SoNoMas 2017 - More Lake Sonoma Action!

[Jim Hewett]

We were back at Lake Sonoma for the Bike Monkey SoNoMas race, this time doing a longer loop around the lake counter-clockwise.  The field was a bit different this time, a few of us from the Lake Sonoma Grasshopper race a couple weeks earlier (Carson Benjamin, Barry Wicks, and me), with the addition of more fast xc guys and some very strong roadies.  I'm not sure why this race tends to draw guys who are usually more inclined to race on pavement, but Ted King, Peter Stetina, Sam Bassetti, and Jacob Albrecht were all out for some mountain bike racing.  Acme had about 10 racers on the course;  Carson, Danny, Stephen and I were there to contest the pro field.

The pace up the first couple of miles of paved climbing wasn't too bad, with the roadies generally breaking the wind.  I hung out in the top ten, gauging my legs after another week of intense training.  I anticipated the right turn onto singletrack, almost resigning myself to getting clogged up in the first technical dirt sections.  As we approached, Barry Wicks pulled off the front a bit, and I put in a burst to get around the 7 or so guys between us. To my surprise, I easily slotted into second wheel just before we entered the first technical section of trail.  What a difference this position made over past years!  Barry and I ripped the descents and cleaned the rutted and muddy climbs, getting a decent gap on the pro roadies in the chase group.  Even as the climbing became more sustained and the other guys began to catch us, there were audible signals of a racer behind me slipping on a root or botching a technical uphill maneuver, and the ensuing unclipping from pedals as the racers close behind him were forced to dismount.  Sweet music!

It was great while it lasted, but eventually the punchy climbing took it's toll on me.  I slipped and had to run the last section of a hill.  Not long after remounting, King, Stetina and Carson came around me.  As we hit the fireroad climbing, they and Wicks pulled away.  Soon I was caught by two guys from the Herbalife road squad, Bassetti and Albrecht.  I know Bassetti had been really strong on the road lately, but the pacing and technical aspects of a mountain bike race seemed to be giving him a little trouble.  Albrecht had done some mountain bike racing as a junior, experience that would serve him well on this winding singletrack course. I led them  over to the reconnection with Rockpile Rd, and he and I got away from Bassetti on the steep descent that followed the return to dirt a few minutes later.

I was doing my best to put pressure on Albrecht down the fast trails until we abruptly found that the trail had ended!  It quickly occurred to me that we must have missed a turn, and my heart sank.  We turned around and rode up the steep way we had come, to a minor looking trail that cut up the hill to a camping area.  I looked around quickly and still did not see any markings, but this had to have been the one we missed.  Once back on-route after a 2+ minute detour, we began to overtake the racers that had passed us.  Eventually we caught Bassetti, before dropping down the steep Bummer Peak fireroad to the shoreline trails.  A few minutes later, I saw an unknown racer and another Acme jersey ahead.  It was my teammate Stephen Flynn, who finished second in last year's race.  His fitness was low for this race due to recovery from an injury, and Albrecht and I eventually passed him and pulled away from his group.

The next couple of hours followed a consistent pattern;  I would get a gap on Albrecht on the descents and technical sections, sprinting hard on the short climbs to get away, and then he would reel me in on the longer climbing sections or anywhere he could apply his apparently superior strength.  We continued like this, sometimes talking and discussing elements of the course-to-come when we were near each other on a slow climb.  I was in the lead the whole time, challenging him to match me on every tricky creek crossing and steep technical climb.  He occasionally faltered, but would kick it in a little and get back to me.

It went on like this until about mile 29 (2:49 in), when I suddenly felt the sharp twinge of a cramp in my right hamstring.  Albrecht came around me and pulled out of sight as I soft-pedalled to subdue the spasm.  I was able to work it out without stopping, but not able to push as hard as I would have had to to catch him.  I rode the rest of the race at a manageable pace, without seeing any more pro racers, coming into the finish at over 3 hours 18 minutes, sixth in Pro men.