Michael Gin

Epic. Longinotti said it would be. I kinda scoffed, thinking, "how the hell could a race between someone who hasn't raced since 1999/really hasn't ridden much in the past 1.5 years and a DHer be epic?" Well, this one lived up to all the pre-game hype. This one was worthy of the term epic. And to top it off, both of us were riding singlespeeds.

You guys read all about the bet - the Daddy vs. Downhiller Duel (DDD). The stakes were raised a few days before the race, with the loser having to wear a skirt at the post-race BBQ. This clearly motivated the challengers.

The day started out with perfect weather. And quite a turnout from TWW. Thirteen racers flew the colors proudly:

Me, Scott Schlachter, John Hillstrom, Nick Relampagos, Keith White, Peter Sterlacci, John Street, Loren Thomas, Bob Lofland, Ken Jeffery, Dean Thomas, Mike Urbina, Dave Longinotti.

Also, Linda Palmer and Pete Rudnick were there at race time for moral and technical support. Thanks. Ron Chai later showed up for the BBQ.

Anyhow, onto the race. Mike U. shot off with the Experts - we didn't see him until three ugly laps later. Has anyone told that guy that he's not supposed to be able to race Expert while being a dad of a 7 month old? Sheesh. Then came the Sport guys. We had nine in that category - and since they grouped us together at the start, we formed the TWW sea of red. Sterlacci had the classic line in the pre-race/staging area banter - "If either of you (Schlachter or me) beat me, I will retire from mountain biking. I'll sell my bikes. I'll quit."

We took off and hit the first fire road climb. Nasty and long. I powered away up the first section of the climb, scaring Scott in a big way. He asked, "hey, where are you going?" and later admitted to wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into. Well, there were no worries, as my back tightened up and I ended up off the bike pushing. Sterlacci told me the worst was yet to come. Scott climbed a little bit of the remaining hill, but pushed most of it also. But he managed to get to the downhill section before me - that didn't figure into my strategy. Not only were his downhill skills better than mine, but this was his home course - he lives just a few minutes down the hill. He disappeared on Rocky Ridge - he put some serious time on me. This was my first offroad ride pretty much all year. The technical nature of Rocky Ridge was a big ol' wakeup call for me. My handling skills had eroded over the last year and a half. I basically didn't see Scott again the rest of the lap. Was I concerned? Yup. At the start/finish area, Rudnick told me that I was only about 2 minutes behind - later I was to find out it was more like three to four minutes.

I downed a Clif Shot and headed towards the fire road climb. I was there by myself this time. I figured I had a lot of ground to make up - so I tried a slightly different strategy. Walk the first section conserving some energy and then ride from where I started walking last time. It was painful, but I had to make up some major ground. I felt as though I was pushing a good pace. And then around the turn I see Scott. He must of walked most of the hill. I think to myself, "I can catch him at the summit." I was pushing as hard as I could. I yelled at him and he said, "Mike?!" and then picked up his pace a bit. I got to within about 10' of him when he crested the summit and headed down the hill. Damn, he's beaten me to the downhill again. Crap. I decided I needed to let it go this time. I rode Rocky Ridge with much more confidence and with a little controlled chaos. I couldn't lose too much ground to him again. I passed Longinotti who had flatted. I thought, cool, at least there's one TWW guy I'll beat. Sorry Dave. Anyhow, onward I pushed. He had gapped me again, but not nearly as much this time. I actually heard him honk his horn at the feed station. I knew I was close.

I caught up with Bob Lofland right before the switchbacks. Thanks for the charity Bob. At the bottom of the switchbacks, I could see Schlachter about three switchbacks up. I yelled, "you're mine Schlachter!" and proceeded to close to within one switchback in virtually no time. I was riding like a man possessed. I think the Clif Shot was fully into my system at that point. But I felt the onset of some cramping so I backed off slightly. It was then I said, "Scott, if you're hurting as much as I am, let's cross the line together." He said he'd think about it and then managed to motor away from me. Bastard. I kept him in my view and said to myself, "this guy is mine now - I'm gonna blow by him up this hill." I caught him on the last climb and actually was ahead by about half a wheel length when he said, "okay, crossing together sounds good." I replied, "oh now you want to do it - screw you buddy!" We then rode side by side when something strange came over me. I had worked my asssss off to catch him and I had the upper hand with less then 30 seconds to go before the finish. I let him take the lead down the hill to the finish and then just kinda coasted in, with Scott finishing about 20 feet ahead of me (just a few seconds). I'm not sure what happened - I lost the "eye of the tiger". Did parenthood soften me up? Or was it the secret longing for wearing a woman's skirt in public? I don't know. But damn, I let him go and didn't put up a fight. Strange. Something that needs to be rectified before I race again.

But I don't want to take away from Scott's race. He had the lead for just about the entire race. He rode faster than I can remember him riding. He was worthy. We had pushed each other harder than either of us had ridden for quite some time. It was an epic battle that ultimately was a whole lot of fun. I'm curious to see how he did in the DH race - he was definitely worked over.

Of course I got razzed at the finish line, but I felt that I did pretty darn good considering my lack of riding. That Mt. Diablo story - just a little white lie to play with Schlachter's head. I literally trained for 3 weeks after a year and a half off. So I'm really proud of just finishing. And to top it off, I wasn't DFL. In the Sport category too.

A few things that I had almost forgotten about since I haven't raced in awhile. Racing is fun (even though at times I thought about bailing or felt like tossing my cookies). And we are the best group to ride and race with, period. This was confirmed by a racer who came up to me after the race and said, "thanks so much for the encouragement up the hill - I wouldn't have made it without it. Your club has a great attitude at the races." That's always nice to hear. Ultimately it's all about having a good time, right?

Here are our unofficial race results (no times):

No results were posted for Longinotti or Urbina. Hopefully they'll get those straightened out. Someday maybe some of the local promoters will contact us for how we do timing - we managed to get our results up in about 20 minutes. And a DH race is way more complicated in terms of timing.

Even though I had to wear the skirt at the post race BBQ, I still had a great time. It was good being back. Next race though I'm going to be aiming a bit higher (no offense Scott). I'll be setting my eyes on our faster XC guys. See you at Sea Otter!