Fairfax Cross

A new dusty course was unveiled today in Fairfax, Ca and the team rolled up the north bay to check it out. I picked up my buddy Aaron Kereluk in soquel, packed the truck and drove to the summit of the santa cruz mountains enroute to Fairfax in Marin county. AK realized that he forgot two of the most important pieces to his race kit, Helmet and Shoes. So, we had to turn back down the mountain and retreive the forgotten gear. No problem, we still had plenty of time to get to the course and warm up. Actually, when we got to Fairfax it was really warm and by the end of the race I was cookin'. Darn hot for nearly November.

It was a beautiful day and the folks at the White Hill Elementry school did their best to design a fun course. It had a few weird areas, like the finish line on a 3 foot wide sidewalk and single track uphill that wove around trees and past a dead lawn mower, but for the first race these guys put on it was alright. Oh Yeh, this was a benefit for the White Hill school so it was just cool to be racing and helping them out by doing something I love to do.

Well, let's get down to the nitty gritty. Josh won, I was second, Ak was third and Hoopdy was fourth on his two speed bike. Shelley was second in her race behind homegirl Rachel Loyd, and Dan was second in the masters race. Swiggboss and Loren were not last. Great results and there were so many Rock Lobsters in attendance that we looked like the home team. Some legends of the Nor Cal mtb scene were there as well and they included the originator of mountain biking but I can't tell if that was Ross Schaffer or Paul Sadoff or Joe Breeze or Jackie Phelan. Doesn't really matter anyway does it?

Racing action went like this; Josh gets the hole shot and I let Cameron follow and ride on his wheel. Cam isn't holding pace so I come around him and Josh and I start to build a small gap. By the first obstacle, a small off camber up hill, we have a handful of seconds and keep stretching it for the majority of the race. It was great to be riding with Josh, taking turns setting pace and looking out for eachother until about 4 to go. Our gap was humongous at this point and we could see the battle behind us and it was almost all seafoam and blue. Cameron would get the wood put to him and Ak would ride most of the race alone in third. Hoopdy battled Phil Roberts and rode a wheelie across the line for 4th place. Nice podium sweep indeed.

At four to go Snead started attacking and got a little gap. I felt like I was closing but pretty soon I realized the little scrapper was getting away. I didn't have a lot snap at the end of the race and Josh rode really well during the last third. I really overheated and shut it down for the last half of the last lap and rolled in to finish in second as Snead cruised in alone probably half a minute ahead. I tried to earn some style points on the last two laps by jumping the barrier but it did nothing to affect the overall results.

Well it's time to head to Watsonville for the course with the best runup in mid cal cross racing. I know the Strap Maynes will be there and Barry could always show up so I anticipate a rapid race.

Simon.