Wente 35+ Crit

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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!