Rock Lobster Cup III: 4th Place, Elite Men

[Carson Benjamin]

"Sweet hybrid, dude!" -a spectator on the descent. 

There's no embarrassment like racing a mountain bike at a cyclocross race, but sometimes choosing the right tool for the job is as important as showing up to a start line with a good set of legs. The Rock Lobster Cup, a fundraiser for the legendary Rock Lobster Cyclocross Team, has gained a reputation for building some of the hardest courses in NorCal cyclocross. The location of this year's edition was in Wilder Ranch State Park in Santa Cruz, just a mile and a half up Highway 1 from my new home for the school year in Santa Cruz. The convenient location and speed in my legs made the race too much to pass up. I've had a successful collegiate mountain bike racing season so far, remaining undefeated in every race I've entered and leading the Western Collegiate Cycling Conference Omnium competition. 

I heard from my friend, former teammate, and now classmate Ian Stowe that the Lobster Cup course would be on a 1.5 mile Cowboy Loop in Wilder Ranch. A quick pre-ride confirmed everything I'd heard about Paul Sadoff and Co.'s races: either bring courage, suspension, or both. The course was a 300 foot climb, followed by a steep, loose descent with steep switchbacks and rocky ledges. The week before the race it was tricky; on race day it was treacherous, with the trail being pulverised into a fine powder that concealed rocks and a deep rut. 

I was feeling confident about my choice of mountain bike for the race until I received an email addressed to the entrants discouraging the Elite category racers from using a mountain bike, since it was a cyclocross race.

Myself and the two other racers on mountain bikes, Noah Hayes and Scott Chapin, were penalized at the Le Mans style start by being forced to run an extra 50 yards to our bikes. Despite that, I still caught up to the back of the main field of runners by the time we got to our bikes, only to find that the Singlespeed race had started simultaneously! The first steep climb immediately after the start was total chaos, and I was forced to dismount at the bottom. Running flat out off the side of the trail allowed me to make up around a dozen positions, putting me in the top-20 by the time I remounted.

By the end of the first lap I was inside the top-10, and again attacked on the climb to move into 4th place. I was racing in the group for 3rd for the next few laps until my back began to cramp and power went out of my legs. I was paying a steep price for my earlier efforts, falling back to around 7th or 8th place. I had accepted losing a podium spot until my back loosened and legs turned on with 2 laps to go and could ride at my maximum again. I moved into 4th pace over the next lap, with 30 seconds to 3rd as the last lap bell started to ring. I completely turned myself inside out to make up time, but managed to bring it down to less than 10 seconds in the end.

I was glad to salvage a decent result and stand on the podium, but frustrated I missed the 3-deep cash payout in my category thanks to a few weak laps in the middle of the race. Either way, it was an excellent day of the variety of rowdy, unsanctioned bike racing that only exists in Northern California. My fellow outcast mountain bikers also showed that our bike choice was the fastest for the course, all of us finishing inside the top-10 despite starting last in a 40-person field.