Spring in Cali

Climbing and Size

2009-06-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

I 've often heard the refrain 'I'm too big to be a climber'. This is too simplistic, since it doesn't take into consideration the field you're riding against. For example, I'm sure I can find a 6'5", 200 lb guy that can beat all the regional Category 3's and 4's, so I don't think that those guys can use that reasoning.

On the other hand, there is no 6'5", 200 lb guy that can beat all the very small guys that win on the world moutain stages. So if you're riding the Tour then you could say 'I'm too big to be a climber'.

So you're left with the continuum in the middle. Where in that continuum can the excuse no longer be used. I think that even the regional p1/2 races aren't fast enough to exclude big guys. How big is Barry Wicks for example, anyone know? He won Pescadero in '07 when I raced the p1/2s. Now Pescadero is not a pure climber's race by any means, but still, that guy is big. Nate English is not a small guys either and he kills the climbs. How big is Nate?

Best of times, worst of times

2009-03-23T16:06:00.000-07:00

Not often that in one weekend one gets in the worst possible 3 man break, and the best possible 3 man break.

On Saturday, it was me and two Webcor riders (Bucholtz and Rand). I should have been able to hang on for 2nd, but they attacked me in the last lap a couple of times and could only get 3rd. I felt pressure to work until the last two laps because if they attacked me earlier I could have been dropped back to the group. Bucholtz was riding strong and I know just the two of them could have stayed away.

On Sunday, it was me and two of my own (Brian and Eric) in a break. Doesn't even matter what order we finished there.

FUI - it's not illegal but not a good idea either.

2009-03-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

My fb Status Update on Friday night read: "The Compound says screw Madera". Not particularly comprehensible, or sensible. I was at Sean's playing poker and drinking wine along with Mary and Mel. We were saying how happy we were to be there instead of stuck out in some valley hotel doing the stage race.

Some sour grapes, perhaps, cause we do like to race. But we were a couple of glasses or bottles in by that point and consequently quite confident in our choice.

We got a late start and an even later finish. We were playing with pennies and bicycle parts. I'm sure we were scrambling the rules by the end of the night. I got the worthless plot. Next time we're playing for money. And maybe with real chips too. The booze part should remain the same.

Somehow got out to the HOP ride the next day. Got a headache out in the crosswind section on N Livermore but it dissipated before the gas station. Other than that I was OK, and even felt fast. A nap and some zoning out and I was back in action for the evening.

John gets 2nd today!

2009-03-08T15:43:00.001-07:00

John gets 2nd today!

Team Ride on Saturday

2009-03-05T16:17:00.000-08:00

It's time for one of the drives down to Fresno! Should be fun actually. Weather is good, get some team photos.

Need a photo of all the 595's stacked up together. Oooh, shouldn't use the phrase 'stacked up'. Parked together sounds better.

fb a blogbuster?

2009-03-02T21:51:00.001-08:00

My blog has a been a bust of late. I'm going to blame fb. Facebook has it's blogging aspect to it, I think most would agree. You can blog 140 characters at a time in your Status Update for example. You can do your photos etc.

In fact it has just enough blogging to have killed my blog. But the blog does something more. It's an unadulterated, verbose, diatribe with any apps, or news feeds. I'm going to be sure to keep this up.

Not too much to report on the cycling front. Merco was fun in the p1/2's. 120 miles of fast fun. Did it in 4 hrs and about 20 min. Rock Racing won in a bunch sprint.

I hadn't been in a race with a bunch of follow vehicles that would come around us to support the break when it had enough of a gap. More gratifying was bringing the break back enough that they had to come back off. I could see Jordi in his CalGiant mobile on the side of the road. Nice... That was worth the pain right there.

More to come....

My Son, the Theater major

2009-01-30T07:09:00.000-08:00

Film major, Theater major, same thing right?

Palm Springs

2009-01-27T09:05:00.001-08:00

Hiked to the top of the hill behind town.

The Robot Show

2009-01-25T19:15:00.000-08:00

In Palm Springs

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Gorillas

2009-01-19T13:00:00.000-08:00

It tried to bite me.

2009-01-19T12:25:00.000-08:00

Penguins

2009-01-19T12:16:00.000-08:00

Did anyone ever see the movie "Five Corners"?

Zoo with Andy

2009-01-19T11:59:00.000-08:00

beats being at work!

Oakland Riots

2009-01-07T22:04:00.000-08:00

Been a slouch

2009-01-05T20:04:00.000-08:00

I havne't been updating my blog. Does everyone have an RSS feed tool they are using so at least you don't have to check back here all the time. With a feed tool you can see centrally if there has been an update on any of the blogs you look at. I use Google Reader which you can add to your iGoogle page. I recommend it.

Anyway, nothing very interesting. I let myself get pretty overweight and out of shape this fall. I kept running, but that's not good for weight maintance, at least not for myself. I've been out riding the last couple of weeks, freezing my ass off.

Other reason that I haven't been blogging is that Facebook seems to fulfills a part of anyone's blogging needs. If you're on Facebook please click on 'Join my Network' to the right so I can be seen on Facebook.

Tom also designs Furniture

2008-12-03T14:41:00.001-08:00

padoutdoor.com

Courtyard House

2008-12-03T11:55:00.000-08:00

This is the house that my brother Tom designed in LA. There is a book on Amazon that has more info on it.

Baby Aussie 'Tiger' arrives

2008-11-14T15:01:00.000-08:00

Congrats Haydn and Ingrid! Haydn says he was born 'Naturally', but I'm not sure if that means that it was a home birth or in the hospital with no meds.

From Haydn:

Tiger Cerqueira Llewellyn Mackay (Tiger Mackay) weighed in at 7 lbs 14 oz and was just under 21 inches long. Both mum and baby are doing great.

ELITE Plan

2008-11-04T14:44:00.001-08:00

Just in case Obama loses....

Evan won overall

2008-11-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

Salmon Duathlon

2008-11-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

This is the big reason to do this event.

