Madera County Stage Race - Pro/1/2

This past weekend I drove down to Pleasanton to meet up with an old teammate of mine when I was a junior and then head down in the Specialized Juniors Team Van to the 1st Stage of the Madera County Stage Race. This van off the hook when we first got it, and still is but it's nothing like the new Mike's Bikes Team Van that just popped into frame for the team this past week! The first day of racing was a 10-mile hill climb to the top of Ben Hur Road. It climbs up 1500 feet and has a 3 or so miles rough pavement section. I started off at 12:18 and started out fine, but as the climbing and the bumpy roads hit, I started to fall backwards. I ended up finishing with a time of about 36 minutes, 7 minutes behind on GC. I knew already that my GC chances were already over because there were some strong pro teams there (Kelly Benefits, Bissel, and Kenda 5 hour Energy).

The next day was another 10 miles TT but this time is was perfectly flat. This was the TT I was looking forward to. I went out there and road a good TT, but fell 24 seconds short of my goal time (23 minutes). I still improved from last year, and this year I had just 404's, where last year I had a disc. Later in the day was the criterium. Evan Huffman (California Giant/ Strawberry) took the overall lead over Nate English (Kenda) in the flat TT and Cal Giant was looking to maintain that overall lead. Multiple guys flew off the front trying to make breaks stick (including myself) but nothing would work. By the time 7 laps to go came, a break of 4 (2 Kelly, Bissell, and Cal Giant) were off the front and looked dangerous to stay away. Luckily, for some reason, Cal Giant brought the break back and it came down to a field sprint. As we came in to what was supposed to be 2 laps to go, the officials quickly flipped the lap card and rang the bell saying "1 lap to go!". This completely raised chaos for everyone, including myself. I was sitting in okay position leading into this, sitting behind Sam Bassetti (Cal Giant) whom was sitting behind the Kelly train. There was a swarm coming into turn 1 and I lost about 10 spots. I moved up on the outside in the wind in the back stretch and got back to where I was. As we went over the railroad track (800 meters before the line), Bassetti hit a Kelly rider and as he went over the track, it took him straight into the air, turn sideways, and took his feel out of his pedals but somehow managed to stay upright and not crash. I was right behind all of this. Bassetti's race is over by this time. I hop behind Kelly, but right as I think I'm in perfect position, Dave McCook and Andy Jacques- Maynes comes on the inside and I'm stuck to sprint for 6th. It wasn't too bad given all of the craziness that happened.

The last stage was an 85 miles Road Race and Cal Giant still had the GC lead, but by only 9 seconds. The attacks went right away from the gun and there was cross and headwinds the entire time except a short 4 mile stretch going through the finish line. I eventually got popped 2 laps in, but by then there were only about 25 riders left in the race. Only 20 people finished out of 60. Kelly went on to win the stage, going 1-2-3 and leaving an over 2 minute gap to Nate English (Kenda). Evan also lost the GC, but still finish 4th I believe.

Overall, I didn't feel my best this weekend but it looks like I'm ready for the crits. Looking forward to San Dimas next weekend with the guys and hopefully get revenge as a team and get some good results! Thank you again to all of the sponsors this year! This couldn't have been possible without any of your help and amazing dedication to the sport that we love!

-James

Merco McDonald's Downtown Grand Prix and Hilltop Road Race – Elite 3 Race Report

Merco McDonald's Downtown Grand Prix

Got to the line just in the nick of time as the start whistle blew no more than a thirty seconds after rolling up. The second lap was a prime of mysterious value, for which I toyed the idea of getting. Third wheel on West 18th street as the group slowed, I attacked and got about 3 bike lengths before hitting the next turn onto M street. I maintained a sizable gap to the line and pocketed a sweet $75. I sat in for a while, until I heard another bell indicating a prime and the announcer stating that $50 was on the line. I moved up, to be third wheel onto West 18th street once again. I followed an attack by a Taleo rider, who led into the final corner. He started accelerated a little, veered left, then right. I jumped around his left and took the money. I bridged to my friend Reese Levine who was up the road in a solo-breakaway sometime in the middle of the race. About half of a lap after making contact with Reese, two guys bridged up and started working with us. The four of us stayed off for about another third of a lap, then we were pulled back. I sat back in the peloton until about three laps to go, when I began to make my way back up to the front. I stayed about 6-8th wheel for second to last lap, with a good friend of mine, whom I was confident would benefit from a wheel to follow into the final straight, on my wheel. Going into the final lap, we got swarmed hard. My friend went around my left side to make up for lost ground, and I burned a couple of matches to get in front of him before it was too late. Into the second to last corner, I was sixth wheel with two guys clearly dropping on the outside. Into the final corner, I was just a little too far off the wheel in front of me, and the leading three guys all jumped around the same time. Those three stayed about two bike lengths off to the line. Until about 100m to go, I maintained a good distance off the guys behind me, when I saw them charging fast. I edged a Team Swift kid out for 4th place and took home a good amount of winnings.

