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oct 14 - hagan park - 23/27

haiku form:

bump chicanery
"feel, be the grass" yells paule.
gathering vigor…

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posted by <br> at 11:59 PM | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

haiku form:

dfl #1 - sept 5 - golden gate park, sf

first race effort, ouch.
sierra ash: sky, lungs burn.
sun pretty, men not.

larpd #2 - sept 8 - robertson park, livermore - 7/7

dizzying hairpins.
superman remount » tire roll.
reglue every year!

larpd #3 - sept 15 - robertson park, livermore - 7/11

legs coming around.
more a's show up, behind me!
feel like a racer.

lion of fairfax - sept 29 - white hill middle school, fairfax - 28/29 (9 dnf)

guts fell out last week.
techy parcours, no power.
dudes behind, finish!

pilarcitos #1 - oct 7 - sierra point, brisbane - 37/38

head, legs still elsewhere.
drifting backwards through traffic.
flat flexus. beat mau!

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posted by <br> at 04:11 PM | permalink | comments (1) | trackbacks (0)

photo: sarahlabam

dfl is back. they actually got some new race numbers and got up well over 100 entrants. i got a decent spot at the start so didn't deal with much gridlock. only lapped by justin and cam in the last ¼ of the last lap.

thanks to julie, erin, and malik for coming out for the absurdity.

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posted by <br> at 11:59 AM | permalink | comments (1) | trackbacks (0)

photo: rick rasmussen

manzanita park, prunedale
2006/11/26
elite men
19/24
'mate: aron

i got back on the headcold rollercoaster the week before this race. not as bad as the previous week, but still not feeling 100%. i arrived with hopes of doing and feeling better than the last race here in september. the weather definitely suited me better. overcast in the 50s as opposed to sunny in the 80s. actually kept my arm warmers on for the race.

i liked this version of the course much better. the hairpins that the cccx crew love so much had better flow without so many dramatic slow downs approaching them. once the field got spread out, i had a good time mixing it up with jonathan from joselyn's and evan. evan had a mechanical and lost a lap or two and was just doing hot laps by this point. i'd catch up to him through the technical bits and descents then he'd pass me on the paved climb and i'd bury myself to try to hold his wheel and get a gap on jonathan. then i'd have to recover, evan would get a gap and jonathan would bridge back up. we repeated this for a few laps before i just let evan go and jonathan didn't bridge up anymore. really made me notice what a difference the climbing speed made on this course. i might have to do more to address that in the future...

my pacing seemed pretty good and i was gaining on sean coffey in the last couple laps. i finished only 9 seconds back from him. only barry lapped me and it took him 52 minutes to do it instead of 35 minutes in september on a similar length course.

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posted by <br> at 09:48 PM | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

photo: julie

golden gate park, san francisco
2006/11/19
elite men
30/45
'mates: funke, aron; rich, matthias, and scott on the blinglespeeds

another great race in golden gate park. this will be the third year running that they've hit the nail on the head in scheduling this race. cinematically perfect low autumn sunlight filtering through the trees as the fog burns off. nothing but moist, tacky dirt on the ground from the previous week's rain and night's fog. it's refreshing to be able to stand up from the breakfast table 2 hours before start time, strap the race wheels onto my timbuk2 bag, and ride 10 minutes to the venue with plenty of time to get registered, situated, and warmed up.

i picked up a headcold last week, so was off the bike resting wednesday and thursday. just 30 minutes easy/flat on the fixie to wake the legs up friday. i slept and napped as much as i could friday night and saturday. and then i took another nap. went out to preride the course on saturday and i was liking it. only a few variations on a circuit that i've been riding a lot this year with aron and with funke's wednesday evening rides. home court advantage! my head was still draining a little bit and i had some, shall we say, voluminous snot rockets to offer, but my heart rate came right up when i tested it on a hot lap of the course. it felt pretty good and easy but i wasn't sure exactly what to make of it. either i was primed and ready to rock, or my body was still otherwise occupied trying to heal as well. tbd at the race.

i felt a little trepidatious at the start because of my health, so i didn't go out too hard. got stuck in some traffic in the first lap because of it, but oh well. i wasn't off the back, so i figured i'd save whatever matches i had and work my way up as things started to sort themselves out. as it turns out, i had plenty of matches to burn, and i easily worked my way around bunches of the usual suspects the first two times through the paved start/finish stretch. all right, looking good. first time this season i've really felt like that, and it felt good! settled into a solid pace with mack and a junior named cody. by mid race it seemed like mack was showing his fitness and started to gap us, and cody was starting to fade. i was riding hard but still well within myself, not sure if my health was going to catch up with me.

i was feeling sloppy on the slow bumpy remount after the tall double barriers at the top of the hill. i supermanned a remount a little too much and could feel my rear tire buckle to the side under the pressure. a small section of tire had rolled off the rim just a little and was rubbing my seatstay. poop! i let cody take off while i tried to decide what to do. i could swap the wheel out for my spare, or try to push it back on which is a lot quicker, and risk riding on it for the rest of the race. i decided to give the latter a shot, and stopped at the top of the rooty section to push it back on the rim. it went back on fine, and i was back in business in a matter of seconds as rich came around me in second in the singlespeed category.

i followed rich around for a couple laps taking corners and remounts pretty gingerly until he rode me off his wheel. thanks for the draft, rich! the tire seemed to be holding fine, and i quickly caught back up to and passed cody. i had a couple more racers in sight in the last laps but wasn't able to quite get up to them except for aaron, who was barely moving. i think he might have had a mechanical or something.

