A while back, Matt won the omnium at Get Ready For Summer:
By lapping the field, Steve is a National Champion in the Master's Points Race:
BBC Crit P12 - July 17, 2011
My Ferrari - My Cannondale Supersix HiMod2
I posted this photo on facebook yesterday with this caption “Nice, but I’d rather have my Cannondale SuperSix HiMod2.”
After all the crashes at today’s Burlingame P12 crit, I feel more strongly about the above statement. There’s no other bike I’d ride besides the Cannondale SuperSix HiMod. Let me explain why:
When I asked my son what makes a bike fast, he said "The rider!" He' smart beyond his 7 years and is so right. Prior to racing the my SuperSix HiMod, I was racing the new Ridley Noah. It was claimed to be the fastest bike. Undoubtedly in the wind tunnel, it probably is the fastest. But in the real world test, there's nothing faster than the SuperSix HiMod. Why, well simply because I feel so at ease and comfortable on this bike. I've never ridden a bike that I've felt so confident in hitting the tightest, fastest turns. It floats over every bump like it has shox. I'm so relaxed on it that I'm essentially saving all my energy and focusing it to drive the bike faster and faster, no energy is wasted. Everything is channeled to simply and completely railing the turns and blitzing the straightaways.
Real World Example:
During the P12 race at Burlingame today, I was smiling throughout the race thinking how awesome it is to ride this bike. I felt as though I had an unfair advantage over the field, lucky me. With 3 laps to go, I was unfortunately involved in a collision. Another rider and I basically hit each others bars while sprinting at over 30+mph. I was jerked forward and ended up straddling the toptube of my bike with my left leg unclipped. The bike's steering upfront was so solid, I was easily able to regain my balance, get back on the saddle, clip back in, and resume the race in motion. Unfortunately, the other rider lost control of his bike and ended up crashing hard. I honestly think the only difference between us was the bike and I can confidently say that my Cannondale Supersix HiMod saved me from a really bad accident.
Oh yeah, when I regained my balanced, I made it back to the front thanks to the help of super leadout hardman, Shawn. I still managed to get 6th despite sprinting with my brakes on because of a broken front wheel. I was so at ease on the bike that I didn't even realize that my front wheel was broken (broken spokes) until after the finish when I pulled over.
I usually do not like using the word love with material things. But with this bike, I'll make an exception. I love my Cannondale Supersix HiMod. Quite simply, it's the best bike I've ever ridden!
-Steve Paleaz
Tour of America's Dairyland 2011
Below is a recap of my time racing in each stage of the Tour of America’s Dairyland throughout southeast Milwaukee. I tried to include highlights, the lessons I learned as a developing Cat 3 rider, Garmin/Strave data, and photos from each race. This report is not only for you as a reader to live vicariously through my trip, but to help me reflect and ___ my experiences. I hope you enjoy. Last year I had intentions to race in the Tour of America’s Dairyland, but decided to call the trip off as my chronic tendonitis was flaring up. At the start of this 2011 season when putting my calendar together, it was one of the first events to go up. Despite numerous cases of tendonitis, illness, and work, I was determined to go to Wisconsin this year. ToAD is 11 stages long but the 2-3s don’t race in the first stage making ours only 10. Each stage is one day after the other with no rest days in between. Prior to racing Toad, the largest number of consecutive days I had raced has only been three at the 2010 Madera and Top Sport Stage Races. My fitness was nowhere near where I wanted it to be going into ToAD, but I figured Racing as a Cat 3 in a major Cat 2-3 stage race would still be an excellent experience and what better way to get back into shape.
I flew into Milwakee the night before the first stage and arrived at the airport around 2am. After an hour of late flights and locked luggage containers, I was informed that they had lost my carbon Reynolds tubulars and that they had no idea where they were. No problem, I brought my Mavic clinchers so would be still be able to race the next day. The wheels arrived just before the second stage.
Pre-Lesson of the Stage:Pack your race wheels with your bike and plan for the worst.
June 17th: Thiensville, WIThiensville Extreme Ski & Bike Cycling Classic The first stage of the tour went off in Theisville which was only a mile from Ben’s family’s house in Meqon where I was staying. The race started out fast with riders from all over ready to show their strength. After the race I found out that for many of the riders in the area, this was the start of their season. This was more than obvious during the race as we had about 8 crashes due to pedal strikes, blown tires, diving corners, or good old fashioned overlapping wheels. Crashfest, warzone, minefield, death march, call it what you want, this was by the far the most dangerous crit I had ever done. ¾ of the way through the race several riders in front of me went down and bikes went flying through the air. I carefully feathered my brakes, ducked a rear wheel flying over my head, dodged a rider sliding across the pavement, and came to a stop. I turned around, entered the pit, and got back into the race. It is important to note that I feathered my brakes and did not grab handfuls which can not only cause you to blow a tire or skid and crash yourself, but can cause riders behind you not expecting this sudden declaration to crash into you. With about 5 laps to go, there was a prime announced for a $350 and a solo rider dangling off the front of the pack for the past couple laps. I launched my sprint coming into the final turn thinking the solo leader would die out but he had paced himself and I was unable to close the gap getting second. I settled back into the field and positioned for the sprint. I had decent positioning coming into the finishing stretch but my side cramped up and I faded to 22nd. Lesson of the Stage: Always take your free lap, even if you don’t actually crash. It might look like the field is right there, but they aren’t (this lesson will appear again in Stage 5 at Schlitz Park). Oh and make sure to ease into those brakes.
June 18th: Grafton, WIGiro d' Grafton - USA Crits I forgot to press start on my Garmin before the race but it was a 20 or so mile crit for around 50 minutes: http://www.tourofamericasdairyland.com/images/maps/grafton_crit.jpg Ben had arrived in Wisconsin and was going to race the next four days with me. I was stoked to have a teammate and especially someone like Ben to escort me through the field and around the course. We decided to commute the 45 minutes down to the race which made for a great warmup (remember that part for later on in the series).
Same as yesterday, it was a pretty fast race but riders rode much safer than the day before. I was able to sit on Ben’s wheel as he navigated me through the pack keeping me covered and rested for the sprint. My legs felt awesome and I was sitting top 5 with only 6 laps to go. On the following lap I took a bad line on the outside of a turn and got guttered picking up something in my front tire and getting a flat going into lap 5. I safely exited the peloton and uncertain what lap it was, I grabbed my bike and started sprinting for the wheel pit asking spectators what lap it was. As I approached the pit someone yelled “ I don’t know why you are running, there is only 5 laps left!” Great. Legs screaming for a sprint, I sat on the curb ineligible to reenter the race. DNF.
Lesson of the Stage:Having an experienced teammate protect and escort you through a race is invaluable. Staying sheltered on a wheel through the wind and accelerations will keep you fresh.
