Jon Baker Comes Back (Again!) to Take Second Masters 35-39 Championship – Updated: Photo Gallery

Baker and Stevenson gasp for air after their sprint finish. © Cyclocross Magazine

BEND, ORE. – Just as he did last year, Jonathan Baker came back from a slow start to win the 35-39 National Championship. Baker rode back to a lead group that included former 35-39 champion Justin Robinson (Cal Giant-Specialized) and Masters newcomer Russell Stevenson (Cycling Northwest), before dispatching both in the final lap. For many of the rest of the field, however, the race ended before the first turn, as a massive pileup split the race, giving a selection of 20 riders an insurmountable gap.

Jon Baker wins his second 35-39 title. © Tim Westmore

Baker, although he didn’t get caught up in the crash, had “A slow start. I couldn’t get into my pedal, so I was kinda coming back, and those guys started really fast.” “Those guys” were 20-year veteran Robinson and Seattle-based racer Stevenson, who came from nowhere last weekend (or, more accurately, from the last row) to win Day 2 of the Portland USGP.

Robinson leading Stevenson early in the 35-39 race. © Cyclocross Magazine

Baker stayed calm, though, and rode calmly back up to the duo over the first lap-and-a half. Baker even naysayed the ever-enthusiastic Richard Fries, who asked him “How deep did you have to go in the pain cave to ride back up to those guys?” Baker replied: “I knew it was going to be a hard race, so I just kept my own pace.” That pace suited him just fine, as the group of three quickly distanced the rest of the already diminished field. Stevenson admitted that once Baker made the bridge, the trio went tactical and “soft-pedaled” for a couple of laps. Baker agreed, saying the riders tried to find shelter in the wind and push it in the muddy sections.

During the penultimate lap, Robinson came off the group and had to fight to get back on, re-connecting with about half a lap to go. That effort proved a bit too much, though, as Robinson bobbled at the top of a hill at the west end of the course: “We were all together going through the barriers, and then I missed my pedal at the top of the hill when they were all stuttering over the top, and that was it. The gap opened up, and I had to get off and run for a second, and you can’t make up gaps on this course very easily.”

Baker trailling Stevenson on the final run-up. © Cyclocross Magazine

The last selection didn’t occur until the final turn, when Baker came from the left side of the course to the inside of the turn, and was able to get the jump on Stevenson. “I didn’t want to just lead him and show him all my secrets,” Stevenson said about trying to outfox Baker. “But obviously Jonathan had the best secret, the biggest of all – the final turn secret.” Baker looked at it similarly, saying that he waited until the last moment to make his move, which “worked out.”

Not far back from the leading trio, JT Fountain defied belief, as he rode to a fourth-place finish on a singlespeed. When asked if we was surprised by his performances, Fountain said, “Yeah, I was surprised – but over the last few days I’ve been getting used to being surprised by things.”

“I don’t think it slowed me down at all, except for the real boggy, slow grass sections, like down below the stairs,” Fountain said about his decision to stick to his singlespeed for the geared race. “And on the far stretch, I was not moving very fast.”

A jubilant, but exhausted, Baker greeted Stevenson after the finish. Both riders were complimentary towards each other and the course, saying that organizer Brad Ross had really gotten the course design just right, with the right amount of running, mud and power sections. Stevenson summed up the race, and the conditions, saying: “That was epic. It’s just such a hard course, and muddy! You’re better off to lead in that crap, in the muck. I thought I had him, but in the final turn I had an in-to-out line, he came out to in, and that was the difference. Baker was strong to make a bridge like that.”

For full Cyclocross National Championships coverage and information, visit our 2010 USA Cycling National Championships Page.

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