The promoters used this venue previously in the year for Nincrossi and the course was a climbers dream — it was set on the side of a hill where the moto dudes warm up. For this installment, they used a bunch of access roads in and around the motocross courses and linked them up with some grass and small bits of the motocross course. There was a short run up and a single barrier for two dismounts per lap. Otherwise the climbs were short and there were plenty of tricky corners. I understand that things were pretty slippery early in the day but some stuff had dried out and lines formed by my end of the day start.

The single speed field had a decent turnout for a non-Crusade race. Twenty eight of us lined up and some of the fast dudes were gunning for the series overall. I was hoping to beat Scott Barker with whom I was tied for series points. I lost that race within the first half lap where Scott proved far superior through the technical stuff. And the hills weren’t quite long enough for me to be able to use that advantage over him.

Instead, I ended up racing Martin Baker from start to finish. Martin was faster in the technical stuff too but I was able to stay close enough to pass him on other parts of the course. That made him pass me through the tech and kept us closer together. Unfortunately, just past the midway point, he got a decent gap and I could do no better than get near him on the places I was faster. I made a big effort on the final lap and was about 2 seconds behind him at the finish. Still, Martin is a pretty strong masters rider so it was cool staying with him all race. I did have the advantage of having raced SS all season (and I’ve been riding SS on the road too).

The course was outstanding and lots of fun. I pulled off an 11th which wasn’t bad given the competition. I have a grocery list of things to work on for next season and one of them is getting faster though the tech sections. So I want to hit the trails once a week through the winter so I can get comfortable riding in slippery conditions.

There is a lot of topography and varied surfaces to play with out at Edgefield. We hit cart paths, pavement, grass (groomed and bumpy field) and even some bark chips. The weather even worked out well because it rained all Friday evening and over night but didn’t do more than spit on Saturday. So we had all the benefits of some mud without the detriments of rain during pre-ride and warm ups.

The start was on some pavement and dumped into an uphill cart path pretty quick. Soon that hair pinned and went back down cart path to some vinyard service road (2-track). Back to cart path heading up hill which ended in a steep grass run up to cart path again (keep running or try to remount) which quickly turned more uphill over a ditch (long jump or you might lose a shoe). Now you might think being on the top of the course would be great. Except it dove back down on some gravel (sketchy) and just when you could get some speed on a flat bit, it turned back up hill on grass (run). Okay, now you are on top. Gravel 2-track for a bit (into the wind) which curved down hill for lots of speed before …

A super greasy off camber right hand turn into the field. The field bent down hill slightly over very bumpy stuff. At the bottom of the field were double planks just before a tight left hand turn. The question was to run the turn or remount (I remounted and it worked better than those who ran I think). Back up the bumpy field and briefly onto some pavement which curved to the left and went over a nasty curb and a plank so you had to dismount anyway.

Then we went around the correctional facility which looked like an asterisk from the top. We went into and out of three of the alcoves (greasy turns each time) right into the wall. It was a short run but I swear the pitch was steeper than 45 degrees. The only way to get up was to use the “steps” kicked into the face. It was perhaps 12 feet tall.

Then back around on pavement for a brief respite and continuing on some packed gravel. The honeymoon ends with a bumpy, crappy transition to the field and greasy left hand turn. That briefly bumps you down hill to a greasy off camber sweeping right hander bordered by blackberry brambles. Bump along the field some more (relatively flat for a change) to a greasy left hand turn that goes down a sort of steep hill featuring a bump that could get you airborne if you wanted/weren’t careful. At the bottom of the hill was another greasy left hander and a flat almost not bumpy section of field.

All that ended with a little jog up and over a paved path (nasty lip) and then onto some grass/mud. That section was pretty short but featured a heavily rutted dip and ended in a sketchy turn into the bark chips. The chips sapped speed as it went gently up hill to pavement and a short sharp climb. That turned right and continued on pavement briefly and then went through a short grass section with a few gentle bends and undulations to make it interesting. Then pavement and a left hander to the start/finish.

That course kept you on your toes 100% of the time.

So my actual race? I toed the line with 14 other single speed riders and took the whistle. I got fourth wheel off the line behind the eventual top three finishers. I kept them in spitting distance for about half a lap. At which time, Scott Barker (remember last week?) came around me and lead through to the start of lap two. I distanced him on the hill and run ups and spent the rest of the lap feeling him get closer. I thought I had put him away on the third lap but he was clawing his way back on the bell lap and I nailed the whole second half of the course to hold him off by a good margin.

It was almost a carbon copy of the previous week. I took fourth and Scott got fifth.

• Line in the box represents median
• Maroon diamond is mean
• The box represents the second and third quartiles (meat) of the field.

