I must say I have never cared for the course at Candlestick Point and I’ve even boycotted it in the past. It’s another featureless land fill that is extremely bumpy with only one racing line while on the grass and with tiny little mounds that they call run ups and there’s also more glass on the ground than you would fine at your local recycling center!
Fearless Team Leader and future Vice President David Gill and I arrived around 7:45 and sniffed around a bit looking for a location to set up camp. We found a location very near where the riders exited the dirt onto the long paved straight away because we figured the speed of the riders coming off of the dirt onto the pavement would be slow enough for a bottle feed. It was kind of remote, but it worked. Due to the new rules at the Pilarcitos Series we were not allowed to recon or warm up on the course during a race. This was done to help the scorers speed up the process by not counting people warming up by accident. Judging by the length of time it took to post some of the results yesterday, this had little to no effect. When I finally got to recon the course I found more glass than ever and it was even bumper than I remembered. I immediately knew that this course would be a compromise on tire pressures. You would want to run pretty low pressure to help with traction and take the bite out of the bumps, but in the same instance you would want to run a little higher pressure to prevent pinch flats. As for the glass, it just blind luck. I ended up loaning my spare wheels out to a bunch of riders I didn’t know. It’s hard to watch somebody pay $30.00 to race only to go out on the first lap with a flat!
Due to the new rules I sat on my trainer for 40 minutes and watch the master’s race. When their race ended I got one quick lap in before we lined up on the grid. It was fun hearing David being called up to the front because of his top ten finish in the race at Sierra Point. The elite men went first followed by us singlespeeder 30 seconds later. As we hit the first corner I could see David in second position! About two minutes into the race I came around a corner to discover David on the side of the course. He had dropped his chain! I briefly stopped to offer assistance, but there was nothing I could do. I also discovered to my shock that at the time I wasn’t last place, but I was close having let a bunch of riders by while I stopped. About a lap latter I noticed Erik Thunstrom behind me and I could also see off in the distant that David was back riding again and suddenly a plan came into my head. I slowed my pace and allowed Erik to catch me. I told him that we needed to slow down and allow David to catch on and then have the three of us work together and drag David back up the field as far as we could. David was higher in points than Eric or me. We slowed our pace considerable until David was with us.
We told David of our plan and got down to business. Erik and I were taking long pulls and for the first time all season I was feeling pretty damm good. I actually felt like had some form back. Our team work lasted about a lap and was really a lot of fun! We hit the pavement just past our pits and suddenly there was no more David Gill. It appeared that he simply vanished! With that, Erik said we couldn’t wait anymore and we were off. What we didn’t know is that David had broken a spoke. For the next lap Erik and I worked together, but by the sixth lap my back started to get really tight from all of the jack hammering it was receiving in the bumps. I told Erik this and when I made a bobble going over one of the mounds he was gone. I spent the rest of the race staying out of the way while being lapped and finished
I was pretty happy about this race as I showed big signs of improvement since the beginning of the season. After long drive we made it back to my house without my Vanagon bursting into flames and as I jumped out my right hamstring immediately locked up for about 4 minutes and I was in agony! Apparently my hamstring doesn’t like applying pressure to the accelerator after a cross race for an hour and a half straight and let me know it, but at least both legs didn’t lock and turn me into the human C clamp!
Fearless Team Leader and future Vice President David Gill and I arrived around 7:45 and sniffed around a bit looking for a location to set up camp. We found a location very near where the riders exited the dirt onto the long paved straight away because we figured the speed of the riders coming off of the dirt onto the pavement would be slow enough for a bottle feed. It was kind of remote, but it worked. Due to the new rules at the Pilarcitos Series we were not allowed to recon or warm up on the course during a race. This was done to help the scorers speed up the process by not counting people warming up by accident. Judging by the length of time it took to post some of the results yesterday, this had little to no effect. When I finally got to recon the course I found more glass than ever and it was even bumper than I remembered. I immediately knew that this course would be a compromise on tire pressures. You would want to run pretty low pressure to help with traction and take the bite out of the bumps, but in the same instance you would want to run a little higher pressure to prevent pinch flats. As for the glass, it just blind luck. I ended up loaning my spare wheels out to a bunch of riders I didn’t know. It’s hard to watch somebody pay $30.00 to race only to go out on the first lap with a flat!
Due to the new rules I sat on my trainer for 40 minutes and watch the master’s race. When their race ended I got one quick lap in before we lined up on the grid. It was fun hearing David being called up to the front because of his top ten finish in the race at Sierra Point. The elite men went first followed by us singlespeeder 30 seconds later. As we hit the first corner I could see David in second position! About two minutes into the race I came around a corner to discover David on the side of the course. He had dropped his chain! I briefly stopped to offer assistance, but there was nothing I could do. I also discovered to my shock that at the time I wasn’t last place, but I was close having let a bunch of riders by while I stopped. About a lap latter I noticed Erik Thunstrom behind me and I could also see off in the distant that David was back riding again and suddenly a plan came into my head. I slowed my pace and allowed Erik to catch me. I told him that we needed to slow down and allow David to catch on and then have the three of us work together and drag David back up the field as far as we could. David was higher in points than Eric or me. We slowed our pace considerable until David was with us.
We told David of our plan and got down to business. Erik and I were taking long pulls and for the first time all season I was feeling pretty damm good. I actually felt like had some form back. Our team work lasted about a lap and was really a lot of fun! We hit the pavement just past our pits and suddenly there was no more David Gill. It appeared that he simply vanished! With that, Erik said we couldn’t wait anymore and we were off. What we didn’t know is that David had broken a spoke. For the next lap Erik and I worked together, but by the sixth lap my back started to get really tight from all of the jack hammering it was receiving in the bumps. I told Erik this and when I made a bobble going over one of the mounds he was gone. I spent the rest of the race staying out of the way while being lapped and finished
I was pretty happy about this race as I showed big signs of improvement since the beginning of the season. After long drive we made it back to my house without my Vanagon bursting into flames and as I jumped out my right hamstring immediately locked up for about 4 minutes and I was in agony! Apparently my hamstring doesn’t like applying pressure to the accelerator after a cross race for an hour and a half straight and let me know it, but at least both legs didn’t lock and turn me into the human C clamp!
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