so i finished with my best result of the season so far, feeling strong. not sure if all the rest last week brought on a fitness peak, or if it's just my form coming around, finally. but i'll take it. it feels good to have a strong result on home turf, providing welcome motivation for the last month or so of training and racing.

thanks to julie, deb, katy, and ariel for coming out to cheer. to dave and the rest of the meeces for all the volunteer work on the course and the series. props to marissa for braving her first 'cross race, and all the sycippers who seemed to up their game this week.

technical notes: looks like the tire didn't pick up much dirt after it rolled off, and it seems to be sticking back on well, so hopefully it won't need to be completely reglued, again. it's a fresh tire and fresh glue job after my blow out at white hill. also, after removing my top mount cheater brake levers this season, i decided to put a single rear one back on. i like to dismount and remount on the tops, and it allows me to control my speed (and confidence) that much more in fast barrier approaches. it got exercised quite a bit in this race, i appreciated it.

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posted by <br> at 05:38 PM | permalink | comments (1) | trackbacks (0)

photo: dave

granite bay, folsom lake
2006/11/04
a men
13/17
'mates: roger

we decided to make the trip up to sacramento to visit the 'rents-in-law and do a sacramento series race, as we've done a couple times in the past. i cut out of work early on friday in time to get to gold river for dinner. mmmmm, homemade lasagna....

a small field and a flat, windy, open course left just about everyone isloated eventually it seemed. once i lost the last wheel i'd been able to hold on to for a couple laps, i kept a steady pace and time trialed most of the race on my own. i wasn't feeling very motivated to be racing this week after the double race weekend last week and a hard set of intervals with aron on wednesday.

the double sand pit at granite beach was brutal as always. i managed to clean the first section a couple times, but bobbled and lost time when i failed. i was riding alone and the next guy ahead of me was steadily extending his lead, so the time loss didn't really feel like it made much of a difference.

the top three lapped me with less than a half lap to go. jordi, rich, and jim were duking it out fast and furious. jordi and rich were banging handlebars for the lead as they entered the sand pits. rich lost the good line and bobbled, giving jordi the win and almost allowing jim to catch him. props to jordi, and to jim for hanging with those two to the finish. i wasn't too upset to not have to go out for another lap, as we were already over an hour.

thanks to dave, connie, and julie for coming out to cheer and take pictures. always good to see roger.

based on my mood and motivation level in this race i decided i needed a little break from racing, so i aborted my plan to come back to sf for the pilarcitos race at mclaren park on sunday. we stayed another night in sacramento to relax and visit. dave and i went for a nice spin on the american river bike path on sunday. a welcome change of scenery. i'm curious to hear how the first legit race at mclaren went.

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posted by <br> at 05:11 PM | permalink | comments (2) | trackbacks (0)

photo: andrew yee

watsonville fairgrounds
2006/10/29
a men
30/33
'mates: aron

double race weekends are never easy. the second day of the first double of the season feels a lot like the first race of the season. even though i didn't dig too deep yesterday after my flat tire, it was still a solid hour of moderate to hard technical riding and i came into day 2 generally feeling flat, with sore calves from my little jog around half the course yesterday.

the course turned out to be another norcal bump fest, and i was a little bummed to be without my rear tubular (flatted yesterday). i was planning to run both clincher wheels today so as to not have such disparate tires, but after preriding the course i decided to run the front tubular anyway for the cush factor. still felt like i got pretty jackhammered by the rear.

i got held up for a second behind josh with his brake issue at the whistle, and i settled into last place for the first couple laps. just didn't quite have the top end ooomph to scramble back up there and mix it up. once everyone settled into their mid-race pace, i could see people start to come back to me. i easily worked my way around 3 people in the middle third of the race by trying to race strong and steady.

i finally got up to dean's wheel with about 4 laps to go and noticed that he wasn't running up the big hill very fast. i didn't try to pass him just yet, because i wanted a bit of a break so i sucked his wheel to the bottom of the hardpack hill at the back of the course. i tested him by attacking on the uphill to the second runup, but he held my wheel. i guess it wasn't going to be that easy. i pulled him back to the start/finish on the flats and called it even. he was still on my wheel the next time up the big hill, so i attacked again and got a gap on the runup. i was feeling pretty maxed out, but managed to hold the gap for the next lap. with a half lap to go, i hoped i had him, and tried to just dig a little deeper on the flats. but there he was on my wheel the last time up to the back side runup. he sat on, but i wasn't willing to pull him to the finish just to be out sprinted. he attacked pretty hard and i didn't have an answer, so let him go. he also managed to catch jeff patton in the final meters, who we had been gaining on. he had a good race i think.

so i made it through the double weekend. my pacing was strong today i think, but i was lacking in the top end for the beginning and ending, which put me back a few places from where i think i could have been if i'd been fresh like most of my competition. i'm planning one more double this weekend (sacramento and pilarcitos), and i'll be racing against mostly fresh people on sunday again i think, so i may have a similar experience. maybe i will have a little more spunk on day two and be more on par with where i think i should be. hopefully the double-double will pay dividends in speed for the rest of the season.

thanks to eric for hanging around to give me water even though i only took it twice, and lauren and michko for the cheers.

