Chileno Valley Grasshopper

[Ryan Gibson]

HOPPER! Wow, what a great event! I have raced many XC events, a CX, a Super D, and several other big road events (some timed) (e.g. Death Ride, Ride Across Indiana), and the Chileno Valley Grasshopper was right up there in terms of EPIC fun. A combination of amazingly beautiful scenery, tough climbing, super fun descents, and some REALLY fast guys (Trek Bear development team, Berry Farms development team, Mikes Bikes road team and others, including top pros) made for a great day of comradery and competition.

 

Ten days prior to the event I had no intention of doing it. A friend suggested it and we spontaneously road from Novato the Sunday prior and covered the entire route plus some (around 100mi, 8000'). I owe this guy a beer or ten. Having never done a Grasshopper event, I didn’t know what I was missing. While I have been training pretty good lately and starting to think about being race ready for my first planned race March 10 (Cool XC race), I had not trained for this sort of a long big effort, but did another 70mi hard ride Tuesday and just a short 22 miler on Thursday to try and have some recovery in my legs for the 80 miles and 7500' of suffering ahead. Saturday morning arrived; I had an early breakfast, and felt good.

 

My goal for the event, considering it would be well attended by some pro roadies, mountain bikers and other fast hardmen, was to stay with the front group till the final miserable climb to the finish on Joy Rd....and then see what was left. I rode up with a good friend that is just getting into road biking (really fast on the dirt up and down) and one of his buddies, and saw a lot of friends and three teammates at the race (Jim Hewitt, who wore the leaders jersey, Carl Sanders and Paul Montgomery). As I lined up in the Pro-Cat 1/2 (road categories) area I started to have some doubts. Looking around all I see is veined out super fit super thin animals chomping at the bit...I don’t feel at home and think I might be in the wrong group-this is mostly because I was a mid-pack Cat 2 XC racer in 2011 and am still a little uncomfortable with seeing myself in this category of riders. It feels strange lining up next to Fast Freddie Rodriguez, Jim Hewitt, Mark Weir, Jason Moeschler, Ben Capron, Michael Zanetti, etc. Anyway, I did a very easy and short warm up, 10am comes and 400 of us roll out from Occidental en mass...

 

Immediately the ride starts with a pretty steep climb up to Coleman Valley, which I think catches many off guard and feels way too early to push hard into zone 5...what the heck, I feel pretty good and know staying with the lead pack here is critical, so I work hard and the pack breaks up a bit.

 

Getting up to plateau rollers includes a few dips with rough pavement and sketchy corners. I have used the water bottle cages I have on my bike for thousands of miles with many different bottles, including those I am using this day, and never bounced a bottle out. After the first dip with really rough pavement I look down and have lost a bottle. F&*%. Don’t know why-maybe the slick cleaner I used got on the cage arms-but this bad, considering I am 10 mins in to a two hour+ effort before the feed station with Osmo at the top of Wilson Hill. Don’t panic, you can make it on one bottle. Five minutes later on the top of Coleman Valley on the rollers I hit another rough patch of pavement following others riders toward the front of the lead pack and F*(#, my other bottle bounces out going 40mph+ and rolls way off the road. Crisis mode. What to do. Considering limping back to Novato after Marshall Wall and calling it a day, or stopping at the Marshall Store to buy a bottle of water (except I don’t have any cash or cc on me). I sit up a bit and work my way back in the lead pack knowing I cannot continue to hammer with no water. The moto-pace is there and with fear in my eyes I ask him if he has any extra water...nope. I keep pedaling and am rolling along with the lead pack searching for a way to continue on. Moments later he rolls back up alongside me and hands me HIS water bottle, about 20oz of plain good ole H20. SAVED. This guy is my hero, and I later find him back in town and literally give him a hug. If you see Roger at another event (on a moto with two wheels up front, one in the back), give him some love. While I definitely would have downed two bottles over the first half, doing it on one and collecting two at the feed station is doable...I surge on with renewed confidence.