June 19th: Waukesha, WI Carl Zach Cycling Classic In short, the weather was super humid, the race was fast, and my legs were junk. My lack of fitness was starting to show, especially on this course with a wide open straight away into a decent kicker. The race featured an awesome off camber sweeper but besides that, I was chasing and sucking wind the entire time. I avoided a few crashes but similar to the first race on the final lap I got a mass cramp in my side and finished somewhere with the field…………. Lesson of the Stage: Some days you just don’t have it. Accept it, help it develop you as a rider, and start thinking about the next race. June 20th: Greenbush, WI Greenbush Road Race After three days of crit racing, I was ready to show my true strength in a road race several mini climbs. Ben and I joked and caught up with fellow NCNCA cyclists while other riders warmed up on their trainers. Sitting at the start finish, Ben and I made friends with a team of guys from Iowa City racing for World of Bikes/Bikes to You. Their team had a friendly dynamic similar to TMB and Ben made the observation that I already had the haircut to join their squad. We started out the road race with a pace a little higher than I would have preferred but after a while, the field settled down and we were able to enjoy a bit of the beautiful Greenbush countryside. On every kicker, I found myself inadvertently making my way to the front of the field passing riders with ease. With several laps still to go, I caged the elephant and took cover in the field to plot my attack. With a lap and a half to go, I went to the front of the field and stood on the pedals, pushing the field to an uncomfortable pace and pulling stronger riders from the woodwork. Before I had the chance, a rider from ___ launched his attack and I covered his wheel. As he faded I put in another dig and found two BTY I had met earlier on my wheel. I looked back to see the elastic breaking and daylight forming between the field and our group so I put my head down and went all in to TT mode. For the next few miles I dug as hard as I could taking turns with the two other riders and risks on the descent. Unfortunately the RR was worth double points in the GC so there would be leash given from larger teams LS and IS Corp. I looked back to see the entire field stretched back single file chasing us. It was a pretty cool site to see but extremely disappointing as there was only one lap left and my matchbook was feeling light. I faded to the back of the pack, caught up with Ben and made my way back into the field for the finish. I was catching a ride back up to the front via a Ritte rider but he unfortunately broke a spoke sending me into the bottom third of the pack. The race only had the right side of the road until the finishing sprint so I had to fight my way through the field and unfortunately ran out of road stricken with terrible positioning for the sprint. As we came into the final turn, several riders jumped out of the field crossing the double yellow line. The moto official laid on the horn but the riders ignored it flying up the outside to the front of the field. Riders began to respond verbally and physically attempting to follow their wheels. I sat back and watched the mayhem starting my sprint on the legal side of the road and picking off multiple gassed riders on the minor pitch to the finish. I rolled past the finish to chat and cooldown with the BTY team. As we came back to the finish I spotted several groups of riders standing with their bikes making hand questers. They were protesting the finish and if the official was able to catch any rider’s numbers, there would probably be some center line violations and riders would be relegated. Sure enough as I looked over the results, several riders that had finished in the top 15 had dropped to the bottom of the list. Lesson(s) of the Stage: Listen to the officials and follow the rules, don’t get relegated. Also, try to get into a break with representation from larger teams. Your motor against six dedicated pawns doesn’t give you the best chances. June 21st: Milwaukee, WI Schlitz Park Criterium Ben and I showed up to the race with about 15 minutes before the race start. I quickly got my number, pinned it at the portos, did one lap and few openers at the start finish, and sat at the back of the group for the start. This was a super, super technical course with a couple block kicker right at the start, to a few blocks of flat wide open, to a super technical descent: sharp right-left turn chicane(with a manhole in the apex), to a right turn sweeper to another left right chicane to the open finishing stretch. It had been raining all morning the course was damp to make things even sketchier. Add zero warmup and starting dead last to the mix, top it off with a crash mid-pack, and serve the rider with burnt legs, heart pounding, and ticket punched. After the crash happened mid-pack, I made the stupid decision to keep riding with other riders even though we were already dangling, rather than taking my free lap (Stage Lesson 1). With the field just up the rode I buried myself thinking I could catch the field on the descent. In reality the gap was only expanding and I sat solo in the wind and got caught behind dropped riders on the descent without a confident wheel to follow. Frustrated and tired I pulled out of the race. BIG MISTAKE. Not only did I get dropped from my first crit, but I also wasn’t placed. Even though he had been dropped and was several riders behind me, Ben continued riding, was eventually pulled from the field and scored ___. Had I continued riding I would have been eventually pulled and scored_____________. However I did get a to partake in a beautiful 45 minute group ride with Ben and two other dropped riders of the Schlitz park waterfront. Now it is important to note that I am not advocating riding around in circles for 45 minutes solo dying a thousand deaths at a single day crit for outside of 20th place. Hell outside of 10th place or even 5th place hardly counts for much. Pull out, go on a group ride, and try again next weekend. If you wanna “get your money’s worth” or “gain the fitness” or make that personal victory at a crit, have fun. DNF. Lesson of the Stage: If you are caught behind a crash, always head to the pit and take your free lap unless an official directly tells you to chase. June 22nd: Ripon, WI Ripon Time Trial Disappointed from the disaster that was Schlitz Park, I didn’t come into the TT with very high hopes. Shawn had to take the TT as a rest day for me but I decided to do it anyway since Schlitz wasn’t much of a workout. I hitched a ride with the BTY team up north to Ripon so had a cool opportunity to exchange stories and knowledge from racing on different parts of the states. The night before I surveyed the course and uploaded the route to my Garmin 500 so I had some sort of rabbit to chase and indicator of my remaining time in the pain cave to gauge my efforts. The course wasn’t anything super technical with a few small climbs and several long straightaways. The description of the course indicated a technical sprint to the finish though as did the map. I put on my skinsuit and rode the first couple miles of the course to get a warmup and an idea of the wind direction. I rolled up to the line with only three riders ahead of me in the staging area. Right on time. I quickly caught my 2 or 3 minute man so knew I doing alright. I had a BTY rider in front of him so spent the entire race slowly trying to chip away at the gap to him knowing he was in good shape. 