too damn cold

John's old kit

I though I moved to California for the weather...

...growing up in Pittsburgh I was always given to understand that California was really warm. I guess it is in comparison to -10F and snowing but... it was COLD today. Still, a group of seven of us rode over early to meet the Spectrum ride. Sean, John, Mike H, Brian, Paul P, Chris P, and me. Good group. The TO guys and I added on Kings Mtn and some extra miles to make it 120 or so. TREO battery is dead so no pic to post with this.

riding on saturday

John and I are thinking of riding over for Spectrum ride Saturday. Looking for 110+ mile ride if anyone is interested in meeting in San Leandro at 7:45.

what's with the Cyclocross craze?

Everything is cyclocross

funny

I thought this blog description of serious roadies was funny (passed on by new teammate Curtis).

roads yet untravelled

It was Andres who was telling me that they had done all the races so many times that they don't need to ask what side to pin their number on. Well I have only the three seasons and I still need to ask 'Which side?', though I've made up for time by doing way too many races.

Which races am I yet to do?

Never done:
Mt Bruno - I'll never do it... New Years?? Hill Climb?? come on..
Snelling - probly get this one off the list
Pine Flat - it's in the new team's neighborhood, still, don't think I'll get to it
Apple Pie - too much money at Martinez to get to this one...
Cantua - huh?
Dinuba - where the hell is that?
Merced - no excuse,think it overlapped with San Dimas or something?
Merco Crit - driving out there twice in one w/e
Visalia Crit -
Orosi
Hanford
Wards Ferry - definitely

I've only got thru March and there are plenty that I haven't done yet, now that I've made a list. That gets me all excited for the new season.

Team Spoc kit

My son wants to be in the movies

He wants a note posted that the rest of the group are a bunch of wheel suckers and Leo did all the work (filming, writing, directing).

saturday riding and other notes..

....planning on riding to the Spectrum ride on Saturday, so if anyone wants to jump on the 7:45 SL train, let me know.

... Chris P had the baby. I hear his wife had something to do with it too....

...Justin to BPG, don't think that's a secret. Nice to see all the TeamOakland Cat 2s found a home. I love this pic of BPG, very industrial.

Team Bosch hits the road

It was Team Bosch out in force on Saturday down in Fresno. Nice riding down there and with a good group too. We were missing Chad, but besides that the whole group was out. Looks to be a good year. Still thinking of the best name for the squad since Team Bosch probably won't stick.

new/old teammate and a team ride

Yep, it's official. John 'understated' Wilk is on the new team. And tomorrow we will all ride together for the first time (minus Chad) and we can talk ab0ut a good, official name for the 'as yet unnamed team'. I'm really, really excited about the team ride. So excited we'll all be driving 2.5 hrs to do it. Do these guys really drive two hours every weekend to race?

cycling kit... and running shoes?!

How do you mix your cycling kit and your running shoes? Enter the Salmon Duathlon.

little things in life

seems like a small thing but this brand new BART 'thing' at union city station means I don't have to leave the bike to go thru the stile. 30 seconds a day is almost two hours a year!

hottest new couple

chris is shy

Moving on...

Just added the link to the new team I'll be riding with next year. It's mostly the CVC p1/2 team plus some new additions. Looks to be very exciting. Will miss the Team Oakland racing, cause it's been a really good two years but I wanted to try something new.

Been friends with Tim for a while and have been wanting to race on the same team for a while. Always liked Bosch's style of racing (no nonsense). Have enjoyed riding the Port ride on Tuesdays with Chad this year, as well as done some good races with him. I know Vince from racing this year. Highpoint: we were in the break together at EMC for my only p1/2 podium this year. Looking forward to getting to know the rest of the team as well.

Also works out well since Tim, Brian, and Chad have ridden on the same team at different times.

Bridge Gallery: Ken Shew

Bridge Years: Six

What's in it for me: Ken first introduced me to the 5:30 pm group that often rides back together. And he just got back from his honeymoon. Congrats Ken.

Bridge Gallery: Mike

Bridge years: Five

just introduced myself so not much info. Hayward to Redwood City commute. May be of the 'parking lot' variety bridger: driving to the park parking lot at the end of the marshes and then riding over.

bay area riding rocks

crestmont & skyline in Oakland

waiting for hop ride

Commute spot: Ardenwood

While they still call it a 'forest', there's not a lot of trees left amid the tract housing of Fremont. Still a nice piece of my commute though. I've raced some huge jackrabbits thru here. Some commuters skip this section and go around on Paseo Padre instead. Don't do it! It' worth braving the hghwy 84 overpass for this little break in monotony.

Bridge Gallery: Chris 'Crispy' Patterson

Bridge Years: Five

Claim to Fame: Chris was the first one to point me in the direction of bike racing after I started to ride the bridge 3.5 yrs ago. Thanks Chris! Cat 3 Cycling god, Chris hails from Jamaica, via New York City (note cool Brooklyn cycling cap).

Bridge Gallery: George Stepan

Bridge years: Nine

Claim to fame: First met George when he flew by me on a mountain bike, and I thought I was going hard! Took a while to realize that George has electrified the rear hub of the bike. He's an engineer and he tinkers with this stuff himself. Sometimes he'll motorpace us with it.

Dumbarton on Wikipedia

Didn't know there was a sizable Dumbarton entry on Wikipedia! Looks like the original bridge (remains can be seen as the frontage road ending in the fishing piers) was built in 1927. It was the first bridge over the bay. It was, in fact, a drawbridge, which makes sense cause those fishing piers are way, way lower than the current bridge.

View from other side of the bike barrier

this person's carbon footprint is smaller than mine. For today anyway. You know, that barrier is not very big and I've always wondered what would happen if a truck went over it. There's also been an amazing array of items dropped off vehicles into the path: washing machines, tires, clothes, a sink. I'll start to document anything interesting. These nice guys in a golf cart come by every couple weeks and clean up. They have a special vacuum cleaner.

the other way to get to work

the greenhouse gas generator. Not as fun as the bike, but it has to be done once in a while.

FW: defunct railroad bridge

anyone know if the old bridge had a name? I know that the dumbarton was built in the 80's but was there a bridge for cars before it? or did you have to drive under the bay?

commuting can be good

used to drive my car over this bridge every day... Now I look forward to travel home every night. Rain, cold, whatever

rain

love it, riding the fixed over the dumbarton after the rains last night.

You need to click on the pic to enlarge and see the dirtiness of it. It stayed really clean from those months on the track, nice to take it back on the road. As Sean said: you can just hose the fixie down when it's dirty.

running part of runjoelrun gets de-emphasized more

I used to be a runner. I use the term a little loosly since I didn't ever take it seriously enough. There was a brief period in the mid 90's where I put in some miles but never could handle enough to get really good; I would get an injury somewhere around 50 miles a week.

Enter cycling, turns out I can handle a lot more volume, never feel any injury (minus the crashes of course).

Anyway, every cycling off season I go back to run some for a bit of mix-it-up. No, I don't cyclocross, everyone asks that. I'm sure it's plenty of fun, but I've got a lot of bikes already and I figure I need some cycling down time.

The time spent running is going down every year I've riden, my third season just having finished. I just did some lunchtime runs this week, and it's just not as fun as it used to be. I really really prefer cycling now. Will keep it up until the Salmon Duathlon in November (5Krun 30Kbike 2.5Krun). Plus the weekend 10-15 trail runs I'm still looking forward to.

no races....

gonna spend time with the kids.

Oh, and look at Fixed Gears coverage of the Track National Championship

last thread of the season is broken

The very very very last race was Thursday night racing at the track last night. The A's had BJM, Roman, Steve Paleaz and other tough characters. There were only eight so Larry went with the format where the A's do 60 laps behind the B's without contesting then do their own race. Not all the A's abided by this and sat out the B's here and there but the A's race was fun nonetheless. It was fast, with very little protection from a pack. In addition I was experimenting with 50X14, a whopping 96 inches! It was a bit big but man, once we were rolling, it was actually pretty good. We were hitting speeds over 30 mph pretty often, will be curious to see our average if Larry provides it.

Before the 10 laps to go sprint I was tied with Roman for third which set up an interesting battle. There were only four of us that hadn't lost a lap and I managed to take one position ahead of Roman at the 10 to go. He attacked after that to try to get me for the final but I stayed on his wheel and he couldn't get away. I was pretty happy with 3rd being my best A's points finish to date.

Thanks to Larry for the beer, though it almost made me pack in before the race and just watch the race sipping on Tecate's.

Thank god it's only three months to the first early bird... I'm already thinking about it...

Last track night?

