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