Comparisons

Today I was going to do an "epic" ride with Claudio, 75 miles and over 7,000 feet of climbing, but our schedule didn't match up so I went and did the Wheelworks ride in Davis instead.  This is hardly newsworthy information, but while on the ride I was told that I look like Bradley Wiggins.  I'm assuming this is due to my sideburns and gangly physique, though I stated that I don't have quite the schnoz for it.  Still, I hardly think mildly bushy sideburns is worthy of such comparisons.  I've only let them grow out a little:

Which is less aero, sideburns or euro-mullet?

Jules says I can only grow them out 2 more inches and then it's a bit too much.  I'm not sure how I feel about the comparison but at least no one called me Lance.

Pescadero, Little City and Misfortune

Ryan Malm and Ryan Odell both upgraded to the 3's and immediately snagged a good result. For this reason it was expected that I should do the same.  Under such pressure I knew I had to train like I've never trained before.  I knew this would be the make or break endeavor in this season.  So I sat down in front of the interweb and began to organize my super scientific approach to peaking at Pescadero.  I checked out cyclings tips - salute like a pro.  Obviously, I'm not delusional, so though I enjoyed the images from sprint wins, my focus was on the solo victory:
The Solo Victory

1. Ensure one’s jersey is fastened to the top and shall be perfectly aligned so all title sponsors are clearly visible.

2 One shall take a quick look behind prior to victory to gloat at the peloton’s futile second place sprint.

3. One shall prepare far in advance (preferably in front of mirror) for thee victory salute that shall be unleashed.  One shall look 100% confident that this has been done thousand times before.

4. One shall cloak all signs of fatigue at any cost.  A war-cry of aggression is acceptable emotion to be displayed.

5. One shall hold the victory salute for minimum of 20 seconds and heed placing hands on bars until soigneur approaches with towel and waterbottle directly before post-race interview.

Since I've shared this training secret I'm sure you can deduce how I did and won't even waste typing time on writing out my actual result.

Seriously though, Pescadero was a beautiful course. Hard race. Tons of climbing. I got into an early break that lasted only 2 climbs. On lap 2 I got gapped but was able to wait for Malm, who had done a ton of work on the front for a teammate earlier and the two of us were able to get back on. Sadly, I got popped at the start of the last lap, but was able to finish well enough without completely bonking. The next big event was Little City Stage Race south of Reno.

This did not go as planned.  I got a flat during my TT and crashed out of the crit about 40 minutes in.  I was able to dust off the bike and myself and did half of the road race the next day with a borrowed and suitably silly looking helment.  Mike Gonzales and I were able to at least put in some work before getting popped, and though I generally like to finish races even if I'm off the back, I played it safe after the previous days' mishap.  Malm, Ben and Matt had solid finishes in a highly dwindled pack.  I was pretty shocked at how much of the field didn't finish.

Yesterday my misfortune continued in a small way.  My dinky little cateye computer fell off 2 miles into the Wheelworks Race Ride and I figured rather than pulling over and wasting a bunch of time, I'd just look for it when we returned.  After the first sprint and the climbs a friend had some mechanical issues and the group wasn't willing to wait so the race ride turned into the Davis Masters Hammer Fest.  Six of us rotated pulls all the way back to Davis (though at certain points Bigs just pulled us all along).  Was it fast?  No idea, for when I returned to look for my computer I found it.

booyah

Exit question: I have had two of these cateyes pop off during a ride now.  Any suggestions on a similarly cheap computer with a more reliable snap in feature?

Folsom Cyclebration

With Little City Stage race in a month, I thought it would be wise to try for multiple day racing.  Folsom Cyclebration is a well put together series.  Sadly I couldn't make the Circuit Race on Sunday. But I did enjoy the TT on Friday and didn't hate the crit on Saturday.  I was able to work in one more day on Thursday at a local twilight crit series a coach is starting up.

First, the practice crit.  Since there were only two categories, the A's (Cat's 1, 2 and 3) and the B's (4 and 5) I of course did the B's, which turned out to be the biggest sandbagging I've ever done in my life. For the record I have won two bike races.  The first was the beginner class mountain bike race called Prairie City, the second was this crit.  Medium sized fish in teeny-tiny pond.  Don't get me wrong, weening is still fun and ostensibly I earned free entry into the Saturday crit that followed.  I'm waiting to see this promise fulfilled.