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posted by <br> at 02:47 PM | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

fairfax
2006/10/28
a men
dfl

white hill had a fun, small race feel after 3 consecutive weeks of bigger, series races.

after two mellow warmup laps on the tight course, my legs seemed to switch on, and i had some pretty great sensations for a half lap before the ladies came around after their start. a few warm up sprints a bit later out on sir francis drake didn't feel quit as spectacular, but not bad either. good signs for things to come.

only about 15 racers and no singlespeeders in arrears made for a pretty sane start, which was a nice change after last week. it would have been tough to accomodate a big field here with the tight start stretch and course in general. the school grounds were pretty small and they didn't have a lot of real estate to work with. so lots of tight, low speed corners that some folks were struggling with that kept speeds down. definitely a course that rewarded technical grace over brute speed and fitness. this suited me just fine and i actually found myself riding midpack with nick, jay, and evan after a couple laps. guys i haven't been able to touch most races so far. seemed like everyone i rode with crashed in the first 3 laps but i was having no problems.

and with things going so well, on the 3rd or 4th time down the fast bumpy decent after the runup on the back side of the course, PSSSSSHHHHhhhh...! poop! the air was completely gone from my rear tire in about 5 seconds, and i was about as far as i could get from my spare wheels. so i had a nice 5 minute jog around the back half of the course to the pits. a distance i probably would have ridden in about 2 minutes. everyone went by, although i was happily suprised how long it seemed to take for the tail to catch back up to me. i'd really put some time into them.

with at least 3 minutes lost to the next rider and another race tommorrow, i figured there wasn't much use digging too deep to try to catch back up with anyone, so i settled into a nice tempo pace for the second half of the race and got some good technical practice.

not much hope for the tire it seems. it has a 1/4" slash in it that looks too big to try to get to close up with sealant, so it's a write off i think. not suprising given how fast the air evacuated from it. i guess i'm on the clinchers tomorrow. hopefully i can get a new tire glued on this week.

thanks to tom and bjarne who hussled to find me a spare wheel when they saw me running. i got to my own spare before i got back around to them with their's. but i appreciate the effort. it was motivation to not dnf.

and thanks to dave for riding from sf to fairfax even though he only caught the very unspectacular ending.

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posted by <br> at 05:37 PM | permalink | comments (1) | trackbacks (1)

photo: andreas vogel

candlestick point, san francisco
2006/10/22
elite men
37/45 [49 starters]
'mates: funke, aron; brett, rich, and matthias on the blinglespeeds

a chinese wedding banquet saturday night left me well fueled for this race. feeling over-laden was more of a concern, but no matter. the close venue and earlier start made it easier for me to manage nutrition, and i felt spunkier than last week. got a fine warmup and course preview. i'm liking the faster, smoother 'stick compared to past years. pilarcitos' labor towards these ends is not taken for granted by me.

this seemed like the most chaotic start and first lap of the season so far. perhaps due to the extra 10 or so starters. lots of slowdowns in the first lap, just tryed to go with the flow. mistakes were made my many (myself included), and it's all a bit of a blur.

headed out onto the second lap on the approach to the first double berm up and over, i was behind a small group and someone a couple riders up washed out on the first rise. i hoped it would be an opportunity for me to make up some spots, so i got off and ran. got around the downed rider and several others by running up the left side, taking the hairpin sharp, and running up the second rise. sweet, free spots.

i stand by that strategy. unfortunately, my luck ran out there. i was still in a good deal of traffic when i remounted at the top of the second rise, but i remounted with my hands on the tops, no where near my brakes. i was still hard on the left for the descent of the second rise, but there was a rider at the bottom apexing the hard left turn. i didn't have time to get my hands to the brakes, so my options quickly became lay it down, or t-bone the rider at the apex. i layed it down. it was a fairly soft landing on the dried grass. i probably slowed some people down who i had just run around, but no one came down on top of me, so no harm no foul i would think.

i guess some would disagree, as a particular seafoam crustacean let out a snarky comment suggesting that maybe i should go back to the b's. now come on, that's just not helpful! nor warranted, since not a half lap earlier, the same minty malacostraca had stacked and brought aron (at least) to a halt in the, ummm, dodgy tangle. which is why he was slumming it behind my alleged noobishness in the first place. anywho....

i got back on and tried to shake it off. i seemed undamaged, and the bike was functional except my right brake lever had been pushed in about 30 degrees, but it seemed to be working, so i soldiered onward. i think dean from buy-cell offered up some kind words, but i was too preoccupied taking inventory of the damages to respond. i guess i'm not much for the small talk mid race, nothing personal. i should say hello to that guy sometime. we went back and forth a couple times in the next couple laps but eventually i found myself alone time-trialing it.

the rest of the race was pretty uneventful, and i managed to ride fairly cleanly despite the cockeyed lever. it was in a great position for shifting in the drops, but not much else. so i tried to practice riding in the drops. i had one minor washout on the long sweeping grassy corner at the start of the lap just after justin lapped me, but that's because i was trying to follow his line at his speed (oh so briefly) and didn't compensate enough for the traction ramifications of that.

so, i was happy enough with my placing. maybe could have gained a position or two without those two blunders and the ensuing recovery time. the 'stick does get better every year and i enjoyed the challenges of the course even though they got the better of me a couple times. live and learn. the races there get better every year but i can't say i'm upset to only have one race there this season...

thanks to julie for coming out to the race and giving me water. props to funke and the three blinglespeeders for their podium finishes.

