RACE REPORT: CCCX 2

Dodging the foul weather blowing in from the Pacific Ocean, the second race of the CCCX series was held in almost perfect conditions this weekend. Not wanting to miss another chance to race on the coast, I drove down Sunday morning.

This was my first ride on the Fort Ord course and I have to say I was impressed. The course is about five miles of mostly rolling singletrack with a few road cross sections. And it was fast. The majority of the climbs were short, with long sloping, twisting descents. I wouldn't have called it technical, but at race speeds it got pretty hairy on the hardtail. The majority of the course was dit, but there were a few small patches of sand -- not deep, but a little tricky. The drizzling of rain about halfway through the race really made for ideal traction. The field was split about 50/50 on hardtail and full suspension bikes. I think that a Specialized Epic or Santa Cruz Blur XC would have been perfect on this course.

I have to say the organization and crowd for the race was one of the best I have ever seen at a local race series. In fact, the crowd was almost on par with some of the regional or NORBA events. Think cowbells. And it certainly drew the competitors. There were over one hundred competitors just in the Sport division -- and the race was fast. Certainly a good quality field.

While the course and organization were top notch, sadly my riding didn't match up. In fact, you could say I got completely w0rk3d. I knew I was in trouble from the opening sprint as I was accelerating uphill at about 23 MPH and I was completely dropped off the back of the pack. Reaching into my handy bag of excuses, I will play the "my #1 bike was in the shop" (due to some Juicy 7 bleeding repairs), "I was unfamilar with the course" (a tried and true standby) and "My legs were stiff from the 3 hour ride down to the coast".

Check out the race results at CCCX 2 results. The next CCCX race is March 19th.

UPDATE (2/28/06): Photos have been posted here.
UPDATE (3/3/06): Team WrongWay has their race report here.

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