Few scatterings of rain, but we mostly lucked out.

1 cent a day

2008-10-29T17:51:00.000-07:00

George commutes over the bridge using this electric hub and says he spends a penny in electricity a day. I say I use 0 cents a day. Ken is digging out glass from his tire. Damn bridge path is littered.

TeamGHI

2008-10-29T15:20:00.001-07:00

and its plus one now

TeamGHI

2008-10-29T15:14:00.000-07:00

TeamCommute power. Me, Ian, and Mark Schroeder would make a good team.

McPalin sticker....

2008-10-28T18:35:00.001-07:00

...on a Hummer? Imaginative. Actually Palin didn't figure into the sticker. Think they're over the VPILF.

TO conflagrations

2008-10-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

Glad to see things have calmed down over at TO. Now, first of all I'll destroy anyone that tries to reignite the debate itself on my blog here. I mostly just want to say it's a great bunch of people with some volatile personalities. And it's a 'club', though Team is in the title of the club, don't be fooled. Once you give into the 'club' definition, its pretty darn successful.

Rock on TO guys and gals. As Tom emailed me: I'm still TO at heart, if not at the finish line. I added that last phrase myself, but it worked I think. Hopefully see you out at the Port again soon on the fixie. Been taking care of business with family and home.

Blog deficiency, try to make up with running...

2008-10-28T09:14:00.001-07:00

I have not done my blogging duty. Haven't been riding the bike much. What have I been up to? Redecorating and Running, Reminiscing (I made up the last one to make it three R's).

Been running pretty well on the weekends, doing my 10 mile route around Lake Chabot. It's a really nice trail, 1/3 asphalt, 1/3 firetrails, 1/3 single track. My first time doing the route a month ago, the crazies were out doing a 50 mile run. You know when your running mechanics are falling apart and you're wearing a backpack that maybe you're running too far.

I talk to some runners at the finish, cause I didn't immediately know the distance though the death masks gave away some kind of 'ultra'. I make the mistake of commenting that I just did my (small) 10 mile run to which this runner says: 'Don't worry, you'll get better...'. Endeavor to improve. Thanks.

I think you should only run as far as you keep running at a certain pace. Otherwise you're dragging your legs, leading to more injuries and generally less enjoyment. We have an unfortunate approach to running in the country these days. It's binary: you either run a marathon or you don't run at all. With that philosophy people are less likely to keep it up as a healthy life style, opting instead for a six month stint and the honor of saying they've finished one.

Marks new house

2008-10-19T14:13:00.001-07:00

Near the oakland zoo

2008-10-05T21:42:00.000-07:00

The Dude says

2008-10-02T09:02:00.000-07:00

Work is a bitch.

Moving my son, Leo, into

2008-09-23T01:28:00.001-07:00

Moving my son, Leo, into UCSC today

IUD

2008-09-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

Leo moves in....

2008-09-20T14:05:00.001-07:00

You know the season is over when...

2008-09-17T17:48:00.001-07:00

I need a new helmet. I'm down to one pair of team shorts that I have
wash every night. I kinda feel like racing still but they're turning
the lights out.

Been a great year with a new team. Thinking I'd like to go back to
more p12 on the rr side of things.

For now it'll be back to running. See Larry and Andres out at Knight's
Ferry in November for the duathlon.

Thanks to all the racers out there that made it fun. Especially the
team but oppenents toom

Anti SFT weekend

2008-09-14T23:38:00.000-07:00

Got a little turned off by the 'invitation only' thing on Saturday (I was a spectator however). For riding, I decided to try out the new Folsom Omnium. Bit of a sleepy afair, yes, but it was fun. The courses were good, and the staff were... learning.

Stage 1: 10 mile TT
Stage 2: Folsom crit, same as the OTHER Folsom crit, but backwards.
Stage 3: The highlight: an amazing 1.5 mile circuit race with chicanes, hairpin, tunnel, two bridges, headwind/roller section.

I did the timing and decided I could both the 35+ and the p1/2 omnium, with no expectations. Rolled the TT, felt better in the second one. Did the crits: small fields, but pretty fun. Paulsen won the crit which put him first in the 35+. ZTeam did a good job to win the p1/2 crit putting Lyman first there.

Stage 3 35+: Paulsen just up and told me beforehand he would be exactly one wheel behind me cause I needed three wheels to beat him overall. Dan got in the 6 man break which I knew I couldn't bridge to cause Dan would stop working. I Won the pack sprint with Jeff on my wheel. At least I'm rested for the next race, plus 2nd overall, cause they wouldn't let me work at all.

Stage 3 P1/2: we get a lot more guys than the day before cause all the SFT guys came over. Attacks come quick and a five man break forms. I manage to bridge with no response from ZTeam who lost track of me. Six man break goes to a three man break with me, Tyler, and JD. Game over. I work a bunch cause I'm the only GC guy in there. Manage to win the Omnium out of it, with a good payout to boot.

Hopefully Folsom people will put this on again next year, with lessons learned. Great courses, good fun. Here's something you've never seen: there was a light rail train that they halted as the group came through. Stopping train for a local ride? Nice!

Sidenote: Keith points out to me the dried pool of blood today, from the Cat 3 race I believe. Jesus: never seen that before. Anyone got details? Was the guy ok? Wish I hadn't seen that.

win at the Giro

2008-09-01T13:53:00.000-07:00

Dunnigan

2008-08-31T17:10:00.001-07:00

Here's what I know: wohlberg won the p1/2 from break w Jesse Moore. I
won the 35+. Ex teammate Toby won the 3's. Flavia won the womens. My
bro was 6th in the 45 race.

Anyone have update on Jonathon E? got swallowed up by the biggest hole
ever. Last seen sitting up but very bloodied.

san ardo

2008-08-23T12:23:00.001-07:00

effing flat 2 miles in. glad I didn't any of my teammates time.
sounds like negative race from there. rector won it. hansen won the
p12. vinnie ninth. I want to hear about martin/reaney fued. sounds
like it escalated further today.

