Pilarcitos #4-Golden Gate Park by Matt Leonard

Well, I kind of threw this race out the window Friday night. Isaias and Ty talked me in to going out in the city to a place called the Element Lounge. Now, I heard lounge and thought that sounded cool. When we showed up, I don't think there was a single person sitting down, lounging, kicking back or anything like that. Everyone was dancing and thats just not my style. However, with the proper BAC, you can get me out on the dance floor. And thats just what happened. So a few too many beers and up till 2:30 or so and I figured my race Sunday morning was all over.

I woke up at 9:30 on Sunday to my phone ringing, still groggy even after a full days rest on Saturday. Ty called to let me know he was too scared to race me in the B's, and he was going to stay home and do laundry or something, maybe wash his hair, I'm not sure. (kidding of course, he would have kicked me "arse" as Isaias would say.) I pulled my self together and got over to GGP around 11:15 and hopped on my bike for a real easy warm up lap, mostly to just check out the course. Man, I was already pretty beat. I came back and rehydrated, and then back out for another lap at a little faster pace. Came back, hydrated, and repeated that one or two more times. The course was nice, really tacky and just enough technical stuff to keep me happy.

So 1:10 rolls around and I'm standing in a pack of 60 or so riders, ready to roll up to the start line. After the callups, everybody moves up, except the guy right in front of me. I probably lost 3 rows just because he sort of sat there and let everyone cram in front of him. DOH! Oh well, I wasn't planning on anything spectacular yesterday anyways. So the guy says go and we're off. I passed maybe 5 or 10 people before the dirt, and continued to do so for the next 1/4 of a lap or so. I knew I was midpack, and pretty content with that. I hit the first set of barriers, and when I went to jump, my legs just yelled at me and told me to stop it. I made it over, but knew I needed to pay close attention throughout the race and not get lazy.

As the race went on, I felt better and started to catch some guys that I've been chasing since the first CX race of the year. That sort of got me going and I began to chase. I was feeling pretty good, but still just having fun. So when Isaias offered up his beer coming to the start/finish with 1 to go, I said why not. Got a good cheer from the crowd and then took off. I ended up passing 3 or 4 of Isaias's Ritchey buddies on the last lap. This has been my goal for the season. I thought I could get up in to the top 10, but I think that will have to wait till next year. So for now, I still have one guy thats within reach, and I hope he shows up at the Pilarcitos finale. He and the Soulcraft guy are the two I'm gunning for. If I can take them in two weeks, I'll consider my first CX season successful.

Well, I ended up getting passed by a Sycip guy with like a minute left in the race, and couldn't catch him. Oh well, I still had a good time. It was fun having Lloyd, Isaias, Mo and some others yelling at me. I kept trying to hand my bike off to Lloyd, but he just wouldn't take my place. Thanks again to Julie for the water feed. I owe her some beer or something. Thats like the 3rd time shes helped me out. Maybe a Big Sky assortment pack of beers. So, 36 out of 61 with 5 of the 7 Ritchey guys behind me. Not too shabby considering my Friday night.

Matt

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CCX DH #4-Bob Lofland

Hard choices, Cyclocross or Downhill, Downhill was the choice. I
figured a couple hours of climbing would be good exercise and I need
it. And Toro Park was only about an hour drive.

I was happy hear the the single track in race #2 was part of the
course. I was a little concerned with the upper freeway. It did not
feel very good in practice. And the climb was over an hour, so I was
only able to get one practice run from the top. I broke a spoke on the
second climb up, and almost called it a day. Did not want to destroy a
wheel. But Scott and crew convinced me that 31 out of 32 was not bad.
When I arrive up top I checked the wheel, no noticable wobble, so I
figured what the heck.

I set my Epic Brain totally soft. And my Terralogic F100X totally
turned out. The suspension was very soft. On my preride I was
concerned about burning up the brakes. Seemed like I was on them a
lot. During the run on the upper freeway I used brakes only twice,
once over a rolling rise and the other into a very fast and soft
corner. It was really clear and steep fireroads. I felt great on the
lower portion, and even launched a couple logs. One little slip on a
corner caused me to dab, but it was nothing. Well maybe that and a one
faster corner would have put me in 7th.

End result was 8th out 14. I was happy considering this was my 2nd DH
race and the 45+ group is not categorized, so it is all expert, sport
and beginner lumped in one. 5th, 6th , and 7th only had 6, 7, and 14
seconds on me respectively. Then the 4th place guy, Rich Davis
finished 8:58, about 30 seconds faster.

Overall I felt good about being so close to the next places. It was a
long course. If I had pushed a little harder, maybe put on real DH
tires? Next time. One more CCX DH and I plan on being there.

And no crash or damage. I think I am going to start doing a little
more DH next year. Providing the venues exist that allow me to use my
XC rig.

Bob

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Pilarcitos #3 - McClaren Park OR "Yes, I finally found my legs!"

