Keith Ends the Season with a WIN at Oakland

Sunday September 25, 2011
Oakland GP M35+ 1/2/3
drizzly, rainy, wet, and very slick course
1st place

Anytime you win a race, you should write a report. Although the field was tiny (12), the guys' hearts in this race were huge. We watched the previous field slide and crash on the course in the rain. It was gutsy to start and race. Since I had previously finished 3rd and 7th in p/1/2 on this course, I thought I would be at advantage.
I treated it like a lunchtime crit and rode aggressively. I took two of the 4 primes. I led or rode 2nd wheel much of the race because I was trying to get away, break up the field, win primes, or ride my line through slick turns. My rear wheel slid many times in two particular oily turns, the first and the last. Hitting the white paint was treacherous. At times, it felt like more of a short-track skating contest. I channeled my inner Ohno. I dove the last turn a few times even though a few others overcooked it. I rode my tubulars at an aggressive 110psi. several of us kept attacking and marking each other until 3 laps to go when a crazy guy crashed just behind me. we dropped down to only 6. keith d. from cccx actually rode off the front gently and the rest of us were watching each other. when we caught him, we ramped it up and I took 2nd wheel through the last turn even though I wanted to be first. sprint was solid and I won by about 1/2 wheel length over Robert Windsor and David Avila followed with a fist pump. I got a nice podium shot and some prizes.
This was a good way to finish the year. I decided to not do p/1/2 and ruin the day even though legs were good and warmed up.

If you want to sprint well at the end of a crit, I feel you should go for a prime or two and practice. It works out the kinks.
small fields are silly crazy. you never know what to expect and you are better off attacking than being attacked.
riding rainy crits takes some skill.
podium shot with and of the son is priceless.

Long and Pointless Henleville RR report-read only if you don't value time

Another long and pointless Race Report from Andrew: Really, not much of a report and much more of a cathartic blathering. Enjoy…or delete. Whatever, I feel better for writing it! Now on with the show:

Henleville Road Race (Sept 24th, 2011) - 72 miles
Cat 45+ 1/2/3
Teammate: John Pauley

What poses a man to leave his family on a Friday evening to drive four hours and stay in a flea bag $45 a night hotel? I believe they study such people in beginning psyc classes. Well, I am that man and I certainly need to be studied.

After my ordeal at Winters RR and then subsequently grabbing the wrong set of legs for Sacramento I needed something, anything to reassure my fragile ego that I could ride a bike at something resembling race pace. I realized that I have been living this season in a state of controlled panic. Certainly my wife would argue that the "controlled" portion of those two words was debatable. Regardless, maybe this is what a mid life crisis looks like. Not sure; but I have been waiting for the inevitable speed drop off that I know is coming with my advanced age. I have raced 25 times this year knowing the drop is coming and expecting it to walk up and tap me on the shoulder each race. So far I have felt a few light brushes on the shoulder, but not the full tap…it is out there, and it is coming. Hide your birth certificates if you can!

Ok, long prelude for a race report, but I felt an understanding of my mindset was vital, and more importantly, gave you an extra 30 seconds of wasting time reading this silly report.

So, after the drive and flea bag hotel stay, I get to the race site and meet up with John Pauley (he must have issues too, but I leave that for him to explain). We sign in for the race and are informed that it is now 54 miles (three 18 mile laps) instead of the advertised four laps (72 miles). "Oh, hell no." You read above. I was not doing all that for three laps. I wanted my extra 18 miles! So off to the ref I went. I complained the loudest and race was reset to four laps. Whew.

John and I roll out for a nice warm up. Finally we decide to turn around and head back for the start. When we get there, we are the first two to line up. John has the sense to ask which group just started that we can see a quarter mile up the road. The answer? Yep, "that is the 35+ and 45+ 1/2/3's". It takes me a minute to think about that. That category sounds familiar. Oh my goodness, after everything, we missed the start! Now John and I are doing a two man TTT. I had thoughts of Keith attacking at Dunnigan in the first two miles and was sure someone was going to try that. The "controlled" came off and we were in a panicked flight. We caught the group. Thankfully, no one attacked and in fact, the pace was fairly sedate. Interesting way to start a 72 mile road race though. Not fully recommended.

First lap is so slow my Grandma could have kept up. Heck, I could have kept up with my wife's legs. Ok, I just went too far. Anyway, you get the point. Second lap I am getting board, so I attack. Get caught. From that point on, the race was a series of big attacks and then snails pace. Lap 3 my water bottle bolt comes out and I lose my bottle. Figure I will get one at neutral next lap. Next lap comes and I roll through the neutral feed zone. First two people get their bottles. I am third in the group and the next two guys, supposed to be handing out bottles are standing around talking. I am yelling, "bottle, bottle, bottle!" to no avail. They look up at me just as I pass them. I have about 15 miles left.