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posted by <br> at 01:07 PM | permalink | comments (2) | trackbacks (0)

photo: tim brennan
tim makes me look fast!

soquel high school
2006/10/15
a men (amen!)
21/24 [+ a couple dnfs]
'mates: funke, aron, and rick; scott and matthias on the blinglespeeds

i've always struggled with nutrition on the late start times. i had a good breakfast around 9:00, but just ate bananas and convenience energy stuff leading up to the 2:00 race. too high glycemic i think. like last week, i had a clif shot before and during the race, so didn't bonk acutely, just felt generally empty and flat. i did work my way past a couple guys mid race, so my pace wasn't way off. just no kick. a pair of guys (who i beat last week as it turns out) came by me in the last lap duking it out with each other, and i had no answer. my foggy head half thought they were lapping me. i'll be prepared with pb&j on some good whole grain bread in the future. looking forward to racing close to home this week.

i agree with the general consensus that it was a hard course to find a flow on. constantly changing terrain and speed. my back was feeling it at the end. superb race organization and atmosphere though!

i did hold off barry from lapping me for 37 minutes this time. 2 minutes longer than cccx #1!

thanks grey and lauren for the water and cheers

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posted by <br> at 02:23 PM | permalink | comments (1) | trackbacks (0)

photo: tim brennan

hellyer park, san jose
2006/10/08
elite men
27/36 [+ at least 4 dnfs (slackers)]
'mates: funke, aron, and rick; scott and matthias on the blinglespeeds

not a whole lot to say about this one. another hot, dusty, lumpy, bumpy norcal course. i wasn't feeling all that amped to race earlier in the day. the bumps and heat (inducing memories from cccx #1) seemed to contribute to my general malaise.

got a decent warmup and got off the line well enough in front of some people. i seemed to pass a number of guys in the first lap due to errors or traffic. ran around several on the first technical descent down into the trees who were waiting to ride it in traffic. nice. lots of dropped chains and flats all around, but none for me thankfully (knock on wood). isaias and i agreed that the initial pace seemed rather slow, but since i felt like i was in an ok position, i was happy to find my pace and settle in for the long haul rather than push things in the heat. i'm still getting the hang of racing without my hr monitor, and my instincts were telling me not to run too hot this time.

i dug the relatively fast approaches to the flat barriers. even though they did seem rather tall, i was definitely carrying more speed through them than some others around me. i rode a clean race with only one real bobble and no mechanicals. my closest call was with dfl dylan. he passed me on his singlespeed and i was close behind him entering the velodrome when he lost traction on the off camber and his bike slid out from under him. pucker! somehow he managed to lay it down, dismount on the downhill side of his bike, and run down onto the grass. by this time i was also down on the grass and managed to thread the needle between him and his sliding bike only losing a little momentum.

good news mechanically this time. no dropped chains despite all the bumps. i shortened my chain by 2 links, and made sure to never pedal backwards through fast bumps, which i think helps a lot. i also tried to keep tension in the chain as much as possible and practice fast, overgeared riding through the duff. i felt that gave me a slight advantage over others who were spinning too much. good habits that, in the long run, should help minimize the possibility of chain droppage.

i managed to do a clif shot mid race. after feeling depleted at the end of other races, i'd been thinking of having two immediately prerace instead of my usual one. given the velodrome, i decided to try to eat one mid race this time. thankfully i didn't forget to do it. i took it out of my pocket on the first bit of pavement, held it in my mouth entering the velodrome, ripped it open and ate it along the straightaway, and got water from eric to wash it down with on the last bit of pavement back outside the track. i think it really helped me maintain my pace for the duration. thanks eric!

i generally felt my pace was strong, but i just wasn't feeling scrappy to hold wheels and duke it out with people this time. i'm happy enough with my result, and got good technical practice riding the bumps and keeping a cool head, which should all help me go faster later on.

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posted by <br> at 03:32 PM | permalink | comments (2) | trackbacks (0)

photo: julie

fort ord
2006/10/01
elite men
14/18 [14/23 if you count dnfs (slackers)]
'mate: aron

now that's better!

definitely felt much more in the game this week. like i was actually racing again instead of just dragging myself around the course like last week.

julie and i went to the santa cruz mountains for a really nice wedding on saturday. things were civilized and wound down on the early side, so i got to bed at our hotel in santa cruz at a decent hour. slept ok on the strange bed, but the stale air was more annoying. wasn't able to sleep in quite as late as i would have prefered, but did get a good breakfast at zachary's.

i've had good results at this east garrison course. this is where i won my race in the b's last year in very similar cool, overcast conditions. the land this particular course is on has been slated for residential development and this was to be the last bike racing there. i will be sad to see it go despite the general sense of military blight and decay.

we got to the venue fairly early, so i had plenty of time for 4 laps of warmup to figure out some good lines through the sandy bits. i started out in the back, but managed to get around the pile ups on the first barriers and immediately after, so i ended up in a decent position heading onto the dirt. i was on the tail of a decent sized group of midpackers when we got to the sketchy singletrack split. they all took the fast rutted right. i decided that was too many people to follow that way, so i took the curvy left line. my instincts served me well, because someone in that group crashed and a pile up ensued, so i got around a bunch more people for free and shot out into the open field in the top 10. that felt pretty good to come through the first lap in front of a bunch of people. by this point my karma must have been a little out of balance because i dropped my chain after the tree hop in the second lap and lost several of those places.

