Turlock RR report by Andrew (45+ 1/2/3)

45+ 1/2/3 Race Report from Turlock Road Race


32 in field

81 miles

I know I often say I am sending out a race report and then find what I typed was really some sort of philosophical lesson learned and very little race reporting. So today, I give you an actual race report. There will be no comments about the dew on the leaves or how the sun glistened off the water. This is all business.

Daryoush, Devon and myself started our 2 hour and 30 minute drive, leaving at 5:15am. We arrived with an hour to spare. As Daryoush pointed out on the drive, one of the best things about being on a team is having some company for the five hours of total driving we did. Fun to talk biking and hang with the fellas. During this drive we came up with a plan for the race. Daryoush and myself were the guys to follow the breaks. If a break went with anyone dangerous in it, we would tag along. Devon, being a phenomenal sprinter, was our man to support if the race ended in a pack sprint. Otherwise his role was to sit in and protect the break if we were in it.

This race course is very similar to CCCX in Monterey, just spread out over a 27 mile loop. There are probably 15 rollers, and each roller is similar to those at CCCX (maybe slightly less steep). We had to do 3 laps, so a total of 81 miles.

We had 32 in our field, including some "big" names. SJBC had five guys out that were all super strong. This included Saltzman (cat 1-former pro), Jeremy Wire, Chris Courtney (he is the guy that won the Top Sport stage race I wrote about), Clark Foy (CCCX solo winner) and Daryl Spano (cat 2). Also present in the race was Specialized Donald Langley (45-49 current Calif State Champ), Anders Dellien (Cat 1 and winner of the CopperTown Circuit race and CCCX this year), and Hunter (one of four guys on the Echelon team that includes, Steve Heaton, Dirk and Cale). There were a couple other heavy hitters, but these were the guys that participated in the story.

Ok, now that the table is set, let's get to dinner.

Lap one starts with Hunter regaling the group about riding with broken ribs. "I'm just out here for a lap or two. Don't worry about me, just trying to keep some fitness." Then Spano (SJBC) breaks at about mile 8 with one other. A mile later, Hunter jumps to chase him down and Daryoush is on his wheel. I move to the front of the group to monitor the action. They ride off. Now there is four away. About three minutes later, someone jumps to bridge and then another. I grab that wheel and the bridge attempt is on. The knucklehead is pulling the whole pack though and does not realize it, so we end up catching Hunter and Daryoush just as they were catching Spano. Groupo Compacto.

Lap two: Mid lap a rider jumps. Daryoush and I don’t react since it is not an SJBC rider and no one we recognize. Then he is joined by a Davis rider, but again, we did not think the two of those guys were threats. Then Hunter jumps and Daryoush is on him. Daryoush and Hunter catch the other two and the foursome are gone. I think they have a shot, but not a great one since none of the big teams are in this break.

A race motorcycle comes by and let's us know the break's time is now one minute up on the group. One minute is kind of a magic number for a break. It usually means that they have a shot at staying away. I am riding at the front and talking with an SJBC rider when out of the corner of my eye I see a bike come shooting past. I jump out of the pack and grab his wheel. It was Anders. I know Anders and know he will bury himself to catch the break. I sit on his wheel. He gives me the elbow to come around and help. I glance back and can see the pack is still darn close. I can't help him yet. I don’t want to motivate the pack to chase us and thus chase Daryoush's break down. So I yell to Anders, "sorry bro, can't help, have a teammate up front."

He lowers his head and keeps grinding. Finally I look back and see we have a clear gap on the field. We are on a straight that has multiple rollers and the pack is in the distance. I decide to help Anders now since we are not being chased and we could get two in the break of six. We start to rotate (but I still make Anders take longer pulls. I don’t want him fresh) and were going flat out. I was at the top of my effort level and digging hard. It took us almost four or five miles (about 15-20 minutes of all out effort) to finally see the break of four. Finally we latch on and the break is now six.

I am pumped we made it but pretty worked. Now we have 30 miles left to stay away. SJBC was not in this break, nor were the other teams that had three guys (Morgan Stanley, Christian Cycling). I thought it was touch and go if we would survive. I was fully committed at this point, so I became the loud guy in the break. Anytime our organization started to crumble or our speed dipped I would encourage, cajole and straight out yell at the others to keep going.

Five miles left on lap 3 (end of race): Up to this point most of the guys were taking good pulls. The Davis rider and the Body Concepts team rider were getting gaped on a lot of the rollers, so I figured they were toast. Hunter probably took about 25% of his pulls and when he did pull through he soft pedaled it. I was yelling at him, but he rolled up next to me and said, "dude, I don’t have anything but I will do what I can". He would hang in the back of our group and be nothing but luggage. So in the end, Daryoush and myself took all our pulls, Anders took most of his, but even he was looking darn tired and skipped a few. The other two slacked off missing their turns and Hunter was useless. On the last two rollers, my quads started to twinge going up them. They felt on the verge of cramping, but I would back off and it would go away.

With 1k to go, Daryoush takes off. He is immediately followed by the Davis rider and I am on that riders wheel. Mentally and physically I feel great. Once again I run fun scenarios in my mind. I really think either Daryoush or myself have this race. Anders could do it too, but the other three were out of it.

With 300 meters to go we hit the uphill just before the line. Anders takes off followed by Hunter on his wheel. I stand to hammer the sprint and immediately cramp in both quads. I sit down fast and spin as fast as I can. By this point Daryoush has started his sprint and the Davis rider is with him. I spin as fast as I can and make up ground on them, but in the end the Davis guy gets around Daroush by a tire. D and I come in fourth and fifth. Anders gets the win and Hunter gets second. As a commentary, I think Hunter's second place is suspect since he took a free ride to the finish. I suppose some might call it good tactics, but when you are in a break of six, it is expected that you work. If you don't and tag along, then you don't go for the final sprint.  Anders on the other hand earned his first place and congrats to him.

I later hear from the SJBC riders that they tried to chase and had Clark drilling it at the front along with Spano and a Morgan Stanly rider. I also was told by them that "your teammate", otherwise known as Devon, did a hell of a job messing up the chase by getting in the rotation and then soft pedaling or not pulling through. They even had to come up with a strategy of boxing him in to keep him out of the rotation. He did an amazing job for us!

Fun race, lots of things learned and a good time with the boys. Oh, and the sun shone off the water while the dew glistened on the leaves.



Andrew