After the sunny skies and mid-70s temperature of the first Adams Avenue Cyclocross Race in San Diego?s Balboa Park on October 9, most riders were praying for rain and hoping for mud to soften up the hardpack and rocky ? repeat, rocky ? course for today?s races. What they got instead was more sunny skies, mid-80s temperatures, and Santa Ana breezes.
Even though some of the top SoCal riders traveled north to race and registration numbers were down a bit, the racing at the second Adams Avenue Race matched the temperatures. And despite the temperatures, the European-style starts and finishes on the San Diego Velodrome were decidedly cool.
In the 15-strong Men A race, Tony Smith, riding gracefully on a fixed-gear single speed, finished with a comfortable lead over Scott Wingo (Vegas Velo) and Peter Anderson (also Vegas Velo). The race started furiously right out of the Velodrome, with a group of four led by Wingo and Shawn Olin (US Armed Forces) quickly opening a gap. As the blistering pace and temperature caused the groups to fracture, Smith calmly moved up and took over the lead by the halfway mark. Wingo executed the official ?smooth move? of the day: with three laps to go, he broke his carbon seat post, took a water bottle hand-up on the next lap, pulled off the top of the bottle, dumped it out, and stuck it over the post, finishing strongly ? if not comfortably ? in second.
The day?s first race, for Men 50+, Juniors, and Women B, was deemed the feature event, running for 55 minutes. The added length proved costly as first Ricky Russell then Rick Swanson flatted out of the lead. Paul Springer (Karl Strauss/SDBC) led a parade of riders on mountain bikes for the win. The Women?s B race was the most closely contested race of the day, with the four top riders fighting for the lead the entire race. Heidi Kanayan (BVB/3 Pines Lodge/661) opened up a small gap at the end and held it. Fourteen year old Ian Moir (Major Motion) rode close behind the lead Masters riders to take the Junior Men race, and Brittney Van Vleet (Swami?s) won the Junior Women race to remain undefeated in the SoCal?Cross series.
The combined Men 30+ and Men 40+ saw another race of fast starts and close racing, but with the heat and flat tires taking a toll. Mike McMahon (Team Velocity) took the 30+ race and Chuck Morris rode his single speed bike to the 40+ win. Thaddeus Sparrow (Celo Pacific) entertained the masses bunny hopping both the regulation-height artificial barrier and the 25 inch high natural barrier on his way to third in the 30+ group.
In the Men B race, Guy Sutton (TREK SD/Sutton DDS) rode away into a different time zone from the otherwise closely contested field. Series leader Jason Vorell (Velocity Inc) finished second ahead of Phillip Gray (Celo Pacific). Guy, it?s time to ride with the A riders. Carolyn Popovic took the women A race ahead of second place Mandy Eakins (Sobieski & Bradley/Sports Base Online.com) and third place Brittney Van Vleet in her second race of the day.
In the largest field, the combined Men C and Single Speed races, Chuck Morris won his second race of the day ahead of Lane Miller (GS Adams Ave) on single speed bikes, with Michael Lilly (Shoreline Cycles) edging out Cameron Dickinson (Encore Cycling) for the Men C race. In the unofficial ?unsmooth move? of the day, Matt Hale (Celo Pacific) took a hand-up as he approached a barricade while riding close behind the leader, misjudged the dismount, and did a face plant. He was fortunately not hurt (except for some pride) and finished 6th.
GS Adams Avenue is a new club, its October 9 event was the first they had ever promoted, and more than a few rough edges were evident. Today, it was clear they had learned their lessons and made the needed corrections. The course was clearly marked with tape where it was needed, registration started early and was highly organized, prizes were awarded on time after each race, and the post-race beer was flowing. The only glitch was that someone had broken into the Velodrome last night and stolen the announcing equipment, leaving the race without announcing once again.
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