Nevada City Dirt Classic #3, Final State Championship Series Race

[Jim Hewett]

April and May are the strongest months in NorCal for XC racing.  I had raced about every weekend for these two months, with the real block of competition starting with the first NCDC race and ending with this one, the last of the series.  After a second place in the first and second races of the series, I was in a good position to win it all and be crowned California State Champion in Pro class.  I was leading the points, with Cody Schwartz being the only other person that was within striking distance. 

We travelled up to Nevada City for what promised to be a very warm day.  I did not get a chance to preview the course much, but I had a pretty good description;  flowy singletrack followed by a 6-7 minute steep climb with switchbacks, rocks and roots, then to flat and fast singletrack along an old flume and down to a rock garden area before some vicious but short climbs back to flowy singletrack and the finish line.  We would be doing 4 laps of the 6 mile course, so I figured I would know it well enough after a couple.

I left the dropper post at home and decided to run my fastest rolling race tires front and rear, the Bontrager XR1 29x2.2.  My Top Fuel was under 22 lbs and I had really dialed it in over the last two months of racing.  I warmed up by riding the Hallelujah Trail from the venue to White Cloud campground and back, starting to get a feel for the hardpack dirt trails we would be racing.

The Pro men's field was once again kind of thin, and I did not see Cody Schwartz on the start list.  That decreased the pressure on me significantly, as I would win the series if I finished the race at all.  Nathan Barton, who had beaten me at the last race, was there, as well as Gareth Feldstein and Alex Pasqualina,  I was not so worried about the series, but I wanted to be on the podium at this last race and I was gunning for the top step.

We all started hard up the short climb to the first singletrack descent, and Nathan got the hole shot.  I was third wheel behind Alex as we flowed downhill through the trees and made our way over to the climb.  Gareth made his way to the front and led for the first half of the climb.  His pace was a little slow for a few of us that wanted to start inflicting damage on this decisive section, and we quickly moved around him.  Alex slipped on a rooty switchback and I made it around him to top out 5 seconds behind Nathan.  I quickly closed to him on the flat and straight singletrack, though it took effort to push hard after just climbing the steep bit.  I was surprised to see that Nathan was not really riding with any urgency, and I suggested to him that this was a race and maybe we should go faster.  He picked it up a bit, and it seemed that we had made a real separation between us and the rest of the field.

Initially, I was happy to let Nathan lead on this first lap, as I had not ridden these trails, but I felt I could maintain a slightly faster pace on the more technical parts.  I moved around him before the baby head section and did, in fact, pull ahead, but he closed the gap and we came through on the first lap with Nathan hot on my heels.

I had seen all of the trail now, and I could see how important the climb was going to be.  I felt that Nathan would be climbing that faster than I could, so I needed to minimize the damage he could do there.  I pushed it on the fast trail over to the climb, and barely held the lead all the way to the top.  We cruised the flat and flowy stuff, and I could see another racer not so far behind us.  I turned it on as we trended down hill and opened a small gap.  After the rock garden section, I heard someone gaining on me.  I was surprised to see that it was Alex, not Nathan, that caught be just before the end of the lap.  He passed as we started out on lap three, but I was right on him. He seemed to be riding a little beyond his comfort zone as he skidded the sharp turns and slid out a few times, but he stayed in front to the climb, where we pushed each other pretty hard but were caught by Nathan.  Alex pulled away a little and Nathan passed me just before the top, and they were out of sight by the time I started on the flat stuff.  I estimated their lead at 17 seconds or so and gritted my teeth to keep the effort going.

I was by myself and found it easier to keep the speed, as I was now familiar with the trail and completely in control of my pace.  I was pleasantly surprised to see dust ahead and then to catch Nathan and Alex on the baby heads section.  We came through the finish line together, going out for our last lap. 

I knew that the climb on this lap would be decisive, but that I was feeling the effort from earlier.  I gave it a good push at the start, but backed off up higher.  I wanted to finish strong and thought I could close any lead they would build when we came to the last half of the lap, maybe with enough left to hammer the short, loose climbs toward the end that had been giving them a little trouble.

Unfortunately, they must have put more than a minute into me on the climb, and I was not even offered the encouragement of dust lingering in the corners as I sped down the now familiar trails to the finish.

It was a disappointment to finish third on the day, but it had been a close first three laps and the best racing in the series so far.  And, as a reward for my consistent efforts, I had earned the California State Championship title!