Wed night track

2008-08-21T13:49:00.001-07:00

I haven't done a Wed night session in how long? Turns out this was the first one of the year, and it's the second to last session. Better late than never.

The A's wasn't a huge group, but we had Hutch, and the lurking Keiran, so it was fun enough. Could have done without the Chariot race, which Keiran won.

I was able to leverage Hutch's attacks in the Win n Out to launch my own attack for the win. In the Tempo, they just let me go for a while.

The Miss n out, Hutch and I just kept the pace honest on the front but were outgrimaced by Keiran for the win there.

In the end, the Omnium was tied by Keiran and me. And I thought there was going to be a pound of Peete's....

I kid you not.

2008-08-16T14:53:00.000-07:00

This is me on bee venom. One mile before the finish of Winter's 35+ race one landed on my lip and stung. It was a race to the finish before the inevitable face swell-up. Maybe that sped my sprint for the win, cause I knew I needed some Benedryl quick!

We established a five man break early on in the race, a couple miles in. It was Chis Carscadden, Chris Wire, Dan Bryant, and a Chico Rider. Chris C couldn't get up the second climb with us, so four finished in the break. The Chico rider was kind enough to lead it out from 500 yrds or so. I came around him just before the finish, with Dan right on my wheel.

NBC Server disapointment

2008-08-10T20:41:00.000-07:00

Got all excited about the idea of watching live Olympics online and their servers SUCK! Would rather watch Nadal play than listen to 25 minutes of commentary out of 30 min of coverage on NBC, but I've been stymied.

The live feed works is buffering about 50% of the time, at least at prime time. It was fine early in the morning, and late at night, but....

If I were to find a silver lining its that everyone else share my feelings on the terrible NBC coverage. Everyone else clearly is trying to watch online just like me! Perhaps they could take the message and actually show sport instead of yap all the time.

Olympics

2008-08-10T17:15:00.001-07:00

Olympic Medal winners at NBC Olympics.com!

China finally opens up...

2008-08-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

...I'm talking about the Olympics sports coverage, not human rights! What were you thinking?

So NBCOlympics.com is going to show a huge amount of coverage of all the sports you'll never see in primtime, without all the 'human interest' crap. Actually, without commentators too, seems to be just the World Feed.

The schedule is quite detailed too, so you can actually tune in for your event, whereas prime time you have to watch the whole crappy three hours to see the five minutes you were looking for. Here's an example of some Cycling Track coverage.

On the political front: I don't think we, in this country, have nothing to feel defensive about. If we had the Olympics this year, visitors could reasonably protest the Iraq War (just like people want to protest Darfur and Tibet in China). So what's the difference? The protesters wouldn't be harrassed like they will be there. Was going to say that at least we wouldn't deny them a visa, but on second thought...

Timpani

2008-08-03T18:12:00.000-07:00

Tim said earlier in the week that a break would never stick here, and doesn't usually. Today the wind and the field was such that both races had breaks at the end.

In 35+, I went early and Nate(ICCC) and Dennis(LGBRC) came with me. We got a big gap early, but Nate was spent and we weren't holding enough speed to stay away. I started to conserve for the next group. Ended up being very big 12 man break, but we had all three of our guys in it, so Tim and I went very hard to make it stick and that was that. Brian was able to sit in. Tim and I led out the last two laps and Brian was able to outsprint McCook in the final straight by around 2 bike lengths. Very satisfying. McCook was doing only his 2nd ever Masters race, after winning Lafayette. Man, he was in a bad mood. Didn't like one of my attacks and did some voodoo track shit on me, trying to frighten me or something.

The p1/2 race was FAST. Multiple valiant attempts to get away failed. I went to the back to rest up for the finsh, but with 8 to go, a big 10 man break got away. Vince was in it, as was JD from BPG, so there was a lot of blocking going on. Unfortunately for us, Vince was the only one caught with 100 yrds to go. Brian was 2nd in pack sprint. Sounds like KMiller won it.

Kudos to Karla for doing the whole race! A bunch of those LGBRC women entered, but she alone endured.

Districts

2008-08-02T14:52:00.001-07:00

Reaney solos it again, for 2nd week in row. No Jesse this time. I
want to see the 3peat next w/e Steve.

Master's Districts

2008-07-27T18:58:00.000-07:00

Here's what I know:

Crit

30+ - some Nevada dude that no one knew. Mendoca almost got him sounds like.

35+ - LeBerge

40+ - Paulsen

45+ - Clover guy that's not Bubba (Chad?)

I left after that

30+ - Jesse Moore

35+ - Reaney (actually crossed the line together with Jesse, very confusing, 'solo together')

40+ - Michael Taylor (never had seem him before, was a bad ass in years past from what I gather)

45+ - Langely

I left after that.

Me? 10th both days. Ouch....

Strummer

2008-07-17T23:34:00.000-07:00

Watching the Joe Strummer movie , realized I saw him live twice. Once in the Clash in 1982 in Pittsburgh, PA, then in 2002 in The Mescaleros. Venue for the latter was the Filmore. Though Mescaleros weren't the epic band that The Clash were, Joe had more life to him at the latter show. He was in his element, couldn't keep your eyes off him, the music was great.

In 2002 I had never been to the Filmore before! I had given up on live music for a while after over spending on too many bad arena shows. Joe got me back into live shows.

As to the earlier show, The Clash played in this little gym on the CMU campus, and I was right up against the stage, all of 16 years old. Even though they were big they were playing the small venues. I was feeling Joe's spit as he churned through the songs. By 1982 that same punk energy wasn't there, but he still gave it his all.

Uncle Joe dying was a sad day. The movie's pretty good. Made mostly for the hardcore fan.