Friday was the TT and here's my position for all of you to analyze, critique and offer to fix for a reasonable fee:

So I've done about 5 time trials, and usually mounted my road bike and sometimes even threw on aero bars.  Pretty much I suck at it and have been trying to at least not lose position in a stage race.  This time out Carson lent me his transition and I hoped to honor his TT skill with a respectable ride.  I can't say how much respect it earned but it did provide me with my first ever podium photo:

photo credit: Brian Malmers
I can't believe I let the white t-shirt team beat me for 2nd.

The boys in the 3's also had a good day with 3 Davis boys in the top 5.  Claudio, Ben and Malm crushed it.

Feeling quite satisfied with myself I prepared for the dreaded D shaped crit.  This is perhaps my least favorite crit course because it isn't remotely technical and doesn't lend itself to break-aways.  That said I decided to "play it dumb" and try to go for every prime I could, except of course the cytomax prime.  I distinctly remember watching a rider go off the front while the dude behind me laughed and said, "It's all yours".  Basically, what I was trying to do was get Omnium Point primes and I ended up snagging 3rd three times for 2 place primes.  Oh well.  All of that snagging confirmed my rightful place as pack fodder.

As mentioned I missed the circuit.  The 3's had a good day and Malm got 5th, though I'll let him tell you why that's disappointing.  Here's a shot of him in a break that stayed away until the last turn.

Golden State Crits and Circuit

I'm not particularly good at crits, but I've decided I like them anyway and would like to figure them out.  This past weekend was the Golden State Series, a local and enjoyable couple of days of racing.  Saturday I was able to do the 30+ 4/5 as well as elite 4 category.

The 30+ race was fun.  I stayed near the front and was able to snag a wine prime.  For the uninitiated this is a lap of the race where they call out that the first person across the line wins some wine.  It's not the final lap, but is meant to encourage speed and entertainment.  I was able to attack on the back side and catch a solo rider before the line, so Juliette finally got something out of my racing ;)  I didn't end up figuring out the final lap however and ended up 13th.

I'm not actually at the back in this picture.  Perhaps people don't like riding behind me.
You guys can be honest, am I squirrelly?

The 4's race was fast and fun as well.  I was already pretty beat from the earlier race so I decided to ride at the front and get into every possible break.  A junior from Bicycles Plus and I stayed away for about a lap and then I attacked him before getting caught which allowed a few other guys to bridge to me.  Sadly, no one wanted to work.  With 3 laps to go I was pretty drained and ended up mid-pack, but low and behold I was not a total loser.  Turns out they had a "most aggressive racer" award and I found my niche.  A second bottle of wine and a hat.

Please also note in the above picture my stealthy Odell crabon tubies.  I been "running" these since Chico but needed to give a shout-out.  I'm not sure who I'm actually advertising to since the only people who read this blog are Odell, Malm (who has a pair of Odells) and my wife who doesn't ride.  Marc, that leaves you.  Consider me a high pressure salesman.

Sunday was the circuit and I decided to leave my aggressive ways behind me.  Didn't turn out as well for me, but Brasel more than made up for it with some aggressive photography.

Wente Vineyards

This was not my day.

If you look closely I think you can see me way back there, losing ground to this guy on the climb.

The above picture summarizes well how my legs felt going into this race.  I had plenty of rest due to travel, and perhaps it was too much rest.  Nonetheless it was a beautiful day and I love this race so I was determined to enjoy myself.  I was already off to a better start than the guy whose tire blew within seconds of the official blowing the whistle.  I also gave one of my stupid little attacks about a half mile from the first climb.  The first and second time up the climb were uneventful for me, and I was kind of disappointed that everything seemed to be staying together.  A theme for me this year in road races has been selections.  Since I'm too stupid to actually race my bike, I prefer these wind swept or climby races to do my thinking for me.  A selection finally came on the 3rd time up the climb and I wasn't in it.  There appeared to be two splits and I was able to catch what ended up being the third during the descent.  We had about 7 guys working together but I quickly discovered I was unable to pull through. I was toast.  The guys were cordial enough about my wheel sucking and I explained that I would not be coming around them on the last part if they were willing to let me sit in.  They obliged and we took the finishing climb slower than I thought possible.  I felt like I was doing one of those fixie bike who can go slowest races.  I can't complain though, because I probably wouldn't have made it without the tow.

