January 18, 2010: Balboa Park mtb race and Santa Cross CX race
race report by Angela
Rhonda and I did a mountain bike race in Balboa Park on December 19 - it was a blast! Who would have guessed that you could put together such a fun course in the middle of San Diego. They used every ounce of single track that they could wring out of the park. It was a short course (only 5 miles) and not a lot of climbing, so we did 4 laps. Glad we didn’t do more - we’d still be dizzy! They started us off with an extra half-lap on the flats, to spread out the racers before hitting the single track. That worked really well - it was “game on” from the gun. They started all the expert racers together in one big group. This was cool because it allowed us to duke it out with the guys on even footing. Both Rhonda and I had great finishes - I took first and also beat over half of the Cat 1 men, and Rhonda took 3rd with a strong finish.
As soon as the race ended, I hightailed it for Santa Barbara to meet my friend Heather. She plied me with margaritas…evil wench! :) Hard race, lots of tequila, not enough food…it was a winning combo for the “perfect hangover”. Anyway, she kicked her boyfriend out for a few hours so that we could catch up, and we gabbed until I passed out.
Sunday morning….off to the cyclocross races!!! I seriously think Heather had ulterior motives pouring all those margs into me! :) We picked up Somersby Jenkins, who needed a carpool, and headed off in the RAV4. The course was crazy ass hard! Lots of off-camber dirt, three long steep climbs and one steep run-up, plus another very short very steep loose little climb, one little dropoff, and lots of tight turns. The only pavement was the start/finishing stretch. It was a kick ass course. I was woefully undergeared, out of the saddle on every climb, but at least my cross bike had been fixed so that I didn’t have the chain drop problems.
I did both the 3/4/35+ race and the pro/2/3 race. I’ve never had so much fun at a race! The competition was fierce in both races! We were cutting each other off in the corners, diving for the inside line, banging bars…it was sweet! The 3/4/35+ field was huge, over 30 ladies, with several recently crowned masters state champions and the cat 3 state champ wearing her “state champion” skinsuit. But the win came down to me and Somersby. She was riding my wheel on the flats - a friend of mine kept yelling “Angie, don’t let her ride your wheel!” But I didn’t want her in front of me, and I didn’t want to slow down for fear somebody would catch us. I figured I’d pull her the whole lap, then hit the dirt drop and pavement first and be sprinting for the line before she was off the dirt drop. It worked exactly that way! She wasn’t able to go around me on the last climb and I took the inside line on the downhill so the drop and the finish line were mine. Afterwards I told my buddy “she’s 18 and she carpooled with me! What was I supposed to do? Brake check her?!!?” His buddies thought that was funny, but seriously! Heather had a great race too, so we were all pretty happy.
The pro/2/3 race was also fun. Not as big a field, only 12 of us. I was pretty pooped but told myself I could drop out after two laps. But…adrenalin took over and it was just so much fun! These girls were every bit as cutthroat as the ladies in the first race. I was coming up on this pro on one of the steep climbs. I said “on your left” as I started going around her, and she came over on me! I threw an elbow, then we started leaning into each other. It was a monkey knife fight! I was undergeared and in the rough, so I couldn’t make it around her - we bumped hips and rubbed shoulders and struggled for position the whole way up the climb, but she made over the top first. But then on the fast off camber left turn on the descent, she pulled a foot out and slowed down, and I dove in front of her! Never saw her again. I was outgunned by the first and second place ladies, but duked it out for awhile with several ladies before the eventual third place girl got away. Wound up with fourth place and have now catted up to a 2, so I’d better work on my mounts and dismounts.
