RACE
Race day, again this is a point-to-point race, starting in Sierra City and heading to Downieville. We got a ride into Sierra City in the clown car, 6 people in a Subaru Forrester, I think. The starts were staggered a little between our group with different ages and classes and tons of people. I’m not sure I’ve ever done a mountain bike race with this many people in it. Over a thousand total, I think? Anyhow, Tristan went first with the Pro’s, Champ 5 mins later with the young’ns, then Wes and I 5 mins after that. After some light warm up and milling around I went ahead and headed over to the start area. I’m not the best at squeezing my way into the front so I thought I’d get over a few mins early. As it would turn out, that was not enough. I ended up a good way back in our group somehow and had a rough time getting started. I think it was about 45 seconds or so before I even got to where Wes started, but also, that meant I had a lot of people to weave through just to get up the road. Next time, I’m going to do what I should have done and figure out how to get further up in the start group.
Climb
Anyhow, into the climb, at first, it’s not too bad, it’s shaded, the gravel is relatively smooth and packed. It’s not long though before the trees started to disappear though and the gravel conditions turn to sand, 1 line, ruts, and the mess starts. People were struggling to stay on their bikes then struggling to get out of the way of people who were riding. Some folks had no sense of humor, it was heating up quickly. Early on, I made the decision to try and keep it light and just do what I could do to have as much fun as possible while still trying to push. So, I didn’t fret too much if I got caught behind one or two riders for a minute or two.
After a while, things settled a good bit and I wasn’t trying to pass groups at a time, just slowly making my way up and passing someone here and there, maybe getting passed every now and then. As we came near the top the spectators picked up and it was getting exciting. I had finished one bottle and wasn’t sure what the rest of the aid stations looked like. In my effort to keep it light, I thought I’ll start the singletrack with 2 full bottles. As I stopped to refill, a group passed me at the top…Not ideal. Hopped onto the singletrack, rode past Thad and Jenna, and onto the Gold Valley Rim Trail. In just a min I’m behind a guy who’s taking his sweet time. I should have made a pass, I’m not sure what I was thinking. I think I took my plan of keeping it light too seriously. He was a good descender but was climbing soooo slowly. Which is kind of the opposite of how I ride. So here I am for 20+ minutes riding behind a guy holding me up. Not sure what was going through my head, except trying to make sure I “paced” so I didn’t blow sky high. Oh well, once we started the downhill, he took off, but that was about 24 minutes of the race that I would have ridden very differently. For example, we rode it 3 minutes faster on our pre-ride with some stopping, soo…. Oh well, maybe it wouldn’t have served me well later?
Dropping
Into the first descent, Krypton…, that wasn’t what the trail was called but it was the scene. Sharp pointy rocks, blind moves over rises, it was awesome. It wasn’t super steep but it was challenging and fun. I was feeling fun? If that’s a feeling. Moving along, into Babyheads, which is a blown out “road” or creekbed? Or well I don’t really know but lots of softball size rocks on top of similar softball size rocks on top of other loose rocks. It was sketchy and yet awesome. Keeping the pace and fun up right into the next trail where it tightens back up again for a little while. Maybe something called Pauley’s creek? This was after a pretty awesome creek crossing.
I’m still feeling good and having fun before we hit 1st and 3rd divide? Again, not really sure of the trail names but that seems familiar. This is where things get SUPER fast and SUPER dusty and I come well out of my comfort zone. I’m having trouble seeing where I’m going, the speed is out of my wheelhouse, and well I know I’m already pretty far back. So I didn’t push too hard here, kept it rubber side down. There are a few little rises in this second part of the course but almost all of it is downhill.
It’s hot, the trail is ticking by quickly. At one of the last aid stations, they had a bunch of water guns, a fire truck, and they were just hosing people down. It was amazing, I was so hot. At this point we’d hit the pavement. I knew it wasn’t long to go and I was very close to my target time of 3 hours. I decided to see what I had left and tried to empty the tank on the way into town. I think I ended up finishing right at the 3-hour mark and honestly had a little gas to finish, which was cool being that overall, I never really felt great.
Of course, the rest of the group was done well before I was, but hey, given how my summer had gone, the riding I’d done, vacations, etc. I was honestly about where I deserved to be, I think.
Post
After the race it was time to get into the Yuba River, it was amazingly cold but nice to bring the body temps back down. After a coke and popsicle because why else do we ride races like this. Looking at the results, Champ won his age group which means we had to stick around for awards in the amazing heat. Which gave us time to mill around Downieville for an hour or two and see all the things. The museum, the hardware/grocery/camping/anything you probably ever needed but weren’t sure of it store.
We still had a few more days to explore Graeagle and ride outside of race settings, which was awesome. The day after the race while Tristan and Wes did the downhill race, Champ and I went on an exploration ride and ended up coming down Mills Peak. Then the day after the whole group did an out and back on Mills Peak. It’s a trail worth repeating and fun in both directions.
Awesome trip, good riding, great friends – before long we were packing up bikes and getting ready to head home.
