CA Dirt MTB #5 Sugar Bowl

[Dave Benjamin]

   After only  being able to race one of the first 4 races in this series (Sea Otter), I decided to sign up for this race held at the Sugar Bowl ski resort near Donner Summit.  My son, Carson, had registered and pre ridden the course the prior week.  Based on his assessment, the trails were tight and fun, with only one extended climb and a total of about 400 feet per lap in the five lap race.  It turned out a week of dry weather and three waves of racers had reduced all the tight corners to a fine, powdery dust.  

   We had arrived a couple hours prior to the noon start with hopes of pre riding the course, but we weren't allowed to  with the CAT 2 wave going off.  I got in a few miles on the road and was feeling the thin air on any hard efforts.  

I watched Carson take off with the Pro field in about fourth place down the parking lot start lap.  About 2 minutes later I see him walking his bike back with his chain in his hand - not a good sign!  As he searched out a fix for the chain, our 50+ field got set.  I was next to teammate Greg Alsterlind and down the row was Redwood Racing parent/coach Duane Coughlan.  Just as the we started, my Garmin decided to power down then wouldn't start.  I rolled out through the parking lot in last place trying to restart the Garmin and gave up just as we hit the dirt and the first washed out corner.  The amount of dust coming off the riders in front of me totally obscured my view of the corners for the first half of the lap, making for some hesitant riding on my part.  I managed to get by one rider as he bobbled on a corner and spent the rest of the first lap following a Roaring Mouse rider.  On the second lap I decided I could push a little harder and got by Roaring Mouse and another rider from earlier heat.  By lap 3 I could see Greg up ahead and made it my goal to try and catch him by the next lap.  I seemed to gain a little ground on the twisties and then lose ground on the fire road climb, but part way through the 4th lap I had caught up.  We were a few seconds apart staring the 5th and last lap.  My goal was to hang with Greg on the long climb this time and see what happened.  The climb came and I red lined it (luckily no Garmin to show my HR).  As we traversed across the top of the course, Greg saw the rider he was competing with for the overall title far up ahead.  Suddenly, I've gone from being 20 feet back to 20 yards back, as Greg sprinted to catch the rider ahead.  I tried to counter the attack, but the last climb had finished me off and I came through in 7th place (out of 9) in 2:00:52.    While the all the corners were blown out, I still enjoyed the course and the technical aspect it added to the race.  Thanks to daughter Kate for the bottle feeds, they were much needed!  

   Team Acme Bikes was well represented with Jim Hewett in the pro field, Mark Buell in 40-49 and Greg and myself in the 50+.  

   Also great to have Redwood Racing represented with Coach Duane Coughlan, his son Toby CAT 1 15-18, and Sean Middleton 1st Place CAT 1 15-18.  Thanks to Sean's Dad, Patrick for all the encouragement!