last XC race of 2012...Tamarancho Dirt Classic

[Ryan Gibson]

22 miles never felt so long! With the knee injury interrupted 2012 season, I am still pretty hungry for some racing, having missed Downieville and a few others in the middle of the summer. I have been training regularly, and while still a little heavy, feel good. In the weeks leading up to TDC I put in good time on the road and trails, and even had a few early morning rides counterclockwise at Tamarancho to scope out the course. Sunday drew closer and the temps started climbing...three laps making 22 miles and ~3400' in the 80s and 90s turned out to be a dusty sufferfest!

 

The race course was great, mostly nice singletrack. The horn blasted and away we went, a combined group of Pro and Cat 1 (excluding Cat 1 50+, which did two laps). This group kicked hard right out of the gate and it was a dustbowl...not having had the juice or ambition to go for a hole shot, I found myself mid-pack and sucking in dirt. Once to the top of the first fire road climb it began to thin out and the dust was not too bad the rest of the race, but it sure was loose. Two things quickly stood out for me....1. I had over trained/not tapered enough and felt flat, and 2. I should have kept my more aggressive Bronson tires on, having opted for racier combo the day earlier of Renegade in back and Ignitor up front.

 

The first revelation manifested in being able to hold a steady pace, but having no kick and not enough power and stamina to clear the most miserable climb in all of Marin (maybe anywhere)...Dead Heifer. I had cleared it both tries earlier in the week, but just didn’t have the legs during the race and found myself hiking it :(

 

The second revelation drew blood...as I lost the front in a dusty downhill off camber spot early in the first lap. My right elbow and upper leg rashed (nothing major major), but the bike okay, I forged ahead dripping blood and in pain, but determined to finish. I lost ~1 min on this crash, and another ~1 min when I just couldn’t take the high tire pressure any longer and stopped to let some air out. Two avoidable time losses, but turns out that neither would have likely netted me another place in the results.

 

The course had a few fun heckling stations...the best was definitely the Tam Bikes one at the Serpentine rock, which included a siren, heckles, and water guns. Other than that it was a hot mess...I drained a 70oz camelbak and THREE Osmo Nutrition water bottles. Big shout out to the Osmo folks for providing inspiring bottle handups :) (once lap I got an enthusiastic pedal mfer from a nice Osmo lady?!? :) Pretty good tasting too-no cramps, seemed like good stuff I might have to try out.

 

In the end I finished at 2:13:40, although my Garmin read 2:09:xx with 19.5 miles. This was good for a Cat 1 30-39 5th place out of 8. Cat 1 30-39 was very competitive, as my time was 10th overall 29 Pro and Cat 1, 7th over all Cat 1, and would have put my in 4th of 5 for the Pro class. The fastest Cat 1 did it in 2:00 and the winning Pro came in at 2:07 (yes, the winning Cat 1 had 7 minutes on the winning Pro!).

 

All in all a fun time and a decent result. I feel like I am learning good lessons on each race and understanding what works and what doesn’t in terms of training. Looking forward to some fun cyclocross racing this winter!

[Paul Montgomery]

Way to stick it out... Now on to next season.

[Ryan Gibson]

Okay, I lied, going to race the TBF 50-miler XC race this Sunday at Lake Folson/Granite Bay :) Then CX.