California Mountain Bike Race Series- Hoot Trail

[Michael Koppe]

  I left early from San Rafael to arrive in time to do a practice lap of the Hoot Trail. My start time was 10:00 AM for the over 60 category but I needed to be there by 8:00 to squeeze in a practice lap. As I have gotten older I prefer a practice lap to gain confidence in the course. The course was in great condition due to the recent rains, but regardless I managed to wash out on one of the berms and slam to the ground. Nothing serious in terms of injuries, but I felt embarrassed since the course is non technical. My new ACME kit went about 2 miles before being covered in brown dust.  Upon my return Jim gave me good advice about how to enter the turns with berms which proved helpful during the race. (Brake before, enter high, and pedal out)

  At the start there were 9 riders in my group including Frank Winters from Susanville who won the last race. He is very strong and I am sure he will be the eventual overall winner in our category. At the start I tried not to be complacent in the beginning since I only race 2 laps. It is easy to be complacent since the course is so much fun. After I passed a couple of racers I found myself behind 2 riders who were riding at my pace. Suddenly the lead rider crashed in a sandy portion of the trail and took out the second rider. I slowed to see if they were OK but they exchanged words and seemed to be irritated at each other and not seriously hurt. To his credit the second rider passed me about 20 minutes latter and eventually finished third in our category. I could see him periodically in the distance but could not gain ground.

   I felt like I rode the flow sections well although I landed on my front wheel a couple of times where there were double berms. I could not commit to jumping the gap and was thankful for the dropper post on the landings. In the end I finished in 4th place with a time of 1hr 22 mins. I was 20 seconds out of 3rd place. So now I have a 3rd and 4th place in the race series. Upon my return I saw Jim preparing for his start and wearing new blue shoes which nearly match the blue in the ACME kit. He looked sharp and fast. As it turns out he came in 1st in the pro category. As I get older and sign up for Medicare next month, the three words I hear the most are "for his age"- as in Mike is really fast for his age. Jim seems to be avoiding those three little words. He is just fast. Mike