Daryoush and I headed up for Corning, CA at 2:30 pm on Friday. We arrived at 6! Holy smokes, I now see how women have kids multiple times. I had forgotten how long this drive really is.

 

Once in Corning we checked out the new finish line. It is about a half mile past the old line and just on top of a short, steep hill. The hill is only 250 meters long or so, but fairly steep, say about 9-10%. We thought if it was a pack finish that we needed to wait till just before the base of the hill but to be positioned top 5 to have a shot.

 

I had some good training leading up to this race and felt fit. Figured I had a good shot at a win, especially since no mutants were racing…at least that I was aware of. Field was small, about 18-20 total and that includes the three guys in the 35+ 1/2/3 field. 75 mile race of four laps (so just over 18 miles per lap). Course is pretty flat, with some small rollers on it, but the headwinds kept the field honest.

 

I had talked to one of the best sprinters and racers in Northern California (Steve Heaton) about the race strategy prior to going. He advised sitting in till lap three. He did say if a dangerous break went early, go with it, but don’t kill yourself to help the break till you are sure it is away for good. I was going to be patient this race, something new for me!

 

I have never ridden so slow during a race for the first 18 miles. I think my wife and kids (9 and 7 years old) could have hung with us lap one. Gave me a chance to get to know some of the other riders as we had long conversations to pass the time. One rider (Rich from Wells Fargo), who I knew from past races and was fairly friendly with, and I talked about our kids and jobs. He also let me know he was not in great race shape and really just counting on sitting in for the final sprint. I filed this info away for future use.

 

We come to the end of the first lap and I can not take it any  longer. I had been self talking that first lap to just sit in and save the legs, but at this pace it was hard to do! Finally I had to stretch my legs a bit and I rolled off the front. Not really an attack, just wanted to up the pace. Go a small gap and kept rolling a bit to get the speed up. The group caught up to me and Rich said, something about my "attack". I let him know I just had to stretch my legs, that was not an attack. He said "good idea" and then did the same thing.

 

Well, he got a decent gap, then another rider I had not seen before jumped across to him. I almost felt bad for Rich, since I knew he was not up for a 57 mile break. I was happy to see the two of them go. I figured we would catch them about lap two or three no problem. The only other team with multiple riders was Davis, with three guys. They now had responsibility to chase this break down. They just sat in for the next 18 miles. The moto ref (Lee who also runs the Copper Town Circuit races) eventually road up and let us know they had 45 seconds.

 

We get to lap three and Lee comes back to me and says they now have 1:15. He tells me that "one of the riders looks pretty worked over but the other guy looks very strong". Hmmm, I start to get a bit worried now. I figure we still have 35 miles to go, so not panic time, but we should start to cut into that lead. We try a rotation. Guys wimp out and the rotation dies. Lee says they now have 1:40. Yikes!

 

Beginning of lap four, we catch Rich. He is by himself and looking beat. I roll next to him and ask where is the other guy? Rich responds with "that dude is strong!" Uh oh. I ask, you think he can stay away? His answer: "yep"

 

Crap.

 

Daryoush and I talk a bit and we both jump. We get two others to come with us, including a Davis rider. This should be perfect. Now we can hammer together to try and catch the lone rider. Daryoush takes a strong pull, I come through and pull, then nothing. The other two are sitting on. We yell at them, but nothing happens. I don’t get it. Not sure what they are waiting on. We get brought back to the field. Just as we are brought back, the same Davis rider, jumps out for a solo break. Huh? He thinks he can catch the other guy who has 1:40 by himself? I turn to Daryoush and express, "that guy is an idiot". He agrees.

 

I watch as he slowly pulls out of range. Lee rides up on his moto to let us know the gap to first place is 1:40 still and the gap to first chase is 40 seconds. The field does nothing. I get fed up by this point and decide to venture forth on my own and try and catch Davis rider. I know first place is out of reach now. I jump and get a good gap. Field chases for a bit, but Daryoush does a good job of sitting second wheel and not pulling through. He is a good teammate!

 

I put my head down and ride into the headwind with 10 miles left to the finish. I have been training for 10 plus minute VO2 intervals (As hard as I can ride that is still aerobic). I do lots of self talk. I don’t like riding alone. I much rather have company to share the load. So all this is going through my head when I glance back and see a rider trying to bridge across to me. Sit up and wait for him or keep riding? I decide to make him work for it, but not go so hard that he can not make it. I want the second guy there but I don’t want him with me fresh. He catches me, and it turns out it is one of the 35+ guys. Perfect! Now we both can place without having to race each other (they were placing the 35+ and the 45+ guys separately). Well this guy has a moral issue (who knows why, cause it is legal to help each other) to help me catch the guys up the road (both 45+ guys ahead). He tells me he will not sprint by me at the end, but he can't take a pull. Well that sucks.

 

Ok, let's wrap this story up. I keep the pressure on and close 2nd place to 25 seconds (from the original 40) but can't close the deal. Dude that broke away lap two wins, Davis second and I get third. Daryoush, who did a great job protecting me, placed a very respectable 6th and earned the final Velo Promo T-shirt too!

 

Postscript: I approached the guy who won (Mike Brown) after the race to offer congratulations and to find out who the hell this guy is. I know all the Nor Cal guys capable of that sort of effort (most go by the name of Dirk or Kevin). He smiles and let's me know he just moved to Chico from the East coast a month or two ago. Well, that was his one time he gets to go off in a break without me now. Next time, I will be on his wheel from the jump.

 

So ends 2013 road racing. What a fantastic year. I can tell you all 2014 will be extraordinary. More CoreTechs team developments coming down the pike, so stay tuned.

 

Till next year…race reporting out!

