The Lemurian Shasta Classic 2018

[Jim Hewett]

Back up to Redding for the Lemurian, a great single loop mountain bike race that has lots of climbing and some great singletrack.  I raced my Trek Top Fuel again, this time with Vittoria Mezcal tires and a 34 x 9-46t drivetrain.  Though the Mezcal is quite heavy for an XC race tire (730g), it is a very fast roller and puncture resistant, with decent grip.

The competition has thinned at this race over the years, but there are always 5 or so fast guys.  Stephen Mills has been winning this one for a few years.  Tim Olson, though not racing much these days, usually makes the scene and is always a threat.  Greg "The Golden Eagle" Golet still climbs very well and has been right there with me in recent years.  Numerous other would-be-contenders lined up, unknown but looking to test themselves at this classic NorCal race.

The start was very civil.  I led on the pavement and stayed in the top 6 until the gravel road turned skyward.  Stephen and Tim pulled away, and The Golden Eagle.  I slowly came around a Roaring Mouse racer, and then one in an Adventure's Edge kit.  I kept The Golden Eagle in sight, but he had about 30 seconds on me when we crested the hill. 

New this year were two timed "enduro stages".  We came to the start of the Gas Can descent and crossed a timing mat.  This section was high speed and loose fire road, not technical but scary at speed with our dry conditions.  I did my best to keep speed and not crash, which involved scrubbing more speed than I wanted for a few corners.  Though it felt pretty slow, I finished 9th overall in Long Course racers for this downhill segment.  Not too bad, but the real goal was to win the XC race.

I hit the pavement over the dam about 45 seconds back from Tim and 20 seconds back from The Golden Eagle.  I put my head down and tried to gain on them.  As we re-entered the dirt and began more climbing, I could see Greg ahead of me.  I kept pushing it, but anticipated catching him once we got into the singletrack. 

He stayed ahead of me through the first bits, but I caught him as I stayed on the bike for a steep and loose "hike-a-bike" section.  He pulled away after this, but I slowly reeled him in on the flume section.  He let me by just before a technical bit and I opened up a gap.  From here he stayed in sight of me through the first feed station.  I got away on the fireroads over to the second, where he once again came into view behind me.  Having raced him on this course numerous times, I knew this was his terrain.  I needed to get to the top of The Couch ahead of him, where we would enter more technical terrain where I would have the advantage.

I kept it up as we got into lapped traffic from the medium course and rode over to the last steep climbs.  There is a long and steep singletrack climb littered with slippery pine needles that usually forces me to dismount.  This time, with The Golden Eagle chasing, I was able to ride it and thus get to the start of The Couch with a small lead.  Here began the second timed enduro segment, which would last to the end of the race.  I blasted down the rutted trail, having fun and pedaling hard when I had the chance.  Even this downhill oriented segment still contained a lot of punchy climbs that rewarded the well-rounded racer.  I tied for second overall on this one, with Tim OIson beating us for first by 30 seconds over 19 minutes. 

I finished the long course race with a minute gap over Greg, but over 3 minutes behind Tim and Stephen, for 3rd place.