SoCal Mountain Stage Race
Despite very limited knowledge of the courses, a 3 -stage mountain bike race at the Rim Nordic area, near Bear Lake, summoned me like a sailor to a siren. All of the ingredients for a great weekend were available; hillclimb, short track, x-country, typically a stellar single speed field (lots of pros in SoCal), cooler temperatures (nights in the 40’s, highs in the 80’s), camping in the woods, beer, new friends to meet..
The race was well-organized, and run by a crew full of infectious excitement. But, it was short..way short.. The hill climb was just under 2 miles, mostly jeep road, not very steep. The short track was 10 minutes plus 3 laps. After pre-riding the bottom half of the hill climb, and the short track loop, I realized that my 34×20 was way undergeared. A quick trip back to the car revealed that although I had my 18tooth cog, I didn’t have the spacer combo that I needed to install it. C’est la vie. Race what you have.. 1st and 2nd place in ss were pushing 32×14 and 32×16. I spun with them for a while but I couldn’t hang on as they pulled ahead. I couldn’t have hung onto 1st place regardless of my gearing. The short track was worse, but it was fun. As we sat on the line, ssers were racing with the sport class, the announcer suggested that we ride easy for a while, and turn it into a race after 10 minutes. Some guys in the group liked that idea. I didn’t 
He said go..I went.. for 3 laps, I dervishly spun my little gear, knowing that I couldn’t sustain this anaerobic hell, but also knowing that group was shattered. Finally, Trevor and Mark, and a few of the top sport guys pulled around, and how I envied them as they spun up the road at half of my cadence.. Another 3rd place awaited..
Two races down, less than 30 minutes of high-intensity effort.. Sunday’s cross country race was more suiting to my gearing, two 6-mile laps. The course was great, essentially 15 minutes of single track/double track climbing (with some very steep, loose, sandy pitches) , another 8-10 minutes of mostly gentle (ie. spun-out climbing) on a gradually climbing jeep road, which was the prefect place to suck down a few Honey Stingers. Then 10-12 minutes descending loose jeep roads and single track, with some wicked nasty, sandy, stutter-bumpy switchbacks near the top..just stick your front wheel into the rut and hang-on. 68 minutes later I finished in 4th place (a new pro showed up and wasted us all). My effort was good enough to hang onto 3rd for the stage race..
This gives me points in the SoCal Triple Crown series, meaning that there are a few more shorter races in my immediate future, so I need to start hitting the intervals. I finished the cross country race feeling all warmed up and ready to start racing