Grasshopper - By Rafael Ruis

IMy first grasshopper, and definitely not the last. I carpooled with Morgan
Fletcher and several other guys from Team Oakland, and we got to Occidental at a
good time. Registered, geared up, and ready to go. This is about 50 miles of
mixed road and fire road, and if you were sneaky, some singletrack. Weapon of
choice was the CX bike. Levi Leipheimer was among us lining up, and soon we
were off with a neutral roll out until the first big climb.

The pros were gone,and the rest of us were sorting ourselves out. Most of the
ride was pace line,fire road climb, slick dirt descents (passing roadies on cross bikes,
and getting passed by mt. bikes). Pretty soon we were at the Willow Creek crossing,
which was a thigh deep, pretty fast moving river thanks to the recent storms. I
had actually opened a slight gap on most of my group during the descent, and I
noticed one guy at the creek removing his shoes. Being that we still had about
25 miles or so to go, I decided to take mine off too. It was a smart move
because right after I crossed, a rather large group came through, and we formed
a nice little group for the upcoming road grind. My group included Justin
Morgan of Sexual Camel fame, and Allison, the first female finisher. We formed
a pretty good paceline dropping a few and picking up some stranded solos (I
would have been one of these solo stranded pick ups if, but with soggy shoes).

By the time we reached Willow Creek road, we picked up a couple of familiar
faces (Michigan Matt, Paule of the mice who stopped to help Kristen who crashed
hard due to a broken frame… ouch). We kept going until the broken road turned
to the fire road climb. Justin gave me the details, 3 miles of dirt climbing,
then 2 miles of road descent. Being the punk I am, I tried to drop everyone I
was with, mainly wanting to beat Matt, but dropping Justin would be a nice
surprise. I put my head down, and a couple minutes later, I opened up a gap
enough where I didn't see anyone behind me. Once we got to the top of the dirt,
there was a tiny bit of pavement climbing, and I started to cramp but was able
to soft pedal it out. Justin caught back up to me, and we formed a small group
of 4 for the rollers and descent. Finished 109/250ish at 3:24, about 42 minutes
behind the winner and Levi. As we roll into town, there was a benefit bake sale
going on by the local school kids, so of course I had to tear into some rice
krispy treats and cookies. Then beer, then pizza. Overall awesome time, even
though it's not really a race, and more of a training ride. Can't wait for
Chileno Valley on 2/20.