TWO Wins in one day...that is a good day: Scott F. races CCCX

Race 1 - Saturday
Central Coast Circuit Race M35+ 4/5
Team-mates: Solo
Place: 1st

I lined up for the familiar course in Monterey under cloudy conditions. From the whistle the group seemed anxious to get things going. A few folks attacked early on, but after dangling in the wind for a spell, they were re-absorbed into the group. I noticed a few folks that I raced with in Leesville, and marked them as being a strong opponent. The laps ticked away, and on the final climb the group was strung out. While coming down the descent, I lined up behind one of the Leesville racer’s, thinking he would wind up for the sprint. Just before the final turn, he ran out of gas and I had to find a wheel. Scrambling for a line, I decided it was now or never and gave it everything I had. Luck would have it I crossed the line first!

Race 2 - Saturday
Central Coast Circuit Race M35+ 4/5
Team-mates: Christian Parker
Place: 1st

Race 2 was a bit different. After waiting for 1 1/2 hours before the start of the next race, my legs were tight and I was tired. Christian and I spoke about a plan, which let’s see how things go. I spent the first few laps in the back just trying to get the legs loose. Christian was mixing it up with the leaders and came back to check on me every now and then. With two laps to go, I worked my way to the front only to have my left calve cramp. Argh. I waited for the group to pass, and then ducked in mid way to try and at least finish.

On the last lap, approaching the final stretch with several climbs, Christian and I were near the front of the group and my cramp had subsided. I told Christian let’s hit it, and he buried himself over the rollers. On the last roller, I tried to block some wind for Christian and we dived into the final descent. Being careful not to lead out, I tucked in behind a wheel, only to hear Christian saying he was coming on my left and to jump on. Christian looked like AAA, because he was towing a long train of riders and I had to scramble to get the fifth wheel. Again Christian dug deep and provided a perfect lead out to those behind as we entered the final stretch. Everyone took a different line and uncorked their sprint. I was lucky to have a team-mate that saved me the energy leading into the sprint, and I finished first! Great team work, and a huge thanks to Christian for making this possible. Also thanks to Steve for sticking around and cheering us on.


Race 1 - Sunday
Foothill Junior College Circuit: Elite 4
Team-mates: Chris Scheetz
Place: 17th of 60

Definitely woke up tired and with tight legs. Hit the trainer for a warm up, and then Chris and I talked about our race tactics. We rolled around the course and lined up for the start. Chris had mentioned the field was full, but when staging we only counted 25 racers. Great, this race may go well!

Not more than a minute later we were swarmed by an additional 35 riders bringing the total to 60. Doh. The course was actually pretty cool; a long sweeping course with rollers, and one little climb mid way. The group itself was a mix of seasoned racers, old guys, juniors, and everything in between. This led to a lot of crazy situations within the group, fortunately nobody crashed. On the final climb on the last lap, my right hamstring cramped. Telling myself to stay calm, I tried to spin it out before the finish. We approached the final meters and as I stood to sprint, my left hamstring locked. Rolled across 17th.

Thanks for reading-
Freier

Chris's Watsonville Crit Race Report

Written by: Chris Scheetz
Race - 35+ CAT 4
Teammate: Scott Freiermuth
Location - Watsonville, CA
Racing conditions - low to mid 70's light winds

Scott Freiermuth and I did is race.

This is a long standing crit (this was the 34th running). What makes this crit different from other crits is it takes place in a very nice neighborhood in Watsonville, there were several families camped out in their driveways enjoys the spectacle.

The course had four 90 degree right hand turns, one 120 degree left hand turn and one long left to right hand uphill sweeper to the finish line.

Given the field size and technical nature of the course were no great break-a-ways at any point in the race. One thing Scott and I both experienced was a couple knuckleheads that would work real hard in the front part of the group, then just sit up creating a big gap. The first time I experienced this, I thought the guy had given up, he took a free lap. But when I experienced this maneuver from the same guy again, *%$#@ pissed me off. What Scott and I figured post race was the guy was intentionally trying to create a gap for his team mate. I had never experienced this before.