The Flashback

2008-07-15T18:51:00.001-07:00

The year is 2005. The race is Watsonville. A 'young' new rider has
flatted out of the 4's race, from a four man break that stayed away.
In his first year of racing, this was his first crit break, had only
watched those things on tv. And be out of it, was biting.
Chagrined, he quickly signs up for the open 35+ race, another first.
How hard could it be? As the race started it became apparent that it
wasn't the pace that made it hard. It was faster, but that was good,
felt right. No, there was 'team work', something else seen on the
small screen, but to be in it... well....
He would find out later that what he witnessed that day was not
altogether 'positive' racing, but riders in the same jersey were
working towards a common of winning. Getting that jersey across the
finish line first.
Also only to be learned later was that the flash of blue that
disappeared at the start line, only to seen 40 minutes later on the
podium, was Mike Hernandez. The 'young' rider tried and tried to get
up to the soloist, but why are these other guys following him?
dragging me back to the losing pack? Why aren't they helping me get up
there? His protoracingbrain told him it must be a team thing. The guys
in blue were working in concert.
It was his first lesson in many. A string of lessons which would, one
day, stick. He wanted to be that solo man, suffering, but knowing he's
working only for himself and team.
He was happy. Content at the end with getting his first ever BAR point
in the 35+ category. That would need to keep him satisfied thru 2005
because even today, if he looks at that year's BAR, he sees he is
second to last, with exactly one point.

Lafayette

2008-07-14T19:17:00.001-07:00

Will have to blog more about p12 later cause that was a bizarre race.
I continued to feel like absolute shit...
I did in the masters race too. Got to the final five laps and Tim laid
out a nice attack w McCook, Derdenger, and PPenn. When they were
caught w three to go I went off with Scott and had a nice gap that
would have held but he couldnt/wouldnt work. Caught with one to go.
Got back in line tenth and found enough sprint for 6th.
Special thanks to TomC for the needed encouragement every lap! Heard
it every time...

Coyote Creek

2008-07-12T20:05:00.000-07:00

Nice. The team finally won both races at a crit! Eric won the 35+ out of a 4 man break, which took off very early. Vince then won the p1/2 out of a 6 man break, which also took off very early.

John won the pack sprint in p1/2 for 7th. Brian was second in the pack sprint in 35+ for 6th. Really good day.

SC

2008-07-05T17:18:00.000-07:00

these guys have some cool equipment

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We did win two races

2008-07-05T16:31:00.001-07:00

We did win two races in five days. Good. Don't feel like I rode very well for them tho. Welcome home Julian! Most impotantly.

Admit I don't like to

2008-07-05T16:28:00.001-07:00

Admit I don't like to blog when its not all good news. Just hanging in Santa Cruz forgetting about races for a couple days

AVC Ready!

2008-06-20T10:19:00.000-07:00

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Euro 2008

2008-06-13T13:12:00.001-07:00

And Holland scores again! Would be amazing to see both Italy and
France be out of the Group of Death. The winner of their game
together will most likely squeeze thru.
Holland has always been a favorite as long as they aren't playing
England. We'll see how they fare against Spain and Portugal in later
rounds.
Love it. Here's to a rebuilt 2010 England team....

Time to port

2008-06-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

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Nice weekend (even with cancelled Fremont Crit)

2008-06-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a good day to just ride the hills in the great weather. I need a crit to be cancelled to give me the break. It's hard for me to just skip one.

Ran into some friendly faces out there: a Team Oakland ride, Copeland with his girlfriend. I like to ride South Redwood Road out of Castro Valley to prepare for Pescadero. Pretty similar duration and grade.

Wrote reports for the races today at Sierra Pacific website. Was a good day out there for sure. With Brian winning the 35+ District TT Championship, we had two team wins on the day!

All that on top of having one too many margaritas at Tom and Karen's house (thanks guys!) I notice that Keiran, Sean, Brian didn't make it to the races. Guess they can't handle their liquor.

Julian Wilk

2008-06-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

Went to the hospital Saturday to see the J Wilks. Baby looked active and healthy. Juliette is leaving the hospital today and Julian will be camping out for a month or so.

We took John to Cato's for a pitcher (or two). Hope they didn't give him a hard time getting back in the hospital.

Juliette pointed out that the baby shower, planned for two weeks from now, will become John's first Father's Day.

Painful week

2008-06-02T12:07:00.001-07:00

How not to plan a training week (or at least if you want to have a good TT time):

Monday - two Memorial day crits
Tuesday - ride the Port hard (four man break)
Wednesday - First try ever at motor pacing with Tim G and Stephen L
Thursday - ride TT bike to work to make sure it's ready for Dunlap
Friday - Go to track, try out 94 inches for the first time this year
Saturday - Two Dash for Cash crits: ride off the front for 59 min in the 35+
Sunday - Dunlap TT

Legs were in enough pain at the track Friday that I bagged the Miss n Out, which is usually my favorite. I was so bad in the p1/2 Snowball and Scratch that it wasn't worth it (and that keg of Flat Tire was looking really good too).

Luckily wasn't too bad on Saturday in Pleasanton. Strange races each in their own way. I'll right a proper report a little later.

High point of yesterday wasn't the race, but getting asked about getting on an Olympic Sprint team for Master's Track Nationals! Sounds like a blast and I'll start practicing my standing starts. The event is where three guys TT a kilo together, one guy peeling off every lap.

Guest Directin'

2008-05-30T14:19:00.000-07:00

So Frankie Andreu is guest directing Proman and Hernandez is guest directing Vanderkitten for national level events, Philadelphia... Oklahoma...

I was thinking I could guest direct Team Oakland at the Dash for Cash. I'm waiting for the invite....

Congratulations to John and Juliette!

2008-05-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

Yep, Julian Thomas Wilk is fast like his dad I guess. Just had to be born. He's a little early at 32 weeks, 4 lbs 5 oz, and I think John said 17 inches.

But both Julian and Juliette (and John) are fine sounds like, though Julian will be hangin' in the 'cubator for a little while! The whole 'J' motif is pretty cutesy...

Happened this morning. Congratulations guys.