My next hilly adventure will be Pescadero in late June.

Chico Stage Race

This race report is a little late so I'll probably remember things even less accurately than usual.

Day 1 was the Paskenta Road Race course, a 45 mile loop, mostly flat with some rollers and a 4 mile stretch of gravel.  Right from the gun two guys attacked off the front and the field wasn't entirely eager to chase them back.  A little more than halfway through the course Brasel went on the attack and had a few guys with him.  I dutifully followed wheels and contributed nothing and over the course of a couple miles this shattered the field.  Once I was satisfied I threw in and made it to the lead group, making it 7 guys chasing the original 2 off the front.  We caught to 2 leaders and only one could hang on with us and this was the selection before the gravel.  I figured I was safe and sat at the back through this, but that turned out to be a mistake because even with a small group I was swerving and braking too much and lost contact.  Brasel started his sprint a little early but snagged 7th and I was not caught by the group behind, so I held onto 8th.  All in all, not a bad day.

Day 2 was a downtown crit in Chico and it was fun.  The plan was for Brasel to lead me to the front with 2 laps to go, but as it turned out Brasel had some early umph and I sat up at just the right time for him to get into a small breakaway.  Just about every team was represented and Schuyler was doing some great blocking for Rio Strada.  At some point 3 of the 6 break mates fell off and were swallowed up but Brasel was committed and ended up taking 2nd and gaining some time in GC, IN A CRIT!  Pretty sweet.

Not much to say about the Time Trial except that I appear to be sucking a little less at this.  I definitely felt the pain of not having the right geometry, since I basically threw bars on and wore a TT helmet.  Brasel had a phenomenal TT, but unfortunately so did 2 other guys.  He ended up 2nd overall on GC and I held on for 10th.  Pretty fun weekend.

Here's a pic of Brasel crushing it.

Link

And here's a pic showing how much draft I get off of Brasel :)

Link

Wards Ferry Climbfest

Once again it was supposed to rain and once again it didn't.  This has occurred probably half a dozen times for me over the last few years.  I'm sure I'll start to get cocky about the weather and one of these days I'll face a Spring Hill 2010.  Click here for example.

I drove out well before the crack of dawn and headed for the hills of Sonora.  While standing in line to register this kid starts asking if he's supposed to race the 4's.  "I've only done a couple road races," he says.  The lady helps him out and it looks like he's due to upgrade.  I figure he must have done a handful of crits and has his 10 finishes.  I tell him good luck and figure I won't see much of him during the race.  This turns out to be true since he practically never leaves the front and ends up winning the race.  Afterward I heard the grumbling, "Dude, this pro mountain biker was in our race.  They should make any kind of pro cat up."  I even heard someone suggest this about a nordic skier.  I agree with the mountain biker sentiment but the nordic skier might be a step too far.  Just because Forest Gump becomes an international ping pong star doesn't mean he's pro enough to pack ride.


Of course, after watching this video I convinced myself I'm wrong.  First of all, I'm certain he could handle a bike, since he also handled football and Jenny's mood swings.  Secondly, have you seen him run?  Thirdly, did you notice when you go back and watch this movie how much time Forest spends talking about himself?!  He's totally a roadie.

Click here for gallery

Anyway the race was hard and the whole group lasted only 1 of 4 laps before the split.  I'd like to think I contributed to this, but who knows.

I was warned that the descent was tricky.  I thought this meant twisty, but what it means is bumpety.  I almost got bucked off a few times and this meant even the recovery on descents was anything but.

Here's me getting in that guy's way.
(Click here for gallery)

I got dropped at the start of the last lap and dangled within range for a little while.  Then I caught Josh from Rio Strada.  We chatted for a minute and then I asked if he wanted to try and catch anyone else.  He didn't want to I didn't succeed.  I managed to avoid getting caught and held on for 10th.  My goal was a top ten, so as you can see, I didn't get greedy.

Here's my best impression of Chris Horner.
(Click here for gallery)

That's not a "winning" smile no matter what my mom says.  That's me joking with the finish line crew about reading my number during my "high speed" finish.

Land Park Crit

Spring has arrived, the clocks have moved forward, the days are longer and we're finally getting wintry wet weather.  All last week we were drenched, which made for a great excuse to recover and do very little riding.  Also on the schedule was Land Park Crit.  This is a local favorite in south Sacramento and I've been meaning to try it out.