The race was to be no more than 45 minutes or 24 laps on this 0.75 mile course. Suffice to say, the race really began on lap 23. With half a lap to go, we experienced the typical surge, saw a few riders we did not see all race, from 120 degree turn, things strung out, we had two more right hand turns to the big sweeper to the finish, nothing dramatic, no crashers. Scott took 5th and an earlier preem ($10 in strawberries), I took 12th.

Lessons leaned: watch out for the riders creating gaps for their team mates.

JP's Colivata Grand Prix Race Report

Written by John Pauley
Race: Novato – Colavita Norcal - Grand Prix, 45+ 3/4
Date: 7-16-11
Course: 1.1 mile circuit, 38 feet of vertical per lap (See attached Map from Garmin.)
Distance: 16 laps, 18 total miles in ~40 minutes (Average speed 26.1 mph)
Teammates: Andrew Adelman and Steve Stewart
Number of riders: about 40
Place: 6th

A buddy of mine, Rich Rozzi, who was my closest friend in high school, is the manager of the local Colavita Amateur team and he and his team put on this race. Because of this, I felt somewhat obligated to do this race and over the past few weeks I have been excited about racing here. Unfortunately, I felt lousy on the bike all three days I rode during the week and I was a bit concerned going into the race on Saturday.

My race wasn’t until 10:50, so I was able to sleep in a bit and I arrived two hours early for my race. This gave me a chance to watch Andrew in his first race (35+ 3/4s) and take my time getting ready.

After Andrew finished his first race, he, Steve and I warmed up on our trainers together while Andrew gave us a wrap up of his race and some insight on the course and how to race it. This gave us a chance to strategies a little and in the end, the insight really helped. (Quick side note, there is about 38 feet of “climbing” per lap, but it is all gradual with one little kicker that rises about 15 feet. As Andrew, Steve and I were doing a practice lap, Steve says “I thought there was no climbing in this! This hill is going to look like Alpe d’huez the 10th or 12th time up it!” That made us laugh, and it surely helped me to calm down a bit just before the race started. Thanks Steve!)

On to racing:
This race had 8 Primes including the first lap being a hot lap! The 2nd lap did not have a prime and then the next three had primes, followed by a couple of laps without and then 3 more in a row! Bottom line, ½ the laps had a prime. Andrew won one prime and I was 2nd in another (I felt I had a great chance to win it, but the guy’s wheel I was trying to get on with about 300 meters to go jumped just before I got up to him and I never caught his draft.

As most of you know, I’m not a big fan of criteriums, but this course was ideal for me, it was over a mile long with wide roads, no 90 degree turns, no hills and a downhill finish. The course itself didn’t have any true 90 degree turns, but the first and fourth turns were just slightly less than 90 degrees and the first turn had a little chicane (s-turn) just before it. A few of the insights that Andrew gave us were; Stay to the outside of turn one, because too many guys will cut the corner, be careful when the race slows on the “hill” on the back as it will bunch up, and be in the first few riders on the last turn of the race as it is difficult to catch anyone with the downhill sprint to the finish.

The race was fairly fast and consistent with a few “slow downs” in the middle of the race when there was not prime. I had been moving around in the peloton throughout the race and I was at the back third of the pack with 5 to go. With 2 laps to go I began moving forward and figured I would get to the front with about ½ lap or so to go. The problem was, the group bunched up on the final time up the hill and I found myself boxed in about 15 to 20 from the front. I could see Andrew at the very front with his nose in the wind trying to keep the pace high so we wouldn’t bunch up, but we did anyway. (Andrew told us before the race that the final turn can be a bit sketchy if the whole pack goes into it as a group.) I was getting a bit concerned because I was further back than I wanted to be and time was running out. Just when I thought it was over, my buddy, Rich, rides by me on the outside, taps his butt and says “get my wheel” (I thought he was talking to me, but when I saw him after the finish, it turns out he didn’t see me and was talking to a former teammate). He and I moved up quickly and Andrew and a group of four guys jumped about 100 yards before the final turn but unfortunately there was a group of three or four guys that suddenly stopped trying to keep up. Rich and I went hard to chase the five guys that now had 30 yards on us. We passed 5 or 6 guys on the turn and another 3 or 4 as we entered the straightaway. As I swung off Rich’s wheel, they still had 30 yards on me with 200 to go. I downshifted one last time into my 53x11, put my head down and hit it hard. I was catching them, but unfortunately I ran out of real estate as they crossed the line about 15 yards ahead of me, I looked under my arm to see who was behind me and I had 15 to 20 yards on the next rider.

