TBF #3 - Shake and Bake at Folsom Lake

[Jim Hewett]

I travelled up to Granite Bay for the third of the TBF xc races.  Seemed like a good training race, and a good race for testing the new xc race bike setup.

I raced on the Trek Top Fuel last year, and this year I am keeping things much the same:  SRAM XX1 drivetrain, XX brakes, carbon rims laced to DT 350 hubs.  One change I made last week was the addition of a new Fox 32 step cast 100mm fork.  This is a reduction in travel from last year's 120mm World Cup SID, and also a reduction in weight - an amazing 200 grams savings!  With 550-600 gram tires, my race build for Sunday came in at 21.25 lbs.  This includes some special weight saving touches, such as bolt-on thru axles front and rear, but also reflects some concessions for performance's sake, such as ESI grips over foam grips, an Easton EC70 handlebar instead of an EC90, and 160mm rotors front and rear instead of 140mm on the rear.  I will likely tune this bike down beneath 21 lbs. for some races this year, and adversely increase weight to close to 22 lbs. for others.

Though the forecast for race day was excellent, the rains earlier in the week had left the course very wet in places.  Much of the sandy, decomposed granite track was perfect, but there were some very muddy sections that I knew could cause some trouble.  Despite the muddy conditions, I raced a 29x2.0 Bontrager XR1 on the rear and a Bontrager 29x.0 XR2 on the front.  Just enough grip, but pretty fast rolling.

I didn't anticipate a very competitive field, with only 6 or so people racing in pro class, but this is early in my training and I knew there would probably be a couple racers that would challenge me.  Right off of the start, I moved to the front to get things started.  The start lap had a long flat bit on a wide levy.  It was bumpy going, except for a thin smooth line.  I lead the group on this line, testing to see if any other racers were anxious enough to come around me in the rougher stuff.  Of course, a few guys couldn't resist, and I had identified the four people that wanted to contest this race. 

We were doing four laps, so I was not in a hurry to attack on the first.  My competition had already raced in this area in 2017, so I let one of them lead.  Almost reluctantly, I would take the lead after the guy in front bobbled or stalled on a climb, but this proved unwise for me and resulted in a couple minor wrong turns on my part.  We all slipped a little in some of the worst muddy sections, which were often followed by some sandy ground.  The water and sand combined to coat my bike, and all shifting and braking was performed with grinding complaints.

Well into the second lap, a younger guy racing for Scott Development (David Duncan) and I had broken the other guys off, mostly by climbing faster on the short but sometimes slippery uphill sections.  David had not been racing particularly smart, attacking hard a few times but not making it stick.  I was able to reel him back in each time and I felt pretty good about my chances of wearing him out.

As we came around to start lap three, David committed hard to another out of the saddle effort on a long flattish section.  He opened a gap of 10 seconds or so as we started climbing and got into the first of the abundant lapped traffic we would face in our last two laps.  I was keeping him in sight most of the time, but he was keeping up his effort and increasing the lead.  I came into a particularly bad muddy section that had gotten worse since our last lap, I guess due to traffic, and the front wheel stuck hard, sending me over the bars and deep into the mud.  I was back on the bike right away, but everything was totally coated:  grips, shifter, glasses, face.  I could see that David had been slowed here, as well, but he maintained his lead and pressed hard to get out of sight.

I timed his lead at an overlapped section of the course at 43 seconds, which disheartened me.  I tried to stay on the gas, but I knew I was slowing some, and the lapped traffic got even worse.  He was out of sight as I came through to start the last lap.  I didn't feel like I was going to be able to chase him down, but I thought I might have a chance to make up some time if he botched some of the muddy or technical sections.  As I approached the muddiest area, I decided to try the left side of the bog.  I came into it with speed and wheelied through what I hoped was the deepest bit, only to have my front wheel stick fast as it came down;  another over-the-bars dip in the mud that kind of dashed my hopes of catching him. 

I came in for an uncontested second place, almost 2 minutes behind the winner.

A good training race, and the first xc effort of the season.  I look forward to better results as the fitness comes along.