Annadel XC: 2nd Place, Pro Men

[Carson Benjamin]

I had learned my lesson from my race in Downieville the previous weekend and budgeted enough time for a thorough warm-up and pre-ride snack to keep my glycogen stores topped off. I finished my last efforts with a few minutes to spare before charging up Violetti Fire Road into the park. 

Xander Sugarman took the lead off the line, followed closely by myself and teammate Jim. The opening climb up Violetti is covered in loose rocks with only a single rideable line in most places, which made positioning critical. Xander put in a massive effort to try to escape, but I was the only one to hold onto his wheel into the Cobblestone descent. 

My strategy was to allow Xander to lead into the descents, follow his lines, and push him to make a mistake. This went out the window when I dropped my chain halfway down the descent due to a combination of rough terrain and suspension compression. To make matters worse, I then half-launched myself over my handlebars while attempting to sprint out of a corner. Jim, Sam Bassetti, and Shane Bresnyan passed me while I replaced it.

A few more foot-out bobbles in rocks along Channel trail slowed down my chase back to the front, but I was well-positioned at the bottom of the Warren Richardson fire road climb to catch up to Xander and Sam Bassetti. Phil Mooney also caught up to me and immediately started to close down the gap. I had pushed a little too hard after dropping my chain and had to ease my pace by the halfway point of the climb or risk imploding. 

I was riding the fast, rocky descents as well as I could while I was struggling to see out of my glasses and my muscles were deprived of oxygen. The dropper post on my bike helped me ride just smoothly enough to avoid flatting. Jason King caught up to me on the South Burma trail climb, and I used the sight of his wheel in front of me as a carrot on a stick. 

We stuck together until the Lawndale descent, where I put a small gap between myself and Jason and also passed Phil, who had a puncture while in the lead. Jason led up the Schultz climb, while Phil was never completely out of sight. I noticed Jason was struggling with the exceptionally rocky sections of trail, both climbing and descending, so I planned to attack on Ridge trail and use the terrain to escape. I never had a chance to do this, because Jason moved over before the turn onto Ridge and let me around him. I suppose he wanted to follow my lines through the rocks and roots, but I quickly created a gap anyways.

About halfway up the trail I saw Sam Bassetti hunched over his bike with cramps, advancing me into 2nd place! I heard a bike hitting the ground a few seconds later as Phil attempted to pass Jason on a rocky corner and made a mistake. All I had to do was hold off Jason until the finish, and I would have my best ever finish in the Pro race at Annadel.

Jason pushed hard to catch me, but my legs responded better than they had all day and I time-trialed to the finish line, only about 20 seconds behind Xander. I was a little stunned that I had somehow managed 2nd place after a race full of mishaps and iffy sensations. I could have ridden a better race in many regards, but it was still good enough to finish on the podium.