Chileno Valley Road 'Hopper

[Carson Benjamin]

The Grasshopper Adventure Series’ Chileno Valley Road ‘Hopper was another opportunity to gain some fitness and load up on training fatigue before starting the true mountain bike race season of the spring and summer. Grasshoppers bring out all of Northern California’s racing talent, and this weekend was no exception. Road racers Peter Stentina of Trek-Segafredo, Zeke Mostov, Cameron Beard, Sam Bassetti, Chris Harland-Dunaway, and Gavin Murray were all in attendance. Being a mountain bike racer who has never actually done real road racing, I felt out of place on the start line. However, my self-doubt disappeared as soon as the group departed and turned up Coleman Valley to leave Occidental. 

A group of about 40 racers came to the front, and we quickly separated ourselves from the rest of the field on a series of punchy climbs and steep, potholed descents to Highway 1. Once on the coast, our group came together and a paceline formed to fight through the crosswind coming off the ocean. everything was pretty clam, with the exception of a few failed attacks that were chased down. 

Once the group turned off Highway 1 and onto farm roads, Stentina moved to the front and proceeded to smash every single climb. The group shattered, and I was able to stay in contact with the racers close behind him until I was gapped off by a slow car before the final climb leading into Tomales. Three riders and myself decided to work together to bridge the 30 second gap in hope of making contact before the Marshall Wall. We were in no-man’s land, and catching the front of the race seemed like a better alternative to waiting minutes for another chasing group. 

My group made contact a quarter mile before Marshall, but I never made it, unfortunately. A few cars were slowed down (<15 mph) behind a group of elderly cyclists at the edge of the road, which the front of the race had just passed. I was last in line to pass the cars, when I glanced over my shoulder, looked forward, and saw that the truck at the end of the line had completely stopped in the lane. I was traveling at about 30mph, and only avoided slamming into the truck’s bumper by veering across the road, off the pavement, somehow back onto the road, then into the oncoming lane of traffic to avoid the next car. It’s as close to a near-death experience as I’ve ever come. While in disbelief and shock, I let the group get away.

All of the adrenaline running through my body made me feel sick, so I rode tempo up the Wall, and through the Marshall Valley until I was caught by the next chasing group. The group stayed together for the next 40 miles to the bottom of Joy Road. I felt the telltale precursors to leg cramps while climbing Hicks Valley Road, and both legs simultaneously gave out as soon as the Joy climb began. Despite drinking five and a half bottles in under four hours, my body isn't used to riding at such a high intensity for that duration of time. I was definitely the strongest rider in my group, and would have been able to ride away from them an hour earlier. I fought through my cramps, which had spread from my adductors to calves, to hamstrings, by using the “paperboy” method of zig-zagging up steep pitches of climbs. I started making progress and catching riders, but was caught before the line to finish16th overall. 

This Grasshopper was one of the hardest days on a bike I’ve ever had. Despite not having experience to read the race like everyone racing around me, I still put in a respectable result, which propelled me to 2nd Overall in the Grasshopper Series standings. Depending on how my training and race schedule shakes out in the next months, I may decide to contest enough races to chase the overall victory. 

[Mark Ingwersen]

Scary road moments! Glad you made it through safely to a strong finish.