Bay Area Super Prestige #1

[Jim Hewett]

After straining my calf at CCCX #4 last week, I didn't hold much hope for racing the first of the BASP races.  I was on crutches Monday, then shuffling around without them Tuesday and Wednesday.  Thursday I rode a bike for the first time with minimal pain, though I couldn't really drop my heal.  Running was out of the question, but riding was manageable.  Friday was a little better, and walking up stairs only hinted at the possibility of sharp pain.  I decided to take it easy Saturday and take my chances at the race on Sunday.  The motivation was to try to manage a top 10 finish in order to get a good call up at the next BASP race, and to avoid aggravating my injury.  And to have fun.

This was my first time riding at Candlestick Point.  I got there early enough to get a couple of pre-ride laps.  There wasn't much climbing - I think the "Bridge of Sighs" was the single largest elevation gain.  The course had lots of loose corners, two barrier sections, and a short, steep loose climb.  The barriers were pretty low, and I intended to jump them every lap.  I figured staying on the bike would be less risky for my calf than jumping over them on foot, which was the cause of the initial strain.

I made it over to the start line early, but there was already a crowd.  Since I didn't race 'cross at all last year, I had no standing in the BASP series - thus no callup.  I ended up in the 20s, right next to Tobin, about 4 rows back. 

As we stood on the start line, just after 1:30 in the afternoon, it dawned on me that we were going to have unseasonably warm weather for San Francisco in October.  NorCal 'cross racing!

The gun went off and Tobin pulled a slick move around a couple of whole rows on the right.  I accelerated and started looking for holes.  I was surprised how easily I was able to move up, going inside on a few corners and hopping the barriers in the midst of a crowd.  By the end of the first lap I was in the top ten and not feeling any real pain from my calf.

I started picking off racers one at a time.  I passed my friends Derek, Krishna, and Alex and eventually caught Tobin.  I was a bit surprised to find there were only two riders in front of us, Scott and Aaron.  It seemed like Scott was off the front a bit and Aaron was about 20 seconds in front of us.  Tobin and I are pretty evenly matched, so we rode along at a decent pace, trading places a few times, opening and closing small gaps.  We both hopped the barriers and perfected the corners.  I guess we were measuring each other a little, but also marking time until the suffering that would be trying to kill each other on the last lap.  Scott and Aaron stayed ahead of us, and 5th place stayed behind.  The announcer tried to create some drama by noting that we were about on the opposite ends of the Elite racer spectrum - 17 year old vs. racing age 40 - but we were just two guys racing bikes.

I prepared myself for the last lap, planning to go hard where I had seen I had the advantage and try to avoid a drag race on the paved flats at the end of the course.  As we came around one of the bumpy corners at the start of the lap, I heard Tobin go down right behind me and I kicked her in the guts.  He was up and back on the bike pretty quickly, but we both knew it was over.  I had about 10 seconds on him and kept the hammer down well enough to cruise into the finish by myself in third place.

[Paul Montgomery]

Even with one bad leg..nice work!