CoreTechs Staffing Cycling Team

45+ 1/2/3 CCCX Report-March 4th 2012

2012-03-05T19:34:00.000-08:00

This is two reports in one. Devon's Race report followed by Andrew's version:Devon Joos Race Report from CCCX 45+ 1/2/3Sent: Monday, March 05, 2012 4:03 PMSubject: [coretechscycling] Race report45+ cat 1234. CCCX Monterey. Andrew blocked for me. Got 2ndAndrew's Version:Devon, being a man of few words, can write a report like this. Me, being a man of many words, often to complete dismay of those around me, can not let a report like this go without further comment.Thus, comment I shall!My wife, Wendy, decided to take a "girls trip" to Vegas. Of course, not sure why it was with a guy named Rahul, but I digress. What the trip did was leave in my responsible hands my three kids. A seven year old and twin five year olds. I figured what better way to entertain them then taking them to beautiful Monterey, CA to watch bikes go in circles, which of course prompted my five year old boy to ask; "Daddy, why do bike riders like riding in circles?" (this is true by the way). It was a hard one to answer too!Race starts and I know going in I have no sprint. Did a number on a rib of mine three weeks back while sledding and it still does not like it when I violently shake my handlebars. So, knowing this I thought I would try to get in a break. Three minutes into the race one guy goes. I bridge up. Then one other joins us. We have three now, but I don’t know these guys. Not sure what they have. Turns out one of them (alto velo dude) had no clue what he was doing. Kept letting gaps go and then would pull through at a snails pace. We lasted a full lap, but then the pack was back in sight. I did not think this was a good break. A minute later, Clark Foy(SJBC) came riding up to the three of us and went right to the front with a "let's go". I had already given up on these other two guys and did not think Clark was a TT guy, thus not a great guy to be with alone. Of course, he climbs OLH in 16:11, but I thought this was not a climbers course and the wind would not serve him. I let him go and slipped back to the pack. Clark rode on alone. Come on, one guy with four laps to go (20 miles) on a windy course. Silly really.Another break goes a lap later. I bridge up. Nothing; caught again. Another break of three goes. This one looks promising. Devon is at the front and I am on his wheel with the pack behind us. I yell to Devon to "go". He does. He bridges the gap and is on the break. I have a twinge of regret as I think that break will stick. Well, that is bike racing and I have a teammate to help. I ride at the front of the pack and keep the pace steady, but keep an eye on the four in the break and watch as they get incrementally further away.Steve Heaton (winner of the 35+ 1/2/3 race) goes to the front and tries to pull the break back. I sit on his wheel. He goes for at least a 1/4 lap and gives the elbow. No dice, I don’t come around. He sits up and we all slow down.Final downhill and I don’t have a great position. I am second wheel going over the top of the last hill and into the final downhill. I figure the guy in front will fade or move over and that leaves me in a poor position. Well, he did, it was and the peloton (down to about 8 or 9 guys) breaks to the right side. I go around on the left, catch back on and ride to the finish. By this point I am sitting fourth/fifth in the pack and that is where I roll across the line for 8th or 9th place.Clark (SJBC) by the way? He soloed the entire race and won. Man…if only I had just sat on his wheel. Well, if, if, if. Next race I will know about him! Give that guy some credit though. That is very impressive!Fun race, good to offer what help I could. Devon has an amazing sprint, just sorry I could not been in the break with him to watch it. He easily out sprinted his break mates and took home a solid Second Place! I would call that a good day at CCCX for the CoreTechs boys. Andrew

Copper Town Report-Just the Facts-Woof!

2012-02-22T16:28:00.001-08:00

Andrew's Copper Town Race:Feb 19th 2012 Not sure why, but not really motivated to write up a report on the races I did. Suffice to say, the races encompassed all my past issues and results. So, instead of a full story, I will give the bullet points. 35+ 1/2/3• Attack after attack. I act like a dog chasing a squirrel and chase down whatever goes. By doing this I display similar intelligence levels with the dog. No thinking, just reacting. • Four lap race. I flat on lap two. Race done. Dog goes home!45+ 1/2/3• Decent size group. Attack after attack goes. Showing I have a bit more intelligence than a dog, I don’t chase all breaks. • Mark Foster decides to take up the dog intelligence mantle and does chase early breaks. • Daryoush and I get in a great six man break on lap two. We get a gap. Dog sees squirrel, dog chases squirrel for three full minutes at 700 watts. Dog catches squirrel. Squirrel is mad! Why is dog chasing his own pet squirrel who he has known for a long time? Whole group comes with squirrel and we are one big pack again.• 2.5 laps left and 1/3 of the pack breaks (about 12 guys). I join. Daryoush demands dog stay home. Daryoush and Mark monitor field and let the break go.• Last home stretch (about 2 miles) and pace starts to really heat up. We are down to eight riders. I feel pretty good. I feel so good I get silly thoughts. Inside my melon: "I can not only out sprint these guys. I can drop them by just putting my head down and hammering". • 350 meters to go I put my head down and hammer. I glance up with 200 meters to go. I am alone with clear road ahead.• 100 meters to go; I am going to win• 20 meters to go. Uh oh…I'm not alone.• 5 meters to go. I have friends on all sides.• Finish line: I seem to fit nicely into the warm confines of another fourth place finish. My 100th 4th place since I started racing. I celebrate my ineptitude by riding back to the start alone. On the bright side, the beer was cold. In my melon I was thinking; "dog likes cold beer." Until next time…Andrew "the dog" A.

2012-02-22T09:24:00.000-08:00

Where – Copper Town Square Circuit Race, Copperopolis, CAWhen – February 19, 2012Race – 45+ Cat 4Stats – ~1 Hour, ~20 miles, 30 ridersCoreTechs Teammates - Mike Whitlatch, Alan Takahashi and Chris ScheetzThere is nothing like going into a race with high expectations - with maybe a little good natured pressure from Kate (who is my wife) and some incentive from knowing that CoreTechs is "sponsoring" the race. Also, I've been getting some good natured ribbing after my lack of tactical prowess at the Knights Ferry race. So, I'm anxious and excited to do well!My day starts early. There are races throughout the entire day and as a CoreTechs volunteer, I am to be a corner marshal assigned to the first turn as racers come onto the town square portion of the circuit. The promoter even gives me a whistle. (Their mistake, I can make some serious noise with a good whistle!) My job is to notice when the racers are coming onto the town square, blow my whistle and make sure spectators are safely off the course. This turns out to be great fun! I have an excellent view of the action, I get to educate a few visitors on bicycle racing and I get to hang out and chat with fellow racing friends. I spend the morning executing my duties with gusto.A little more than an hour before my race, Kate takes over as marshal for my corner. Huge thanks to Kate for doing this. Seeing as she is my sponsor, nutritionist and loving wife, "volunteering" as a race marshal is way over and above the call of duty!I rush to the car, get my bike squared away, get my tires pumped up and begin to get myself ready. So, I pin my number on the wrong side of my jersey, take the number off, pin it on the correct side but upside down, start over and finally get the stupid number pinned on my jersey correctly. This takes up most of my warm-up time but I'm finally ready and I have enough time to ride the town square portion of the circuit before my race starts. I've been having fun all day and now, I'm ready to race.There are 30 of us lined up at the start. The referee gives us our pre-race briefing then blows his whistle (almost as good as mine!) and we're off!I decide to lead the first section of the race. This gives me a chance to really get warmed up after which I plan to move back into the first three to five riders in the pack from whence I will execute my well planned tactics. I ride on the front for a few minutes then a couple of riders take over and I begin to settle into the pack.So much for an easy start to the race... I don't even get a chance to check-in with my teammates and a Major Motion (MM) rider makes a solid break off the front. He is solo and I know he can't stay away for the whole race. Nevertheless, he looks strong so I make the jump and bridge up to him. We have a quick chat as I wonder if he really thinks he has what it will take to break-away for the whole race:Me, "What have you got?"MM guy, "I got a lot!"I'm thinking, "Crap. This guy will make a good break-away companion and I feel strong but this is going to be a lot of work... and I'm not really warmed-up".But, here we are, so I decide to go for it. I begin a strong pull to, hopefully, open up some space between us and the pack. Then, as I let up so MM guy can pull through, two more riders bridge up to us; a rider from Team Polli Veloce (TPV) along with the ever present and always strong, friend Jeff Andruss from Monta Vista Velo (MVV).This is good news, more riders to share the work means we're more likely to hold off the pack. All four of us are pretty strong and each does a good share of the work. Even so, after the first lap, MM guy starts doing a bunch of aggressive attacks. Maybe he is just testing us but if he gets away, there is no way he will make it all the way to the finish by himself. TPV guy also tries to attack but, just like with MM guy, the four of us eventually get back together. The problem is, with these attacks, we're not as fast as when we all cooperate. I notice that between laps two and three, the pack begins to get closer to us.Then, Jeff declares a truce and says, "Hey guys, let's work together. I don't care where I finish but if we stay away, I'm happy with fourth. It'll be my best finish ever!"This seems to satisfy our breakaway companions and they settle down. But I've been keeping track of the attacks my competitors have been making and I'm keeping track of the "matches" they've burned. Let's just say I'm trying to keep all of my matches for the final sprint.Because of the course layout, at about three quarters of each lap completed, we can see the space between our breakaway group and the pack. We can also hear the pack as we go by. At this point on the final lap, we've gained substantially on the pack and there is no way they can catch us before the finish and I get a cheer of support and encouragement from my teammates! Tactic Number One complete and successful.My assessment of my breakaway competitors: MM guy is riding well, he is wily and may have a good long-duration sprint. Both Jeff and TPV guy are big strong dudes who look like sprinters. I'm not sure I can out-sprint TPV guy in a head-to-head short sprint and I know Jeff is strong and is always a worry in a fast finish.So, early in the final lap, I've moved to the front to do my pull so I can then move back into the draft and save energy for the sprint. After the final turn-around, I go to the front again but the others in the break move ahead of me almost immediately. This is fine with me as I plan to make a long sprint effort and will need all the energy I can muster. As we approach the one-kilometer-to-go sign, MM guy starts to get anxious and seems prepared to attack. If I'm to win, I feel it is critical to preempt his sprint (tactic number two). As we pass the one-kilometer-to-go sign, I sprint. I sprint with everything I've got and I go as hard as I can for as long as I can. As I'm cresting the final hill, I'm running out of gas and I take a quick look back. I have a lead of about 30 meters but with 100 meters to go, I'm afraid they'll catch me so I stand up for one last surge across the line. I win!I am psyched!! The race was hard but really fun. I've redeemed myself for my poor tactics at the Knights Ferry race, I raced as smart as I could and my final sprint leaves me with a huge dose of confidence.I head back to the town square to cheer for the CoreTechs crew in the next race. What a great day! I truly enjoy riding with this team!Thanks for reading.Tom RiceBicycle RacerCoreTechs Cycling Team

Cherry Pie Crit-John T.'s 35+ Cat 4/5 Report

2012-02-06T10:20:00.001-08:00

Cherry Pie Criterium
Master 35+ 4/5
Napa, Ca
Coretechs riders - just me

It was a beautiful day up in Napa and about 60 deg by the time I raced @ 11:40. I asked how many were in the group at registration and the guy told me 74 riders. So this will be the largest group I've ever raced with and with a lot of Masters Cat 4's..so be it.. I had no idea what the course was like other than the riders I asked and the 6% climb I could see that lead to the start/finish. I was told I couldn't take a lap around the course, but that I could walk it. I only gave enough time for warm up, so I opted for a good warm up. Within In 2 minutes of the start I will know most of the course anyway. Kind of like my old ski racing days...inspecting the Slalom course from the chairlift on those freezing days!

I was dripping sweat by the time I got to the line. I was a little late and was about mid field. We take off, starting on the downhill. My plan is just to sit in and try to be near the front, but not sure what to expect from all the Cat 4's. The pace is pretty fast but nothing crazy. I could hardly see anything with all the racers in the first lap but do my best to get a feel for the course. A short fast downhill, right hand 70 deg, sweeping left, road tightens up with cones to the right, then a 90 deg left, another 90 deg left, right hand sweeper, into an easy but narrow chicane and then the climb to the 180 deg at the top and we do that about 17 times.

I find very quickly that this is a technical course and I had a hard time figuring out how to move up. There we so many turns and narrow areas that it was difficult for me. I am in the front 3rd most of the race, which is still in the mid 20's somewhere. I keep looking out front to see if there are any breaks. None, ever! I spent most of the race trying to figure out where to move up without being reckless. I found out that the 6% climb to the finish was perfect for me. With 8 to go I tested a hard effort up the hill up the right side gutter, I move from about 30th to 7th as I take the 180 deg very wide. I hold my position down the hill, but the pace now slows into the sweeper and the narrow section. I feel fine, but all of a sudden I'm in the damn 20's again. Like a sock turning inside out!! The sides surged pushing the middle slowly farther back. I did know about this but had no idea how to avoid it. I felt blocked most of the time on both sides. I am pretty focused on the wheels near me as every corner was 3 to 4 wide. I had 2 guys bump and crash right in front of me, as the guys crank got stuck in the other racers front wheel. There were a lot of spokes breaking. 2 to go, I hammer up the hill again in the right gutter, and move to about 8th. I try to hold the left gutter in the left hand sweeper this time, I lose a few spots and am now in the mid teens. 1 to go, I hammer up the hill up the right gutter again, but only gain a few spots if any!. Everyone had the same plan! Duh! Everyone scrambling in the turns and chicanes. I am not close enough to do anything at the finish so I just ease in about 150 meters behind the winners. Pack finish.

This was a good race for me. I would have liked a better result, but it was not my main goal for this race. I wanted to race in a big group with the 35+ 4's. My fitness is getting better and my comfort in the pack is a lot better. I think I can start looking for results now.

