Saturday, October 11, 2008

West Alpine

I'm going to update the blog in reverse order. I did a bunch of cal cup races, and finished off my season with the Everest Challenge, which actually went pretty well for me.

Today was the 2nd race in the low-key hill climb series up W. Alpine. Despite its low-key start time, I still dragged myself out of bed feeling pretty miserable around 7:30 this morning. But wait - you say - that's way after your normal wake-up time. Well, it's a weekend, and I want to sleep in. I got to the Russian Ridge parking lot a little late, descended in the bitter cold, signed in and used the bathroom about five times. I think the cold does that to me.

The race went from Pescadero and W. Alpine to the peak of W. Alpine, which was a bit before Russian Ridge. My plan was to sit in on the two flat-ish sections. From the honk of the horn, it started surprisingly easy, but I was way back. I could see a bunch of the contenders rolling off the front, so I bridged up on the flat, never quite making it to Tim Clark. Once we turned past the bridge, the pack exploded, and I started reeling folks in. I tried to work with some guys across the flats, but no one really wanted to come around, so I just kept the hammer down. On the second to last corner, Geoff from Bike Trip came around me briefly and I attacked hard, holding it off for second place. Not bad considering how little riding I've been doing. My computer said it was an average of 288 W, so I'm definitely off my form from June. But hey, it's only October; I can't complain.

I finally got to meet Dennis from Bike Trip today - that team is full of great guys. That's something that could be said about a lot of teams around here once you get to know them.