2/3 of the way through the TT I passed another rider and almost had the BTY rider in front of me before one of the climbs so was confident I had put in a good TT. In the finishing downhill technical stretch of the race I was tired but had paced myself well. I confidently railed the downhill sprinting out of the turns. Coming into one of the 90 degree turns a course marshall was yelling at me to slow down. Sorry buddy, door of the hurt locker is locked shut. (I later found out a rider had overcooked the turn before me and went down.) Back into town now and a few turns later I was emptying the last few drops in the tank and sprinting over the line. Content with my TT I went on a cooldown ride with the BTY team and watched a few of them jump in a pond. We rode back and sat down to knock down a couple chocolate milks when I heard what sounded like my name over the loud speaker. Was I that tired from the TT? Had I drank too many chocolate milks? They went on the loud speaker again calling me to the podium and I dropped my chocolate milk on the ground, hopped on my bike, and rode over to the podium. Turns out my effort landed me the 2nd place step on the podium in the TT. 1st place had crushed me by ___ seconds and I had beaten 3rd place by ____ seconds so didn’t go from content to stoked to what if I had drilled the downhill that much faster. The Time Trial was worth double points in the GC so previously without a point in the bank, I was now sitting 17th in the GC with a bag of coffee in one hand and check in the other. Those points I gave up at Schlitz park were beginning to look that much more valuable. Lesson of the Stage: Basically I paced myself well. I went hard on the climbs and on the straightaways always riding inside my threshold. I am by no means the calculator that is Steve O’Mara is and probably would have had the same result without a computer but when I asked Ben Stern about how to do well in the TT, and he told me to keep a consistent high cadence with a big gear. A year ago when I asked him how he won the Madera TT, he told me he was a human metronome. Makes sense now. June 23rd: Sheboygan, WI Sheboygan Harbor Centre Bike Race Feeling saucy and strong from the Time Trial the day before, I was ready to take another shot at this crit thing. I did my morning recovery ride, exchanged a couple supportive text messages from Ben, ate some food, dropped the tire pressure 10psi and headed over the 3 blocks to the course for a warm up and reg. While I was eating the clouds had cracked open and the rain was coming down in large bulbous drops. This was my element. Growing up in Portland, I sometimes joke that I was born in the rain. Aside from the post ride cleanup, riding in the rain has never seemed to bother me and I had found gave me a bit of an advantage of my competitors. Last year I placed 3rd as a Cat 4 in a breakaway at the rainy Brisbeen Crit (Rainier got first and which I still hold against him) and do a large amount of training during the rainy bay area months. Unfortunately, the rain made this four corner crit downright dangerous. Fresh white crosswalk paint made for oil slicks on every turn causing multiple riders to go down what seemed like every lap. My rear wheel lost traction several times on turn one but I soon discovered taking the turn super tight actually avoided a lot of the paint creating a much safer line. Although frustrated that I kept loosing positioning due to riders sliding out, I moved up in the pack and sat 4th wheel. The next lap a KS rider in front of me lost his rear wheel in turn one. In slow motion his bike flew one direction while he slid across the wet pavement in front of me. I grabbed brake to avoid destroying him which caused my rear wheel to change direction and rotation quickly putting me elbow and hip first to the tarmac. I jumped got back up, check my person, checked the bike, and headed to the pit for reentry into the race. The mechanic pulled my lever back into position and sent me back into the field. At this point I was rattled from the crash and lost confidence in my cornering. Legs were locked up for the sprint and I rolled across the line at the back of the pack. After finished I checked my wounds and watched the carnage that was the walking wounded carrying their mangled wheels and bent shifters back to their team car. I ended up placing ____ which scored me two more points and moved me up to tied for 14th overall with two other riders. Lesson of the Stage: I have read a few articles arguing weather dropping tire pressure for wet pavement will do anything for you but I am not a true believer that the increased rolling resistance is well worth the traction. While I dropped 10psi from my original pressure in my tires, the BTY riders went as low as 80 and stated that although they felt sloppy in the sprint, they never lost traction in the turns. June 24th: Fond du Lac, WI Fond du Lac Gran Prix After having a great TT but feeling dead in almost all of the sprints so far besides at ___ where I flatted out, I called Shawn to put together a plan for the remaining three days in the series. Shawn reminded me of my fitness prior to starting the tour, that I was a 3 racing in a major 2-3 series, and that I had just raced seven days in a row. Still, I wasn’t feeling fatigued and didn’t feel the same comfort and fitness I had felt previously in the year. I gave him a quick recap of each race and we discovered that it was at the races where I got a proper warmup in, I was feeling the best. Who would have thought! With a new prerace warmup in my pocket and a few words of encouragement, I was ready to tear it up again. Arriving in Fond du Lac with just under 2 hours before the race started gave me no excuse to not get in a proper warmup. Looking for a parking spot I asked a female police officer if she knew of any nonmetered parking in the area. She responded “_________”. Parked and kitted up, I took it to the streets glued to my computer for the Shawn special. I rolled up to the line warmed up and early for a proper starting position. My legs were feeling great so I spent the entire day riding like a champion sitting top 5 merging into accelerations and slowing the pace when a BTY rider would go off the front. I sat 3rd coming into a $75 prime so decided to test the legs but quickly turned off the burners as a Papa John’s rider came from behind smoking all three of us. I sat back in my place and took shelter for the sprint. Things got aggressive going into the final two turns but I held decent position sitting top 10 for the long sprint. Unfortunately although my legs were feeling much better than previous stages, the experienced Cat 2 sprinters were feeling better and I faded to 15th over the line. Walked away with a check and a few more points in the bank holding 14th in the GC. Lesson of the Stage: Riding near the front of the pack can be much more efficient than anywhere else in the peloton. Not only is it usually safer, but controlling the pace and having time to merge with accelerations allows for a much more consistent riding and less undulations. Stage 9: Downer Now confident in my fitness and racing abilities, I was ready to tear it up and move up in the GC. Back down in Meqon, it was under an hours ride to the course in Downer. Although fairly simple, I mapped out the commute down and uploaded the route to my Garmin 500 as to not get lost before my ace. After a successful commute down I surveyed the course and went out for my Shawn special. My legs felt alright but I had a bit trouble getting my heart rate up at first. It might have been from the longer commute. The course was pretty flat with a few long straightaways and one sharp sweeper in the middle of the course. Ben told me not to brake in this turn as although it was sharp, it was wide enough to rail. Unfortunately the crawling pace and terrible line of the peloton forced us to make a sharp last minute turn instead. After a decent result the day before in Fondy, I decided to try and hover near the front again. It was a little more difficult this time around with heavy attacks and swarming in the straightaways. Coming into the finishing lap I had decent positions but all went to hell when the front of field decided they were all poised to win and sat up to rest for the sprint. This caused uproar in the field and there was a massive shift in the peloton putting out of contention for the sprint. As the field in front of me gave up any chances or even contenting the sprint, I started to poach wheels from riders and hitched a massive free