This is a great race. A lot of fun and one we will target next year! The race is on a Saturday and Sunday. Saturday consisted of two races, a 75 minute circuit race (6.2 mile loop which we ended up doing 5 times) and a 10.5 mile time trial (TT). Sunday was a 69 mile road race.
Sun was out and wind was fairly high. I was racing the 35+ Cat 4 race. We had 13 guys to start. Two teams had two guys (Sierra Nevada out of Sac and Kaiser out of Oakland), the rest were on our own. There was one other San Mateo guy who road for Third Pillar). Laps 2,3,4 there was a 5 second time bonus for winning that lap and at the finish there was a 10,6,4 second bonus for first, second and third place. Race started fast for first three miles and then settled down. The two Sierra Nevada riders were pulling hard the first lap and sprinted for the line. We then reminded them the bonuses were for the next three laps..d'oh! On lap two I went to the front and put in about 90% effort to see what happened. The field stuck with me but was strung out. I then let two others get in front and road third wheel. We came the line and sprinted. I was in front and with five meters to go a Taleo rider came around me and took the bonus. Third lap, exact same scenario. Taleo crossed first and I was second. Fourth lap and final bonus I sat on Taleo's wheel and came around him to win the sprint. This set us up for the bell lap. Sierra Nevada rider took control and road HARD for 4 miles. The field was strung out in a line. With 500 meters to go a Metromint rider sprinted hard. Taleo caught his wheel, I hung on to Taleo and the second Sierra guy was on my wheel. The rest of the field was gapped. The finish was a moderate up hill and this took the Metromint riders legs and he dropped with 200 meters to go. That left Taleo in the wind. He went hard and Sierra came around both of us. I then sprinted and came around Taleo but missed catching Sierra by half a wheel. So, Second place in race and overall to that point. By the way, roads were smooth, new and the course was slightly rolling. Nothing steep but no real flat sections.
We then had four hours to kill before the TT. Not much to do around there, but I found the one bar and sat there for two hours drinking Sprite and watching NCAA hoops, and talking to local drunks. Actually, pretty fun.
TT was about four miles from the circuit course. The roads there are farm roads and so they are fairly rough. The course was an out and back with several moderate short hills and a sharp 180 degree turn. I was first racer of our group off. With a TT, it is important to control your effort at first so you dont burn your legs out...I did the opposite. I hammered at first and was suffering like a dog the second half. It was fairly windy and coming back into a head wind was tough. At the turnaround I saw my 1 minute man, it was the big Sierra guy who won the morning race (guy who starts 1 minute back) about 20 seconds back. That was discouraging. I had visions of grandeur prior to seeing him. Well, about a quarter of the way back, he goes past me. Crap! I tried to stay close to him, but he was strong and road away from me. In the end I finished 5th...Disappointed but now I know what area I need to work on. So, now I am in 5th place overall. First is Sierra big guy, Second is Taleo, third is Third Pillar guy (he had a good tt) and fourth is smaller Sierra guy.
Next day we all are back for a 69 mile road race. It is a three loop affair. The course starts where the TT started and then heads out for a 5 mile section of incredibly rough roads. I have never raced roads like that section. Was like the "pave" of Paris Roubix (I am sure that is worse, but not in my mind at the time). My bike was bucking all over the place during that section. First lap starts out causal. All realize we have 3.5 hrs of riding ahead and everyone takes it easy. Second lap and the two Oakland riders take off. The field does not react. All the top seven places are there, so no one worries. About eight miles later Taleo comes by and put in a big effort. The field is in one long line and a few second later we catch the Oakland boys. Everyone then settles down again. Back on the five mile rough section we reach a small but steep climb. Taleo takes off. Both Sierra riders follows him. I have another rider in front of me who cracks. I have to go around him but there is now a gap. I give it a hard effort, but those boys are strong. I am starting to crack when a Z team rider comes by me and says, "jump on". I obey and sit on his wheel. The field is now shattered. The two Sierra guys and Taleo in front, followed by me and Z team about 30 seconds back. Z and I worked our asses off to catch the top three, but they stayed just in front of us. We still had about 30 miles to go. Z and I agreed to ride as hard as we could for the rest of the race and see if we could catch on. We road hard and well together, switching leads every minute or so. During our final go through the rough patch, we closed to within 20 seconds. We hoped we could surprise them and catch on, but they caught site of us and put in a big effort to gap us again. At the end I sprinted past Z team to take fourth for the race. The top three put a minute and a half on us. We though, gaped the next group (which included Third Pillar) by 9 minutes! So, in the end, Big Sierra, Taleo, smaller Sierra took one, two three overall and I took fourth. With our effort Z team moved into 5th and Third Pillar fell to sixth.
