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photo:abbiorca [bigger]

manzanita park, prunedale
2005/11/27
cat b
2nd/29
teammates: nada

something about these central coast courses do me right. i beat people that i haven't been beating at other races. maybe it's because i'm invested in the series and doing pretty well and it's making me ride faster. or maybe it's the fast courses. drafting factored on the two open paved stretches, speed on the rest of the course was governed more by the terrain and slow corners than by fitness, and the runup was technical but not long enough to heavily favor good runners, so the field stayed pretty tight. 2/3 of the b's finished within 2 minutes.

chilliest race yet this season. don't think the mercury had reached 50 when i got out of the car at 8:30. first race of the year with covered knees, arms, and fingers. also got some cooler weather riding in while in sacramento for the holiday. good training for natz i hope. so far so good.

bobbled a bit at the start. just a little off balance at the whistle. managed to get back up to a decent position by the time we got the the first barriers and bottleneck, so i don't think it cost me much. it's wasn't the kind of start where you really wanted to be in the front pulling the entire field up the hill into the wind anyway. so i sat in behind the first 5 or so, and we went back and forth for the early laps.

i managed to keep my nose out of the wind, and by the halfway point i was only behind my nemeses from last race: david samples and logan loder. coming up on 2 to go logan was starting to look (and ride) tired, there were several other contenders not far back in the train, and i was starting to get antsy so i attacked around the playing fields to take the lead and build a gap so as not to pull samples up the hill. with the fitness he's shown at other races, i knew i probably wasn't going to beat him by pulling him. i had a bit of a gap coming onto the finishing stretch, so i attacked again and managed to hold him off all the way up the hill, but i was pretty much red-lining it. i managed to hold the gap and recover through the rest of the lap, and tried to attack again at the bell to again prevent him from bridging up. survived up the first stretch to the quadruple(?!?!) barriers, but was running out of steam quickly. meanwhile, murry swanson at the front of the master b's had worked his way all the way up through the b field from :30 back. (props to him!) i think he pulled samples back up to me as they both came around me at the top of the hill, and i was pretty much spent.

i didn't manage to hold samples' wheel back onto the dirt, and he built a gap that i couldn't recover by the finish, so i rolled in only 8 seconds back. closer than last time. in retrospect i wish i had dug deeper to stay with him through the rest of the lap so i could have tried to contest a sprint, but i pretty much hung it up. i also wish i hadn't attacked so early and run out of steam in the last lap. should have sat on for another lap and duked it out on the bell lap. still happy with second and with my position in the series. the win seemed just that much closer today.

<br> - horseshoes and hand grenades

posted by <br> at 06:09 PM | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

photo:ariel [bigger]

golden gate park
2005/11/20
cat b
22nd/71
teammates: joe, roger (ss), rich (ss)

great day in the park today. perfect racing weather. sunny, but not too hot. the low autumn sun mottled from filtering through the eucalyptus reminded me of my best morning training rides. made me feel like i was on home turf. really cool to ride to and from the venue. just strapped the race wheels to the gear bag and go!

managed to get the punctured tufo from yesterday sealed and holding air again. also took delivery of some 700x35 ritchey clinchers that i can run lower than the schwalbe's. so happier with my wheel options than yesterday.

got there nice and early to help set up the popup. lauren et al had it well under control. put the race wheels on only to find a puncture in the front tufo this time. not a great weekend for the tufos. worked the sealant down to the leak and it seemed to close up, but i didn't really trust it at that point, so left it in the pits. decided to run the rear tufo and the front clincher today, which worked out fine.

got out on the course for 2 practice laps in between other races, which i think was more than most. legs were pretty heavy during warmup, and heartrate was noticably lower, but i figured that was to be expected on the second day. my head was in the right place today, so i wasn't too concerned.

good spot at the start with joe right behind the ritchey/lapierre guys in the front row on their trainers. got stuck in traffic a little off the line. tried to work my way to the outside so i could get around people, but got boxed in a bit. eventually managed to get out and around some people before the big crunch at the bottleneck.

felt pretty good throughout the race. moved up pretty well most of the race thanks to the help of my hometown cheering section. rode with and even beat a few people who beat me at the first two pilarcitos races. had pretty good luck finding wheels in the open sections, or at least making sure i wasn't giving anyone else a free ride. basically felt more like a racer. was reeling people in more easily, and looking ahead more instead of behind. i was even gaining on jeremy sarrow at the end, who i've never been able to touch in a race before. if i had another minute of race, i maybe could have caught him.