Merco Hilltop Road Race

This morning, after seeing a junior friend of mine, Matt Schaupp, earn a yellow jersey for winning the 3s crit the day before, I considered how cool it might be to win one today. My intentions for this road race were to develop a higher comfort level when surfing the middle of the peloton- from front to back, and from side to side. This was my primary focus for the majority of the race, paying little attention to breakaways. In the final lap, a breakaway of about six guys got off the front and maintained a good lead off the front. When we turned left on to Cox Ferry road, the breakaway was still insight, and some organization was forming at the front to reel them back. With 2k remaining, the break had about a ten second gap. I hopped onto the wheels of two guys that attacked up the right side of the road at the start of the rollers. We got up to the breakaway rather quickly, but Reese Levine of Tieni Duro put in a solid dig and brought the field up behind us. There was a left turn, then a gradual right to the uphill that lead to the slight downhill sprint. An Above Category rider attacked hard up the left side just before the right turn onto the final bump. He got a quick 30m on the front of the group. Approaching the crest of the hill, I was second wheel, and the guy in front of me pulled off. I assumed there was at least one junior on or near my wheel, so I ramped it up from about 300m or so. After catching the AC rider, I looked over my left shoulder and no one was going. I jumped and rhomped on the pedals, to try and catch the guy on my wheel by surprise. I took the win by a full wheel, with Specialized junior Christopher LaBerge closing in on my left for a well-earned second.

Merco Stage Race – P/1/2 Race Report

Day 1 - MID Road Race This was first big race for the team and we didn't know what to expect. The field looked strong on paper, but I was confident that we would be able to mix it up with the big boys.

We all settled in nicely, got comfortable.  It became clear that a break wasn't going to stick, so we all saved up for the field sprint.  However, there was a break before the last time up the climb, it was pretty large and Riggs was in it.

Then for some reason I attacked and went solo for a few miles heading into the climb (poor form).  I maintained good position on the climb though. Then along the last stretch, Bissell had control with Kelly Benefits parked behind them.

Then my teammates took control and threw down right next to the pro teams. First in line Shawn Rosenthal, battling hard to gain some respect for Mikes Bikes.  Behind him, The Viper (Jim Wingert), who managed to get to the front through the mess, something he doesn't enjoy, but I was very thankful to have his help.  Next in line was the young gun, Johnny P, sacrificing his sprint for the team!  Following this powerful train was Andy G and myself, with James Laberge sweeping behind (with a derailleur that had been broken so that he was stuck in his 14).

The sprint came faster than we had expected and we actually had too many guys left at the end.  I felt that it was time to jump and only got halfway into my sprint before it was over. I bike threw a Cash-Call Mortgage kid, Lee Muse, for 4th.  Andy G finished in 6th, Piasta 11th and Shawn 12th.  A great start for TMB!

Day 2 - Merced Boosters Time Trial

Simple day, get aero and ride fast.  Time Trialing is my biggest weakness.  I tried to stay smooth and suffer.  Today was an improvement, I did not have an amazing ride, but I didn't do terrible.  No one on the team was completely happy with their ride, but overall it wasn't a terrible day.

Day 3 - McDonald's Downtown Grand Prix

Crit days are my favorite, the pro race is always in the afternoon and so that means plenty of time for a relaxing breakfast, coffee on the porch of our sweet Ranch.  We had an amazing host house this year, thanks to Jim Cunningham, and I was very thankful to be staying in a house opposed to a motel 6. We rode to the crit and my legs felt pretty awful, but I was confident that once the adrenaline hit I would be able to turn them on.  My parents had also decided to drive to lovely Merced to watch me race and I wanted to put on a show for them.

The race started and Cal-Giant took control, they had the race lead with Evan Huffman, but the pace they were setting wasn't too daunting.  I made my way up to the front and then from there on out I took every opportunity I got to attack them.  I was hoping maybe if I got off the front with another “nobody” they might let me roll, but I was also just having a blast on a technical course that I really enjoyed.  In the process I took 3 primes and many laps off the front.

Then with about 12 laps to go Bissell took control and the fun and games of attacking were over, the pace was notched up.  I did my best to recover for the sprint during this time, and also try to find our sprinter for the day James Laberge, who had done an amazing job all day surfing the front and conserving energy.  With 5 or so to go we had 4-5 MB riders near the front, but it was difficult bordering on impossible to set up our own train and get organized.

Then with 3 to go a crash through the last corner took out Andy G, and caused a bit of a split in the field.  I was still near the front with Eric Riggs and Laberge.  At 1 to go Laberge blew up, I blame myself for not getting up closer to him to protect him from the wind more.  That left Riggs and I for the sprint, with the Bissell lead-out men blowing up left and right it was chaotic at best.  Riggs managed 7th and me 8th.  Another day with 2 in the top 10 for MB = a good day.

Day 4 - Almond Blossom Road Race

This is one of the toughest days of the race, mostly because it is the last day, starts at 8 AM and its 120 miles.  Team MB had a pretty good grasp on what would happen though and we were confident that it would be a good day.  With Bissell firmly in the lead, they were going to let a break go after about a lap and then ride tempo for the next 3 laps, reel them in and then it would be a mass field sprint.  This is what we imagined would happen and it did.  So my job was to sit in all day, conserve, which was easy to do on my amazingly fast Zipp 808's.  Eat lots of food, so many Clif Bars, and drink lots of water.

We had a few guys designated to go for the early break even though we were pretty sure that it wouldn't stick, Jim and Piasta were hungry to go give it a shot, and Rosenthal was also designated to follow breaks even though he was less than interested to actually end up in a break.  But alas, we missed the break, which wasn't an entirely bad thing, more men to help at the end!

The break was brought back a bit sooner than I had expected on the last lap and attacks started going left and right.  Luckily early on during the last lap Shawn and Johnny P had gotten to the front and started fighting for a spot for our train, so I was able to easily jump on their wheels and stay safe.  Then the attacks started going and our guys were doing well covering and starting some attacks, particularly Andy and John.  Then along the back stretch with about 4 miles to go the yellow jersey started following some breaks as his Bissell team had disintegrated from the front and at this point I began to follow some moves as well.  Nothing got much ground, but I found it easier to sit on the back of breaks then fight to be in the front of the field.

