SANTA ROSA CUP - ROUND 3 - DING, DING!
A little California mud - about as scarce as Bigfoot
Round 3 of the Santa Rosa Cup brought us to the quintessential wine country location - a winery. This was the first time we have held a race on private property and at a winery. It all started 4 months ago when Windsor Bicycle Center introduced me to the director of marketing at Windsor Oaks Winery. They were hoping to have a mountain bike race on their property and was wondering if myself and Carlos at Bike Monkey would promote it. Well, I don't know the first thing about mountain bike courses, but I told her I could take a look and see if we can have a cross race on their property. Blank stare on her face. "What is cyclocross?" And so it began....
The property was actually pretty good for a race - elevation due to a dam being on the property,a crush pad, lots of pavement and some pretty open fields. It looked promising. So we made a date for mid-December. Now the winery was a little remote (up this mile long dirt driveway) so I was a little worried about people making the trip. Parking was also an issue, meaning there was little if any "organized" parking. And with a lack of volunteers I was leaving that issue up to the attendees. The weather looked promising - rain during the week before with rain projected the day of. It didn't disappoint either.
Brian Finnerty runs through the TRP Brake Zone. Finnerty crushed World Champ Don Myrah in 35+ race.
Cold weather and a little rain greeted the riders the morning of the race. The racing was fast and furious in all age groups. The elites went off at 3 and as if on cue, it started pouring rain. I jumped in the race without proper warm-up and just went out there and had fun. It is always nice to see what the course looks like, especially when you designed it. Thick mud was everywhere and running became a must in some places. It felt like a classic Euro field course. And another successful year for the Santa Rosa Cup. And while it didn't quite turn out the way I would have liked it (with the cancellation of the fairgrounds race) we still had three races where people seemed to be having fun and that was the most important thing.
The mud cometh....
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