Monday, October 1, 2007

Race Report: Central Coast CX #2

CCCX #2, Toro Park, 9/30/07
5th place, Elite Men


Ready set go.

A tougher course than last week. It started with a steep paved climb (20-25 seconds) then dumped onto a fast singletrack descent that took you all the way to the bottom of the course. Then gently uphill as you wound your way through a bunch of loose/sandy chicanes and a few barriers until you arrived back at the start. It was moderately hot, but not unbearable. The same fast guys were there again, except for Josh. But AndyJM was there, so same difference. I got a call-up and held close to Justin going up the hill and entered the singletrack in fifth. towards the end of the first lap, I didn't have quite enough to stay on the wheels of the lead four. I was less than five seconds back when they hit the pavement to start of lap two. But they just motored away. There was one other kid (Logan) with me as I hit the pavement, but he popped on the hill and went backwards. Managed to stay within 10-15 seconds of the leaders for the first three laps, but I knew that unless they started messing around I wasn't going to make it up to them. About halfway through the race, Aaron O'Dell popped off the back of the lead group and started coming back to me. With about three to go, I had closed to about 10-15 seconds on him, but he turned on the gas again and extended back to about thirty seconds by the finish. Hopefully one of these days I'll be able to hang with the leaders for more than a lap.

Still, a good race. Glad last week wasn't just a fluke. The steep climb made the course more selective. Good to see Bill out there again, as well as the Sycips that made it to the Fairfax race on Saturday. I was just spectating. That looked like a rough course.

-Aron

Results
Rick's Photos

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Monday, September 24, 2007

Race Report: Central Coast CX #1

CCCX #1, Manzanita Park, 9/23/07
5th place, Elite Men



I had a very good first race. Lined up second row, and was about tenth wheel about 60 seconds after start. As the gaps formed on the first two laps, I'd leapfrog up to the next rider(s). By lap 3, I'd moved up to Hooptie's wheel (Rob Evans) and was working pretty well with him. We were running 5th and 6th at that point. At about 30 minutes in, I put in a bit of a dig on the start/finish climb and rode him off my wheel. Maybe not the smartest move, as the next guy up the road (Aaron O'Dell) was 20-30 seconds ahead and I probably wasn't going to be able to bridge to him unless he cracked. But I felt like I could ride a bit faster than Rob, and didn't want to tow him around to the end, where I knew he could out-sprint me. So I spent the second half of the race solo. Extended to about 20-25 seconds ahead by the end of lap 7, but wasn't gaining much on the guy ahead. So I went into conservative mode for the last 3 laps, focused riding smoothly. Lance had come up to Hooptie behind me and they were closing some in the last two laps. But never got closer than maybe 10-15 seconds. I still had a nice buffer when I rolled out of the last chicane and accelerated up the hill to the finish.

-Aron

Glad to see other Sycip folks out there and in the results.
http://cccx.org/2007/race1/2007_CCCX_Race1Results.shtml

Photos

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