 

 

Andrew

 

Sometimes, life is not fair-San Ardo RR 2013

 

And who the hell ever thought it would be? I have been reminded through out my life that life just is, there is no universal right or obligation to fairness. This applies when good things happen as well as bad things. In the scheme of things, I would have to say life has been relentlessly positive and immensely "fair" for me, so who am I to say anything? When in boot camp, my Drill instructor, a two year high school attendee from South Carolina, woke our platoon up at 0200 to begin what was two hours of punishment PT, only to realize, he had walked into the wrong platoon bay and thus was punishing the wrong platoon. He brought us to attention, and issued the famous Marine Corp apology, "as you were" and walked out. And again when I started my first company and had our largest clients, who owed several million (Webvan and iMotors) both call the same week to say, we are closed and have no money left, "sorry but thanks for pay rolling our staff" It occurred to me, things happen and sometimes you just need to deal with it.

 

After several deep breaths and a car ride home with the Zen master; Christian, I am calm and relaxed. I would guess at this point you can tell the direction of my San Ardo road race. On the positive side of the ledger, I did not flat, nor crash. The race was relatively fun and the drive down and back uneventful. So really, it was a good day.

 

I had delusions of grandeur for this race. I was certain I would win or place, how could I not? I had trained well, eaten right and there were no mutants in the field. I had my race report already written. Strange how the rest of the field did not go along with these sentiments.

 

3 lap race with each lap being 22 miles. Lap one was slower than an easy recovery ride, for those that are into watts, I averaged 158 for that lap…crazy slow. Lap two I had enough of this and went off on my own. I had one guy come with me and we hit it hard. About 8 miles later we had one strong man bridge. Now the three of us got down to business and were rotating well. We made it 20 miles before the group caught sight of us and pulled us back. Ah well, such is life. Final lap, we are all together. No breaks will go as everything is chased down within a mile or two. Fair enough, I will sit in and recover for the final sprint. about 1/3 into the final lap, one rider (SJBC) ups his pace and gets a gap. No one blinks. The rider is a good rider, but no threat to stay away by himself. I think about jumping to him since he has two teammates in the group that will block, but I am sure the group will bring him back, so think it smarter to keep the match for later. Two minutes after he rolls off, a motto ref comes up and neutralizes our group. The P/1/2s are coming through she says. Ok, we slow to 12 miles an hour and move to the side of the road. We wait…no P/1/2's come by. We wait some more. Finally, after four or five minutes of 12 mph the P/1/2's come by at roughly the same pace we had been going previously. That is, not all that fast. The motto ref keeps us at 12 mph till the P/1/2's get out of site. This adds another four or so minutes onto our 12mph pace. Well, that takes care of that. The lone rider now has a 9-10 minute head start on us with about 10 miles to go.

 

I can't say I am mad, but I am pretty frustrated. I now have an internal debate if we can still catch the lone rider. We can not see him up the road and we are not getting time gaps, so we have no clue where he is. Should we try or should we all ride super slow and do our sprint for second place? After a mile of everyone conceding the race, I get more frustrated. This sucks. I bring the pace up in the group and get another rider to pull through. He and I keep hammering hard! No one else come through. I decide to attack the group. They string out and bring me back and then sit up. I try again, they do this again. Why race for second, let's try I yell to the group! Nothing. The strong man in my original break attacks. I decide to sit in and see what happens. Nothing!! Everyone lets him go. Now I am steaming. They just let him go with no reaction from anyone. I stew. Finally I had enough. This is not the smart move, but there is nothing to do at this point but either watch him, or try and jump across to him. I jump and put my head down. Now the pack comes. I am on my own for a bit but they eventually catch me. I am close to that rider though so I keep motoring. We get to 600 meters and we catch him. Then those that were sitting in attack. Six "fresh" riders get by and we roll over the line. I get a miserable 7th place. I am still stewing. Can't blame the SJBC rider. I would have done the same thing and taken the win gladly. I looked up his final lap time on Strava. He beat the pack's time by 45 seconds. I have to think the ref dramatically changed the outcome of our race…what can you do though? Sometimes, life just isn't fair…As you were.

Turlock Lake Road Race-45+ 1/2/3 2013 Report

Andrew's Turlock Report from the 45+ 1/2/3 Race
Teammates: Daryoush and Scott Fairman

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then. Though when you have searched for that nut as long as I have, it sure feels good to find it.


Daryoush and I start our day at 5:20am to make the seven hour commute to Turlock. Well, seemed like seven hours. Turlock for those not in the know is a place so distant and remote that few alive have actually seen it. It is a place you don’t go, unless you have a darn good reason. While most would not acknowledge a bike race as a darn good reason, Daryoush and I would, but we are strange like that. It seems there were 30 others with similar issues as that is how many lined up with us.

We had 72 miles to traverse over three laps of rolling terrain. Usually this course is not super hard, but the high winds make up for any terrain issues. Our strategy going in was to either make a break or get in a break. We had Scott Fairman with us too and he was tasked with protecting the break if we succeeded. Many attempts went but none were so far successful. Finally with a lap and a half left (about 36 miles), four riders got a gap. I knew one of the four was a very strong rider (Chris Courtney), so I was pretty bummed to have missed this. Others must have had similar feelings as two more jumped to try and bridge. I knew this was it and so jumped across to the two up the road. I had one guy on my wheel.

The four of us were chasing the four up front and were being pursued by the pack behind. We closed the gap on the front four to within 300 meters when our foursome seemed to give up. The lead then stretched to 500 meters. This was do or die time. I figured a match burning here made sense, so burn I did. Pulling as hard as I could through the rollers, we finally joined with the front four. Now we had eight. I knew four of the eight and they were very strong riders. This was the winning break I was sure. The eight of us quickly organized and started a rotation. For half a lap we drilled it through the headwinds and cross winds. The motto ref informed us that our gap was 40 seconds. Then it was 1 minute, then 1:30. You could feel the peloton's will break. We had snapped the cord and were free.