Andrew finished with the lead group, and I rolled across in 6th place!

I considered doing the 45+1/2/3 race, which was in an hour, but then I decided not to push my luck and go home with my first top 10 placing in a Cat 3 race.

What I learned:
1. Get to races early. Having extra time to get ready and warm up really helped with my comfort level and confidence.
2. Don’t rely on there being an opening to move up on the last lap. Take a lesson from Andrew and get up there and fight for position earlier. I realized during this race that my fitness is back to a level where I can recover quickly enough to sprint after a hard effort.
3. Don’t assume a wheel is going to be there when going for a prime or the finish. Man up and fight hard and go for it and if the wheel is there, all the better.
4. Finally, get someone to make you laugh before the race to relieve some of the tension.

Dave Jevans Death Ride Thoughts: what a come back!

Dave Jevans thoughts on the Death Ride: Dave snapped his femur last year skiing-lots of metal in his leg now. This is a pretty big come back!

Long, steep, and painful
Deep snowdrifts on Ebbetts pass
Beautiful sunshine

I had my front tire blowout "POP" at 32mph. I did not crash but it scared me a lot. I almost decided to abandon after 4 passes, cuz 17 mile long descent at over 50mph was next. But I manned up and finished.

I'm still not happy about that blowout though.

Other than that, it was Fabulous and all other team members are Wusses for not joining us. It's only 15000 feet of climbing at altitude. Come on!

Miles Death Ride Report 7-9-11

Miles Keep Death Ride Report 7/9/11
Wanted to add a few things from my point of view...

This was my first Death Ride, I've only been riding for about a year, so I didn't know what to expect, and that made me nervous.
I knew I could do it, (I do enjoy the climb) although I've never ridden that far before and for me it would come down to nutrition. The longest I've gone was 110 miles.

I had brought two friends along, Ben (who has ridden some weekend group rides with us before) and his cousin Morgan, who drove down from Oregon to join us. Morgan had never done this ride before, but Ben had done it at least 6 times over the years.
Between Ben, Laura and Dave, I felt a little comfort with their experience.

The first/second pass (Monitor) was amazing. Being above 8000ft at sunrise was so cool. As Laura mentioned, the road was sweet, and the descent was fun even for me. That was the fastest I've gone on a bike.

The third/forth pass (Ebbetts) was the hardest I thought. It went on for ever. Ben and Morgan both had power meters and we kept a good average of 230-250w for what seemed like hours. The descent was fairly technical with a few really tight sections near the lake. The highlight for me at that point was when I caught a buddy I knew on the climb, he had started 2 hours before us.
When we rolled in for lunch I was ready to eat. Being a skinny guy with a crazy fast metabolism I needed to refuel. This is were
I made my mistake. I rushed lunch and didn't take in enough calories.

On the way to the Woodfords stop we went through Markleeville. That was fun, the street was lined with screaming people and it gave me a bit of a boost to get to Woodfords. I felt really good at that point and gave the grim reaper a high five as I rolled through the stop and decided to skip any rest and move on to Picketts Junction. The grim reaper should of been a sign, as I began to unroll on the way up the first section of Carson. My legs felt fine, but my overall energy was slipping away and the dreaded bonk was fast approaching. As I arrived at Picketts Juction with tunnel vision and a bit of delirium, I decided it was a good idea to take a break and re group.
I sucked down a bottle of some energy drink and tried to ingest as much salt laden foods as I could. After about 20 mins I came to and decided I'd better go for it. I knew the finish was only 8-9 miles away, although straight up...As I made it up towards the top of Carson I had my second wind and hammered the last 2-3 miles to the top. I got my ice cream! It was a great feeling to have done it and I hung out for a while at the top just enjoying the moment. I made of point of signing the poster and placed my sig on the pelvis in honor of team mate Gregg.

