Cool Mountain Bike Race 2013

[Jim Hewett]

The Cool Mountain Bike Race is usually Team Summit Bicycles' first priority race of the year.  It happens kind of early, which means the weather can be unpredictable.  This year there was no snow or rain, only sunny skies and temperatures in the 50s.

Training has been going well for me, though I raced last weekend at the TBF race at Granite Bay and finished off of the podium.  It was a good workout, but I fell off of the train on the fast and relatively flat course and couldn't get back on.  The high end is still being developed and, until it comes around, there is no room for mistakes.  Billy Damon, Cody Kaiser and Jared Kessler were in fine form and flying on the familiar course, and I figured at least a couple of them would be at Cool.

The weather was perfect, and conditions were great.  There were some mud bogs, as always, but 98% of the course was plenty dry and fast.  The pro class is open to any interested racers, so there were 11 of us, probably more than half of which are USAC Cat 1.  Kevin Smallman and Jason Moeschler were there, looking out of place at this pure XC race in their "enduro" costumes.  Clint Claasen came out on his Tallboy.  There were a few guys in the Folsom Bike/Giant kits:  Billy Damon, Jared Kessler, and Ron Shevok.  They had worked together very well the week before at Granite Bay and I knew they would be gunning for all three podium spots.

I was racing my Highball with a 34 x 11-36 singe ring drivetrain.  I had rebuilt my SID World Cup the day before and I made sure to install fresh brake pads.  I opted for a pretty fast rolling, though fairly fragile, tire combo - Schwalbe Rocket Ron front at 25 psi and Maxxis Ikon rear at 26 psi.  The bike weighed in at 19 lbs even.

I got the hole shot and rode in front for a few minutes.  As we hit the mellow climbs on the fireroad, Damon, Kessler, and Shevok caught up to me.  When we reached the top of the first gradual climb, I pulled around to the front for the rocky fireroad descent.  Kessler and Damon were both on full suspension bikes and Kessler came around me just before Clint Claasen appeared going very fast on his Tallboy.  Clint was on the scene about 20 seconds before he flatted his rear right in front of me.  I narrowly avoided hitting him, with Damon right behind me, as he tried to keep his bike under control with the rear tire completely off of the rim.  We made it around safely and closed the gap to Kessler, with Shevok in hot pursuit behind us.

The next bit is very fast and pretty rocky fireroad stuff.  We crossed a few creeks and climbed some steady but not too sustained climbs.  Damon and Kessler got a little gap on me halfway through the first lap and I was riding into a bit of wind alone about 200 feet back.  They took turns and seemed to be working together well.  I think I was bringing them back a little on the climbs, but not so much on the flats and the downhills.  We crossed the big mud bog before the last steep climb at the end of the lap and I was able to close the gap and get back on by the time we went through the finish area and out for lap two of three.

My heart rate had been consistently just above threshold, but I was feeling pretty good and not wasting too much energy.  We stayed together for more than the first half of lap two and a glance back on the open course led me to believe that we would be the top three finishers.  They both slowed a little on the flat and rolling fireroads and I tested a little on the climbs.  It seemed Kessler was feeling it more on the uphills and Damon pulled away a little on one gradual climb.  I closed the gap, but Kessler did not.  By the time Damon noticed that his teammate had fallen off, we were hundreds of feet ahead.  I came around him after a bit and pushed the pace a little to make sure our lead would stick.

We took turns, but I came through the finish area with the lead as we went out for our last lap.  Up 'till now, we had been doing something like 38 minute laps, which is very fast on this course, and I anticipated a personal course record.  Damon and I stayed together for the fireroads at the beginning, chatting a little.  I tested on a couple of climbs, looking for the right time to attack, but I could feel I didn't have the punch to really crack him.  I decided to bide my time and try to strike on the last steep climb after the mud bog.  I made a good pass in the soupy mud hole and got back on the dirt ahead of Damon.  Only a few minutes left on the course, and I had to make my move on this climb.  I tried to kick it in, but he stayed on me and actually came around me at the top.  I stuck to him across the singletrack to the finish, getting a little slowed by some lapped traffic.  He finished about 5 seconds ahead and I rolled across the line in second with a time of 1:54.

A great day of racing.  Though I like to win, this is a bit more satisfying than when I have won here in the past riding the last lap alone.  Average speed of 15.4 mph, which is fast for a mountain bike race with 3,500 feet of elevation gain over 30 miles.