as i resolved to do last week, i took off my hr monitor and just tried to hold wheels as best i could as the midpackers came back around me, especially on the long open paved straightaway into the wind. i found isaias' wheel a couple laps in. based on our results last week, i thought he'd pull away from me eventually, so i resolved to hold his wheel as long as i could. three strong but comfortable laps of wheel sucking later, i found a firm line up one of the sandy rises and worked my way around him and got a gap, so i just kept going and didn't see him again. i felt (just a little) bad that i couldn't return the favor, but that's racing i guess. i'm sure i'll have an opportunity to pay him back at some point this season.

i spent the third quarter of the race mostly alone reeling in a couple single speeders that went out too hard. i could also see a rocklobster guy up ahead slowly coming back to me. i dropped my chain again coming down the rutted singletrack, and lost another couple seconds, which put me into jay buenaventura's sites. he reeled me in with one lap to go, but i was able to grab his wheel and recover a bit as he came past. i got back around him pretty quickly as we got back onto the dirt, i bet he had some recovering to do himself. i was able to get a decent gap on him through the trails but could sense him rallying and catching back up. i turned on the gas as much as i could, and in the process was also getting the rocklobster guy in my sites. i put my head down for the last long straightaway and gave it all i could to reel him in, but i didn't have quite enough road. jay came on real strong and was nipping at my heels up the last pitch, but he also didn't have quite enough road, and i held him off by less than a length.

whew! much more of the drama that makes bike racing so interesting. good times. now that the legs are coming around i'm feeling better about where i'm at. i'm also recovering better than last week, so signs are good.

i do need to resolve my chain dropping issue, i'd say it cost me a position this week. i wrestled with the sram powerlink a bit last week to try to shorten my chain but got frustrated, put it down, and did't get back to it. i was hoping last week would be the anomaly, but i guess not. so i'll get back to it for sure and put on a new chain if comes to that. only other technical note this week, i dropped my pressure in the flexuseses to 35 psi front / 38 psi rear, and felt the difference. felt like more traction in the loose corners. i think i'll keep them there for a couple more races before going any lower.

thanks to julie for coming down to the race with me, and to lauren, joe, and chris for sticking around after their races to cheer and give me water.

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posted by <br> at 12:29 PM | permalink | comments (5) | trackbacks (0)

photo: eric sterner

manzanita park, prunedale
2006/09/24
elite men
32/34 [32/37 if you count dnfs (slackers)]
mates: funke, aron, brett, bill

here we go again, another fun-filled, action-packed season of cyclocross racing!

slept in and carpooled down with funke for the 1:00 rockstar start time. can't complain about that, except i really need to be careful to eat enough. it was good to see the whole racin' gang again.

umm, yeah, so. ouch. and... yuk.

this race was my first in several ways:
+ first race of the season
+ first race in over 9 months
+ first race with the big boys in the a's
+ first 60 minute cyclocross race

lots of unknowns for me. it was hot, dry and dusty. i got a decent if rushed warmup. in that heat, it's not hard to get your heartrate up anyways. felt great at the start. no problems getting off the line quick and riding with the guys i'd like to be with for the first couple laps. but inevitably, i looked at my heartrate and realized that i was riding over my head in the upper 190s. i wanted to finish 60 minutes, so i backed off and let the race get away from me. i spent the duration alone riding my own pace and feeling pretty sluggish. hitting the bottom of the paved climb at 0mph was pain every lap.

technically i had a pretty clean race. my only real problem was i dropped my chain once on the fast bumpy downhill 180 degree left onto the ball fields. i've been training with an 11-32 mountain cassette and mid cage xt derailleur for the climbs, so i think i need to swap those out for road bits and shorten my chain by a link or two so it doesn't bounce off as easily. the new tufo flexus tubulars worked well. the jury is still out as to whether they're better than the regular tufos. i ran 40psi in them, which i think is a little hard, i'm going to experiment with lower pressures later on.

viscerally humbling:
+ dfl
+ barry wicks lapped me in 35 minutes
+ about half the rest of the field lapped me too

update 10/4: newly posted results have me upgraded from dfl to 32/34 due to two riders who were doubly lapped and originally tabulated incorrectly. woo hoo!

redemption by number crunching:
+ i beat about half the a singlespeeders who started right after us
+ my average lap time for 9 laps was about 15 seconds faster than the b winner's average for 7 laps

update 10/2: in the interest of full disclosure, my calculation here was off because the b's were shorted a lap in the results. they did 8 laps, so i actually would have come in quite a ways back in the b's. it seemed a little too good to be true for there to be zero overlap between a's and b's. it was a fine delusion to get me through to the next race though... 8^)

so i'm feeling a little in limbo. despite how slow i felt in that crowd, i'm no worse off than in previous years really, and am probably a bit faster. i am committed to the season in the a's. in past years i would have come into the first real race with 3 or 4 dfl races under my belt. this year i'm coming into it completely green and felt it. i think my legs will get better as the season progresses. i also think i'll be better in cooler temps.

so until i'm actually racing with somone, i'm going to try to ignore the heartrate monitor and hang with some of the mid packers until i just can't hang no mo'. hopefully i'll be able to stretch that out to 60 minutes eventually. i figure i'm not learning all that much riding alone. i don't have a whole lot to lose if i blow.

wish me luck...