I highly recommend this race for next year. It is technical but actually makes it pretty safe. Racers are a little more focused. The climb at the finish is great for power riders. The 180 is very safe since it is right at the top of the start/finish climb. This course enables prepared teams to do well. I watched team Specialized control and win most of the races I saw. The 45+ 1/2/3 had a 3 man break stay away the whole race. Some masters national road race champion won. (Craig Roemer?) Larry Nolan and more specialized members sat near the front of the main group and controlled the race making sure to discourage anyone from bridging.

cheers

--
John Tsamasfyros

Tom's Knights Ferry RR report: 45+ Cat 4 Field

2012-02-06T10:14:00.001-08:00

Where – Knights Ferry Road Race near Oakdale, CA
When – February 4, 2012
Race – 45+ Cat 4
Stats – 54 miles, ~3 hours, 21mph average
Finish – 4th out of 37 racers
I was the only CoreTechs rider in this race

It's 7:15 AM and I load up my great big pickup truck and begin the 2 hour 15 minute drive out to Oakdale. It is 40 degrees out. By the time I drop into the tule fog outside of Manteca, it is 38 degrees out and I'm starting to worry I don't have the proper clothing for this race. I shouldn't have worried. When I arrive, it is an hour before my race and it must be at least 65 degrees – time to break out the summer kit! (Note to self: Do a better job shaving legs if you're gonna ride in shorts.)
It is good to see the racer pals from last year, so after some hellos and good-to-see-ya's, I get registered, suit up and join my friend, Jeff Andruss from MVV, for a short warm-up. Then I head over to the start. After a short briefing from the race referee, we're off.
A short course description: The course is all on one road where we ride out in one direction in the right lane, turn around and ride in the other direction, riding past the finish line but in the reverse direction, then, turn around again and ride back towards the finish line, again, all on the same road. No crossing the center line. Our race is two laps of this course. The road is what you'd expect on country lanes. Also as you might expect, the turnarounds at each end of the course are simply chaos. This is the first time I've ever had to unclip in the middle of a race – just to get around the turnaround safely. It is best to be at the very front of the pack at these turnarounds. Nonetheless, the course is good, the roads are decent and, with the elevation changes, fairly challenging.
I get to the start a little later than I should have so I'm lined up at the back of the pack, but I'm ready and we start at the whistle. The lane is narrow and our large pack makes it difficult to move up to the front of the pack. So, I call on my mountain bike skills and ride up the right edge of the road, past the bulk of the pack. And, by "edge of the road", I mean the gravel, weeds and broken pavement on the edge of the road. It is rough but I get to the front of the pack where I want to be. I wipe my tires and settle in at third wheel.
I feel the pace is way too slow. So, I make a long strong pull at the front and try to shame some of my competitors into helping speed up the race but to no avail. I try again and again but no one wants to work. Well, I'm not gonna pull the whole pack around this course for 54 miles so I settle back behind the front 5 to 10 riders and we trundle along at a conversational pace.
After the first turnaround, a couple of other guys make some attempts at creating a break and I feel this is good news. So, with a gentle tail wind and about 40 miles to go, I make an attack knowing full well at least one of these guys will join me. I sprint to create a gap then put my head down for a long hard pull. As I slow for what I hope will be a good long breakaway, I look back… there is no one there and I'm way out in front. I've unwittingly gapped the whole pack by about 45 seconds and I'm all by myself. Now what?
Prior to the race, Mark Foster offered this advice, "Whatever you do, don't do a solo break!" But, I'm way out in front so I'm thinking that maybe, if I get far enough out, they'll forget about me or they won't be able to organized a chase. Silly me.
I get a big enough gap between me and the pack behind me so I can no longer see them. So, I'm hopeful that my move will net good results However, I've been by myself for a long time and I know I'm weakening. As I'm heading towards the second turnaround, I see teammates Christian, Andrew, Devon and Daryoush heading the other way as they've finished their respective races. Christian gives me an encouraging yell but I can read Andrew's (the "Boss") mind, "What is Tom doing out in front by himself?!" Just before the second turnaround, I look back again and the pack is gaining. At the turnaround I'm only about 30 seconds ahead so I relax, slow down and let them catch me. As they make the catch, with Mark's advice ringing in my ears, MVV Jeff chides me, "Welcome back Tom, did you miss us?"
Some more good natured ribbing and I settle in behind the front 4 or 5 riders for a good long rest. We still have 20 miles to go and I need all the rest I can get if I'm to do anything at the finish. But, the pack is still taking it too easy. A couple of the stronger guys are trying to organize a decent pace line but cooperation is intermittent. After the third turnaround, I go to the front for a fast pull hoping to amp up the pace or at least tenderize the pack somewhat for the final attacks at the hills and the finish.
As we approach the final turnaround there are two fairly challenging hills to get over. A Fightin' Bobas rider makes a hard attack as we start the second climb. It is a good attack but I'm able to match it and I'm right on his wheel. We get a small gap but soon most of the pack is right on our tails and the attack peters out. After the turnaround, I make an attack descending to the flats before the finish. I'm with another rider but he does not have enough strength left to help and I certainly have burned almost all of my matches so again, most of the pack comes back together.
The finish line is at the top of a short 5% grade so I know the sprint is going to be hard. The Fightin' Bobas rider makes a great attack at the base of the climb with about a kilometer to go. I'm a little boxed out to the right so I yell at the rider in front of me, "You gotta go! GO!!" He speeds up and I get around him and give chase. I start my sprint in earnest at about 250 meters (otherwise there is no chance to catch the leader) and I'm in second with a Taleo rider going peddle stroke for peddle stroke with me. It is a hard sprint and my legs are screaming! We get passed by two others but I hold off the Taleo rider for 4th!
It was a great day for me and I've had fun. I get a prize, a huge confidence boost and I've relearned a few lessons which will certainly pay off as the season progresses. I am looking forward to the season!
Thanks for reading.

Tom Rice
Bike Racer
CoreTechs Cycling Team

Andrew's Knights Ferry Road Race Story

2012-02-05T10:57:00.000-08:00

Knights Ferry Road Race
3 laps of 27 per lap (finish was 8 miles before start line, so about 72 mile race)
Cat 45+ 1/2/3: 22 riders in race
CoreTechs Riders: Andrew (me), Daryoush, Devon

The 2012 season has officially started for me and you know what that means (for you new to the team, you will realize soon enough that these so called race reports are really just an exercise in time miss-management in an effort to avoid child care duties or work duties; depending on what duties I am avoiding at that moment). It means a report full of introspection, self aggrandizing, sometime self loathing and a fair does of belly navel picking. So, you have been warned if you feel the need to read this full story, let the picking begin.

I leaned against the doorway in a bit of confusion. Catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror I looked paler than usual, and yes smartasses, that certainly is very pale. The internal debate raged; should I use the toilet with my top end or bottom end. Top end won first followed soon after by the bottom end. Leaning that close to the toilet, it also occurred
to me how disgusting a seven year old boy and five year old boy can be. Do they actually ever pee in the toilet, or just get as close as is reasonably possible while still being in the bathroom?

It was now 3pm on Friday and the thought of any food would send me scurrying back to the bathroom to resume my debate. Not a great way to do race prep. Oh, I should mention, I signed up for the Knights Ferry Road Race the next morning at 8:00am. I had a rough time even looking up. I crawled into bed. I laid there till about 7. I was in misery. Chris Scheetz stopped by about 7:30pm. I could only sit hunched over staring at the floor. I made my way over to the computer and sent a cryptic message to the boys racing with me the next day…"I'm out".

I wake at 4:00am. Hmm, I actually feel pretty normal. Sure, my stomach feels like it had a workout, but no nausea. There is a chance! I venture to the kitchen and take a drink of juice. I contemplate my navel. The juice stays down. I try a piece of toast. That too stays where it belongs. Ok, back in business. I can make it! I throw a bunch of stuff in my bag, put air in my tires and throw the bike in the car. I'm off for a two hour drive to attempt an 80 mile road race. Sure, I have not eaten (other than two slices of toast) since noon the day before (and all of that I put nicely back in toilet), but I do feel well rested.

Four paragraphs in and I still have not gotten to the race story. Ok, let's get to it.

It is cold. It does not look cold from inside the confines of a well heated car; it looks awesome! Sun is out, no wind blowing, just perfect. But I reiterate, it is cold. I guess about 31 degrees to start the ride. My teeth are chattering. I warm up quickly though as the attacks happen early and often. The 1/2/3 races have a pattern to them. In most races that have some element to break them up, i.e. distance, rollers or a hill the first 10 to 20 miles are attack after attack. Once the two or three largest teams have a member up the road in an attack, they muck up the chase. The break then gets enough time for the pack to almost give up and the pace drops to very slow. Then riders do their best to bridge. The teams with riders in the break sit on those bridging riders wheels. The bridging rider, not realizing that the guy on his wheel has a man in the break, signals for the guy on his wheel to come around and help. When the rider does not come around, the chaser gets discouraged and pissed and sits up to yell at the guy on his wheel; "why don’t you #$$%$ help?" The answer of "sorry, I have a guy in the break" usually does little to mollify the rider, but this is bike racing. They then drop back to the peloton and start the process over.

It is fun to race for a teammate, but I do have to admit it is hard mentally. You are sacrificing your chance for a top five by just sitting in the pack and letting the race get away up the road. Still though, I like these guys and it is fun to play team games and pretend that we are big time and to race as a team. So race as a team we did. Break attempt after break went in the first mile of this race. Devon, Daryoush and myself covered all of them. Finally Dirk (Team Echelon, well known noon rider, and a teammate of two others in the race who are both very strong), went and Daryoush was on him. One other rider joined and the three were away. Devon and I went to the front. We, along with the two teammates of Dirk (Cale Reeder and Hunter) did our best to muck up any bridge attempts. We either covered every break or we did not pull through on the front. The break gained enough time for most in the pack to concede.

The course is an out and back of 27 miles per loop. We did the loop three times. On each end of the out and back there are a series of rollers. The finish is 2.5K from the turn around. On lap two, just before the rollers (these rollers are comparable to the "climb" on Arstradero) a VOS rider takes off. I know this rider and know he is not a threat, so I drift to the mid pack and let others chase if they want. This was the mistake of the race! I did not pay attention to Dirk's two teammates. They launch a vicious attack on the hill and get a decent gap on the field. The pack chases, I am relieved that the pack is doing Devon and I's work for us. We head down the back side of the hill and I see Hunter. Phew, that was close but at least we caught them. We ride another few miles and Hunter rolls next to me. "You should have gone with Cale." Oh man, you mean we didn't catch ALL of that break. Turns out, Hunter hammered himself to help get Cale away and then slid back to the pack. Well crap.

Since you can see the break coming the other direction, I see that Cale and the VOS rider caught Daryoush's break. Now there is five in the break and we are all racing for sixth. This sucks!! Man did we blow it by not paying attention. Well, nothing we can do now. One thing about being sick before a race; it gives you lots of mental excuses. I had a lot of self talk going on about how weak I was feeling, this was nothing but a training ride now, blah blah blah. It is all just excuses and softness creeping in. If you are going to race, then race.

We are on the third lap now and about 1k to the rollers/hill. One rider breaks, but again, I don’t worry about him. Then Hunter jumps across. Well, not again, I make the jump from the peloton. I am gaining, but my gaining is slowing down. I may not make the bridge! Then from behind I hear a comforting voice. "Come on buddy, we got this." It was Devon riding by and taking a pull. He too had made the jump and it was just he and I. We worked together to make it up to Hunter and the other rider. Once we caught them, the four of us worked hard. We knew the pack was chasing with all they had left.

We crested the hills and headed for the 180 degree turn around. 2.5K to the finish, 74 miles in and the pack is within 300 meters. The finish is on a climb. It is not super steep, but it goes up for 1.5K. We hit the 1k to go and Hunter attacks us. I got a good jump and caught his wheel fairly quickly. He then apologizes and promises not to do it again if we all work together to the finish. This was our second mistake. We had dropped the fourth guy and it was just Devon, Hunter and myself. So two against one. What should have happened is I should have attacked and Devon should have sat on Hunter's wheel. When Hunter jumped to catch me, Devon would then be poised to jump and pass Hunter to take the sixth place we were fighting for. I say should have happened because none of that did happen. Instead, I think we were all pretty worked by this point and we all ended up waiting till about 100 meters to go. It was then a slow, uphill sprint and Hunter nipped Devon and I got to trail in just behind them. Devon got 7th overall and I got 8th.

Turns out that Dirk sat up in the break to wait for Cale's approach. This left the only two guys working in the break, Daryoush and the other original breakmate. This sapped Daryoush of his strength, but he was able to make sure that the break stayed away. He ended up with a 5th place. Great result for our first race of the year. CoreTechs places all three of our riders in the top ten. Some good lessons learned and room to improve. I do have to say, it sure is fun to have good guys as teammates. They are good riders and good guys. Great start to 2012!

Next up is Copper Town in two weeks. Look forward to seeing many of you there. Now if only I can get the kids to actually pee in the potty all will be well with the world.

Andrew

Chris Scheetz's EB Crit Report-1/29/12

2012-01-29T17:49:00.001-08:00

Race - 01/29/2012 Early Bird Crit
CAT - Open 4
Race Conditions - Clear, dry, no wind

This was my second crit of the season.

They call these training crits, but the 5 preems the organizers mentioned at the beginning did move the tempo up.

At the start, there were some 40+ riders, juniors to masters. My goal for this race was to better position myself on the last lap for a finish of something other than "in the field".

At the whistle, it was pretty much smooth sailing, I took the time to survey the field over a few laps, see who was strong and stay away from those who were sketchy. It was also interesting to see the new race fashions for 2012. I do not recommend wearing argyle compression socks or BMX helmets. There was one funny incident early in the race where the peloton was moving on leg three of the course. One individual made a move, coming up from behind on the right and he was singing some song quite loudly, he sounded like a drunken sailor, very weird. I stayed away from that rider.

I only red lined one time after doing some unnecessary work off the front, but was able to recover after I was caught by drifting back.

Lap 5, 4, 3, 2 were as expected, nothing to report, no crashes. The final lap, I was mid group through turn 1, 2, moved up after turn 3 and at the sweeper turn 4 was able to stay with the surge to be faced with some 300+ meters of straight. I do not have the top end to accelerate for that distance, but did pick a few choice wheels in front of me that I could hold on to, so by the time I was within 100 or so meters of the end, swung right with a clear shot at the line and what appeared to me to be a top 10.

We averaged just under 25mph for the duration of the event.

Solstice Century Ride-Dec 17th 2011

2011-12-19T16:53:00.000-08:00

Andrew's view from the back of the pack:
Did not plan to write up a social ride, but what the heck. It's winter, news is slow and I figure everyone is looking for a reason to kill some time at work this week.

Nine CoreTechs riders ventured forth in the middle of December to take on Steve Stewart's Solstice Century. Super Dave Puglia, Rick Adams, Christian, John Pauley, Kevin Fox, Mark Foster, Mark Dames, Steve Stewart and myself wearing the black and blue. Now the first note I need to make is that Steve needs to figure out what a "century" is. Total mileage was about 110 miles. Much dispute about this as each rider had slightly different readings on their computers, but suffice to say, it was over a century! In addition to the CoreTechs riders, SJBC had about six or seven guys and MVV had about 10+ riders. Total riding was about 35 or so.

This is an unusual event. It is not run like a normal century. It is a group ride that does the entire course together. Steve calls it a "no drop" ride and for the most part, that is what it is. There are also several sprint points during the ride and a couple of KOM's thrown in for good measure. Now, a good idea is to read Steve's instructions before doing the ride if you have any intention of doing these sprints or KOM's. Imagine, if you will, over the course of 110 miles finding the "white mailbox" and sprinting to the red mailbox 400 meters beyond. Yep, good luck with that. Of course, it did not stop the overly competitive within the group from competing.

Couple of points of interest along the way. Start was cold…34 degrees. Sun was out though and day was warming up. about an hour in I need to take a "nature break". Having not read anything about the event, I did not realize the sprint was coming up very soon. So, I jam a bit off the front so I can take my break. I look back and Steve is chasing me down. I yell at him to leave me alone, this is a one man job! Well, once done, I have to hammer to catch the group. It took me most of a mile to catch and kind of hurt. Just as I caught the group, everyone pulled over for the first rest stop of the day…sheesh. I guess I missed the first sprint entirely.