Cut to the finish.

3k to go, 70 miles done. Many of the guys were riding with heavy legs now and the few attacks that went in our group were pretty anemic. We spread across the road and turned the final 3k into a velodrome track race. Our speed was about 15 mph now. The first attack came from a VOS rider (Jan, who had just won the road race the previous week on a solo break with 3k to go). He is covered by Courtney and I am on his wheel. We get a good gap but then he sits up when he sees we are there. The other five come back to us.

1500k to go and 71 miles done. A Davis rider attacks hard and is immediately followed by a Morgan Stanley rider. I jump across but it hurts. I try physiological warfare. When I catch the two I glance back and see we have about 150 meters on the other five. I yell to the Davis rider to "keep going, we have top three if we don’t give in here." He hesitates.

800 meters to go and 71.5 done. The group of five behind us is now 50 meters back and charging. The Davis rider realizes his only shot is to keep going. He picks it back up and we hold the 50 meter gap.

400 meters to go. The Davis rider starts to die and the group of five is now 25 meters behind us. The Morgan Stanley rider attacks for the finish line. I see him start to go and realize this is it.

300 meters to go. I jump around the Morgan Stanley rider and give what I have left.

Finish line passes under my wheel and I have a bike length lead over Morgan Stanley. The squirrel has found the nut. Certainly feels good. Now I need to figure out where to hide this nut while I frantically search for another.

Andrew

Dave Mayer's Top Sport Stage Race "Report" (helps if you get to the start on time!)

 

Dave Mayer's "report" from Top Sport Stage Race- 35+1/2/3

 

In lieu of a race report, here are my top ten moments from the race.  If I haven't offended those up there with me enough, I apologize.  I will get you next time.

 

1) Andrew driving us to and from the event, paying for the gas, housing us, and feeding us.  What an asshole :)

2)  Steve's hairy legs.  Whenever I rode behind him I could swear they looked like twin Alfs

3)  "guest riding" in the 45+ road race after missing my start.  It was weird though - in the cat 3s they do a junior roll out before the start.  In this category, they test everyone's pacemaker

4)  Eating and drinking every last damn thing in Mark Dame's house

5)  Getting passed by JB on the time trial course even though he started 8 people behind me

6)  My 'reverse lead out' helping JB get 4th in the circuit race.  I did it for my country.

7)  Jerome and his regaling us with stories of a fugitive he once dated.  

8)  Jerome showing us his scar and explaining it was caused by exploratory surgery needed to find a toothpick he accidentally swallowed.  From now on, after all the stupid things I do I will have this story to point to and say "well at least I didn't swallow a toothpick"

9) Driving in Eric's M5, a car which has 3 more tailpipes than any car I will ever own.

10) The "Margs".  'Nuff said.

Top Sport Stage Race 2013-45+ 1/2/3

 

CoreTechs Team: Jeremy Wire, Scott Fairman, Steve Stewart, Jerome Nadel, Eric Saltzman and me (Andrew)

 

Ok, I have started to write this report several times, but my creative juices are just not flowing. I have nothing to "bump", nothing to offer in terms of entertainment. It could be that three races in two days and several margaritas and glasses of wine have killed those few brain cells that were competent enough to write creatively. So all I can offer at this point is an actual race report of what transpired. Well, what I remember transpired. I offer no guarantee that this is very accurate at all.

 

I show up to the race and park next to a large white van with no windows. The kind of van that the police routinely pull over just to check inside that no one is bound in the back. To make things a bit scarier, the van is blasting "Sexual Healing". Only thing missing was a bumper sticker with the words "If this van is a rocking, don’t bother knocking". Turns out that our very own Steve Stewart is the owner of this fine piece of machinery. I am already practicing my words for the news crews when they call for a quote: "Steve was such a nice guy, I never could have imagined him capable of that."

 

Race 1: 75 mile road race in Oakdale around Woodward Reservoir. Seems that Oakdale is home to all road races in Nor Cal. I have gone to Oakdale more in the last two months than any sane person should. Regardless, this is an eight lap race. If I do my math correctly that would mean each lap is about 24 miles long. Oh, maybe that is not right but it felt about that. Now you also see why I went into staffing and not finance.

 

Our team strategy for the race was simple. Get enough time on the one mutant in our race (Kevin Klein) and the one great TT'er (Chris Courtney) in order to survive the GC and come out with a win. Win you say? Yes, we were not going into a race shooting for second place. Sure, we could have done that, but with our very own active duty Army Ranger carpooling with us, not sure we would survive the ride home saying we achieved our goal of being "first loser". So we had to at least try for first. That meant we needed to figure out how that was remotely possible. After all, Klein could win by just riding off the front in each of the races and Courtney just needed to sit next to us and then TT our brains in. Ok, then the strategy became apparent and simple. Get in a break without either of those two. See, no problem. How hard could that be?

 

Our potential GC guys were Jerome and myself. Eric was not going to do the TT, Steve was too busy fussing with his musical choices and Jeremy and Scott were in their first race of the year. So, it was down to Jerome and me to fly the CoreTechs GC flag.

