CoreTechs Cycling Team covered itself with glory last Saturday. In Monterey that is. Congrats to Devon and everyone who went down to Ft Ord. An hour on the bike, win, top step of the podium. How can life get better?
A few miles to east, CoreTechs was having a different racing experience at the Mega-Monster Enduro on lonesome hwy 25. This event is like a TTT: 51 miles south, turn around, 51 miles back. The team was just me and the Ringer (a friend of ours, as a junior he raced with guys like Lance, George and Fast Freddy, but lately his racing companions are... less distinguished). Mark Dames was out sick. Smart move.
The concept of this ride: Bicycles can fly. No traffic, no stop signs, no big climbs, good tarmac, if you've ever caught a tailwind out there, you know you can go fast for a long way. The forecast was for sunny, warm weather. Wind 5 mph from the west. So, neutral and perfect.
It was warming up nicely by the time we got to Paicines. No mass start here, you roll when ready, and that's when your clock starts. We were the very last team to set off. The race rule is TT style: no drafting off other riders, but everyone else was long gone anyway.
We set off south feeling good, but soon the breeze felt way too strong. A stiff south wind? For 50 miles? That wasn't in the game plan. This wasn't flying, more like swimming upstream. But this was a race, we were committed, we gave it everything we had. The course on-lookers-- the cows-- had an expression that said, "we've seen better."
In a period of time only slightly less than forever, we reached the turnaround. Ah, finally! Re-fuel, re-water, enjoy that tailwind and fly back north. "We'll be doin 35 mph" bragged the Ringer, only half kidding. However, Race Director Kevin Winterfield had some bad news. "Actually, the wind can shift in the afternoon, you guys are kinda late, you'll probably get a headwind going back." Huh? Maybe we better get going.
We had a few good miles, but soon the diabolical wind had indeed shifted, now out the north and in our face again. Just as hard as in the morning. We drank a lot, but strangely no nature breaks were necessary for either of us the whole day. I sucked down as much Hammer gel as I could stomach. For me, solid food was out of the question.
We made it back. It took a while, even with the Ringer pulling much more than his fair share and both of us leaving it all on the road. I arrived crusted with salt. A beautiful day, but easily one of my five hardest days in the saddle. 6 hours at the limit.
On the positive side, easily my fastest century ever. And one hell of a workout. If I ever recover, I'm sure I'll be the stronger for it.
Mega-Monster? Never again!
Of course, if we got an early start we could get better conditions, and bring a bigger stronger team. get Dames' big engine out there, maybe train some on Canada, maybe even go down to Paicines and work out on the course...
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
2011 Brisbane Crit Race Report
Feb 5th 2011
Brisbane Rhonde whatever, whatever Crit
Teammates: Devon Joos, Chris Scheetz, Christian Parker and John Tsamasfyros
You have heard of, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em"? Well how about, "if you can't beat 'em, have them join you?".
I arrive at 7:20 for a nine o'clock race. Beautiful day: Sun and temps in the high 40's. Nice. Before the 5's started at 8am I got on the course and did a lap. Uh oh. The course is narrow and has lots of turns in it's .6 mile loop. It also has a 180 degree turn. This turn comes right off a bit of a straight away, so you have some speed coming into it. I have to admit, first race of 2011 and confidence in the course was shaky!
Devon and Chris Scheetz show up and I introduce them to John T. This was John's very first race. What a course to have as your inauguration to racing. He started at 8am and we watched him while we warmed up on the rollers. He did great. Good positioning in the first few laps. Stayed in the top 10. Then the pace got to him and he slowly drifted off pace. For a very first race, it was a good showing. Congrats John.
Next up was our race. It was old man 3/4 cat. Total in race is about 30 to 35 guys. With my course preview fresh in mind, I did not want to ride mid pack. Way too scary taking those tight turns in a group. Instead I went out to the fourth spot from the gun. We were taking turns fast! Honestly it had me considering what the F… am I doing here. Still though, I felt good and I was racing, so I wanted to make the best of it.
First preem came up and Devon rolls by me into 4th position. On the finishing straight he goes and no one challenges his quick acceleration. He wins the preem. Nice. We keep rolling and on the next lap I hear a crash behind me. Not sure what happened, but it woke me up a bit. I move into second position. While following the leader through the 180 turn, he cant hold his line and crashes right in front of me. One of those slow motion things. I could see him going down and knew it may not be good for me. I drift to the far side and his wheels hit me. I have to come unclipped and ride the top tube, but I stay up right. I watch the group go speeding by. I get back in the pedals and catch back on. Unfortunately, the incident takes out my front derailleur. I now can not use my big ring and I am at the back of the pack. At this point I mentally checked out a bit. Was thinking about just riding it in but since I was still with the group figured I would play it out and see what happened.