With cotton in my mouth, I am barley able to speak. I am begging other riders for a sip. Of course, since I can barley speak, I am incomprehensible when I ask. I think, "can I get a sip of your water" but what I say is "Can Ah slep some waber"? I have to repeat my request a few times till they get what the hell this nut case is asking for. I pressure two reluctant riders into a sip. I become our group's version of the guy who holds the sign, "Will Work for Food", no one will make eye contact with me for fear I will ask for another hand out.

Final sprint comes: I sit 5th position. 200 meters to go and the four in front start to sprint. I stand to sprint and my quads advise me to sit the hell down before they take matters into their own hands. I watch the four ahead finish and do a seated sprint to keep my 5th place. I win a coveted Velo Promo T-Shirt (They should have a contest for which of their T-shirts is uglier than the next. Of course, I will wear it till the T-shirt begs me to stop).

Ok, I am done. My ego, while still extremely fragile, is in check. See you all you soon!

Andrew

Rick Adams Wins the Winters Crit in the 35+ 3 race (and 4th in the E3)

(Ed note: Rick is planning on racing the 55+ age group next year. Think about that as you read the report below!!)

Winters Crit Race report
M 35+ Cat 3

Great 6-corner course. 14 riders started – but what a fun race. The first half many riders attacked and kept the pace moderate. With 12 laps done, two riders got away and were up 10 seconds. I thought about giving chase, but decided to roll through on the chase. With 4 laps to go, we caught the two and the pace slowed. On bell lap, I attacked going into turn 3 and held the lead to the finish and WON! Podium photo attached.

Cat 3 open

18 riders. Everything stayed together until halfway. Then, one by one, five riders attacked and went up the road. When the 5th rider got way, I gave chase with two other riders in tow. We caught two of the 5 riders up the road – we now made a group of 5 chasers. The three other riders formed the lead break on the front of the race. Our chase group did not work well with 2 riders simply along for the ride. We were not making much progress bringing down the 12 second gap to the leaders. With 2 laps to go, we had brought the gap down to 8 seconds. At this point, I enlisted a friend to help and we attacked our group of 5 hoping to bridge across to the leaders. We did shed the two passengers but we did not bring back the three leaders. I won the sprint for 4th.

Sacramento Grand Prix Kind of Race Report-by Andrew A.

Sacramento Grand Prix Kind of Race Report
CoreTechians: John Pauley, Rick Adams, Steve Stewart, John Wilde

I had no intention of writing up this race report since there was not a whole lot to say, but with the pic on the Sac Bee Web site, figured I would send it out with a few words…enjoy, or as John Pauley (now referred to as JP since we have 43 John's on the team) says…or don’t.

If you could see into my mind, and thank goodness that is not possible, you would see a bike racer that dominates races and comes screaming across the finish line with arms raised. Funny how reality seldom enters into this process. Come to think of it, how on earth could I have thoughts like these? There may be medication out there I should be taking, I should look into that.

So it was as I headed to Sacramento in the company of JP and Rick Adams for the afternoon commute.

When we finally arrived, I realized several things. Sacramento is hot (and not necessarily hot in a good way), it is a long way away from the Bay Area, I think I forgot something but not sure exactly what. Anyway, we kitted up, and lined up to race the 35/45+ 3/4 race. Again, in my fantasyland, this was one I was sure to dominate and most likely win. I told you, thank goodness no one else can see inside my melon.

Race starts and it is a four corner crit around the State Capital. It is flat, the road is fair. I stay near the front and then realize what I forgot. My legs. Did not bring them for this race. I must have picked up my wife's legs out the door. Oh well, all I can say is we went in circles for 50 minutes, I watched John Wilde attack and Rick ride hard and Steve represent. Finish came and I watched from a few rows back how the race ended. I almost forgot I was in the race while spectating the finish. Whatever, back to my fantasies.

Five minutes later, I am standing on the start line for the 35+/45+ 1/2/3 race. I have to give the wife credit, for the amount of training she does, her legs worked ok. For the amount of training I do, well, I probably should find a new hobby.

Race starts, I sit in the pack. We go in circles for 50 minutes (heard this before?). I talk to Steve a bit in the pack. Mostly we talk about the liquid refreshments he has back at the van. I run over a pot hole somewhere in the circle I am doing. I flat. It is a slow flat, I am doing nothing in the race so no need to do anything different. I ride the flat for the last quarter of the race (I have about 60 psi so not fully flat) and there you have it, next thing I realize the race has come to end and I am being asked to leave the course. Something along the lines of, "thanks for coming, now get off the course, we have real riders about to race and you are making a mockery of this sport."

