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What Jason saw:
Category: C
Result: Back of pack
Man, tough race. A lot of people. Great Venue, Golden Gate Park.
The course was more of a mountain bike course then a cyclocross course, still a lot of fun. Had two sweet technical downhills. three barriers which were all uphill and one mud corner/pit all in Golden Gate Park.
Eugene, Andy and I made the trek and successfully wondered around S.F and the park. We couldn't located the actual course for like 20 mins. We ended up leading a caravan of cars to find the place.
As for the race there were a ton of people in my field. I think I had a start list of about 60 guys if not more. Throw in the juniors and add about another 20 at the start. They had a call out, which was cool, and gave you an advantage. I got stuck in the back and paid for it. Something I never experienced in a race before but my first lap was an actual traffic jam. On the first downhill I didn't have to worry about in any manner because we were collectively going 5 mph. Due to the amount of people I was able to pass more on the dismounts then on the bike. Running for an extra 10 feet usually put me up 3-4 people. I crashed twice. Same spot. But one was not my fault. A girl from the women's A race was preriding the coarse and went down right in front of me. She got an ear full from me and another rider.
Overall I had fun but could perform at the level I wanted to with my back. Although better, still hindered me. I was eventually lapped which I wasn't surprised due to the amount people and where in the pack I was. Wasn't my best but I am glad I just finished. Ah but two weeks of rest and preparing for the 27th. Then San Mateo. On a side note , GG Park has Buffalo that hang out... Who'd thunk.
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What Eugene saw:
Category:
What EB remembers (may be different from reality).
The course was tough as it was fast, but not for big gears. Don't know what
a mtn bike course is like, but I thought this was a good modern cx course.
The barriers were all well placed and forced a short hard run; I agree with
Jason that a bit extra running was worth a place or two. Not sure where the
technical downhills were as I was screaming into the next turn before I
thought about it. Pilarcitos put on a nice race and make a good course.
The mud spot had a high wide and handsome line or a direct line that dried
during my race. Nothing too off camber, just fast.
The field seemed to be a bit bigger than usual and I managed to shove myself
into about the front mid on the left. Was about midpack by the first turn
and we went three wide to the first barrier where there was room for 2. I
got ahead of the guys I have usually ended up around and was still fighting
as a rhythm developed.
I was picking off some one here and there, usually
on the fast sections and holding even on the tight turns. The fast 45s
didn't come through as a bunch but were struggling and the short lap(6:00
min avg for me) had the leader though at lap 4. Was setting up for the last
lap when I was passing the big guy from Sycip and jammed a turn pretty hard,
I partly rolled my front tire. I tried punching it back on while riding,
but chances of hitting the roll while riding were proving too low. I slowed
a bit to make sure I got home but this was pretty frustrating as a few guys
slipped by. Wasn't that slow of a lap as my average was 6:02 and this was
6:23. After the last barrier I stopped and popped it back on. Picked too
low of a gear for the finish and just got nipped by the guy I had swapped
places with for a while, shucks, blew my race plan.
Probably wrapped up 43rd again although it was a good again [53rd, Ed.].
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