Cyclocross Season Begins!

[Jim Hewett]

The NorCal cyclocross season began for me today with the first race of the Bay Area Super Prestige series at Candlestick Park.  I have been training for a couple of months and I had fun doing the DFL series over the last few weeks.  The fitness is coming along and today was the first real test.  This was also my first real race wearing the Osmo Hydration kit, as I am racing 'cross for them this Fall.  I'm using the Active Hydration and Acute Recovery, and also pre-fueling for the intense efforts with Preload Hydration.

I have ordered a Trek Crockett 7 disc cyclocross bike, but it won't be here until mid-October.  For this race I used my very familiar Santa Cruz Highball with a rigid fork set up as a 1x10 with a 38 tooth front ring.  The combination of the RaceFace Narrow/wide chainring and a SRAM Type 2 clutch-style rear deraileur have eliminated the need for a chain guide.  This was my first time racing on Maxxis Maxlite 29x2.0 tires (340g each!) which I had mounted to Stan's Crest rims at 22 psi front and 24 psi rear.  The total bike weight, with bottle cage and Garmin mount, was 16 lbs 2 oz.

The course had very little climbing, really just a few bumps and one loose, choppy runup.  There were two sections of barriers that were easily jumpable and a fast and flat gravel road to paved road right at the finish.  Most of the course was winding and bumpy, with "hurry up to slow down" corners that always kept you accelerating.

I arrived at the race early to pre-ride and get everything ready.  I tried my best to avoid all of the broken glass in the parking lot, but I somehow cut my rear tire on the course.  I went to my vehicle and put a tube in (the horror!), which necessitated a tire boot ($1 bill) and 35 psi.  I knew this wouldn't be as fast and grippy as the 24 psi I was running tubeless, but I had to avoid a pinch flat.  I saw a few other people with flats, so I made sure to get my backup bike over to the pit.  Unfortunately, the bike I had thrown together without much care for this purpose weighed over 20 lbs and had a Maxxis Ardent on the front.  This is the tire I raced for the Downieville All Mountain last year, so it was obviously overkill for a 'cross race, but it would be better than nothing in the event of a problem.

I had a second row position on the start grid due to pre-registering early.  There were many of the local fast guys:  Ben Jacques-Mayne, Tobin Ortenblad, Cameron Falconer, Cody Kaiser, Keith Hillier, Walton Brush, Scott Chapin.  My start was good, and after the initial blast I found myself in the top five.  Ortenblad, Hillier, Brush, and Jacques-Maynes were ahead of me, but I felt pretty good and settled into a maintainable pace.  As I started my third lap, I heard the dreaded hiss of an air leak coming from the rear tire.  I rode it as it softened and continued once it was completely flat, getting a little squirrelly in the corners and burning extra matches to ride it over to the pit.  I learned later that the deflation had been caused by a two inch long rusty nail.

I'm surprised I was only passed by one person, Derek Yarra, before I dropped my Highball and grabbed my backup bike, neglecting to transfer my Garmin or my Osmo.  I hopped on and immediately felt "less fast", but at least my race was not over.  Derek had gotten a pretty good gap and Cameron Falconer was now not far behind me.  I chased Derek, who was looking pretty strong, while trying to stay away from Cameron, who was getting closer.  Somewhere along there, I was passed by Cody Kaiser, and then later by Tobin, who had mechanical issues.  I never caught Derek, but I did manage to keep a small gap on Cameron and ride in alone in 8th place, 2 minutes back from 1st.

I look forward to improving on this for the rest of the races in the series.  Next weekend will be the inaugural race of the Norcal CX Series, which I will also be racing.  Lots of good cyclocross action to be had in the Bay Area this Fall!