Next point of interest for me was just after midway Steve gets a flat. I think to myself, "well, glad my tires are holding up". Of course, you know what that means…I get a flat two minutes later. The good news is I have Steve to work with to get back to the group. Turns out that the group decided that was a good time to really up the pace. Now this is why if you have to get a flat, getting it with the ride organizer is the best time. He calls the follow van back to us. Tells me to grab a door handle and hang on. I have never done this before, but do as told. Let me tell you, it looks much easier than actually doing it! I was hanging on to a large van, riding inches from it, holding on to my bike with one hand and the door handle with the other. The van driver gets going past 40mph! He drifts wide to go around others. This was the scariest part of the ride! About three to five miles later we catch the group…thank God!

Lunch was a well done affair. Steve had the SAG bring out platters of ToGo's and cookies. He also had boxes of Twinkies and cokes. I had not had a Twinkie in probably ten years, so I went for two! Christian was busy sampling many of the cookies. At one point we had to distract him and move the cookie platter out of arms reach to save him from himself.

At mile 105 we have the final sprint of the day. This where the day took a bad turn. Mark Foster went for it and had the sprint in the bag when something happened. No one is sure exactly what, but he went for a power slide at 35mph. Thank goodness for his helmet. He cracked it pretty good. He also has some nice road rash on his back. To his credit, he invoked rule number five and went hard man on us. He insisted on riding back to the finish for the final three or so miles.

Day ended back at the park where we started. Steve provided his specialty; Margaritas. Along with some chili, hot dogs and more cookies. A great ride and a great way to spend a mid December day. If it is not raining next year, I will do this again. Next time though, I will also know where the white mail boxes are!

Keep the rubber side down!

Andrew

Tom Rice's 35+ 3/4 Race Report from CCCX-Oct 1st

2011-10-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

Where - At the CCCX Circuit Race course at Fort Ord, CA
When – Oct 1, 2011
Race – 35+ Cat 3/4 Race
Stats – 75 minutes, 7 laps, 30ish miles and still, a beautiful day for a bike ride
Finish – 10th!
CoreTechs Teammates – Andrew Adelman, Steve Stewart, Dave Puglia

Now that I'm a Cat 4, I can race with the fast guys. This pack is made up of younger, stronger and more experienced riders. None the less, I have a huge ego so I think I'm gonna do pretty well!
As the racers assemble at the line for the start, all of us CoreTechs teammates are quietly discussing our tactics and I'm given my assignment. I'm to keep an eye on two particular riders and if either one goes on a break, I am to cover it – that is I'm supposed to go on the break with them. You should also know that I'm told both of these guys are very strong and could get away. Worrying, but I intrepidly accept (again with the ego!)
We start at the whistle. Of course, unlike earlier in the morning, I'm not late, I'm well warmed up and I'm ready for a good race. It's just that, well, I'm not really ready for what actually happens. Right from the whistle, one of my "assignments" speeds away from the front of the pack and creates a break. But hey, I'm savvy and I watch the Tour de France, so of course I know there is no way this guy is going to be able to make it stick by himself. Then Andrew gently reminds me of my assignment. So I report back that "my assignment" is already looking over his shoulder and won't be able to stay away. Andrew chides me a little more and I move up towards the front of the pack to make sure I'm ready for any other moves.
Crap. Another rider has joined up with My Assignment and their gap is getting bigger. I give chase, now knowing full well that I've made a minor mistake. I put in a huge effort to catch the miscreants and am able to stay with them for most of the first lap.
Some of you know that, on the CCCX circuit, there is a 90 degree right hand turn that should be taken fast and that this turn leads into a series of hills that somewhat resemble four or five giant stairs – I call this section, "The Steps". Well my breakaway companions are very fast and I've done some good, hard work to help keep the pack only 15 seconds back. But, I am spent. The Steps finally do me in and, near the top, the pack catches me. I'm able to rejoin and it looks like we're going to reel in the breakaway. So, I settle in and try to rest. It is good to have my teammates nearby and I'm already beginning to recover.
Unfortunately, no one takes up the chase and the gap begins to grow. By the third or fourth lap, the gap between the break and the pack is well over a minute. A couple of individual riders try to bridge the gap but no one is making any real progress.
So, Steve, Andrew and I decide we'll bridge. Andrew leads us out and we accelerate past the front of the pack and pick up a rider who was off the front, trying to bridge by himself. I take the lead and put the hammer down. Up till now, no one else in the pack seems interested in doing any work, they haven't chased any of the other bridging attempts, there are four of us and I'm ready for another maximum effort. So I feel we have a pretty good chance.
But, this is a bike race. I make a strong, hard pull and move to my right so the next guy can take over, when I hear from behind me, "The entire pack is on our wheel." We're going much faster now but it is just bad tactics to do all the work while the entire pack relaxes in our draft. So, we let up and the whole pack slows down and for a couple of more laps, we all have a nice, friendly ride on a sunny afternoon.
Then, with a little more than two to go, a San Jose Bike Club rider gets out in no-man's-land between the breakaway and the pack. The breakaway is more than two minutes in front so there is nothing to be done about them but Andrew seems to be feeling strong and bridges up to the SJBC Rider. I'm near the front of the pack and I can see they are working together pretty well.
I also feel pretty good and I want to join Andrew. But I don't want to drag the entire pack up to Andrew and basically eliminate his chance for a podium finish. So, I go to the front of a very slow pack, get my cadence up around 105 rpm's so it looks like I'm working and I pull the pack around at a leisurely 19 mph for the entire last lap (normal last lap speed is more like 23 – 24 mph). The gap to Andrew gets bigger and bigger – perfect!
The two guys in the front breakaway get first and second by a margin of almost three minutes over the pack. Andrew's break has about 45 seconds on the pack by the end of the race and he out sprints SJBC guy for an awesome third place. I'm not well positioned as the pack sprint winds up for the final podium spot but I'm pretty happy with my near the front finish.
It has been another fun race on a beautiful, sunny day. I learn more than a few new lessons (like, listen to your more experienced teammates), I get to help my teammate podium and I finish very respectably in a race with younger and stronger guys. I can't wait for next season!

Tom Rice, Biycle Racer
CoreTechs Cycling Team

CoreTechs Racing in Belgium-Rick Adams Report

2011-10-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

Saturday, October 1, 2011: Nieuwerkerken-Aalst, Belgium

Course: 9 laps on a 7 km circuit that included a short hill, very narrow roads, corn fields, cows, sheep and even spectators drinking beer – of course. I rode in the Cat D (50-55 years old). Race registration was in a pub – making the local after-the-race recovery beverage easy to find.

Sixty riders start. On the line I was about 40 from the front, not thinking much of my exact starting place. That was a giant mistake. Seems that local tradition has the team from host town do a parade lap at full-speed! So with my heart rate near my max for the first lap, I thought – are these guys all really all over 50? (Actual data for 1 of 9 laps: speed 25 mph, HR average 196, normalized power 303 watts, including a 30 s section of 555 watts)

Lap 1, Turn 1 fine, ok, I thought, these guys can ride their bikes. Up the hill the first time, no one attacked – thank god! I moved up to about 20th and can now see the front of the race wind it way through these 8’ wide roads and I thinking, “even if I get dropped, this better than the best roller coaster I have ever been on.” This narrow road winds through corn, sheep, cows, neighborhoods, a brief stretch of downtown – a true kermesse style race.

Laps 2 through 7 slow slightly. My HR is down to 185 – where it stays for the next 70 minutes. But, the attacks never stop. About 20 of the 60 riders seem to pride themselves on out-crushing each other while the rest of us pay with pain just to stay in. After 7 laps, the field has been reduced to about 30 guys. I have been on the ride of my life.

With 2 laps to go, everyone left realizes that this race is going to finish in a field sprint. The relentless attacks stop for a lap and I actually see the front and hear my name (although barley recognizable pronounced with a Flemish accent) as leader of the race as we cross the start finish.

Do I set up for the sprint – no, I think better of that idea. I finish mid-pack and head straight back for a few recovery beverages before I ride the 20 miles back to the house.

Sunday, October 2, 2011: Westkerke, Belgium, between Brugge and the ocean.

No pub for race registration, so a catering company put up a temporary pub. I have now learned that pubs are part of nearly every bike race in Belgium. Here the registrars spoke Flemish, drank beer, and loved talking with all of the riders. After a bit of poking around, I was able to find a Race Official who spoke enough English and who helped me register.

This race is in west Flanders, land of the wind! The course started and finished on a wide 4-lane road in the middle of town but almost immediately turned left onto a curvy, narrow, farm roads again full of corn, cows, sheep and, yes, spectators.

Today’s circuit is not the technical challenge of yesterday. Today’s challenge is the constant series of attacks every turn of the wind. The locals use wind like the rest of the world use hills – to thin the weak from the peloton. I knew this, but I still was not prepared for that many attacks. Finding draft on this course was a bit easier until we made a turn and the cross-wind eliminated all shelter. Thank god that for 500 meters of this circuit the road narrowed to less than 8’ across. Here a few riders could control and temper the attacking because the road was full at three riders across.

Finally with 40k of a total 55k done, five guys got clear – attacking at the turn of the wind. This was one of the few multi-rider attacks that I missed, but at least I was at the front participating in the race. At the sprint finish for 6th, I got sucker into the left side with a strong wind coming of the ocean from the right. I felt great until 200 meters to go when I simply ran out road: everyone kept coming over the top on the right in the wind. Finished mid-pack but what a great ride.

Next up, riding around Lucca, Italy and Italian Gran Fondo on Saturday.

Rick Adams

Mark Foster's 45+ 4/5 Report

2011-10-03T17:56:00.001-07:00

CCCX Ft Ord

Written by Mark Foster
10/1/11
45+ Cat 4/5
16 riders, 1 team mate- Tom Rice

So finally we get a beautiful day for the races. Sunny, 70 degrees, absolutely perfect….except the wind. As I’m warming up on the trainer I notice Tom hasn’t shown up, and the race starts in 20 minutes. I think to myself, “Bummer, I guess Kate really tightened down the screws”. Then Tom comes flying in to registration; half dressed and completely frazzled….I think(I was on my trainer). We line up to start the race and the race director gives us another minute for Tom….nice. Tom shows up and the whistle blows. The pace starts easy enough, then one guy(Patrick Hampton) attacks on the first hill. So much for Tom’s easy warm up. Tom’s adrenalin is so high he can’t help himself and though not warmed up, begins to chase. He gets some help and just after the first lap we catch Patrick. At that point I decide to get everyone’s pulse up and pull for an entire lap. I think I dropped one or two guys, but that was it. At the top of the backside hill into the wind, I could hear my buddies cracking jokes and laughing about the effort I was putting out….to no avail. Although it was the fastest lap of the race, I looked back after my stint and said, “That’s all I’m gonna put out….I have three laps to recover.” The last lap was slow and going into the final downhill we start wishing each other luck….too funny. I lead it into the downhill, but big Jeff(MVV) can’t help but pass me on the fast descent. It was a repeat of the last race there. I follow in his draft. Two guys pass him(us) in the final corner and they start the sprint early. I take off when they do. The only difference in this race, is that I pass on the right instead of the left. I take the win by a few bike lengths and get the Series Jersey for the season. I’m going to miss that class and those guys next year. I had such a good day, that I elected to not do the next race and call it a season….and immediately belly up to Steve’s van for the post race Margs. I had a blast this year and know that Tom is going to be the guy to beat in that class next year! Thanks for reading and see you guys at the Low-Key Hill Climbs….maybe. -Mark

Tom Rice's CCCX Report from the 45+ 4/5 race

2011-10-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

Where - At the CCCX Circuit Race course at Fort Ord, CA

When – Oct 1, 2011
Written by Tom Rice
Race – 45+ Cat 4/5
Stats – 1 hour, 5 laps, 22 miles and a Beautiful, sunny day for a bike ride
Finish – 4th!
CoreTechs Teammates – Mark Foster

This was my first race as a recently upgraded Category 4 racer but I've done this race a number of times as a Category 5. The goals for this race are to make sure Mark Foster stays in first place in the championship points series for this race and for both of us to finish as close to the front as possible with one of us winning.
With that in mind, I get in my pickup truck for the drive down at about 8:45 in the morning with plenty of time to get to the race, get registered and get in a good warm-up. I'm mentally working out final strategy and tactics as I pull onto highway 280 at Edgewood Road and set the cruise control.
It is a very nice day and I get completely zoned into my drive. In fact, I'm so zoned out that by the time I realize I've passed the highway 85 exit towards 101 south, I'm on highway 680 and I'm already in Fremont. Fremont for crap's sake. I've just added almost an hour to my drive. I'm so far off track that I'm not even sure the best way to get back to 101 south.
So, I pull off the highway, enter my destination into the GPS and it calculates how long it will take to get to Fort Ord. I'm going to make it but only by about a half an hour. But, here's the rub – because of my "detour", I have to stop for gas before I get to the race, so I'm going to arrive only 20 minutes before the start of the race. This is not recommended race day preparation technique.
I get there, park, get my bike out, pump up the tires, register, pin my number on my jersey, get dressed and roll up to the start finish – all in a complete panic. I get there with about 2 minutes to go and receive some good natured ribbing about being late…
At the whistle we start. I have not had time for any warm-up so I go to the front and put in a long medium effort pull to get the blood flowing properly (and to shake off the panic of almost missing the start) and it works, I actually feel pretty good.
The race pace is not super fast and no one seems willing to put in a big effort to break away. So, most of the race is fairly uneventful. That said, Mark and I both believe that a well "tenderized" pack results in a safer sprint so we work to make sure the pace stays high enough so some of the riders will be a little worn out at the finish.
On the last lap, coming down the hill leading into the left hand turn that leads onto the finish straight, I'm setting up to get into the top five or so riders when I hear some chaos from behind and to the right of me. One of our pack gets shunted off the road into the gravel which makes a lot of noise and I get a little distracted. I refocus coming through the turn onto the finish straight and look for a good wheel to lead out my sprint. I'm about seventh position at this point and I have a lot of space to make up. So, I begin my sprint earlier than I normally would but it seems like everyone is.
I'm winding up to full power and I start to get boxed out to the right – not enough road and a slower rider in front of me – I have to let up. As this rider starts to sit up (he's is wiped out and slowing), I yell out, "On your right. On your right!" He hears me, straightens up his line and I have the space I need to wind up my sprint again. (Thank you, whoever you are, you are a good and honorable rider.) I pass one, two, then three riders and I'm looking at second place. But right at the line, I see two other wheels cross at the same time as I do. Close!! I'm pretty sure I've made the podium but I not sure if I'm fourth or fifth… I check the results page - fourth! My first race as a Category 4 and I'm on the podium - a very good race for me!
I'll let Mark tell the rest of the story…

Tom Rice, Bicycle Racer
CoreTechs Cycling Team

A visit to the cave-CCCX final story of the year

2011-10-03T15:10:00.000-07:00

Cat 45+ 1/2/3 Race Story (photo by Tim Westmore)

Teammates in the race: Steve Stewart and Dave Puglia
CCCX race site: 7 laps of 4.5 miles per lap. Rolling terrain
A bright and sunny Saturday. The final race day of 2011
written by Andrew A

Race reports are a fun way to whittle away a good 15 minutes of the work day in an act of ego inflation. So with my knife sharp and my piece of wood in front of me I will endeavor to entertain as best I can. Let the hyperbole flow!

