The Call Up

Northern California Bicycle Racing Community

My second time in the Cross Country race. Last year I road my hard tail and it kicked my tail. This year I was better equipped with my Trek Carbon Top Fuel and several pre-rides with Jim and Cathy. I met up early with teammates Mark Ingerwersen and Mark Buell to pre-ride. I was concerned with getting in line late so we cut it short and lined up 25 min. early. Too late! Buell jumped in maybe 100 riders ahead of Mark and I. When they said go we did not move for 45 seconds. At a minute 10 seconds we crossed the start line. This was the most crowed race I had ever seen. We stuck together passing when we could all the way to the top of the climb. At about 1 hr. into the race we finally broke into the open. I was tired but anxious and did not waste another second. My goal was to hit Packer saddle in under 1:10:00 and I still had a shot. I made it in 1:08:53 and was on my way to hitting the 3rd. Divide climb in under 2:05:00. Still in a large group, I didn't attempt any passes down "My Sunrise trail" . I jumped ahead of 3-4 riders on the way to "Baby Heads". Everything was going well but the visibility was poor as a small group of us made our way down. At "Lower baby heads" we caught up to a slower rider and I decided to make an off line pass. I was down hard and could feel blood dripping from my hand. The bike looked fine , so I jumped back on and tried to shake it off. I was feeling better fast and soon was back at full speed. The trail merged with Butcher Ranch and the round dry embedded rocks of Baby heads where replaced by sharp wet ones. This is where I found Mark Buell pushing his bike, unable to hold the bars( this happened to me last year). I yelled at him to get back on your bike .....! But meant it as encouragement. I slipped once more just before the bridge but was back on in a flash. The problem was jumping back on the bike I noticed my water bottle was gone. I had made the bridge at the exact time I wanted but I now had to make it to town with no water. My 3rd divide climb was good and my downhill was just ok( once again in a cloud of dust). At Lavezzola Rd. a small Dixie cup of water was now more precious than gold. I sucked in every drop and sprinted to get back in line as a small group made its way through 1st. Divied. Passing when I could I managed to get to the water plant with only one guy left to pass. He fought me off for about 60 seconds and then backed off. I pushed as hard as I could and finished (real time) in 2:34:15 and feeling much better than last year. Mark Ingerwersen found out what I did by riding his hard tail- not much fun! But he did well and finished. Mark Buell never did get his hands to working well and had a long day. Jim Hewett was his usual power house and finished 16th Pro CC/ 23rd All mountain. Cathy Chevron had an amazing 5th and 2nd. In the downhill for a 2nd in the Expert women All Mountain class. Once again a solid team proformance.

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