SoNoMas 2016

[Mark Ingwersen]

I have been wanting to ride SoNoMas for a few years now and finally mustered up the nerves. 7000 feet of climbing over 34 miles reminded me of hill repeats up Queenstone here in Marin. Turns out the terrain was completely different. Not surprisingly, much like last week's Lake Sonoma race. Only much longer, several more than the advertised 1 water crossing to make sure feet stayed cold and I kept rocks in my shoes, and countless ups, downs, turns and fallen trees to hurdle.
Greg and I rode a few miles to try and warm up before the 9am start on this cold and foggy spring day. My Pivot was still set up from the prior week and I was still running a 34t front and 11-36 cassette which had me nervous. It worked out well in the end, but a few more gear inches would have been welcome in the last few miles of climbs, especially since I spun out on the final road descent anyway.
The usual mass start went calmly towards the first climb. Someone blew a tire and a few yards later a group of riders crashed and went down in the pack. Greg and I stayed at the road's center line and paced ourselves for the long grind. Once we hit trail we had walking traffic so progress was comfortably slow. After riders settled into their respective speeds, I managed a few passes to inch my way forward. Greg wasn't far behind but I did lose sight and I made a choice to keep moving. Already feeling the pain of single track climbs, we hit the pavement for a bit and had to return to the dirt by charging up a curb and dirt ramped guard rail. My trials back ground told me to roll up and then pounce up it. The two riders I'd been dueling on the road with got dropped. A short while later I passed a few riders again and I knew I was picking my way forward. Eventually, I found myself mostly solo out somewhere between water crossings and more muddy trail. Occasionally coming up on others not knowing what group they were in, I pressed on at a pace I hoped I'd be able to keep up.
Like the Grasshopper event, I really had little concept of where I was on the course which made planning impossible. The last half (or so I imagined) had several downed trees and with every hurdle attempt I felt the onset of a leg cramp. I started to slow a bit to make sure I wouldn't end up rolling on the ground in pain miles from a finish. One downed tree was propped up by another and I went to duck under it. At 6'4" clearance becomes an issue for me on narrow trails. I wedged myself under the tree and had to extricate myself!
With roughly 8 miles to go I came up on what I figured was a bonked pro-rider. I gave him some of my rations and used that opportunity to make my one and only stop for food by nearly inhaling a couple of gel blocks that I normally dislike. I stuck a third on my top tube for later...glad I did. Those damned cubes are probably what kept me going! Just before the asphalt for the last few miles I was passed by a Roaring Mouse rider. "Can't have that", I thought. I gave what was left in the tank, but no amount of "shut up legs" was going to help and he got away. The final roll downhill on the street should have been easy...but no. Wrong gearing and tired legs, I coasted in a tuck towards the bottom. I made sure no one was coming up from behind and finally passed the finish to a welcome back greeting.
The best part? I took first in my category. Two in a row to a hopefully continued success with ACME Bikes!