Pro XCT #2 Fontana City National - Max Houtzager

Pro XCT #2 Fontana City National
Fontana, CA
Cat 1 17-18 (total field of ~20)
Teammates: Bobby Zidek, Tony Smith, Keegan Swenson
Result: 3rd



After the long drive including some lovely LA traffic, the new descent on the course stoked me out of my mind. Finally a real mountain bike race! After climbing up the 'wall', riding the the rocky-twisty-tacky downhill in a death train with all my teammates left me hooting and hollering (corny but true) down the course. The park no longer presented a sandy, dusty race infamous for the Fontana-lung in the middle of suburbia that I remember from two years ago in Cat 2. The rest of the descents offered flowy railable berms. I initially started well with the front group ready to kill it, but unclipped on the first corner, followed by bobbling with my pedals in the wet conditions. Dropping back in the field, I knew it would be vital to get to the front before becoming the caboose of a slow singletrack train, however this only led me to frantically try and make up positions and then bobble with my pedals again on an inside corner pass, really dropping back to last place. I then used a ton of energy to make passes and recover time from people's mistakes in front of me, but proceeded to make more errors on my favorite downhill. The field went fast on lap 1, and so it seemed crucial to go all out, however this only led me to race in a hasty, stressed manner which was not the fast. Of course thoughts of finishing horribly crossed my mind, but I knew that spot on the box beside my teammates was mine. After that descent I realized I had to get it together and ride 98% instead of 110% (mostly mentally not physically). I wouldn't let go in order to work my way up into 4th after passing the final AZ Devo rider Tyler Coplea, with Casey Williams and the 15-16 leader in my sights. It felt like it an eternity to catch them, but I saw the gap narrowing, and once I passed them I had every intention of making my gap as large as possible. Besides railing the downhills where you could actually recover and still enjoy them, this aspect of the race was thrilling, constantly duking it out with riders as I gave it my all to catch them and then keep them off my ass. I also want to mention how awesome it was when people from other categories were friendly and got out of the way quickly. It seriously made my day every time I could actually race my best and rip it up not impeded by other riders, so a big thanks to them. Seeing Tony and Keegan kill it ahead of the field up the wall on lap 1 looked killer, and I'm bummed I couldn't be there with them (the whole field between us...). The race could have gone better given the beginning, yet I learned valuable lessons about my strength compared to/what the field is like Pro XCT's and keeping it together/solid, and am super proud I was able to hold on and claw my way up to 3rd from last place, only 1.5 minutes from Tony. Can't wait to get faster and race with (hopefully next to) my teammates at the next big race! And get to more super fun gnarly courses! My S Works Epic absolutely destroyed the course too. The suspension felt like a trail bike when necessary fully using all the travel, yet I ran the brain fully on front and rear making it a road bike with my stiff carbon wheels when sprinting and pumping through corners. Straight up phenomenal.