Then we made the left turn onto the final stretch with about 2-3 miles to go and the final battle got seriously sketchy.  I threw elbows and chopped some wheels, saw my teammate Shawn go off road fighting to get up to the front to help me.  Then at the final roller Strava was leading the group and pace began to slow, and James Laberge hit the front and kept the pace up to prevent me from getting swarmed.  The ability of Laberge to be up there at the end and fight through the chaos was super impressive given the length of the race and this being just his first year out of juniors.  With about 400 meters to go I sat third wheel, a Kelly Benefit Rider leading, with Ken Hanson in 2^nd wheel.  Then Logan Loader hit it hard around our right side, Ken jumped and I followed.  I’m kicking myself for not jumping first because I had the chance, but I hesitated and waited for Logan to go.  However, this was still the biggest result of my career so far.

I can’t thank my teammates enough, the confidence and willingness to ride for me in the past few races has given me the opportunity to do well in these races.   Without them and our amazing sponsor I would be nowhere near this podium!

Check out a great picture of the Podium.

-Tyler

Merco Stage Race Update!

The latest from Steve Pelaez, reporting from the Merco Stage Race!

Awesome start for the boys on black/blue and red shoes.

Tyler got 4th and Andy 6th. Team Mike's Bikes setup our train against the pros - bisell, exergy, Kelly benefits. We placed the highest amateurs - team crushed it and all are still in the hunt for the overall.

Amazing riding fellaz! Stay tuned for more!

Snelling Road Race – P/1/2 Race Report

Snelling was the 2nd big team race of the year, and after a solid performance at Cherry Pie I was excited to get the crew back together. It was even more exciting and pressure filled because the  guys would be riding for me under the guidance of an extravagant race plan I had developed.

Everything started out as it usually does, the first big road race and everybody antsy to be in the front, thus the motor driver had to stop the group 30 seconds into the rollout as half the field was across the yellow line. Personally I think the neutral rollout is the most dangerous part of the race, I wish that they would just have us line up for the start out where the actual start is so that we don't have that madness.

Anyhow, everyone survived and we got down to racing. The conditions were interesting, the windiest I had ever seen at Snelling, maybe even any race. I was able to sit in the first half as my amazing teammates followed attacks and kept everything under control, Steve Pelaez was even taken into the dirt a few times fighting for position in the front (footage from his GoPro coming soon I believe).

Every time that I found myself drifting back in the pack my guardian angel, Dana Williams would appear and take me back to the front and give me water. He even rode the windiest section in the wind with me on his wheel, creating his own echelon, the guy was absolutely amazing (not to give anything away, but even with all this work, he still managed to win the field sprint!)

As we hit the bumpy section of the course I watched as my teammate John Piasta followed Nate Wilson (Cal-Giant) off the front and soon after I followed Chris Stastny (Cal-Giant) and we started to rotate. Then Eric Riggs bridged and immediately went to the front, started hammering and yelling at other people to work harder. Perfect, break initiated with 2 laps to go, just as I had planned. Finally Andy Goessling bridged with a few others, making it 4 Mikes Bikes.

The group worked seamlessly until we hit the backstretch with 1/2 a lap to go. Riggs decided that we should gutter the group since we still had 4 riders left. This proved to be a bit of a mistake as Piasta was quickly shelled and then attacks started going off. Riggs and Andy took turns doing some solo flyers making Nate Wilson work while I sat on and conserved. We hit the last bumpy stretch and I was 2nd wheel with Nate pulling and Chris Stastny on my wheel. Right before the final corner Andy appeared just in time to give me a leadout. He took me to 200 meters and I hit out, but it was just a bit too early. A simple green rider took the win, and I made the fatal mistake of letting Stastny come by on my left (in the draft).

It was a good result, but after all the work the boys did for me, I expect to bring home the win. Mikes Bikes continues to show that we are the real deal though as we continued our streak of podium placings. Next up we head back to Merced with 7 guys to contest the Merco Classic.

-Tyler B.

Snelling Road Race and Original Merced Criterium - Elite 3 Race Report

Snelling Road RaceIn the 3s, 98 people at the start line for this race, my plan was to stay in the top 20. Reason being that with the forecast saying wind, there was bound to be a "selection" where the strong guys at the front get separated from the strong guys at the back by the weaker guys in the middle.

My bottles were a combination of one with plain water, and one with Clif Shot Electrolyte drink mix. In my pockets I had a Clif Bar (Black Cherry Almond), a Clif Shot TURBO (espresso flavor) and a Clif Shot Gel (vanilla).

The first few laps were pretty normal. I was doing my best to get a feel for where the best places in the peloton to be were to avoid wind and to maintain decent positioning at the same time. About 2/3rds through lap four of five, on the tailwind section of the course, a 9-man group rolled off the front of the peloton (*the "selection"). On the roller leading into the right bend before the left turn to the rough stuff, I attacked and bridged. In the 10-man break, Team Fusion Sport was represented by three guys who nearly refused to do work. This ultimately lead to the catching of the breakaway on the long windy straight following the finishing straight. All together now, with about 40% of the final lap to go, I stayed in the top 20 (of now about 45 in the remaining group).