At the end of this race I realize what an important part of this race I was. Had I not been there, the pack would have been that much smaller and thus made the lead riders feel that much less excited about how well they did. I now feel I am giving back to our great sport by being at the race and allowing already inflated egos get that much more inflated. I need to go; I have Internet research to do about medication.

Stay well!

Andrew

Fremont Peak Hill Climb Race Report-By Miles Keep

Race: Fremont Peak Hill Climb Race
Where: San Juan Bautista, CA
When: Sunday Sept 11th 2011
Stats: 10 miles, 2510 Vertical Feet in 45min +/_

CAT- Elite 5, Race 4
Teammate- Ken Spencer ( In prior race, and kicked butt! )
Field- 40ish in my race, 17 in my Cat
Place- 6th


I didn't know what to expect at this race, since I had not done it before. I had a chance to talk to Ken prior to get the rundown, since he has done it in the past.
Since the Mt Tam race got cancelled, I figured there would be a few extra that came looking to climb.
When I got there is was raining lightly, but not a deal breaker. The overcast sky kept the temps down nicely.
I was able to warm up well on some adjacent hills and was ready.
Our race had a mix of riders including the 55+ 4/5 men. Those guys can climb!

As the race started I was surprised at the pace out of the gate on the "flats". There was an immediate break a way at around mile 3 that had 4 riders.
Being a hill climb I thought that they wouldn't be able to hold the pace and just watched them ride off the front from the main group. Other than the break a way and me gaging on my GU, nothing much happened as the pain set in.
After a few miles on some rolling 3-6% hills we hit the real climbing. 10% gradients started to blow apart the group and this is were I usually make up time.
I hooked up with another rider (M55+) and hammered, passing the heavier riders that had set the initial pace.
I was surprised at how much some of them were sucking wind, being a hill climb I would've assumed they trained for this stuff.
We settled in to a uncomfortable pace and the vertical feet clicked away. The 55+ guy I was riding with was in 4th in his cat, he saw the 3rd place guy
up ahead and tried to catch him to no avail. I let him go since he was not in my cat. At the top of the climb there was a slight curvy
downhill and a bit of a false flat section for about 1 mile until the finnish. I hammered this section hard to make sure I was not caught and suddenly there was the finnish.
Remember that break a way group? Well, they pretty much held on and got the top 3 podium spots. They were all in there 20s...

To be honest, although it was very hard, I was surprised at how quick it went. On the steep stuff, I felt like I was just getting into a groove.

The race results were posted later in town at a Mexican restaurant. It was a great place to bench race, get a beer and chill. The whole race had a great casual vibe, and I'll definitely do it again next
year. This was a good learning year for me, although next year I'll do it in a different age group and CAT, I think I'll do a bit better since I now know how the course plays out.

Thanks for reading

Miles

Mark Foster's CCCX (Winner!) Cat 4/5 Report 9-6-11

CCCX at Ft Ord( 1 hour circuit race)

9-3-11 Written by Mark Foster
45+ Cat 4/5
33 riders
Team mate: Tom Rice

It’s funny how we all start our Ft Ord reports by telling how cold it was. It seems any race before 2pm in the Summer is a cold one. This race started at 11:20 so it wasn’t that bad, in fact warming through out the race. There’s a huge difference racing in the 4/5 race when compared to the open State Championships(Cat1/2/3/4/5). The Cat 1’s and 2’s pushed us rookies to average 2 mph faster for more than twice as far! According to Tom the last lap(4.5miles) of this race averaged 23.5mph pushing the race distance average to 22mph.

There really isn’t much to write about. It was fairly uneventful. There was a point with two laps to go that an Iron Data rider sprinted off of the front of the pack. In prior races(at other venues) this particular guy had done that before. I had always thought, “There’s no way he’ll get away from us with all of us chasing” …..he did(because no one would help me chase). So…I wasn’t going to let that happen again. After he took off, I picked up the pace to bring him back. Just as I started to do that, Tom passes me(realizing that I’m going to burn a match or three) and say’s, “Grab my wheel!”. It was an incredibly selfless act. Tom lit off his afterburners and reeled this guy back in. Then he and I along with one or two others worked together to pick up the pace for the rest of the race. He burned a couple of matches bridging that gap. Remember, he had already raced this morning, chalking one up in the “W” column. So after that little episode, the race got strung out the rest of the way. There was no mob going over the last hill. I grabbed second wheel on the final descent. As we approached the final turn into the sprint, I made sure to stay on the outside, so to not get boxed in. The leader and I got passed on the right side going into the final right hand turn. I accelerated and passed the now fading leader on the left and grabbed the wheel of the new leader. Tom was right on my wheel. So we were second and third going around the outside of the final turn. The leader runs wide, allowing a mob of riders to pass us on the inside of the corner. That’s when I began my sprint(with 200 meters to go). I easily passed the rider in front of me along with the guys that had started to pass me on the right. I think I won by more than a few bike lengths. I turned around fully expecting to see Tom in second place; because I had heard him scream “Go” as we started the final sprint. But between his morning race, the monster bridge and the brisk final lap; he had nothing left in his legs for the final sprint. He did help me get the win though. Thanks Tom!