 

Lap 3 and I launch off the front. By launch I mean I roll off before anyone seems to notice. Eventually a Sierra Nevada rider looks up and sees me. He comes over and we have a two man break. I ride hard for a full lap taking a lot of the pulls as he seems to be breathing very hard. We are now out of site! By the time we start the next lap, he says, "I think one of your guys is coming across". I look back but can not make out the kit. I am torn on sitting up to wait or making the guy work for it. We ride moderately to give the guy some work but letting him come to us. With the rider 300 meters back I see that it is not a CT boy but rather Klein making his way solo to us. If there was one guy I did not want it to be it was Kevin. Now I had to think, do I want to stay with this break and go to the finish or sit up and hope that Jerome can get in another break. Not an easy decision. If I stayed in the break, I am sure we would have stayed away and maybe I get a few minutes on everyone else and I can take a second overall. Nope, I still had that car ride home with the Army Ranger and so still had visions of CoreTechs winning.

 

Side note; once Kevin reached my break, I sat on the Sierra rider and did not pull (neither did Kevin by the way). Kevin though started to yell and gesticulate about what a shit head I was and why was I sitting in now that he got there. I did not look or talk to him, but he kept yakking. We did one or two rotations and then Kevin started in on me for not taking long enough pulls. When I went to the back of our three man break, I sat up and let the two of them roll off. Not long after I was back in the pack. We then got a nice rotation going and half a lap later we brought back the two of them. Kevin was very pissy from that moment on.

 

Final lap; about 5 miles to go and a VOS (Jan) rider rolls off the front. We let him go till he has 45 seconds to a minute on the pack. We then all realize that could have been a mistake to let him go. Since no one was chasing him down, it was up to Eric/Jerome or I to go after him. That was the only guys we had left at this point. Courtney came to the front to get a rotation going to bring him back, but Kevin yelled at him to stop. "Let CoreTechs bring him back". I think at this point Eric was getting a bit tired and Jerome was now going to be our GC guy since my break did not work. I had a lap and a half of two man break in my legs, but figured I could bring back Jan. I went to the front and channeled my best Tom Rice. I sat on the front for what felt like two hours (probably 5 minutes) and went as hard as I could sustain. Finally I got tired and pulled off. I heard Eric tell Kevin if he does not help that Jan is going to win. Kevin said, "I don’t care, I am teaching Andrew a lesson". So, Eric came to the front and took a turn. I then came back to the front and gave another hour worth of pulling (about 2.5 minutes). We got Jan back to 20 seconds, but that was the best we could do. He won the race. In the final sprint Kevin got second and Jerome took third. I rolled in with the same time in 6th and Eric was right there too.

 

Post first day: Started with Margarita from the white van, another once we got home and then a few glasses of wine at dinner. Awesome! We sat around talking bike talk (doping, who could be doping, doping and more doping talk…). Had an amazing dinner provided by Mark Dames and his fantastic, saint of a wife.

 

Race 2 (Copper Town Circuit race): We must have looked like squirrels to the group. They chased anything in a CoreTechs kit. Every break attempt that went from a CoreTechs rider was chased down immediately. Eric tried once or twice, Steve tried, Scott tried and I tried but nothing was getting away if you had on a CT jersey. Kevin mostly chased it all down. They were however letting anyone else go and leaving it to CoreTechs to pull back. 2 laps to go it seemed obvious that no CT break was going to stick, so I rolled next to Jerome. He had a 11 second advantage on everyone but the VOS rider and Kevin from the RR (they gave time bonuses for 1 through 3rd), so he was our GC guy and I was his domestique. I told him I am going to launch my sprint a bit early (300 meters). I knew Kevin would be the first to chase me, so just sit on Kevin and wait till he goes after me. Once he does, come around him. About 1.5k to go a knucklehead (he could not ride a straight line to save his life) rider goes off the front. No one will chase him down. I don’t want to chase him at that point since that would blow our plan. I am hoping someone will bring him back. No one does, we all just sit and watch him go waiting for someone else to chase. He wins. Arrgg. With 300 to go I sprint and sure enough, Kevin chases me. Jerome is on his wheel and comes around just as planned. Jerome gets 2nd place, Kevin 3rd and I take 4th.

 

TT: Why or why are there things such as TT's? They suck. Not sure how I can say that with more emphasis…they suck ass (yeah, that is more like it). If my legs could speak they would say some really foul things. After two races and a lot of attacks I now find myself wearing a silly helmet and some lady counting me down. The race is five miles out into a headwind with small, sharp climbs. I roll out and blow up. Legs seize, lungs scream and brain starts contemplating odd things. There is no strategy, no teamwork, no camaraderie. It is you seeing stars and the occasional blur of a faster rider zooming by. No idea what happened in this "race" other than eventually I crossed a line on the cement and was told I could stop pedaling. I did, wiped the snot from my face and went back to the car.

 

After listening to "Sexual Healing" for the fifth time this weekend and downing another margarita, we eventually headed home. The "general" promised not to kill us on the way home for not achieving our goal. Overall, the consensus is we had a blast! And if your wondering, our strategy did not work out and Kevin ended up winning the GC with Courtney making up enough time to get third (the VOS rider held on for second). The team tried and we raced hard. Maybe next year we try different tactics, but as a bunch of old men pedaling our bikes, we certainly had some fun! Now I just need to order a copy of Sexual Healing in time to pump me up for my next race.

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Regalado RR-3/2013-They all can't be Golden

Regalado Race Report...they all can't be golden

Regalado Road Race (54 miles - 3 laps)
CoreTechs Team: Jerome, Daryoush, Tom and myself-Andrew (Mike McLaughlin also raced in another cat)
Cat 45+ 1/2/3 (35 riders)

I am getting tired of writing reports with reasons for shitty results. It seems though, that I am in a period of having to do this for my recent escapades. As I tell my kids constantly..., "life is not fair, so the sooner you realize that and get the odds in your favor, the better you will do." I need to listen to myself once in a while. I sure "talk" a good game.

