FOX CUP #6

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TWW FOX CUP SERIES #6

Presented by our friends at

Skyline Park XC Race

10th Annual
Skyline Park Mountain Bike Race
Skyline Park, Napa, CA
Sunday May 22, 2005

"Home of the '97-'99 World Cup Venue"

Visit Eagle Cycling Club's website for more details on the race.

TWW (& kin), rip it up at Skyline! Check out these results, and read the race reports!

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Results

Unfortunately only the results for the Top 3 in each category have been posted (so far??).
Congratz to Isaias, Heather, and Julie! Wo0t!

expert men age 27-34
1. Oliver Bock
2. Chirs Schulze
3. Isaisis Job

expert women 19-34
1. Heather Kirkby (team Velo Bella)
2. Aracelly Clouse

sport women 35+
1. Kim Ligman (team PacWest Extera)
2. Julie Barott (team Roaring Mouse)
3. Megan Clark

Race Reports

I can easily sum up my race:

Mike Gin, Team Wrong Way 1:58:45
Mark Weir, WTB Pro 2:01:05

How do you like them apples? Smokin' fast... the garage training is paying off. Okay, now that the heat stroke is wearing off, I kinda remember something about Weir maybe doing another lap, not sure though.

It was pretty darn hot out there, probably low to mid 80's, but I've certainly raced hotter races. I knew it wasn't going to be my day when I got lost looking for the venue and spent an extra hour tracking down the place. Was supposed to arrive at 8:15am, got there at 9:15am instead and at one point while I was driving I was worried I wouldn't make the registration (9:30am cutoff). Probably used a bunch of energy firing off F-bombs as I kept circling in my car.

So I get registered and try to do some quick warming up. Run into some Wrong Wayers and my groupie, Heather of VB. Her and Isaias are working up a big sweat together... on their trainers (hmm... they're pretty talented). We talk about the course a little bit and then I'm off. I think I'm going to be very happy that I didn't ride my SS and was on my full boinger.

We stage at the start area and they send all the Sport Men and the Expert Women in one group. Not too frantic of a start, but it was pretty demoralizing getting dropped big time on the opening climb. Man, my climbing ability sucks right now. And my back I don't think will be right for the rest of the year. Perhaps it's time to see a specialist... I was in survival mode early on. Not good.

All the TWW guys and Heather are in front of me and then goner. The hike a bike was ugly as was most of the climbing for me but the singletrack was really cool. Good semi-technical stuff. The race promoters told us to watch for down pointing single arrows - they represented big drops. On the first lap, I approached cautiously whenever I saw one. But there wasn't anything that I thought was difficult and I was able to ride everything (and much faster on my second lap). My bike performed flawlessly, too bad the motor sucked. Nice having some gears although I have to admit the ride wasn't as "pure". Gear up? Gear down? Granny or middle ring? Whatever just pedal.

Man, there were some seriously technically declined people out there. Amazing how many people ate crap at the creek crossings - momentum is your friend, don't try to pick your way through in your granny fool.

The second lap was a mental battle up the climb - should I quit? I'm certainly stinking up the joint, will probably be DFL. But I've never quit a bike race before so I slogged on. Again, the climbing beat me down, but this time on the singletrack I was movin'. At one point I was in my big ring hauling butt. Passed a bunch of people which definitely helped my beat down mental state. Saw four guys all piled up going up the last climb and I decided to launch an attack. Nearly ran into one but then flew by them and hung on to beat them all to the finish line. That was pretty cool but I think I definitely pegged my HR - 200. Knowing my luck they probably weren't even in my class.

Dang fun course - wish I was in better climbing shape. We had some fast times - Isaias smoked the course (3 laps, 2:21) and Franck did the 2 laps in 1:41. Heather came in at 1:49 and won her class (yawn). Even Hillstrom had a nice finish, training very little but still beating McCrimmon and I (damn it!). Dave was envious of Mr. Urbina's Superman number plate so he was practicing at the race (he reported 3 Superman's). Cool. Nice job to all who participated and finished.

I had to leave shortly thereafter to get to a birthday party so I missed the apres-race festivities. As it turns out, the birthday boy was sick so they cancelled the party. Gol dang it, could've stayed with the homies a bit longer. Oh well.

Special thanks to Matt Leonard and Troy Wenski for a flat and chain overshift respectively. That allowed me to at least beat a couple of TWW people. And thanks to the VB who wanted to hand me a water bottle but I couldn't take it since I didn't have a cage mounted on my bike. Was that Sara?