I heard that there was a move to continue Hellyer racing into the winter, which would seem to be a great idea. It does have lights after all? Anyone have info on why this can't happen?

In the meantime I'm going to head to the last night of racing. Should be a good time, I've only done the Thursday night races once...

Chico Omnium

It doesn't really exist, but it would have been a good idea right? Easy to calculate that Eric Riggs wins that since he won Saturday (Hennlyville RR) and was second behind teammate Hollaway on Sunday (Chico Crit). After that who knows: I was glad to top ten in them but not assured a second place in the fictional omnium.

Chico crit was really well put on: good prize money, good crowds especially for p1/2 and the 35+ race. It was really loud! For the p1/2 I was a little cooked from the back to back Master's race, but it was a good field: Hollaway in his blazing new stars and stripes skinsuit, Riggs, Klein, Jameel, strong Chico team, some CalGiant. sure enough it was just a matter of time before a break started. What turned into the winning break was started by Miller (CalGiant) and an Owens guy I think. I worked with a Chico rider to bridge, then came Riggs, then Hollaway, then Kevin King (not Klein) with Timmel (Chico) as well as Jameel. I worked for the first half, but by the time the last 10 laps came down, I was really really cooked and couldn't do much but respond to the attacks. Jameel broke his derailleur, Hollaway won it (respect the skinsuit) with Riggs second for the 1/2. I hung on my 8 out of 8 thing, but it was a miracle I was in there at all... Kevin wanted me to mention that he did in fact work in this break: he did... certainly sustained more than I did near the end.

Master's was a strange one, and I'm looking for tactics coaching here. I planned on a warmup for P1/2 race, but after seeing the payout I thought an effort was worthwhile here. Not sure what got into me: maybe the $20 prime for the first lap??!! Started to attack from the onset after feeling good legs after the RR Saturday. Got a group of 7-8 to go with, but it wasn't organized and guys were trying to sit in so I attacked it until there was a more managable group of four: Joe (EMC), Shawn (MS), and Scott (Mako). There was still some sitting in, but it all stayed together, until we could see the back of the field. I really wanted to attack the break and lap solo, but it happened quickly and the three weren't letting me go, so we all lapped together. I didn't see that Briggs also lapped with Vince Gee and I think Pasco as well? When it came down to a sprint Gee ends up winning it, but I thought he had been lapped. Oh well, was good for 4th... Scott's a good sprinter as well and he was 2nd or 3rd, EMC was ahead of me as well.

Coaching question for this: how to best deal with a break catching the field? I tried to attack through the field so I could continue on but they got my wheel and that screwed up everything? Better to not lap? Then Briggs and others would have caught us anyway. Any advice appreciated....

Too much typing already but: Hennlyville came down to two breaks. Early was a group of 6-7 with Riggs, Klein, Jameel, Obregon, myself, some others. It wasn't working well and was caught before 2 laps were done. Mike Andres rolled away halfway through (2 laps) and was making a really good gap solo. After the feed I got away with Sierra Nevada on my wheel and bridged to Mike. Things were looking good for the podium, and he's a great break partner: very unselfish perhaps cause of his mtb background. He just loved to grind it out. With a lap to go we had a minute on the field and 30 seconds on a chase. I thought we had it made but then Riggs and Klein bridged. It certainly solified the break (over 2 minutes) but I don't like finishing with those two (they went 1/2). Got 4th. Still: good course, good fun.

The women's field in the crit were fun to watch: 3/4 field was more active than normal with Hanan and Laurie (Mako) finishing with a break from the field. Then Vanderkitten and Hanan going 1st and 2nd for a good Port of Oakland finish in the 1/2/3 field. Vanderkitten was away for a while but Hanan bridged to her. The field also eventually caught but the effort killed them.

Should be working, but thinking of new bike for next season...

Can't say no...

...to another race. Probably going to drive way too many miles up to Chico and race. I told myself when I was doing the very first Early bird... eight months ago! That's a lot of races, but I'm still liking it so I'll break my rule again. The rule is not to drive more hours than I race. IE, driving two hours for an hour long crit: not allowed. I break that rule all the time, or tack on the Master's crit to make it allowable.

It's a p1/2/3 race too, so maybe get some 3's from TeamOakland to go up.

Friday night tracking

Small fields these days at Friday Night Racing. I'm kind of surprised cause end of the season I would think that people would want to end on a good note. Maybe the last night of racing next week will bring everyone out. The races were combined (1/2 and 3/4)

As it was we were all Strawberried, as Reaney, Miller, and Copeland came out to gang up on all the singletons. I wanted to mention part way through the points race, while Copeland and Miller were 1/2ing me for the points, that I actually wasn't in their race, but thought instead that I should get used to being in their race. So I tried, but Miller rolled off front as Copeland let the gap open in front of him. Really I think I could have gotten around him, but let myself think about winning the 3/4 omnium already... what a chump. Should have gone for it.

In the Win and Out I raced worse, sorry guys. No warmup really messed me up, and kept trying to jump on the front, which just wore out my cold legs. Thanks to Reaney for making us chase more of the race to help him companions.

Still, good fun. Hopefully next Friday night I'll be racing the 1/2's, waiting on the upgrade request.

Benicia

And I thought my season was over...

Couldn't help but head out for another event. 1)close to home 2)good money 3)I love to race.

The course is really nice. It's got a Vacaville like hill (OK, little smaller), then little descent, smaller hill, turn to a short rise, turn to the finish. Lots of crashes! Luckily I wasn't involved, but the Tues Port ride took a hit as both Hanan and Carla crashed in the p1/2/3 race. Carla looked a lot worse for it, hope she's OK. Then Roman (OK, only shows up on occasion at the Port, but still) took a bad spill in the p1/2 race. Please comment if you have news on Carla or Roman, I had heard that both took a trip to the hospital.

Masters race was interesting, the field being small the pace was somewhat on the slow side. I took off from the gun to try to speed things up but never got a really big gap and the only taker was a Morgan Stanley rider who wasn't going to work, so... back to the drawing board. Sat and watched as breaks formed and were caught. Then with 10 laps to go or so, a Squadra rider took a flyer and a Mako rider then bridged. Thought it looked promising, so I bridged up as well. It wasn't the smoothest break but it stuck. Two to go I pulled a bunch cause the other guys were prematurely playing the end game I thought, field was getting close. Last lap, I gapped them a bit on the hill, but they got on my wheel again after. Ended in a dead sprint, in which I got second. After five weeks of Cal Cup Velo promo races (which I love) the nice payout was a shocker.

P1/2 race was a lot faster, and the breaks more threatening. Same as always! CalGiant showed up and was the only team really, and with another small field I knew we were in for some trouble. Sure enough it was: CalGiant break, try to bridge or organize break, catch; CalGiant break, try to bridge or organize break, catch....

Four guys were off the front for a long time, and mostly through the work of three or four guys they were caught with five to go or so. I was pretty cooked from all this, including being in no man's land for four or five laps. I was glad to be in top ten in the sprint, but wanted more...

Near the end, ClifBar guy went down right in front of me and I hear two tire pops, which was very confusing. Sounded like another rider went down behind me as well, and I saw Switters later and he had gone down. Any information would be appreciated. It was like the Kennedy Assasination out there, trying to piece together what happened.

Nice work for Ian Swinson who got two 4th's in the 4's too. Stephen Langone also went down and broke his nice carbon handlebars (aluminum works well in crits Steve). He seemed to be fine though.

Giro

'Last race' of the season was yesterday. My first time doing the p1/2 version of this and it was interesting. Seemed apparent that no one was going to get away, all attacks would get about 10 to 15 seconds out and just stall in the headwind. With the fast downhill too it's pretty hard, cause the field can go pretty damn fast down that thing.

Fun to watch Jerod getting marked everywhere, everyone's eyes seem to be on him. Alot of excited yells from the crowd for him as well. Good to see this kid has such talent and seems to be grounded at the same time. He actually acknowledges everyone even though he's bashing the peloton on a regular basis.

Myself, had some good position with 5 to go, but the spear head stalled out before the CalGiant train started up and I lost my position at that point. Need to get better during those last three, hairy laps. Lot's of jostling, some elbows, minor punches. Too much for me at this point.

Master's race: huge thanks to Brian for making it a fun race. Was able to hold his wheel for the last three laps and hold on for 2nd behind a charging LeBerge. I guess that makes one of the better field sprint finishes for me.

Lots of delays yesterday after a spectator had a heart attack right next to me at turn one. That was crazy. Hope the guy's OK, he did come to after a couple of minutes. Guess it was a pretty exciting race...