Into the second to last turn, just before Figmond (the rough straight section), I was about 25th on the outside of the turn. We were spread about three or four wide, and I was stuck on the right edge of the road. Every time the guy in front of me moved far enough left, I'd move up into the gap and maintain that position. I repeated doing this until I was in the top ten. At 1k to go, a Metromint guy attacked up the right side of the road, and got about 20 meters off the front of the pack. Into the final turn, the group doubled up and I made my way up just after the exit. I was 5th wheel with about 250 to go, the Garmin kid in front of me went and I stayed on his wheel- jumping around 200m. I caught the Metromint rider, looked left - no one - looked right - no one - and threw up my hands at the line. This was my first Elite Road Race win.

Original Merced Criterium

The idea was to get in a break with someone I had seen before and had an idea of how strong they were. Bridged up to three breaks at different times in the race that all got pulled back, but got a prime in there somewhere. With 7 to go, there was one guy off the front leading and a Tieni Duro junior in the process of bridging up to him. I attacked around the back side of the big white building before the narrow road and got a good gap. Within about twenty seconds, I had made up the time gap on the guy leading the race. We worked together for about two laps, until he told me he was fried and wouldn't be able to sustain the pace we were keeping. Going into three to go, I pulled through in our rotation, looked back, and he had fallen off.

The next three laps were going to go one of two ways- I could do everything I could to maintain my lead (about 1.5 city blocks), or I could sit up and do the pack sprint thing at the end. I said to myself, "Self... let's do this. WE CAN DO THIS." I put my head down, and gave it everything. Finishing up my 3rd to last lap, I was hearing plenty of clapping, hooting and hollering. It helped. With 2 to go, I didn't even look back. I didn't want to know how far back the peloton was. I kept going, drilling it on the only sheltered, wind-free section of the course. I took the smoothest lines possible and was on to my final lap. I thought "This is it. Let's finish it" I kept going. and going. and going. I turned the final corner, looked back, and saw the peloton closing in on me, from 1 corner back. I finished with about four bike lengths on the winner of the bunch sprint.

Original Merced Criterium – P/1/2 Race Report

Team Mike's Bikes went into the Merced Crit with fancy shoes and an entourage of females from an ice cream shop that Rainier Schaefer picked up for us the night before. The previous day (Snelling Road Race) we had Matt Adams and Taylor Cody both win their races and Tyler Brandt rock out with third in the PRO 1, 2. He would have won if I had swept the sprint for him, but I messed up big time and wasn't there for him at that crucial moment. I try not to get too upset, because, to be frank: our team is awesome. I have never been on a team with more talent and synergy than Team Mike's Bike. Our rider's are always working hard and sacrificing themselves for teammates - which in this sport is rarer than a Velo Promo race starting on time.

Trivia: What Velo Promo race/year got delayed because someone constructed a two foot tall wall of cow manure on the course?

Special first place prize:this photo album.

A big part of why this team is so successful as a cohesive unit has to be our team camp Steve Pelaez and Hank Scholz put together. Easily the most worthwhile team camp I have gone too. Everything about it sped up rapport with one another. It feels like I've been racing with my teammates for years rather than weeks.

I finished second in the Merced Crit today. John Piasta, Tyler Brandt, Rainier Schaefer, and Shawn Rosenthal all rode like Pro Tour riders, getting in every break, keeping me safe, and put together a complete replica of the human centipede train for me at the end. I took video with my GoPro. It's from my perspective and does zero justice whatsoever to my teammates who went with forty plus attacks today. Enjoy.

P1000870

Cantua Creek Road Race, Pine Flat Road Race, and Dinuba Criterium - P/1/2 Race Report

Cantua Creek Road Race

The course is flat except a hilly section for the last 3k. Headwind out, tailwind back.

We rolled out pretty easy for the first lap. On the way back on the second lap attacks started coming in. Blake Anton and another strong rider got up the road. I rotated with the group to keep it close. On an overpass I bridged the gap (on a bridge). We were off together for for 15mi or so. We got caught and I gave it another go by myself. A rider bridged, we got caught.

On the way back toward the finish it was a tailwind. On the finishing climb I sat at the front covering moves. Toward the top of a hill, a rider attacked. I covered it and used it as a springboard to launch from the crest to the finish line. 700m later, "smiling", I finished a road race (it's been 2 years, been busy getting the coaching business up and running).

Standing on the sidelines, I ran around passing out business cards for my coaching business, Provantage Sports (yes, I had them in my pocket along with

a few extra clif bars). As the cat 3s came in, I got to live a bit vicariously as a couple of my athletes finished their race:

Reese Levine of Tieni Duro finished off a 60mi breakaway to get 2nd and Travis Lyons of Mike's Bikes finished strong in the uphill field sprint.

Pine Flat Road Race

This race has a lot of rollers and flats followed by a steep hill in it followed by a valley and a short finishing hill

On a fast, non technical descent, someone decided itd be a great idea to pass a truck. The field followed, including passing while rolling around view obstructed curve. While sitting safely behind the truck, a rider passed by me over the yellow line around a curve then decided he didn't want to go. He hit his brakes and swerved right.

Until the "right turn" onto wildcat (the climb) I sat around and surfed the pack, only briefly seeing the front for 20 seconds to help close a dangerous 6 rider group.

Two riders got away, courageously trying to get a head start before the hill. From what I heard, one was able to narrowly stick it to the finish line.