It is dark and all other senses have been eliminated. Pain is ever present. I should have turned left or right, but instead I went straight and ended up deep in the pain cave (how is that for hyperbole?). I spend time here because it is part of our sport. This is what we sign up for when we decide to race bikes. We guarantee ourselves a visit to the cave when we pay our money to race. I paid my money and thus am doing my penance. How did I get here?

It started innocently enough. Teammate Steve Stewart casually points out the rider next to me as "one to watch". Said the guys name is Steve Heaton and he is going for the overall win in the series. The man has big legs. For some reason this caught my attention and it registered in my brain. I also noted that in a race of 17 guys, three were wearing the Safeway kit. For those reading this and smart enough to avoid the pain cave, Safeway has a strong team, and these three are strong. I also had managed to pick up a nasty bug from my kids, so mentally I was going to take this race easy and ride in the pack. No chasing breaks for me this race!

Seven lap race with each lap being 4.5 miles long and full of "rollers". Nothing too steep, but this is not a flat course. First lap is mellow, almost enjoyable. The cave is far from my mind. Onto the second lap a flash of white and yellow catches the corner of my eye. Like a dog that spots a squirrel, instinct takes over and I chase the flash. When I glance back, it is just myself and Heaton. The pack is fading behind. My mind races. I don’t want to be here. It is too early in the race and there are just two of us. This squirrel has some big legs. I look ahead and see glimpses of the cave. If I stay, I know I will visit.

From behind, another rider is coming. We slow a bit for him to join. It is a Safeway rider (Robert Pasco). Now we are back at it, but Pasco does not want to help. He also thinks it is too early for a break (We have almost 25 miles of racing ahead of us and a hungry pack behind us). After each of my turns on the front, I try to reason with Robert. My conversations go something like this, "Robert, your team will not chase, my team will not chase. I can not keep taking pulls with this beast (Heaton). You have to help." Nothing. So I try a new tactic. "Robert…please, please, please help." I think my groveling did the trick. Lap four Robert starts to pull!

It is too late though. I have gotten too close to the cave's entrance. Heaton goes to the front again and ups the pace on the next roller. I cling to his rear wheel. I can feel my vision starting to fade. My mind starts to reason with my legs. "If you stop pedaling so hard, I will stop this knife like pain I am putting into you." My lungs join the conversation and side with my mind. The crack has happened. I let a small gap form between myself and the other two. My legs argue for a brief minute and catch back on but it is futile. From deep in the cave I watch as Pasco and Heaton ride away from me. I am alone.

Now what? I have one and 3/4 laps left to do in the race. I take a step out of the cave and look around. I can not see anyone in either direction. My two tormentors are out of sight ahead and the chasing pack is nowhere to be seen behind. I contemplate just riding off the course and licking my wounds. Instead, I reason that I will go until the pack catches me. After 3/4 of a lap, still no pack in site. Well hell, I am still in third place and already visited the cave once. Another visit would not kill me. I put my head down, take a step back into the cave and go. I hold on for the full lap and cross the line. Race over, pain over, senses return. I get third place. Heaton won and Pasco took second.

I have signed up for one more race. I do end up racing, but that is another 15 minutes of whittle time, so that story will have to be told latter.

AA

Keith Ends the Season with a WIN at Oakland

2011-09-27T09:01:00.001-07:00

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

2011-09-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

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)

2011-09-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

(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.

2011-09-12T17:09:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-09-04T17:45:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

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

A fun time making a horror movie: Winters Road Race Report

2011-08-27T18:26:00.001-07:00

Winters Road Race (8/27/11)
30+ Open field (anyone 30+ can enter)
about 70 or so miles and three laps
Christian, John W., Dave P., Devon (written by Andrew A.)

Five of us scheduled to go to Winters, four are present at our meeting time. Missing rider? Devon. He messed up his timing and now we are on our way to pick him up. 6am we start our journey. Drive time is supposed to be two hours and race start is 8:20. Ah, but it is a Velo Promo event. No stress, they start late. We arrive with time to spare. All is well. About 45 guys in our field, including about seven from Third Pillar, six from Wells Fargo and seven from Taleo. We have five (Dave Puglia, Christian, Devon, John Wilde and myself).

Neutral roll out is mellow and we talk with the riders around us. I ask the lone Morgan Stanley rider why he is doing the 30+ cat as it usually is a bunch of teams that want to race together and have riders in different age categories or different race cats. He says, 35+ 1/2/3 field is full so got pushed into ours. Three others in the same situation. Race is mellow the first lap. We hit the hill and pace picks up. Not brutal, but gets us all breathing hard.

Second lap starts and a Taleo rider attacks. Devon jumps on his wheel and I jump on Devon's. We have two that joined us from Third Pillar. Ok, this is a pretty good mix. We start working together, though the Taleo rider is not pulling hard at all and missing a few turns. Three more catch us and we have a good size gap on the field. We are working ok, but about three riders are not taking turns. 25 minutes later, we get caught. Then the hill hits. Not sure what happened, but the wheels start to fall off for me (figuratively). I am struggling to stay on. I am riding second wheel up the first half the climb and then we hit the short steep section. I am like a rock plumping backward through the group. I can barley breath and am within a hair of getting dropped. Christian and Devon go by me and offer words of encouragement. Crap, this sucks.

I barley make it over the top as the last guy of the people left in the group. Probably about 25 of us. Christian paces me back up to the group (thanks!). This mentally shook me. I am now dreading the third lap with another climb. I am running a low budget horror movie in my mind and it does not end well for me. I decide to sit in till the hill and do all I can to recover and then just see how it goes.

Another break goes and Devon and Christian close it down. I am useless in the pack. Finally, I start feeling normal again. Hill approaches and funny enough, I feel darn good. I am second wheel over the top and feel fine. The third climb felt easy to me. I pass the leader on the descent and am out in front. I get a gap and give a bit of a dig. I am off the front but the group is coming. We are down to 14 riders. I am feeling great now and a little giddy that I am back to normal. I sit in the top three and attack once with a Taleo rider, he does not work and we are brought back and once with a Third Pillar rider. Again we are brought back. Still feeling great and have all kinds of happy movies playing through my head. Maybe this is a movie with a good ending after all.

Christian asks me if I want to attack with him when we hit the 1k mark. He says he will burry himself as a lead-out. I figure our sprinter, Devon has the field sprint taken care of so I agree. I am pumped and getting ready. We hit 1500 meters to go and I stand to jump on a Taleo rider that attacked. Uh oh, funny feelings coming from my bike. It can't be. This is a horror movie after all! 69.8 miles of the 70 are complete and I am feeling great. This can not happen now! Well shit…I have a flat rear tire. 3.5 hours of racing, 10 minutes of suffering like a dog on the hill and now I have a flat. I stay with the group as my tire is holding about 20psi. I can feel the rim touching the ground, but the 12 or so left are not moving that fast. I ride with them till about 700 meters to go and then they take off. I ride the last 700 meters alone. What a lonely, crappy 700 meters that was.

On a bright note, turns out Devon claimed third place (that Morgan Stanley rider got the win) and Christian claimed a top ten with a seventh place. Both those guys are riding amazing! John dropped his chain and then jammed it in between his frame and could not get it out. His race ended just after the first lap. Dave did great but the hill got him. He rode with a group of riders in. The race was a lot of fun and riding with the boys was a great time, so in all, there was a happy ending. Of course, I still have a pit about the missed opportunity…arrggg!

Good riding boys!

Andrew

Ken Spencer's University Road Race Report

2011-08-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

University Road Race (UC Santa Cruz campus)
Cat 4/5 combined
Field of 75; 6th place
Course: 15 laps of 3 miles each on campus (repeats of 1 mile uphill, 2 miles downhill)

Summary:
- I think I was the lone CoreTechs guy in Santa Cruz. Surprising since the race is much closer than all those races near Sac-town AND it's really more of a 'power guy' circuit than a climbers circuit. I think our team would do well on this course.
- Weather was the typical cloudy, cool, damp pavement
- First 4 laps were fast and we shed 20-30% of the pack
- Laps 5-8 laps slowed down a bit but we continued to drop people
- Laps 9-12 were tough. It was more mental fatigue than anything. Every few minutes I would see my family, see the ocean, think about having lunch and a beer. And since the pace wasn't very fast we remained a large peloton, about 30 strong. No attacks.
- On lap 13 I moved from back to front.
- At beginning of lap 14 I accelerated - partly out of boredom, partly out of the need to stand up and work out my cramps. Created a gap and the cheers from the crowd kept me going. I was solo about 50-60 meters in front for the whole lap. Slowed up and let them catch.
- Lap 15 - bell lap - at the start/finish line the climb is at it's steepest point. I learned from prior lap that I could stay out if I attacked. So I did again. Went hard on the bell. 2 guys bridged and we were 3. One guy didn't do any work so it was going to be a suicide mission if we pressed on. Descent had most huge headwind so the ~15 strong peleton was gaining major ground. Final turn into the ~0.5 mile finish. It was going to be a field sprint into the wind. I don't enjoy sprinting or wind. So I happily took 6th and a t-shirt.
- By end of the race, sunny & 70 (not a single cloud in the sky!), and we refueled with burgers & beer.

John Pauley's Dunnigan and San Ardo Race Report

2011-08-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

Written by John Pauley and pic by Tim Westmore:

Race: Dunnigan Hills 35+ 1/2/3
Date: 8-13-11
Course: 45 Miles rolling terrain, (only about 800 feet of vertical over the first 25 miles and then downhill and flat for the next 20)
Distance: 1.9 laps, 86 miles
Teammates: Keith, Andrew, Christian, John Wilde, and Scott Fairman
Number of riders: about 40
Place: DNF

Well, to reiterate Andrew’s comment, “A total Blast! That was the most fun DNF I’ve ever had racing bikes.” The other guys in the race have detailed most of the race, so I will keep this one short.

I would like to make one comment ahead of time; they should change the name of this race from Done-again to “Surge-again”. I little more about that later.

I’ve never raced over 80 miles, so going into this I was a bit nervous about the race. As Andrew mentioned, we all talked about strategy before the race, and when I saw Keith go in the break a couple of miles into the race I knew the strategy was going just as planned. Within a couple of miles we had all moved to the front to disrupt the speed of the race and to chase down any attempts to breakaway. Each of us got into a break or two and chased down five or six break attempts. It was a ton of fun to ride as a team! Not exactly Tour quality riding, but maybe the closest I will ever get.

One quick note, Andrew mentioned that he thought Scott got away in one of the breaks, but that was me. I only lasted a few minutes though because the break with 4 other guys came a few minutes after the crash. I had just finished chasing with Christian for two to three minutes to get back on and instead of riding in the pack to recover, I went straight to the front of the pack so I could, hopefully, recover and slow down the pace. Unfortunately, within about 30 seconds of getting to the front, two guys broke away and I “accidentally” followed them. Before I knew it, 4 of us were 100 yards of the front. Within a minute, my legs were screaming again and I dropped back to the pack.

The thing about this race that surprised me the most was the amount of surging that took place. Much of it due to the break up the road, but also because of the makeup of the course and the strength of the riders in the peloton. For the entire first 50+ miles, we continually sped up and slowed down ranging from 17 mph to 33 back down to 20 and then up again over 30. It was like this the entire race. It was fun, but difficult. Not that it was a particularly fast race, but the surging really took a toll on my legs. Hence the name “Surge-again”.

Anyway, due to the all of the surging, chasing, and other work we did, my legs gave out at around the 55 mile mark. I was yo-yoing off the back for about 5 miles and each consecutive chase made my legs scream just that much more. At 55 miles, I decided it was best to turn around and head back to the finish line to watch the finish of a few races. (At this point, it was only about 10 miles back to the finish as opposed to riding as much as 25 or so miles by self if I continued)

Keith was impressive breaking away with over 80 miles to go and it was a pleasure to be able to work for a teammate.

Race: San Ardo 45+ 1/2/3
Date: 8-20-11
Course: 22.8 Miles rolling terrain, (only about 700 feet of vertical per lap but nothing of consequence)
Distance: 3 laps + 1.5 miles to finish, 69.6 miles (The flyer says the race is 63 miles, but it is just plain wrong. I have written to them three or four times, but they never change it. Their math doesn’t even make sense; they say each lap is 22 miles. Well that would make three laps at least 66 miles. Were the heck do they get 63?!?)
Teammates: None
Number of riders: about 30
Place: around 19th

I have been looking forward to this race for a while because I missed it 2008 and 2009 because of injury and then I rode Winters last year instead. (That was a fun race to do, once.) Anyway, I was looking forward to this race because it is an ideal race for me; no real hills, fairly long, and a good sprint finish. I had only done the 35+ Cat 4 race in the past, so I was excited to race 3 laps with the 1/2/3 group.

Before the race, I ran into Keith (riding in the Pro/1/2 race) and Scott Freiermuth (racing in the 35+ cat 4 race) and wished them each good luck. Keith’s race started at 8:00, Scott’s at 8:35 and mine started at 8:50.

Our race started off very slowly, cruising along for the first 2 miles at under 20 mph. As a matter of fact, the entire first lap consisted of attempted breaks and then slowdowns as we caught each break. About 20 miles into the race, I got into a break with 2 other guys and as we got about 150 yards off the front, I realized that no one else was going to join us so I sat up and waited for the pack. I did not want to attempt to do the next 50 miles with only three of us (not that I could have anyway). I figured it would take a break of at least 5 or 6 to stay away. The average speed for the first lap turned out to be only 22.2 mph.

The second lap was more of the same until we hit the 37 mile mark when 8 guys got about 20 seconds on the peloton. Each of the main teams (Safeway, Morgan Stanley, Taleo, San Jose and two teams I didn’t recognize) had a guy in the break. I realized that this was probably “the break of the day” and if I didn’t do something, the next 32 miles would just be a workout and a sprint for 10th place. I saw a Webcor guy and another rider without a team go, so I took off after them. I put my head down and chased for a good two or three minutes and caught the group. Now there were 11 of us and I hoped we would stay away for a while. Surprisingly, even though all of the teams had guys in the break, we only lasted another couple of minutes and the peloton chased us down! Unbelievable. What were they thinking?! I dropped back to the middle of the pack to recover and within 30 seconds, another break countered and instantly had a couple hundred yards on the group. I couldn’t chase yet and had to hope that we caught them. The problem was that Morgan Stanley, Safeway, San Jose and Team Bicycle Trip all had a guy in the break. They were going to have to do 30 miles and my only hope was either a mistake by the break, or a couple of non-team riders doing a bunch of work to catch. The average speed for the second lap was up a bit at 22.7 mph, but all in all it wasn’t too fast or difficult.