First Friday night track

Was out for the Friday night racing last night for the first time. Little different dynamic than the Wednesday night racing, with the 3/4 racing more mandatory. Some of the stronger 3's were given a 'temporary upgrade' to the p1/2 race and did very well, which gave us more room in the 3/4 race I guess.

I was tired from riding too much earlier but managed to eke out a win in the miss n out which was big for me, since this has not been my event. Raced a bit smarter, staying 3rd wheel for most of the race then holding off Doug and Mark for the win.

Was fun to hang out with Hanan, Beth, Mary.

love the Giro

Last race of the season, last race of the cal cup. Hard to miss this race. I plan on showing up early and watching all the action from the W3 to the p12 race (the 35+ 4/5 race is mighty early sorry). Don't forget: Bart it, no bridge.

I think one of the biggest reason to go is to talk to everyone, gab with riders etc. And oh yes, race as well. Sure hope we get some good pros out there to make it a fun race.

Dumbarton

I ride over the Dumbarton bridge just about every morning to get to work, as do a number of others. It's kind of a community I guess since you see the same people over and over again. Also meet up with a group sometimes to ride together: Chris Patterson, Ken, George. It's actually how I started to ride the bike altogether three and a half years ago when I got tired of getting stuck on it in my car every day!

I bring all this up to see if anyone knows what's up with the black tarp along the two miles of frontage fence with the freeway that was put up a couple of weeks ago. Didn't these people know how hard the wind blows every afternoon? All the cyclists knew to be sure. You either hit 30 mph with the tailwind, or are hating all the work you need to put into 18 mph.

So of course, day one the thing is blowing down. Was trying to figure why they went to the trouble. Construction? doesn't look it. Cosmetic? Isn't working.

If anyone can help me here, would appreciate it.

That dusty little town...

...that we call San Ardo. Who would have thought I would like this one? Did it two years ago in the 3's and it was snoresville, and ulimately very frustrating. Ended with me out of position in a mass sprint as Jack Rector showed his mass sprint magic. I had to learn than from the results later since I couldn't SEE the finish. Got caught in the back of the pack over that bridge.

Anyway, cut to two year's later and a different field, what a difference. It was John W and I, and we are looking at all the pros that showed up on the start line thinking wtf? Slipstream, Navigator's, Kodak, Jittery Joe's. What are they doing in dust town?

Pretty active race from the get go, with Cal Giant and some other guy (Arete?) off the front the first lap. I was snoozing the first lap and had to be informed that this was the case. Actually heard the Cal Giant guys making annoying comments like 'if *I* had missed the break I'd be working too'. So, when Spine and Lombardi made a bridging move 1.5 laps in, I went with. Worked some, but it ended up being easy to catch the two, who were hidden ahead of the 45+ 4/5 field in front of us. Things got messed up though, cause that field decided to jump on our wheels on the way past. No amount of shouting could discourage them from this endeavor, and really, if we had the speed we needed we should have been able to leave them right? So no surprise that we were caught pretty soon afterward. Funny thing about the CalGiant guys, cause both times in the break they seemed determined to kill it. I guess that's a tactic, since they have so many guys waiting to sprint, but it's unfortunate. Keep saying 'slow down', 'you'll get caught anyway', what kind of an attitude is that?

Which leads to the next break. Another was off for lap 3 that looked threatening, but was caught, then last lap through the rollers, CVC and someone else hammered the last rollers. I jumped on and all of a sudden we had seven riders and a gap. CalGiant, CVC, LG, AV, me, Lombardi, and out-of-town team that I don't recall. Anyway, some couldn't work, others wouldn't work, CalGiant was determined to sit in (blamed it on me for going too hard he said). Me and a couple of other riders drove it, cause I figure you're out with 15 miles to go, give it a try right?

I actually attacked the break at one point, cause the pace was such that we were going to get caught. Sped up JUST enough to make by seconds. Another 500 yrds and they would have been on us. As it was we let a Slipstream rider bridge up Jared so that he could win the thing (caught us with about 800 yrds to go), CalGiant jumped me (no surprise there) and Matt from Lombardi has a good sprint (worked pretty hard too, so kudos). 4th in an RR is new for me, so I was happy.

John got to sit in all day, which is great. Almost cracked the top ten (11th), so must have been top three in the field sprint. Definitely will be winning one some time soon.

Really nice day out... just don't think about the five hours of driving being longer than the actual race.

Thursday Night Track

Tried out Larry's points racing for the first time. I hadn't done such a long one (the A's did 90 laps), had a good time.

Need to get more aggresive about the early points cause I think that's what hurts me. Got into a break with BJM (stud), Dribble (TT stud), Langley (Track stud) that I thought would bring it down to top four. But with all the confusion of lapped riders jumping in and out I didn't realize that Mendonca had gotten back on the same lap as us and was competing for points. I got more points in the later, but once he was back in our group he bumped me from fourth. Meanwhile Langley is hanging out schooling me in the sprints. Well, live and learn.

Had a good time, got to warm up behind the As and Bs so got plenty of a workout.

Thanks to Larry for putting these on.

Track

First time with thurs night races. Had a good time, but things got
very confusing after man break developed. Bjm, dribble, langley, me.
With lapped riders, i didnt see that mendonca got back on and bumped
me to 5th.

Hutch takes 3rd!

At the WORLD Master's Championship.
Pretty sweet!

And those AMD 45+ guys did really well: http://www.masterswm.org/2007/ergebnis/m3.pdf

super geezers rule

It only occured to me an hour later that three of the top five at Suisun p12 race were over 40. I don't put myself in league with KKlein and Wohlberg (I did finish behind them), but we do share the age group. Badia made a bold move with 800 yrds to go, held off the field. It was me chasing, towing Chad, Eric, and Kevin with me. They all came around me before the line, but getting points with p12 crowd always makes me happy.

Also, was really good to have John W in the race with me. I know we're going to connect this thing for a win one day soon: today, I joined Riggs and KKlein diving turn one, last lap, and it was pretty dicey. Sounds like John lost my wheel here. Good to have a teammate to work for and work for you, etc. And he got his first p12 prime! Nice work John.

Luckily those other 40 yo's 'don't do' the Masters, cause I was able to win that one. Wasn't really planning on it, but Pasco and EMC went off the front from the gun. I got on, we were almost caught, Pasco and EMC sat up, then 3BRT got on with Shaw's. The three of us got a good gap, then after some laps I saw the back of the field! That really got me going hard, dropped Shaw's. 3BRT got pretty cooked but helped some, and we were able to latch on the back of the back of the pack. It was splintered in 3 when we got there, and we lapped 2 of those. I don't take this lightly, I've never lapped the field away from the track! Anyway, 3BRT got me nervous as far as whether he would or wouldn't contest the sprint. First he congratulated me with a lap to go, meaning no contest right? But then he seemed to be trying to get past me, so I laid on a 'sprint' to finish it off.

I didn't want a repeat of Mike Sayers at Santa Rosa this year: yelling cause of some miscommunication as to etiquette, who said what, etc. In the end, the finish line is the finish line and you gotta go over it first right?

Would like not to mention that I slid out in the P12 race, but that's what happened. In a six man break, I got waved through a little too close to turn four. I went too wide and slid out. Sorry to Buckley from Spine who slid with me. We both got back in the race though. Two kits and one tire aside, everything was fine. Thank god it was the rarer counter clockwise crit so I could fall on the left side, not the right, where things are still tender.

Dunnigan

Had a great time at the race today. Mostly cause the team did really well: we were represented in just about every break which meant we could sit back.

John got in the longest, for most of the first lap. It was promising from our viewpoint: seven guys or so? Switters was in it... When we caught them, I got away with Jarrod and Dribble from Davis. We went pretty hard but weren't able to make enough ground and were caught after 20-25 mins or so.

The next counter was started by Vince from CVC and did not look dangerous at first but then another five or so bridged and they got a pretty good gap. I and a Giant rider worked the front to keep the pace up at the front. With about 15 miles to go, Haydn and I got into a chase group of another seven or so. We quickly caught the break and kept on going. With 5 miles to go we had 30 seconds but it was closing. The group wasn't worked very well together. Four or five of the riders were doing most of the work. I tried to get Haydn to sit in and let me do his work for him, though Haydn did do some work. I would let gaps open behind Haydn if there was an attack and let the others chase. I figured either Haydn would get away or at least wear down the others.

With 1K to go the field was only five seconds behind. Dominic from AV attacked but died. At the overpass I attacked but so did another group. I settled into 8th wheel watching K Klein, hoping to jump on. When he did and won, I didn't follow very well, but Haydn got 4th right behind him. I got 8th. Good showing.