ride up to the front with a BTY rider. Better positioning now but things bottlenecked in the last turn and I lost several places. I jumped on what looked like a good when for the sprint but he faded fast and I was stuck sprinting in the wind for 11th. Best result so far outside of the TT but still not a good representation of my fitness. I made my way to the recovery tent to suck down some tasty chocolate milk and waited for results to be posted. Once they went up, I noticed my name wasn’t on the results. I knew I had done well and didn’t think I had done anything to take me out of contention so disputed the results with an official and they went through the camera footage again. For those of you non bike racer folk, you get a 15 minute window to dispute results before they are made official. If results are reposted, as they were in this case, then the 15 minutes is reset. Walked away with yet another check and bumped up a place to 13th in the GC. Lesson(s) of the Stage: Always check results, especially in a stage race. I normally could care less if I finished outside of top 10 but this this case it meant valuable points. Another thing to note is to identify strong riders and teams early in the series. They are usually solid wheels in the peloton and set you up for a good result. Stage 10: Madison After nine straight days of racing and two solid days in a row, my legs were raging for a victory. My confidence was high and fitness higher. I felt zero fatigue from the previous nine days and stood tall as my fellow competitors hobbled and whined of sore muscles. The weather was scorching but not even the sungod_______ himself could have slowed me down. As the crit went around the capitol in Madison, the surrounding roads around weren’t that great for a warmup. I found the Cycleops tent and posted up on a trainer next to a Ritte rider I had chatted with a few times at earlier stages. I spun and drank water for a good 20 minutes before starting my Shawn Special. Heart Rate was looking good and legs felt better. 15 minutes before the scheduled race start I rolled around sidewalks lining the course getting an idea for the elevation and lines the masters racers riders were taking. The pavement was of decent quality and roads were fairly wide. The course was a basic four corner crit with a quick downhill to a quick uphill on a short finishing stretch. The course suited my climbing abilities and sprint, sit, sprint style perfectly. Any Tuesday Night Park regulars will attest to my ability to stomp up a climb and continue to keep a high pace before sprinting. I found a drinking fountain outside the capital, soaked my head, and headed over to the start line. Everyone jokes that there is the race before the race to get good positioning. Riders line up in a row after the barriers clipped in with an easy gear waiting for the follow car from the previous race to go by so they can jockey for a good position on the starting line. This is something I hadn’t experienced much until I came out to Wisconsin but I also found these races to be much more full throttle from the gun making navigating the field a little more difficult early in a race. My flawless warmup and timing landed me a solid starting position and for the first few laps of the crit, my legs the best they had all week. As I sat spinning up the climb, riders dropped behind me panting and throwing their machines underneath them. Several attacks went off but Dissapointing Final day at ToAD. Legs felt the best they had all week and the course was perfect for me. Conserved the whole race and sat top 10 on the final hill, two riders in front of me ran out of gas, and went into each other. Finished 22nd and dropped down a spot to 14th in GC.
Dash for Cash
Was there rain..yesWas I catching flies..yes Do I know how to pin on my number..no Did I crash..yes Is there a Rainier shaped hole in a perfectly manicured square hedge..yes
Could I have had a softer landing..no Did I get back in the race with a bloody nose and covered in leaves..yes Did I win..no Did I get sixth..yes Was the National Amateur Criterium champion racing..yes Was the National Professional Criterium champion racing..yes Are these photos by David Cheung rad..yes
More photos HERE.
Folsom Criterium
This guy fooled me again:
The weatherman said it would be dry and warm and (surprise surprise) it rained for the entirety of the P12 race. The course was pretty safe, however, there was one corner where racers, myself included, were inadvertently sliding. Everyone seemed to take the corners cautiously, hopefully everyone stayed upright. Fifteen minutes into the race, the peloton split in half, Ben Stern and I were in the back half wondering if it was going to come back together. I was confused didn't know how we all ended up back here and whether or not it was going to come back together. People kept attacking and moving solo across to the front group. I got worried and moved across, Ben did the same. Eventually I think most of the racers from the back group rejoined? Lots of attacking and it was hard to see who was who in the rain. With 19 laps to go, I had momentum coming through the group so I kept rolling off the front. No one went with me, and I chuckled to myself that no one ever does (probably for a good reason). I stayed ahead for three laps, and fortunately the announcers threw a cash prime at me. That was nice! That prime may have caused a stir because a group of 6 bridged to me. We worked together but then the group doubled in size. Racers started attacking, and three got away with maybe 9 laps remaining that included John Wilk, Evan Huffman, the district crit champ, and one other. The rest of us were marking each other pretty hard, but I got away from them with 6 laps to go. It took me one and a half laps to bridge the fifteen second gap to the three leaders. We all took our turns, Huffman was taking huge pulls. The four of us sprinted for the win and with fingers frozen and tires slipping I got second!
Hamilton
Quick recap of my race yesterday: I had been looking forward to this race for a few weeks. I even did some course reconnaissance last weekend which definitely helped out.
After the neutral lead out motorcycle gave us the signal to begin racing a quick but comfortable pace was established up the first 10 or so miles of the climb. After two, quick descents we were at the base of the "real climb" which I believe is about 7 miles to the summit.
My first goal was to win the KOM (King of the mountain), just to see where my climbing abilities stacked up against the field. After about a mile or so up the climb the selection began and the field was stringing out a bit. With what I'm guessing was about 4 or 5 miles to go to the summit I decided to get up front and push the pace. Soon after that I had just two left on my wheel. With about 400 meters to go to the summit I attacked my break mates and got the KOM. I regrouped with my two break mates and we began the descent. We had a decent gap. The ride down the other side was fast. Lots of U-turns and hairpins. I quickly got dropped on the way down by one of the riders but was able to chase back up to him after the descent. We were still three riders, one of which was a San Jose junior (Adrien Costa) standing approx 4 feet tall and weighing maybe 65 pounds. The kid is strong but because he is so small it wasn't much of a benefit to us to have him in the group. We were holding a good tempo and the moto ref told us we had 2:20 on the 5 man chase. With approx 30 miles to go our break mate faded and it was just the junior and me.
I felt alright and was able to ride with a nice rhythm for the remaining 30. The last 20 miles of the course were really windy which made it more challenging. Felt like I was towing this little junior most of the way but felt comfortable about going to the line with him. I waited till the 200m and sprinted to the line. I can't believe our break stuck.
It was a great time yesterday. The course was really challenging and the scenery was beautiful. Props to Adrien Costa. The kid is a stud.