We get the countdown to five laps to go. I am at the back. This kind of sucks. Two laps to go and I am pissed. Felt good, first race of the year and here I am at the back. Well, what the hell. I come out of the pack on the finishing straight going into the last lap and move back up to third position. I feel like a hamster on a wheel with my legs spinning out (no big ring). Two SJ Bike club guys start hammering. I recognize the second in line from the noon ride. Anyway, it is obvious his buddy is trying to lead him out. We hit the final straight away and a black blur goes flying by…Devon. Kid is moving. I have to say, Devon has a hell of a kick. This is Devon's fifth race and first crit and he WON… every race he has entered. This was a Cat 3/4 race and he hammered all the 3's. If he was 25 years younger, I would say kid had a future making money on a bike. Of course, he is 47, so instead, he just gets to beat up on the likes of us. As I mentioned above, if you can't beat 'em, have them join you. Good thing my year of begging and pleading for him to join us worked. I spun my hamster legs to a 4th, so I was able to stand on the podium with Devon. Made sure to have a pic taken to prove it. When D moves on Radioshack, I will say I knew him at the start.
Things learned from this race; Tight turns…be near the front. Get out of Devon's way during a sprint, he will just blow by you anyway and finally, I don’t make a good hamster. Last thing, the booty was not bad. D Money (his new name) won a set of $300 bike shoes, $25 in cash and some other junk. I got a warm smile and a hearty handshake.
Finally, I stayed for the next race and watched Christian tear up a 3rd place in the 35+ Cat 4 race. Not sure what happened to him over the winter, but whatever Christian is eating, I want some. He is kicking ass. We had a few guys come up to us after each race asking about the team. Seems we are starting to get some notice, and this year not just for our ample girth.
Keep riding.
Andrew
www.coretechscycling.com
Brisbane Rhonde whatever, whatever Crit
Teammates: Devon Joos, Chris Scheetz, Christian Parker and John Tsamasfyros
You have heard of, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em"? Well how about, "if you can't beat 'em, have them join you?".
I arrive at 7:20 for a nine o'clock race. Beautiful day: Sun and temps in the high 40's. Nice. Before the 5's started at 8am I got on the course and did a lap. Uh oh. The course is narrow and has lots of turns in it's .6 mile loop. It also has a 180 degree turn. This turn comes right off a bit of a straight away, so you have some speed coming into it. I have to admit, first race of 2011 and confidence in the course was shaky!
Devon and Chris Scheetz show up and I introduce them to John T. This was John's very first race. What a course to have as your inauguration to racing. He started at 8am and we watched him while we warmed up on the rollers. He did great. Good positioning in the first few laps. Stayed in the top 10. Then the pace got to him and he slowly drifted off pace. For a very first race, it was a good showing. Congrats John.
Next up was our race. It was old man 3/4 cat. Total in race is about 30 to 35 guys. With my course preview fresh in mind, I did not want to ride mid pack. Way too scary taking those tight turns in a group. Instead I went out to the fourth spot from the gun. We were taking turns fast! Honestly it had me considering what the F… am I doing here. Still though, I felt good and I was racing, so I wanted to make the best of it.
First preem came up and Devon rolls by me into 4th position. On the finishing straight he goes and no one challenges his quick acceleration. He wins the preem. Nice. We keep rolling and on the next lap I hear a crash behind me. Not sure what happened, but it woke me up a bit. I move into second position. While following the leader through the 180 turn, he cant hold his line and crashes right in front of me. One of those slow motion things. I could see him going down and knew it may not be good for me. I drift to the far side and his wheels hit me. I have to come unclipped and ride the top tube, but I stay up right. I watch the group go speeding by. I get back in the pedals and catch back on. Unfortunately, the incident takes out my front derailleur. I now can not use my big ring and I am at the back of the pack. At this point I mentally checked out a bit. Was thinking about just riding it in but since I was still with the group figured I would play it out and see what happened.
We get the countdown to five laps to go. I am at the back. This kind of sucks. Two laps to go and I am pissed. Felt good, first race of the year and here I am at the back. Well, what the hell. I come out of the pack on the finishing straight going into the last lap and move back up to third position. I feel like a hamster on a wheel with my legs spinning out (no big ring). Two SJ Bike club guys start hammering. I recognize the second in line from the noon ride. Anyway, it is obvious his buddy is trying to lead him out. We hit the final straight away and a black blur goes flying by…Devon. Kid is moving. I have to say, Devon has a hell of a kick. This is Devon's fifth race and first crit and he WON… every race he has entered. This was a Cat 3/4 race and he hammered all the 3's. If he was 25 years younger, I would say kid had a future making money on a bike. Of course, he is 47, so instead, he just gets to beat up on the likes of us. As I mentioned above, if you can't beat 'em, have them join you. Good thing my year of begging and pleading for him to join us worked. I spun my hamster legs to a 4th, so I was able to stand on the podium with Devon. Made sure to have a pic taken to prove it. When D moves on Radioshack, I will say I knew him at the start.
Things learned from this race; Tight turns…be near the front. Get out of Devon's way during a sprint, he will just blow by you anyway and finally, I don’t make a good hamster. Last thing, the booty was not bad. D Money (his new name) won a set of $300 bike shoes, $25 in cash and some other junk. I got a warm smile and a hearty handshake.
Finally, I stayed for the next race and watched Christian tear up a 3rd place in the 35+ Cat 4 race. Not sure what happened to him over the winter, but whatever Christian is eating, I want some. He is kicking ass. We had a few guys come up to us after each race asking about the team. Seems we are starting to get some notice, and this year not just for our ample girth.
Keep riding.
Andrew
www.coretechscycling.com
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