Keep up with Haydn

I think I found the link to the World Masters event. See how Haydn and Mike Hutchinson are doing in Austria next week. Good on ya mate! Use those melatonin, and adjust...

wither master's racing next year...

No Safeway, no AMD, no Hernandez. Generally I like the p1/2 races more than the masters races (just a little more edge to it), but I do like doubling up with the masters crits. Hopefully it doesn't lose any of it's quality. What will the team makeup be, who the big players.

By the way Hernandez isn't going away, his blog just states that he'll be don't p1/2 racing.

Wed night racing

Last night was a lot of fun. Did my first and second Keirin, managed to win the Consolation round, which was somewhat of a... consolation, I guess.

A bee strung Reaney still was strong enough to make us look like weaklings in the points race. I was trying to race smart for once, and was being selfish. Sorry Steve...

Recovering (oh hell, he's done recovering now right?) Hernando was his dangerous self. Doug Hall, seems unhappy with his performance, but being a 5 in the A's seems to be doing pretty well to me.

A high point was in the Keirin, the Los Gatos rider (young guy, anyone give me his name?) was trying to make room for himself and Reaney head butted him about ten times in a row. LG didn't flinch, made for a lots of fun. They seemed to be laughing over it afterwards so all in good fun.

I managed to get more than one point last night, which was my total from last week. Turns out I got a point for 7th in the Miss n Out in 8/8, whereas I thought I hadn't regeistered at all. Starting to like the Miss n Out a lot more. Last night I realized it's better to ride on the front of the thing instead of getting taken out first lap riding in the back. Not the best way to win it, cause you're tired for the bell lap, but at least you can make the bell lap. Steve Pelaez came flying by for the win: man what a sprint that guy can put on. Guess that's why he won the National Qualifying sprint on the w/e.

Oh, and damn, how Julie G dominated the C's! Julie, maybe you should give the B's a try. Our own Karla (I call her our own cause she does our Tues night Port ride) was second, riding strong.

Track tonight.

Redeem myself from last week. POO ride almost over for me, maybe be out there two or three more times.

Velo Promo buys a computer

They already have the TT times up! Wow...

Notice that Kevin Metcalfe turned around after the p1/2 TT and did it again in the 35+ 1/2/3! That's pretty cool. Didn't lose much time either the second time around.

I really liked the event actually, also liked that VP made a special effort to pay out 25% of reg fees into the prizes so that the winner of the 3's, Mike Holt, got $100.

I actually wish that there was another TT this season. I'll have to wait until the Knight's Ferry Duathlon to get the rig out for an official ride. I bought my TT rig for this event last year but didn't have time to get it assembled. Will hit the target this year, getting ready for some of those early season TTs in 2008.

Cal Cup beginning

Patterson Pass yesterday and Esparto today. Patterson was really hard, I had done it last year and did well, but that was in the 3's and there was no WIND. This year started with 60 or so and ended with 15-20 guys, which didn't include me. I made it over the 3rd climb fine but lost concentration on the second climb on the back and lost the pack... the wind coming down was amazing, first time riding the ZIPPs in the wind, big mistake. Just about got blown into the barbed wire fence.

Today at Esparto was more fun. I've only done two before and one was just a mess. So this is the second time that I've really worked on it well. I was 26.7 mph average for the 30K, making it in 41:03. Thought that was pretty good, but in this field (p1/2) was only 13th. Still, I think I can work off at least a minute, if not more.

Good to see Ryan get 5th in the 3's TT, as well as 5th yesterday in the RR. May put him in the lead of the Cal Cup. If Mike H gets back and does well next week could set up a good match (Ryan may have to get over his hatred of the Crit here, and ride that Giro).

Ridin with the A's

Last night was my first time riding the A's from beginning to end at the track. Mixed bag: I was nervous and made a mistake as far as handling, luckily it all ended well. I took my lickings from the group. Live and learn. Wasn't able to garner any points though!

Attacked in the Win and Out with Doug Hall but was schooled by the old pros, catching us with a lap to go and leaving us both behind.

First time doing a standing start in the Chariots and that went even worse.

And, first time ever being called a 'negative racer'. Some kind of pent up anger by a guy having a bad season I think... Oh well, I love to get criticism: when it's coming from a good source and a cleaner mouth.

Better honest than good...

The title was my motto yesterday at the Timpani Crit. Lots of work at the front, lots of attacks, but not much to show for it except that I finally have some post crash fitness back.

Was a pleasure racing with new teammate John Wilk, I think that we will have an opportunity arise where he can be delivered at the right time and place to make something happen. Unfortunately my string of bad luck continued with two bikes exploding with two turns to go in the last lap. At least this time it didn't lead to a crash, but with my nerves there I basically sat up at the point. John was able to hold on for 14th or so, but it would have been a top ten at least if our mini train had continued. I was probably tenth or so at the time, and was ready to lead John out to the last turn. We did a good job of finding each other last five laps.

Unfortunately the last five laps was very disorganized field-wise. There were three different trains started and dismantled(Metromint's was promising, but it was just the two of them and me) before CalGiant finally got it going last lap. I was able to stay top five in all but the last lap. By the last lap, they had stranded me off the front solo and I had to jump back in at turn one, last lap. Still felt good, and John was right there.

Working backwards in the race, there was a constant barrage of attacks throughout. Some were a little more dangerous, but nothing stuck. It was a little like Memorial Day, where I thought it would be a pack sprint, but there a group of five did get off which stuck (though the back end of it was caught by the field, the front was not). This is a similar course, wide open, hard to get away. I thought team wise we covered pretty well. John got into a couple so I could chill here and there. Still felt great at the end, to be able to stay up front.

Master's was weird. Was in a couple of breaks, but guys weren't willing to go fast enough to stay away. Maybe the EMC guys really didn't WANT it to stay away. I mean, what's the point of saying slow down when we're trying to create a gap. Anyway, I was third going into the last turn, and it was question of handling the bike better, cause Rich went outside as he was dying off and that pushed me out, but Bosch who was second wheel went inside. There he was able to latch onto a faster train that did a lot better than us.

AND: congratulations to Mike H for winning the 3's. Think we'll have him on the 2's team soon! TO domintation of the 3's continues...

Epicness of the RR

Sure crits can witness heroic efforts, and the track has big moments, but who can say they compare from a pure Epic point of view with the Road Race. This is my first year racing the p1/2 field, and I will say that their crits can come close in the amount of effort just to see the finish line, but even then, the length, the industrial park setting, the repetitive circuit, still can't compare.

You drain yourself to nothing in a tough Road Race. Yesterday, after Fort Ord, when I finally stopped pedalling, drifting to the parking lot, my body was so spent I couldn't believe that I had just been able to ride anything like that for five minutes, let alone five hours.

You see tough guys in any other setting, just break down before your eyes. They'll be going strong in front of you one minute, then the next the lights go off and they float away, not to be seen again.

Then there is the climb, willing yourself to stay on that wheel in front. The agony if you do lose it. Can you do one more effort to get back on? Is this it? No, I'll be here for another lap. It takes a good mix of the mental and physical to get yourself over...

foggy morning

It's bad form to only blog the good news.... I have to admit I've been less excited about typing reports, etc since my post crash non fitness came into focus.

Still, there has been plenty of fun out there. Yesterday for instance, at the District RR Championships, that was more fun than should be had on a foggy, cold Saturday morning.

It was a watershed day in a way for TeamOakland, we had more riders in the p1/2 than we did in the 4's. That's something to think about. We had Haydn, John, Scott, and I. Haydn and Scott had made noises about doing the Masters crit, but when they saw the 15 man field vs the big, big p1/2 field, they couldn't resist. Personally, I was never going to leave young master Wilk in the race all by himself...

At 110 miles (I believe my Garmin over Velo Promo on the distance) and 9400' of climbing, I can't say I was well prepared, but thought there's better way to get into the water rather than just jump in. We shed people every time over the climb. That little climb is small, but I think together with all the other battles you fight on that course it just takes it's toll. Plus at the top, if there any gap at all, you would need to fight the big headwind. A lot of attacks were occuring at the top of the climb and then on the flats on top. Guys staying back on the climb trying to conserve could be caught out quickly and their race was over.

John went on a two lap break about 2 laps in, which was a really good effort. Really good to get that exposure, also tactical for the team. That was with Chava, and Max from Metromint. They got caught after a while. Chava went again, after wunderkind Jarrod (Metromint) attacked for the umpteenth time and got away. It was at the turn around I think? They made a really big gap quickly and weren't to be seen again, for a long time. By the way, the turn around claimed a lot of victims too.

