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.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
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?
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?
Monday, May 28, 2007
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Modest Showing
Very modest team showing out for Modesto Saturday.
There was Haydn Scott and I, plus I saw Maury. I think that was it!
Anyway, I liked this crit last year: short course, wind, lots of turns = breaks! And the race did not dissappoint this year. There were breaks in both the 30+ 1/2/3 and in the Pro/1/2, and they occurred pretty early in the race. Probably about 5 to 10 minutes in both is all it took. Luckily, TeamOakland was represented in both. The p12 was the more epic. I'll try to remember in the haze what happened exactly: Jameel and Neitsche went first I think, and I went pretty early before the gap got too big with Granshaw and two VMG riders: Halloway and Riggs. Vince from CVC and Kevin King from Squadra also bridged up.
That made eight and it was really really hard to stay in as we ramped up the speed to create a 20 second gap. Didn't help having been in break in the 30+ (need to rethink the 'two crits per day' strategy). To make long story short, Haydn made it in while the pace was over the top and didn't feel he could stick, so sat up. Right after that the pace slowed, until the gap came down to 12 seconds and we ramped up again, I was getting cross eyed.
We were out there for probably 50 minutes and mercifully I can't remember about 30 of those. With a lap to go I was on the front so I figured I might as well just go the last K, and attacked. Well that didn't last for long, and Jameel came by me fast. Riggs was yelling at me to bridge and I need to learn to make him bridge instead, but did too much work there again... With 400 to go I was in pretty bad shape, but was still in sixth place.
Last 100 yrds, Kevin King from Squadra, having successfully sat in the entire break took me! He apologized right after, which rang hollow since not even 30 seconds had past. The only one I beat was a sick Halloway. Long story even shorter in the 30+: 9th out of a 13 man break, did get caught behind crash in the last turn though. Got two bottles of that Cycles Gladiator wine out of primes. That stuff rocks! I recommend it. http://ronaldmariano.smugmug.com/gallery/2869377#154301669 http://ronaldmariano.smugmug.com/gallery/2869377#154302621 I even threw my bike in effort to get sixth: http://ronaldmariano.smugmug.com/gallery/2869377#154304640
Lack of Panache
Scott, Haydn, and I were in the 35+ master's field.
First off: Scott crashed and I'm not up to the current prognosis. Sounds like he'll be off the bike for a bit. There was a lot of gravel from new asphalt on one of the descents and a number of fields had problems with it. Shot out to Scott, hoping he's feeling better.
As far as the race, it was a smaller field, with biggest representation from Discovery Masters team. Only two Safeway guys, one of which was Chris Wire who has been riding really well. The course is not a climber's course, luckily, cause I was feeling the two crits at Modesto in my legs and needed a warm up. I know Haydn felt that as well. Luckily they supplied us with exactly that for the first 10 miles up the climb, which is really gentle with a couple of steeper sections. Then on the descent and the flats after we were whizzing along.
Maybe if my speedometer was on I would have realized that there was a big tailwind, but as it was I didn't have much clue until we took the left hand turn and BLAM into a 20 mph crosswind. Well Discovery goes to the front and drills it, and gutters it, such that we quickly lose half the field. It was really hard to back to the front that had the only echelon that you could hide in. The rest of the field was single file in the gutter and big gaps were opening up quicker than you could gasp "WTF?".
Luckily it let up after a mile or two and we did the last climb towards the turn around. This is where there was asphalt and some AV riders were already on the ground as we went up (made a mental note). Descending to turnaround I see Hadyn on the front, as we turn some guys almost stopped and Chris Wire took opporturnity to attack there. Unfortunately the feed zone was also right there which isn't too cool, but that's what happened. Some guys were going for water, including Haydn, while Brennon (sic?) from Spine and couple of others including me jumped on Wire ascending from there.
It was eight guys, one Safeway, Discovery, Spine, CVC, EMC, me, CalGiant, one other I didn't know. I didn't start working immediately thinking could see Haydn or Scott and that the feed zone thing wasn't too cool. But after going back through crosswinds, we were all alone, so it was just time to work and finish the race up. Attacking back through the hills, we lost two, including Discovery. Near the end we lost EMC as well, though he struggled back on for the finish. With 1K to go I opened a small gap and thought maybe I should go, but dithered a little too long.
Ended up with a sprint at 200M, and we know how that goes for me. 4th out 6, at least I wasn't last! CVC won it, then Wire, then Brennon.
First off: Scott crashed and I'm not up to the current prognosis. Sounds like he'll be off the bike for a bit. There was a lot of gravel from new asphalt on one of the descents and a number of fields had problems with it. Shot out to Scott, hoping he's feeling better.
As far as the race, it was a smaller field, with biggest representation from Discovery Masters team. Only two Safeway guys, one of which was Chris Wire who has been riding really well. The course is not a climber's course, luckily, cause I was feeling the two crits at Modesto in my legs and needed a warm up. I know Haydn felt that as well. Luckily they supplied us with exactly that for the first 10 miles up the climb, which is really gentle with a couple of steeper sections. Then on the descent and the flats after we were whizzing along.
Maybe if my speedometer was on I would have realized that there was a big tailwind, but as it was I didn't have much clue until we took the left hand turn and BLAM into a 20 mph crosswind. Well Discovery goes to the front and drills it, and gutters it, such that we quickly lose half the field. It was really hard to back to the front that had the only echelon that you could hide in. The rest of the field was single file in the gutter and big gaps were opening up quicker than you could gasp "WTF?".
Luckily it let up after a mile or two and we did the last climb towards the turn around. This is where there was asphalt and some AV riders were already on the ground as we went up (made a mental note). Descending to turnaround I see Hadyn on the front, as we turn some guys almost stopped and Chris Wire took opporturnity to attack there. Unfortunately the feed zone was also right there which isn't too cool, but that's what happened. Some guys were going for water, including Haydn, while Brennon (sic?) from Spine and couple of others including me jumped on Wire ascending from there.
It was eight guys, one Safeway, Discovery, Spine, CVC, EMC, me, CalGiant, one other I didn't know. I didn't start working immediately thinking could see Haydn or Scott and that the feed zone thing wasn't too cool. But after going back through crosswinds, we were all alone, so it was just time to work and finish the race up. Attacking back through the hills, we lost two, including Discovery. Near the end we lost EMC as well, though he struggled back on for the finish. With 1K to go I opened a small gap and thought maybe I should go, but dithered a little too long.
Ended up with a sprint at 200M, and we know how that goes for me. 4th out 6, at least I wasn't last! CVC won it, then Wire, then Brennon.
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