Morgan had made it up there a bit before me but Ben had broke his rear derailleur cable and had to turn around a few miles from the top and limp home stuck on his 11 tooth gear in the rear.

I have to say that I was impressed by all the support they had in place. It also seemed like there were people of all ages cheering you on even in the most remote places. Good stuff.

My plan to have fun and just finish had been accomplished and I was a happy camper ascending the long downhill to the car at Turtle Rock.

-Miles

Death Ride Report by Laura Stern

Death Ride Report by Laura Stern
7/9/11

The Death Ride. 129 miles, 15K of climbing over Monitor (8314'), Ebbetts (8730') and Carson Pass (8580'), and with about 3500 new-found friends. This year's edition included the small but mighty Coretechs contingent of Miles, Dave J., and me.

Last year's conditions at the DR were terrific, but this year's were even better.
I may never do this ride again simply because it couldn't possibly be better than this year. Reasonably cool (or at least not "hot") temperatures, low to moderate wind, crystal clear air and cloudless skies, and the best scenery ever with all the lingering snow, high water level in the streams, and wildflowers still in bloom. It was particularly spectacular over Monitor with the early morning lighting and long shadows. Andrew sometimes teases that all my rides "need to be pretty" (he's right, they do), but even he would have been blown away by the vistas we had this year!

The new, butter-smooth pavement on Monitor (and with painted rather than bone-jarring cattle guards) was also an unexpected treat. (Note to Scott Fairman - it would be dynamite roller skiing up there this summer! Note to Miles and DJ - my sources say that Carson is slated for it's much-needed repaving NEXT year!)

With the exception of no altitude training (since April) and not having dropped the 8 lbs ahead of time that I'd planned (or at least hoped) to do, I thought my training was reasonably sufficient to pull off a strong ride if conditions allowed. I think I got in eight 100-milers already this season before the DR, and those nasty hill-interval pain sessions on Wednesdays with Mark D., JP, and a few others of you really seemed to pay off.

Dave, Miles, yours truly, and a couple of other friends met up at the Turtle Rock Park start at 5:30 am for a group roll-out. I was not looking forward to the initial fast and c-c-c-cold plunge down to Markleeville, and about 2 minutes before we started it suddenly occurred to me that I had forgotten to secure or tighten my front wheel skewer. Oops! I reached down and the wheel was indeed practically flopping around. I tightened it up and we rolled out shortly thereafter, down to Markleeville then out towards Monitor, which was Pass #1 (the west side) and Pass #2 (the east side.) Like last year, I was amazed at how many riders had rolled out well ahead of the "official" start time of 5:30 -- I'm guessing that 500 to 1000 were already on Monitor when we got there! It looked like some sort to crazy pilgrimage or something, as all you could see was a steady stream of riders, 4 or 5 abreast, weaving their way up the mountain. And you can see a very long way up, literally for miles. I stopped briefly at the top to refill a bottle, then continued down the east side while soaking in the views, flipped around at the bottom after collecting the oh-so important sticker, and headed back up. The east side feels particularly huge, with something like 3300' of vertical. I think we accumulated about 6200' of climbing before 8:30 am, not bad for a Saturday morning.

When I got back up top Monitor I got off the bike for the first time, gently set it down in the gravel (all the spots on the rack were taken), and walked across the dirt/gravel section into the rest stop. I'm not sure what happened, but somehow I managed to do something to either the cleat or pedal such that I couldn't get back into the right pedal when later trying to get back on the bike. Odd. I fiddled for several minutes with both the cleat and pedal but couldn't see or find anything jammed anywhere, and figured I had somehow broken the locking mechanism or spring in the pedal or something equally stupid. So went over to the REI tent and found the Park Tool mechanic who was hugely helpful and got everything working again. Then headed down the road only to find that I had the same deal going on with my left cleat/pedal system. D'oh! I felt doubly stupid for not having checked out the left side out when I was at the tent. So turned around, rode (one-footed) back to the rest stop and found Mr. Park Tools again, and he once again saved the day for me. I think I lost about 15 minutes of being-stupid time up there, so tried to be extra efficient with my off-the-bike time after that.