Daryoush and I met at 5:45am and headed out for our two hour commute. We met up with Tom and Jerome. I figured this was a strong foursome, possibly the strongest team in the race and that we would get some results. The race had 35 entered, many DGR's but no mutants! Thirsty Bear had six guys, Folsom had four and then a few independent strongmen (Don Langley-Specialized, Hunter-Hammer and Chris Courtney-SJBC). I was sure would do well.

The course is an unusual one. It has the usual rollers and small hills, but it also has a 1+ mile section of dirt road. Last year during this race it was mud and standing water. This year it was dry, but had a four inch top layer of loose dirt/gravel. I pick the mud next time! The dirt section was crazy. Bikes were sliding all over the place. The dirt mile had me unnerved. There was no traction and I found myself drifting straight when I should have turned a few times. After surviving the first go round, I got word that Daryoush was a victim of the dirt and had flatted. Not too much after D flatted then Jerome flatted. We were down to Tom and I. Each time we approached this dirt section (we did it three times), I felt my heart rate ratchet up. I could not get the hang of it and was letting gaps go constantly. Luckily I was then able to power back on once the road straitened. Word to the wise, don’t be on my wheel in loose dirt and gravel, not my thing!

There was one significant break that went on lap two of Hunter and a Thirsty Bear rider. The TB team blocked and mucked up the chase till the twosome were out of site. The race seemed destined for a pack finish to fight for third place. That was until Tom put on his cape and went to the front. He was not having it and decided he would bring the break back himself. He crushed it for half a lap, then disappeared from the front. A few guys rotated, but then, out of the corner of my eye, the cape comes flying back to the front. Tom had recovered and again drilled it! We were now within site of the escapees and were able to close down the break. This was groupo compacto, thanks 95% to Tom. With the group together again we took our final time through the dirt. Surviving and coming out the other side I became a bit giddy. I felt fresh as a daisy and had survived the dirt. I knew I owed Tom for the pull back and wanted to perform in the sprint as repayment.

Final half mile and Thirsty Bear went to the front in a lead out. I had a full matchbook left and knew I could do well (at least a 4th place :). As we hit 200 to go sign, someone in front blows up and stops pedaling. We are going about 25mph. Everyone slightly eases except it seems the guy directly behind me. I stand to sprint with a clear road ahead of me and good thoughts in my head. It was then that what feels like a giant hand grabs my rear wheel and pulls my bike violently to the left. I could hear pinging of broken spokes and the pressure on my rear wheel is huge trying to push me over. I focus straight ahead so as not to go down and struggle to stay upright. Then, the pressure is gone and a sickening sound of crushed bike and rider is in my ears. My sprint is over and the pack of riders has gotten around. I look back and see a rider in the fetal position in the middle of the road. The motto ref is stopped with him, so I ride it through the finish line. It is a shitty way to finish off a bike race.

Frustrating to drive so far and ride so long and finish with a full matchbook. I am hopeful the fallen rider is not to bad off and am thankful I stayed upright, but darn it, would have been nice to at least use a match. Tom did a yeoman's effort and rode fantastic. I give him rider of the day. If someone other than a Thirsty Bear rider won, they should send Tom a thank you note.

I on the other hand need to finish writing these shitty reports. Seems Daryoush, Jerome and I will have to take some aggression out at Top Sport (April 6/7 people, get this on your calendar!).

Dave Mayer does an Ironman (bike race with extra stuff)

Dave Mayer's Ironman Cabo Report (March 17, 2013)

time: 11:30


place: 199 out of ~1500



Hey guys - this was my 4th Ironman and my last for a long time (or at least that is what I told my wife). I did an Ironman in Utah last May and that was supposed to be my last one, but I went out too hard on the bike and totally blew up almost from the start of the run. It left a bad taste in my mouth, so I wanted to give it one more shot before I hung up the speedos.



I didn't have any time goals, because everything depends on the course. The Cabo course was tough, with 7500 feet of climbing on the bike and some windy sections on the coast. The goal was mostly to just be happy with my race and enjoy it (kind of like saying enjoying getting your armpits waxed).



The swim went well. I have two friends, former Stanford swimmers, who started this company Roka Wetsuits. They gave me one of their prototypes to use and it was FAST. I think that mentally helped me. I felt smooth and controlled the entire swim, which was weird because I have only been swimming twice a week, whereas for past races I had been swimming 3 times a week.



I exited the water 113th place, in 1:03. My Ironman swim PR is 1:02, but that was in college when I was training a ton for it, and I later heard that the swim was a bit long.



I hopped on the bike and dug in for a long day. A coach that I had been working with told me to really dial it back the first 60 miles of the bike and stay controlled. The ideas is that I should feel very fresh after 60 miles and then ramp it up from there. In my Ironman in Utah I had gone out way too fast and then by mile 70 I was toast.



I had a bunch of people pass me the first 30 miles of the bike, which was tough mentally because usually I am passing people. My swim is usually my weakest leg, then my bike, then my run is my strong suit. So I start off slow but then get to pick people off.



I ignored the voices telling me to try and catch people and kept telling myself how long of a day it was. I needed to bike 112 miles and then run a marathon.



I stayed smooth and controlled and by the time mile 60 hit I was still totally fresh. Maybe too fresh, I don't quite know, its hard to estimate these things. I ramped it up and felt good for the rest of the ride. It was nice to hop off the bike and still feel like I had something in the tank.



My bike time was 6:05, which was the 204th best time on the course. So maybe I had taken it a bit too slow on the bike, I was just very afraid of blowing up.



I started the run again not knowing what to expect. My Ironman PR run was 3:27, but that was a long time ago, when I had a lot more time to train. And on a much flatter bike course. I wanted to just go really slow to start and see what happened.



