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Napa Valley Dirt Classic |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by R. Jorgensen
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Sunday, 29 April 2007 |
Napa Valley Dirt Classic
NorCal State Series
Angwin, CA
4/22/2007
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Pacific Union College in Angwin is home to this event as well as the Howell Mountain Challenge in early August. Howell Mountain is the eastern boundary to the fabled Napa Valley. It is known as a flat top mountain at about 2,000 feet elevation. The college is an excellent race venue. Count on creature comforts as: Gymnasium for registration and restrooms, manicured lawns and paved parking lots. But really why make the drive to Northern California?
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I did hear that it was a good event at CCCX in Monterey, and after walking and talking to fellow riders during prep-time I could sense that it would be a ride to remember. Upon closer inspection of my MAP, the Las Posadas State Forest appears landlocked from any public road, yet contiguous to the college campus!
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So like every race it started on a paved access road that lead to a path that skirtted the campus with a muddy hike-a-bike and onto a gravel access that parallelled the airport to the left and a pond on the right, dropping down a shaded, slick( 3 of 4 riders layed down on these turns) into a smaller grassy field and then into the forest. Their were some interesting features aside from the forest, but as a so-cal boy I rarely ride on seven or eight miles of twisting, turning, rolling, flowing single track.
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I mean this single track really worked the side of a forested hill and then you'd cross over turn around and start to climb and twist and turn and finish working the other side and on. So we eventually made it back towards an area of familiarity and the trail dropped off Howell Mountain and took in a couple of fast fire road descents and found more single track not the twisty-turny type but the technical, and then the rain gullied fire road descents to the point that I remember a rider tell me about the climb out!
The climb broke my spirit, but hike and bike and by the third water table we had finished about 18 or so miles. The land started to look familiar and we retraced the lead out course back in. At least so I thought, when we pitched off a new direction and dropped into the mud pools surrounded by all the fun loving spectators, and onto the track for a lap and into the finish line.
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Now remember post race ceremony should include 'haut cuisine' and world class wine tasting. But I retrogress, I rode my finest downhill, my smoothest single track but I failed the climb. What I have done is promise my wife that she will plan the trip next year to include adequate rest, abundant wine and cuisine in opulent surroundings.
Roger
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