I'm glad I did the race even though it hurt. Next year I'll be in better shape... still trying to build a base after 5 years off. Pretty decent turnout from TWW after a long race weekend last weekend - me, Isaias, Franck, McCrimmon, Hillstrom, Jason, Matt, Troy, and anyone else? Sorry if I forgot you.

Mike

1:58:45 18/29 (at least that was the unofficial results, hopefully there were more in the group and some DNF's, oh please!)
180 avg HR
200 max

I haven't raced Skyline in quite a few years, as it turns out, but I thought it would be a great race to try out my new Marin Mt. Vision dualie - first dualie I've ridden in a few years - as it's a very technical course. So I knew I had the bike, but as Mike put it, I also knew I didn't really have the motor. This was my first race of the year and my training has cons sted of short Marin road (?!) loops and some running around the Presidio (!!!??) But I figured I'd take it as a Sunday ride and with 300 of my buddies and see how it goes. That meant I planned on a 9:15 arrival, just time enough to get signed up and do a 10 minute warmup. The warmup confirmed my suspicion that I have no climbing strength at the moment. I gave a shout out to various folks and eventually made it over the start line. I lined up with Gin and McCrimmon, with Troy a few bikes back. We had a TWW SQUAD in the men's pretty-old, pretty slow division! I figured maybe I could beat at least one of the compadres if things went my way.

So the start goes off and we leave in a haze of dust to hit that first long climb. I know thing are bad when I go to the granny about 1/2 way through the climb and I'm clicking for more gears that don't exist. To my surprise, though, about then I reel in Mike Gin who's also looking for extra gears I think. Then, after a much longer than usual hike-a-bike, we're off in the fun stuff. The new bike is just amazing, both on the climb and the technical stuff - the travel really helps keep it planted on those technical climbs. I keep up my Sunday ride mentality (although I keep seeing my max heart-rate on my watch so I know I'm not really slacking, I'm just kinda slow). Somewhere after the backside stream crossing, I lurch by Troy. Then the course gets weird - we're riding back along the hill above the lake and I keep waiting for the hard lef switchback to go down to the dam that never comes. Finally I realize, hey, they changed the course! And any of the old relaxing fireroad has been replaced with more gnarly up and down singletrack. Now I'm REALLY glad I have the dualie. I'm riding stuff I can't believe I'm riding...

There's a sandy, ridgetop technical section near the end, just before a switchback decent, and I've managed to get clear of my immediate pack. As I'm riding that, and riding up some little single ledges and things and just amazing myself (it's the bike), I come upon McCrimmon and give him some encouragement. We get to a sketchy rock downhill section and he stops and mentions something about mcCrashin so I skoot by. On the switchbacks Dave roars back up on my tail bu then a gremlin or something got him b/c that was the last I saw of him.

The 2nd lap goes something like the first except that long climb is even longer and hotter, and I got in my granny even earlier. I think I was in the granny about 1/2 the entire race. Only other moment of note was bobbling on a stream crossing and trying to keep riding, and then not being able to clip out so when I fell, and landed my helmeted head loudly on a pile of rocks, the 3 nearest people went "whoa dude! You okay!?" The helmet did its job though and I bounced up and kept going. I road even more of the technical stuff cleanly on the second lap, the entire time thoroughly enjoying the incredibly technical course and my super cool new bike.

I came in, pretty wasted. Let's see... No climbing power... No long distance ability... Yeah, I need to do some work. The post race scene at the TWW tent was great - hearing about Isaias' ripping 3rd place finish and other reports or extreme crashes. Beer was ample and flowing (thanks guys!) It was great to be out and the awards ceremony was quick and more fun than most. I managed to snag a t-shirt out out of the spot prizes. The (now) infamous Franck was 4th in our (BIG) class... Thoroughly kicking the ass of the rest of the slow, old guys. I guess he's the new rabbit to chase. I was pretty damn pleased to get in before the rest of the slow old guys...

So I'm fired up! When's our next race!?!? Woot!

-John Hillstrom

SkyLine - Where's my Mojo?

Skyline - oh this race conjures up memories of a truely epic XC race course. None of these courses that if your a pure roadie you can come out and win, this course you actually have to know how to ride. There are technical ups and technical downs. Oh so fun!

Reality - well I didn't preride the course because I didn't get out there until Sunday morning. Gee how much could it change in a few years. Well the short answer is, "A lot."

On to the race:

I line up next to Gin and Hillstrom, they saved a spot in the horde for me. Skyline is a mass start so we are about halfway thru the pack, with younger sports in front of us and older & heavier sports behind us. Sprinkled in with a few expert women. We take off and my legs tell me that I have been riding a little more than I should have over the past few weeks. My enthusiasm has been high lately because I have finally seemed to kick the sick bug. I have actually gotten to ride my bike for two weeks straight w/o illness. I think that is a record this year.