 

As the lead group of around 50 riders begins to get to the last of the rollers before the descent to Hwy 1, trucking between 30-40mph we come up on a HERD of sheep completely blocking the road. I had seen sheep on the road side of the fence in the same place the week prior so was not surprised to see them, but it was a herd of 20 or so sheep completely blocking our way. They get spooked and start booking down the road, totally freaked out, looking for a place to duck in and get off the road. Think of how fast you think a sheep can run...and double that-that is how fast these guys were running for their lives. About a half mile and they finally find a break in the fence at a farmhouse and run off. That was interesting. The group slowed and has bunched back up to a giant group of 75 or so. Off down the fast and sketchy descent.

 

From here on out it was pretty much a lesson in road racing tactics, without much organization or purpose though, as there just wasn’t a group of enough riders communicating about a large break to make one. The front would sprint and then sit up, sprint and then sit up. While it likely spit a few off the back, the pack generally stayed together down one into Bodega and then Valley Ford. In Valley Ford I think is when two packs of three riders made successful breaks, never to be seen again. Turns out it was a pretty esteemed group, including Freddie Rodriguez (these ended up finishing around 5-7 minutes ahead of the larger "lead" group first finishers). I might have tried to follow if there were a few more, but I knew going with three guys would mean I would have to do lots of work and didn’t want to chance not having it in me. I stayed put with the rest of the lead group, minus the breaks.

 

Same ole same old down to Marshall. I pulled more than many, certainly not the most, but with the water fiasco I needed to conserve a bit too. The Marshall Wall is up next, a tough climb I have done many times and I know the flat breaks (x2) in the middle. This is a good place for an attack, and I can feel it coming. I kick and stay with the group of 30-40 or so that make a break. This was smart. What I did next was not, and I learned a good lesson from it. I continued kicking to the top, leading the group of 30-40 or more, but a smaller group did not break off. I was hoping 6-7 strongmen would reach the top and descend well to distance and separate the larger group. Wrong. We got to the top and a few guys came around...I tucked in hoping this would work, only to find myself having to ride the brakes the whole way down. This is a no-brake descent, but if you don’t know it and are not a strong descender it obviously is not. We get to the bottom and the whole group is still there with us. Waste of a big effort for nothing. I could have gone off the back on the climb and easily caught them on the descent. Oh well.

 

Off to Wilson Hill and another attack to the top sheds a few guys. The feed was like a miracle oasis, I was very ready for water. The Osmo folks were great, thanks! I took one of their bottles and my bottle left with them before the start. There were a lot of people scrambling not to lose the group and it was a bit of a clustermess. I bobbled my clip in and getting "my" second bottle took a little time, so I had to push down the descent hard to just barely bridge the lead group, now around 15 riders, as they headed out Chileno Valley Rd. From here to the final climb up Joy Rd to the finish it is a moderate pace and a moderate climbs. No one wants to organize an attack, other than the occasionally one or two guys that quickly get pulled back in. I am feeling okay, but the less than optimal hydration and a tough ride is starting to give me the cramp tickles. I do my best to be smooth and efficient.

 

Joy Rd., a widowmaker, is upon us. Probably 25 or so of us now. This is a ITT of suffering to the top and I look inside and ignore what others are doing...tactics don’t matter now, you either have it or you don’t. Go too hard too early and you could find yourself walking up or crying on the side of the road. I was having moderate alternating cramps in the quads and hamstrings that came and went the whole climb up, but no sustained cramps and I was able to work through them without injuring my leg muscles (feel fine today, the day after). I think I fared better than most on this final climb, although I certainly got dropped by a few. I was most encouraged to see my teammate, Jim Hewitt, not more than a hundred or so yards ahead (he took second in the first Hopper and is super strong). It was a grind to the top.

 

Rolling across the finish in 20th at a time of 3:48:48, about 10mins down from winner Jonathan Teeter. I downed a Coke, some Osmo recovery drink and reveled in the day with friends before heading back down to Occidental for lunch at the Fork Catering truck and more storytelling with other riders. All in all a GREAT EPIC day in the saddle. I am hoping to do more of these in the future for sure.

 

Full results here ->http://www.racesplitter.com/races/A34343752

 

 

 

[Jim Hewett]

Great ride, Ryan.  I think you're going to have a great break-out year.

[Adam Nuyens]

Way to go, Ryan. I enJOYed the write-up!

[Ryan Gibson]

Thanks guys, appreciate the encouragement!

[Carl Sanders]

Nice report, great ride! Excellent season kick-off!