<br>

posted by <br> at 10:40 AM | permalink | comments (8) | trackbacks (1)

photo:julie [more]

ft. ord
2006/01/08
senior b
6th/15
series: 2nd/72

i arrived at this, my last race of the season, with a mixture of excitement to be only 3 points behind dave samples in the overall, and complacency after the cush holiday weekends with some mental fatigue from racing most weekends since mid-september. the course was in the daycamp area again, but they changed it up a bit. they took out most of the dirt descent and added a steep, fast, curvy paved descent feeding right into the paved climb. nick had a computer and said he was hitting 40mph down it. it was the only time this year when i've felt undergeared in my 39x11 top gear. the trails were firm, tacky and fun from saturday's rain. the big log with the fast approach was there, as were the two smaller rideable logs.

i've never had a fantastic start here on the narrow, loose fireroad climb. some punk decided to do a running start. a fair strategy i guess. he got off the line in the lead, but should have mounted earlier. some of the leaders got around him, but i was stuck behind him when he did a really poor mount, bobbled, and lost his momentum right in the middle of traffic. i ran into his back wheel, and completely lost all my speed. managed to stay upright, but my start was neutralized. lost touch with the leaders where i needed to be in order to contest with samples. i saw the same guy later on. he was pretty strong but was having problems keeping the rubber side down and we leap-frogged a couple times before he finally stayed behind me.

so i spent the race working my way back up. my legs were fresh from a good taper, my pacing was good, and i gradually ate into samples' gap. julie was keeping track, and i reduced it from 30 seconds to 10 seconds at the finish. i could see him looking back to me. i got the impression he was doing what was necessary to stay in front of me. not sure what he would have had in him if i'd been able to actually race with him.

so it was a little disappointing the way the cards fell, but that's racing i guess. it would have been nice to go out with a bigger bang in my last race of the season and in the b's (yes, you can quote me on that). i did have a great time racing this series, and i can't complain about second. landed a big bottle of beer and some ritchey speedmax tireds. samples (1st) and hammond (3rd) were both excellent, gracious competitors. hammond had a great race, beating both of us for the first time and taking 4th behind some fast guys that turned up.

good vibes back at the start/finish after a quick warmdown. a bunch of the b's hung around the keg to swap stories of the season, talk gear, and watch the masters trip over the triple barriers just before the finish line. one highlight of this season for me was getting to know more of my fellow racers. carpooling with cisco and nick. warmdowns and burritos with the sf sport and spine guys; ryan, isaiah, and morgan. hardocre euro bike porn dvds from dave p. just generally interacting with more people than my immediate teammates and friends. not sure if it was the crowd this year, or my level of comfort in the scene, but it was good. i aim to continue that in the future, it enhances the racing experience. it seems like a good number of us are planning to upgrade next year, so i will have good company in the misery of spending 60 minutes trying not to get lapped.

thanks to julie for spending her birthday schlepping down to ft. ord with me. i'm glad i could deliver on her birthday wish of a podium.

so now my season is over, and i'm looking forward to getting the mtb back on the trails, riding when (and if) i feel like it, and leaving the hr monitor at home. generally being a fair-weather cyclist. i'm not doing any riding this week except for commuting. we'll see what this weekend brings. planning to get a few rides in per week to maintain fitness, but the goal is not to stress over it. i'm not going to start training on a schedule again until may at the earliest, after the wedding and honeymoon, when it's time to start thinking about 'cross again. i should be hungry for it by then.

i'm also planning to pick up some other form of exercise to try to get some balance back after only riding for 2 years. maybe get some flexibility and posture back. yoga perhaps. or maybe i'll check out that interesting kung fu group i see in the panhandle every saturday morning. i need to find something else to blog about...

<br> - retiree

posted by <br> at 03:13 PM | permalink | comments (3) | trackbacks (0)

ft. ord
2005/12/18
senior b
6th/13

didn't sleep very well last night because of the sheer volume of the weather. driving rain pounded on the skylights and windows while wind gusts rattled the deck door. hard to settled down to sleep without thinking of the race ahead. glad i slept lots friday night and grabbed a nap saturday afternoon. the drive down was equally eventful. picked up cisco out by the beach and headed for great hightway, which was partially closed. detoured to frederick where we saw a manhole cover lying next to its hole having been blown off from air and/or water pressure from below. glad i saw it and didn't drive over it. 280 south was pouring rain with crosswinds gusting sheets of water across it.

turns out monterey was calmer than the peninsula, but plenty wet. only had about 30 minutes to warmup once we finally arrived and got geared up. got a couple laps around the messy course in before heading to the starting line. much shorter laps than last time, with plenty of slick muddy corners and a zig-zag slog across a muddy field. my drivetrain was begging for mercy from the grit before the race was even underway.

just a small group of 13 diehards in the b's, no callups. got off the line with the lead group. tim granshaw flew by in the first couple laps looking really fast and quickly built a gap. others tried to pursue without much luck. i felt decent on the fast sections (typical) but had a hard time keeping pace through the slippery stuff. i don't think the tufos were hooking up so well in the slop. we were spared rain during our race, and the corners got noticably tackier as our race progressed. we even saw the sun for a few minutes. i slowly made progress on some of the guys i'd lost touch with, but it wasn't enough. 6th place was a little disappointing because i've beaten everyone who was ahead of me at some point this season. granshaw only once. the others multiple times.

the silver lining was that my closest competitors for the series were both behind me. andrew hammond in 7th, and david samples in 8th. i gained 3 points on samples, who now has only 3 points on me for the series win going into the finals. drastic changes in conditions really can mix things up.

another deluge settled in hard just after the finish and we all took cover of the military buildings we were parked near. left without a warm down. encountered more weather on the return trip and saw some of the carnage from the thunderstorm that had hit the city while we were gone. flooded and closed roads, dark traffic lights with confused drivers, and all sorts of jetsam on the roads.

