Grasshopper #3: Old Caz', Fort Ross, Coleman Valley

[Jim Hewett]

The crowd was a little smaller for the third ride of the 2013 Grasshopper Adventure Series.  Instead of 300+, we started with 140 or so.  The course may have deterred some road racers, as it was 54 miles of pavement with 3 miles of dirt thrown in.  The fireroads down to Austin Creek and over to Cazedero make you question the wheels and tires you will use, if not what type of bike.

I opted for my training wheels, which are a bit heavy but feature 32 spokes and Stan's Notubes tubeless rims.  My tires were Hutchinson 25c tubeless tires run at 90psi in the rear and 85psi in the front.  This would give me a little bit more traction on the dirt sections, as well as some comfort compared to my usual 23c race tires.

I once again lined up at the start wearing the leader's jersey.  Though the field was smaller, there were still some fast guys there.  Bartels, Hosey, Kona pro Kris Sneddon, and some roadies that I didn't recognize.  The weather was perfect and we rolled out on our neutral start down Bohemian Highway at 10:00.

I rode along at a decent pace, usually about 10-15 back from the front, for about 20 miles.  When we made a left hand turn onto some residential streets to approach the Old Cazadero climb, the pace picked up a lot.  We wove our way through the neighborhood and the group strung out until we hit the abrupt beginning of the climb.  Sneddon and Tyler Brandt took off pretty hard, and I took a minute to pull up to them.  Not long after that, a big group of people came by us.  It settled down on the steeps and about 5 or so guys pulled away from my group of four or five.  Hosey and Sneddon were with me, and Bartels joined us later.  We were pushing it, but the lead group was already out of sight.  By my estimation, they were all road-oriented racers.  I figured we might see them again when the road turned to dirt and pointed down to Austin Creek.

Brandt fell off of the lead group and we scooped him up.  Now the terrain was more rolling, with lots of broken pavement.  It wasn't long before we veered off of the pavement to the gate at the top of the dirt road.  Hosey and Sneddon rode up and around the gate on the right, but Brandt botched it and Bartels and I had to get off and run around him.  We quickly remounted and began to descend the rutted and loose fireroad, with downed trees and 180 degree turns to make it interesting.  We soon overtook members of the lead group, drifting some corners and praying that we wouldn't flat on the rocks and debris.  Sneddon, Hosey, and I had caught all but one when Hosey did flat.  Sneddon and I reached the leader, Sam Bassetti, just as he dismounted to cross the creek at the bottom.

The three of us climbed the dirt road on the other side of the creek and descended the gravel road down to Cazedero.  Here we crossed and started the long climb to Fort Ross.  Brandt clawed his way back to us and we four kept the gas on to keep a clean break.  Up, up, up we rode, then down some fun and fast descents and on to more rollers.  We grabbed bottles at the Osmo station and kept on the gas pretty well.

It was a beautiful sight when we rounded a corner and could see the ocean.  We enjoyed the fast drop to Highway 1, where we began to see more traffic and more wind.  I was unfamiliar with the Meyer's grade descent, and rode it conservatively.  The other three got away from me a little, but I rode back to them easily on the subsequent climb.  We took turns pulling down Highway 1, though not working together as well as we could have.  I was feeling pretty good, especially on the climbs, and was slightly optimistic about my chances of winning a road 'Hopper.

We began to anticipate the steep climbing on the 5 mile finish up Coleman Valley Rd, and when we made that last left turn, Sneddon attacked and got away a little on the first lower angle climbs.  Bassetti and I rode back to him on the steepest of the climbing, but Brandt fell off.  When the grade backed off a little, Bassetti put in a good out-of-the-saddle effort and pulled away from me and Sneddon.  It was well-timed and he kept it up until he had a safe gap.  We were now on a more rolling section, with climbs followed by flats.  Sneddon and I rode together for a bit.  I took a pull at the front, and then kind of fell off of his wheel when he took his.  I had lost my punch and Sneddon pulled away.  We rode in to the finish like that, with Basetti finishing 1.5 minutes ahead of me and Sneddon 1 minute.

An awesome day of riding and great training.  I rode 57 miles and climbed about 6,000 feet.  Average speed was 19mph and I held onto the lead in this year's series.

Unfortunately, I will miss the next two 'Hoppers due to scheduling conflicts with 2 priority races.  I hope to do the last one, which is a XC race at Lake Sonoma and is worth double points for the series.