So we start climbing and I start struggling. First Franck goes by, then about halfway up Heather goes by. I pass Mike Gin but it was more like two turtles passing each other tipped over on their shells. Into the hike a bike and I can see Troy and Matt Leonard. I pass a few people as we get into a section that has a bit of flow and am sitting behind Matt. He and I chat for a few minutes as we continue to climb. At this point its Heather, Troy, Myself, and Matt in a line with a bunch of other people. The gap become bigger between Troy and I as the pitch goes up and then I catch back on as it goes down to flat. We hit these two steps in a climb and Troy is rolling down the side of the hill. He is okay and Matt and I go on. At some point Matt gets back in front of me but then we cross the creek and I never see him again. Shortly after the creek is this stair step section down. I am on a far right line passing a few people and some guy comes directly across my line, next thing I know I am in the air sans bike. I smack the ground really hard at the bottom of the stairs, next thing I know everyone is yelling at me to get out of the way. Funny how these were the same guys that couldn't get out of their own way seconds before hand. I collect myself and off I go. I can't find my rythmn or really get clipped in and down I go again over the bars. Note to self: Slow down and get it together. I look down and my HAC4 is gone, shit! I looked around for it but must have lost it earlier on the stairs. I finally get by all the climbers that have been in my way and start to find a rythmn, I see Paule Bates on the side of the trail fixxing a flat. I get to the top of the technical climb but I am not feeling it. I start heading down and Hillstrom voice comes from behind. Just then I crest over this little knoll to see a rock garden, my mind shuts down and I get off the bike. What a whimp I am as John goes by. Three Supermans in a lap is not in the plan. I get back on and chase down John. As we get back to start finish line, my mind starts its games.

Lap 2:

The mind games have begun, I tell myself I have to keep going so I can search for my HAC4 near the stairs. I can see Hillstrom directly infront of me on the climb. He is moving like a snail, I can actually see his slime trail. Funny thing is I am not catching him. I keep telling myself to catch up and my mind says, "Why? We can turn around and go back to car. Its not too late." I push on, I get to the hike a bike section and I see a TWW jersey approaching from the behind. I am like, damn its got to be Gin. Turn around and Troy says hi. He stops and I push on. Get thru the hike a bike se tion and now I am being caught by climber boys again. I fight so that I dont have to ride behind them on the DH portions but its of little use. I never see Hillstrom again. I make my way by the climbers and Paulie catches up to me. Finally back to the stairs and I stop and look around for a minute or two, no HAC4. Urrgggh! I mount back up and chase down Paulie, I catch him and climb on by on a techincal section. I smash my knee into a Manzanita tree on a climb. Then its all down hill, well mostly. I get to the rock garden section and start heading down when all of sudden I am over the bars once again. This time I smack hard on rock and twist my shoulder, elbow, and hit my head. I have had enough! Paule goes by and asks if I am okay. I pedal in. Paulie heads out for lap 3 of the expert race.

Should have ridden the Blur, atleast it would have made the race fun! Oh well! I have bruises all over and my neck is pretty stiff. I have to admit though, this race is one of the better ones. I just wish it had a few more section of flowing singletrack. This course makes the Downieville DH section look smooth and flowing.

Big shouts to Heather (1st) & Isaias (3rd) in their expert cats. I won a t-shirt in the raffle, nice consolation price for loosing a HAC4!

Dave
16/30

Okay, here goes. First race report ever...