The third lap was a bit odd. The Teams were doing their job blocking and even with all the work they were doing, the pace was faster. At mile 50, we caught and passed the two women’s groups that were ahead of us and then a mile later we caught and passed Scott’s group (35+ 4’s). They started 15 minutes ahead of us, how did this happen?! (I found out later that the 35+ 4’s stopped twice for “nature breaks”. How very cordial of them!) The last 18 miles of the race, the Safeway team kept sending guys off the front one at a time and then slowing down and 30 seconds later, another guy would go. I had never seen “blocking” like this, but according to the follow motorcycle guy, the break had increased their advantage from 1 minute up to 1:20, so I guess it was working. (Safeway had five guys in the peloton and each of them was working in this way.) Well, as it turns out, the Safeway guy that was in the break got dropped and was in our group again. I didn’t find this out until after the race. Their tactics were baffling to say the least. They had five strong guys on their team, why wouldn’t they just put all five on the front and hammer? There were 5 or 6 of us with no team members that would have helped them chase and that would have negated any blocking attempts by the other teams.

The final lap we averaged just over 24mph. Still not super fast, but considerably faster than the first two laps and a lot more surging, so it felt a little faster.

The final 1.5 miles consists of a 7/10ths of a mile flat section across a bridge, a small 4/10ths of a mile climb and then a left turn to a 200+ yard slightly uphill (1% grade) section to the finish. We know we are sprinting for either 5th, 6th or 7th, so we are all motivated for that t-shirt! ;-) (Oh yeah, and the points.) I stay seated across the bridge and up the hill to save my strength for the sprint. We get to the top of the hill and are 50 yards from the left turn and I am still sitting in the top 10 and getting a little jittery before the sprint. As we make the turn we all stand to start the sprint and instantly, both my quads seize! Damn it, I sit back down and try to keep my speed up, but to no avail. The group pulls away from me like I am stopped and I roll across the finish 100 yards back and in about 19th or 20th place.

Overall, it was a fun race and I now I know that I can do a fairly long road race with the 45+ 1/2/3’s. I had a tough time the week before in the 35+ race and the extra 10 years in this group seems to make a difference for me. I will probably stick with the 45+ races for rides over 50 miles in the future.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I think I am going to take a few days off the bike to rest and recover from a long season and then I will probably race in Sacramento in the middle of September (the Sacto circuit race looks fun) and then I will finish up my year at Henleyville (anyone want to join me? Again, it is 70 miles of fun through rolling hills near Chico).

Cheers,

Keith's P/1/2 San Ardo Road Race Report

2011-08-21T08:43:00.000-07:00

The official Race Report from San Ardo by Keith Szolusha. (pic by Tim Westmore)

San Ardo p/1/2 RR (should we call it San fArdo?)
Sat. August 20, 2011
4th place out of 90?
87 miles?
overcast - 60-70 degrees, light wind

I had a team meeting (ed note: he raced as the lone CoreTechs rep) before the race and decided that I was the designated sprinter. nobody argued.

4 laps of relatively flat-to-rolly terrain with a long straight at the end - 8 miles long.
Pace was faster than M35+ from previous week because of the size of the field. 7 or more berry guys and 7 McGuires, 7 Fremont Bank (don't know these gusy), some guys from Socal, other local sprinter and calcup guys and a bunch of fodder. It didn't seem that a long break would stick unless one from every team was in it, and once that mixture was formed and brought back multiple times, I knew it would be a field sprint. I sat in and enjoyed the walk in the park.
The most selective thing about this course was the goat-heads that found their way into some of the riders' wheels. Its really unfortunate to see somebody get a flat in the middle of no where after a long drive, but it happens. Riding in the gutter in this race is a risk and some riders don't seem to care to avoid it. I stayed out of trouble today. I drank as much water as I could - took a Velo Promo feed. Sometimes, I was even a bit bored, but it was an exercise in patience today since I know the finish pretty well. I chose my guys to mark for the finish and plotted the entire race.
At one point, the entire pack almost rear ended a motorist that stopped in our lane - I think the official had something to do with it. However, nobody even rubbed wheels. amazingly impressive.
Final stretch... I moved slowly from middle back to middle front over 8 miles. I stayed away from yellow lines and bots dots. Local SJBC guy went 15-30 sec off the front in a suicide attack with 8 miles to go. Everybody slowly got organized and he was reeled in. Berries went to the front to form an easy train. It was easy enough that a Kyoto University guy (yes from Japan) attacked and one berry followed him. The rest of the pack played a game with who would chase with McGuire guys and Fremont guys trying to get each other to pull. A few solo attacks and soon we were in town just behind the pair. The kamikaze rider came back, but going up the hill, everybody seemed to lose their juice. I cruised from the middle-ish section of the pack to the front as if I was in a vaccuum. It was strange because I think I should have just jumped with everything I had early. I watched a few guys scramble to figure out who was leading into the chase and finally a McGuire guy did what I should have done 20 seconds later on the right side. I hesitated and then busted out of the pack in pursuit and only one or two came with me in tow around the corner. I was pissed because I had more than the McGuire guy and berry guy, but they had gone much earlier than me. The one guy on my wheel came around me as I was looking back over my shoulder to see if the field was in tow or if I was free. After him, I was free, but he took 3rd from me. We were catching the other two and if I would have gone earlier, things might have been different. I was happy with 4th after having a few years of difficult luck in the finishes there in the past. One year, I was in a similar spot and the official park his motobike on the inside corner in front of me just as I was roaring into the turn. That set me back 10 spots. Thanks. Well, I'm not bitter anymore after this email about that.

Data from my Garmin for this race and both races last weekend is on strava.com under my Strava name Rob VanWinkle. I also have some data under Fabio Cancerella for anybody that wants to follow - if you are into that sort of thing. I have the top San Ardo finish time now on Strava - not listed as KOM though. The guy that is tied with me is listed instead. argh

something to learn from the race: don't be the (insert expletive here) that has to throw your water bottle into a field of cows or crops in the middle of nowhere. First, be professional and hold your bottles until you are in town or in the feedzone and toss them there. Second, there are no hills at San fArdo and saving precious grams up a climb there by throwing your empty plastic into our food supply is not going to help you win the race.

Mark Foster's Master's State Championship race 45 to 49 report

2011-08-15T11:27:00.000-07:00

Written by Mark Foster
Race Date: 8-14-11
Class: 45-49 Open
Ditance: 54 miles(12 laps)
Riders: 50+
Location: Ft. Ord, Monterey, CA

So I had one other team mate in this race, Devon Joos. We meet near De Anza College and get to Ft. Ord with plenty of time to warm up before our 2:05 start. After we register I get a call from Liz and she says, “Try not to be mad. You left your gear bag by the front door” Oh crap! What a moron I am! Well at least I had my helmet and shoes so I could still ride. Devon had a spare kit and Tom had some extra gloves…I was fine. So now I’m humming my new theme song, you know, that one from the wizard of OZ?…”If I only had a brain!”

Devon and I line up mid-pack when the whistle blows. Immediately there is an attack off the front of six to eight guys. Oops, missed that one. We hammer after them right away. So the pace is brisk. By lap 3 we’re down one minute ten seconds. By lap four were down One minute thirty seconds. I go to the front of our pack and pull for over a mile and start flicking my elbow…to no avail. I look back at the Morgan Stanley guy on my wheel and say, “You’re not going to help are you?” “Nope”. He had a guy in the break. I look over my shoulder and scream, “someone friggn’ help me!” Then a guy came to my rescue along with several others. We were moving again. Next lap we had cut twenty seconds off of the breakaway…down to one minute ten. Nice, we were reeling them in. Then, one by one, guys from the break blew up and came back to the peloton. Now they were only thirty seconds ahead and there were only two out front: Dirk Hemley and another guy. Then there were only five or so laps to go and we had reeled in the final two. I had lost one of my water bottles through the bumps, and had finished the other one so my mind started to focus on getting water from the neutral zone. I drifted back to mid pack and grabbed a bottle as the pace picked up and it got strung out into a single file hammer. The pack was shattered! I couldn’t see the front very well until we rounded the back corner and it looked like we were reeling in backmarkers from the other race and Devon was leading….and gapping the field. I thought, what the heck is he doing? Then I realized: there was another attack that broke away and Devon was trying to bridge the gap by himself….crap! I was in the wrong place at the wrong time to help. He had close to one hundred yards on us and was about fifty yards back from the break…he didn’t make it. I felt stupid, had I been there, I could have maybe helped bridge the gap. It took me another lap to work my way back to the front of the peloton and now there were two laps to go. I stayed at the front with Devon and he said to me with half a lap to go, “we might as well just hammer.” So we did. I was leading the peloton over the last hump before the descent to the finish. I fully expected an attack at this point and was ready to grab the rear wheel of the two Morgan Stanley guys who passed me on my left. I powered as hard as I could when my left cleat ripped out of the pedal and I went careening out of control to the right. It was good thing those guys got me on the left. However I almost took out Devon. As I regained control of my bike, Devon blows by me on the right and says, “nice save!”. Then as I’m floundering to get my cleat back in the pedal, everyone is blowing by me like I’m chained to a post. I hear a crash behind me. Remember the “Don’t be that guy” commercials? Well, I was that guy. I guess as the pack all passed me. I finally get my foot back in the pedal and I’m in dead friggin last place, and out of touch with the pack. I ride as hard as I can and catch and pass a few stragglers in the final few hundred yards. I’m totally pissed and completely embarrassed. I thought I was going to pull off a top ten and beat some fast guys, but instead I almost take out the entire field and finish nearly last! I’ve never had my shoe pull out on a training ride or in a race…ever! I didn’t check the results, but I finished in the way back. Devon didn’t check his result either, but said he didn’t win the peloton sprint(I’m not sure he even tried. He must have been fried after that noble attempt to bridge a gap up to a bunch of former national champs). Oh well, there’s always next year! –Mark F.

Ken Spencer's 30-34 Master's Road Race Championship Report

2011-08-15T08:43:00.000-07:00

Ken Spencer
30-34, 4th place

With a small field of 9 I knew what to expect. Attacks. After lap 1 we had 2-3 attacks each lap thereafter. I got stuck at the back of the group when an attack of 5 pulled away. They got about 150m ahead when I realized that there were only 2 of us who could bridge. I went alone on the hilly section and by the very end of it (before the fast descent) caught them. Then our lead group of 6 wanted to 'work together' but I was toast. We shook 2 guys and then there were 4 of us. Felt strong in the hills but when the pace increased on the front side flats I struggled. But I expected this since I don't ever train above 30-40 miles. On lap 8 I cracked on one of the attacks so had to ride solo for the last 4 laps to a 4th place finish.

Dunnigan Hills RR 35+ 1/2/3-Written by Andrew A.

2011-08-14T14:37:00.001-07:00

Dunnigan Hills RR 35+ Cat 1/2/3
Teammates: Christian, John Pauley, John Wilde, Keith, Scott Fairman
88 miles or so with 42 in the group

This was a super fun race, maybe the most fun race I have done. It was one of the first races that we really used tactics. Maybe some good, some not so good, but we raced as a team and that made it exciting and entertaining. After riding through 'middle of nowhere' farm land for 88 miles, we needed the entertainment. Here is how it enfolded:

We are the second biggest team in the race with six riders. Folsom/Mercedes had seven. Race starts and one mile into the race, Keith rolls up next to me and says, "I am going to go for it." "Uh, Ok" was about all I could say. I was thinking, "Are you fricken crazy? We have 87 miles to go." But, Keith has been around the block in bike races and is a Cat 1 for a reason, so who am I to argue. I follow him up to the front of our 42 strong group and off he goes. One other rider decides to go with him. Well, now CoreTechs has a rider in the break and I figure our job is to give Keith as much space as possible. It was also our job to "let" a few other riders try to bridge so he had some people to work with for the next 80+ miles.

Christian, myself, John Pauley and John Wilde, and Scott go to the front to "control" the race. This was a load of fun. We road at an easy pace. When someone would attack we would let them go. When more than two went, we would send one of us to chase and just sit on that small groups wheel. I must have jumped on six or seven break attempts. You could really tell we were frustrating the hell out of the pack. I had one rider turn and yell at me "why are you chasing me and not him?" as he pointed to another rider. I had to explain he had two guys with him and the other guy was solo. We wanted solo riders to bridge… up to a point. This lasted for a good 40 miles. The pack was getting more and more frustrated since we really were not allowing anything that we did not want to go, go. I had thought Scott was in front of me and a group of 7 or so took off. I yelled at "Scott" (it turns out it was not Scott, but I thought it was!) to latch on and he did. As I watched him latch on, I eased off the pace and gave that group room to escape. That group got away, but we were good as we had Keith up the road and who I thought was Scott in the second break.

On a long straight away, a Thirsty Bear rider turned to yell at a Taleo rider for not pulling through. As he turned to yell, he drifted left and touched wheels with the rider next to him. We were going about 24mph or so and he just face planted. Not pretty. Turns out Scott was right behind him and went over him and his own bars too. He was fine, but the Thirsty Bear rider was on the ground moaning in pain. With no support vehicles, Scott did the right thing and stayed with that down rider and was able to get a call into 911. Since the crash happened just next to me, I was in front of it quickly with a group of 10 or so. We slowed up but kept riding.

About a half mile later, another break tries to go. Five guys go and I latch on to make sure we have a rider represented. A Lombardi rider starts yelling at me to pull through, but I explain the situation. I told him if we get clear of the pack, I will work with the break to stay away, however if the front group comes in sight, I will back off and not help. He agrees and we have peace and harmony in my break. We rotate pretty well for the next 30 miles and are clear of the main group but no front pack in sight. With about 10 miles to go we spot Keith's group. I sit on the back of the chase don’t help any longer.

The finish approaches and we are about 500 meters back from the front group. We can see them on the finish stretch before the final left turn. I can't help them catch since I think we have two riders up there, so I just sit on and watch. The other guys are fairly fried at this point and don’t do much. We make the left and there is 400 meters to the finish. A Taleo rider who did not pull in the break (he said he had a rider ahead too) jumped the group and got away. The rest of us sprinted to the line. I ended up 11th overall and felt great. Turns out Keith got 4th place and if there was a 'most aggressive' award would have won that as well. Was a whole lot of fun playing games and using some team tactics.

The whole team helped in this and that is what made it so fun. Best 11th place I ever got!