-Daniel Velasco
Panoche Valley Road Race
Panoche Pass: 1) climb with tailwind 2) descend with tailwind 3) crosswind 4) climb and descend 5) turn around 6) climb and descend 7) crosswind 8) climb with headwind 9) descend with headwind 10) flat finish
Second place finisher Nate English started attacking viciously as soon as we started the climb. After his first attack my thoughts were, "Why am I in this race?!" There was no way I was going to attempt to get into a break with 65 miles, the entirety of the race, to go. Fortunately after a few such moves the group shut down and he and five others, including my teammate Steve O'Mara, got a big lead. After the descent they were basically out of sight. We lost a couple people while in echelon in the crosswind section. A Webcor rider came out of the breakaway so those dudes began to drive a chase. Steve came back to the group. The second time through the crosswind, our group drove hard into the wind in echelon, I heard someone say our average was 28 mi/hr. That sounded fast so I remembered it.. The group was drilling it! The wind made it hard pretty much wherever you were, we lost a couple more people. A Webcor rider and Robert Amatelli (how is this guy not on a team?!) were dumping everything into the chase in the headwind climb, hats off to them. Feeling guilty, I took a few pulls in the wind but felt silly pulling everyone along, seems how I wasn't even sure I would be able to finish the race, so I dropped back into the group. I started cramping going over the last portions of the climb. The original break stayed away. Our chase group sprinted for fourth place and I was beat by four. 8th place.
-Rainier
2011 Scotts Valley Grand Prix E3
Instead of writing race reports, Keven just lets other racers bike cams do the talking:
Congrats Keven!
Scotts Valley
Got 10th in the P12 and won a prime. The day started off with my kids bake sale at Bay to Breakers. Good thing no nudist came up to buy the cookies, but as usual there were lots of them. Then afterwards I took my daughter to her ballet recital, where I quickly caught some zzzs before the night time race. Basically, the SV race had the same fast racers from Cat’s Hill but the results were completely reversed from the day before. It was a sprinters race – fast and dangerous. We avg 29.5mph with a top speed of 39mph. It was dangerous b/c it was dark and you just couldn’t see. At the speeds we were going it was almost impossible to make a break stick so I simply just floated the race and took 1 prime just to open up the legs before the final few laps. With 6 to go, the Cal Giant train of 10+ riders simply strung out the field to control the race and lead out Reaney. It was awesome to watch, but it sucked for the rest of us solo sprinters who were left fighting to get Reaney’s wheel. Usually, I prefer to sneak in the last moment kinda like how you merge from Fell st. to the Octavia 101 exit – best to NOT signal and wait til the last moment to get in. But since it was really dangerous, it was safer to just ride top 10 for the final few laps, but the downside is I burnt a lot of energy doing this. I just kept hopping wheels (move up 5 spots, lose 4 spots) In the end, I lost my position on the backside/darkside of the course, and never got into position for the win. I passed a few riders riders who faded in the final run in. But the real sprint was going into turn 3, then you simply hold your position from there for the most part. BTW, too many riders just take too many risk. In the end, I’m happy to drive home with $100 + prime + plus my life since too many riders are taking too many risk (not worth it). That was yet another nervous twilight race.
All in all, I’m glad to kick off the racing with the team and I’m looking forward to racing more with all. Seems like we have some up and coming riders that will be helpful in the 12 races. The more teammates the better the odds, just ask CalGiant, who regularly stacks the fields with at least 10 riders. Odds are usually in their favor.
PS. I love the kit. I feel like the Dark Night wearing it (esp. during SV twilight) and have had a lot of compliments on it. Best,
-Steve
Cat's Hill - Race Report from the Newbie
Cat’s Hill: Finished Unfortunately, most of the bike footage that I took was from tail gunning the race since my gears were skipping the entire time and I couldn’t put any power into the pedals.
It was so frustrating especially since I took the bike to the shop just before the race. But bike stand adjustment doesn’t always equal to working under load. I was really hoping to help out T Dibbs and Rainer, which is why I kept riding on even though I wanted to throw in the towel since I was so annoyed with the gear chatter. So were many other riders too, who were yelling at me to go in the pit. I didn’t think I would get a free lap, but I was told that if you tell the refs that someone crashed into me and screwed up my derailleur/wheel. So I rolled in, after getting a wheel from Paul/Hank whom I shouted to on the hill. But the wheel change did not help, and it sucks stopping after a really hard effort and then jumping back on. My legs were cramping from then on. And worse of all, I still kept skipping gears all the way to the finish. Oi Vey! Oh well, there are plenty of other races. So I ate and drank my frustration away at a dinner party. Good sake and good conversation helps you easily dismiss a bad day on the bike.
-Steve
Mike's Bikes Cat's Hill Classic -- Cat 4
“WE HAVE A FEW MIKE'S BIKES RIDERS IN THE GROUP TODAY!!!”, the announcer’s voice came booming over the PA system as well rolled to the line for the Elite 4 start. And we certainly did. Team racers Daniel Velasco and I were joined by Jason MartelDye (a genuine Mike's Bikes employee from the Sacramento store) for the 38th edition of one of the most celebrated and toughest Crits in Northern California. If you managed to make it out this year, then you know what a party it is. If you have yet to experience it, COME OUT NEXT YEAR!!
Mike's Bikes led this one from beginning to end!!
Going over a bit of pre-race strategy (alone on the trainer in front of the Los Gatos Mike's location, mind you) I knew that a fast start was important for this race. Having done this race before, I knew that moving up on this course was an energy-expensive proposition, and I saw no reason to spend where I didn't need to. Danny and I jumped off the line with Jason in tow and settled into a good rhythm for the first few laps.
Yours truly, paying some attention to the pointy end of things.
While a few riders attempted to jump away from the group, most were content to simply survive until the last few laps and see how things would play out. With 2 to go, the pace picked up (or at least the effort required to maintain the pace did) and the group began to really stretch out on the hill. On the last lap, with legs on FIRE, I caught a glimpse of Danny moving away from the group HARD.
Danny leading the group up the climb, last lap. He wouldn't give that lead up.
Not only did he lead over the climb and get a bit of day-light, but his second push over the roller at the top of the course established a gap that no one would cross. As we bombed the descent onto the start finish straight, I could just catch a glimpse of Danny as he accelerated for the win. WHAT A BOSS!!
While my finish was much less awe inspiring, I love this race!! See you next year!
Pay attention, class, this is how it's DONE!! (Big thanks to Allan from www.focusoncycling.com for this photo!!)
Congrats to Daniel Velasco on an epic win at an epic race!
Tour of the Gila
First things first, New Mexico is windy. As a teaser, we faced a 30 mph cross wind in the TT with gusts up 50. I look at my week there as karma for ever complaining about wind anywhere else. Second, despite the wind, the Tour of the Gila is a great race. Great roads, nice people and really well run.
Possibly the nicest of the nice people were my host family, Dave and Pat Wasmund. They were accommodating, great conversators, knowledgeable about cycling, and made some fantastic food. That included burgers made from home ground meat and buns made from scratch. I may have gained weight during a five day stage race.
California transplant and former Mike’s Bikes sponsored athlete Justin Laue was also a great host and really made the race possible and enjoyable for me.
Stage One
A break got up the road super early – one of the first things to go when you’re racing solo in a stage race is caring much about early breaks. Guys went off within the first eight miles or so- I figured if they stayed away, they would have earned it. Plus the five Garmin development team guys looked pretty pro, so I figured they’d handle things.