After the right turn, a few lit some matches on the first steep kickers. It flattened out and it slowed down. I pulled through knowing there were still 2 up the road to close down. After a minute or four I wanted a breather before making a go on the really steep section. "a rider" as mentioned earlier pulled through, riding on the left side of the road. I was riding to the right, not too pleased about where he was. A car came, he hit his brakes and moved right. My front wheel taken out, I was on the ground. Curled in a ball, I could only hope I:

1) didn't get hit by the guys behind me 2) didn't get run over by any cars

As soon as I started to feel really comfortable on this bike, the bike is in pieces and the part swap starts again. Thank you Jack Maddux for lending me some bars for the next day.

My shoulder and back are knotted

and twisted. My elbow and knee stiff and bruised. Really could have been much worse but in a sport as risky as this, I'd really like to see the avoidable avoided.

Dinuba Criterium

After getting a set of kiddie size handlebars from Jack Maddux of specialized jr racing team (thank you Jack for saving me there!) I spent the morning putting the front end of the bike back together.

Narrow bars, tape barely wrapped, 303 front, box section rear... I looked sooo pro. I had the shoes though!

Small field, half on one team ... In for a day.

From the gun attacks went out and I got caught singled out a few times.

I threw in a few counter attacks and one stuck with Jax, Vince Owens, and myself. We quickly lapped the field I tried my best to go easy when we got close but it came together when Vince tried to bridge up when the field was sitting up. It was like that Super Bowl moment with 1min to go.

Now they breakaway companions had teammates. Stuck to Vince like glue since he had like 6 teammates. Those guys rode hard to try to keep Vince fresh.

Brian Bosch gave a great lead out for Vince. I tried to get the jump on Vince but went too late to come around a guy with legs as solid as his. Finished off the day with a 2nd place and a king size burrito.

County Center Criterium

"Hey, I don't have a pass to do the grasshopper tomorrow. Let's do the County crit in Santa Rosa. I got Laberge to do it and Matt's doing it too" explained Steve on Friday night. It just so happened that I was in the same boat as he (both of us managing our bike racing habit, a young family and our own businesses) so I said, "Sure, why not. It's close and will be fun"! Game on. It was my first time doing this race. Actually it may have been the first time for everybody since I think it was a new course. It was for Cat's 1/2/3 and was 90 minutes. The course basically had a 250-300 meter front and back stretch with a semi-circle curve on each end. There was also a pretty good head wind on the start/finish stretch and tail wind on the back stretch. Our team game plan was to try to get me the win so I could get a few more points needed towards my Cat 1 upgrade. Matt, Steve and James were going to chase breaks and I was to be attentive in case a dangerous move went that none of us were in. The first 20 minutes consisted of quite a few guys taking flyers off the front and then being reeled back in. My typically style of racing is to ride towards the front because historically I haven't had many teammates to race with. This gives me the opportunity to go with dangerous moves and no get yo-yo'ed at the back. Once the start whistle blew I soon found myself comfortably towards the front. After making some accelerations to track a few guys down, Steve came up to me and shouted some good advice "Just hang back for a bit". As our team captain and a rider with more experience than I, I followed instructions and dropped back a bit.

Moves continued to go off the front and were brought back. A decisive move happened around 30-35 minutes in. Two guys (I think it was John Wilk of Webcor and Joe I. from McGuire) got a bit of a gap and then another Webcor rider (Charles Hutcheson) and another rider bridged up to them to make four. You could tell they were working well together because they were maintaining their gap, if not increasing it. James and Steve made some pretty good efforts to bridge up but unfortunately didn't make it. Then the second decisive move happened; two riders from Red Peloton, Sterling Magnell from Wonderful Pistacio, a rider from Full Circle, Pat Biggs, another Webcor rider and myself got a gap. Credit to Steve for encouraging me to go with them and then slowing the pace down at the front of the pack.

So for the next 30 minutes the six of us chased the lead four. The gap hoovered around 20-25 seconds. It was definitely helpful that we kept them in sight. Obviously the Webcor rider in our group didn't want to do any work and initially tried to disrupt the chase but all of us seemed to know this so just went by him when he hit the front. Then one of the Red Peloton guys had enough and dropped back to the chasing field. The five of us kept working and finally got the gap down to 15 seconds when the lead four lapped and were absorted into the field. It wasn't long before our group of five did the same. There was about six laps to go at this time. Steve found me and I followed his wheel to the front. We found James and Matt and the four of us were pretty well together, Steve behind Matt, I behind Steve and James behind me. The bell rang for the last lap and Steve went to the front with about 3/4 of a lap to go. Half way down the back stretch James yelled to go and Steve accelerated to stretch out the group. It was a good move and we were controlling the front. Steve rounded the final corner and I sensed he was pretty well spent (he later confirmed this). At this time I hesitated a bit because I wasn't sure I could sprint into the head wind all the way to the line. Just then I heard James yell my name over my left shoulder as he went by on the outside. I could see some other guys on his wheel. I tried to get on James' wheel but realized he had the jump and that I'd try to jump on a competitors wheel...which I did. But I wasn't able to get by him and ended up fourth in the field sprint (Nice job to James for winning it) and ended up third overall. Charles 'Chuck' won and the Full Circle rider just nipped me at the line for second.

All in all it was a great day. This was shared by our other James (Wingert) on our team: 'when you can lap a field in a crit then it's a pretty good day'. Thinking back I probably should have let James in behind Steve and had him lead me out after the final turn since the field was sprinting for 10th. But I'm happy with another podium and think I probably have enough points for my upgrade. :-).....thanks for the team for the support in the first two crits of the season. Looking forward to returning the favour.

