came away knowing it was going to be a tough race.  The terrain is much rougher than most places in Marin and the three extended climbs would make or break the race.    

   Team Acme Bikes was well represented with Stephen Flynn,  Mark Ingwersen, Mark Buell, Greg Alsterlind and myself.  As Greg's and my Master 50+ group staged, Marc Kirberg asked why I wasn't on a full suspension rig, then proceeded to tell me I was in for a world of hurt.  Nothing I didn't already know, but still put a bit more doubt in my mind about the next 25 miles at race pace.   I had outfit my Highball hardtail with the new Fox Transfer dropper post to help with some of the steeper descents.  Our group was about 35 strong and we rolled out pretty fast in order to find a good line up the first climb.  As luck would have it I fell in behind two riders that had to dismount in the first 20 yards.  I hopped off and ran the next 20 yards past a few others before getting back on behind Marc K. Marc was in a hurry to catch back up to the lead group of probably 10 riders so I followed.  We caught Greg right before the first technical descent on Cobblestone.  A few seconds on the rough stuff and my chain jumped off onto my crank arm and wouldn't come back with easy pedalling.  As I moved off the trail to fix the chain, four or five riders got by me.  I managed to get by a couple of them before the road and the rest of them on the rolling single track along Channel Drive.  From there the first climb kicked in and my race consisted of passing Expert Women, Single Speeds and a couple of Experts from the earlier start waves. Despite not "racing" anyone, I still tried to convince myself to keep pushing and maybe I would catch at least one rider from my category.  As the race went on, it became clear my motivation was to not let the guys I passed in mile 2 catch me, but the rough trails had worked over my hands and arms pretty well.  I bounced slowly down the last rough downhill and went all out on the mostly flat 1/2 mile to the finish.  It turns out the sprint finish kept me in 10th place, as 11th was only about 15 seconds back.  Annadel was a great way to end the season, as Bike Monkey has this race dialed.  You can't beat a race that puts a cold beer in each hand and feeds you a hot lunch.  The topper was getting to enjoy it all with my Acme teammates and Carson at the end.