The Recon

Mike, a friend from across the hall, and I went out to Stinson Wednesday morning to get an idea of the course. I’d never ridden on Mt. Tam West of the Ridge, but Highway 1 was pleasant enough leading to Bolinas-Fairfax. We hit the cattle guard at about 15 minutes and started the main climb. Mike’s a freakin’ mountain goat and dropped me about halfway up. I got to the top at about 50 minutes which made me kind of worried about breaking an hour on event day. We had to turn back before heading out on Ridgecrest, but it was great to get a sense of what the main climb and first two thirds of the course would be like.

The Warm-up

Instead of driving all the way out to Stinson, which took us an hour on Wednesday morning, Mike had a great idea: we drove just partway up Shoreline out of Mill Valley to Erica Rd, parking at a friend’s house and we used the ten mile ride to Stinson as a warm-up. Though foggy, with some traffic, the ride made for an excellent warm-up and had enough flats and hills get my legs ready for both.

The Flat

We got checked in just in time and headed over to the start with a few minutes to stretch and talk to fellow Mouse Andrew. Group one had just taken off and about forty Cat 5s congregated around a very loud official with a very loud whistle. He sent us off and one of the Godspeed guys who likes tearing the legs off riders at the Tuesday Park Ride promptly set the pace. I just sat it and relaxed in the draft of a fairly sizable group, the flat was over before it even started.

The Climb

Watching forty Cat 5s turn ninety degrees and being confronted with a plywood covered cattle guard is pretty amusing. Nonetheless, no one bailed and the climb got underway. I started the climb in the first third of the pack, and while ten or fifteen climbers easily peeled off I managed to stay in position passing and being passed equally for the first third of the climb. After that definitely I started to watch the guys ahead of me get smaller. Mike passed me after coming from the back of the group and it started to get a little lonely at about halfway up.

Whenever someone passed I’d get on their wheel for as long as I could, but never long enough to get a steady rhythm going. About two thirds of the way up I started to see guys from the public men’s group hammering by. I’d look back every once in a while to see the same guy: the Synergy rider on the yellow Madone from the Becinia Crit who couldn’t corner for squat. Since he couldn’t hold his line up at Benicia I kind of wanted to stick it to him on the climb and while he came close to passing me I got a second wind in the last 500 meters of the climb and headed up and over onto Ridgecrest.

The Seven Bitches

Since we had to turn back early Wednesday morning I haven’t ridden the Ridecrest rollers in a while. Because my fit is so poor on my bike my lower back was killing me and really started to feel it after the second or third sister. The big stairstep before the end was particularly gnarly even though I could get some good momentum coming out of each little climb. I got sick of being passed and passing yellow Madone dude, so I tried to get him and a couple public men’s group guys to work together with me but no one seemed to want to stick together.

The Result

I came off the last sister expecting more and I tore through the final sprint with a lot left in the tank: I’ve really got to work on pacing myself and working harder on the climbs. The result, 36th out of 39 with 1:01:25, so, not last (but certainly not good). I had loads of fun though, I’ve never gone up Mt. Tam with so many other riders.

Fellow Mouse DP had an awesome result in the 4s, and Andrew said he improved on last year (54 minutes is pretty damn good). Mike pulled in right after Andrew posting an impressive 55:11. I’m already looking forward to next year. I figure riding the course even just once a month will shave minutes off my time by next year.

The Post Ride

Having parked on Erica Rd, Mike and I rode back down Panoramic for a nice cool down. As a bonus we stopped and said “Hi” to Mike’s friend who lent us a parking spot – she’s got an incredible house looking off toward Muir Beach.

Mike and I arrived home, Ashley fed me a delicious lunch, and then we set off in search of the most beautiful little red track bike anyone has ever laid eyes on (I’ll let Ashley tell you all about it).