Santa Barbara Bike Festival Recap

I look forward to the Santa Barbara Bike Fest every season and this past weekend was no different.  Santa Barbara is such a killer ocean town and Elings Park offers some pretty fast and flowy singletrack with steep pitches as well as numerous switchbacks.  A course that seems to bring out the best in my style and skills.  I made a goal to make it on the podium before the season's end and this race IMO was going to be my best chance.  I was almost heartbroken to hear that this event was almost cancelled a week prior due to some legalities of some sort.  I don't know all the details, but the end result was a green light for the SBBF.  Hopefully, next year all those issues will be sorted out with usage of Elings Park.

The race weekend started out by driving up with JD and Heather (thank you both!) late Saturday morning.  We all wanted to get some good time on the course prior to the XC race on Sunday to see what was changed from last year.  Due to the legal BS, the Start/Finish was moved to the south side of the park and it was quite a pleasant change from years past.  The parking was not the greatest, but it was nice to be hanging out on a nice grassy knoll.  I decided to sign up for Super D since I was already there and I had such a blast racing Super D in Idyllwild last month, so why not?  I tried to get JD to sign up, but I guess he was too afraid to have fun...j/k man!  The Super D course was about 2.5 miles long with just over 100ft of ascent.  My pre-ride times were right around the 11 minute range.

How did I manage that sick number plate?

They were sending everyone out in TT fashion with 30 second gaps between racers.  I started somewhere in the middle of the field.  The countdown began and off I went on the last beep grabbing a couple of gears almost immediately to bring up my speed.  I dove into the first turn skidding out the rear wheel trying to carry as much speed as comfortably possible.  Swooping left, right, up, right, down and all over the place.  I caught up to my 30 second man within 2 minutes.  I passed 2 more 30 second men on a long pedaling section and bombed down the pavement climb towards the finish line.  I crossed the line with a time of 9:04 which was solid enough for a 1st place in my AG and the 3rd best amateur time of the day.  A great start to the race weekend!

After the awards were announced, we checked-in to the Oasis Inn off State Street (2 miles away from the venue), got cleaned up and headed out to Edomasa Sushi for some tasty eats.  1 bottle of Nigori sake quickly turned into 2 bottles thanks to JD's drinking problem.  ;-)  The sushi was excellent and to top off the night, we each got crazy with a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream for the walk home.

The next morning we got off to a slow start but made it in time for the Cat3 races starting off at 9am.  It was overcast and chilly, but I knew the sun would be full on raging by the time the Cat1 race started.  Heather did a fantastic job tearing up the course earning a 1st place.  Next up was the Cat2 race which saw JD and Matt (coming out of retirement) participating.  It was fun working the feed zone and encouraging everyone as they came by.  JD had an awesome showing and took home 3rd even with a small mishap.  Matt had a decent top 10 finish which isn't bad for his first state race of the year. 

Everyone seemed to be in good spirits while waiting to be sent off.  My strategy for the race was to keep the lead pack in sight for at least the first lap while trying to manage my efforts to keep from blowing up.  The race start was a good one and I found myself sitting in 6th or 7th.  I knew the pack would break up on the 1st climb of the day which came in a minute from the start.  Griffith dropped a chain on the climb and I was able to get around him...sorry Griff.  I found myself in 5th place and I could see Marco and Gerry not too far ahead, but the gap was increasing.  I traded spots a couple of times with a Platinum rider on the first lap and eventually I got the best of him to move into 4th.  I was able to catch up and pass Wes on the 2nd lap.  I increased the gap while attacking and sprinting up the climbs knowing I could recover a bit on the descents.  It appeared to be working.  "NICE! I'm sitting in 3rd."  I started to run into the younger AG's that started a couple of minutes ahead which did slow me down some.  It was hard to pass at times as the course was mostly singletrack and doubletrack.  I was on my own for the 3rd lap.  My legs were feeling strong thanks to 1st Endurance's EFS, so I continued to push the pace where I could.  It's really easy to sit up and relax the effort when all alone.  If it's one thing I've learned this year, it is to not ease up.  If you do, there will be a rider on your wheel before you know it.  As the 4th lap came around, I did a quick look over the shoulder to see if I could see anyone behind me.  I didn't see anyone, but I pushed on remembering not to let up.  This lap was also the warmest of the race.  The sun was beating me down on areas of the course with no ocean breeze.  Things were still going well.  I even caught up and passed a couple of slower Pro's.  Good things always come to an end though, right?  About 3/4 of the way through the lap, my left quad started to have the cold tingly feeling to it.  Usually that is a sign of something much worse to come.  Yup, a moment later my leg started to cramp a bit.  I said out loud, "You got to be kidding me!"  I backed off the effort a bit, but kept pedaling.  As soon as I would stop pedaling, the cramp would get tighter.  It felt better to pedal.  I took the last swigs of 1st Endurance's EFS from my bottle and a weird yet amazing thing happened.  The cramp immediately went away.  That was a first.  I kept pedaling and brought the power back up a bit.  I brought it up some more.....feeling good still.  Hmmm..."Ok, let's finish this off strong."  I made my way up towards the final descent and told myself "F it!"  If I cramp, I'm just going to pedal through it all the way to the end.  I hammered up the short climb to the final descent and the legs were feeling back to normal minus the fatigue.  Stoked!  All I had to do was finish off the final climb of the day which happened to be the longest of the lap.  I reached the bottom of the pavement and began the 3 minute journey up.  I got about halfway up and took another quick look back and I was home free.  I approached the turnoff to the grass and JD was there.  He said out loud, "Come on Rushak, grab a gear."  I did just that.  I clicked 2 gears and got out of the saddle to finish off the climb.  I didn't have much left, but turned those cranks over until the crest.  I crossed the line in 3rd with a time of 1:51:09.  The announcer confirmed my 3rd place over the loud speakers.  I won my battle and reached my goal this season.  I was 3 minutes back of Marco in 2nd place and Wes was 45 seconds behind me.

First climb

Dripping sweat, eating tons of dust, and suffering.

 1st-Gerry, 2nd-Marco, 3rd-Me, 4th-Wes (not shown), 5th-Griffith

Here's the stats from the race:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/36000102

I was able to increase my average speed by almost 1mph more than last year over a longer distance and a slightly longer lap.  I also compiled my total time for 3 laps to see where I would have sit if I raced Cat2 and that just confirmed I'm racing in the correct category.  Oh yeah, I also started running again about 6 weeks ago in the search for more fitness.  I believe that it has helped increase my performance on the bike.  In addition to running, I haven't been training as hard on the bike.  I've been getting alot more recovery time and I think it's been working out better for me.  12 HOT is next followed by Round 6 of the state series up in Big Bear the following weekend.

Thanks you JD, Heather, and Matt for the fun weekend!  A special thanks to Warped1 for supplying the action photos.