Mana

2008-05-30T09:54:00.000-07:00

Andy's photo class

2008-05-29T22:53:00.000-07:00

My daughter's photo collection

Trippy race day: June 21st

2008-05-28T17:34:00.001-07:00

Not only is AVC going on at Hellyer this weekend, the new Napa Crit has a points race format only for the 35+ race?? Interesting, but who came up with that? Is it in honor of AVC? Why not do it for p1/2 while they're at it?

I'm hoping to race Napa at 2 pm (maybe even p1/2 at 4 pm), then jet down to Hellyer for the 6 pm track session. Any bets on whether this can be done? The Masters Points race on the track isn't until late in the session, so I'm betting it can be!

Track/Sacramento/Memorial Day Racing

2008-05-28T15:18:00.000-07:00

Never posted on the overall weekend of racing (tho you can see race reports at the Sierra Pacific blog).

The brave soul could have raced four venues this past Memorial Day weekend (I'm buying beer for anyone that can add Comments saying they did this).

It was:

-Hellyer Friday Night for the Hernando show.

-Golden State's New (sometimes) course Saturday

-Mt Hamilton Logistical Nightmare Sunday

-A wind-less Memorial Day Crit on Monday

1) Hellyer Highlights for Friday night? I was embarrased to be booted out of the 3/4 Miss n Out. The week before they were letting in all 40+ I think, so I assumed I could race. No, I couldn't. I'm starting to like the Miss n Out and was able to top five again in P1/2. Gio was playing the 'devil' and sniping the last rider the whole race! When my time came, I obliged.

The mystery pts race? Eh, it was alright. If you guessed the bells correctly it was good. I didn't. Celebrity guest bell ringers?? Mark Patten?? He didn't even wear his skinsuit.

Tired of getting schooled by Dan Smith in the 40+ Scratch race. He's won both in the series.

2) Golden State Great new 180 turn. Which made it especially irritating when they removed it in the middle of the 5's race! Made the negative Masters even more negative.

Need to learn techniques when being taken to the curb (plow on through? Protest? I've heard suggestions of initiating fist fights... not my style).

Nice work Brian J of TO for winning the 4's. He'll be a very good addition to the 3's. He was in our Port break of four last night and I have a feeling he'll be more than holding his own in the new field.

3) Mt Ham Didn't do it. Jesse Friese crashed and I hope he's doing well. Francesca did her first p1/2/3 race and it sounded like tons of fun.

Some Davis guy rides solo away from 3 Giant, Cozza, and Wohlberg. Gotta love that.

4) Morgan Hills Crit Always like this race... when there is more wind! There was very little wind which meant there not a break to be had all day (someone correct me if I missed one). 35+ race was actually pretty fun: the boys in black and blue did really well. Lot of firepower in p1/2 but came down to a bunch sprint as well.

Never seem Tim G get angry before. Thought I was going to have to break up a fist fight in the reg line. Something about cutting in line, drug allegations...

Mel gets another point. Oh yeah... Toby got his Cat 3 upgrade too! We'll see him Saturday in the 35+ race. Should be fun.

Chance to do this all again this weekend: Another Friday Night Track, Dash for Less Cash, then Dunlap TT!

thin red line

2008-05-28T14:07:00.000-07:00

The line between nature and city was blurred last night as a racoon
continually found its way into my house to eat.... cereal. I'm
surprised he didn't use milk.

Prom pics huh? I'll go look for some pics to post. Suffice to say
everyone looked great. As far as I can tell no one drank or anything.

Valley Ride

2008-05-22T10:59:00.001-07:00

Valley Ride not particularly exciting. Was good to see Ted Huang out there, attacking for the Huddard KOM. Three Slipstream riders our there. Dan Martin was there, riding the gravel on the shoulder most of the time for some reason.

Ride home across the bridge was fine, but once I turned north in the East Bay the wind was ridiculous!

Crit/Track weekend

2008-05-19T09:58:00.001-07:00

I'll be skipping Mt Ham in favor of 150 miles of perfectly flat crit and track racing this Memorial Day weekend. I figure that Friday night track, plus two races on each crit day, Golden State and Memorial Day, will work out to my 150 mile figure, give or take 20 miles.

Don't get me wrong, I love the epic RR, it's just that with all the other racing possibilities it's hard to give up the entire day to the tough logistics that encompass racing Mt Ham. Either leaving a car at both ends, or making it a 120 mile day with the hardcore riders that head back to San Jose though Calaveras.

For anyone that hasn't been, recommend heading down for Friday night at Hellyer, even as a spectator. Beer, food, guffaws, all make it worthwhile. The results from the first Friday are in the NCVA Google Group, but not on the web site yet. Need to know who to target for the series...

turn left at the cilanto

2008-05-18T14:32:00.001-07:00

The Modest RR was weird today. not enough horsepower to get away. Hollaway was marked from the beginning so he just single handedly brought everything for a sprint finish.

With two to go we had a group of seven, but efforts were uneven and Daniel caught that too. Mike Hardy was in it, his first real break in his new field. Maybe next time he'll be able to work.

Last lap I was solo for eight miles but was chased down by Mcguire. They should have used up DH instead. it helped set up John for Third anyway.

There was a strong smell of Cilantro at one of the turns. When I had my head down and suffering when going solo it reminded me to look up and look for that next turn.

Sad and alone

2008-05-16T14:56:00.001-07:00

Much like NPR has more listenors than donors, I get the feeling I get a lot more viewers on this blog than I get commentors. I really like comments guys! Come on, give me more comments.

Have had random people roll up and ask about the blog, so I know you're out there!

Unrelated: See you all out in the furnace that will be the Modesto Crit and RR this w/e. Not sure how I lucked out to get the rare early p1/2 race tomorrow but: hellejulah!

Buchholz Is Back? Other 'notables' at Mt Hood

2008-05-15T12:55:00.001-07:00

Didn't realize that Buchholz was back racing. Pretty fast healing from breaking leg at Merced Crit...

