Box Dog "Rally Cat"

so,
i had heard from Becky about the bike shop Box Dog Bikes' plan to put on a race. It sounded intriguing, and a really nice route. we scoped the route out on Wednesday preceding the race, and found that on "Old Railroad Grade", a firetrail leading up mount Tamalpais, there was severe construction, making the route almost impassable. We took a so called "short cut", which was essentially unrideable, and hiked around 3 miles uphill. This would not be a choice for the race.

Race day came around, i didn't manage to do any of the things i had wanted to do to my bike, (tire sealant, new brakepads, and pump tires). I woke up, realised my legs felt kinda weak, they seemed, as best as i can describe, "hollow". Never fear, I'll just ride it kinda mellow, not too much into it, treat it as a club or charity ride.

I missed to first bus into the city, because it's bike rack was already full, but managed to get the next one successfully. Sitting in bike gear, with weird clip-cloppy shoes, Lycra arm warmers and knee warmers made me feel pretty out of place. The bus i caught also happened to be the primary bus for the folks getting out of the "blue roofed hotel" aka Marin county jail. One after another former inmate got on the bus, some in prison issue speckled white sweat suits, though all with envelopes out of which they fished for bus fair, and with cheap clear plastic bags with muddled belongings. A pair of these sat down behind me, one chattering incessantly to the other. Numerous times they asked me if the bus went to the greyhound station, and each time i was just as sure and the next.

Eventually my stop came, got off the bus and pedalled off to fort mason. i found a (cassette? pelonton? murder? gaggle? ...group?) of cyclists formed around the statue of some guy on the west facing slope of the park. Amongst the group were some friends, some acquaintances, and some unknowns. Many however, looked fast as hell. The standard of competitor was higher than i had anticipated. Bearing the bike shop's clientele in mind, i was expecting the group to be 50% fixed gear hipster, fauxrier types. Not So, 80% seemed to be the spandex crowd. This made me more concerned about the seriousness that the various races had in mind.

Tym, this new messenger, who keeps harping on about new york, literally every other sentence, was in attendance. I'd heard through Becky that he expected to do well, he wanted to be top 3. With the standard set so high, i was sure he'd get trashed. I would be happy if that was the case. Also of note was the infamous SuperMike, my former boss as Godspeed. I talked to him a little, he informed me that Brandon would be racing, the other founding partner of the just as infamous Godspeed Courier Co. Mike had won a couple Cycle Messenger World Championships, Brandon had done well is a lot of these too, coming in the top three a couple times too. Brandon had much more road racing experience, and (as i found out later) had won a couple Criteriums this season as a cat 3. He almost had the points to upgrade to cat 2, but disappointingly found out that he didn't get full points for a couple races because the races didn't have enough riders. The pointy end of this stick though, is that some seriously heavyweight riders were in attendance.

We paid out money, we got out manifests, we got our suggested route guides, and the time came. We rode out with the race organizer in front, he blew the whistle, and the race was underway.

Almost immediately, the the group got into drafting procedures, heading out past Crissy field. On the first climb, some chunky guy i recognized from the Soil Saloon races, broke his chain all the way of his bike, having it drop on the floor. Jokingly, i shouted out "you're going to need that!".
We were all very close to each other, and on the bridge, the ride seemed pretty scary. I was worried about the guy in front braking hard, or turning unexpectedly. We got off the bridge, rode through Sausalito. All the time my mind was on not getting caught by the cops. This was the most important thing for me on this ride. I think i still have an outstanding ticket in Marin, so i really, really don't want to get pulled over there. We headed down the bikepath, on the flats a few guys in front of me seemed really strong, and although i wanted to stay with they (which i did), i was anxious about stepping the pace up too much right away. This was a longish ride, with a lot of climbing. I did not want to burn out too early. I decided it was worth the effort to stay with them, sprinted to catch up and then drafted till we took the (smart) left turn onto miller. Dfl Brad and his group (with supermike, i think), kept going on the bike path, and ended up a ways behind us. I rode through mill valley, shouting directions from the rear of the group, and at one point the group in front of me took a different route from the one i had in mind, i took my own way, and ended up a full block ahead of them. They gained very slowly on me on West Blithedale on the way up to the turn onto Old Railroad Grade. I was ready to make the fast right turn when the checkpoint people shouted out behind and to my left. Damn, i had overshot the checkpoint. The checkpoint guy seemed to get to my manifest last, so i was again at the back of my group. On the climb i gradually gained on everyone in front of me, passing a couple people, but getting really, really tired. My guts and lungs ached, and i felt that i might be in for my first ever exercise induced puke session. The previous Wednesday we had come this way, seen the work, and turned around. This time the hole was just as big, but the diggers were gone, and the ground was much compacted. I was surprised. The Whole things was very ridable. On the way up i go talking to this guy from Santa Rosa, and we shot the shit for a while. He was fast, and a good companion. We got to the top in what felt like forever, but was probably around 35 minutes. The peak is 2500 feet, and mill valley can't be more than 100 feet off sea level.