<br>

posted by <br> at 03:19 PM | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

photo:julie [more]

roger williams park, providence, ri
2005/12/11
b men under 35
63rd/128

arrived at the park at 7:30 to gorgeous sunny skies and frozen mud. every rut and bump from the previous days' traffic was frozen solid. the most-traveled walkways were skating rinks on hills. the sun was just coming into view, and i hoped it would quickly warm the course before my 9:30 start. it started to, but the course was still pretty hard and trecherous. the good lines were now slippery ice, and riding them was often still the fastest if you could hold a line while ricocheting back and forth off the frozen ruts on either side. thankfully, the sun and traffic did much to warm the course after a couple laps, and it turned into sloppy but slightly more rideable mud-over-ice.

order of registration put me midpack of 128 riders at the start. got some decent speed off the line and managed to skirt around a good number on the side. got off to run the first wide section of hard snow with off camber corners that was inevitably chaotic. shouldered the bike but the pedal was in the wrong position, sticking into my side. pushed it out of the way and kept running around the carnage. went to get back on and my chain was off. must have fallen off when i back-pedaled to move the pedal. drat. had to stop and put it back on, losing probably 30 places in the process. this is my one qualm with single chainring setups using a chainwatcher on the inside. the chain can bounce off from the bottom when you back pedal. but i don't have the chainstay clearance for an inner guard ring. i need to look for other solutions.

spent the rest of the race sprinting around slower riders on the pavement, and passing whenever i could otherwise. probably made back most of the positions i lost, but not much more than that. 1-2 punch of bad start position (unavoidable) and an early mechanical in a big field pretty much did me in as far as getting a good result.

got a little annoyed when the seriously sandbagging leader lapped me halfway through my 4th lap, much earlier than justin robinson had yesterday in the lead of the 30-34 championship! i was expecting it in that race, not in the b's. he was :51 ahead of second place and 2:12 ahead of third! i was hoping, since it wasn't a national championship event, that they'd let me roll over the finish line, but nope. got pulled entering the final stretch. i hope that guy enjoys the sandbagger jersey that they give the b winner. and i hope he got some heckling on the podium.

still, the whole weekend was good experience racing out of my element in crowds of people with different skills and fitness levels. i didn't really come into it with big goals or expectations of good finishes. i went looking for the experience of nationals, northeast cyclocross, and to spend time with family. all of which i got.

it was great to see chip ever so briefly, and to watch and cheer lauren as she worked her way up to her top-20 position in the elites. in the money!

thanks again to my brother dan, sis-in law jen (with future neice squirt in the oven), and cousin wayne (more cowbell!) who traveled from brooklyn and ct to see the races and cheer me on. to my parents who chauffered (chaperoned?) us around new england through hell and high water. to my pit crew dad. and to my sweetie julie who traveled with me across the country to the cold, white northeast.

<br>

posted by <br> at 04:06 PM | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

photo:julie [more]

roger williams park, providence, ri
2005/12/10
masters 30-34
38th/66

a comedy of lowlights lead up to this race. traveled east earlier in the week for long overdue and much enjoyed visit with family. went out for a very chilly tuneup ride on thursday afternoon from my grandparents' house in meriden, new hampshire. shifting was crunchy because the bike was left outside in the car overnight. got a couple shifts out before it totally froze up. i was hoping the lube had just seized up and would thaw out if i brought it inside. no dice, so i snipped the cable, cranked down the set screws, and turned in into a 39x15 singlespeed, which is a pretty darn steep gear for cyclocross.

we decided to leave an hour earlier than planned friday morning to try to make it to a bike shop in providence and still make my scheduled 2:00 start time. it was a good thing, because we woke up to heavy snow, and it took 5 hours to make the normally 3 hour drive. thanks dad for the superhero driving through all consistancies of slop. no time to go to the shop, or even gear up in time to preride the course during the open course window. julie and i made our slippery way to registration and it was barely raining and not windy, so i was trying to stay optimistic regardless of how cold and wet lauren's friend chris looked after his 11:00 race.

huddled under the tailgate of the minivan to get ready. was already pretty wet and chilled, started to grapple with myself as to if it was worth the bother with my one steep gear on the snowy muddy course. decided to keep moving and try to make it to the start, if only for course preview. then the wind picked up and the rain turned to sleet, blowing right under the tailgate and soaking me in my street clothes. stood around for a couple minutes trying to figure out how to change without stepping barefoot in a freezing puddle before deciding that it was just too ridiculous and climbing back into the warm van. as it turned out the light rain and calm air earlier was the eye of a ministorm that quickly passed. there was reportedly thundersnow, which i didn't even know existed. ah, providence. beautiful sunset over the naragansett bay mocked me in my hotel not 2 hours later.

stopped by a bike shop that i remember from my college days and they kindly sold me just a right shifter, new cables, and bar tape. swapped them out that afteroon. found out that my race had been postponed until the next day at 11:00pm after returning from adam and maya's. (good to see those kids.) now that's some serious weather, to cancel a cross race. props to chris, jeff hane, and anyone else who rallied and made it out for the friday races.

fast-forward to the next day, and it was sunny skies, gorgeous new england park, and hard snowy mud. i still hand't seen most of the course, so i started fairly easy. despite the regulation width of the course, there weren't many line options established yet. you pretty much slowed to a near stop in the bumpy rutted snow if you strayed from the few good lines through most sections.

some highlights:

+ seeing my brother yelling his head off on lap two having just arrived from brooklyn, and him continuing to run all over the course and cheer.