Other 'notables': (in quotes cause these are people I know rather than famous)
Vinnnie is and even 100 in GC. Go Vinnie!
Virgina Perkins is 20th in GC, did the Port ride with us last year in her CRC kit
AJM 10th! Damn

Bike to Work Day!

2008-05-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

biscuit, kim langone, others from ghi work.

Port last night was pretty fast

2008-05-14T11:50:00.001-07:00

Finally got my GPS unit fixed so I have some lap averages from last night:

Some warm up laps before but then to business:

25.1
28.6
28.4
28.4
28.0
28.0
28.0 (consistent huh?)
30.1
27.0
29.2

My bro goes down at Track

2008-05-14T11:49:00.000-07:00

Sounds like Mark was taken down at the Points Races last night. He reports to be mostly OK, with a sore back and minimal road rash on this shoulder. Bike: fork is dust, front wheel is OK.

Lilian Kim

2008-05-12T23:02:00.000-07:00

That is the name of a prim asian american reporter on channel 7. Did she purposely try to associate herself with Lil' Kim?

Some sort of sublimal messaging perhaps...

Pleasanton 35+

2008-05-12T14:51:00.001-07:00

Tim and I were being brats at the start of the 35+ race on Saturday, at the re-crowned EBC Crit. We clearly announced to anyone who cared to listen the team's stategy for the race. Tim and I would attack over and over, and if the field cared to pull it all back together for the finish we would unleash Brian on them.

The plan was executed as announced. A number of breaks went and came back, and we were in each one, as far as I remember. At one point Brian went to the front of the pack and wound the pace up so high that the pack was starting to splinter. There were a number of gaps opening up, then I was able to attack off the front of that to create a short lived break.

Ex TO teammate Sean Smith was doing lots of work at the front. It was good cause he would also wind it up, and I attacked and took three with me to create a break. The members moved around a few times but we ended up with Rich from VOS, Chris from Lombardi, and most importantly, Dirk Copeland ex olympian track stud.

I spent the 20 minutes or whatever it was, thinking about how I could finally finish ahead of this guy with great timing, and better jump. One thought was that I could sit in with two or three laps to go and say I didn't need to work since Bosch was back in the field and he could win the pack sprint. That plan was not to work out, since Brian was spotted spectating with three laps to go! So back to my attack. I jumped wide last lap between turn three and four. Dirk didn't bother trying to get on my wheel, he just jumped inside, got a gap and held it to the finish. Class act that he is, he divied up the primes with the guys in the break (he had won all three primes as well as the race).

I got Jessica Layman to believe that they were picking olympians separately and that I had won my division. She quickly figured me out however.

Sunset Magazine

2008-05-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

You must admit that it LOOKS like a pic from a a magazine, or maybe the society pages where the caption would read: 'Successful CEO and bike racer Ryan Bennett asks Jessica Soon-to-be-Bennett for her hand in marriage in idyllic Big Sur setting.'

Congrats guys. Hope we still get to see Ryan at the races....

track

2008-05-09T23:00:00.001-07:00

my blog has been empty all week mostly cause cat's hill kinda sucked. tonight at the track tho was really fun. first time back this year and my gear was too easy at 90 inches but neither could dampen the good times.

what's up w "reverse win n out"? instead of racing to win w five laps to go, u race for fifth and then on down. what this is means is the less self respect u have the more u sprint early. what happened, since both ajm and bjm were there, was they let four of us go to battle it out for 2nd thru 5th. I had just a little more self respect than doug and got 4th.

back to back miss n outs was... taxing. managed to get 2nd in 40+ and 4th in p1/2. I am starting to really like that race format. key seems to be to relax up in the front five riders. you only need to really start to sprint for spots when it's down to seven riders or so. big advantage that the jm's started to drive a very hard pace the last four laps or so. made it hard for anyone to come around.

Wente 35+ Crit

2008-04-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

The crits were pretty fun yesterday... once they actually STARTED! There were two bad crashes in the W123 field and by the time the 35+ race started we were 1.5 hrs late.

It was pretty hot, and I took an earlier flyer with Chris from Lombardi which hurt a lot more than it should have. They cut the race short to 40 min and it wasn't even that I don't think, so not much of a chance for games.

Brian got away with two Specialized, Bubba?, and some others, but strangely Specialized were the ones trying to chase it down with a little bit of MS help. Tim bridged up to an intermediate group for a while, but that came back. I sat at second and third wheel feeling pretty decent. The Special guys started to get tired of pulling when big Ken Carpenter came up for the last big pull to finally catch the break with about a lap to go.

I was that Hernandez and Bubba still were off the front a bit. Innes was trying to get to them and I got on his wheel with a half lap to go (don't forget these are big laps). He sat up before he got there, and I burned a match to get there myself. Perhaps not the best move cause Bubba died after the last turn, and then Larry comes burning down the straight with some Special guys in tow. He also had Briggs and Brian though. Briggs attacked, but Brian was able to come around him for the win.

Good to get the win with the small team!

kumbayaa my ass

2008-04-23T09:50:00.001-07:00

I can be a grouch.

We're doing 'teambuilding' today in Monterey. My idea of building a team is 'get ur ass to work and be proud of the result'. I'm going along with the feelgood version for today tho. Actually I have to.

John took umbrage with my entry yesterday where it appeared that I blamed him for drinking too much beer. Well if the shoe fits, as they say, John.

He suggested I dig out the text messages, suggesting that they would support his side of the story, which is that *I* instigate the pitcher buying. I've done so and will post them later. Rest assured, I have always been dragged to the bar.

Sun shining through the wire boat

2008-04-22T15:00:00.001-07:00

Really liked this pic of the Sunday crew working. The morning light shining through the hull. They plaster this weekend and hope to stop by after Wente RR to see them work on it. The plasterers are pros that are usually working on houses I assume, and this job must be something new for them, no? no right angles, all flowing curves.

One door closes and another opens

2008-04-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

Not sure that's the right analogy, but what I'm trying to say is that Mr Science leaves the 3's just as Cozza enters them.