So the break turned into four, with an AV rider with Chava, Jarrod, and EMC. Giant were sort of blocking, or at least not pulling any more, and no other team was willing to do any. We were going along at 18 mph, or something retarded. I thought I would try to get something going and accelerated through. Somehow that turned into a half lap solo effort that at least let me do the climb easy, letting myself get caught just after the top.

I would like to think that the attacks is what made me get dropped on the ninth time over the climb, who knows. Maybe it was the bee sting, damn! that happened right after getting dropped, so that's not it. Anyway, did a lap with two other riders, and so was one of the last finishers anyway. Cringed a little when my wife said "at least you finished!".

Haydn was great by the way, he was a lot more patient than I and got top fifteen somewhere. Not bad for claiming to haven't rode that far since 2003! Some of that toughness from 'stralia.

I won't be surprised if it was close to 100 starters, but I'm guessing less than 30 finishers. I'll say 25, but I wasn't going to stick around long to see where I was.

Oh, I was about to go without telling the end of the break story! Chava was shelled, AV was shelled, and Jarrod and EMC still had 1:40 gap with one lap to go (had a max of 3 min at one point). Cal Giant ( and a little DBC too ) work had whittled it down, using up almost all their riders in the process. Then after the feed, two Strawberrys and Ted Huang attacked something fierce. I could see them one two way rode, killing it. They caught the break just before the end (not sure exactly where) and Cal Giant took it, with Huang in second. Hope Jarrod was third, what an effort!

Albany Crap

Hernando's blog says something about being out of Albany because of all the track racing. Maybe I should have taken that advice, cause I was TIRED out there. Plus I did two races... maybe not smart.

Anyway, both the 1/2/3 and the p1/2 had breaks, and neither me nor any of my teammates were part of them. Very irritating. John and I in the p1/2 race at least put a lot of work in, so that only Reaney managed to lap us! If it hadn't been for Max from Metromint and a couple of other guys we would have been lapped twice, I swear. Cal Giant and BPG had three guys each trying to shut us down everytime we tried to work or get away.

I was lazy and tired, should have gotten into the break...

other items from the track...

For those of you have 'bumped into' Jeff Solt out on the Spectrum or Valley ride: The Malaysian national champ came withing .02 seconds of beating his flying 200 meter record 'from the last century' as Tom Simpson announced it. And that was just in qualifying. I'm hoping he beat it in the finals last night so I can bring it up on the next Valley ride. Solt is a cranky guy in a Maxim kit that people won't miss out there. I know that James likes him for one.

They had primes in the Cat 3 Points race! One that I won was a box full of chammy creme and 'Leg Salsa'. That latter for preparation for going clubbing perhaps?

More fun at Hellyer

Saturday was good fun again at the track, though a lot of the Cat 3's from the night before didn't show up, so the competition wasn't as good and the fields were small. That didn't make the prizes any smaller! Me and an AMD junior got away in the Tempo race and traded points for a number of laps before sprinting for the last lap. He won that, but I got second overall. The Tempo race was a new one on me, its 2-1 pts every lap and 4-3-2-1 for the final lap. Makes a two man work perfectly, though I think this race is rare. In the points race, I got away from the small field and managed to perform my first lap of the field, which was good fun.

Master's Miss and Out you ask? out on the first lap. Larry came down track just before turn 3 took position from me and I was boxed again. His rear wheel was clanking against my front which made me slow up, I don't have those kind of balls. I still have much to learn in these tactical races.

The organizers did a great job with this event. Tom Simpson announcing, great prizes, free food and beer, really good. They made a novice feel welcome. Robin was very gracious. Then some trackie was giving me a hard time about the auto upgrade for 1's and 2's on the road. It's true that it's a shortcut and that we don't know much about the track, but do they really want us beating up on 4's and 5's on the track, against trackies that aren't all that experienced anyway.

I include Hernandez in the group of roadies that are still learning on the track. Of course, in the Scratch and Points he kills them, but I was watching him do the Keirin and the Madison, and that's a different story. Puts him at a disadvantage against the experienced trackie. Again though, does the angry trackie really want Hernandez killing some poor Cat 4? Wouldn't make sense. Dan Martin would have crashed with the auto upgrade or not anyway.

Thunderdome...

...or Velodrome, whatever. Last night was great, it's the first time I've been to a real Event with the capital E at the Velodrome. Tons of spectators, Tom Simpson at the mike, like five USCF officials (they still had problems). Very niiice.

I was nervous going in, not knowing what to expect. Originally I didn't think it would be particularly hard, but then I noticed all the Road Cat 2 guys doing the same as me: racing the 3's to get an upgrade. And there were some hardass Cat 2's too. I knew that at least one was a really good sprinter so I was determined to make it a hard race in the first: a 10K scratch race. The first five laps were fast enough, with some half hearted attacks. I went with Paulsen but he didn't seem game to go yet. Then things slowed up, and with six (or seven?) to go I pulled through hard, created a gap and went 80% to see the reaction. Well, they let me go for a while, and seemed uncertain, so I ramped it up all the way. After a lap or two it seemed I had half a lap gap, with only three to go. I thought I had it in the bag, showing my track naivete. Actually would have won it if the sprinter didn't ditch the field with 150 yrds to go and pasted me with 50 to go, luckily he had created his own gap and I got 2nd.

It was fun watching all the events I had never seen: the sprints, keirin, best of all: the Madison. What mayhem. Mary Maroon was in there mixing it up. The p1/2 Miss and Out was good. There was some official confusion and Larry Nolan dropped out in 3rd place, seemed pissed off. The other rider (Eng?) beat out BJM at the finish.

Shelly Olds schooled the women in the Points race.

I eeked out 4th in the Master's Scratch race, showing some dumb moves there (get to the front when a bunch of lapped riders get into your nice 5 man break, Hernandez and Peterson attacked while I was sleeping). I also screwed up the Cat 3 Miss and Out by staying down low and getting seriously boxed in.

More fun today! I'm very excited. Shot out to the teammates: Andrew was volunteering and I met Jen, who wears the TO colors down there.

Lafayette

Tried to get out to the races yesterday. Felt terrible waking up though, but wanted to go out and give it a go. Plus it was to be John Wilk's inagural p1/2 start, with Haydn as well. Well I wasn't much of a teammate though John was great, finishing top fifteen in the race, and with plenty of confidence too. Haydn finished with him.

Haydn's real heroics were in the Master's race. He was in an early break which didn't stick, CVC was chasing hard behind. Then there was later 3 man attack that Haydn bridged up to with a lot of effort. Another rider made it up after and the five of them stuck. There was a big chase group of 10 that got as close as 10 seconds but couldn't work enough together to help. The peloton was another 10 to 15 seconds behind them. Haydn was pretty worked over by the time the sprint came, plus I think that the experienced riders used him up a bit in the last couple of laps.

I felt terrible to begin with in the p1/2. Tried to shake it off with some attacks up the rise but realized that in fact, I really was feeling terrible. So after that I was hanging on the back of the peloton, watching the blown tires and crashes go off. Had to bow out of the Master's race.

Anyway, will regroup for the AVC this weekend.

RR extrordinaire. OK, I'm not talking road racing here, I'm talking road RASH. Got it good. Tried to shake it off last Tuesday and Wednesday, but it hit me hard on Thursday, needing a visit to the doctor for antibiotics. Lesson learned: don't fall on the same spot three times in a row, lets the bugs in.

Feeling a lot better now. Hoping to be back racing and getting back into form this weekend. Was really painful to WATCH the Carrera de San Rafael as it looked like a great race and teammate Haydn was looking monstrous.

Every time I start to feel sorry for myself sidelined I remind myself of Chris C going over top of me at Vacaville who won't be able to race at all this year. Hope you're doing better Chris....

Coble

Talking to Chris this morning. He will need three pins and a cast from a broken wrist. Done for the season unfortunately. I love riding with Chris so this really sucks. Chris led me out, albeit not on purpose, for my first ever win two years ago. It was the 4's at the Memorial Day Crit. There have been other great moments since then too. Will miss him out there.

He had a great story of how they tried to knock him out last night to reset the break. They gave him four times the normal dose and they still couldn't get him to go down. Enough meds for a horse and the guy was still kicking.

Cowtown Crit

This promised to be a good race. I love the course from doing it in the 3's last year. I went in a little cocky, remembering the hill to be pretty easy. Forgot to calculate in: hotter weather, twice as many laps (30), and it's the p1/2's now, dumb*$$.