Everything was fairly smooth sailing after that. Ebbetts was spectacular on both sides (counting as passes 3 and 4), particularly with all the snow along the road near the top.
This year though, in an effort to be "efficient", they tried a new system of sticking the Pass-3 sticker on your bike while you were still moving (and climbing up the final steep pitch, i.e. tired and out of breath), which nearly, but not quite, sent riders sprawling to the pavement. It was sort of comical to watchŠ until you were the one being stuck and thrown off balance! I bet they wont try that again. Like last year, I also found it somewhat nerve-wracking to navigate back down the front side of Ebbetts through the sea of riders still coming up, and I had more than a few near-misses with those riders taking the so-called paper-boy route up the steep sections. But it was still a lot of fun just being on those roads with SO MANY other riders.

The "lunch" stop is several miles after the base of Ebbetts, but I by-passed the actual lunch line in an effort to avoid walking over rocks again, settling instead for 2 packages of Cliff Bloks near the side of the road. (Hey, those go down easy!) Then got back on the bike and rolled out through the canyon back towards Markleeville, only to find that there were absolutely NO riders to be seen anywhere. Where'd everyone go??? So ended up riding fairly solo for the final 45 miles with the exception of one strong posse of riders who swept me up for a short section between Markleeville and Woodfords. It tends to be hot and windy through that section, so it felt like the Cavalry had finally arrived when those guys rolled up and motioned for me to jump on. The paceline detonated after Woodfords though, so once again I found myself solo.

The final stretch up Hope Valley and Carson Pass (pass #5) was hard (it always is, and it's supposed to be!), but overall went much better than last year given the somewhat cooler temperatures and with the (head) wind being only about half of last year. I still went through my usual near-bonk at Picketts Junction (about 10 miles before the top of Carson) so stopped at the aid station and slammed down my once-a-year Coke. It did the trick. Then picked up my 5-pass pin up top Carson shortly before 2 pm, spent a few minutes talking with folks, and headed out for the finish. The guy recording the 5-pass finisher numbers at the top told me I was the 2nd woman through of all the 5-pass finishers that he'd logged, but that's rather meaningless since it's not a race and not even being close to a mass start. (I thought I saw 2 or 3 women descending as I was still going up Carson, but maybe they didn't all have the 4 previous pass stickers, I don't know.) I think Miles may have been at Picketts as I was descending, and then I spotted Dave a little while later, who I think had to deal with a front blow-out. Yikes, I would not have wanted a blow-out on that ride, with all the long and high-speed descents!

It was just after 2:45 pm when I finally arrived back to Turtle Rock Park, so I actually ended up with a similar time to last year (and once again missing my "goal" of 9 hrs) but definitely felt about 100X better than at the end of last year.

Overall it was a GREAT day! I'm looking forward to reading what Dave and Miles have to say about their rides!

Who's in for next year?
Next up: Santa Cruz Mountains Challenge, July 30! I know there are several races also on this same day, but the SCMC is really a great ride if anyone's up for it. Reg closes July 26, but I expect it'll sell out well before then.

L.

Treasure Island Tri Report

Written By Mark Dames:
Treasure Island Triathlon July 10th, 2011

A three person Coretechs effort was deployed at Treasure Island this weekend, with Scott Lohman, and yours truly racing in the 50-54 class, and my daughter Amanda Dames racing in the 16-19 yr old division. Amanda unfortunately was racing with severe blisters from a basketball tournament the same weekend but finished the Sprint distance event nevertheless. She was out of the money by only 16 seconds, and reeling in #3 when she ran out of road. I was attempting to defend a podium position attained last year in the Olympic distance race, and although improving my time by three minutes this year, I was decidedly blown off the podium by 15 minutes in what will no doubt evolve into an exposé scandal of the drug plagued 50-54 year old class!