Turned out the break stayed away, at least mostly. We rolled pretty slowly through the long flat windy section and the break built close to a four minute lead at points. A few chase groups got away late, I would have tried to go off with them, but I was taking care of some personal business at the back of the pack.
The breaks and chases had several minutes when we hit the base of the final climb. My only frame of reference for this climb was that I had been told that Levi put 1:30 on the pro field on it last year. So that basically told me nothing.
We hit the first section of the climb pretty hard. I was happy as it looked liked we’d take at least a big chunk of out of the break’s lead by the top. Then the road turned to a false flat down and things all but degraded to a track stand competition. Furious, I turned it on as soon as the road again tilted up. The move shed most of the field and it was down to me and a few guys. Gradually we shed all but one and we started to see riders who had fallen off of the breaks. Then as we passed the two miles to go sign, I blew up. My attack that thinned out the field might have been an ok idea at sea level, but it was a probably a bit much at 6,000 feet. I fell off the one remaining guy from the pack, but did manage to continue gradually reeling guys in from the breaks. Then I got passed back by one more guy from the pack and finished seventh.
Stage Two
Nothing particularly of note here other than a guy who took off on a solo break with about 25 miles to go staying off by about half a bike lengths for the win. As a non-sprinter, it’s always cool to see stuff like that.
I finished 12th in a field filled largely with other non-sprinters. I remained in 7th in the GC.
Stage Three: The TT
I pulled my race wheels out of the car – within 30 seconds, they blew over. I put the wheels in my bike, it blew over. Then my trainer tipped. To be fair, the trainer was kind of precariously placed.
Realizing the wind was seriously bad and that all of my non-deep front wheels were back in CA, I decided to sacrifice a little warm up time to try to find someone to lend me a safe front wheel option. I managed to bum a ZIPP 101 from another car in the parking lot and hit the road with a little more confidence, up from none, that I’d be able to keep the rubber side down.
After a fairly rough warm up of getting blown around and probably not eating or drinking nearly enough, I hit the start line for what ended up basically being 40+ min of bike sumo drill on a TT bike. Head-cross wind on the way out, cross-tail on the way back. Respect to the guys who still rode discs, deep front wheels and stayed in their aero bars the whole way back on the long, fairly fast descent back. I certainly wasn’t one of them. For those of you power wonks out there, if you could assign a TSS score for holding the bike upright, I’d say it would be higher than what I generating pedaling.
I ended up 17th, losing serious time to some guys ahead of me in the GC, but also putting a pretty big gap between me and some of the guys behind me. I fell from 7th to 8th in the GC.
All things considered, it was probably good the windiest day ended up being the TT, at least for safety’s sake. But it was still a bit frustrating as the TT was a stage in which I hoped to gain time, not lose it. To be fair, everyone in the Cat 2 field had to deal with bad wind as we started last on the day, about 6 hrs and a 30 mph increase in wind speed after the pros went in the morning. And much respect for the guys who rode their tt rigs fast in those conditions. That’s a real skill and those guys are legit time trialists. I just would have liked to see how I would have stacked up on the course without the huge crosswind gusts.
Stage Four – The Crit
Four corners, down town, a hill, one smooth fast turn.
I ended up spending the better part of the race tail gunning it. I was able to move up decently, but found the back to be surprisingly smoother. Nevertheless, I worried about the safety of hanging out in the back as things heated up in the last lap, so I moved up to the front. Then, ironically, as I sat in fifth wheel, one of the then four guys in front of me hit turn two a bit too hot and took me and a few other guys down with him. No one was badly hurt and we were awarded pack time, so things ended up ok.
Stage Five – The Gila Monster
To put in nor-cal terms, hella climbing.
The group raced fairly hard on some rollers out of town and the intensity continued up through the first mountain pass. Then the memo went out that this was a no-drop race and the field slowed to a crawl through a flat headwind section, allowing just about anyone who had fallen off on a climb to catch back on. Downside – probably could have taken it easier up the climbs. Upside- lots of time to relax, eat, drink, etc on what was going to be a very long day.
On the subject of making a long hard day a bit easier, something in the Cannondale Super Six, Reynolds 46, and Specialized Prevail combo is making me pretty aero. Whenever there was a super straight fast descent section, I was able to tuck and move up alongside the field without effort. I was probably one of the five smallest guys there, so something is pretty aero.
Finally, after we hit feed zone number two and got chased out of a group piss break by the highway patrol, sirens blazing, the group again started to race. Lots of guys tried to get away, none succeeded. Though the field did get a bit guttered and strung out in the process.
Then we hit the final climb and people started to up the tempo. We shed most of the field after a mile or so, then about a mile later I decided to thin it out a little further. But what I intended as a hard pull at the front ended up creating about 10 seconds of daylight between me and the rest of the field. So I committed. I knew I had a ways to go, so I kept things pretty under control, but hard enough to at least make any guys who were going to catch me earn it.
So it was just me, the lead car and a whole lot of cow bell. Ok, it was just the one guy in the lead car with a cow bell, but it was still cool. Then the race motorcycle said told me that my chasers were about 20 seconds back and we were about to get caught by the pro field. Then I saw the 15 miles to go sign. Ooops, may have gone a little early.
I crested the climb and started the rolling down hill section before the course would again kick up to finish. A few miles later, I was caught by three chasers. I hung on, recovered a bit, then started working in their rotation.
Things continued like that for several miles until we hit the 1k to go sign. I attacked, created a gap and threw everything I had into holding on. Then I saw the finish banner, entered the crowd gates, heard more cow bell (this time actually from a decent number of people) and zipped up.
Definitely the coolest thing I’ve ever experienced on a bike. Francisco Mancebo won the pro race a few minutes later.
Check out a great account of the race on one of the top GC guy’s blog: http://theroadtocat1.com/
I’m probably done flying with bikes for a little while, but definitely eager for some more stage racing in the near future.
Auburn Downtown Criterium
Not sure if this race had rollercoaster or Nevada City Classic written all over it more. It had a steep climb that was a few blocks long, a couple turns, a false flat, a couple more turns, then a hairball steep downhill that included a few turns before the finish line.
photo by: sacpictures
Racers started jammin' right away, and I started in the back so it took a while to move up as one could pretty much only do it on the climb or the false flat. The climb was hard enough just to survive, let alone move up on. However, move up I did and pop off the front I also did. Tried a lap solo to bridge to the lone leader. That didn't work, as a matter a fact I pretty much didn't go anywhere, and I paid for it for probably ten laps. In which time I missed a break of two Macro Pro dudes, Max Jenkins, and Jesse Moore. Fortunately I found myself in a group of six that, after incessant scolding by Yann, a Safeway racer, got organized and chased hard. There were lots of "pull through!", "we almost got them!", "get off the front!", "let's go guys!", obscenities omitted. Dude really got us going! We got within ten seconds of leaders but no further. Damn that hill hurt.
