BONELLI STATE/US CUP #1 RECAP

In my quest for MTB fame and glory, I have decided to do a full race season of the Socal State Mountain Bike Series put on by teambigbear.com. I started racing last year (2008) and fared some success. Funny thing about racing XC is I didn't like it at first. It just was not fun to pedal your ass off with your HR above 180 for 1.5 hours only to be disappointed with your results. However, I got the bug and improved at every race and was able to finish 3rd for my age group and class (Sport 30-34).

On to 2009. The US Cup is a new national MTB racing series this year sponsored by Sho-Air, Specialized, and Kenda. March 1st, 2009 was the inaugural event and I was quite shocked by the size and number of participants. The number I heard was around 700 total racers which includes Pros and amateurs. It really was a great event. I also decided to join Team Velosport which is the club team for Rock n Road Cyclery. One of the main reasons for joining is they have a race reimbursement program which I can potentially get back as much as half of my race fees back at the end of the year especially when races cost about $45 - $60 a race. It's just fun to be a part of a team and to meet new people. Plus, I have to represent the home team!

The weather was fantastic for the day with temps in the low to mid 80's. Great for watching the race, but not so great for racing. I would have liked it to be in the low to mid 70's. After picking up my sweet plastic number plate and packet I was surprised to find a bag full of goodies that were exempt from last year. The goodie bag inlcuded an event t-shirt, drinks, gel, water bottle, and various coupons. Very cool! I headed over to the Team Velosport E-Z up to find tons of food, cytomax, and whatever I needed to prepare for the XC race. My race started at 10:30am and I had about an hour to kill. I found Matt as I was just doing a quick warm up on the first climb of the course. Matt was racing in the Cat 2 Single Speed class. Oh yeah, I decided to stay at the sport level which is now called Cat 2. Mainly because I can't put all the time and effort to train and race at that level. Some may call it sandbagging, but I still think there is room for improvement in Cat 2. Cat 1 guys are really fast.


On to the race. I didn't know if I would be seeing any familiar racers from last season and when I lined up at the staging area with 13 others in my age group of 30-34. I didn't recognize anyone. I had no idea who would be my competition or the guys to chase. The unknown factor was exciting. It was the start of a new season.


Lap 1 turned out to be my best lap. I started the lap to get a feel for how the other racers would jump out of the gate. 4 to 5 of them started out pretty hard and I just followed onto the first climb. One of my fellow teammates was in the lead and was not too far ahead of me. I stuck on his wheel for the first climb and he lost his grip on the first hairpin turn on the down. I passed him and never looked back. I decided to push a little harder after that to build up an early lead. I didn't want to look back cause I hate knowing that there is someone catching up. I like to hear that sound of silence when I'm all alone. I ended up passing a bunch of guys from the 1st wave of racers in the younger age groups. I then heard that silence and that too was bugging me. I had my cO2 in one of my shirt jersey pockets that would make a clanging sound against my cO2 nozzle that resembled the sounds a bike makes. This happened throughout the race and just made me nervous. I didn't realize it was the cO2 until the 2nd lap. I was able to complete this lap to my surprise in 33:20. I had no idea what times to expect since it was a new course and my first time racing Bonelli. This time far exceeded my expectations.


The 2nd lap was a little slower for me. I didn't have the same strength that I did to get out of the saddle and power over the short climbs. I could feel fatigue setting in, but I knew I had to just endure the pain as it would be over soon. I caught up to a Platinum rider from the 1st wave and we made some small talk. I was able to pace off of him pretty good. We kept passing eachother. I passed him on the climbs and he would pass me on the flats. I could tell he would push just a little harder cause I was right there with him. It didn't matter because we weren't racing against each other, but it did help to keep the pace going. I started to slow my pace towards the last 2 miles of the lap. There was no one behind me except for the occasional really fast Cat2 riders from the older age groups that would pass me. I still didn't see a single racer from my age group at this point. I kept going and rounded the last corner just feet from the finish line when I hear this guy behind me do a powerslide for about 20 feet on the pavement. Guess that guy doesn't care about his tires and I doubt he made up any time, but at this point it was too late cause I just crossed the line at that point. After the race, I come to find out he wasn't in my age group....lol! I did this lap in about 35:40 for an overall time of 01:09:04. I won the race!!! It was a surprise to me as I didn't expect it for the 1st race of the season.

I cheered Matt on as he raced to the finish. He was exhausted, but put up a valiant effort against some really tough SS'ers. After resting, we got our free In'N Out burger, watched the Pros and Cat 1's start and then waited around for the results to be posted. Results showed I got 1st place by about 50 seconds! Wow...not bad. Matt finished 6th, just missing out on a podium finish. I know he will get faster. Really good result for his first SS race. I got to stand in the #1 spot for the 2nd time in a row (dating back to last season) and hold this really cheezy plastic number plate award with 1st printed on it. I like the gold medals they had last year better. Oh well. A great start to the season! Next Socal State Series race is the US Cup #2 in Fontana on March 28th. Before that is the dreaded Vision Quest on March 7th. This will be my 2nd attempt at the VQ.



One thing to note. My time wasn't the fastest of the day for Cat 2 riders. I was about 5 minutes off the pace from the top Cat 2 guys.