Patterson Pass RR by Mark Foster-8/7/11-Living in the pain cave

2011-08-08T17:24:00.001-07:00

Written by Mark Foster
Race Date:8-7-11
Race Location: Patterson Pass, Tracy, Ca
Class 45+ Cat 4
Racers: 40 +

So those of you who read my report last year on Patterson know that I don’t like this race. I don’t do it because it’s fun; I do it because it’s hard. I managed to talk Tom Rice into doing this, but unfortunately we were in different categories. We met at the Edgewood/280 park and ride at sunrise and made it to registration in an hour. I had plenty of time to warm up. Although we could see the wind howling on top of the pass, it was warm and calm at the start finish. Since cramping can be such a problem at this race, I stocked up with plenty of food, water and enduralites. I was ready to punish myself for a couple of hours. Tom and I slathered on the sunscreen, and we commented on those poor bastards who train out there year round and are missing the trees we’re so blessed with here. Yep, if you’re not careful out there, you could end up frying any exposed skin and look like you’re wearing the team specialized bright red arm and leg warmers.

There are at least forty old guys lined up to take the 9am start. The whistle blows and we meander off at a casual pace. It picks up a little bit on the climb, but it really was tame compared to how it can get in that race. Nice! Maybe it won’t be a sufferfest! Two guys go off the front, but not by much. Having done this race, I know that it would be next to impossible for two guys to get away from a large bunch on the flat rolling stuff. Two years ago, in my first ever bicycle race, I made that mistake and got caught twenty minutes later by a group of dudes I had just smoked up the hill. At any rate, they were only 200 yards out by the top of the hill so it wasn’t a big deal….so I thought at the time.

After the two leaders crest the hill our group of 15 or so are approaching the summit when the motorcycle dude pulls next to us and says, “The pro/1/2 guys are going to catch you, pull over and stop!” I yell at him,”What the f%&k are you talking about? There are two guys off the front. The pros will blow by us on the next climb” He reiterates, “Pull over and stop or you’re disqualified.” Crap! Unfrigging believable! So I stop along with the rest of our field and wait for one minute ten seconds. We let our stragglers catch up, and let the P/1/2 guys by for the descent(which has no turns). The stupid part about it, is that we are way bigger than those guys(they are skinny little bike racers and we’re big paper pushers) so we reel them in on the downhill and they hold us up…more time lost. We come to the second hill and they leave us…of course. So now the dynamics of the race have changed dramatically. We can’t see the guys off the front any more and they have team mates in our pack that won’t do any work to catch them; and in fact screw up any attempt we make at a pace line. So, not wanting to give up, this guy named Patrick and I, along with one of the three Toleo riders took turns pulling the twenty or so racers still left in our draft. We get to the big climb for the second time and the pace is still not bad. A couple other guys help break the howling wind up the climb and I think I see the break away riders, but there are so many broken stragglers from other classes it’s hard to tell. We once again crest the hill and bomb down the backside and one guy gaps us on the descent(my bike is slower this time…weird. Later when I got home I found a slow leak in my front tire and had 50lbs in it. So maybe down to 70lbs during this second lap) Not a big deal, we’ll get him on the climb. He hammered the second climb along with another dude. I should have buried myself and gone with those guys, but there were eight of us so I made the wimpy decision to puss out and work with some others to real them back on the flat. Once again after the top of the hill, Patrick and I took turns pulling, along with one of the Toleo guys….with five or six others in tow. If we could have had just two more guys helping we could have done it. Unfortunately the (now) four guys ahead worked together to hold us off. We reeled them in and were 10 seconds back by the final mile. One of the front four (an MVV guy) blew up in the last mile so we blew by him. Now it was just me and Patrick doing the work. I started cramping(as did he) in that last mile so was praying I could get through this and somehow how off the poachers who had so ruthlessly sat on our wheel the entire race. Patrick faded with 800 yards to go, so I lead into the final turn and out of it on to the final 200 yard finish. I knew this was not the place to be, but if I backed off to let someone by, my legs might not restart. I sprinted with all I had(which wasn’t much) and could feel my legs starting lock up, but could still muster a mediocre sprint. One of the MVV poacher guys(Calvin, I never saw him once the entire race) passed me at the line for fourth. I finished fifth. I got a t-shirt….yipee! After all of the work he did, Patrick got beat in the final sprint by the poachers and ended up tenth or so. Bike racing is hard…mentally and physically. I made some mistakes, but was glad I once again endured this race. Thanks for reading! –Mark F

Andrew's FF Crit in Pleasanton Report 8/7/11

2011-08-08T14:22:00.000-07:00

Pleasanton Fast and Furious Crit
8/7/11
Teammates: Steve Stewart, Dave Puglia
Place 20th out of 50+
Fast and Furious…living up to its name.

I went into this crit with no expectations and this is exactly what I achieved…not much. The set up for this race is very cool. Right down the heart of downtown Pleasanton. Some fan support, loud music, start time at 5pm, all combined to make this feel like a big time race (well, big time compared to the office park crits out there in the middle of nowhere.).

Course is a .5 mile slight downhill and then a .5 mile slight up hill on the other side. That combined with a nice headwind on the slight uphill lent itself to a fast course. Race had attack after atack and field was strung out from the start of the race till the end. Most the big dogs were present, including the Specialized, San Jose and Safeway teams having multiple guys.

Quick recap: Hung near the front most the race and tried to jump on whatever break went. This meant a whole lot of jumping with not much to show. Five laps to go and three guys get away. Of the three there was a Specialized and Safeway guy. If you have read my past reports, you would understand my belief that this was the winning break. I decided I would get to that break. I jumped and went for it. Turns out my jump needs some work. Seems the rest of my 47 buddies in the race wanted to come along for the ride. Since I was already in front and in the wind I channeled by best TT thoughts and went hard. I actually closed my eyes for most of the straightaway. I was digging to places I did not want to get too. Well, I got there and at the same time I reached the breakaway. As I got to the back wheel of the break, another attack jumped. I was blown. I thought I would just drop from the race at that point. I could barley see straight. Turns out, the pack was so strung out, that by the time most of the pack went by, I had caught some of my breath back, so I jumped back in and sat on for the next lap. One lap to go and I did my best to move up (I was pretty far back at this point). I got up to 20th and was able to watch the finish. A whole lot of effort for a 20th place, but it was fun none the less.

Afterwards I sat around with Steve, Christian, John W., Dave (new team member) and drank margaritas and told war stories. The stories were as much fun as the race. All good stuff.

Keith's Fast and Furious Pleasanton Crit Report

2011-08-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

Keith Szolusha's Pleasanton Fast and Furious Crit report:
8/7/11
35+ 1/2/3
Finish: 7th place out of 50 or so.

I got 7th in m35+ 1/2/3 fast and furious race today in Pleasanton. Scott F. was suited up, but I'm not sure how he fared in the finish.

Race seemed very easy and short. I started near the back and just made my way up to the front as I warmed up. I watched Safeway, Specialized, and Yahoo guys to make sure nothing serious went without me. 5 laps to go and something looked good with 5 guys and 5-10 sec. gap on the field. I bridged to Mr. Larry Nolan who was close to bridging himself and then he blew up big time and I was left alone to do solo 1/2 mile barely gaining time on the break 4 sec. ahead of me. I gave up since field was chasing hard, reassimilated, stayed near the front, and got ready for finish. Went into last corner top 10, but wasn't overly aggressive with elbows and let up 5 spots because of that. I had the legs to blast off today, but held out for last corner to make it clean and have good position. Mr. Brigg was taking off with LaBurger and WiseBurger following and I just followed wheels getting up to 7th at the finish. Should have been more aggressive to try to win.
Leadout would be awesome with legs that I had today.
p/1/2 was too late in the evening on a sunday (8pm), so made the call at the 11th hour to do m35+ and tuneup for Dunnigan Hills and 35-39 districts rr.

Tom Rice's Patterson Pass Road Race Report-8-7-11

2011-08-08T10:06:00.000-07:00

Tom Rice's Report
Patterson Pass Road Race
Saturday August 7, 2011
Men's 35+ Cat 5, 16 riders plus or minus
Two 24 mile laps on a climber's course with three climbs, 1st difficult, 2nd medium, 3rd hard enough to hurt you before the finish line
I was the only CoreTechs rider in this race
2nd Place in a breakaway of 5 riders

The very long version:
Mark Foster talked me into riding this race although his approach was to tell me how much suffering I would experience… But somehow, he convinced me and I'm glad I did it!
Driving out to the race on 580 was enlightening. Looking out over the pass at the wind farm, fans whirling and thinking, "There's gonna be a lot of wind." I was right. Another significant consideration is the instruction we got before the race started. From the race director, "Do not work with the other race groups or you will be disqualified."
The race starts out with a very short flat then directly into the first climb. We're not going too fast and I'm riding at the front until we get to the climb. The winds crossing from left to right hit hard blowing the pack around and making it very difficult to keep a good line. The front runners, including me were assimilated back into the field. I made my way back up to the front at mid climb and that was good because after the descent and on the second climb, a few riders began to gap the field. At the summit of the second climb, I bridged to the break and we put the hammer down. This section is rolling and mostly we had a strong tail wind. Did I say we put the hammer down? Because we did. I put in a long, mostly descending tailwind pull in my 53-12 spinning as fast as I could.
At about the ¾ point of the first lap, our break of 5 riders passed the Cat 4 35+ pack that started 5 minutes in front of us. After the start finish line, beginning our second lap a few minutes later (still in the flats) we passed the Women's 1,2,3 pack that started 10 minutes before us. We were flying! Also, on the third climb on the course, a couple of riders from our pack had bridged up to our breakaway.
This is all significant because as we started climbing and heading back into the very strong head/cross winds, both of the packs we had passed caught back up to us. I don't think they realized how hard we were working to maintain pace in the wind because as they swarmed past us, both of these packs slowed down dramatically. The head winds were very strong. But, our breakaway did not want to get caught by our Cat 5 race pack so we moved back up to the front and crested the summit clear of both packs and also dropped the riders from our pack who had bridged on the previous climb.
I made an aggressive descent out front but not really putting out any watts, resting for the next climb. At the bottom of the descent, the Cat 4 pack caught us again, pulled in front of us and then slowed down. Again. Our breakaway of 5 riders was tangled up with this pack for the entire second climb. This caused confusion because it was hard to distinguish between riders from our race and riders from the Cat 4 pack. So, one of my breakaway companions got clear. I gave chase. It took me a while but I caught the miscreant after another aggressive descent and hammering through the initial rolling flats. Unfortunately, I had the entire Cat 4 pack closing on me including the remainder of our breakaway. I had thought it would just be the two of us to the finish but our breakaway of five was still intact.
Finally, the referee following the Cat 4 pack on moto took control of the situation and we got clear of these supposedly faster guys for the remainder of the race.
Now I had done more than my share on lap 1 pulling the breakaway and I decided I'd work a little less in preparation for the sprint at the finish. I decided which riders were still strong and which were beginning to fade. But, it's a bike race so I was wrong. On the last climb (which I barely survived!) one of the guys I thought would be strong blew up and dropped off the back. We were now four and I chose to be fourth wheel through the right hand turn on the finish straight.
I'm well positioned and trying to be patient as I decide when to begin my sprint. I'm worried that I'm too late but make my jump. I easily pass two of the three in front of me and I'm gaining fast on the guy in front… I'm beginning to fade but he is fading too. I get next to him and give my bike a massive throw at the line. Neither one of us knew who won. I didn't know for sure and the other guy thought I had won. But, the results come out and I'm second. Maybe if I had started my sprint a few meters earlier… but who knows, I was fading at the line.
I'm very pleased with my performance in this race. I rode well, made good decisions and was confident through-out. This was a hard race but it was fun!
Thanks for reading!

A story about two CCCX races

2011-08-01T11:32:00.000-07:00

Written By Andrew A. about two CCCX races (45+ and 35+ 1/2/3)

and one silly tri:
Teammates: Steve Stewart; Devon Joos; Christian Parker

More of a story than a race report, but really, what can I tell you about the CCCX course that has not already been said.

My goal this year is to see how many "just off the podium" finishes I can get. Heck, last year I finished 4th five times. I already have three 4th place finishes this year too. I am going for the unofficial record. In fact, I am petitioning USA Cycling for a 4th place jersey award to go along with a State Champion jersey they give out to the winner. So far they have not responded to my request, but I don’t give up easy.

When I left the house Saturday morning to go to CCCX race in Monterey, my wife said, "go get your fourth place." I laughed; not this time, I was going to "go for it". Whatever the hell that meant. Anyway, on with the show. I pick Devon up and we head down to foggy Monterey. Do they ever get sun there? I have been there four times this year and not once have I seen the sun. It is like living in perpetual February. I digress. Steve Stewart, Devon and I come up with a race strategy. Devon will be our field sprinter, I will cover breaks and Steve will make sure to take care of Devon and I in the sprint by leading out if the pace slows.

I was going to mark Novitsky from team VOS. Just last month he got away with two laps to go and stayed away with one other guy on the same course. I figured he would try again. Race starts and on lap two, Novitsky goes to the front and hammers. Not sure what his plan was (maybe just training race), but he lead for a full lap (4.5 miles). He did not look for help and was not trying to get away…just hammer. The pace was high and we were strung out fairly well. Well, I guess that takes care of Novitsky being a threat. Attacks came fast and furious on the fifth lap and the race got hard! There were two moments when I became seriously concerned I could get left behind. I am sure many of you heard my breathing wherever you were Saturday. Anyway, I hung on to the group and last lap was sitting fifth wheel. I heard Devon behind me and thought "I should lead him out". Unfortunately, legs answered back, "no, you will sit right here in the draft." Should have answered with Jens Voit "shut up legs" but I just don’t have the steel he has. Final sprint and Devon fly's by, Daryoush (our stealth teammate who pretends to ride for Form) is up ahead. I figure I better catch Daryoush so does not talk to much junk on the nooner and so work to get by him. I believe this race helped bolster my argument to USA Cycling for a 4th place jersey and am currently writing Guinness Book to see what the current record is. I know I am close! I finish 4th.

Devon, had first in hand but unfortunately led out one other rider who nipped him at the line. He finished second place for a fantastic race. Devon currently rides a set of wheels from the 1960's that weight about 2000grams and "cushion the rider" with springs in them. If he ever were to invest in a good set of wheels, he would be able to place consistently in the top three. Oh, check that…he does. Maybe it is good for the rest of us he sprints on a mattress. This way we can at least see him finish up ahead. Nice work!

So as not make this a book and more of a race report. I will keep the rest short.

Daryoush tries hard to talk us into doing one more race. Just the 35+ 1/2/3 race. "Come on guys. The second race is actually easier than the first." Um…no, in case you are curious, this is a patent lie. Now, Daryoush is one of the nicest guys I have met, or so I thought. I am now convinced it is all an act. I knew it would be hard when up rolls Kevin Klein from Yahoo! Now, while Kevin is a sweetheart of man and super nice to all riders of lesser quality than him, he is also a hell of a rider.

