Chris's Dash for Cash Race Report

Report by Chris Scheetz: June 4th, 2011
Race – ICCC Dash for Cash, Pleasanton, CA
Weather – 60 degrees plus or minus, rain
Races – Elite 4 and 35+ 4/5

This race report is for Christian Parker, John Wilde and me.

Planning this weekends riding, CoreTechs riders had a few riding options: Sequoia Century, ICCC Dash for Cash Criterium or the Top Sport stage race. Since the Top Sport Stage race was canceled, options were narrowed to the first two events. Christian, John and I opted for the Dash for Cash. When we signed up, none of us thought we would be racing in poor conditions, yet, we spent a collective 85 minutes racing in the rain. On a side note, the night before the race I had a dream. The next morning, I thought the dream may have been an omen not to race. I dreamed I got to the race venue and missed my race because I could not find the registration table. I dismissed this idea and felt a surge of confidence that the team could do well, likely to due to the fact that I had watched Valkyrie the night before.

On the way to the race, team CoreTechs set one goal: Ride together within the peloton. That goal may sound easy, but it actually takes some effort to stay together. I am happy to report, we met the goal. It was interesting to see under race conditions, how two of us would be separated from the third, and have the third rider make his way up to us only to be let in by an unattached wheel. This happened multiple times during each race. Enough about goals, onto the racing.

As far as crits go, this course is pretty straight forward, clock wise rotation, flat as a pancake, good office park pavement with four right turns and 0.9 miles per lap. The "x" factors in this race where the rain and slick roads. These two elements did slow the pace a bit, but in my opinion, made the race more dangerous as you were never 100% sure your tires would hold in the corners. The wet conditions amplified what would otherwise be “non-hazards”, i.e. bot dots, manhole covers, painted cross walk lines, pavement patches and the old “rooster tail” from the guy in front of you hitting you in the face. Every turn was a function of matching the speed of the bike in front of you and hoping you did now slide out. On multiple occasions I witnessed riders in front of me loose traction, as well, my rear tire slide out on a bot dot, and Christian lost traction accelerating out of numerous corners. Surprisingly enough, even with these hazards, I only saw one crash. A rider in front of me went too wide in turn four, ran out of real estate, did some “grinding” with his bottom bracket and carbon rims on the median curb before dumping.

The first race was the Elite 4. The rules of Dash for Cash call for two racing laps with all subsequent laps up to 20, being preem’s valued at $10 each. With a preem at stake on every lap there was plenty of attempted break-aways, some successful, many not. I am pleased to report our own John Wilde, riding a cyclo-cross bike, won two preem’s this race and was probably pimped at the line on several other occasions. When you get the opportunity to race with John, you will see he has a deep well for short sustained bursts of power, (Devon, Andrew and Mark, meet your new lead out man).

After a restful four minutes, the whistle blew and we started the second race, 35+ 4/5. Being sufficiently warm and used to the conditions, this was another good showing for team CoreTechs. For the most part, we rode with the same goal in mind as the first race, stay together. The highlights of this race included two more preem wins, one by John and one by Christian (more on Christians win in a moment). I did not witness any crashes this race, but almost caused one myself. The group was rolling into turn one and the rider in front of me for some reason was decelerating into the corner and I had no option but to tap my brakes which caused quite a uproar behind me, (sorry again Christian). My personal highlight came with two laps to go. Team CoreTechs was sitting mid pack. As we made turn three onto the shortest leg of the course, I made a move on the inside with Christian on my wheel. We made it to turn four with a couple other riders for the long stretch to the start/finish and the preem. I held the lead most of the way and served as a good lead out for Christian who won the preem!! As we rolled on, I took a look back and to my surprise, there was a huge gap between us and the peloton. Holy cow, less than one lap to go, so I tucked behind the rider who took the lead and I did not look back. Turn two, we are still in the lead. Turn three, we are still in the lead. As we headed to turn four, a team member for the rider I was tailing pulled up next to us, yelled at his team mate to move, blocked me and about a dozen riders zoomed passed me as we exited turn four. Bummer, so close.

Overall, a good day for team CoreTechs with four preems, Christian with two top ten finished of 7th and 9th, me with a 19th and 21st finish and John just behind me in both races. On a side note, the next time you see Christian, ask him how he got the wheel marks on his left leg without crashing.