P.S. Oh ya....I seem to recall Steve telling me I should have got down into my drops for the sprint instead of on my hoods....this must have been a dream or something.....nope, I think it was true. Jared from Mike's Bikes fit studio did such a good job fitting me on Wednesday ( I feel the best I ever have riding on my hoods) that I must have wanted to stay there. :-) I won't do that again....I think the last time I did that was in a Cat 5 race ....let the 'chuckles' begin.

Congratulations to Shawn for getting Team Mike's Bikes first win of the year yesterday in the Cantua Creek Road Race.

Looking forward to next weekend's Snelling Road Race. Here's the Strava data from the race (the first 30 minutes is warm up):

The Notso Early Bird Criterium

On Sunday, Shawn Rosenthal, Tyler Brandt and myself met up at Cole Coffee in Oakland in the late morning to ride down to the highly prestigious Notso Early Bird Criterium. Roman Kilun (Kenda/5 hour Energy) and Doran Mori (Team Clif) also joined us for the ride down. We took a long route through the hills to get to the race in Fremont. You can check out the route for the ride on Strava here:

The sections on Redwood Rd. and Palomares Rd. make for some of the best road riding in the area.

With John Becker driving down from the city, Mike’s Bikes had four riders in a field of almost sixty category 1/2/3 riders. We agreed on a strategy of simply racing hard and having some fun. There were copious attacks during the first quarter of the race and all of us took turns going with the moves. Nothing stuck until I found myself off the front in a five-man group with two Webcor riders. After working to get a decent gap on the field, we rotated pulls effectively enough to stay out front until the halfway point of the race. At that point, several others (including Roman Kilun) rode across the gap from the field, and the breakaway swelled to a dozen riders. With four Webcor riders now in the group, many riders felt entitled to sit on. This led to an atmosphere of negativity in the break, and some attacking and voicing of opinions transpired. I did my best to just hit the front as much as the guys who were working. Webcor set tempo on the last lap of the race and we all prepared for a long drag race to the line into a stiff headwind. Roman graciously got me onto his wheel coming into the final corner and led me out for the sprint. He dropped me off pretty early, and I had to start my kick a long ways out into a stiff headwind. John Wilk of Webcor managed to come around me on the finish line. I had to settle for 2nd place, but was happy that I’d done a good sprint and had “good sensations” during the harder parts of the race. All in all, it was a fun race and made for some good training for all of us.

On the way home, we took a more direct, urban route back to Oakland/Berkeley. There was some excitement on the way when a groups of kids (we’re talking 13 years old!) jammed into a beat-up car burned through a stop sign like they were fleeing a crime scene, nearly taking us out. Roman also survived a comical low-speed crash on a steep grade that ensued when he pulled his rear wheel out of the dropouts. Once back to Berkeley, my Garmin told me I had ridden 105 miles. I thought long and hard in the shower about how best to gorge myself, and eventually settled on a big mess of pork ribs from Everett and Jones BBQ, along with a couple of beers.

2012 Cherry Pie Criterium - GoPro HD HERO2 Video

Check out Team Mike's Bikes leading out the the last 3 laps of the 2012 Cherry Pie Crit P/1/2 from Steve P.'s helmet mounted GoPro HD HERO2. Still getting the angle dialed in but you get the picture. After watching, check out Andy G.'s race report on the action.

Cherry Pie Crit 2012 - Mike's Bikes from Steve Pelaez on Vimeo.

Cherry Pie 2012 - Elite 3 Men's Race

The two-man plan for the Category 3 race at the Cherry Pie Criterium was to get me across the line first with strategically thought out assistance from- the one and only- John Becker! We aimed to keep ourselves in the top fifteen for the majority of the race, then employing some pretty standard timed maneuvers near the end. My coach and teammate, Shawn Rosenthal of Provantage Sports, gave me a supreme warm-up routine that left me feeling hot’n’ready at the gun. I took a quick squeeze of some Vanilla CLIF Shot Gel at the line, with a full bottle of CLIF Shot Electrolyte drink mix in the cage and a CLIF Shot Turbo Gel tucked into my skinsuit. The race started out pretty steady, the average speed in the first few laps hovering right around 24 mph, without any noteworthy moves off the front. About thirty minutes in, the two Slipstream-Craddock (Garmin) juniors got to the front and started picking up the pace. With about five laps to go, one of them attacked and got a little ways up the road with a Bicycles-Plus Sierra Nevada rider. They maintained a steady lead until the lap cards read three to go, and the field slowly started working the gap down. At this point I was sitting around twentieth, and John was about six guys ahead of me. At the end of that lap, the race officials skipped lap card #2 and went straight to the final lap- giving the breakaway an absurd advantage on the field. At the start of the final lap, the pack started to really pick it up to reel in the break. John was sitting around tenth going down the hill and I made up ground on the outside of the pack to catch up out of the wind. Into turn1, John and I were nearly side-by-side when the group mushroomed before the orange pylons. When the road narrowed, I did my best to maintain a decent position that I could work with later in the lap, and I lost contact with John. While on the backside of the course, Tieni Duro Junior Development (my ex-teammates) had a two-man leadout for Dylan Drummond moving up the outside of the curve, so I hopped on Dylan’s wheel. They made up a significant amount of positions for me in a short distance, and I was sitting around twentieth going in to the second to last turn before the chicane. Where the road narrowed down to two lanes just before the chicane, I was sitting next to Dylan when he got swarmed and lost his wheel. I barely squeezed in and kept position- his leadout having no idea he had lost him. Through the chicane I was about fifteenth, the peloton got strung out and the leadout started going. I jumped with about 220m to the line with hopes and dreams of catching the rider in 2nd position waiting to jump. The two-man break stayed away to the line. I passed a number of guys on the right and finished fourth, second in the sprint.

