Pilarcitos #1, McClaren Park.

McClaren Park is a race that I've been looking forward to, not so much because of the course but because I knew there would be a lot of people out racing and watching. We're now into the meat of the cyclocross season and Tom's Pilarcitos races are well produced and fun to do. I was second in the Pilarcitos series last year and I've never won one of these races, so a Pilarcitos win was a goal of mine for this season. In fact, the first Coyote Point cx race that Tom put on was my first ever cross race and it was the race that really hooked me on cross six(!) years ago.

Yesterday morning was kind of silly, I rode for an hour near my house since I knew I'd have to ride the trainer since pre-riding is not allowed during other races at Pilarcitos. There is a course inspection time right before the race, but it's only like 10 minutes so I tried to enjoy my morning at home and putt around town.

So I maybe enjoyed it too much because I got in my car a few minutes later than I'd have liked to. And then I missed the exit off 101 and had to turn around... and then I went down the wrong street after getting off at the right exit... I got to the race feeling more than a little off my mark with about 25 minutes to race time. I picked up my #, changed in the porta potty (Ewwww) since I had to park kind of far away and had someone pin my number on (thanks Dan!). I dislike having someone else pin my number almost as much as I dislike changing in the porta potty. I have a very fast and effective way to pin my own number on the steering wheel of the car, but the clock was ticking and I just wanted it right side up and on the correct side of my skinsuit. I flinged my B bike at Ryan, our mechanic, and got down to business.

I did an "aggressive preride" and tried to get both a warmup and some idea of the course, and both of those goals were only barely met. There were a TON of people warming up from all different cat's I guess so it was pretty crowded on the track. The course was pretty straightforward: there was a very short paved start and then a bit of turf before the runup, a paved climb, a rough and nasty down hill, more climbing, a big log that was equally dangerous to try and hop or run and remount (I ate shit remounting after that log in practice, but the photog that was sitting right there said he missed the shot. Dude! Isn't that why you're camped out at the sketchy log?) then an fairly unenjoyable descent to the bumpy, moist ball field. There was a set of 4 barriers right before the finish. The course was rough, the only smooth parts were paved (and uphill, pretty much). I wanted my tires to be soft, for the cornering and to go better over the rough stuff, but there was a lot of places to bottom out and flat so I left them at 30 psi.

I was late to the start but made it in time for callups so I got a good lane choice (far right hand side, so I could cut everyone off around the first corner if I get the holeshot ;-). There was a big field, Tom said 55 guys, and there were a bunch of heavy hitters in attendance. I was called up just after Justin Robinson and I figured that he'd probably be my main competition but the father and son duo Mark and Chance Noble were also in attendance and those guys have given me a hard fight in the past as well. There were a fair amount of other fast guys there but I didn't really get a good chance to see who else might be a problem since I was kind of running behind. I wasn't feeling really all that good about my chances and I was basically winging it after botching the morning's preparation. I don't feel like I've been climbing all that well lately, especially after last weeks steep and torturous CCCX race so I was just hoping to get the race going and see what happens.

So, Casey gave the whistle a mighty toot and we were off. I got the holeshot and only Justin R could come up the hill with me after the runup. We took turns and started to stretch out our gap on lap 1.



(photo: Nick Navarro)



(photo: John Suzuki)

After 2 laps Justin gapped me off for a lap or so and I thought my chance to battle to the finish might be past... I stayed calm and just rode steady until I clawed him back when he started slowing after his effort. That was good, but I still wasn't optimistic about my chances. We rode together again, but I was making sure to be ready and to make the pace fast on the climb and bumpy flats even though we had a big gap.

There was a time when Keith Defiebre (CCCX promoter) made some comment on "making deals on the race" or some weird thing when he was cheering/heckling us at the sandy twisty part near the finish. So I said something like "Hey Justin, let's make a deal!" in a joking way and Justin goes "The deal is, we're going hard!". It was true and it made me think that what I should really do is basically play fitness-chicken with him. Just go hard hard hard even though there was a lot of racing left and we had a huge gap. Screw it. Fucking Justin always beats me on the last lap when I try and conserve myself in the race so I might as well just get in the pain-bag for 20 more minutes.

I still pretty much thought he would beat me with 3 to go, but I was trying to figure out when to go and what to do. At the top of the hill, at the remount after the log I was in front and I must have started to get a gap- my teammate Tom Fox was on the sidelines and he yelled at me to attack so I did. I looked back to see a little gap and and then I just buried myself.



(photo: William Matthews)

I was pretty good about riding steady and not crashing and I just really tried to go hard on the hill and the flat places. In cross, you can't let up even if the gap is big- anything can happen and it's not easy to have a balance of speed and careful handling especially on a course like this. I was lapping a ton of people by this point too which made it even more tricky when I was pretty much blacked out from drilling it.

Those laps were really tough and I was really happy at the finish. I was pretty much doing a victory freakout on the final straight and the pictures are hilarious-



(photo: William Matthews)

It was good one! It was a really proud win for me and I am super stoked to have the series leader jersey (which I got to put on after being late to the podium, I was running behind even after the race!). I hope I can keep racing well, this was my least favorite track of the Pilarcitos races so the best is yet to come (although I thought McClaren's a decent track for the terrain Tom had to work with, and definitely better than last year's track). I am very happy to have beaten Justin in a mano y mano situation, he's a great competitor and a guy that I really respect. Thanks a ton to everyone who was yelling and cheering for us, I had a great time suffering deeply for the entertainment of others.

!

(photo: Wiliam Matthews)