Old Cabin Classic 2017

[Mark Gibson]

For the 4th? time this season, I was racing an event that I'd not entered before.  This was the 2nd year of the Old Cabin Classic (has it really earned the right to call itself a "classic" yet?).  Having pre-ridden the course a couple weeks ago, part of me was really looking forward to this race as it includes some truly spectacular ribbons of singletrack.  Another part of me was a little anxious.  It's a solid course: three laps of ~11.5 miles each, with plenty of climbing (~1,600/lap); and some technical sections, which would see a fair few DNFs due to flat tires and mechanicals.  With the expected competitive field, I knew that 3 laps at race pace would be putting me close to the point at which cramping might become an issue.  The last race I did that was comparable in difficulty was SoNoMas, at which I spent the last 15 miles cramping up and had a relatively poor result.  But I knew I was a lot fitter coming in to this race, with a lot more racing under my belt, so was hoping for a solid result.

I drove down the morning of, arriving a little later than planned and got in a slightly too brief warm up.  I slotted in to the large field at the start, back in the 3rd row of my category.  The racers went out in waves, separated by 5 minutes. Pros, singlespeeders, 18-39 experts, then my field of 40+ experts.  The start was on a slight downhill, about 100 yds before the beginning of a long climb, and was frenetic.  I got off ok, but was, as far as I could tell, in 10th place at the start of the Englesman climb.  The guy at the front of the group gapped the field early on.  Passing opportunities were limited, although I did make up two spots up into 8th.  Before the end of the climb, we were catching the stragglers at the back of the 18-39 group.  It was already becoming difficult to tell which of the people I could see up ahead were in my category, as the fields were getting mixed up.  On the 1st slightly technical downhill section, along Old Cabin trail, I gained two more places, so possibly up into 6th place (if those two were in my category), but possibly still in 8th.  On "Enchanted" downhill trail, I made a couple more passes.  Again, I had no idea if I was actually racing against the people I was passing, so was clueless about my position, but guessed I was probably down in around 7th place.  

After this, there was a little mellow climbing, some flat-ish sections, and then a sharp climb up to Zane Grey DH, which is a loose rocky section before going into a rutted piece of up/down singletrack before the descent to the end of the lap.

My "problem" all season has been lack of a "kick".  I can keep up a decent pace for a distance, but finding that extra gear has been hard.  By the end of the first lap I was thinking I could probably turn that around to my advantage, by keeping up the pace, and slowly reeling in all the really fast starters.  I started out the climb on the 2nd lap feeling strong.  Sure enough I passed a lot of riders on the the long steady Englesman climb, at least two of which I knew for sure were in my category.  Thinking I must have moved to 5th or even 4th perhaps, I continued pushing on the next climb out of Old Cabin trail.  I got by yet more riders, made sure I kept on top of the hydration and fuel, and was feeling quite strong.  There were a few times on lap 2 when lack of room to pass was a problem, plenty of singlespeeders and 18-39 riders slowing down at this point, but it's a long race so no point getting frustrated.

Coming down Zane Grey for the 2nd time, I felt some twinges of cramp in my hamstrings.  Awesome.  Had I pushed too hard on the 2nd lap climbs  trying to catch up?  Do I need to back off now to avoid having a disastrous 3rd lap?  Memories of SoNoMas.  When I had a chance, I downed a gel, drank some fluid, and span my legs out a bit before going into the DH at the end of lap 2.  At that point, I also took a quick look back and saw that a rider I had passed at the beginning of lap 2, and opened a big gap on, had caught right back up to me on Zane Grey.  Damn.  I did not know what position I was in, but I knew he was in my category and I did not want to give up a place to him.  He blew by me at the start of Englesman climb on lap 3.  He looked very strong.  We were facing a headwind, and so I tried to slot in behind and use him to block the headwind a little.  I managed to hold on to his wheel, and as I climbed started to feel OK, and felt like I had resolved the cramps, at least for the time being.  I noticed he was not able ot shake me, and so I dug in and got around him before  a corner.  That was not the right place for that move. We turned into a headwind, and now it was advantage to him as he could shelter behind me.  The only way to deal with it was to dig in again, and try to shake him off.  I went hard, opening up a gap of maybe 10 seconds - enough to put him out in the headwind too.  I was thinking about how he had caught me on the downhill at the end of lap 2, so I knew that in order to avoid being pipped at the finish I had to put 20-30 seconds in on him.  I kept pushing, and gained some more time.  I tool a few more risks on the downhill, and hammered the climbs as much as I could on increasingly tired legs, but just could not shake him.  Entering Zane Grey, I only had maybe 15-20 seconds on him.  Not enough.  No way I could him off with that small of a gap.  But, I had caught up to a rider several seconds ahead of me, and luckily he was flying downhill.  It's always easier to follow someone else's line, so I just let loose and tried to keep up with him.  At the end of the downhill, I had actually opened up a bigger gap, and climbed back out to the final descent, knowing I could not be caught.

At the end I handed in my timing chip, and was told I had finished in 2nd place, less than a minute behind the winner (who had opened up that big gap ahead of everyone else at the start).  My 1st lap had been a lot slower than his, but then I had been gaining on him on laps 2 and 3, so felt a slight twinge of disappointment at my inability to completely close that gap.

However, overall I was happy with 2nd place in a competitive field.  I was also a little surprised at the result, in as much as while on course I had no idea of my position, other than I was probably somewhere in the top 5.

While I don't think it has the right to call itself a "classic" yet, it is just a matter of time before that title is appropriate for what will undoubtedly become a classic race.  Definitely one of the best, and hardest, NorCal XC courses.  I'll be back next year without a doubt.