Tamarancho Dirt Classic 2013

[Jim Hewett]

We are lucky to have Camp Tamarancho in Fairfax.  This world-class legal singletrack is always fun, and often a great start or finish to a longer ride.  I've used the clockwise loop to gauge fitness and test equipment for years, shaving minutes and now seconds off of my personal best times.  Besides the usual challenges of switchbacks and rocks, the race course also includes a few minutes of very steep climbing on Dead Heifer Fireroad for each lap.  This year, they added the new Flow Trail that drops from the top of Dead Heifer to rejoin the traditional loop.  This tight and bermed downhill pump track added another unique and fun section to what is already an awesome race course.

It is unfortunate that I have not been in peak condition for this race in years.  It always seems to fall at a bad time for me in the racing season.  I had been riding very little for the last month and was coming off a week of traveling for work.  As much as I would have liked to have more confidence going into a race in my backyard, the preparation was not there.  Even so, it is very hard to resist racing at this awesome venue and I am eager to support these events in Marin.

I had attended the Fairfax Festival the day before with my son, Simon, and the oppressive heat had been a little discouraging.  It was VERY HOT, around 100 degrees, and I knew from past experience that the Tamarancho race could be a scorcher.  I will say that Sunday was much better.  It's hard to believe that 12 hours can make such a difference, but clouds rolled in and it was actually sprinkling rain once or twice.  Heat was not going to be an issue.

One thing about a local race is that you see a lot of familiar faces.  Young guys that are just starting to get fast, like Skyler Taylor and Taylor Smith, as well as the older guys that have been fast for over a decade, like Mark Weir and Roger Bartels.  Competition was pretty deep, with Michael Hosey, Menso De Jong, Levi Leipheimer and others making the scene.  At the start line, I settled for second row, both due to my lack of fitness and the fact that some unfamiliar Mike's Bikes guys took up half of the front line.

We would be starting on a slightly uphill fireroad to a steep and short fireroad climb which immediately goes into singletrack.  I knew it would be important to get onto the Serpentine downhill in as good of a position as possible, so I punched it off the line and made my way up.  At one point there was an accident in my peripheral vision - it looked like someone flipped over on the right side of the fireroad, taking a few other people down with him.  I focused on moving ahead and climbed hard on the steep climb to start down Serpentine behind Taylor and Levi.  Levi was the least familiar with the trail, and Taylor pulled out of sight as Levi slowed me down.  When we came to the rocky section, Levi missed the right turn for the A line and had to take the slower B line routing around the technical stuff.  I made it count and opened it up down to the bridge, getting a little gap on Levi that I knew would not last long once we started climbing.

I had decided to use my new Kind Shock Lev adjustable height seatpost.  This was my first time racing on the hardtail with a dropper post, but it allowed me to go a little faster on the twisty and loose terrain.  I raced down Goldman, followed closely by a few others, as Dario passed me and pulled away.  Davis Bentley came around me as we crossed Iron Springs Rd, but I kept my pace under control and tried to ride smoothly and efficiently to the long approaching climb.  We were getting into lapped traffic, which must have been from the classes that started the race at 9:30, and we started to spread out.

I made the right turn onto Dead Heifer and shifted down.  Immediately, Levi came by me and motored up the steepness.  A couple of minutes later, Skyler and Tsering Alleyne caught me and passed.  Skyler was a bit ahead as we went into the Flow Trail, but Tsering did a good job of closing the gap with me on his wheel.  Once we started up Alchemist, Skyler pulled away and Tsering and I rode together for a bit.

Back on the fireroads through camp, I passed Tsering and started out for lap 2.  I have been using Osmo to great effect this season and was happy to get a hand-up of a bottle of Blackberry Active Hydration as I passed the Osmo aid station.  This time down Serpentine I was able to go a little faster.  Just before the rocky section, I caught who I thought was Skyler in a Bear/Trek costume and he let me by.  I was feeling pretty good and continued to hammer through Goldman fast enough to set a personal record on this section.  I rode alone for lap two and most of lap three, passing lapped traffic and trying to stay on the gas.  I figured Hosey or De Jong might come from behind at any moment, and I still had hopes of catching Davis or Taylor.  Neither happened, but as I descended Serpentine for the last time and climbed to the left turn back to the center of camp, I saw what looked like Skyler ahead of me by 20 seconds or so.  He looked back and started climbing hard, so I did the same.  It slowly occurred to me that the rider that I had passed on my second lap had been lapped traffic from the earlier race start, not Skyler.  I chased as hard as I could, but I could not catch him before the finish.  I came across in 6th place in Pro class, about 10 seconds off the podium.

Tamarancho makes for fun and challenging racing.  It was nice to race with so many friends and see such a great scene around a race right here in Fairfax.  I look forward to our opportunities for growing local racing in the coming years.

Bike details:  Santa Cruz Highball C (20lbs 1 oz) w/ 100mm Lev adjustable seatpost, XX1 32 x 10-42, Schwalbe Rocket Ron 2.2 front (26psi), Maxxis Ikon 2.2 rear (27 psi).

[Adam Nuyens]

Good racing, Jim.
Sounds like you were in fast company out there.
Get 'em next time!