I started running 8 minute miles and then tried to dial it back to 8:30 or so, which felt pretty comfortable. I felt really full, but I kept trying to take coke and water or gatorade at every aide station to keep up the calories. It was probably 90 degrees outside so the heat was really getting to me.



Ironman is such a mentally tough sport. It is so tough to mentally tell yourself, after you have been going hard for 7 hours "okay, now I just have to run a marathon". How do you convince yourself to do that? For me, this was really challenging. I didn't have a goal, really, so why not just slow down as much as possible? I found that it was really tough for me to talk myself into keep going hard. The whole time I was thinking "why the %^?! am I doing this? This is insane!"



At about mile 12 I started to hit a wall and my 8:30s started to turn into 9:30s. I don't know what it was. I didn't feel that I went out too hard on the bike. I didn't feel that I went out too fast on the run. I didn't feel like I was bonking. Maybe lack of training or the fact that everyone is going to slow down a bit after exercising for so long.



I tried to maintain as best I could. I ground through the remaining miles. It was a 3 lap course and on the second lap my wife and my two kids were there. They made up signs for me and it was really cool to see them cheering.



I finished off the race and was totally dead. I could barely walk after.



My marathon time was 4:14, which was 196 out of 1500. Overall I was 199 out of 1500.



I gave the finishing medal to my 4 year old and he really enjoyed it. Hopefully this will be one of his first memories.



Overall I'm satisfied with the performance. I felt good that I didn't go out too hard on the bike and that I set myself up as good as I could have for the run. And I felt great for the first half the run and when I did feel bad on the second half I was able to bear down and get through it. I don't quite know why I slowed down on the second half of the run, but that is racing. That is the tough thing about Ironman compared to bike racing. In bike racing you basically go all out, but with something as long as an Ironman you have to be very careful not to red line it or else you will blow up.



My wife and friends don't believe it, but I am officially done with Ironman until I sell Clean Bottle for $1B and retire and have more time to train (in other words, a long time). I feel good about my performance and am ready for some new challenges. I think I'll still hop into some sprint distance races with Andrew for fun, but that is probably it. I'm excited to take training more casually and flexibly and race some bikes with you guys.



Thanks for reading and I promise my other race reports won't be this long! I'm in Mexico now on vacation w/ the family and I'm going to try and shut off email for a few days but I'll get back to you guys when I get home.



Dave

Merco RR-Tom's version-45+ 1/2/3

Written by Tom Rice

Where: I'm gonna call this the Merco Classic Road Race because, this year, the race seems to have at least 3 different names


When: 3 March 2013
Race: 45+ 1,2,3
Course: 72 miles in 3 laps on a mostly flat course around rural Snelling - very little wind
Teammates: Eric Saltzman

I had some trepidation entering this race. My race fitness is just coming in and I knew all the mutants would be there and that the race is a premire event. So, I set my goals somewhat lower than normal. I just wanted to finish in the mix and I wanted to have some noticable impact on the race. Also, I always have a ridiculous, unattainable BHAG - that is a Big, Hairy Ass Goal. This time, my BHAG is to get in a break with Dirk and finish Top 5. I know, insane but you gotta have goals.

I drive up the night before so I can get a good breakfast, stay on my normal biological calendar(!) and so I don't have to get up at the butt crack of dawn to drive to the race. I stay at the Hamptons - okay, I stay in a Hampton Inn but it sounds way cooler to say you stayed at The Hamptons. I get to the race in plenty of time to get reg'ed, pinned up and to the start.

Report: We got a quick brief by the referre and at his whistle, we were off. The pace initially was not fast and stayed pretty mellow for most of the first lap. A couple of guys from Iron Data/Thirsty Bear went off the front early (not unusual) and the pack just let them dangle out there. Thirsty Bear finally packed it in when they realized that no one was going to bridge up to them and there was no way they could make it the entire race without some major help.

My goal at this point is to stay in the pack and make sure I'm fully warmed up by the time the real attacks begin. This turned out to be no problemo because NOTHING much happens for the first hour of the race. Just a nice ride with 70 or so of my new/old friends.

Once we get into the second lap, Dirk attacks a few times but the pack won't even let him get a gap. He has a target on his back and he's going no where!

Things slow down for quite a while and I'm getting a little anxious for something to happen, so during a lull, I jet up the left side and go for a solo break, hoping for someone to come with me. I'm betting that I can get away because nobody really knows me. I get a good gap and 3 riders are bridging up to me. But, by the time they get to me, the entire pack is on their heels. I drift back into the pack and someone else takes off with a couple of riders with him. I jump on those wheels but again, the pack is strung out behind us. As the front of the pack begins to pass me, Dirk takes off (again). I jump on his wheel hoping this is the one. I even take a hard pull with Dirk on my wheel. When I look for someone to take the next pull, I see that the entire pack is on our heels. At this point, a break looks hopeless. Everytime Dirk goes, someone goes with him and the pack simply chases him down. I go with him at least 3 more times. But Dirk is getting frustrated and none of his attacks last any more than a minute or so (of intense and incredible effort on my part!)

So, I settle back into the pack and let the others cover the attacks. It's pretty easy to sit in and just deal with the accellerations.

I'm a little tired at this point but here's the end:

With three kilometers to go, I blast off. I do my best to put in a supreme effort - again hoping that the others will just let the silly attacking man go. But I'm gassed. All I really do is string the pack out. So, I settle into the pack to work towards my goal of finishing in the mix.

I make my goal of finishing with the pack and I'm certainly an enthusiastic participant of the race. I'm not sure I'm too much of an impact but I'll let Eric tell that side of the story. Next time he and I race, we're gonna work together more effectively!



