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!

The Right Equipment

I recall someone really famous and fond of Michelob Ultra once saying: "It's Not About the Bike."  I think it was this lady:

So I do my best not to be obsessed over equipment, particularly since I have no idea what I'm talking about anyway.  But this last week has reminded me that sometimes equipment is quite important.  Take for example this guy:

Fred Malm

On this particular day Malm forgot his bib shorts, but decided to tough it out for an hour anyway.  Not having equipment can harm your equipment.

On the other end of the spectrum I was recently hooked up with a sweet deal on these bad boys:

They also appear to be equipment of the important type, though I don't think they'll make me as tough as Malm.  This continues my long tradition of upgrading and stating, "Now I have no excuses."  That is, of course, not true because I can come up with all kinds of excuses.  And will chronicle those for you in the upcoming road season.

Speaking of chronicles, I was alerted to an article in the SF Chronicle by my buddy Dan and here's an excerpt:


But should hipsters start wearing monocles? This has been a hot-topic of debate with scientists at UC Berkeley. A monocle has everything a hipster craves. It complements a twirly mustache. Perfect! Using facial muscles to hold a monocle in place causes one to sneer. Excellent! A monocle create the impression that the person knows everything there is to know. Fantastic! Wearing a monocle is extremely ironic and makes you look like Rich Uncle Pennybags. Amazing! A surprised expression will cause a monocle to drop for emphasis. Fabulous!


Clearly this is the equipment I need in order to be excusesless, and it has the added bonus of not being about the bike.  Though the article is about hipsters I noticed the key upgrade potential of monocles for racers: The Race Face.  Note in the following images how the monocle would enhance and encourage race face to the detriment of your opponents.

Monocle would enhance cobble handling

Dual monocles

Many amateur racers aren't serious enough about their hobby

As long as it doesn't mess with your depth perception, I see no down side.

I think I'll get into the game early with carbon and bamboo models.

Sac CX - Lodi

This past Saturday I finally made it out to one of the Sac CX series races.  It was a beautiful blustery day, kinda like this:

Thankfully, I didn't have to ride in the wind, but these guys did!

The course was at Langetwins Winery, and of course they had some wine tasting going on.  I was a little confused since the fans sat in a nice spot sipping wine, rather than standing in a muddy beer garden hurling heckles and beer cans.  Chris decided to bring a case of Pabst, which normally wouldn't stand out at a CX race, but did so here.  Sadly, I missed Mark's finish, but did get a nice shot of the podium.