Norcal CX #2 - The Lion of Fairfax...in Los Altos

[Jim Hewett]

Today was the second race of the new Norcal CX Series.  While I was excited to race The Lion of Fairfax in Fairfax, where I live, it wasn't meant to be.  Due to continued construction at White Hill Middle School (the usual location), the race moved to a new venue in Los Altos.

I left home later than I had intended, and reached the race 30 minutes before I was scheduled to stage for my race.  This is not ideal, as I still had to prep my bikes, dress, and hopefully pre-ride the course.  I made the decision to race my Highball 29er mountain bike, and not my 3 day old Trek Crockett 7 Disc cyclocross bike.  I had just built the Crockett and ridden it on two short rides.  The fit was not dialed and I had not really settled on what pressure to run in the tires.  It is rarely a good idea to make any changes to your race bike a few days before a race, and even less so to race an unfamiliar and freshly built bike.  I put the Crockett in the pit and tried to get a warmup on my Highball.

I was only able to pre-ride a little of the course, due to potential conflict with racers finishing the race before ours.  I could tell that I would not be at a disadvantage on this course on my mountain bike, as there were some loose, off-camber sections and short climbs that I could power out of the saddle.

The Elite field was noticeably smaller than last week's.  Walton Brush, Kieth Hillier, Derek Yarra, and quite a few others were not among the 20 guys that staged for my race.  Peter Lucas, who placed fourth last week, was there, and Don Myrah lined up right behind me.  We sprinted hard as the race started and I fell in behind Lucas, as I had yet to ride a full lap and knew he was more familiar with it.  Our first laps pace was not full throttle, which afforded me a chance to warmup a little on course.  On the second lap, I turned it up and got a gap on the field, with Lucas and a few other guys behind me by a little.  The course was a good one for me, with strong efforts followed by descents for a little recovery.  There were, once again, a couple of barriers that were a little to close together to jump in succession.  At the two barrier sections, there was a barrier placed far enough away from the likely dismounts that you had to make a decision to remount and jump it or keep running and remount afterward.

I was feeling pretty good and started lap three strong, but about a third of the way around I felt my rear tire softening.  I have been having some bad luck with flats so far this year!  I rode it as it went completely down, sliding on the corners but staying on the bike most of the way to the pits.  I jumped off my Highball and onto my Crockett, remembering to transfer my Garmin, just as Don Myrah and Peter Lucas caught me.  Whether I was ready to race my new 'cross bike or not, it was happening.  I fell in behind Myrah and tried to keep up the speed while adjusting to the change.  Immediate problems were the SRAM Double Tap shifters and my tire pressure.  I have Shimano shifters on my road bike, so the different format was a little troublesome under race pressure.  The 30psi rear and 28psi front seemed soft in the corners and I felt the rim on a curb hop.  I slowly began to get in the groove and felt a little better after a couple of laps, but by then Myrah had a 30 second lead on me and Lucas was still on my tail.  National and Wold Masters champion Don Myrah is no stranger to a 'cross bike, and he kept the hammer down on the climbs and the flats.  It became more of a battle to stay ahead of Lucas, who was coming and going behind me.  I put in some good efforts on the climbs and was able to get away enough that my second place finish was not contested at the finish line.

I was happy to salvage the race and get a good finish.  I am leading the series now and look forward to getting my 'cross setup dialed for the next one.

[Johnny GoFast]

Nice job and great report. 

[Andrew Yee]

nice report. 

"At the two barrier sections, there was a barrier placed far enough away from the likely dismounts that you had to make a decision to remount and jump it or keep running and remount afterward." 

from the course designer, that was exactly the intention. it was interesting to see four different approaches to the barriers. 

"remembering to transfer my Garmin"  - That's PRO.