So, being somewhat new to the whole mountain biking thing, I don't have high expectations when it comes to racing. But, I did my first race at the NVDC and much to my surprise, 3rd place! Woo hoo. Well, 3rd out of 4. Then last weekend at boggs, Kyle and Chris drag me along to a second place finish. Wow. This racing thing is going great. So, mathematically I should come in first at Skyline, right? Hmm, didn't quite work out that way. I lined up, a little nervous. The guy behind me realizes something is wrong with his tire, and has no pump. So I lend him my pump as the pro/expert group takes off. We move up and this guy is still messing with his bike and last minute, runs up and sticks my pump in my pack. So, at least I have karma going for me at the beginning of the race, things can't go too bad. I start the climb, asking myself, "how do I get myself in to these things?" Wishing I was sipping on a cold beer enjoying the weather, I pedaled on. I didn't think the hill was that crazy, but I am just not skilled enough to go around people when the stop. So off the bike I go and walk with the rest of the group. Shortly after that, Dave came up along side me and we rode together for 10 or 15 minutes before he rode away from me, then Troy, then, well the list of people who passed me is too long to put in this report. Anyway, cruising along, then back to some hiking. Feeling okay, pretty hot, but fired up for some descending. Get back on my bike, big smile, ready to go, hit the gas and hisssssssss. Damn, flat. I started to try and race to fix it, but realized that I should probably just take the time and do it right and not risk getting a second flat. So the group that started behind me all goes by. Hey, theres Mike, I thought all the TWW guys already passed me? He must be on his second lap already leading the pace for Mark Weir ; ). So, back on my bike and I go about 200 ft and see another guy with a flat. I realized I needed more air in my tire so I stop and chat with him for a bit and pump my tire up some more. At that point I realized the race was over for me and time to just enjoy my sunday. So I just cruised along, only flying over the handlebars maybe 5 or six times, each time more graceful than the last. When the start of the second lap came around, I was feeling 10 times better. Rode with Julie from Roaring mouse for a little bit on the initial climb, then moved on. Saw Piper shortly after that. Passing people made me feel good, sort of put me back in racing mode. Then I made it almost all the way to the top of the hill before getting off to walk. Not bad. Maybe my race isn't over. Off I go again, keeping a good pace. All of a sudden, I hear somebody flying up behind me. Mark Weir goes by and I realize, crap, I am that far behind. Back to relaxing and enjoying the ride. At least the second lap I was able to ride mostly by myself and take my time on the technical stuff. Overall, I don't think I am technically ready for a course like skyline. But I still had a good time. So, somewhere there was a flaw in my math, thinking I should take home the gold. DFL, 2hr14min or so. Pretty let down, but I am just in it for the fun. And as long as I keep coming across the finish line with a smile on my face, thats good enough for me. I guess its off to the next CCCX race in two weeks.

Matt Leonard

This is my first race report in a loooong time. I'm trying to return from a fitness level known as "clinically dead". But the Skyline race nearly sent me back to my grave! It was a very exciting race. Fortunately several of us were able to preride the course on Sat and camp that night. The preride was valuable because of technical challenge of the course. This was my first ride ever at this park, and after the preride I was pumped for the race. There were several sections where I could not imagine an XC race running through. This trail was so different from almost every other race I've encountered. The only race course that compared would be 24 Hours of Tahoe. My memory of the Skyline trail has images of narrow rock staircases leading into tight switchbacks. That's how I want to remember it. Awesome!

My race day experience is sorted. The race starts and I am feeling good, except for a pain in my bladder that should have been handled before the start. I kept Franck in my view! Carolyn and Heather pass me (that's no surprise.) Getting into the first lap I continue to pass others. My bike gets tangled with another rider in front who is having trouble with switchbacks--usual exciting race stuff! I reel Heather back in and say hello. Then 30 seconds later I fall down a hill, but fortunately the poison oak cushioned my fall. Matt and Dave M pass by as I'm climbing back up the hill. Dave M asks if I'm ok and I replied that only my pride was hurt. Several pass as I collect myself.

Further into the first lap I start to feel the lack of depth in my training and increasing bladder pain. Hillstrom passes me. Then I get stuck behind a group of expert class females who passed me much earlier but are having serious trouble on the technical stuff. I actually hear them complaining about this "unknown girl" with "serious downhill skills" who is "way ahead" of them. I immediately know that they are talking about Heather!!! I was too tired to join in the conversation. I followed them downhill for a long time with no opportunity to pass. That's racing. I graciously asked if I could pass on a flat and one replied "yes, but I'll see you on the uphill." I guess she took it personal.

Later I begin the second lap climb, and yes my friend from earlier passes me just like she predicted. That's racing. The pain in my bladder is serious at this point. So I get off the bike and take care of it. That's not racing. Well into the second lap my legs are cramping, quads and hams. Lack of training again is in full effect. I fall and get tangled into a Manzanita bush during cramps, someone asks if I need help. I yelled that I've fallen! And I can't get up! We both laugh.

Further into the second lap I continue to suffer with cramps. I am getting taken apart by this race. My chain somehow ends up shifting into the spokes, so I pull off to fix it. There I meet Mike Gin for the first time, but I'm so delirious I don't even realize he's wearing a TWW jersey! Anyway, I continue to suffer cramps through the end of the race. My finish is poor, but I'm looking forward to improvement. Got to deal with the lactate threshold!

The race was a blast. The course was exciting. I wish we were all going to do it again this Sunday!

Troy

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