Seeing that my last race at Discovery Park was a failed attempt to deny that I was sick... I was a bit anxious to see what legs would show up!? I raced the A's, still the only goober on a single speed in the A's, but after riding the course I was confident that "not having to shift" was going to be a good thing....Granite Bay is sand, DG, and more sand with a tiny bit of sandy-loam thrown in... Everything was crunchy after the first 100 meters of riding.
Marja and Shelly were first off at 10:30...Women's A, B, and C. Marja came around the first lap behind her "arch rival," don't ask me I think its a woman thing, in fourth place Bs, 5th place overall. After the next half lap she dropped the caped crusader...no wait, "arch rival" and she was off chasing the big guns! A few laps later she dropped one of the strongest A riders and the rest except for one. Marja had minutes on third place and ended up second in the Bs and third overall for women. Not bad for someone who never rides...she opened a serious can of whoop-ass on the field...Scott and I just hoped she had some to share with us!
Shelly wasn't a happy camper early but after lap two she started moving her way up the field! She was quoted at dinner last night as saying, "I hope it doesn't rain!?" Yeah, it was raining! She finished strong with a big smile on her face! She is at the top of the series standings!!
My race started immediately after the girls. The A's had a big turn out today. The first corner was sloppy, had to lean into the turn against two other riders trying to take the hole shot on me but ended up sliding into me...next came a fun little section with some tight hairpins and a couple risers, you could tell who rides mtbs out there today as the roadies were flailing all over the place.....
I settled in and started making my way up the field, slowly. I would gain and pass on all the technical twisty, and SLIPPERY turns and would have to hop on wheels in the flatter straights due to my lack of gears...then the sand pit. Now it looks cool to ride the pit, but on every lap I ran and passed riders..everytime. First of all I would have been wasting energy in my 42x17, but second with all the rain, it was a mess!
7 more laps later and one last rider before the finish....watched him lolly-gagging over the barricades and I hit them sprinting, mounted and just dropped it to the finish.... "It aint over 'till the fat lady sings!"
Felt great, ended up 5th A's 35+ with Gordo saying I was 7th overall...don't think I buy that one. But I beat Gordo, he's a Sac icon in CX, so its always nice to finish ahead of him while he's on gears....this was actually the first time this year I have. A great day to finish up the CX season for me.
Next came Scott "the punisher" Clark. He's racing the B's on his SS, and lets just say he crushed the field. The entire field. Not only did he get the cash for winning the first lap, but he out-rode the field by about a minute. He never looked back. Scott had some balmy conditions as the rain stopped falling, so the course got a little tackier and Scott ripped it up. He didn't need Marja's left over whoop-ass, he had his own 64 ouncer of it! It was fun to watch!
Wish Chris was down from Seattle for this one and Steve from Redding! Would have been even more fun witchya!!
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