The pace was pretty fast, Justin was working the front well, a little too well it turns out. He made it possible to sit back a bit.It took me 10 laps to settle in, at which point I attacked the hill two times in a row hoping to break off a piece of the pack, but things weren't sticking. Lots of strong cats, the hill not quite long enough. Next time around Jackson Stewart attacked the hill in front of me, I just about killed myself to stay on his wheel up the hill, down the descent, to the start/finish but we still couldn't lose the pack.

Wohlberg attacked the hill so hard he left everyone, and stayed off for five laps or more, gaining upwards of 45 seconds by himself. Did I hear that right? Ouch...

With 5 laps to go, these are long laps mind you so no need to get excited yet, seemed like nothing was going to stick. Stewart was off the front with another rider (Metromint?) but looked like CalGiant would catch. Tried to just recuperate a bit for the finish. Man it was hot, I was dying midrace but was starting to feel better.

With two to go I was having a hard making up position anywhere but on the hill. Just get out of the saddle and sprint! That was the name of the game now. Haydn came by with a lap to go and said my name, that's all I needed. We made up five spots before the bottom of the hill and Haydn unleashed up and to the right of another ten riders with me and Coble in tow. Down the descent and right turn we were all top ten with Haydn on Chad's (Lombardi and POO ride) wheel. We had 800 yrds, one turn, and a lot of strength left.

Chad's wheel wasn't interested in all that. Blew out right after the turn, sending Chad and Hadyn up onto the curb, me sliding out, and worst of all, Chris flying over me and breaking his wrist. Hadyn still finished 15th after getting off the curb....

Bosch won it! Damn that guy... he had done the Master's race before. Strong like bull, guess coming from the Valley might help with the heat.

team mates!

Before I post anything about the actual outcome of the Vacaville GP, let me say how great it was to be inspired by team mates. I told Justin before the start that we needed to cover Wahlberg, well for the first twenty minutes Justin was GLUED to Wahlberg's wheel. It wasn't the best way for him to personally roll his first p/1/2 race but from a team point of view it was great. Haydn and I were able to rest assured that we were covered.

Haydn? Was rigtht there at the end, shaking me out of my sleep and dragging me to the top of the climb in a great position.

This is a team that came together over time. Coaslesed together through affinity, not from self interest. Love it.

Fremont

What can I say here? We had a good eight man break from early in the race. It started no more than 20 minutes in. It was started by Penn, Coble, Parks. I began to bridge up though I was worried that Penn was not the picked rider for the BPGers. IE, they could call on him to sit on later and what kind of fun is that?

While I'm bridging Briggs and Nietsche come up so I jump on their wheels to complete it. I don't remember when Metromint got on. Was probably already there. Neuman made a really late bridge up after the gap was pretty sizable.

Off we go, early on the commitment was questionable. I didn't think Briggs was working all that hard and many times guys in the back opened a gap for me to get back in, do more work than I needed to. Couple of times I just kept going back, trying to force them to close the gap. Sure enough BPG management was calling for Penn to sit on, which he didn't exactly do, but he was pulling 100% either.

I didn't think it would stick, but I showed my commitment as did Bob, Neitche, eventually Briggs as well. So stick it did, we ended up with a really big gap. From what I could tell Mike Sayers and some others were driving the chase early, but then a five rider group formed with Haydn(cool), Sayers, Chad, Uthman. After that the field had no will and was ultimatley lapped. Seeing Haydn in the chase really relaxed things for me since I could see he wasn't working. I figured if they caught us then Haydn would be fresh, if they didn't then wouldn't have to duke with Sayers. Win/win.

With 8 or 7 laps to go there was a $100 prime. The guys were dithering on turn five, so I attacked with Metromint in tow. He took me at the line, but we had a gap. We went hard and the gap seemed maintained.

With four laps to go I did something in the180 and slipped out. Not sure if I clipped a pedal or just cut it too low. I got up (with some crowd help) and chased the 6 man break with Briggs et al, and was just about to close when pow! My rear exploded, the sidewall damaged from the fall I guess. I'm hugely dissappointed, more so after seeing Metromint hold on solo for the win.

More on the track

So I show up thinking that this would be chilled out because Friday nights are supposed to be the big show not Wedneday night. Instead there is BJM, Dan Martin with his State Championship jersey, Steve Reaney, more CalGiant, Mark Patton. Yeah, not so easy. Official says that the B's will count for points since the competition is high so I take the 'easy' route with Patton and Martin.

Long story short: my chain is loose in the Miss n Out, so I miss and I'm out. Dan Martin crashes something horrible in the Points race. Patton uses me up in the Scratch. I was able to get some points in the Points race at least.

They put the scoring B's in with the A's for the last Points race, 40 laps, pts every 10. That was a high point, cause even though I'm not cagey enough to get any of the points in the intermediate points, I was able to get second behind BJM for the final line. Mind you, he had already lapped the field. The 'field' was shattered. Ones and twos all over the place.

track

Went to the track last night, had a good time. Two mishaps, one just for me and the other for the regions best Master's road racer.

In the first race I didn't tighten my nuts down enough (take that as you will) and my chain slipped and I had to drop out and watch Dan Martin get his (first?) track win. He didn't look to be a master on the track as he is on the road. I mean, very strong, obviously, but didn't look like a natural trackie.

That leads to the next mishap. Cruising along in the Points race, now with a tight chain, I go uptrack after the straight, normal enough: but Martin behind me totally endos it into the in field where there is a big puddle from the new sprinklers. Ambulance came cause he seemed to be knocked out. All seemed to end well, but ouch....

That made it a little easier, guilty that I feel, to come in second in the omnium. Behind Mark Patten mind you... that doesn't work at all!

R1b

It's not all about cycling:

I had myself haplotyped through the National Geographic's Genographic project. As a male, I can have my Y chromosome tested and it will tell me what my ancestral father's geographic origin is, my father's father's father's father, etc. Pretty amazing. Note that this isn't an admixture test: it doesn't tell me if I'm half Irish or half Indian. In fact, I could be 15/16 European but my ancestral father could be from Africa and my test would come back as only African.

To go a little deeper, we ARE all from Africa, that's borne out by these tests, it's just a question of when we left. You find out which 'out of Africa' route you're ancestral father took.

So, to get to me. My haplotype is R1B. Turns out that my ancestral father ended up in Spain during the last Ice Age (around 15K years ago), and probably migrated to England once it became habitable again at 13K years ago. I say 'probably' cause it can't discern when exactly my ancestors moved there, though there are more tests to find out my 'subclade' giving more definition on the migration pattern. If I turn out to be R1b1c7 for example then I'll know that I was part of the original post Ice Age migration to the specter ed isle. In fact, they moved there so long ago that it wasn't even an island at the time. They just walked from Spain to Ipswitch.

In a word: I'm Basque. In a way...

I was born in England by the way, as were all my known relatives, if you're wondering why I'm assuming the early migration to the UK. The ale must have been good already.

I'm reading a really great book on this whole thing, that really gets technical on what's know archaeologically, linguistically, and genetically. The basic thesis being: neither the Vikings, nor the Anglo Saxons, wiped out all my ancesters that already inhabited the island when the invaded. The gene makeup is largely as it was 13K years ago. Rather they had large cultural effects, but didn't kill everybody. My ancestral father was probably there before all the later invasions. I'm the original briton, probably speaking something related to Basque, then moving to something related to Welsh, then lastly taking on English after the Anglo Saxon invasions.

Better go out and get my subclade testing next.

You can also do Mitochondrial testing to find out about your ancestral mother. In fact, for women, that's the only test you can do. My wife had it done and, surprise surprise, she's western european. Doesn't seem like you can get the same detail from the mtDNA test.

a nice day out.

Burlingame 35+ race. This was raced back to back with the p1/2 field, and I couldn't decide if I should take one more seriously than the other? Must admit that getting finishes in the p1/2 races are more important to me these days. I mean, why not be a cat 1 rider? Sounds good doesn't it? 35+ races are tough and satisfying but those officials just won't give me any points for it. Most, if not all, the guys winning the 35+ races have been 1's for a long time, so they have nothing to prove.

Anyway, the race started quickly enough, but was pretty managable. I can't remember if there were some breaks early on, nothing dangerous. On the first or second prime, I went to the front with half a lap to go and drilled it hard, just to see what would happen. I drug out an AMD and Big Bosch with me, before you know it we had a gap. Should have gone harder cause we let on six other riders for an overly big 9 man break, including LeBerge. I'm learning that I don't HAVE to work for a break that isn't working for me, but the lesson wasn't finished cause that's work I did. Neither AMD rider was working much, and even Bosch wasn't pulling his normal monstrous pace. There was an unattached rider in red that was working hard, and me. Bosch also counts even at 75% power. The rest weren't doing much.