Race starts and one minute in, Christian attacks. This is the same guy who thinks neon yellow arm warmers and a bright yellow helmet are attractive compliments to the kit as well. Christian comes back to the field about half a lap later, but it was a hell of a try! Lap two and Klein and seven or eight of his new friends take off. I am sitting with Daryoush and Devon and the other 30 guys in this rolling social and we watch them all drift away. We spend the next five laps working to close the gap. Oh, it hurt. I can not go into detail about the rest of the race as my mind has blocked this all out. I do recall at one point Devon rolling up next to me to ask, "you alright?" I could not answer then, but to answer now…NO. The gap started closing, but it closed for the lead group catching us! Not sure why everyone kept going so hard and attacking each other, but attack they did. Every lap I wanted to quit. I had murderous thoughts about Daryoush in my head. I rolled across the finish with the remainder of the "peloton". You know what? It was a blast looking back. Guess this is why women have more than one kid. You forget the pain somehow.

Sunday I decided to try my hand at a triathlon. Supposed to be .5 mile swim, 16 mile bike and 3 mile run. Well, they screwed up the run course and gave us three extra miles for free. Since I had run about 6 miles total in the last two months, this was rough. I can barley walk now and I am bitter about the free miles. Actually, if you were to meet me now, you would think I was one of those 85 year old bitter dudes that tells you how it used to be in the old days. I can't walk more than a shuffle and I have a bad attitude…Really though; What a fun weekend!!

We have a great group of guys (and gals) who are fun to hang with. This team thing has been a whole lot of fun. Thanks for being members! Go team CoreTechs!

Andrew
www.coretechscycling.com

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

2011-07-31T18:12:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-18T09:29:00.001-07:00

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

2011-07-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-07-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-12T07:35:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-12T07:30:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-11T16:45:00.001-07:00

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

2011-07-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-07T08:14:00.000-07:00

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!

Mark Foster's CCCX (Winner!) and Burlingame Report

2011-06-27T15:11:00.001-07:00

CCCX Road Race 6-25-11(one hour circuit race)
Class: 45+ Cat 4
Riders: 26
Team mates: Tom Rice
Weather: overcast 57 degrees

So the CCCX race is always fun. It’s a relatively safe venue and requires some brain power to be in the right place at the right time. The race went at a faster pace than normal. Usually we old cat 4 master guys go slow till the finish, so that we don’t strain ourselves too much and enjoy our evening cocktails without feeling too tired. This one was different. Maybe the non-sprinters wanted to do well. Or maybe we had more mid-life crisis sufferers than normal, but the pace stayed brisk. Tom and I tried to attack(not like Rich in the 1/2/3 race) and got a bit of a gap; but then Tom said to me,”Stop, this isn’t working”. We were successful in pulling the field for a while; but dropped no one(I think). So many of the riders took a turn pulling and I got much more of a workout than expected. The pace of course picked up on the last lap and especially so on the final rollers. Todd Munk of SJBC took the lead over the last hill and I moved into the third position as we began the descent. I know not to hammer too fast on the downhill or you’ll end up leading into the final turn. It’s funny because they all start yelling, “Go! Go!”; yet everyone is smart enough to know not to. Then as we approach the final turn, a Livermore guy takes off. Munk tries to catch him. I stay on Munks wheel through the corner but realize the leader has some steam. The surge starts coming around me as I wind up for the final 200 meters. I get Munk and some other guy but it seems I let too much of a gap build to catch the leader. He starts to fade as I build up speed; and I blow by him right at the line. He throws his hands up like he won the TdF and I think, “wow, that was close.” The photo finish showed me winning by a couple of inches. I get my money back plus a case of Gu. Nice!

Burlingame Crit
Masters 35+ Cat 4
Riders: 70
Team mates: Tom, Scott F.
Weather: beautiful, 70 degrees

I was feeling a bit fried from the day before. Apparently as we age, recovery takes longer. At any rate, it was only my legs that felt tired. As I warmed up around the High School I started feeling better. Then, with about fifteen minutes before the race, I ran over some glass and heard the ear wrenching “Hiss” of a blowout. Of course I had tubulars with no slime. I was about 1 mile out so I rode back on the flat until the road got rough and jogged in cycling cleats the rest of the way. I passed my team mates in the parking lot on the way back; so they helped me calm down. Fortunately I brought spare wheels. Everything was fine. I got a great start and was in the top 10 right away. I stay in the top five or ten up until the first “preem”. I committed about a quarter of the way down the final straight and got the guy at the line to earn $50(So I thought at the time) Yes! Scott came by me at that point and helped me recover, but I still faded back to about twentieth or thirtieth while I recovered from the sprint. After I recovered, I moved back up to the front( Scott was there too!) and managed to stay there in top five or ten for the rest of the race. I wimped out at going for any more “preems”, and there was one significant one( a set of new wheels) that had me considering going for it. I elected to concentrate on the race. Finally with one lap to go, I found myself following two SJBC guys. One of them pulls over. Now I’m in second place following Todd Munk again(like the day before). Then he pulls over, now I’m leading the race with two thirds of a mile to go….Oops. I don’t pull over. I keep hammering, but leave something left for when the surge comes screaming by. I manage to hang on to the lead all the way until we start into the final sweeping right hander into the finish. I start really hammering to grab a wheel as the surge envelops me. I get one. Now we’re on the final sprint for the finish. I dig as deeply as I can but don’t have the same power I had the day before. They crawl by me as we get closer to the line. I see Scott on my left. I finish eighth, Scott finishes seventh. Tom hangs on to the pack. Not bad. It was a blast! I went to pick up my fifty bucks after the race and they told me I didn’t win that “preem” lap. I said,”Yes I did. Show me the tape.” They erased the tape, and I elected to not start a conspiracy theory. I still had a blast and made it though the weekend in one piece. No complaints, it was a great weekend!

Keith's Burlingame 35+ 1/2/3 and P/1/2 report

2011-06-27T10:33:00.001-07:00

M35+ and p/1/2 (John, Christian, and Andrew in M35+)
about 15th in M35+ with one prime sprint
about 20-25 in p/1/2

not much to say, but it was fun to be in a race with teammates. We didn't have a big team race plan as it was 2nd race for the others and they all did well in their previous races, which is cool. Thanks for getting in the 2nd race guys. no successful breaks got away in m35+, but I did take a prime by sprinting out of the pack and coming around Andres and Patrick - both old teammates that have been much more successful than me racing for several years. It was nice to do something in the race. After the prime sprint, I was out solo by a little bit and 3 were catching up to me, so I made the mistake of waiting. Ends up they were just doing the masters thing and chasing me down to stop trying. too bad. I should have just kept going. Next time.

Early in the race, Christian and Andrew were up front. Andrew was active. When I saw him on the front I moved up to help mark wheels, but he was just missing the 3 man move a few times, so I didn't need to jump in and help a move get away at that point. It was good to see him up there and almost making a nice move. He was working hard. Christian battled well at the front for the first half and I saw him a lot. He;s easy to spot in the pack with his fluorescent armwarmers. I thought they might go away when it got hot, but I guess he likes them a lot.

A good sized move went with about 8 guys about 1/2 way through the 40 minute race and I went through the front to bridge. We had nobody up there, so I had to do it. Unfortunately, my bridge wasn't overly explosive and I simply closed the gap for the field. That's okay to do, better than letting the 8 person move go with the teams all represented.
Prime prize was a bunch of gus and bars, so I'm happy to give you guys some at the beginning of next race that we are at if I remember to bring them along.

p/1/2 felt easier than m35+ but that was because there was no surging, just constant speed and nobody going anywhere far in a breakaway. I hung in the back because my knee starting hurting for the first time ever. Ends up that my new bike with integrated seatpost wasn't put together by me as sound as it should be. operator error - I didn't tighten the seatpost bolt down enough and the seat clamp fell 6mm (the entire length of the total gap between top of the cut post and the top of the clamp. I didn't know until after the race. Position is very important and just 6mm drop caused some strange pains in my left knee. Problem diagnosed and fixed tonight. I will install a shim and never have that problem again.
There were three notable crashes in this race, 2 in last five laps and one in the top 10 that landed 10 feet from the finish. The question came up, if you crash near the finish and your bike crosses the line in top 10, but you do not, do you get a prize? I avoided all crashes just barely - one with shoulders leaning on another rider and one with a nice skid. Maybe rolled in 20th-25th with no real action in this one. Knee didn't have too many problems later in the race and pain has already subsided.

Andrew's CCCX and Burlingame Report

2011-06-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

CCCX Road Race 45+ 1/2/3
Teammates: John Pauley, Rich Del Valle
34 in field

I love this course. It has a few rollers that make it kind of hard but not so hard that it crushes you. Keeps the race interesting and pretty safe. About 20 minutes before race start, Rich shows up. For those that don’t know Rich, he is an old time Cat 1 racer. He is just 45, but been racing for so long he remembers racing on wooden wheels. way, Rich has called me several times to say he was going to race only to be a no show come race time. The typical response is, "dude (Rich is a very mellow guy), I meant to go, but just couldn't muster the energy." At this point, I really did not believe Rich still owned a bike. So seeing him at a race is like spotting Big Foot.

This race is thought of as one you can do well at since it usually is not that stacked of a race. I guess word got out because this time it was a bit different. Had a few guys there that are very strong, so I knew the race would be pretty fast. Race starts and attacks go from the gun. First lesson learned, warm up better! That first lap was the hardest of the race. It stayed fairly fast but as the raced moved along I felt better and better since I finally warmed up. I had a blast watching Rich attack. He would go hard, get a decent gap and then try to stay away. I would sit on the front and try and slow the group down each time he went for it. Very fun to see and fun to support a teammate. You can see from the pic here the fun I was having. I had this goofy grin most of the race. Anyway, Rich attacked about four or five times. Once he has his fitness back he will be dangerous! Well, with about 2.5 laps of the 5.5 mile per laps to go a break of two took off. No one chased. They stayed away and won. Field sprint for third place. I came in fifth, so 7th overall. Not bad, but had something left, so next time!

Lessons learned in this race: Bike racing is about decisions. You either do or you don’t. You can not hesitate and do any of it half ass. When Rich attacked, he attacked hard and got a gap. That is what you have to do, either that or don’t attack.

Burlingame Crit 35+ 1/2/3
Teammates: Keith, JP, Christian
1000 in Field (felt like that, but probably 65 or so)

I thought this race may be one to hang on for deal life. At the start line I had Kevin Metcalf sitting next to me and next to him was Eric Wollberg (former pro and Canada Olympian). A few riders over from them was Pat Briggs from the Yahoo team. About six Safeway guys and pretty much everyone else who was strong was there. This would not be a slow race. First lesson learned came quick to me. Clip in quick! I missed my pedal and had about 100 guys go by me before I made one pedal stroke. Now I was at the back and fighting for position. I worked my way towards the front after the first five or so laps. This was interesting race. It actually did not feel that fast to me (though we averaged about 28 mph). What was a real struggle was holding position. I would work my way up and just as quickly I would find myself locked in the middle again. This was pretty much my race.

My one highlight was mid race. A break of about five guys went off the front and the break included Pat Briggs. I figured that one might work since he is such a beast. I took off from the front of the peloton and in front of the start/ finish line sprinted as if it was the end of the race. I caught the break and sat at the back of it to recover a bit. As Keith mentioned in his report, it turned into a "typical Master's break". Once we had that gap, no one worked and the field caught us two turns later. Well, there I was, mid pack again. Three laps to go and I fought my way to top third. I wanted to get in position but just could not move up any further. The sharp turns and high speed prevented any movement. By the time we came to the final sprint, the top 15 sprinted and the guys I was with just sat up. Suddenly I have about 7 or 8 guys around me coasting in. Kind of hard to sprint everyone sitting up, so with no choice, I do the same and coast across the line in about 25th to 30th place (I just check the finishing results and they gave both Keith and myself a DNP-that is crap. We both were top 35 for sure. Oh well, hard to fight for 35th place).

Lessons learned: clip in quick. Fun racing with teammates, even if there is not much you can do to really help.

Christian's Nevada City Race Report (with Video)

2011-06-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

Christian Parker's report
Race Report Nevada City Classic 2011
• Elite 3/4, 55 entered
• 80 degrees
• Teammates: John W. & Christian P.
• 50 minutes, 17 miles, 1700 feet of climbing
• 21rst and 48th place

Last Sunday Christian Parker and John Wilde represented CoreTechs in the
Cat-3 field at the historic Nevada City criterium. We raced for 50
minutes on a 1 mile loop that featured a sweeping high-speed
haybale-lined corner and relentless climbing and descending. With the
final words of the official "you won't be pulled if you aren't lapped
in the first 15 minutes" in mind we managed to hang onto the pack for
the first 3 laps, but lacking courage in the 45 mph downhill we let
gaps open and spent the rest of the race trying to just keep the
pedals turning on the uphill. We were helped in no small way by water
handouts from Christian's dad and cheers of support from his Aunt (who
lives in town) and sister. Christian was lapped once and John twice but we still pulled out
respectable places from a field of strong riders. A word of advice to future racers: bring
plenty of water and drink early and often.
A real short video is attached

2011-06-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

Race date 6-18-11

Race: Pescadero Coastal Classic

Class: Masters 45+ Cat 4

Riders: 92 Entered

So I knew Pescadero was going to be hard. But being a classic, it was a venue I had to try. Our race started at 8:05 and they weren’t kidding about the 92 riders. It was a mob. Tom, Mike and I were relegated to the back at the start, but we had 47 miles to catch up. I was concerned that there might be a break on that first climb up stage, so I was going to make sure I was in position to not get gapped there. Sure enough, we couldn’t move up in the pack until stage. Tom and I maybe made it up to the top 60 or so, but it was ridiculously crowded. As we went up stage for the first time, there were holes forming so that I made it to the top 30 or so by the first hump of stage. I bombed the downhill between the humps and must have been in the top 15 or so by the time we started up the second hump. The pace was comfortable and I was feeling confident but realized I was overly dressed….oops. The descent back to 84 was tame by my standards and I would guess there were 50 or so heading up 84 to Haskins. I saw Tom and Mike and they both appeared to be fine. The first time up Haskins was pretty brisk, but I was in no pain at this point and crested with the top 5 riders. We hammered the descent and formed a paceline as it flattened out (which is why it made it harder for Tom to catch back on). I had no idea where Tom and Mike were, but I’ve climbed with Tom before and knew that if he was having a good day, he’d have no problem hanging in. Then I saw him as we rolled through Pescadero…he looked fried. He told me he and another dude just pulled 15 guys back up to the front group. I know he’s capable of recovering, but there wasn’t much time between there and stage. He was going to suffer again soon. There were about 40 now that Tom brought 15 guys back to the group. We hit stage for the second time and the pace quickened. I felt really good so I took the lead and hammered up and over the first hump of stage road. I bombed the gnarly downhill on the other side. When I looked back at the bridge at the base of the second hump I had over one hundred yards on the front group, so I slowed down until the group caught me, and then we hammered up the second hump. Again the next descent was tame…. then we were on 84 heading up the last eight miles or so, to the base of Haskins. I felt great, so being the moron that I am, I pulled the group for a couple of miles with no help. Finally realizing that the “noon ride elbow flick” wasn’t going to get me any help, nor would asking for help; I just backed way off and melted into the top five. There were 20 riders left at this point. Literally 2 minutes after I let myself fade back to get some help, an attack of six riders broke off the front from the outside line. I’m boxed in and screaming at the guys in front of me, “Go! Go! Frigging Go! Damn it!” They wouldn’t move. I was screwed, but didn’t panic, because they always chase in Cat 4…right? Well they didn’t chase. I moved back to the front and pulled like heck for a couple miles….begging for help. They said, “sorry dude, we have team mates in the break”. Now the break was about 200 yards ahead and as I was pulling the group, two guys sprint past me to try and bridge. I sprint and caught them, thinking, “right-on”. Then the guy I was behind started to fade and get gapped by the rider in front of him. I yell for him to go or move. Then the bridging rider sensing he had a gap, hammered really hard and was going over 30mph and I elected not to burn a couple matches. So I was in between the two groups and faded back to the chase group. As I got back to the chase group, I saw the bridging rider make it….damn. So I pulled the chase group for a while more, head hung low, knowing I screwed up. I should have buried myself to catch on….oh well. With about two miles before Haskins, and the lead group now out of sight, I gave up. Then….. I finally got some help. Maybe there was hope? We picked up the pace, and I sat in and tried to recover as much as possible before the hill. As we turned right on Haskins(Pescadero Creek trail) I could see the lead group about 200 yards up. It was game on. I was about 6th in our group entering the hill, so about 12th overall. Three guys took off in pursuit of the lead group and I battled with about five other guys for the first mile up Haskins. By halfway up the hill, a few guys in the lead group were coming back to me and I had finally dropped the guys I was battling against. Two of the three that took off at the base of the climb were starting to come to me as well. I twisted myself as hard as I could. I passed three guys in the last 400 meters and caught three more, but didn’t get them by the finish line. I finished 7th over all. Not bad, but I wasn’t happy with how it turned out. I made three mistakes:1.Dropping Tom the second time up Stage(he can pull like a diesel on the flat and could have helped me bridge). 2.After a monster pull, getting boxed in, causing me to miss the break.3. Thinking the group would