had a great time on the course today. i like this kind of woodsy stuff with fast open sections but no extended runups or climbs to recover from. just gotta keep laying the power on, good and steady like. thanks to all my peeps who came out just to watch: julie, ariel, dave, deb, katy, jay, marissa, chris. and to all the other voices i heard out there cheering for me including (but not limited to) jessica, sasha, jeremy, mikeo, beav, negley, and all the rest of the sycippers.

really enjoyed the rest of the day wandering around the course watching the elites showing us how it's done. some mountain bikey friends, rayner and dambrov, came out to spectate with us. the vibe was pretty cool throughout, especially by the pond where the pink rabbit and orange jumpsuited hecklers made the pros work for their living.

<br>

posted by <br> at 09:07 PM | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

watsonville fairgrounds
2005/11/19
cat b
22nd/59
teammates: joe

first double race weekend of the season for me. going straight from work into race prep and early to bed to leave for the venue at 7:00 am didn't afford the luxury of a low-key saturday to get my gear and head in order as i've grown accustomed. i did try to eat more on friday to avoid running out of gas mid-race (or mid-weekend). i think i might have overdone it a bit though, as i felt a little sluggish. not sure if it was the food or the schedule.

anyway, got to the venue with plenty of time to spare. did a couple warmup laps on the couse and everything seemed to be in order. i was just about to head out to the road to do my short race-pace warmup efforts when i noticed my rear tufo was seriously low. drat, a puncture, and it didn't look like the sealant was doing its job. with no time to fiddle with it, i dropped it off at the car and jogged with my bike sans rear wheel back down to the pits to my spares. they have 700x30 schwalbe clinchers with good grip, but they are narrow and light (read: thin-walled). i pinch flatted them in training a couple times early in the season so i've been running them at 70psi to avoid flats. so i went from preriding with 700x35 tubulars at 40psi to 700x30 clinchers at 70psi. i didn't want to race on such mismatched tires, so i left my front tufo in the pits and used both clinchers. and the race hadn't even started yet...

since rich maile has been tearing it up so well on his singlespeed this year, often passing the entire b field from behind, the organizers opted to start the singlespeeders first. they sent them their merry way before doing the callups for the b's, so we started a full half lap behind them.

i got an ok spot at the start for such a big crowd. as we rolled forward from the staging pen to the line, an official was partially blocking the left side, and i was able to roll around her and up the left gutter to around the 2rd row. but with the first hairpin left turn so close to the start i got the door closed on me and had to assert my way around the corner as lots of people rolled around on the outside. i need to remember to get to the outside line on starts with tight corners so close.

my race went smoothly enough. my pacing seemed okay, and i didn't make any major errors. only rode the off-camber little hill by the stables once because there was usually someone in front of me dabbing and falling all over themselves on it that i had to run around, but that worked out fine and i gained places there. my head wasn't so into the race though. since i missed the first race in the surf city series and fumbled the second one, i was off the bottom of the standings, so i was approaching the weekend as practice for the big pilarcitos double weekend and crowds at nationals.

as i crested the first runup on what i thought was my second-to-last lap, i could hear the ruckus at the start/finish announcing maile heading out on his bell lap. i realized he had almost made up the other half lap from his early start. i also realized that if he caught me, it would be as if he lapped me (when he really only half-lapped me), and this would become my last lap. so it became a bit of a quandry. should i bury myself to try to stay in front of him just to go out on another lap? i was mostly alone and starting to feel the beating that the 70psi clinchers were dishing out on the hard lumpy course, so with another race tomorrow i resolved to ride my race as i normally would with 2 laps left, only lifting the pace slightly.

i actually picked off a few more fading riders before maile ran by me at the top of the big runup. i got his wheel heading back towards the finish. he had no reason to sprint, and made no effort to. i could have easily gotten back around him. there was another rider only a couple seconds back who i had just run past. he wasn't bridging up and i think he was done or maybe he didn't realize that his race was almost over, so i sat on maile's wheel as we entered the pavement. i couldn't see anyone else ahead within striking distance, so as long as that other guy didn't try anything, i was content to roll in behind maile and save it for tomorrow. i gave him plenty of space to sit up at the line.

had a great time watching the rest of the races and realizing just how fast the elites are. it's amazing that they're considered mediocre compared to the euro pros.

