Off Season Action on Eldridge Grade!

[Jim Hewett]

My last real race of the season was in July, but I've been participating in local events for fun lately.

Today I did the mountain bike portion of the Mt Tam Triple Crown. Basically a fun and competitive ride up Eldridge from the intersection at the base of Fish Grade to the gate at the pavement near East Peak.

I'm definitely languishing in a transition/pre-base period right now. That pretty much means riding a few days a week for fun - no concerted training. Though I didn't think I would set any personal records, I thought it would be cool to check out this ride and support some local cycling.

I guess there were about 25 riders. Many faces that I did not recognize. I did see Sam L, Rob, Julia V, Patrick and Cameron F. Most of the riders had done a similar event the day before on road bike and would be doing it again on foot Monday, thus completing the Triple Crown. Bikes ranged from full suspension to rigid hardtail. I believe (from my own testing) that Sam and I had the best bikes for the course - 17.5lb rigid 29er hardtails with fast rolling tires (Schwalbe Furious Fred) and 1x9 gearing.

We made our way over to the start of Eldridge in a group and got things going. I quickly moved my way to the front and turned it on a little bit to get ahead of traffic. Sam and 1 or 2 others stuck with me. I kept the pace moderately high and waited to see who might challenge. We reached the first intersection in 4:07, already a little behind my personal record. I looked back at the switchback where Tucker Trail starts and saw Sam, Cameron, a guy named Steve on a Mamasita, and one other rider. Steve caught up with me and sprinted around. He kept a brisk but manageable pace, so I stuck to his wheel until around half way up when I saw Sam gaining on us from behind. I accelerated and moved ahead and out of sight, raising my heart rate to a more appropriate "under 40 minute time trial" zone. I could see by my split times that I was a couple of minutes behind my best time, but this was a race so I stayed on the gas pretty well and kept out of sight of the other riders.

I topped out in 36:13. Steve came in 1 minute back with Sam 6 seconds behind him. Everyone trickled in as refreshments were served and stories told. All in all, a pretty fun way to go out for a Sunday morning ride.

[Paul Montgomery]

Ah, Michele saw you on Shafer with a "big group"...refreshments, plush, sign me up!

[Carl Sanders]

Nice work Jim. Climb on!