On the final lap I tried to jump away on the false flat at the top of the course but the Safeway racer came around me on the downhill and got the holeshot. Pretty much impossible to come around someone on the downhill sections or on the short sprint to the finish, just too fast and tight. I finished beside but just aft of him. 6th place.
This one's pretty funny:
photo by: sacpictures
Copperopolis Cat. 4s
Remember that bad luck that I mentioned a few posts back….
Saturday at Copperopolis was a great chance to really take on a true Northern California classic. Having never raced there before, I read quite a few race reports and spoke to more experienced racers on the squad and I heard over and over again, “The roads are ROUGH!”.
A new member of Mike’s Bikes joined me in the trip out the, Daniel Velasco. Daniel is an extremely focused and determined guy, and is certainly a racer on his way through the categories. It was great to talk to him as we drove out to the race. Unfortunately, I learned that he had a twinge of pain in his knee which he was keeping a very close eye on and, as such, he was not sure about how is race would go. As it turned out, Daniel decided to do the smart thing and pull out of the race soon after the start. I was looking forward to a tough day….and I got it. Half way into the first lap I flatted my rear wheel. As I pulled over to wait for a follow car (running tubbies….no swapping tubes here),Webcor Alan rolled by, having dropped himself due to an injury. An idea sprang to my head and I managed to convince him to wait for the car and allow me to take his wheel.
So, wheel swapped, I took off in pursuit of the pack. I could see the pack on a few of the longer stretches of straight road, which gave me hope. After 30+ minutes up the back side of the course, down the decent (WOOOO HOOOO!!!) and past the start/finish area, I finally caught the group at the base of the main climb, lap 2.
I rode with the group up the climb and was spinning happily along, when I went to shift in a slightly harder gear and I realized that the cassette that Allan had on his wheel was much larger than the 11-23 I had been running (I swear it must have been an 11-28). Long story short, the derailleur jammed and wouldn’t shift down out of the 28, which meant I had to dismount, remove my rear wheel, drop gears, reintall the wheel and get going again.
This left me about a minute or so behind the group. I covered this gap back as well (Thanks to Dan from DFL for the last 100 meters), but caught them right at the base of the 2nd climb, and was dropped, spent from all my chasing. RACE DAY OVER…I rolled around for the 3rd and final lap to get the mileage in, but certainly was not contesting anything of importance.
Despite the less-than-stellar result, I will definitely head back out to Copperopolis. That course is one of the best I have ridden. Anyone who wins there really earns it. A big thanks to Allan for the wheel…although we definitely have to talk about running a 28 rear cog. Check out his photos at www.focusoncycling.com
Easter Sunday Classic
Day two of my double race weekend was the Easter Sunday Classic, and my legs felt SIGNIFICANTLY better than at the Mike's Bikes Menlo Park Grand Prix the day before.
Menlo Park Grand Prix:
photos taken by Gabe Morford
This criterium, as Hank described in an earlier blog post, was an interesting one: the Early Bird Criterium diagonally cut in half. It included two 90 degree turns and two 180 degree turns that were impossible to rally at anything faster than a snail's pace. The accelerations out of the hairpins combined with a lot of wind broke apart the race pretty quick. After thirty minutes of accordion stretching, the peloton began to break apart and the final group was Steve Reaney of Cal Giant, Kirk Carlsen of Garmin Development, Rand Miller of Webcor, Eric Wohlberg of Form Fitness, and me. We rode pretty well together until Rand and Steve got away with a couple laps to go and Kirk, Eric and I were messing around, no one wanting to pull the others to the leaders. With one lap to go, worried about encroaching racers I jumped away and rode the final lap a handful of meters in front of them but got passed on the final drag strip to the finish. 5th place.
-Rainier
Easter Sunday Classic - Team Tactics
After a close 5th place yesterday at Menlo Park and my first race back in months, Keven and I were both anxious to get back out there. With the Mike's Bikes Element car, we drove down to Fremont this afternoon for the Cat 3 race.
The race was on Dumbarton Circle which some of you may know from the Early Bird Training Criteriums. When we arrived we were a little disappointed to see a small number cars and find only seven riders already registered. However as we unloaded the car and changed more cars showed up. While Keven warmed up on the training, I took mine to the streets and did a little course recon. The course was literally the Early Bird Crit cut in half with two 180s. As we lined up the field size had at least doubled but was still pretty small, although there were some legs at the start. With tons of wind, two 180s, and small fields, all the previous races of the day had blown up so I knew it was important to stay towards the front, get out of the wind, and get into an easy gear in the turns, especially with my serious lack of fitness. There were a few attacks early on but the wind and small field was keeping everything together. With such a small field no one wanted to work at the front. Halfway through the race Keven put in a huge dig and attacked. Not sure if he went at the right time or put in such a giant acceleration no one could get on his wheel, but he got daylight.
Watching him dangle off the front, I knew it was time to give him a hand and went to the front. Although his gap was small, I knew it would be easy to give him a gap and make it stick but with 20 minutes left in the race, I knew he would need some company. I went to the front and slightly adjusted the pace where riders wouldn't be able or want to quickly come around me. In the turns I safely decelerated the pace to a crawl and accelerated out quickly again to keep the field behind me. I chased down any solo riders attempting to bridge but as soon as I saw two strong riders fly past me, I let em go and continued to keep pace for the field.
With two less riders and the slow pace of the chasing field, the gap quickly increased and riders began to drop out of the race as it became clear the break was going to stay away. Dan Vigil of Audi recognized this and went on his attack. I knew the gap was too big for a solo bridge and all the other riders in the field were spent from attacks and chasing.
With five laps to go I meshed into what was left of the field to rest up for the field sprint. I sat third coming into the final turn but after sitting in the wind and with my serious lack of lack of fitness, I only managed 3rd or 4th but what I think is a top 10. After rolling over the line, I found out that Keven sprinted for 2nd in the break and picked up 3 marshmallow peep primes. Soon Keven, soon.
Stoked be back training and racing. Will post pictures as they are posted. Video below of the finish.
-Hank
Menlo Park Grand Prix presented by Mike's Bikes
Jun Seita took some awesome photos of the team during the p/1/2 race yesterday. Have a looks at a few below and click here to see the rest of Jun's photos from the day. Below is a quick recap of the days races from Ben Stern and myself:
In short, Menlo Park went great! Both our cat 3 and P/1/2 squads raced aggressively and visibly. We had a great turnout with 9 racers out in total, plus our injured rider Nole came out and supported us all day including helping with some course marshalling duties.