Of course, 3s races rarely go as planned and split-second decisions need to be made all the time. I could speculate that with a legit 3 laps to go at “3 to go”, the break would have been pulled back and we would have had time to get ourselves organized. But that’s not what happened, and I think we did okay. A mad shout out to teammate Taylor Cody for getting the first Team Mike’s Bikes Win of the season in the 4s!! Also to our P,1,2 squad for going 2, 3, 4 in the afternoon- you guys rocked it!! Surely an awesome start to a promising season.

 -Travis

2012 Cherry Pie Criterium P/1/2 Race Report

After a nice morning spin around Pt. Richmond and some episodes of How I Met Your Mother to get psyched, I gingerly loaded my Tarmac SL4 and Zipp 404s into my car and hit the gas to the Cherry Pie Criterium, the first  race of 2012 for Team Mikes Bikes. Cherry Pie is the perennial season opener for the NCNCA peloton, and it's been a staple on my race calendar for may years. I've had my ups and downs at this race, but coming off an incredible team camp last weekend, I was confident that this would be one of my best season openers yet.

Our basic plan was to have Piasta, Tyler B, Shawn, Wingert, and Laberge all doing work covering moves throughout the race, while myself and Dana saved energy in the field waiting for the sprint. Unlike years past, the field was lacking some of Norcal's heavy hitters. Even so, Cal Giant, Webcor, and Wonderful Pistachios all had a good amount of guys; plenty of strong dudes to keep the race interesting. The race started without too much fanfare, and my first-race-of-the-year jitters quickly disappeared as I found my way up to the front of the race. For the most part, the race itself was fairly steady. I stayed in the top 20 most of the day, while Tyler, Jim, Piasta, and James all did great work covering breakaway moves. Nothing was getting anywhere off the front though, and with 5 laps to go, after a brief crash-induced neutralization, TMB rallied to the front of the race to set up a leadout for me and Dana. The team entire team did absolutely brilliant work to get me to the line, but unfortunately I jumped a bit too early and Sam Bassetti (Cal Giant) pipped me by a wheel at the finish. Even so, the team took 2nd, 3rd, and 4th in our first race of the season. If that's not a sign of things to come, I don't know what is.

Overall, this was a hugely successful day for Team Mike's Bikes. Every rider on the team did exactly what the team set out to do. Truthfully I've never been in a race situation with so many strong guys as teammates. It was a really awesome feeling.

P.S. Possibly the best part of the race was watching guys duking it out on the run in to the line on a prime lap, then seeing Wingert completely smoke everyone up the hill to take the $50. The Viper strikes! First of many, Jim. Also, special thanks to Piasta who really worked his ass off to keep me and Dana at the front in the closing laps.

And almost forgot: F Yeah Taylor Cody, taking the W in the Cat 4 Race! And Travis Lyons taking an awesome 4th in the 3s! So, first team race and five podiums?

Yeah, It's Like That.

Again, awesome riding everyone, TMB is stepping up big time in 2012! See you next time.

-Andy

Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships 2011

Daniel, in grey tank top and shades, is running alongside naked dude on right. Peter Parker/Rainier/Spiderman up front (albeit briefly).

Costumes and smiles all around, we should start criteriums like this!!

Handling Your Bicycle

Team Mike's Bikes 2011 NCNCA Standings

Team Mike's Bikes 2011 NCNCA Standingshttp://209.204.175.237/points/

Overall Team Points 32th out of ~75 Teams

Team Points/Category Elite 1/2 Team Points 10th out of 30 Teams

Elite 3 Team Points 2nd out of 45 Teams

Elite 4 Team Points 19th out of 46 Teams

Individual Men's Category Points Elite 1/2 Points 23rd Rainier Schaefer out of 248 Riders 53rd Stephen O'Mara 88th Tyler Dibble 216th Nole Studley

Elite 3 Points 1st Keven Bricknell out of 360 Riders 22nd Henry Scholz 64th Ryan Johnson 74 Paul Ngo

Elite 4 Points 64 Ryan Johnson out of 377 Riders 74 John Becker

Race Weekend

Saturday--Henleyville Road Race photo by Rodney Cox

I remember thinking, “Look at these sneaky dudes rolling off the front,” shortly after the whistle blew. Who would have guessed that the very first move (we weren’t even at the point of attacking yet) of the day would stick to the very end of a seventy mile race? Not me. I was still yawning and talking about the car ride up with fellow racers. After a four hour nap and a three hour car ride up to the race that morning, I was in no way ready to get serious. What did get me serious was seeing a crazed fawn shoot across the road in an attempt to dive through a hole in a barbwire fence that wasn't there. That carnage woke me up, but it was too late, the break was gone. Racers kept trying to get away to join them. I, like everyone else, was marking the lone pro, Taylor Bertrand-Barrett of Wonderful Pistachios, and didn’t want to do anything he wasn’t doing. After forty miles or so I figured that Taylor wasn’t going to shed himself from the peloton and I attacked alone and stayed off the front of the tiny peloton but behind a group of two chasing the leaders. Taylor, however, did get away and soon joined me and later we joined the two ahead which included Will Brickler of Bicycle Planet. We had two minutes on the peloton and three to the leaders, said the moto. In twenty something miles we brought that gap down to twenty seven seconds, we could see the leaders, I was certain we’d catch them! We were really going for it, working together smooth. Until we had a meltdown. We stopped working together, one of the three of us refusing to work, and we never made it. The leaders again went out of sight. I outsprinted Will and Taylor for fifth place, my best result in a road race this year!