CCCX/Davis Crit July 4th Report-written by John Wilde

Written by John Wilde
What: Central Coast Circuit Race #6
> Where: Monterey, CA
> Temperature: 60 degrees
> When: July 2, 2011
> Field: Men 1/2/3 Master 35+
> Place: Christian Parker 16/23, John Wilde DNP
>
> What: Davis 4th of July Criterium
> Where: Davis, CA
> Temperature: 90 degrees (for proof, see photo of a melted brake pad
> below)
> When: July 4, 2011
> Field: Men 3/4 Master 35+
> Place: Christian Parker 42/~100, John Wilde 35/~100
> Field: Men 3
> Place: Christian Parker 42/~70, John Wilde 39/~70
>
> It was a holiday weekend full of bike racing instead of barbecues for Christian Parker and John Wilde who represented CoreTechs in chilly Monterey on Saturday and scorching Davis on Monday.
>
> This was our first time racing with the real Masters (1/2/3) field on the rolling hills of Monterey. The race started fast, and stayed that way. We raced for 30 miles with 2000 ft of elevation in all. On the 5th (of 7) laps John lost contact with the group but Christian, who rode strong and in the wind all day, had no problems and stretched the pack out on the downhill leading into the final lap trying in vain to reel in a two-man break.
>
> After a day of rest on Sunday we loaded the Highlander and headed East to test our nerves on the tight 6-corner criterium hosted by the bike-friendly city of Davis. If you haven't done this race yet, we highly recommend it. The town comes out to watch a full day of racing starting at 7:30 AM (when the temperature is pleasant) and ending in the evening (when it is HOT). We decided to make the 4 hours of driving worthwhile by competing twice. Our first race was marked by 4 tire-exploding-pile-ups which we managed to avoid. Regrettably, we started at the back and found it hard to move to the front and maintain position. The lessons learned here were: line up early and hold the wheel in front of you coming out of the corner. In our second race we started up front and it paid off handsomely for Christian who powered away from the field from the gun, staying clear for 3 laps and earning himself the first prime and $50 in fine dining (in Sacramento). One junior rider managed to bridge but the two leaders were eventually swallowed by the hard-chasing field. Having earned his paycheck for the day, Christian dropped back to escort John home with both of us avoiding a last-lap crash and finishing mid-pack.

Scott F's Leesville Gap RR report

Written by Scott Freiermuth
Leesville Gap Road Race
M35 +4
Distance 63 miles
Place 7th / 21 starting

Hope everyone had a great 4th, and those that are on the DL list are healing well. I promised the wife we would visit friends in Nevada City over the holiday weekend. It turns out the drive to Leesville is only 90 minutes from Nevada City, so I signed up for a unique experience.

Much like the Copperopolis warning "pavement is good to poor. Tighten all your bolts including brakes, brake hoods, seat bolts and stem bolts" Leesville lived up to the reputation. Rolling from Williams High School via motorcycle escort, the temperatures were already climbing and most folks were carrying 3 water bottles. Through town the roads were fair, and the group moved along at tempo pace. As we approached HWY 20, the CHP had stopped traffic in both directions to allow the racers a safe crossing. Once on the other side of the HWY, the race was on and the road went from fair to terrible.

The rolling terrain was covered in thick gravel, dirt or pot holes with a steady ascent. How bad was it? Folks were losing water bottles and sun glasses as they flew off the bike. It was difficult to find a cadence as pushing too big a gear would cause the wheel to slip, and spinning to high a gear would cause even more bouncing. I managed to stay with the lead group to the base of the first big climb. According to the motorcycle ref, temps were now 104 degrees and the climb was completely exposed.

The billy goats took off, and I settled into a rhythm. Once at the top, the descent was a point and shoot exercise to avoid any large holes. Carnage lined the side of the road from the M 1/2/3/ race that rolled out before us, peeps standing road side with flat tires.

I managed to regroup with a few people and we actually worked together in rotation to the neutral feed zone. Another climb splintered the group down to four, with 20 rolling miles before the finish line. The finish is about 2 miles from the actual start, on a long straight road. The four of use worked to secure a position to either counter an attack, or launch an attack from behind. As we rolled pas the 1KM sign, the first person went with the others in tow. I managed to swing wide and take the sprint within our group for 7th.

It was a unique race with poor road conditions, high temperatures, descent climbs and fast descents. I'm already looking forward to doing this next year with a few teammates!