It was a fun day and I'm tired!

Oh yeah - on the way home, I bumped to The Ohio Players because Kanye don't bring the funk like that.


Tom Rice
Bicycle Racer
CoreTechs Cycling Team

Merco Crit and RR report by Eric Saltzman (45+ 1/2/3)

My wife keeps telling me not to program my GPS while driving. While the rest of the team found the new CCCX course on Saturday, I somehow ended up in Merced riding a criterium with smoke from a barbecue wafting across the course. I figure that bike racing is about suffering so giving up warming up with scenic views of the Monterey Bay for a scenic tour of downtown Merced seemed appropriate.

We did 20 laps on a 1 mile barbell shaped course. The distinguishing feature of the course was the very long finishing straight. It was well over 400 meters from the last corner to the line. The field was relatively small (about 35 riders, 27 of whom finished), but filled with strong crit riders. As a solo rider the race was a game of craps and I had to place my bets carefully. The race ended up playing out in a strange way. My first bet was a loser as I watched what turned out to be the winning break roll up the road on the second lap. No one got organized to chase and it was gone. Morgan Stanley was the biggest team to miss the break and did some chasing, but got no consistent help. I made a couple of efforts to bridge, the first with Andrew Nevitt of MS and Shaun Bagley who had a teammate in the break. His presence doomed our chase effort. The second was a solo effort trying to get to Don Langley and one other rider who were trying to get across to the break. I rode solo in no mans land for two laps, suffered well and then got caught. Don and his cohort came back just after that and it looked like we were settling in to sprint for 3rd. With two laps to go, the field watched Chris Black from MS roll off and he dangled just in front of us for the remainder of the race to hang on for 3rd.

The sprint was tricky because you needed to be in the first few wheels coming out of the last corner, but not open up the sprint too soon. I was positioned well and got second in the sprint behind Shaun for 5th in the race.

After spending a night in Modesto listening to the drunk people in the next room scream at each other all night, (not knowing Tom was going to be in the Hamptons), Jason and I dragged our rears out of bed and headed out to the road race.

One of the plusses and minus of having raced for a long time and having ridden most of the courses in Nor. Cal. more times than I can count, is I have a pretty good sense of how a race will play out. I got out of the car, took one look at the completely still trees and the 80 rider field, and knew that the odds of a break sticking were only slightly better than my odds of winning the lottery and I don't play the lottery The key to success would be doing absolutely nothing for the first 68 of the 72 miles so you could be as fresh as possible for the last time up the hill on Cox Ferry and then hold good position from there to when the sprint opens up on the up hill before the gradual downhill 300 meters to the line.

This is exactly what I did. While Tom was playing chase DIrk and Dirk was getting frustrated because half the field was playing the same game, I was sitting 15 riders back having nice chats with various riders. I averaged 143 watts for the race. Was this boring? If the road weren't like riding on a rumble strip I might have fallen asleep. Was it the best workout I could have gotten? I had a higher TSS for my two hour training ride Wed. morning than for this two hour forty seven minute race and felt a lot more tired when I got off my bike on Wed. Was it the best way to get a result without a large team? Almost certainly. That I could ride 72 miles in 2:47 with so little effort is exactly why the race came down to a field sprint.

On the last lap, I moved up on Cox Ferry, was ahead of the guy who decided that the sand and gravel on the inside of the corner off of Cox Ferry onto Keys must have miraculously disappeared between the second and third lap and took himself out (fortunately, he was the only one that went down), and was holding position pretty well. I knew this was going to be a wild ride to the finish because almost the entire field was pretty fresh and lots of people that are not sprinters decided that today was the day for them to become sprinters. Unfortunately, they would make it to the front of the field, realize it is hard to hold position and then start going backward in a big hurry. The problem was that they got to or near the from just long enough to break the rhythm of the lead out efforts and cause the field to bunch. Lots of guys would have won the race if they could have painter lines on the road between 1K and 400 meters to go. Each guy ended his sprint, sat up, in some cases swerved, and started going backwards.

I was fourth wheel coming into the hill at about 500 meters to go, but had to slow to avoid someone who sprinted past, got half way up the hill and then exploded. I lost a few positions and some momentum and could only manage 8th in the sprint. I was glad to keep the rubber side down. Let's hope for more wind next year.

Cherry Pie Crit-2013

Cherry Pie Crit-45+ 1/2/3
CoreTechs Team: Devon Joos (9th)/Eric Saltzman (3rd)/Jerome Nadel (4th)
Report by Eric

Cherry Pie is the traditional kick off to "real" criterium racing season in Northern CA. It is a pretty standard industrial park criterium with an extra dogleg thrown in to make it more interesting. The dogleg is uphill to the finish line, which comes right before a 180 degree corner aiming you back down the hill and into a fast right turn. The course then curves to the left, and makes two actual left hand turns putting you more or less onto the straight leading into the uphill to the line. I say more or less because there is a slight chicane right before you start going up the hill. The hill is not very steep and reminds me of the uphill going through the maze in Woodside right before you make the turn onto Olive Hill heading towards Canada Rd.

As is now tradition in our house, Jason and I went up the night before and stayed in the hotel right on the course because his first race was at 8:40. My wife got the soccer tournament in Woodland so I definitely got the better deal on this one.

After sending the obligatory emails to my racing friends on the East Coast wishing them a good day digging out their driveways and pointing out that I was going to be racing in 60 degree weather in a few hours, I helped Jason get ready for his race. This included the obligatory parental story about spending Februarys riding through snow up to my hubs when I was his age.