(Maury, I can't link to your nonexistent blog, get with the program, your kids would be impressed. I mean they would make of fun of you to begin with, but would ultimately get used to it, like the spandex.)

Both of these guys will be happy with the transition. Maury finally gets to climb with guys equal to him (for now). Hoping he'll try some crits though. How old are you again Maury? I'm sure I've asked before but want to know if I'll finally get to race with you.

Mr Science gets to be in crits with attacks that go on and on, and then ultimately stick.

Good luck guys!

Another thing I do every year!

2008-04-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

Which is think I can ignore climbing hills and doing lots of miles. Go into the season and do 140,543 crits and 2 RRs. Skip doing a bunch of climbs on the weekends for said criteriums. All this leads to going into Wente RR feeling like a fatty.

Oh, and then there are those beers that I love. Been trying to keep the number down, but then John wants to go get a beer, or post Port we go to Cantaro's (spanish for 'I love Bohemia').

I swear I'll be down for Pescadero, which I find to be the best RR around.

One last thought on Wente. Can you name this dude who I know really loves this race? Nice face!

Morgan territories

2008-04-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

good day for Morgan: not too cold, sunny. It was ex TO ride only: justin, john. Ryan, and me. Best i've felt since sunday's rr.

Went to Lanesplitters after. Damn that Cask Hop Rye was good!

Lagier boatbuilders

2008-04-20T07:54:00.000-07:00

So background on yesterday's posts: in my good friend Robert Lagier's family, boatbuilding and sailing goes back three generations. His dad has built 34 boats and his grandad was a boatbuilder in WWII (big ships in this case), and both were in construction. During their lives they are always building something, usually a house or a boat.

The boats that they do for themselves are 30 to 50 sailboats. Wood, steel, or ferro-cement for material, and never, ever fiberglass. Fiberglass is considered a dilettante for these guys: just wrong. 'Like a floating bathtub' is how they describe the sterile material. But then everything about these guys says that they prefer an older age: hard work, beautful workmanship, self reliance, anti consumers.

Paul, Robert's dad, is also an almond farmer in Ripon (don't forget to pronouce it ăm'ənd), and that's where he builds his boats. They are later hauled to Stockton to be christened.

They are also sailors of course. Robert has single handed his grandad's 1962 wood boat, the Ave Del Mar, to Tahiti. Paul regularly sails his handiwork to Baja and Hawaii, the current vessel being a 40 foot steel boat: Dolce Vita (wife Erlene is Italian-American and very proud of it).

They inspired me to five years of wood boat ownership myself. I owned a 27 foot 1962Herschoff called Sona Maraudh, which while very fun to sail and very beautiful to look at, overwelmed me with work. I was spending all weekend, every weekend to get it ready for the sailing season. Had some amazing times sailing her. I think I need to become a millionaire before getting my next so I can have a crew working on it. Also realized: I just don't have that farmer ethic that the Lagiers display. IE, I'm lazy!

Modern day barnraising

2008-04-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

It will be another year before this hits the water! Lots of cabin work.

Another pic of boat

2008-04-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

Robert thru wire

2008-04-19T12:32:00.000-07:00

This is the wire mesh that is the scaffold for the cement to be laid down.

Ferro cement boatbuilding

2008-04-19T11:56:00.001-07:00

Here's why I rode out to Ripon: robert and his dad are building a 44 ft sailboat. You're looking at thousands of pieces of wire that will soon be floating in the ocean, once they are all plastered over. More on the technology later. Right now got to shower and get to work!

Boom!

2008-04-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

Just crossed the San Joaquin River. Beautiful weather in the Valley today.

This pic didn't come out well, but it's of the Manteca Sports Club, which is a shooting range.

Saturday Plans

2008-04-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

I've decided tomorrow I will ride out to my friend's house in Ripon (out by Modesto). If anyone has some good routes through Valley from Patterson Pass to Ripon, let me have it...

It's taken me most of the week to recover from that 85 mile break on Sunday, I'm just wiped out. The Port ride didn't help either, should have sat in!

Was nice to see the Port get some reportage in Beth's interview of Karla, by the by. This last week we saw some new characters come out. I'm thinking the summer out at the POO is going to be rippin'.

spirit of the Coyote

2008-04-13T20:02:00.001-07:00

when I saw the coyote run across the road after a lap of the Madera RR on Sunday, I knew the break would stick. they let me roll off the front a mile in, I didn't take it anymore seriously than they did. I figured I could help Vinnie by making it interesting.

we started with four riders, then three. three laps in, and two to go, we only had thirty seconds. the third rider gave up and I told tim farlane (sic?) we should still keep it up. I could see the pack attacking each other and Vinnie and galvin (bmc) were able to bridge across. off we went with Vinnie and pulling really hard, tim pulling, and galvin... not pulling.

I used myself up to try and get Vinnie more time. managed to stay in front of pack and Vince got third, moving up two spots in gc to 4th, 9 seconds out of 3rd. Matthis and Hunt stayed 1-2, Willinger in 3rd.

good fun all around.

Most Endearing Race Award

2008-04-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

This award goes to the Classic Santa Cruz Criterium. It's got it all:

-Santa Cruz style irregular course (industrial park this ain't)
-That little pothole after the hairpin that they never fix year after year
-Beautiful little descent
-First bump
-Second bump
-False flat that really hurts as everyone speeds up, better grab a wheel!

And hell: it's in Santa Cruz. Bunch of funny characters wandering around, the beach...

You can stay the night in the middle of the course in El View (Spanish for The View), roll out of bed watch some races out the back window, roll up to the Start.

Never been able to win a Tshirt in all these years of my favorite race. Now I have two!

Martinez P/1/2 mayhem

2008-04-07T11:41:00.001-07:00

Look at Brian in picture from last post. Tranquilly contemplating his 35+ win. While the p1/2 had less crashes than the 35+ (I think I heard at least four there), they made up for it with how spectacular the final lap was.