I climbed to east peak parking lot, where Wendy was waiting. She informed us that we had a 30 miles ride before the next water, and that we could grab one of the 15 "minus 20 minute" cards in we walk up the wooden ramp, through the chain fence, and find the hidden cards. I asked how many had passed her checkpoint. She said i was the THIRD. I was very impressed with myself. (i can't remember actually if she said i was the third, or if she said there had been three riders in front of me). I walked up the ramp, was introduced to Josh, who i had chased all the way up the climb (and just about passed), climbed through the fence, and hiked way past the cards. Luckily, someone below shouted that they had found them, josh and i went back down, got our cards, and were instructed to hold onto them. We had lost at least 5 places, but i didn't really care, it was only 30 seconds or a minute, and i knew i could get that back if they were on the same route as me. I got some water, and got going. The cyclo-cross guy from Santa Rosa found me somewhere on the road down Ridgecrest. We were 20 seconds behind josh and his friend. We caught up to the pair on the climb upto the radar base on the west peak. I let josh get away again, but had him in sight for the whole descent to the Pantoll turnoff. Amazingly the cyclo-cross guy (whose name i obviously have since forgotten), pretty much kept up on the descent. We caught josh again on the next set of hills (known as the seven sisters), but i almost always let him be out in front, pacing me a little, but also because i much prefer to be trailing someone than in front, constantly looking over my shoulder at them. Down the incredible descent to alpine dam, again, always with josh in sight. My cross buddy didn't take the descent as aggressively as i did, so we lost him a little here.
Up ahead i saw an orange cross bike, which i was sure was owned by this dfl guy known as Cam, who was the only person to pass me on the climb up tam. I was sure we couldn't take the descent here was fast as i could, because of his tires, the bike's geometry, and his brakes. As i passed him i was amazed to see it was none other than Tym. He was draggin' down the hill.

How did he get ahead of me? Surely he wasn't one of the two (or three) people who beat me up tam? Did he sneak by my while josh and i had gone to get 20 minute bonus cards? Or had he forgone the bonus for some insane reason and gotten ahead on the road? I dunno, but it worried me. I wanted to be WAY ahead of him, i wanted him to be way behind in the group. I guess i had underestimated him.

We got to the damn, and started climbing the other side. I looked over my shoulder and the cross guy was around a minute behind, ahead of Tym. I was very impressed. Josh and i climbed, i caught up to him, we talked. He said he was hurting and was tired from racing 'cross all week, i said i hadn't been on the bike all summer. Good, we both had our excuses. He said he wasn't sure if he'd make it, was almost ready to "bonk". I concurred. We climbed, i got ahead of him here. I descended with him trailing me. Got to Fairfax, and looked at my watch for the first time this ride. It was 2:30pm. We had been on the road for only two and half hours. Incredible. I found the checkpoint, and they said we were 5th and 6th through so far. Good. I was more than happy with this. If we could only get to SF without loosing any more places! We discussed a route, and worked together on the ride back. Honestly, i felt he had done more of the pulling on the flats, so in Sausalito, i told him that if we were to come in together to the finish, he ought to come in before me. He thanked me, but said ion the city "all bets were off". We got up Camino Alto, again, i lead on the climb, and down again. i was out of water, and we agreed to stop at the water fountain by the skate park. We watered up, and headed out. My legs were weak, and i charged for a second, then let josh do the work through sausalito. We climbed and i got away again leading to the bridge, and i managed to expertly weave my way through the pedestrian traffic. A Fast pace, though nothing dangerous. At one point, and lady 50 feet ahead of us grabbed her front brake too hard, or got something caught in her front wheel, because she did a slow motion header over the bards and sprawled out in the path. I weaved past her head and the utility box, and pushed on. Josh was keeping pace behind me. He lead the way through the Presidio, chose a 'cross oriented route, that (in my opinion, was around the same as the road route), and we headed out the Arguello gate, down Arguello, through the park to the panhandle, and blasting down oak. I Pulled us both down Oak at breakneck speeds, lanesplitted a couple times. We caught all the lights, including Divis, and i hung a right and wiggled through the Lower Haight. i lost josh, and caught sight of him again at Church and Market. He was ahead of me, and making the turn onto 14th. I had lost that spot. He was ahead, and i let him go. i took my time, made sure i didn't make a last minute mistake, or get busted. I saw Josh catch the lights at the bottom of 14th in front of the finish, and saw the lights change. i got across and handed over my manifest. I ended up with 6th. I was stoked.

Free beer and pizza followed, prize ceremonies, et cetera. I bumped into Damian and promised to hang out with him while he was in the city. Crazy as i am, i decided to ride my ass home, after the awards ceremony, and after *cringe* 6-7 beers? Another 25 miles home and my absolutely burning, aching legs (honestly, as they have never ached before) got to rest. Almost a 100 mile day. I slept like a log and promised myself that I'd take a couple days off the bike to let my legs repair themselves.

thanks for reading,
peter