'Cause I got's my own blizog, I'm cross posting...
Finally, finally I actually felt like I was racing and not just surviving. In otherwords, I felt like I had game. I had a stratgey, I was collected, I was efficient on the bike and the technical style of the course suited my mountain biker abilties.


http://isaiasjob.blogspot.com/

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Pilarcitos #3 - Matt Leonard

Well, I went at it again yesterday in San Francisco. Katie and I showed up around 11 or so to the 3rd Pilarcitos race of the year in McLaren Park (I think it was really Crocker Amazon park, but whatever). I went to register and ran in to Jeff as he was waiting to line up for his race. After watching him take of in the 35+As, I walked over to the Ritchey tent and said whats up to Isaias as he was warming up on his trainer. After we had scoped the scene out, I went back, changed and got my bike while Katie set up shop with her captains chair, a few water bottles for me and a book.

I went for my first warm up lap and felt like crap. But, I came around, talked to Katie for a bit and drank some water. I went out for another lap before the A men started, feeling a little better. By my third lap, I was feeling okay, but just tired. I wasn't focused and was having a hard time concentrating, which was not a good thing on this course. There was nowhere to recover and just ride. The course was either up, down, through a ton of S turns, or on the pavement sprinting.

I lined up about mid-pack and we took off. By the end of the pavement, I was probably in the top 1/3 or so. Over the first set of barriers and up the run up, I probably came out at mid-pack. But with all the climbing, I was really able to pass people. We got to the top of the hill, down the super bumpy decent, up a little pavement to a run up with a log at the end and there were about 10 of us in a line. I was somewhere in the middle. We all got back on and started riding, but at the first little hill, everyone spun out and we all lost our momentum as the top 10 or so guys just took off. DOH! Oh well. After we hit the paved decent, I said screw this and went to the side and passed about 5 guys. Only problem was, I could stop before the turn. So I sort of rode of the side of the trail and got out of everyones way and watched about 10 people go by me before the 2nd climb of the course. I passed maybe 5 more people before the end of the lap, so maybe in 15th to 20th place.

I started the second lap sort of by myself, trying to catch some people, but that wasn't going to happen. Over the first barrier before the run up, I completely ate it. I just misjudged the height of the barrier and caught my front foot. At least I got a good cheer from everyone. Back on the bike and up the run up. On the first climb, I caught a few more people. I had even caught up to Isaias's Ritchey teammates who had beat me by about 3-4 minutes at candlestick. So I was feeling good about my position. I passed a couple of those guys and was really going hard. But that didn't work out too well again. After the decent before the parking lot, there was a little tight turn and the guy in front of me went wide so I went for the pass. But my front tire slipped in to a rut I didn't see and over I went again. Again, like 5 people passed me. Damn.

I just couldn't find a rhythm. I kept on it thought for the rest of the race. There may have been one person each lap or so for the next few laps that I passed, but nothing significant. Then on the last lap, I dropped my chain and had to stop at the top of the run up to put it back on. Soon after that, a Soulcraft guy passed me, then a guy from organic athlete. I was able to pass the organic athlete guy on the first climb and keep that lead for the most part. He passed me for a second on the last climb, but mentioned he couldn't stay there. And he was right, I stepped on it and he was back behind me. The guy from Soulcraft was in my sights, but I just couldn't get him through the S turns. I popped out on to the pavement with the organic athlete guy right behind me, and the Soulcraft guy maybe 50ft ahead. With everything I had left, I stood up and sprinted, making up maybe maybe 2/3 of the distance on the Soulcraft dude, and the organic athlete guy came up right behind me at the finish line. But it just wasn't enough for him, as his front wheel was about a foot behind mine.

So, all in all, I'm glad I went out and punished myself. I really enjoyed walking the course with Katie during the women's race, showing here where I screwed up and where I passed people. I think a conversation between her and Isaias pretty much summed up my race. Something like this:

Katie: "Matt really doesn't look like he is having fun."
Isaias: "Fun?!? He isn't suppose to be having fun, this is cross!"
Katie: "Yeah, but all the other races, when he goes by he is smiling and laughing."
Isaias: "Well he isn't working hard enough then."

They were both right, I was really suffering. But I felt like at Watsonville, I worked just as hard, but had a blast during the race. Not so much this time, but I think it had a lot to do with just being tired, not thinking clearly and making stupid mistakes. Doing well last weekend made me overconfident and I was too aggressive which forced stupid mistakes. However, I finished 25th out of 33 with 6 guys behind me on the lead lap. At Candlestick, I was dead last on the lead lap. So I'll look at it as an improvement. And looking at the C's, if they did 6 laps, I would have been 5th out of 65. So I'm still feeling good about being in the B's. No sandbagging here. However, I may have to revise my thoughts about a top ten finish. Top 20 would make me happy.

Next week I'll be on a plane to New Hampshire, so no race. But, if the stars align just right, and flights are on time, Katie will pick me up at the airport the following sunday. The Rock Lobster and all my gear will be loaded up in the car, and its straight to Golden Gate park for Pilarcitos #4.

Congratulations to Isaias for a killer finish in the A's. Probably his best finish ever. And thanks to Meredith, Jeff and Shannon for cheering me on. It makes big difference. And of course, thanks to Tim, Julie and Paule from Roaring Mouse for heckling me throughout the entire race. Thats what its all about, making fun of your friends when they screw up. And they were there each time yesterday.

Matt
25/33 B 45:13 6 laps

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