+ all the other voices i heard out there cheering for me both days (julie, mom, dad, dan, jen, lauren, jeff hane, others). thanks, jeff, for the tip on the rideable left line up one of the rises. i rode it every lap and gained time.

+ cheering on justin robinson lapping me 30 seconds from the line and the win.

i rode the course pretty conservativly, and stayed mostly upright. east coasters sure aren't afraid to crash. hard. i generaly felt fitter than most of the people around me seemed. passed a bunch on the pavement. feel like i could have done more with a better start position and more course familiarity.

<br>

posted by <br> at 07:10 PM | permalink | comments (1) | trackbacks (1)

cccp
coyote point, san mateo
2005/12/05
senior b
4th/30
series: 6th/73

just like two weeks ago, i felt way better going into the second race of the weekend on sunday. head more in the game. legs a little heavy, but not bad. i did my 2 minute warmup efforts in the same place as yesterday, starting out by the fishing pier and wrapping around and up the hill to the museum. i found myself getting to the top of the hill about 5 seconds faster than yesterday, which was a good sign.

got a better start off the line and up the hill. not at the front, but not too far off. pretty much with the people i've been finishing with in other pilarcitos races. this was one of those days i love, where people just keep coming back to you. it's a great feeling no matter where you are in the field. i'd bridge up to the next guy, sit in for a bit, and then be unsatisfied with the pace, so go around and repeat. it's also way easier to find wheels to suck on days like this, and i think i only rode the straightaway by the beach unaided once.

i think the course in this direction is better for me too. i seem to pull away from people on the small power humps up the hill, and was suprisingly running around people in the sand. coming into the last lap, i managed to hold onto the wheel of eric nelson from east sac. i was feeling good and in the need of redemption from the sprint i lost yesterday, so pretty much just decided i was going to beat him. let him pull me all the way to the curb drop before the last corner. i don't know why he took the corner wide with someone on his wheel, but i just apexed it a little tighter and sprinted right past. pretty much textbook. just 5 seconds off the podium, and 27 from the lead. with the double points for the finals, this solid finish bumped me up from 8th to 6th in the series. just wish i could find this kind of speed earlier in the season. i hope i can make it last until cccx finals in january.

<br>

posted by <br> at 07:05 PM | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

bianchi 'cross
coyote point, san mateo
2005/12/3
cat b
9th/28
teammates: nada

after listening to my coworkers cough and sneeze their way through the week, i was starting to feel like a hypochondriac going into the big weekend. an energy drop on friday night was starting to make me nervous so i just went to bed early and tried to get lots of sleep. felt okay in the morning, but still a little sluggish. i think this saturday racing thing is just challenging for me. once i got to the venue, bundled up against the cold wind coming off the bay, and got out on the course i was feeling better, and my heartrate was coming up fine. nutrition worked out better for me than earlier pilarcitos races with late starts. managed to choke down an extra pb&j on top of my usual assortment of pre-race stuff, and it got me through the race without feeling like i was fading like in the first 2 races.

got a bad bad start off the line despite getting my first callup in a pilarcitos race. didn't have my balance after my first pushoff, so had to take a second step before clipping in. oh well, didn't really get stuck in any traffic jams, and managed to avoid several minor incidents just in front of me. managed to find wheels and stay out of the wind the first several laps, but by midrace i was alone making some headway on a couple guys that seemed just a little too far up the road, making faces at the camera planted at the bottom of the little drop down to the pits, and trying to maintain my gap over a ritchey guy behind me. with one lap to go i thought i had him, but he must have put in quite an effort, because by the time we got back down the hill onto the back section he was on my wheel. drat. he came around and i grabbed his wheel for the long finishing straightaway. he stayed on the left line through the woodchips, so i decided to take the right line. in retrospect i should have stayed in his draft on the left, because i think the longer line i took slowed me down just a bit more than him, and i couldn't quite get around him before the line.

a little disappointing to lose the sprint, but on the bright side 9th is my best finish in the series thus far. i held my 8th place standing in the points. only 1 point from 7th...

<br>

posted by <br> at 08:48 PM | permalink | comments (0) | trackbacks (0)

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)

photo:julie [really big]

candlestick point, san francisco
2005/10/23
cat b
10th/40
teammates: joe, roger (ss), hans (a/v)

i still haven't mastered the 1:30 start time. tried to eat more throughout the day than last time, but again felt undernourished by the end of the race. got a pretty mediocre spot at the line. i had spun by the starting line about :15 minutes early and it didn't seem like the vultures had started circling yet, so i headed out for another lap around the parking lot. 3 minutes later, the vultures had all descended and claimed their spots. i managed to finagle my way into about the 3rd row after the callups but that's the best i could do. thankfully i was off to the left side, and avoided the pileup on the right. felt complacent in traffic through the first lap though. i wan't feeling much energy to assert for a better position and was still testing how stress affected my knee, so settled into my pace. the knee held up fine, so i think i can put that behind me.

by midrace i was slowly working my way back up to joe who had gotten a strong start, but i had a couple technical errors. dropped my chain once on the dismount before the flat barriers. i heard it come off as i shouldered the bike, and had to stop and put it back on before remounting. also tripped over the lower barrier on the runup. just didn't pick my feet up high enough, dropped the bike and landed on all fours. felt foolish. didn't manage to bridge up to joe. found myself on my own the last couple laps and rode in at tempo, finishing just hard enough to stay ah