<br>

posted by <br> at 04:59 PM | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

photo:keith defibre [bigger]

ft. ord
2005/11/13
cat b
2nd/24
teammates: joe

this race was held in the 'day camp' area of ft. ord. marking the 4th time i've raced there, and the 1st time i've been happy with my result. twice i've done my first race of the spring mtb season there with high hopes of improved form in the expert field, and twice i've languished at the back demoralized. in last year's 'cross race there, i was going pretty well when i crashed and packed my sti shifter with dirt and couldn't shift up anymore. so it was nice to find some love for the venue. it really is a fun 'cross course.

after two races i came into the day in second place in the series. murray swanson was racing and leading both the b's and the master 35+ b's. the combined master's field must have gotten too big though, and they moved the master b's to race with the b's (starting 30 seconds back) so he had to pick a battle. he decided to race master b's, so wasn't a factor. andrew hammond from specialized was in third, 3 points behind me. i enjoyed my first ever call-up. great to be in the front row. felt like the tufo's didn't bite so well on the loose gravelly uphill start, and i got off the line in 3rd behind hammond and david samples. samples won the first race in the series but missed the second, so was down in the standings a bit. i settled in behind them until we got to the pavement. hammond was in the lead but not working very hard, and i could hear the hordes coming up from behind. i decided i didn't feel like riding in a crowd today, so i surged passed the both of them and suprisingly built a bit of a gap without feeling over-extended. i enjoyed having the lead for a lap and a half, and was starting to have pipe dreams of riding away with it, until samples bridged up and caught me our third time up the dirt climb. i grabbed his wheel for a lap, but he surged away decisively the next time up, and i couldn't answer.

i rode the middle laps of the race alone in second place, trying to look ahead to samples while monitoring my pursuers, but not really making much progress on either. with 2 laps to go, logan loder, a baby-faced but strong, log-hopping junior who had already won a close junior race an hour earlier, started to gain on me, and i started to run scared. it was his first appearance in the b's, so my motivation (besides avoiding getting beaten by a junior) was to keep him between me and hammond to build a bigger gap in the points. i manged to hold him off by 10 seconds. props to him for the late race strength. hammond rolled in 6th, so mission accomplished.

points-wise, i should be leading the series now. samples is looking like the one to watch out for. if he makes it to the rest of the races in the series and gets his absense from the second race dropped, he will be a factor in the overall.

for the third time this season, i felt like i was starting to fade towards the end and lose time on my competition. chatting with joe while we were warming down, i think i narrowed it down to previous day nutrition. i've gotten into the habit of sleeping late, having a good late breakfast, but then not eating enough until dinner. i think i need to make sure i eat lunch the day before to top out my reserves. hopefully that will help me bite more into the top ten at the bigger races, and give samples more of a run for his money later on.

to be continued...

<br> - first loser

posted by <br> at 10:58 AM | permalink | comments (3) | trackbacks (1)

sorry, i've been delinquent on the blogging. last weekend's race was a wash because i rolled a tire off the rim halfway through and limped in 3rd to last. i was suprised there were still 2 guys behind me. i wonder what was up with them. took this past weekend off from racing to rest up in preparation for the remainder of the season. racing one or both days every weekend until christmas, inlcuding a trip east to see the fam. and go to natz.

got out to alpine dam/ridgecrest saturday, which was nice. don't get out on rides that long very often during the racing season, which is a shame. rode 'cross bikes on tam in the rain with aron sunday. only stayed out for 2 hours because it was really starting to come down. got very wet and dirty. tough on equipment. think i need to write off my rear wheel and brake now. wheel because it's busted, brake because it wasn't working very well in the wet. saw ariel out on a trail run, which was kind of random and surreal. in part because i was already thoroughly soaked and diry, and she was clean as a whistle. i was generally amazed how many people were out recreating on the mountain in the rain.

so now my 'cross bike is in pieces spread around the living room. getting recabled with some fresh bits for the rest of the season. still need to track down a rear wheel for training and spare. might have to poach it off my road bike or commuter.

otherwise, been crazy busy at work. finishing up a new grokka' which we're all very excited about. it will be done eventually.

<br> - slacker

posted by <br> at 02:02 PM | permalink | comments (2) | trackbacks (0)