This is a fun race. No long climbs but enough hard stuff to break the field up a bit, which makes it fun. Plan on doing this race next year!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Cool Article in News Paper today about Team!
http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_14698262
(Pasted Below, but formatting did not hold, so check it out online)
EASY RIDERS
Don't call this group of bikers "Bad to the Bone."
The CoreTechs Staffing Cycling Team is brand new and based in the Peninsula. Their goal is not to finish on the podium. It's to scratch a competitive itch while having fun and helping the community.
"I'm a 43-year-old guy with three young kids, and this is for fun," said founder Andrew Adelman, CEO of CoreTechs Staffing and a member of the racing team. "I'm not getting paid. In fact, I have to pay to do these races."
The original idea was to create a casual team with roughly eight riders — something between "just for fun" and hardcore professional.
"I wanted to have a team, a group, that I could ride with once in a while," said Adelman, who has done over 100 triathlons. "So I wanted to come out for a team to join, and specifically in the Bay Area there wasn't anything that fit what I wanted. ...
"Cycling seems to be a little exclusive, it's a little elitist I've found," Adelman added. "Especially when you're riding in these packs. No one will talk to you and everyone will look straight ahead until you've been riding with them and get good enough."
Adelman approached a 43-year-old friend, who quickly signed up as one of the sponsors — IronKey CEO Dave Jevans of Menlo Park.
"It's just a huge motivator to have a group that you like to train with," said Jevans, who also races on the team. "It makes all the difference in the world for me. You can judge your
fitness level together and find your weaknesses."
Fitness 101 also joined as a sponsor, but the CoreTechs Cycling Team is a nonprofit.
"We don't want to make money with it," Adelman said. "We want to do something good. And we chose a charity that means something to us."
Their cause is the Lucile Packard Foundation, which runs the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. This is particularly personal for Jevans, whose teenage daughter was admitted for heart surgery two years ago. "As you can imagine, it's quite a stressful thing," Jevans said.
The surgery proved a success and the hole in her heart was repaired. Her father is forever thankful. "The doctors are fantastic, the facility is world class," Jevans said. "Living in the Palo Alto-Menlo Park area, we are blessed to have such a facility and I wanted to do anything to support it. It's a small measure, but it's important to raise support and awarenesss."
"So the more people riding in that jersey, the better," Adelman added, "because it raises money for them." Most of the riders are 35 years of age or older. They include men and women who can either join the racing squad or be part of the club team. "It's been amazing who you meet," Jevans said. "You get this diversity of people and you meet together behind one common goal. It's very fun." There is group rides on Sunday, with the team meeting at Starbucks in Menlo Park on Alameda de las Pulgas. Depending on the day, it depends where they ride.
Quick warning: It's not easy as it sounds. "It's been very painful," Jevans said.
"When you very first start, physically it's tough to hang with the group," confirmed Adelman, who asks members to commit to three key races broken down into categories ranging from Cat 5 for novices all the way to Cat 1 before the pros.
"But if you want to separate yourself, I find it's how hard to you want it," Adelman said. "You get to a point where your mind wants to shut down. 'It hurts. It sucks. I don't want to do it.' But you mentally push yourself past that and those are the guys who separate themselves. On the high end, those are the guys that are strongest mentally."
But for the CoreTechs Cycling Team, it's about pushing yourself while still having fun without the pressure of winning.
"You won't see us on top of the podium, I don't think," Adelman said. "Our goal is to have a big presence in the race, to get better and see how it goes."
(Pasted Below, but formatting did not hold, so check it out online)
EASY RIDERS
Don't call this group of bikers "Bad to the Bone."
The CoreTechs Staffing Cycling Team is brand new and based in the Peninsula. Their goal is not to finish on the podium. It's to scratch a competitive itch while having fun and helping the community.
"I'm a 43-year-old guy with three young kids, and this is for fun," said founder Andrew Adelman, CEO of CoreTechs Staffing and a member of the racing team. "I'm not getting paid. In fact, I have to pay to do these races."
The original idea was to create a casual team with roughly eight riders — something between "just for fun" and hardcore professional.
"I wanted to have a team, a group, that I could ride with once in a while," said Adelman, who has done over 100 triathlons. "So I wanted to come out for a team to join, and specifically in the Bay Area there wasn't anything that fit what I wanted. ...
"Cycling seems to be a little exclusive, it's a little elitist I've found," Adelman added. "Especially when you're riding in these packs. No one will talk to you and everyone will look straight ahead until you've been riding with them and get good enough."