Sunday--Oakland Grand Prix photos by ATN

The following day was the Oakland Grand Prix, day two of my “stage race”. This race is awesome: small hill, lots of corners, in town, and a hairpin. This was the District Championship, and dudes were flying, I think this is one of the fastest races I’ve ever done. Highlights include fighting Eric Wohlberg of Form Fitness for a prime, joining Eric and Kirk Carlsen of Garmin Development in a small break, racing with lots of pros in The Town, finishing seventh, besting my finish last year by one spot, and seeing friends and family in the crowd.

Winters Crit Report (2nd, 3rd, and 5th) - Nice work!

I'm sure that collectively we were off the front of the race 98% of the time.  Whether it was Shawn and I away for a few laps, or Keven attacking, or the infatiguable O'mara soloing for many laps (yes, o'mara decided to grace us in a crit =), or Rainier attacking constantly in the closing laps, we rode great as a team.  I'm really happy with how we rode together.  It was a lot of fun. However, I couldn't close it out in the sprint.  I feel horrible about this after everyone's great work.   I got brake checked into the last corner and came to an almost standstill in the sprint, and Sam Bessetti, took the win.   He was a deserving winner though. We threw everything at him including the sink and he countered every move and still had the juice to sprint.  We're all really impressed with this kid.

The race kicked off with Shawn going on an attack, followed by O'mara, then myself, and then Shawn and I, etc.   Eventually, O'mara got away again and a chase of 4 riders with Rainier covering went in pursuit of O'mara.    2 laps later, I jumped my group and bridged solo up to the lead group.   Once I linked up to the lead riders, we had 3 MB in a  6 man break.   Great odds.   And then O'mara took over and just kept going on solo attacks.   The others would catch him and we'd drop him for a lap, and then he'd come back and take off again.   It was impressive on a technical course and an oppressively hot day especially for us heat deprived San Franciscans.   Eventually, we all lapped the field and this is were it got a bit messy.   Other riders, pretty much got in the way and were chasing any break away attempts we tried in the closing laps.  I'm really not sure what the rules are regarding these, but I felt that lapped riders shouldn't interfere with the lead riders.  But that wasn't the case.  C'est La Vie

Top 10 things we overcame today:  It's almost comical, really: 10.  Packing 4 bikes and wheels in a bmw wagon with only 2 bike racks 9.  2 Tubular Flats before the race starts 8.  Broken wheel 7.  Broken Seat Collar - ironic since the guys were talking about this on the drive up. 6.  Crash - Poor Rainier 5.  100+ degree weather 4.  Lapped field getting in the way of the finish 3.  Stumbling Drunks by the Mike Bikes SF 2.  "Got moves like Mic Jagger" Song 1.  Drumrolll…….Both rear Hubcups launching off the beater car in front of us on the bridge.

All that and we're still alive and had fun.

See you all next Sunday at Districts.  The last crit of the season.

Best, Steve

Patterson Pass Death March

There are a few races on the calendar that after racing I say to myself "well, I'm never doing that again." Yet, one year later I find myself kitted up at the start finish, or in this case chasing the field after missing the start from derailleur adjustments. Patterson Pass Road Race is in my opinion one of the most difficult races on the NCNCA calendar. Two climbs featuring a 15-20% grade with headwind provide by wind turbines, followed by a screaming 50mph descent with crosswind gusts, and topped off with a series of rollers to a flat 500m sprint. Now do three laps of this for just under 70 miles.

Somewhere on the main climb in what I think was the second lap, around 8 or 9 riders attacked off the front. I figured the difficulty of the course and crosswinds would finish them off but we never caught them. On the third lap 2 more riders attacked the group and apparently bridged up to the break. Normally not covering successful moves like this would frustrate me but I was merely trying to survive the race and had already gotten dropped once on the rollers and caught back on.

On the final lap the peloton had widdled down to 15 or so riders including Daniel and myself. Riders urged us to rotate to the front and take our pulls but I was struggling to hang on after a muscle cramped in my right hamstring. Coming down to the last couple kilometers our group started to split and I was getting dropped. I closed my eyes, crawled into the deepest depths of my pain cave, and mustered up what little energy I had left. I caught Daniel and a few other riders with 1k to go breathing new life into my legs.

After rolling over the finish twice already, I knew it was a 90 degree right turn to a long 500m stretch directly into the wind. I decided to try and catch everyone off guard and launched my sprint directly after the turn into the headwind. As I came up to the finish line I felt another rider coming up on my left side approaching fast. As he started to overtake me, I threw my bike for the line.

Exhausted we both looked at each other neither of us being sure who took the sprint. I thought he had beat me but it turns out my bike throw was good enough. I was a little disappointed that I had only gotten 10th place due to the riders up the road but am confident I raced to the best of my abilities and would have probably dropped out of the race had I tried to go with either of the moves that stuck.

Well, I am never doing that again.

-Hank

Track Nationals - Stars and Stripes Baby

After a week of living it up in nyc and late nights around town, i felt like superman. Since master's track natz at TTown was only a short drive from manhattan, i decided to race guys my age.

Won the 30-39 pts race. Lapped the field and won it in style. Check out the kung fu pose.

-Steve Pelaez