We got close to being caught near the end, with the break under 10 seconds. I hear from the sidelines though that the chase wasn't working well. I didn't know this, and continued to work hard to keep the pace high. AMD didn't really need to work since they had others back in the pack.

With 500 or 600 yards to go I tried to gap the other riders which at least shed two or three riders, but the rest were able to take advantage and pass me with 50 yards left leaving me in sixth. I should have been more patient, but that would have meant settling for second or third behind sprint man LeBerge.

Next time I'm going to attack the break hard in a situation like that. If I can't get away, I'll sit on and let it get caught and try to reshuffle so as to loose the Berge, or at least make them work. I WILL figure this stuff out.

More on the p1/2 later.

Game on...

Team was on task yesterday at Burlingame. Great day, Mike H brought out the TeamOakland tent, Justin brought out the game, Masters 4's brought the plan.

Congrats to Stephen and the Master's 4 team, they had control in the last five laps, not sure how the Pen Velo sprinter got ahead of Stephen. Will wait for the report.

Really fun, glad I showed up early to see the early race, OK... so I missed the 7:30 am 4's but that was a bridge too far. Saw the 1/2 win in the 3's, great tactics by John and Justin.

The Master's 35+ was fun, though I really need to learn to sit on or up in breaks that aren't going my way. P/1/2 was good, some crashes, but I learnt to surf a sprint finish pretty well in that field finally.

POO ride

The 'Port of Oakland' Ride is on Tuesdays, I guess it's obvious where... it's a good crit simulation with 40 to 60 riders. The loop is 2.4 miles, usually we do 10 laps or so until time is up. Fast, good mix of riders. I've been measuring the speeds:

Here are the numbers from tonight June 19th. I think the wind was really up cause the average was a lot lower but the max was still high
Avg Max
24.4 34.6
26.5 36.4
26.9 31.4
26.8 35.7
25.8 36.1
26.5 33.1
25.1 32.0
25.8 33.0
25.7 31.3

There was this great moment: the first break went in the first lap or two with me, Haydn, Jimbei, Lombardi, Maury caught on. We went a lap and got partly caught at the end of the headwind section. Things fragmented, Maury attacked, I went, there was confusion, and Chad and Phil came by hard (I think that was the 36.4 mph max) and I had to work hard to get on their wheel and Hadyn caught on a quarter mile later. That was the winning move. Haydn, Chad, and I were able to settle into a good rotation and that was it. I love the attack, counterattack. Nice stuff....

old guys bring it

I was saying in my Pescadero report about being an old guy in the p1/2 race. Related, can't help but notice the results from the TT Championships yesterday. http://www.ncnca.org/road/2007/tt07.html

Who had the fastest time overall? Hutchinson, at 40. Who had the second fastest time overall, Kevin Metcalfe, in the 45+ category! Brian Bosch was 3rd in the 35+. p1/2 best was only fourth overall.

What is it about cycling that allows old guys to hang out longer. Think it's partly that the relatively injury-free, low impact sport allows you to just keep upping your mileage to compensate. Whereas with running, my previous sport, as you get older you are able to run less total mileage. That's a double hit, since you fitness goes down as your fitness per mileage is also going down.

With cycling your fitness per total mileage may get hit, but you just re up your miles and 'voila!'...

Pescando para puntos

Pescadero Coastal Classic RR: a race I've done every year (meaning third time). Funny, cause first I did the 2 lap version, then the 3 lap version, and on Saturday did the 4 lap version. I like the long RRs so definitley planned on this one. In addition, they were picking the 2's separately, which is a mixed blessing as I will show later. It was my first p/1/2 RR, about 60 starting riders.

There were a handful of pros out there which was intimidating: I didn't know who Barry Wickes was, but he sounded and looked scary. 6'4" maybe, 200 pounds, national Cyclocross champion. Also there were Roman Kilun, Jamiel, a BMC and a Rock Racing rider (Kevin Klein). There were almost ten CalGiant riders, five BPG, no other real team presence.

First time around was pretty tame. Briggs and a BPG rider went off the front from the gun, getting up to 2.5 minutes on us, but noone seemed concerned. This being my longest RR ever, was determined to conserve, reaching back to my Cat 4 roots. I've learned to be aggressive in the p/1/2 Crits, but until I knew more about my legs at 100+ miles....

First time over Haskins, Roman and others are laughing and joking on the climb. Now, I didn't think it was hard, but I wasn't cracking jokes either. I was happy to get a pass. Second time over Stage Rd, I experienced my first real peloton bathroom break. The call went out, everyone stopped (except for some skeptical 2's) and took a piss. Really nice and civil I thought...

Then comes second time over Haskin's. I'm not a numbers guys so I can't give you much data, but man it was painful, much faster. I was dangling off the back of the main group of 15 riders or so, just stuck in there. We didn't gap a second group of 15 enough though, and they back on, so not sure I needed to kill myself so much, but that's easy to say in retrospect. I'm glad I was safely in there.

The attacks third time up 84 were much more furious. Briggs had already been caught (I saw him in the follow vehicle!), but another CalGiant and Chris Swan were up the road. A group of six got away to chase early on 84, with two CalGiants sitting on. I thought now was a good time for an effort, so I decided to bridge. Managed to get on without too much work. Break was Ted Huang, Rock Racing guy, some others. I didn't think it looked great though with so many sitting on. Turned out to work out well though: we took Haskin's relatively easy, got caught at the top, and caught the two man break, but the Peloton had to hit the climb hard while I was rested.

Last time around and I'm not feeling the miles as badly as I had thought I might. Another two man break. This time its Lieto (CalGiant, 7th at Mt Hood overall) and Barry Wicks. Chasing seemed a little anemic, the pack seeming to settle into a race for third. Roman tried, but couldn't get away. I have to admit I was starting to race the other 2's, not the whole group. But given that there weren't enough 2's to make points, not sure that was a good idea. Should have just raced the whole group, and now that I have a race under the belt, I will next time.

There was a lot of anxiety leading up to the finishing climb on Haskin's. There were 10 2's left in the group, and another 15 p/1's. I decided to just sit on the back and watch this time. Patience, patience. I could see Doran (ClifBar) working to stay fourth wheel or so. Was watching three Chris's: Coble, Swan, and Phipps (usually in Masters) all looking dangerous. They were all more relaxed further back.

Quickly enough a group of five with Roman hit the bottom hard and gapped the next group. I was in the back of that next group of ten or so, but was feeling good, and just slowly passed on the right trying to avoid Kevin Klein who kept veering over. With 1K to go, it was Doran, looking taxed from being at the front, Chris Swan and Coble in front of me. I surged by them all in the saddle, taking Swan and Coble with me. Chris Swan beat us in the 3's last year, and I expected him to haul off again, but he couldn't do it. I was hoping to gap, and pushed a little harder, but still had Coble on my wheel. I got out of the saddle and tried to punch but found there was little left. Christian from BPG fell off the group ahead and was veering across the road. I had to go around him, which put me level with Coble, and I couldn't punch more and he got ahead of me at the line.

Happy to be 8th overall, and 2nd in the 2's. Next time, no more race within a race against the 2's! Probably won't count for points, if they demand 60 starting 2's.

Chava and Phipps died early on in the last climb, which I didn't expect. Evan Picket, Stanford rider in his first p1/2 race looked really good in the race. He won EMC in an impressive solo break last week.

I'm sure I was the only one in the last group AND had a teenager in the feed zone. Too bad that doesn't count for anything...

getting mentored (getting schooled)

So I learnt some lessons from two masters at the EMC crit yesterday: Steve Reaney (CalGiant, won both Salinas and Memorial Day) and Larry Nolan (you all know him already).

As I was covering an attack in the 35+ race yesterday, dragging the pack with me as I am wont to do, Reaney looks over his shoulder shaking his head in disgust. He sits up, yells at me: "you've been doing that to me all year, and that's why your races end in shit!" Well, I am not good at yelling back, and I was thinking he had a point. I skulked back to the rear of the peloton to think about this for a while. The next one that I covered (with Reaney and Nolan in it) I really did try to sprint first and then settle in for a bridging effort, and you know what? It worked. Bridged up last and off we went, not to be caught. Did have to shake a Disco rider trying to cover me. Was able to apply lesson later in the p1/2 race (read below).

I talked to Steve after the race, he apologized for being particularly surly about it, and explained his POV. I guess it makes perfect sense now, but he was pointing out that I was doing a disservice to both of us cause he and I both lose a break opportunity by dragging everyone around with me. Whereas if I'm able to do it on my own the chances of a successful break are magnified. Really it's about having the confidence that you can do the bridge on your own or with one or two others, whereas in the past I've felt the need to take more people with me to help me get up there.

