Kapusta Ranch Race Report – Jonz Norine 11.12.13
Race report from Jarret’s Sunday Funnies Cross Race:
This one was out at Kapusta Ranch, a flat venue with a couple long straightaways and a bit of river rock (where isn’t there river rock on his courses?) The big problem was the goat heads which sidelined a number of racers.
I figured this could be a good training day so I decided I’d ride out there from church, race, then ride home. It was about 10 miles out and 15 miles back. Unfortunately, I flatted on the way there – and that was my one and only tube. Hope I don’t flat during the race. Or on the ride home.
Unlike Jordan’s races where there are 50 hard-charging studs out for blood, we had about 8 mellow dudes in the A race, including me, Jason, Scott, and Dooley (who was really sick). Jed was there but decided not to race. Isaac rode the kid’s race and I think Jed said that riding around the course with the tyke made him winded (or maybe it was that he was taking care of his back – not sure, I wasn’t listening too closely).
Anyway, I thought that I heard that the plan was to just ride it and not kill it. Except when the gun went off Asbill shot to the front. Think he was mad about yesterday’s flat in SF. I drifted to the back. I wanted none of that action. Asbill pulled out at some point later, probably tired from the previous day, but Jason was going strong.
In the first lap my rear tire began going soft. Crap. I’m a goat head victim. Maybe it’ll hold, maybe not. Let’s see how far I can go until it goes totally flat and I have to quit the race. I pick up the pace on the straightaways and after a few laps I’m catching folks and am nearly up to these 2 leaders on hard tail mountain bikes (cheaters), when on the 4th or 5th lap, the tire totally gives out. Oh well. I’m done. No wheels, no tubes. I’ll just pull out when I get back up to the start/finish. I’ll need to borrow a tube to get home. That’s all I’m thinking about. Everyone passes me back because I just don’t care. Then I see Jed near the start/finish and I half-jokingly ask to borrow his Trance to finish up. He agrees. Oh no! I guess I’m committed now to ride some more.
So I make the bike change and decide I better do Jed’s bike some justice and I stomp on it. Of course “stomping” on a bike with 2 feet of of travel front and back is a lot different than stomping on a cross bike. It is cushy! For example, whereas jumping the barriers on the cross bike was not too hard, jumping on the Trance took Herculean effort because it sucked up all the bounce. I laid waste to those barriers on several laps because I had a heck of a time getting air. Just demolished them. I ought to reimburse Jarret for the repairs he’s going to have to make.
It was really fun railing Jed’s bike on the bumps and through the corners. But I was in the red zone on the straightaways. In the end I got everyone back except one and that’s ok. I wasn’t there to win. (But if I had another lap, maybe I’d have gotten him too. If my legs didn’t give out first.) That was challenging to see how far I could move up from the back.
So after the race, I bummed a tube and a repair kit from Shane Swanson, repaired my flat, and rode home.Thanks teammate for agreeing to lend me your bike. I had a good time.
The end.