Race Report: Bay Area Super Prestige
Greetings from San Francisco,
After a weekend of watching Great youtube video fresh from the homeland.
I love this guys feeds and i am starting to learn flemish…. But I digress. I made the 2 hour pilgramage to the bay to mix it up in the fog. Finally some real cross weather and temperature. The group at www.pilarcitos.com/2008Cross.htm laid out a a pretty cool course. Let’s take a lap, a short start/ finish straight bends right into a the outfield of a softball diamond then takes an imediate left for a nice 25 foot vertical run up . Head right at the top for a short soft flat straight capped with a left hand up hill chicane. Continue up for 50 feet of asphalt then veer right dropping into mountain bike like decent. A high speed left sets you up for some side hill work, after negotiating the goat path, a right sends you for some more DH. Now the fun starts, a lefthhand hairpin aims you right back up the face of a climb. The good part is that it is pavement with a lazy switchback back onto the dirt 3/4 the way up. After peaking the 120 ft Alp you get to snake down through the woods to the first obstacle (see picture of log). Note the log is followed by a small 4′ foot drop. A little more decending into a saddle, then at the top a lazy left puts us on a fire road . Get ready, another drop, this one is a 6 footer with a 90 degree right at the bottom. A slow left followed by a slower right sends us back through the supper soft flat at the to of the run up. A fast pavement section drops onto a second baseball diamond following the thrid base line to home. Hang a left to the pitching rubber then a right back to homebase then left out the first base line. Sweep left through the outfield then hair pin back right following the warning track. The second barrier set a 4 pack, slows you down, setting up a left hair pin back through the start finish.With a big city you get a big turn out, 53 riders lined up to contest the 35+ B’s, the rest of the fields were equally large. Now for my race, for those of you that know me hills are not my friend. So, I was really concerned with the climbs. As it turned out that was the least of my concerns. The course as laid out was cool to look at but, to ride was an entirely different story. Let’s just say I have riden smoother cow trails in vernal. With out suspension I went with low pressure tubbies. I lined up in the second row got my usual good start things were good untill the climb, for the first four laps i would loose 4 spots on that dreaded mountain. Then something great happened I was finally holding my own then flatted at the top????. Not wanting to destroy my ksyrium rear wheel I gingerily followed the course to make my way down to the start finish to make a change. Back on the course ready to hammer the final lap only to be shut down and told I was lapped while making the switch. Here is the kicker how did I end up??? Good question. I was DQed for cutting the course so I have no idea. My fault for not using the designated pit area. By the way it was missing the “official pit” sign. Promoters please do us and yourself a favor let people know if there are strict pit rules and areas at sign up. And don’t cop out with an anouncement at the start when every one is lined up and ready to race. Would you really hold a start for a rider to move wheels or a bike to the corrrect area? Any way this race didn’t really matter to me because I am only doing one more “training race” in ths series. I know not very big ring but Cross in the Capitol City goes through January. Happy Trails!Brother Robert,
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