Tom gets the win!

Written by Tom Rice
Central Coast Circuit Races at Fort Ord, CA
Saturday September 3, 2011, 8:35AM in the wet, misty Monterey Bay fog
Elite Cat 5, 12 riders
60 minutes, Five 4.3 mile laps on a rolling course
I was the only CoreTechs rider in this race
Win!

This is my first race in the Elite Cat 5s riding with guys of all ages. I'm 10 years older than anyone else in the race and more than 30 years older than some of them!
After some nervous chatter at the start line and adjustments to the gearing for some of the new juniors, we start at the official's whistle and I lead the pack out for about a quarter of the first lap. As we crest the first hill, one of the young riders takes over the lead. He is a strong rider and is putting out a pretty good pace, making a very long pull. On the second lap, I move to the front and again make a pull up the first hill, amp'ing up the pace quite a bit. By the time we cross the start/finish line for the second time, we've dropped all but 8 riders.
I'm staying safely near the front for the remainder of the race. I make short pulls periodically but, for most of the race, our intrepid youngster hammers away out front, doing his best Jens Voight imitation. This same guy leads the pack for at least 90% of the race with the wily, old veteran on his wheel, doing my best Mark Cavendish imitation (with, maybe, a few wrinkles thrown in).
As we cross the start/finish line on the last lap, "Jens" starts to fade somewhat and another of the young riders leads much of the last lap.
My goal here is to stay safe on the last descent, be second or third wheel at the turn onto the finish straight and to not, under any circumstances, lead out the sprint. So, we make a clean, right-hand turn onto the downhill and begin our descent. The pace quickens and there are four in front of me about half the way down the hill.
As many of you know, on this section of the course, the pavement undulates, dips and is quite rough in places. At full speed, you have to be light on your bike in order to maintain good control. Unfortunately, two of the riders in front tangle on a particularly rough spot and go down, with a third rider crashing off the road behind me. (Lots of scrapes but no one is badly hurt.) I have room to brake gently and take a line between the crashing riders but a huge gap develops between me and the remaining riders in front. I make a substantial effort to close this gap before the right-hand turn and I'm second wheel coming onto the finish straight.
Coming through the turn, the racer in front of me doesn't want to lead out the sprint and he is slowing. I know there is a third guy ready to make his sprint but I can't see him. From somewhere deep in my old, jumbled, racing memories, comes an unexpected tactical decision; I fake the start of my sprint. I make three hard, noisy peddle strokes coming up next to my competitor and he starts his sprint in earnest. I ease up and fall in behind him, keeping an eye out for the third rider coming up on the left. With about 100 meters to go, I pour on the gas, passing the rider in front of me and make my sprint for the line… I win!!
This race couldn't have gone better for me. It was fun, I get my first win, I've ridden with a fair bit of savvy and I still have a couple of matches left for the 45+ Cat 4/5 race with Mark Foster. I'm stoked!

Thanks for reading.

Tom Rice, Bike Racer
CoreTechs Cycling Team

Track Racing Tues Night- by Rick Adams

First team race report (Rick just joined the team, this is his first CoreTechs team report racing in our colors!).

Velodrome Cat 1-2-3
Tuesday 8-30
34 riders.
Objective: Simply ride hard. We did 3 races.

First, a 25 lap Scratch. With 34 rides my objective was simple: help make the race hard. With 21 laps to go, I went to the front and drilled it. 5 of us immediately had a gap and we worked well together for the next 5 laps keeping the pace just above 30 mph. When we got caught, I was hurting and went to the second group on the track for some recovery at 26+ mph. I got lapped by the leaders but goal accomplished: Dead tired.

Next: 18 lap Tempo (sprint every lap first two get points) I stayed with the leaders the entire race picked up one point early and then was second in the last sprint. (9th in this race)

Last: 60 lap Points. Objective, finish and work hard. After the second sprint, the main group split and a break of about 6 riders formed. I was in the break. After about 8 laps, I could tell I was coming undone so I went back to main group. This break stayed away with a few other riders bridging up, but not me I bridged BACK to the main group where I stayed. After I recovered a bit I was able to do the work required to keep the lead group from gaining a lap. Finished about 10th

Everyone needs to race at the velodrome! Way fast.

Rick