Of course, since I've grown accustomed to the sun and warmth, the rain made me nervous and I began to feel like I'd never ridden in wet conditions before.  So what did I do?  Did I shout "HTFU!!" at my legs and leave it at that?  Did I set my face in steely determination toward Land Park?  I did what any hardcore amateur racer would do... I checked with my friends to see if they were wussing out.  Thusly, I began the texting equivalent of a group of ladies deciding to go to the restroom together.  Here's what it would have looked like if technology hadn't stood between us:

Ryan, Ryan and Ryan discussing the merits of Crit racing in the rain

As it turned out we were too late to get a refund, so the decision was made for us.  Wait and see.  And a glorious day it was.  The rain poured all Friday night but Saturday morning cleared up nicely.  Still cloudy and cold, but no storms.

The race was pretty fun.  We had a full field and Malm spent the first half of the race getting into every conceivable breakaway.  In his own words, "The first 20 minutes were fun."  I swore one of the breaks was going to work out.  There were about 7 guys with every team represented.  Some Rio Strada cat didn't realize this and I had to yell at him to not chase his own guy.  A group of us set a false tempo, but in typical fashion, there were enough guys who didn't want to let anything go.

Malm in one of his 18 breakaway attempts.

Inspired by Malm's persistence I also attempted to get off the front.  Here's an image of me "winning".

Yes, the announcer referred to me as "white leggings guy"
Since this is so distinctive, I should forgo pinning my # in the future.

Clearly this evidence of my victory was not convincing to the officials, who decided to count my position on the final lap instead.  This whole "laps" thing escapes me.

So it seemed we'd be headed for a group sprint.  Malm found me and said we should get Odell up front.  I never found him, but he found me, and being the helpful lieutenant I am, I subsequently latched onto his wheel.  Going into the final S turn there was a crash that I narrowly escaped, but Malm got caught behind it.  The finish was fast and open with Odell snagging 5th (he also won an earlier prime).

Here's a video my dad took.  You can see Odell (and me a little later) along the left side of the shot.

Cantua creep and Schnell-ing!

I've had two very fun and very different road races over the last two weeks.

First up was Cantua Creek.  This is 70+ miles, essentially an out and back course done 3 times.  The finish is a stair step climb over about a mile.  Not too steep, but enough to shed people.  Unfortunately that was the only way to do it, since we either had a head wind or a tail wind.  People were quite chatty and the weather was nice.  The group was all together at the base of the climb.  I had done a good job of staying near the front all race, but apparently I did too much patrolling late in the game.  Malm was able to make a good move on the last part of the climb and snag 6th.  I had a respectable but disappointing 15th.

Odell is ever vigilant.  I'd like to say I'm making that face
because it was so hard, but I always look like that.

Snelling was a completely different story.  We had a nice big squad of 4's and it was fun to catch up with everyone.  This is about a 60+ mile race over 5 laps and it was a glorious cross-wind sufferfest.  At the beginning of the 3rd lap things were getting crazy and I found myself cut off from the front group of 30 or so guys.  Jeff (UC Davis) and I chased for maybe 4 or 5 miles and were able to close down with some last minute help from five other guys who caught us near the end.  That was not part of the plan but at least I was back in the lead group.  We never saw any others catch us.  I did my best to stay in good position and avoid another snap like that.  Apparently some sandbagger had forced another break of 3 off the front but the rest of us were either too stupid or too delirious to chase it down.  I was so out of it I didn't realize there was a break until after the race.  Coming down the last stretch of road you could tell everyone was having this internal debate with themselves: "Should I just quit now?  I'm exhausted.  No! Must keep going."  The difficulty of the race overall and the fact that the last stretch before the sprint is very bumpety made it clear that attrition and not just last second power, would play a role.  After having my own little debate I finally determined to do what I had planned before the race: Hop on Ryan Malm's or Ryan Odell's wheel and follow them in.  Malm was at the front so in the last 800 meters I took a dig and moved through the pack and onto his wheel.  I then screamed at him to take the final right hander hard (not sure where that came from).  At the right hand turn you only have 400 meters and I had no sprint, so I was just trying to hold on.  When I did finally try to sprint, my right quad cramped and my leg was stuck straight.  I ended up 12th on the day, which I was happy about.  Malm got 6th (again).  Odell did have some sprint in his legs and came around me for 9th, and Jeff who was with me in the chase won the field sprint for 4th.  Pretty solid day for Davis.  A group of us 3's and 4's hit up In N Out afterward and overall it was a fun day of racing.

