Socal State Champion!!!
I did it! All the hard work and consistent training has paid off. Winning the overall was my goal for the season and I'm ecstatic to say I have reached that goal. The season was challenging and the competitors were tough. It did help to have a little luck on my side as well as a mechanical free season. I had a fantastic time at all the races even when I felt my performance was sub-par. Mountain Biking is the best thing in the world and has completely transformed my life.
David hung with us for most of the climb as well, but started to fade towards the crest. Barbee started to open up a gap before the fireroad started to get fast with ups and downs. I decided it would be best to not chase him and conserve myself. I knew there still was quite a ways to go. About 12 or 13 miles into the race, David passes me on the fireroad. I guess I was going a little too easy. I decided to attack and up my pace. I immediately passed him, hoping this would discourage him and slow down his pace. He hung in there though. I was tiring and it was starting to show. He passed me up again and this time I didn't have the energy to chase him. I knew we were nearing the Pirates and Fall line singletracks and was planning to attack him there. I kept him in my sights and he had about a 20 second lead. I turned onto Pirates and put in a hard effort to close the gap. I could see him up ahead and I was planning to get by him as the trail would crest before going down. That's exactly what happened and the funny thing about it was I passed him at the exact same spot at the previous Big Bear Shoot Out race. I said "Hey David" and I think I caught him by surprise.
This was where the racing became really fun. David is a really good bike handler and it showed as he was chasing me down Pirates. As soon as we hit the fireroad transition before Fall Line, he was right on my wheel. I was taking the fireroad descent a little more cautious than I should have and ended up making a mistake by running wide on a turn. This allowed David to sneak by and now I was chasing him. We both were attacking on the singletrack as I was following his dust. It was so hard to see the trail at times due to the amount of dust. As we approached the most technical part of the trail, David made a mistake and washed out in a corner. I encouraged him to get back up and get the train moving again. I didn't want to pass him in that state, plus he was blocking the trail. He quickly got on his bike, but couldn't get clipped into his pedals entirely. It just so happened to be the worst spot of the trail and he ended up crashing. This forced me to take a much more difficult line straight over the 2 rocks since David was covering the main line. I almost ended up crashing a well, but I was able to keep the rubber side down. David really was putting in a max effort to stay ahead of me and he was going at a pretty good clip. He didn't hurt himself that bad as he did get back on his bike to finish the race in 3rd. 2nd place was mine once I went by David since there was just about a mile left before the finish. I ended up finishing 1.5 minutes behind Barbee as he took the win. That's ok though. I just won the overall!
Luck was on my side, after the post race discussions with my fellow competitors and team, I noticed my rear tire was practically flat. It turns out I burped the tire because sealant was obvious on the bead of the tire. It must have been a slow leak because I didn't notice a drop in pressure while racing to the finish. I think it happened when I had to take that difficult line around David about a mile from the finish. I was able to pump it back up and it held pressure.
The post race festivities were pretty cool. They had a really cool reggae band playing and they were really good. The beers were flowing and the tacos were somewhat tasty. The award ceremonies went surprisingly quick. Here's a pic of my 2nd place finish with Barbee earning his win and David with his hard effort for 3rd.
The team also won the overall for CoEd.
Matt also won the overall for CAT2 SingleSpeeders. Congrats to him. On a side note, he got pretty sick after the race. He actually yak'd in the bushes before this picture was taken. He still managed to smile even though he was really out of it.
Well, that's the end of the Socal State Series and I must say Team Big Bear puts on a great series. The combined effort of the US Cup and TBB made this season one to not miss and I will most certainly be back for the 2010 season, but this time I will be racing against the big boys in CAT 1. I know I will be getting my ass handed to me on a platter for sure. It's a whole different level of fitness that I'm not sure I can achieve. I'm already prepared that 2010 will be an educational experience. I want to thank Team Velosport and most importantly Caroline for the awesome support with the cheerful demeanor to go along at the races. Thanks to all my riding buddies Ryan, Andrew, Troy, Mark, Brian, Doug and especially Matt. It was nice to have a good friend to race with at every event. I also need to extend my thanks out to all the guys at Rock n' Road in Laguna Niguel for their awesome support and always making sure my bike was in tip top shape. Those guys are the best. I also can't forget about my good friend Ryan and his wife Sara for their support. They both encouraged me to stay positive and of course Ryan is always the super homie for helping me attain certain bike goods among other things. Ryan just kicks ass. They even managed to make it up to Sea Otter to support me. Thanks to my family and especially my mother. Even though she is 500 miles away, she gave me the inspiration to help me succeed. Plus her hospitality and cooking is just awesome. That definitely made the trip out to Colorado worth it. Thanks to all the competitors at the races for making these races happen. Thanks to Mike Barbee for being a true sportsman and competitor. I hope to ride and compete with you soon buddy. I'm sure I'm forgetting others, but I do appreciate everyone's support to those that have been interested in my racing career. Enough with the thanks! Oh yeah...thanks to Jake for putting up with my bike repairs and bike builds. That's it!
There are a few more races before the year end that I'm not sure if I will be participating in yet. The Rim Nordic series is a 4 race series with 1 already in the books. The next one is next weekend and I'm contemplating competing in the next 3 but racing in the Single Speed category for fun. We'll see. I still haven't decided yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment