Round Mountain 18'

[Greg Alsterlind]

 Another fun, intermediate loop in the Nevada City area. As far as I know this was the first race held here? YBONC has included this trail in their California Dirt/State campion series of races. The race started at the Diamond Arrow Christain Conferance Center. The start had us roll through the cabin area and quickly start into the first of two climbs. Our 11am group was all the Cat 1 ages, Pro's and single speeders(35-40 people). The first climb was less than a 1/3 of a mile with about 100' of elev. The second climb was where things opened up with about 200' in 1/3 of a mile. It was here that I began to realize what my day was going to be like. As the leaders started to pull away from me I noticed riders in my class that where up there that I usually finish ahead of. I had no power to keep up with them. The temperature was in the low 50's and I thought that might be causing me to struggle with my power? I got to the top of the hill passing Paul Miers , Blake Bockius and seconds behind Craig Lindberg. I was chasing Craig down hill when I took a quick turn too wide and fell off into the bushes. With in seconds I was back on but soon Blake and Paul where right on me. Just before we went through the finish of the first lap, Paul passed me. With 3 laps to go I was not so concerned until a few minutes later Blake passed me. I had never lost to either of these guys so I thought I should be able to at least match their effort. After laps 2 and 3 Blake had opened a 40 second lead on me and I was weaker than I had ever felt. I stood on most of the climbs on the 4th lap and took my hands off the breaks as much  as I could down hill to pick up some time. With about a quarter mile left I had managed to get back to Blake but I had nothing left to pass him with. I ended up finishing 6th. The 4 plus mile laps where fairly fast with short but hard climbs. The down hill sections where never very fast, slowed by a lot of soft corners. We seemed to be climbing about 700' per. lap and most of it came in the first 2 miles. In the end Paul Birich , Simon and Jim Hewett did well and seemed to pleased with their efforts. As always, we all wanted to do better and that is why we look forward to the next event.