Daryoush, Devon, Jerome and I lined up for 40 minutes of fun in the 45+ race. It was a solid field with Hammer Nutrition bringing its full team (except Cale who doesn't do crits unless in a stage race), Specialized with Craig Roemer and Kevin Metcalfe (both with National Championship jerseys in their closets), and Patrick Briggs from the new Prime Alliance team being the primary players (in addition to CoreTech).

The race itself was pretty straight forward. No break got any significant daylight although I did bridge to a couple just to be safe. With three laps to go I moved up to the front and slotted into third wheel behind Dirk and Hunter from Hammer Nutrition as they set up their lead out for Steve Heaton. I stayed third wheel for the next two and a half laps and then let Steve slide in front of me with half a lap to go. This was the perfect place to be coming into the sprint.

While the Hammer Nutrition team was keeping the pace high, it was not super fast and I kept expecting someone else to come up and challenge their lead out. For a brief time I was concerned that their train would peter out too soon and we would get swarmed. Fortunately, Steve must have had the same thought because he launched the sprint very early. I could not match his initial jump. It turned out to be a long drag race sprint and I ended up third (forth if you count Larry Nolan who won the 55+ that was picked separately).

We looked really good as a team and where always well represented at the front end of the field.

Eric

Knights Ferry Road Race Report by Andrew A. (Feb 2nd 2013)

Cat 1/2/3-45+
84 miles of rolling terrain with one Sandhill and a half "climb" that you do four times (3.5 lap race)
20 rider field
Team CoreTechs: Andrew and Daryoush

For those new to the team and not yet accustomed to my long winded, totally off the mark reports, well, you have now been warned. Below you find something that slightly resembles a race report. These rambles usually turn into psychoanalysis, hyperbole and self serving aggrandizing. Delete this email now, I will not be held responsible for the time you waste reading it.

Like someone who lives abroad for a few years and comes back with a new "accent" to their English (I have not noticed this at all Jerome, congratulations, you withstood the pressure of coming home with a French accent), I am doing my best to remind myself I am a 46 year old man. I want to make sure I don’t accidently incorporate my young friend Mr. Rippey's writing style. For this reason, as I drove to the race I made sure to avoid any purchases of bagels and I certainly did not "bump any Kayne ". I also had my pants firmly around my waist so as to avoid the ass sag jean look. Now, I did have a dew rag on, but was quickly reminded that the look was very hip in about 1988. So I reverted back to my well worn old man style of sweat pants and a sweat shirt. The chicks were digging me.

Daryoush and I drove some silly amount of time to get to a cow pasture in the middle of nowhere. Really, this is not exaggeration. Even the people in Oakdale said this race was in the boonies. Once there, we saw the usual crowd. We acted very cool, gave many head nods and repeated the common saying at this event; "this is just a training race for me. I have not ridden since before Christmas. I am way out of shape." Overhearing our conversations, you would have thought this was a group of guys that accidently met up in a cow pasture, all found they happened to have their bikes with them and decided "what the heck, let's try these things out and see if they still work."

See? Three paragraphs in and I have yet to mention the actual race. I told you, I am not responsible for any of your wasted time, this deep in to the email and it is on you!



Race starts and the 20 of us head off. Daryoush, who I talked into doing this race with me, had too much coffee on the drive out. The caffeine went to his head and the wind vest he wore flapped like a cape. He had caught the infamous bike racer malady that we have all acquired at one point or another; Supermanites. This is a very dangerous affliction, I know, I have had it many times. The symptoms are these: Mental sharpness, light feeling in the legs. The results are disastrous. You see, this affliction comes on in the first laps of races, causing the infected to act in an incredibly aggressive manner. Daryoush must have attacked the field ten times in the first lap. Each time getting about 200 meters out front only to be dragged back. Once back he "soft pedaled" at the front of the pack leading the entire peloton again. At one point I road up and told him, "please save a match or two for the rest of 70 miles we have to do!". I had seen it though, he had that vacant look in his eyes, that look of, "please don’t talk to me mere mortal bike rider, for I am superman and I will destroy this field". All I could do was sit in the group and hope his malady would subside in time for him to survive.

What I neglected to mention was that this was a pretty stacked field of 20 riders. We had one mutant and six or seven DGR's in the field. After Daryoush's tenth attack, mutant (Dirk) attacks. We all watch him go. This is an experienced field and no one wants to sit on mutant for 50 more miles. He leaves us (Déjà vu for me, as I ended my 2012 season with this exact scenario-see the Henleyville race report). Suddenly though, an unexpected thing happens, we all start to drill it and actually work together. This increase causes some of the weaker links to break. Daryoush, recovering from his 10 attacks was sitting at the back at this very moment. The two in front of him crack. He is off the back just as the pack has gone ballistic. He cant swing around the two cracked riders in time and his race is over. He is relegated to a solo ride, cape firmly planted between legs.

We have about ten of us left at this point. The cooperation breaks down as some knucklehead attacks before coming close to catching mutant. Once that happens the cat and mouse games start. Pack slows to 15mph, then attack again, 15mph, attack again and so on. Finally with five miles left we all realize no one is getting away and we start to position for the finish. The finish line was at the top of a hill, probably about the length of 1.5 Sandhills. We ride to the 200 meter to go sign at about 12 mph, all watching each other and bumping shoulders. One goes, and that lights the fuse. We all come from our track stands to full sprint. I have to swing a bit over the yellow line to get around a Sierra Nevada rider and have clear road ahead. I see rider one and two ahead and I have a shot at rider two. I catch him mid crank but I do so as we cross the line, so I get third in the bunch and fourth counting mutant. I win a coveted white t-shirt to commemorate my "just off the podium, first loser" position…sigh.


Back in the car we bump some Kayne and look for a bagel shop.