The A, A+ and B fields have really good compositions. The second and third quartiles are compact and the bottom whiskers are relatively short. B+ isn’t bad. SS and beginner show a wide range of ability levels within the fields. The SS field has the largest difference between median and mean — which indicates a lot of pretty fast guys with a fairly thick tail of slower racers. The juniors men have a similar profile which isn’t too surprising.

Click on the image to see a larger version …

The course was pretty flat except for a canyon the course dropped into and out of twice per lap. There were a number of features in the flat sections to keep things interesting and the rain overnight spiced up all the corners. My legs felt like crap in pre-rides and I wasn’t sure whether it was just regular feeling like crap before all my races or actual crap feelings. So hard to tell. Compounding all this was the fact that the Cross Crusade had decamped to Bend for the weekend and a lot of the big names would be racing there. Consequently I had a better chance for a good result based on who actually showed to race.

I second guessed myself and changed out the 18t cog for a 20t. But while I was warming up right before my race I changed my mind again and put the 18t back on the bike. There were a few more than a dozen of us at the line and I felt pretty confident that there were at least three guys faster than me — Sam Nicoletti, (who did the A race too), John Lin, and a Portobello dude. I figured I could take the rest except for Scott Barker. Scott might make a race of it.

The whistle blew and right away Sam, John, and Portobello guy were in front with Scott and I right behind them. Within the first quarter of the course, the five of us had separation on the rest of the field. Scott and I were hanging close to the front three going into the off camber section. I was fifth wheel and everyone but me made it through clean. I had a line from pre-ride but I stubbornly refused to use it all race long. So going into the canyon I was gapped.
I rode the first half of the hill out of the canyon and then ran the rest. I made it through the pocket park in good order and dropped back into the canyon using due caution. I wished I felt more comfortable on the swoopy trails and then made the turn to climb back out. The climb back out was all run and I saw Scott almost walking up ahead. I’m no speedster on my feet but I was faster than Scott. I was on him again at the top and passed him just past the finish line.

By that time, the three leaders were gone and Scott and I battled the rest of the race for fourth place. I was faster in some places and Scott was faster in others. I tried to push harder in the places I was faster and kept hoping that the string would break and he would drop off the pace. But he was having none of it. The good news for me was that he was *slow* on the run up and I was consistently passing the finish line (less than a minute from the top of the run) with a gap.

When I took the bell I had a good gap. I wanted to keep it and head into the canyon first since Scott was faster on the singletrack. Though I flubbed the off camber in spectacular fashion, I made it into the canyon first with Scott right behind. I put a small gap on him when we got off to run. Then I pushed it harder as we continued up to the top of the pocket park. In front of me was a B rider and I immediately formulated a plan to get that guy between me and Scott before the final long section of singletrack. After exiting the playground wood chips, I hit the pedals hard and made a sweet pass as we rode up a little side hill.

Mission accomplished. Entering the canyon, and I had a slower racer between Scott and me. I rode along the canyon bottom as well as I had any lap and smoothly turned to start the run. I worked the run as best I could and remounted at the top with legs nearly dead. As I approached the final barrier, and I glanced back and saw I had a huge gap on Scott and soft pedaled it to the line. Fourth place out of 15 riders.

I plan to take three days off the bike this week and I’m also considering skipping Bridge Club. I want to feel rested for the next race.

1. Take a couple of laps around the “course” to learn it. There is nothing terribly technical since it’s supposed to be a workout, not skills training.
2. A dozen minutes of tempo around the course. Cutting the course is encouraged if you fall behind.
3. Starts x 5. Roughly 60 seconds on and 2 minutes off.
4. Barrier drills. The point is to get clipped and up to speed. Two barriers spaced enough to remount, hit the pedals a few times and dismount again. I usually do tempo (or just recover from starts) during this rather than the barrier drills.
5. Intervals. We mix this up. This week we did (2 minutes + 4 minutes) x 3 with rest commensurate with work. We’ve done pyramids. Or all 3 minutes x 5. Again, cutting the course is encouraged. I’ll often start at the back (or near the back) to work on passing.
6. Cone patrol.
7. Barrel races. Put two big cones about 20 yards apart. Three people at a time race between the cones. The point is to try to make a pass. One minute on, one minute off. The distance is enough to get some speed but not so much as to be “dangerous.” I love this drill.

I felt crappy before the race but that’s nothing new. It’s all psychological and it generally disappears when the whistle blows. I got a call up and slotted in the second row behind one of the big engines. I was hoping to hang on for the drag race by getting all the help I could in the draft. Single speeds went before B’s this week which meant no slower traffic for a while, maybe the whole race. The whistle blew and we were off. The first couple hundred yards went okay but after that, I started losing ground, unable to keep pace with the big guns. The good news was that a small group coalesced around me and we were able to hang together through the first bit.

