Okale Cup Race Results – Santiago Oaks
July 16, 2011, marked the first race hosted by one of the OC Parks. I can still remember when we first got wind of this race via socaltrailriders.org. The emails quickly started to circulate among our team as we couldn’t believe that there was actually going to be a race in Santiago Oaks. The announcement of this race was good news to us on so many levels. For most of us, Santiago Oaks is our “home court” since the park is right down the street from many of our homes. We’ve spent so much time riding there that we knew every climb and descent. There would be no question as to how much suffering would be involved riding these trails at race pace. Aside from that, this course would have it all, fast tight singletrack, open fire roads for passing, long climbs and best of all, steep technical downhill. Needless to say, the race did not disappoint.
The team met up at my house an hour before the start of the race so we could ride over to Irvine Park together giving us a nice 15 minute warm up. Irvine Park made the perfect setting for staging the race start with plenty of parking, seating and shade. Wahoo’s Fish Tacos, Kona Bikes and The Path Bike Shop were all there to support the event. Without too much delay the riders started to stage in their respected classes. I lined up in mens expert 30-39 with three other riders of which I knew two. Brandi from The Path who I had ridden with on a few occasions and Josh. Josh had won the Ultra Quest in March, (a 40 mile, 10,000ft+ of elevation gain on the hardest trails in the Santa Ana Mountains) so I knew what he was capable of. A late decision by the race organizers to start all the expert classes together quickly expanded our field from 4 to 14 and within a minute we were off.
The group rode together around Irvine Park into Santiago Oaks all the way along the fire road until the short climb to the top of the damn. At that point I had moved into second behind Josh so that I could attack the first downhill at full speed. Josh knew the trails just as well as I did and we took the first downhill into the short singletrack fast enough to stretch out the field. After crossing the river bed we made our way towards Goat trail and started the climb. Josh pulled away and I was quickly passed by two other riders. I tried to keep them close as long as I could but realized I was headed towards the red zone. I backed off a little allowing a 15 second gap by the time we hit Bumble Bee, the first slight downhill before the big climb. I raced down Bumble Bee alone forcing myself to take the off camber turns faster than I had wanted. Sure enough, I slid out ensuing in a good amount of road, or should I say trail rash. Fortunately, with my new Poseidon kit still intact, I remounted only losing a few seconds. Soon I started the long climb up Coachwhip to Barham Ridge where I got passed half way up by two more riders. They reached the top at least 30 seconds ahead of me but I knew I could gain some time back descending Barham Ridge and then Chutes. As I made my way down Chutes, I could see my teammate Skyler set up on the small gap jump with his camera right after the rock garden. With a little Kodak Courage, I hit the jump at full speed and continued my rapid descent to the bottom of the trail.
The speed paid off as I caught the two guys who passed me on Coachwhip. We road together towards the start finish until we were caught by another rider. Eventually, the three of them would get away from me and I would spend the next two laps without passing or being passed by anyone else in my class. According to my Strava upload, I ended the race just shy of 29 miles and just over 3,000 ft of climbing. My body hurt, especially my lower back from the short steep climbs.
I love races that reward all the different types of riding and this course had it all. I’m hopeful that the race organizers will put together more races like this in the future. This is by far one of the best cross country courses I have ever ridden.
