In the week leading up the first race of Bay Area Super Prestige Series (Pilarcitos) I became more and more apprehensive. Due to my move and the fact that I was gone every weekend in September, I rode a total of 4 times for the entire month! I got to ride few rides in the before the race and truly I realized just how out of shape I was and how painful this race was going to be. I decided to myself I had to start somewhere and this was race was going to be it. I would race to train.
It was the usual deal on Sunday morning: load the van, wait and load our fearless leader David Gill into the van and then search out a coffee shop that is open at 0:Dark:30 on Sunday morning and then drive my tired old van over the hill and up to Brisbane. Upon our arrival, the course didn’t seem like much, just your normal south of the city land fill. It was flat as a pancake except were somebody had dropped some piles of dirt on it. We disgorged the contains of the van and set up camp, but were immediately told by promoter Tom Simpson that yes, this was a great place for all of the teams to set up but no, we could park the van behind it. Every Pilarcitos race I have attended this always happens and like normal, by the end of the day, the parking lot that we were told we couldn’t park in was full of cars belonging to racers.
David and I immediately went on a recon lap before the C class start and I came to the realization that I was seriously lacking power and my tire pressure was way too high. The course was very bumpy with hidden rocks and crushed pavement lurking under the weeds and I knew there would be lots of flats today. Back in our pits I changed gear ratios to the easiest singlespeed gear that I have and lowered my tire pressure 30psi each. The lower tire pressure really worked quite well for bumps and traction and the easier gearing would help me survive for the whole hour. I had three hours to kill and spent it loaning tools to other races, watched teammates race and fixed a front wheel for some hapless racer who in his first ever cross race had completely taco’ed it. I enjoyed this as I got to beat the wheel repeatedly on the ground trying to straighten rim to the point that I could put it into the truing stand and get it close enough for the guy to ride 10 miles to his house. I was rewarded a beer for my effort and he rode off! I went on a warm up to the south of the venue along a paved path that followed the bay. I rode past one particular dead end channel and looked at the really old pilings and rusted iron fittings and pipes and wonder to myself what had gone on here in the past. As I backed tracked along the path to get to the start of my race I was rewarded with a plaque that stated that this was the former site of a Kaiser liberty ship shipyard and that at its peak in WWII there were 10,000 people working there and they produced 10 Liberty ships (freighters) a month, but since the channel was so narrow they had to launch the ships stern first instead of the normal side to launch that was preferred. Being that I’m a history buff I stood there pondering what it must have looked like 65 years ago?
The Men’s A and Singlespeed class was called to the line and I did my best to hide in the back of the grid. The cannon sounded and we were off and for the next 1:02 I was completely at my limit and any extra exertion would send me dangerously close to completely blowing. My lack of power was painfully obvious as the singlespeed herd rode over the horizon from me. I’m surprised that my heart didn’t blow out of my chest as I recorded my highest avg. heart rate for a cross rate ever (176avg/184 high) I guess my heart was well rested! The only positive I can report is it seemed that I was really going well in the corners by the fact I was actually making up ground on people. I was also thoroughly enjoying the big jump on the back of the course as I tried to get more and more air on every lap. By screwing around with the jump on the second to last lap, I dropped my chain on a particularly hard landing and lost my place to the only guy I was in front while I struggled to get my chain back onto my singlespeed which was no easy task! All in all this course was better than my initial expectations. The super loose corners allowed for two wheel drifts and slides which were heaps of fun! If you were a good bike handler this course would reward you. It was good to see everybody and now I’m looking forward to the next race!
It was the usual deal on Sunday morning: load the van, wait and load our fearless leader David Gill into the van and then search out a coffee shop that is open at 0:Dark:30 on Sunday morning and then drive my tired old van over the hill and up to Brisbane. Upon our arrival, the course didn’t seem like much, just your normal south of the city land fill. It was flat as a pancake except were somebody had dropped some piles of dirt on it. We disgorged the contains of the van and set up camp, but were immediately told by promoter Tom Simpson that yes, this was a great place for all of the teams to set up but no, we could park the van behind it. Every Pilarcitos race I have attended this always happens and like normal, by the end of the day, the parking lot that we were told we couldn’t park in was full of cars belonging to racers.
David and I immediately went on a recon lap before the C class start and I came to the realization that I was seriously lacking power and my tire pressure was way too high. The course was very bumpy with hidden rocks and crushed pavement lurking under the weeds and I knew there would be lots of flats today. Back in our pits I changed gear ratios to the easiest singlespeed gear that I have and lowered my tire pressure 30psi each. The lower tire pressure really worked quite well for bumps and traction and the easier gearing would help me survive for the whole hour. I had three hours to kill and spent it loaning tools to other races, watched teammates race and fixed a front wheel for some hapless racer who in his first ever cross race had completely taco’ed it. I enjoyed this as I got to beat the wheel repeatedly on the ground trying to straighten rim to the point that I could put it into the truing stand and get it close enough for the guy to ride 10 miles to his house. I was rewarded a beer for my effort and he rode off! I went on a warm up to the south of the venue along a paved path that followed the bay. I rode past one particular dead end channel and looked at the really old pilings and rusted iron fittings and pipes and wonder to myself what had gone on here in the past. As I backed tracked along the path to get to the start of my race I was rewarded with a plaque that stated that this was the former site of a Kaiser liberty ship shipyard and that at its peak in WWII there were 10,000 people working there and they produced 10 Liberty ships (freighters) a month, but since the channel was so narrow they had to launch the ships stern first instead of the normal side to launch that was preferred. Being that I’m a history buff I stood there pondering what it must have looked like 65 years ago?
The Men’s A and Singlespeed class was called to the line and I did my best to hide in the back of the grid. The cannon sounded and we were off and for the next 1:02 I was completely at my limit and any extra exertion would send me dangerously close to completely blowing. My lack of power was painfully obvious as the singlespeed herd rode over the horizon from me. I’m surprised that my heart didn’t blow out of my chest as I recorded my highest avg. heart rate for a cross rate ever (176avg/184 high) I guess my heart was well rested! The only positive I can report is it seemed that I was really going well in the corners by the fact I was actually making up ground on people. I was also thoroughly enjoying the big jump on the back of the course as I tried to get more and more air on every lap. By screwing around with the jump on the second to last lap, I dropped my chain on a particularly hard landing and lost my place to the only guy I was in front while I struggled to get my chain back onto my singlespeed which was no easy task! All in all this course was better than my initial expectations. The super loose corners allowed for two wheel drifts and slides which were heaps of fun! If you were a good bike handler this course would reward you. It was good to see everybody and now I’m looking forward to the next race!
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