SCPS #9: Storm the Beach
Dec 9, 2007

By: Dave Sheek, www.outsideallday.com
Presented by: Celo Pacific

“Soldiers, Get your Cycles!”

With sand, barbwire fences, and live ammo rounds scattered throughout the course the Southern California Prestige Series (SCPS) did it again as SCPS #9: Storm the Beach was underway. The series is coming to an end as there is one left, SCPS #10: Santa Cross, but race #9 like race #8 was another that will not let riders to forget the season. Again, the runs were hellacious and the sand was more than just a pit or a few turns, racers were challenged with long and deep sandy runs, a barrier section, and…a quarter mile sprint along the shores of The Pacific Ocean, on the grounds of the Camp Pendleton Marine Base in Oceanside, California.

The morning started well with great contributions by volunteers of the Celo Pacific Race Team. The course was set quickly and riders were on it trying to figure out the best routes through some of the deep sandy sections (Cliff Bar Calve Exploders), the Michelin mud pits (since Southern California finally received some real rainfall), and waves as they crashed along a quarter mile stretch of the course. The tide was high early on and riders learned not to get to close to the water as Junior, and Series Leader, Ben Bertiger of Team CICLE demonstrated that waves will eat riders as he was rushed out to sea while still attached to his bike when he got a too close to the wet stuff. Thanks for saving him Mitch, Bay Watch star on hand for Lifeguard Duties. It was hilarious as Ben came back to race’s start and beach base camp smiling with his explanation of how the waves just grabbed him. In addition to Ben, other Racers were making comments such as, “My calves are going to explode from all this running!” or “Oh my god, the sand…” Needless to say it was another challenging course and great race of the SCPS.

When the races started the Beginner Men were on course first and it seemed as though a lot of the new cyclocross racers should have spent more time on bike skills or just running. One of Celo Pacific’s own racers was about three-quarters of his way through the race while coming through the torturous Clif Bar Calf Explosion section when his legs suddenly buckled causing him to drop his bike and fall to all fours. Spectators could hear the loud sounds of exhaustion while he sprayed the course with his insides, puking at least three or four times. His determination was fascinating as he asked spectators for some water, rinsed his mouth, and continued the race. Nice job soldier! Another spectacular display was riders barreling down Cane Creek Mountain into the soft deep sand as their bikes wobbled side-to-side usually causing unpredictable dismounts for the run. One rider in particular wearing fatigues was just a little too far forward on the bike and as he entered the deep sand, his weight over the bars took him and his BMC, Cross Machine into an impressive barrel roll. He was okay as he quickly rose to his feet, smiling with a face full of wet sand, to continue his run.

The racing overall for the day was pretty fast, considering the conditions, with the long straight sections and gale winds. The fields were a little shallow this week as a lot of racers decided to take it easy resting and training for next weeks National Cyclocross Championships in Kansas City, Kansas. In the Women’s Elite the group was missing its series leader and rising star, Coryn Rivera of team Redline as she opted to rest this week for the National Championships. However, the always-powerful CICLE team (www.cicle.org) was in full force as usual spattering the course with racers and covering the podium in their usual style. There was one spot they could not cover though, as mountain bike powerhouse Pua Sawicki of team Ergon/ Ellsworth rode hard on her new Ellsworth Cross bike to take second on the day. Another mountain biker showing with drive, who has been posting great results everywhere this season and also last week’s winner at SCPS #8 was non-other than Carolyn Popovic of the fashionable Hollywood, CICLE team (always sporting their fancy Smith Glasses and creatively designed race kits by Voler) as the announcers explained CICLE. The group was together on the first lap but spaced out quickly as racers hit the sand and those who could run started to separate from the pack. In third it was Dorothy Wong putting down the power this week, even though she has been troubled all season by an injury, and she was followed by the consistent racers of her team CICLE with Christie Pleiss in fourth and Heidi Kanayan rounded out the top five.

The Men’s Elite started against really strong headwinds as the offshore winds continued to pick up through the day. It was John Behrens of Bailey/Black Mountain who led from the start followed closely by Brent Prenzlow of the Alan North America Cycling Team, and the strong riders of team Bearclaw who have been showing well this season. While the field was lacking some of its stars such as Chance Nobel (Cal Giant), Mike Easter (Time Factory Team) and others who decided to rest for Nationals, it was good to see the efforts others were putting out before such an important week of racing. By the end of the first lap, it was the Alan rider Prenzlow who took over the lead and never looked back. From the first lap after taking the lead, Prenzlow rode smart and consistently put a larger gap between him and the pack with each lap of the race to comfortably take the win. The battles for second and back were a little more close as Behrens and Fritz Bottger (Team Bearclaw) fought more closely until Bottger could take advantage of the Bailey riders mistake to command second place while Behrens finished in third. The cruelness of the sand definitely lent a hand to mountain bikers. Lyle Warner (Team Bearclaw) stepped up in podium positions this week using his mountain skills to finish fourth and followed by Team Discovery’s Antonio Cruz who also moved his way up the finishing blocks to round off the top five.

It was another great week of the magnificent SCPS as Celo Pacific hosted a great event and supplied great volunteers who did an awesome job in cleaning up, taking down the course and most of all making sure the day ran smoothly. This all could not happen without the racers and series sponsors. Thank you to everyone who came out and especially the supporters like Nomad and their portable pressure washers. Nomad made sure to put a bike cleaning station on site so that racers could get the mud, sand, and salt off their bikes/drive trains before leaving the venue. There is one left as the series is coming to an end, SCPS #10: Santa Cross is the last race so get someone interested and bring them out to the cross party, remember there are always demo bikes on site for people to use from Redline Bikes and Jax Bicycles.

Lee Willmore

Alex Ter-vrugt

Dan Breyer