Adelman approached a 43-year-old friend, who quickly signed up as one of the sponsors — IronKey CEO Dave Jevans of Menlo Park.
"It's just a huge motivator to have a group that you like to train with," said Jevans, who also races on the team. "It makes all the difference in the world for me. You can judge your
fitness level together and find your weaknesses."
Fitness 101 also joined as a sponsor, but the CoreTechs Cycling Team is a nonprofit.
"We don't want to make money with it," Adelman said. "We want to do something good. And we chose a charity that means something to us."
Their cause is the Lucile Packard Foundation, which runs the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. This is particularly personal for Jevans, whose teenage daughter was admitted for heart surgery two years ago. "As you can imagine, it's quite a stressful thing," Jevans said.
The surgery proved a success and the hole in her heart was repaired. Her father is forever thankful. "The doctors are fantastic, the facility is world class," Jevans said. "Living in the Palo Alto-Menlo Park area, we are blessed to have such a facility and I wanted to do anything to support it. It's a small measure, but it's important to raise support and awarenesss."
"So the more people riding in that jersey, the better," Adelman added, "because it raises money for them." Most of the riders are 35 years of age or older. They include men and women who can either join the racing squad or be part of the club team. "It's been amazing who you meet," Jevans said. "You get this diversity of people and you meet together behind one common goal. It's very fun." There is group rides on Sunday, with the team meeting at Starbucks in Menlo Park on Alameda de las Pulgas. Depending on the day, it depends where they ride.
Quick warning: It's not easy as it sounds. "It's been very painful," Jevans said.
"When you very first start, physically it's tough to hang with the group," confirmed Adelman, who asks members to commit to three key races broken down into categories ranging from Cat 5 for novices all the way to Cat 1 before the pros.
"But if you want to separate yourself, I find it's how hard to you want it," Adelman said. "You get to a point where your mind wants to shut down. 'It hurts. It sucks. I don't want to do it.' But you mentally push yourself past that and those are the guys who separate themselves. On the high end, those are the guys that are strongest mentally."
But for the CoreTechs Cycling Team, it's about pushing yourself while still having fun without the pressure of winning.
"You won't see us on top of the podium, I don't think," Adelman said. "Our goal is to have a big presence in the race, to get better and see how it goes."
Monday, March 15, 2010
Ride Report: 3-14-10
Four of us headed out to the PV morning ride. It was a beautiful day, but man was it cold at 7:45am! I had on undershirt, jersey, cycling vest, full arm and leg warmers and full finger gloves. I still could not feel my finger tips or toes. Dave shows up in a jersey and shorts...insane. We catch on the PV ride and hang on. They were moving. First time many have seen sun in so long they were itching to race. John, Bill and Dave were hanging in and flying the team colors proudly...fun to watch.
After the PV ride we all met up with G Money (Gordon), Patti and new member, Paul for a ride back down 92. I think Bill was mad at me as he tried to take me down. We banged bars, but I held on and kept the bike up right. Actually, I think it was my fault, but it is easier to blame others :).
It is a good group, good conversation and no one who is taking themselves too seriously, just how we like it. Good time, see you all next ride.
After the PV ride we all met up with G Money (Gordon), Patti and new member, Paul for a ride back down 92. I think Bill was mad at me as he tried to take me down. We banged bars, but I held on and kept the bike up right. Actually, I think it was my fault, but it is easier to blame others :).
It is a good group, good conversation and no one who is taking themselves too seriously, just how we like it. Good time, see you all next ride.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Key Races Designated for Race Team!
Our three key races are now set. Sign up now for Modesto and then check www.ncnca.org for the other two. If you are a fit, sign up for the 35+ 4/5 race.
May 16: Modesto Road Race (TEAM EVENT)
August 14th Dunigan Hills Road Race (TEAM EVENT. SO…keep the date free)
August 28th Winters Road Race (TEAM EVENT. Keep date free)
May 16: Modesto Road Race (TEAM EVENT)
August 14th Dunigan Hills Road Race (TEAM EVENT. SO…keep the date free)
August 28th Winters Road Race (TEAM EVENT. Keep date free)
Training Day: April 24th!
We will have a training day or weekend on April 23/24. Depending on the group. We will either go to the Sierras to ride for two days, or if the gang flakes, than we will ride with Laura per below!
"Training weekend planned for Apr 23-24. I think I'll probably stay local and ride Mt Ham on the 24th rather than the Breakaway granfondo on the 25th, but will wait a bit to see what others are doing."
"Training weekend planned for Apr 23-24. I think I'll probably stay local and ride Mt Ham on the 24th rather than the Breakaway granfondo on the 25th, but will wait a bit to see what others are doing."
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