Evan Evans

Wings Engaged...

This was an historical crit from the 70s revived by the new local bike team Ghost Tree Racing and was something I did not want to miss.

Just before the start, I took a quick lap to check the course, pick my lines and gearing for each section. There was some wind, but because of all the buildings, the directionality changed constantly. I rolled up right to the front and got my race head on. Then the officials threw a curveball: because of its history, the promoters decided to start the crit like the crits of the 70s with a neutral lap. I was initially bummed, but because I've been at the track some, I knew the officials would be starting the race with a whistle, probably as we hit turn 4. I stayed out front for the neutral lap and no one passed me. I hit turn 4 and there it was, the whistle I'd been waiting for. I stood up, hit it hard and put nearly a half a lap between me and the field before they realized I wasn't kidding. I held this for two or three laps before the field latched back on. I felt great and had accomplished my first goal to get this race moving. I wanted to test myself again. more

*photo courtesy Dylan McReynolds

I haven't touched my mountain bike since Sea Otter. No hard feelings MTB, but my true love is cyclocross, and it is the only bike I've ridden since mid April. The CCCX  course is not technical at all, and I knew there was no need for suspension or even fat nobbies.  I knew it would be a bit bumpy here and there, but I opted for the cross bike. It is after all, my favorite bike.

When we entered the "Day Park" near Laguna Seca, some guy stopped Jeanine and I to record her license plate number and make her sign something. This was a new routine at Fort Ord, so Jeanine asked "Why am I signing this?" The guy said "McCain bought the land, so we are just 'borrowing' it for the race. This is a parking permit." We asked "That McCain?" He said yes, and we joked that we might get mixed up in some P.O.W. reenactment, land mines, trenches, or a practice air raid. Ha ha. Not so funny.

When we arrived at 10:00  Jenn H. was already one hour into racing. We screamed for her while getting ready to preride the course. Les was on her hardtail, and I had convinced Shannon (total bad ass) to race Cat 2 on her cross bike with me.  We got on the course before our start and I was thrilled with my choice of ride.  This course was flat and fast! There were a few steep climbs, but they were very short and totally manageable on the cross bike.   We didn't get to preride the whole course (ran out of time) but had a good warm up and had seen enough to know that this was going to be a good day in the saddle.

At the start line there were only about 15 women. Not a great turn out, but I did recognize some women I knew from cyclocross. I wondered why they were on their mountain bikes.   One woman looked at my 'cross bike and said "this is a MTB race". I said "it's almost October", and she laughed.

The start was on cement, which gave me a huge advantage.  Shannon was also on her cross bike, so we were the in the front after the start. I was the first to the dirt, and it stayed that way. I started to feel like a cheater as I put a gap on the field. Most of the course was hard packed dirt - almost like cement. I was about 50% fire road and 50% single track. There were a few quick sandy spots, tight turns, some ruts, a few suicidal bunnies, but all in all, smooth sailing. No McCain sightings.

A New Mother Country

As I've said before, track racing is like NASCAR on two wheels, like a crit on steroids without brakes and a freewheel.

After attending the "Get Ready for Summer III" day of racing at Hellyer Velodrome last Sunday, I'm here to confirm all that and more is true. It was definitely my "welcome to track racing" moment.

Now, I've been religious about attending the Tuesday Night Points Race Series twice a month. I've found it challenging and fun, but I really didn't know what I was truly getting into until I showed up for Sunday's events.

Three words: O. My. God.

On paper, the day looked totally reasonable. Four Women's cat 3/4 events in around 3 hours: Win and Out, Scratch, Miss and Out and Points races. I knew the day was gonna be hot, so Les and I came prepared with the team tent, lots of water, ice, food, replacement drinks and Bonk Breaker bars. We got there good and early, set up the tent and invited a few un-tented racers to share the shade. After chatting with a number of the participants, I quickly found out that track racing is like going to a foreign country: the language and customs are strange, but the people are soo nice and they try to help you understand how to immerse yourself in their culture. So at least I had donned the customary dress of this new country by wearing my skinsuit for the first time this year. OK, I now look like y'all, but will I be able to dance these four traditional folk dances I've signed up for? more