Folsom Classic Early Crit

"This weather has been fantastic!  I don't think I've ever been this fit this early in the season!"

"I have a wonderful tan!"

"I am so strong, there's no way anyone is as fit as I am!"

"I'll probably win this race!"

If you found yourself thinking or saying such things, chances are you are not alone.  In fact, I'm pretty sure over half of every field was talking themselves up for yesterday's Folsom Classic Early Crit.  Who knew that other people might also benefit from sunny weather and 60 degrees through December and January?!

Well, it certainly showed as even our Elite 4 race was blazin' fast.  I was pretty excited for this race, more than usual for a crit.  This is due in part to the aforementioned misleading euphoria, and the very disappointing first race from last week.  In truth, it didn't disappoint.  The race was fast, attacks came often.  I made it into at least one short break and was able to mix it up trying for primes.

There was the usual banter from guys acting totally blown away that there may be danger involved in a bike race.  This complaining was utterly eclipsed by the dude who appointed himself crit coach, and kept telling everyone how to ride their bikes.

All in all it was a fun early race and my finish was typical for me in a crit, but I feel I was able to shake the legs out a little more for the upcoming monster that is Cantua.  Should be fun.

Oh, I also decided to make a day of the races and stayed for several races including the P1/2 so I could heckle Rand Miller of counterattackingreality.com.  I've been reading his blog for a few months and wanted to see him in action.  He didn't disappoint.  I hope my heckling was sufficient for his tastes.  He won the award for most aggressive rider, which clearly started with this stretching.  Just look at how enthralled his teammate is:


At one point Rand got real serious and threw his gaudy pink sunglasses to the side of the road, ostensibly so he could more effectively race face everyone.  I dutifully snagged these for him like a pathetic groupie, but failed to request one of his trademark clean bottles.  The race was fun, and though there were several breaks, it ended up in a (small) group sprint.

Here's some video of the finish that I poorly shot with my R2-D2:

Knight's Ferry

First race of the season.  Slept in, drove out with Brasel, beautiful weather.  The field was a little too small, but that just meant no obsessing over points.  It was shaping up to be a perfect first race of the season.  Brasel did a ton of work on the front and ended up with a 6th place finish.  I would have been happy to follow his promised lead out, but I flatted about a third of the way through.  I threw some CO2 in the front tire and tried to chase back on, but I was suffering a slow leak.  Pretty disappointing :(

Hopefully I was able to get my "mechanicals" out of the way.  I wanted to be more upset, but honestly I did 17 races last year without incident, so I can't complain.  Quite a few people were getting flats and at least mine didn't lead to a crash.  Plus, I'll get to work out my aggression next Saturday at the Folsom Crit.

SoCal

I was dreaming of a warm post-Christmas.  So I loaded up the wife, child, dog, bike and trike and hit the road to visit Juliette's folks down south.  

As you can see, the little one received a nice gift and insisted I fasten the red machine as securely as possible.  Can you count how many straps are being used to secure the frame?

Anywho it was a nice trip and the weather didn't hurt.  While down there I took the bro-in-law for a ride.  He's new to the sport and wanted to "take it to the next level".  Even before we started the ride he accomplished this with his HTFU-esque jean shorts.  

Reminds me of someone else...

The elusive Fred Malm in all his glory

You'll also be happy to know that we experienced the standard new rider catastrophic mechanical in the form of the front derailleur cable snapping early in the ride.  We would not be stopped however, for the rose bowl beckoned.  All in all, he did pretty well, and I hope he sticks with it.

Later in the week I went big.  I was joined by Roy, a good friend of Jules' family, who is always up for distance and climbs.  I can count on him every time I go down there.  We chose to climb up to Mt. Wilson, 5800'.  The climb starts around 1000' and lasts about 18 miles with one little reprieve halfway.  About 3 miles from the top some Ritte van Vlaanderen dude came flying by.  Once I arrived I took in the view.

It was fun to get to a new location and the weather was so good that this last week my wife thought 62 seemed a little cold.  What a climate snob!