We had a great setup with an MB Car, and two tents. Hank even gave a little talk with the announcer about the Mike's Bikes Africa Project. Kevin (Not-Bricknell) from Palo Alto was there as a neutral wrench to help us with little pre-race tweaks. Nice to have a stand and full tools at a crit!
Hank had a great first race back off the bench from injury in the 3's winning a prime, but unfortunately Paul and him got caught behind a rider washing out in the final turn and were unable to contest the sprint. Ryan had a strong showing in his first 3's race winning 2 primes and finishing 8th. Keven was the star of the day just getting pipped at the line for 5th place.
The P/1/2 racers did a good job being in nearly every move of the day (none stuck long) it was a crazy race, very fast and fun! O'Mara put in a savage 30 minutes of Gila threshold prep work, he looks ready! Shawn, Tyler, Ranier, and I did a good job mixing it up and keeping at least one Mikes jersey at the front of the race all day. Our best chance came with Tyler and Ranier alertly making a move with about 4 laps to go. Unfortunately, their move was reeled in by Steve Reaney, and Shawn and I weren't quite fast enough to get into the pack sprint.
Things are starting to go well with riders getting healthy and starting to come together as a unit. Looking good for the Mike's Bikes Cat's Hill Classic in a few weeks!
MBFY!
Chico Stage Race
After feeling pretty good on the TT bike at Davis last week, I called an audible Thursday and decided to do the Chico Stage Race on Saturday. I’m pretty sure that’s a best practice in race selection and preparation. Nevertheless, I was excited. Saturday - Stage 1. 90 Mile Paskenta Road Race – Mostly flat 45 mile loop with a few rollers. Decent pavement most of the way save a short bumpy section followed by 4 miles on gravel.
Having not done a road race in about seven months, never ridden on gravel, and with a shortened base due to a winter injury, my goal was to survive. The race started off with a bunch of attempted breakaways until one finally made it off about 1/3 of the way through the first lap. WebCor hit the front to chase; I, showing my lack of recent racing or goodwill, decided to help some. The chase fizzled after 15 minutes or so and the group cruised until we hit the gravel.
And that’s when the race really started. A few guys hit it hard at the front while the rest of us struggled just to keep our bikes upright. Save a narrow hole-shot, the gravel was pretty deep through several sections. About half-to-two-thirds of the guys, including me, fell a decent amount off the leaders. Fortunately, I managed to keep things rubber side down and bridge back up once I had my bearing for the terrain.
Consider the Cannondale Super Six battle tested. As was the wrenching of the excellent mechanic team at San Rafael Mike’s Bikes.
We caught the break shortly after the gravel and the 14 or so of us stuck together for most of the next lap. After being traumatized by the gravel on the first go-around, I was determined to hit it from the front the second time through. So I spent most of lap 2 at or near the front, then somehow managed to fall off just as we hit the gravel. Again, still dusting the cobwebs off the racing skills and tactics this year. And trying to build some new ones.
The gravel was tough again. I fell off a bit, but was able to bridge back on the hill following the gravel. Two guys who had snuck off a bit before the gravel were still off. I accelerated a bit as we hit the last roller before the finish, which then incited some attacks that popped me off the back.
I finished 12th, about 15 seconds off the group I had been with, though comfortably ahead of the chunk of the field that we shed on lap one.
Sunday – TT Flat out and back – nice pavement, decent amount of headwind on the way out. We started in one minute intervals and I was neither passed nor caught. I estimated that I held my minute exactly on the guy who started in front of me. That turned out to be true. We finished with the exact same time for the TT, had been awarded the same time for RR (he was with me when he had a mechanical in the last 3k) and would go on to get the same time for the crit. In the Cat 2 GC (pulled separately), he took 1st and I took 2nd, so I’m guessing he must have taken me by a fraction of a second in the TT.
Crit – Downtown course, hella corners, one stretch of drunk girls standing in front of some bars. I took care of the back of the race and tailgunned it for 70 min. Great workout, but I’m going to have to work on my skills there a bit. Pack Time. I’ve enjoyed crits in the past, but having only done one in the past 2 yrs, shockingly, I’m a bit rusty and currently hate them.
Overall- I was very impressed with the promoters and the race. Very friendly staff and volunteers who were all knowledgeable about cycling generally and the race specifically.
9th GC in the P 1-2 Field. 2nd in the Cat 2 field pulled separately.
Weekend Report From Down South
I had been looking forward to Sea Otter for a couple years now: two years ago when I was a 5 and almost did well, and last year when I had to skip out due to a head injury.
Sea Otter Road Race
I'm no hill climber anymore, up about 15 pounds since the beginning of last year, and I was a little nervous when I refreshed myself on the course profile. Fortunately, up the first short climb, I could feel the magic legs. Thanks, Shawn! I hung out for most of the race, watching attacks to and get brought back. However, something pretty cool and very unexpected happened to me midway through the race: my descending balls dropped again! I had been trickling down hills ever since my lame crash at team camp, but all of a sudden, without following wheels or anything, I could carve a super tight line down a hill and open up gaps behind me. Sweetness!
On the first climb with two laps to go, some tall skinny guy went for it. The whittled pack let him ride; I had no idea the dude had won the crit with a solo move the day prior, but most of the field did. Before I knew it, he had a one minute gap. By the start of the second lap, he had two minutes. Yikes. We had been chasing since the first time gap was relayed to us, but apparently our efforts weren't working. I held up and sat in, figuring it was now a race for second.
For those who haven't done this race before: you're lead out neutral down a two mile descent from the race track to the course...a nervous foreshadowing, as that descent is the finishing climb. We hit the bottom, and, despite my cramping legs (it was hawt out) I felt solid. I'm a diesel up a hill, so I decided that I'd be better of setting my own pace. Channelling past suffering up Old la Honda, I went into robot mode and ended up shedding all but a few. With about 500k to go, I saw the lone leader wobbling back and forth! With 200k to go, someone opened it up, we all hit it, and I managed to hold on to third. Enough upgrade points in the bag, I was set to become a 3. Sweet!
Circuit Race
This course rules. After almost getting taken out twice on the first descent of the corkscrew, I flew the coop and ended up all by myself coming into the second lap. Pretty foolish, but I thought I might as well go for the glory given I had my upgrade already. I stayed away until the penultimate lap, where the counterattack went and I just barely missed it. I recovered and won the field sprint handily for 5th.
Santa Cruz Criterium
Another sweet, sweet, technical course that wasn't flat. Awesome. I planned to work for Daniel Velasco and help him get some points, and we found ourselves off the front soon after the race began. Unfortunately, our group grew to 5 and that was the end of it. Tough to work with a big group on that course. Bell lap came around and I told Daniel that I'd give him a monster leadout from the downhill. Things almost went to plan, I strung it out and Daniel and he went a touch to early but still managed 2nd.