To set it up: a five man break was up the road for the last 20 minutes or so with two Rocks, Bissel, Reaney, and Justin (BPG). They weren't coming back, though we did bring it down to 15 seconds or so. Last lap CalGiant sets up a train which derailed into turn two. Sounds like Dibble went down first, taking out two teammates or so, Bosch, Henning (broken collarbone), McCook (broken wrist). Kind of blew up all the guys racing for the last twenty money spots (25th was still good for $65!). John held on for 15th. I had to brake some for the crash but got 22nd.

Eric got that last $65 spot. Those three spots were stil worth almost $300 combined. Great to have a payday race like that once in a while. Shell giving back some of that money I've spent driving to the Central Valley for the last two months.

Anyway, Brian isn't doing too bad: more skin gone, and no more bikes to ride, but looks to be back for Madera.

martinez

2008-04-05T12:51:00.001-07:00

Masters race went well. 1st and 5th.

There were breaks throughout the race but nothing stuck for long until Phipps and I got off with 10 to go. We got a pretty good gap but were caught with 1/2 lap to go. The line was pretty stretched out though, so it wasn't like the whole field caught us, it was more that Bosch, Hutch, and Scott D caught us. I let the gap open a bit while keeping speed up, in case anyone else wanted to chase them. No one did and I sprinted in for fifth. Bosch took those other two guys in the sprint for first.

Eric would have gotten top ten too I think, but caught up in crash with two turns to go.

Hanford fun

2008-04-02T13:11:00.000-07:00

Brian couldn't resist the money and staggered into this race all bandaged up and hurting from earlier 35 race. That gave us Brian,Eric, Tim and me.

The race started fast with the Symetrics rider (Canadian national champ) pulling hard at the front. it didn't take long for him to get away with Hansen, ajm, and bjm. they disappeared all too quickly, withOzzie and Copeland covering all our attempts to chase or break.

Finally, with around 25 min to go I got away with Fraga, Hernendez,and Copeland, who was now willing to work since we weren't a threat to the guys up the road. We quickly got a big gap and we just rolled tilthe last lap.Justin clipped his pedal in the lst turn and I was on his wheel so hadto pull up. Copeland had attacked just before and got 5th, I couldn'tmake up any more spots and got 8th. the whole team was in the money tho, 20 deep. only 22 finishers!

BMC comes to town

2008-04-01T18:20:00.001-07:00

not sure why these guys descended on the Ronde this weekend sure made
it fun. more interesting cause was first time w a p1/2 field.
I thought the race was a death march. lots of wind. single file. we
finished with 25 out of 75.
once the break was gone I wanted to help phipps, uthman, christian at
working but I felt awful, just wanted to go home. john worked some
too.
last lap , got enough energy to take john to the front then lead him
to the last turn. by his own admission he waited little too long and
usa scratch champ jumped us with reaney in tow. john got on their
wheel for 3rd in pack sprint, 8th overall. his first top ten and nice
work.

i'm going to say much about masters race, it was a sorry display on
many people's part: except for phipps (solo winner) and reaney ( solo
chaser ). sorry steve, jusy didn't have it that day.

Baseball cards

2008-03-26T13:27:00.001-07:00

was laughing with the Maury and John last night about who's Port stock was higher valued. Maury claims he is going to buy a Ridley over Look or Cervelo because he wants to be more like the Wilker.

No one would argue with, least of all me, John being the best looking certainly. if you prefer form over function, by all means go for the JWilk baseball card. On the flip side... well, say no more.

On the other hand, Maury, if you get a Look, you could always say you're flattering Hadyn over me. It wouldn't hurt my feelings cause I want to be Australian too.

My yearly Copperopolis wake up call

2008-03-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

I always wait until Copperopolis to come to the realization that you should really train for climbing races sometimes. Two a half months of crits every weekend does not a road racer make. I started the race with a lot of apprehension, cause last year in the 35+ race I was dropped first lap!

I was pleasantly surprised to find that the legs weren't all that bad this year. I guess crit power doesn't completely evaporate at the sight of the uphill. The extra weight I'm carrying perhaps a little offset by the new LOOK, the bike really was a pleasure. I've been riding Cannondales for three years, and this was a big departure.

First lap a and half were not very eventful. Talked to my three teammates: Bosch, Eric, Greg Mellor. The descent really was different on a carbon bike! Second time up the climb wasn't bad either, though it whittled the group to 19, and we still had four. Eric wasn't feeling good though, and as the group sped along the flats, he and a couple of other riders lost contact with the back.

Then Metclaf solo attacked and got a pretty good gap. On the little climb before descent, Phipps took off with Noble (Time). At the top, I took to the front and strung things out enough that we got a gap on the descent. I was surprised but thought I would continue this, taking teammate Greg and I up to the other three.

I then proceeded to work way too hard to make a gap with the five riders. In retrospect it wasn't smart: create a big gap and deliver the best climbers to the bottom of the climb. The last thing I heard was Greg saying: 'Let's work together up the climb', just before Phipps attacked and dumped both of us! Bastard.

Anyway, they got a 2 minute gap on us by the top! Saw the pack getting close, and I was ready to just go back when Greg said we should give it a try. He was right, and worked really hard, cause we stayed away for 4th and 5th. A real pleasure Greg, thanks for the help. I think he did quite a bit more work than me, I was cooked!

Bosch crashing into a crashing Dan Martin certainly marred things, but sounds like he's healing up and hoping to race again, perhaps as early as this w/e.

Now my back is all f****ed up from climbing without preparation. Hard to be old.... Hopefully back for the w/e though. Looking forward to Sierra Point. Need to decide between Hanford (3 hour drive, $4K, lots of teammates), and Brisbane (30 min drive, $1K, one teammate).

Good to see Ryan and John all jazzed up doing their first p1/2 Copper. They deserve more for their <30 place finish in that race than my 5th place finish in the 35+!

2008-03-23T19:34:00.000-07:00