Other lesson was from Larry. With ten minutes left in the race he announces he's not going to work anymore. Well, we had a pretty good gap, but it wasn't 'that' good. Definitely could have been reeled in still. It's the game of chicken, who has what motivations to make it stick, who has a backup plan. I figure I'm pretty good to have in there until I learn to not work a whole bunch and then get taken in the end. Larry later pointed out that he has no reason to work much: if we get caught then DiscoveryAMD can just take LeBerge out of the pocket and win it anyway. If I get caught... we had already lapped James like three times so he wasn't going to be helping out.

Actually Larry also taught us how to work that last lap, by winning it. I waited on Reaney to try to bridge me up but he didn't and I cooked myself to get back on.

So it's true that I sometimes work more than my share in the break but in a lot of cases I don't have a choice unless we have a winning sprinter back there, or I'm willing to risk getting caught (I'm not, never will be I guess).

ajm

Damn, the dude is still really hurting. There is a web page for updates but he's still on oxygen, etc:

http://www.getwellandy.blogspot.com/

feeling it...

Had a good day in the industrial park today. EMC Crit has always treated me well, first time I was ever on the podium two years ago in the 4's and first time I got points in the 3's last year.



The course was windy, good sign. More chances for breaks. In the Master's race we had a team out there! Tom and Sean rode over and James was there as well. James took an early turn at the front. Tom went off the front on a prime lap. The support helped. 25 minutes or so left, a break formed with Bosch and another CVC, Nolan, Delta Velo, Reaney (CalGiant), seven total. We stayed off with a pretty comfortable gap. Last lap I waited on Reaney to bridge to Nolan, but he didn't, so I was stranded, and had to use a match to get back on before turn three but I was pretty cooked by then. I had to settle for fifth.


Waited around for the p/1/2 race, hung around making fun of James who was waiting for the 3's.



I was pretty sleepy by the time the race started and spent the first half thinking to myself that I would just hang out, maybe give the pack sprint a chance! With 30 minutes to go though, a good break went. Bob Neuman (DeltaVelo) has been riding well, Owens (CVC), CalGiant, and another rider (CMO Council maybe?) They were building a good gap and I was in a good position to attack into turn four, so went for it.



Coble and an Owens Healthcare rider went with me. Coble wasn't feeling well, and fell off. Owens and I worked a while together but he was starting to wane, we had been trying for a lap and a half and there was still 30 yards to make up. I decided to just sprint it, leaving the other guy and got on! I was hurting to be sure but was able to skip a turn and relax.



Not everyone was working equally, Bob was the driving force. He was hitting 32 mph on sections routinely. With 6 or so to go, it sounded like we were being caught so I put in a big pull and we lost CalGiant and the other rider. At first I was worried cause there were a lot of Cal Giant riders (with radios Mike!) and I figured they would chase us hard, and now we only had three. Turned out to be a blessing, Bob and I really turn it up for a couple of laps, but Vince Owens was no good. He was hanging on by this point.



With two to go I could see the pack finally, gap had been up to 23 seconds or so and it was down to 15 or less. Just laid into those pedals as did Bob. With one to go, Bob stopped working. It's a game of chicken, who will pick up the pace so we don't get caught? You know it: I'm the patsy, and I gun it hard on the back section into the wind, hoping I could gap them at least, which I did just a little but not enough.



They got me at the last turn and I was cooked, they sprinted and Vince won, and I got the third. Wish Bob had won it instead but that's racing. Vince knew he had taken advantage...



So my first points.... EMC streak continues. First points in the 3's last year and in p/1/2 this...

To pull the trigger or not

I've had many conversations over the last two years on 'when to cat up' as the bike parlance goes. There are the two extremes: do it as soon as you the opportunity presents itself or, MP style, take primes for as long as you can until you're dragged into that next category. Maybe even sit up in some finishes so you don't get the mandatory upgrade. I'm sure most people fall somewhere in between and have many different reasons:

-Don't have time to train to next level
-Like to win

I figure there are plenty of reasons to hang around but if you're top ten in every race entered, you may as well go up. That's because you'll be top ten pretty soon at that next level as well. I must tell you it's better to have a reason NOT to upgrade rather than the other way around, cause it's usually a lot more fun in the next category. Personally I'd rather be beaten by the best I can, than winning against an easier group.

As Rick from Eden told me: never turn down a promotion when it's offered. I say upgrade as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

trek to the track

Went to the track Saturday, partly interested in the new construction there and also to do my first "Wednesday Night Races" even though they are held Saturday at noon.

I'm definitely out of sorts there. Seems like there is a certain procedure for getting ready and presenting yourself aside from the actual racing. For example: are you supposed to change on the track or in your car (on the track seems to be 'in')? how early can I get there to warm up (alot earlier that I showed up apparently)?

So I tried to sign up for the C's but when they found I was 2 on the road said I needed to do the B's. Plus if I wanted to get the auto upgrade to the 3's you need to do this anyway. In the A's there was some serious firepower with Ben JacquesMaynes, Hernandez, two BMG, two VMG(Halloway and Riggs) and some other strong guys. The B's were tough too with Jeff Paulsen trying out the track for the first time.

I tried to run a warm up gear but didn't give myself time enough to change it so I did the first 'Snowball' event in a 48/17. I looked like Jimbei/hamster out there and still couldn't hang. Think everyone had a good laugh at that. Lot's of questions about whether I had another gear. I did have a 15 and ran that which still left me spun out. I guess that puts me at 86 inches. For comparison Hernandez was running 88 and BJM was running 92!

Things went a little better in the 10 lap scratch. After two laps I got all over excited, took a really hard pull and found myself a straightaway free of the group. Figured I may as well have a go at it. Long story short they catch me on the last sprint! Ended up getting 4th (http://www.ridethetrack.com/blog/res_wed.html).

Points race I did the A/B race with the big boys. It was 60 laps with sprints every 10, making it like a mini p/1/2 crit. I didn't get one point unfortunately. BJM lapped us solo with 20 to go. Still it was fun and I didn't get dropped.

Will definitely be heading back. I'm probably a 3 now with the new policy on 2's becoming 3's after performing the 'written test'. Will shoot for some results on Wednesday nights (http://www.ridethetrack.com/upgrade.html). I've got a lot to learn as far as tactics.

Hoping I can get my brother and Justin for some Wednesday night action. Sean?

shame on me

Strange race for the Memorial Crit in the p/1/2 today. Felt like no attack was going to stay off, but I kept waiting cause I haven't been in one that hasn't had a break stick to date (admittedly only four races). So I go with the first attack of course, mostly just to get a wake up call, but it took me over a lap to catch Paul Penn and others so probably wasn't advisable.

Decided to sit in for a bit, and for a while the pace was really slow, which made me nervous. Halfway through we had some hard laps as some attacks started to look dangerous. I managed to bridge up to a big one of eight riders that I thought had a chance, with Riggs and other team representation, but that got caught.

Finally, with less than 10 to go, the real attack went. I didn't give it much attention at first cause it didn't have Lombardi or the one BMC rider, or VMG, but they got a big gap in no time! It was Coble, Vince Owens (always finds the break, maybe he's in all the breaks), Reaney (CalGiant, with alot of teammates), Paulsen (Safeway), DeltaVelo.

With 8 to go, there was a lot of fragmentation, and I managed to get into a four person break in no man's land but it wasn't working too well together. Still, thought that will all the teams not chasing maybe we could stay away. As I was getting worried, a blur of the white and black VMG kit came flying by. This is the US national youth development team, Eric Riggs and Dan Halloway. I was able to jump on their wheel thinking this was it. I usually like to think I work hard in these things, but now I'm thinking there was two of them, Riggs can win this thing: let THEM do the work. I pulled some but tried to conserve and now we're at 2 to go!

Riggs sits up with 1 to go and I let Halloway pull me. I do take a short pull on the back stretch, but I never looked back I figured we were clear of the field and then we see the six in front of us. I'm all proud of myself thinking I could get into the top five, maybe better. While thinking all that through a BMC jersey comes flying by me on the left, then a bunch of other guys. We had been caught! I had no awareness at all. I could have worked a bit more too.

They semi caught the break too. Four of the six finished ahead of the field but that was it. Coble was caught. Vince Owens, soon to be a Cat 1, got third.

Lesson learned. Be more aware and don't be so selfish I guess. Lots of fun though. Andy JacquesMaynes just about killed himself headlong into tree in that last turn. Hope he's OK.