By the turn onto the grass, our little group was 10-20 yards behind the lead bunch. And that was that. Scott Barker, John Lin, some guy I don’t know because he was always in the back, and I formed a compact group that stayed together for a little over two laps. John and Scott drove the pace early on. Every time I would stick my nose in the wind, it seemed like one of them would come around me to push things a little harder. i think it was less about me dropping pace at the front and more about the way they race — they feed off of the wheel in front and always want to get around it.

A few laps in, maybe three, Scott was starting to fade a little bit and the fourth dude was having trouble staying too. John and I got a small gap coming off the beach and I drilled it on the road to keep the gap up. Pretty soon John came around me and we flew down the straight. Scott was permanently adrift. John and I were by ourselves.

Just before three to go, the B leader passed us on the straight and John and I jumped on his wheel. We took the ride all the way through the speedway sections and past the finish. Just hanging on to the wheel was putting the hurt on me and once we started the twisties, I got gapped. It was just a little but I could not quite get back on.I stayed 10-20 yards behind John and the B leader for the rest of the lap. Back on the straight, John and I both passed the B leader. I was rather surprised about that since he had gears and we didn’t. He should have been hauling ass relative to us. He didn’t pass us again and no other B racers made up the 30 second stagger to pass us.

I spent the penultimate lap maintaining. The gap to John didn’t grow and the two of us picked off a couple of single speeders who blew from the initial pace. Coming around the speedway before the bell, it looked like I made up a few seconds on John so I made it my mission to pass him before the finish. When we took the bell, he was still 5-6 seconds ahead. I hit the beach perfectly and made up some time there and I drilled it along the shore. When we remounted after the sand, we were close. I rode the final mound better than him all race and the last time through was no different. I hit the speedway 2-3 seconds behind him and went as hard as I could to make the catch.

When I tucked in behind, I hoped to catch a breather in his draft and make another push on the super bumpy grass to get around him. Unfortunately John had other ideas. He saw me on his wheel and upped the pace. I’d spent all my matches making the catch and had nothing left to hang on. I drifted back. And then a little more. By the line, he had pushed his advantage back to 5-6 seconds. I still got 9th in a field with more than a couple fast guys at the front.

There was light rain overnight and some morning fog. The clouds burned off by noon and a light wind progressively dried the course from race to race. By my start time at 3pm, it was tacky wih only a few trouble spots. Once again employing my just in time warm up, I hit staging as the Bs were getting their call ups. I got about fifth or sixth call up in the single speeds and slotted in on the second row — I wasn’t planning on killing myself on the paved climb at the start. Official Terri Camp started the Bs and then two minutes later she started us.

Short flat section, little dip, then fairly long climb before we turned off the road. As soon as the road turned up, I started losing positions. By the time we turned off to head back down the swoopy turns, I was probably 18th, 19th wheel out of 25 guys. I held position down the turns and up and down through the “N” feature. Coming out of the top of the “N,” I started racing. I passed a couple guys on the long climb and was closing in on my friend Terry K at the top. I didn’t respect the wide, slightly downhill off camber sweeper enough and slid out. Raleigh Dave shot around me and I was up fast and back in the chase.

Coming up the long hill the second time, I settled in to a battle with Raleigh Dave, TK, and Scott Barker. TK was having a hard time of it because he was over geared. He managed to keep it going for three laps before his gear got the better of him. At various points in the course (usually the long climb), I’d pass Barker or Raleigh Dave, and then they would zoom by me somewhere else. Barker eventually fell off the pace — he might have had a mechanical since he took a bike change — and Raleigh Dave and I pulled in more SS riders.

Eventually, with three to go, I got a gap on Raleigh Dave and the couple of others that were trying to stay with us. I was railing the curves and riding the hills strong. I was surprised how strong I was on the hills since I’m a bit oversized and do not currently fancy myself a climber. It may have had more to do with gear selection than total fitness. I kept overtaking riders through laps 5 and 6 but was generally disappointed that they were B racers. Coming up the climb for the bell, I closed in on another SS racer and was about to go by him at the tree before the barriers when I rolled my rear tire.

Only a small section, perhaps five inches, came loose and I flipped it back on the rim. While I was remouting the tire, I considered my options; I could either quit since I didn’t have wheels or a bike in the pit (conveniently located only a few steps away), or continue with a compromised rear tire. With only one to go, I couldn’t quit. I ran through the barriers and took the bell. I babied all the corners and questioned the sanity of bombing the gravel road climb. On the paved climb, I passed the dude I was trying to get by when I rolled my tire. By the time I exited the “N,” Raleigh Dave and one of the hangers on were within a few seconds of me again.

I drilled it on the final climb since most of it didn’t require risky cornering. Coming around the blackberry bush near the end of the lap I looked back and my gap was back to a comfortable distance and I rolled it in for a solid eighth place finish.

The venue was great, the course was a lot of fun, the racing was challenging and the weather was beautiful. Perfect day of racing, I’d say.