BASP #1 Race Report - Bill Strachan

This was the first race of the year in the BASP series, my primary goal for the year so I was motivated for a good race.  I was hopeful that there would be less climbing than the last couple of years on this course since I heard that we would be taking an extra lap on the football field adjacent to the start finish area but I was disappointed. There may have been less actual climbing than in years past but we still made it all the way up to the top of the tree covered hill and back. The climbing was mostly in one sustained section that took something like a minute and a half to negotiate. I was able to get a couple of laps on the course in the time between the first and second heats for a warm up, I did not warm up on the trainer as planned since I stopped to say hello to my kids, wife and sister so instead of warming up on the trainer just rolled around on the infield. I was nervous about trying to get a good start position so I ended up standing by the course entrance for 5 minutes or so getting cold anyway. I got off the line well, getting my foot in the pedal on the first stab, and made it into just about 5 place for the first time up the steep run up. I had a clean bike pick up and a pretty good climb up the hill. Right after the hill one guy crashed, got up and crashed again right in front of me right but made it past him and through the rough sections that followed. I lost a couple of places on the first long climb but was trying to cool it and not dig too deep on this first lap. Good plan because I was able to give away only a second or two but get it all back on the rolling, downhill and flat sections that followed. Felt good and strong in the flat, loose and sandy section, and was able to pass a guy or two there on the first couple of laps. After the first lap and a half or so it was pretty clear how the race would sort out. There was one guy who was smoking the field and a group of four guys close together chasing. I was leading another small group of guys behind who could not quite close the gap. I would occasionally lose a place to one of two guys but then gain it back, usually on the approach to the football field or on the football field. For the first half of the race, the second group was close, only 10 seconds or so but we gradually lost sight of them. With just under one lap to go, one of the guys I was trading place with put in a hard effort just after the run up and gapped me pretty good. I lost a little more time on the climb, made up a little on the football field and held off the guys behind for a good result, 7th place. I managed to have a clean race, no crashes, no dropped chains and clean over the barriers every time. Next one in two weeks for me at Candlestick. Thanks for reading.