Tom Rice's Pesky RR 45+ Cat 4

2011-06-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

Tom Rice's Pescadero RR report
45+ Cat 4

So... my first road race in almost 25 years, first race with CoreTechs and my first Pescadero Classic: I'd forgotten how much fun road racing is!
Mark Foster and I, racing in the Cat4 45+ race had talked quite a bit about the race but honestly I was just getting my feet wet again and I'm not gonna tell you I had any real tactical plan. I'm not a great climber so I "planned" to see how it went and adjust on the fly.

Mistake 1: I was too far back at the start and got stuck behind some of the slower climbers going over the first climb on Stage Road but I was able to get around these guys on the climb. The pack was close so I charged the descent to re-join the peloton at the bottom, right before the tree shaded bridge. I used way more energy in this section of the race than I should have.

Goal 1 achieved! I stayed with the pack through the first climb and descent.

The flats between Stage and Haskins were uneventful and I made my way closer to the front of the pack. The pace here was comfortable.

The first ascent of Haskins was going much better until about 1/2 way up. It seems like the pace of the front runners picked up and I didn't have the legs to keep up. The front of the pack was out of sight but not out of mind as I crested the climb. Again, I charged the descent and passed quite a few guys and settled in for the chase.

After a kilometer or so a group of 8 developed. We weren't working well together so I tried to encourage a smooth, quick paceline but most of the guys didn't have the horsepower or didn't have the good paceline skills required to pull this off. In a paceline like this, the front rider needs to make 6 to 10 very strong pedal strokes and pull off for the next rider in order to maximize speed.

So, a rider (in red kit - I didn't get his team) and I did a bunch of monster pulls and the small remaining front pack came into sight before the Butano Cut-off. Everyone else in our group just hung on. One more huge pull by Red Kit guy and one more huge pull by yours truly (this is what I'm good at) and we were back in the pack a klick or two before town.

Goal 2 Achieved: I went through Pescadero town in the front pack on lap 2.

I was baked for the second climb over Stage Road. One acceleration by "someone" (turns out it was Mark!) about 1/2 way up and I got dropped for good this time. A small "groupetto" collected together and we cruised through the flats up La Honda Road. Four of us were stronger than the rest and this smaller group stayed together to the finish line. I think we were among the first of the remaining riders after the main pack crossed the finish line.

Mistake 2: After a rest on La Honda Road the second time, I realized I was quite a bit stronger than the others in my groupetto. I should have ridden away from the group and I would have finished closer to the top 25 instead of 33rd.

Goal 3 Achieved: I finished respectably and I had a really good time. I finished 33rd and made an impact in the race. Mark and I rewarded ourselves with a healthy (read "big") lunch at Dewart's after.

I'm psych'ed to do the CCCX on Saturday!

Thanks for having me on the team!

Tom Rice

Miles Pesky RR Report-35+ 4/5

2011-06-20T08:52:00.000-07:00

Miles Keep Pesky RR report
Where- Pescadero Road Race
When- June 18, 2011
Race- Mens 35+ 4/5, field of 75
Stats- 47 mi, 3750 ft climbing, 70 degrees, 2 hrs 28 min
Finish- 32nd

So this was my first Pesky race. I was nervous off and on the week prior. My goal was to experience and finish the Nor Cal classic and have fun.
Being a bit of a climber, I thought that this would suit my riding style. I had done the training and have been feeling strong as of late.
I got there plenty early, my food intake and warm up went perfectly. Everything was going as planned. As I was rolling around getting ready to go to the starting line, I ran into fellow team mate Mark Foster. We chatted a bit about his race and the course. Before I knew it I had 2 min to spare, so off I went. This was my first mistake. Getting to the line early gets you a spot up front for the start, even when it's a long road race. We started neutralized from the High School and through town. There was a sprint prime at the beginning of stage road, I wasn't really interested in those, so pretty much let the sprinters do their thing. Once we started the first climb up stage, the group started to break up. I just stayed calm and in the middle of the field. On the descent on stage I lost some ground and the race took off. We turned right onto 84 and up we went. There were a few riders around so I managed to get a group of about 4 together so we (I) didn't have to go up the long and windy 84 solo. That worked out pretty well, we went hard taking turns and caught the main group about half way up. Then right onto Pescadero Rd, passed W Alpine, and started the climb up Haskins Hill. This is were I am at my best, and dropped my group fairly easily. The finish line was at the top, and we went through uneventfully. Once again, descending Pescadero Rd I lost some ground. At that point the field was smaller groups and I found myself with my "team mates" from
84. They consisted of mostly guys from Oakland Cycling Team, and a few randoms. Everyone was cordial with each other and worked well together. Through town again and up Stage Rd we went for our final lap. I pulled a bit of a gap on my group going up stage but didn't hammer too hard as I wanted to finish Haskins with a bang. We all met up again on 84 to help each other out on now a bit gusty 84. As we turned onto Pescadero Rd, and through the feed zone I grabbed a commemorative water bottle and up we went again. I noticed one less "Oakland" rider, and found out that he had thrown a chain. I figured it mattered more how I finished, so I hit the last climb hard, it's only a bit more than 2K in length. A small group of 123 men passed me going up, then a solo 2 came by so I jumped on his wheel and I finished in tow. The finish doesn't have much of a fan fare, we basically just limped back down to the high school in town.

I guess what I have learned is to get to the starting line early, and man up on the descents.

After a long hard race I felt pretty good. The longer 100+ mile rides we have done lately on the weekends have helped. I was glad I had finished in one piece
and had experienced the Nor Cal classic, and I had the tan lines to prove it.

Thanks to Tim for the attached pic of the race with me in pain going up Haskins!

-Miles

Joseph Mendes Crit-Pleasanton Report 35+/45+ 1/2/3

2011-06-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

So I had my worst finish ever at a race, not counting the DNF's for flats at Santa Cruz, but still had a bunch of fun. The course is a standard office park crit triple F (flat, fast and four corner). The streets were wide and pavement was good. Sun was supposed to be out, but that was the one disappointment. It was windy and fairly cold.

I did two races, first race was the 45+ 1/2/3 race. Had 49 racers and two teammates; Steve Stewart and Devon. This race was a bit of a mess. I guess two guys went off the front early. I had no idea. There were six or so SJBC racers in the race with some of their better racers present. I figured if I kept an eye on them and jumped on any breaks that included them, I would be safe. I figured wrong. Devon and I stayed at the front of the pack most of this race. I jumped on a few break attempts that had SJBC riders in them. Nothing stuck. Final lap I heard the announcer say the "break had 55 seconds on the field". What the heck? I asked a rider next to me and he confirmed guys were gone. Guess we were doing a field sprint for third place. Now that sucks. Anyway, race got fast last lap and guys got skittish. A bit of argy bargy (love that term) going on. I was about in sixth position and Devon was on my right. I think Steve was tucked in mid pack. I heard the sound of metal on metal and then metal on concrete and knew a crash happened just behind me. Can't look at those speeds. Took another turn and then on the back side of the course I heard the sound of broken glass and then the familiar and scary crash sound again. Seems like a guys wheel exploded (guessing a pedal went into his spokes). Not sure why the crashes, both took place on the straight away.

By this point I was about 18 riders back and a gap formed on the last straight before the final turn and finish. I went hard to the outside to close the gap and did so just before the final turn. Not much left to sprint for and crossed the line in 14th (12th in the pack sprint).

I had a feeling Devon might have been in one of the crashes when I did not see him around me or in front of me on the cool down lap. Devon is a great sprinter and would have been near the front, so not seeing him I figured it was not good news. I did see him afterward up and walking with no broken bones. He had some road rash on his leg. Steve finished mid pack as well in 20th.

Next race was the 35+ 1/2/3. This was a big field of over 70 riders. CoreTechs had five riders in this field (Steve Stewart, Scott Fairman, Christian and John Wilde) I figured since this was my second race of the day I would try and do a few breaks and if nothing worked either sit in or possibly come off the back.

The race started very fast from the whistle. A few guys went for breaks and I jumped on them and sat on them. Each time the field brought us back quickly. I actually felt pretty good this race. About five laps to go Duane from Thirsty Bear team (guy who beat me by a photo finish in Monterey for 1st place) went for a break. I jumped on him and he got a bit of a gap. Honestly, it took all I had to just stay on him. It really hurt. We kept our gap for about half or three quarters of a lap, but the field was having none of it. All back together the last lap and the pace went up three or four notches. I had nothing left for a sprint and just sat in the pack and rolled across the finish for a glorious 30th place out of the 73 riders. Steve finished just in front of me in the pack at 27th and I think the other guys rolled across at the back of that pack as well. Was fun to have the team around. Afterward we hung out a bit (drank a beer-thanks Steve!) and watched some of the next race.

Lessons learned this day. Be aware if someone is off the fricken front! See you out there.

Andrew

Chris's Dash for Cash Race Report

2011-06-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dave T's Winner, Winner, Winner...Chicken Dinner report

2011-06-03T10:34:00.000-07:00

Dave T's Epic Mnt Bike Race Report!
Rockhopper Classic May 7, 2011
Beginner Class 45-54
Place: 1st
After 1.5 hour drive I arrived Saturday morning around 8:30am in preparation for a 10am start. I wanted to get a 1/2 half hour warmup in prep for my second race MTB of the season. I did pre-ride the course on Thursday afternoon and this course was a good one, set in the rolling hills of Lagoon Valley Park/Pena Adobe Park in Vacaville, CA, with a good amount of singletrack, climbing, and tons of switchbacks. Each lap was 9.5 miles and 1600 feet of climbing.

The classes were quite full and I there was definitely some speedy competition. The race started with a group start of all ages going at once - Yike! Should be a fun race I thought to myself if I don't blow up! My strategy was to stay in the front - top 10 - and hopefully be able to keep it up to the final climb before the final decent to the finish. My legs felt ok on the first climb, but I HR was redlining. Got a little bit of a breather on a downhill and then traverse before another steep short climb. . The second steep climb was hard but I was in "3rd overall" - good news - even though I ran into a women "sport rider" at the top- doh! After untangling myself and taking a quick breath i'm behind the saddle on a choppy steep downhill with what looks like a sharp off camber right turn at the bottom. Though the meadow I go to a small jump to do a "cool picture" but I was breathing to hard to do anything but roll over the jump. I definately need more noon rides!

Up the next big climb there was a nice 360 degree view interrupted by that cross wind gust and lots of gassed people. I took advange of this and quick peddled by the 2 other leaders and never looked back. From that point there were 2 more climbs, one fire road and 1 single track. Once finishing the final climb down to the finish I go which was a truly sweet cut-in singletrack trail on the steep hillside, that gradually made it's way down to the bottom.

Fun race and first ever first place!

Dave

JP's Morgan Hill Crit race report

2011-05-31T11:06:00.000-07:00

John Pauley Race Report:
I will try to keep this short, because it is late on Monday night and I need some sleep.

I am planning on racing the Topsport Stage Race next weekend, and after having a bad case of bronchitis in March/April I have been concerned I would not be able to get in shape for a stage race that has a 63 mile road race, a 75 minute circuit race on rolling terrain and a 10 mile TT over two days. Last weekend I was feeling pretty good, so I rode 72 miles on Saturday including the Pen Velo and the Sectrum rides (although I got dropped about 15 miles in the Spectrum ride) and 35 miles on Sunday. Not bad, but I was still a bit concerned.

This weekend was my wife's "girl’s weekend" in Palm Springs, so I had all the time I wanted to ride my bike.

I wanted to do what I could to train this weekend in a way that would be similar to next week’s race. Saturday I did the Pen Velo ride and then turned around at Page Mill and joined the Spectrum ride at Arastradero and Alpine. For the first time in a couple of years, I was able to complete the entire Spectrum ride after doing the Pen Velo ride. With my confidence high, I decided to continue riding and ended up at just over 81 miles for the day, with over 50 of it at group speed. I followed up with a 35 mile ride including Pen Velo on Sunday. Still feeling great, and recovering well, I decided to do the Memorial Day Crit in Morgan Hill on Monday. All told, I rode over 170 miles this 3 day weekend which is one of my biggest 3 days in years (I was feeling pretty good about myself until I realized that Laura could do that in her sleep. Can't wait to read her ride report for this past weekend). Here is that multi-race report:

What: Memorial Day Crit
Where: Morgan Hill
Course: three right turns and one long sweeping right turn. Turns one and four were 90 degrees and turn two was slightly sharper than 90 degrees.

Race 1: Masters 45+ 3/4 (combined with 35+ 3/4) 100 riders
Finish: 30th overall, 2nd place in the 45+ 4's
I don’t have much to say about these races as I did them for leg speed training and to be certain I could do two races in a day. I sat in the back ¼ of the pack for most of the race and did an “accordion” workout. (That’s where you sit near the back of a pack and deal with the massive changes of speed to gauge recovery times, leg speed, cornering with the guys that aren’t too confident, etc.)
This was a 40 minute race on a flat, wide, safe course. We averaged 25 mph with a considerable number surges (a low of 17 through turn two and a high of 31 on the back straight). The only place on the course where we slowed every lap was turn 2, it was sharper and narrower than the rest of the course and many of the riders didn't seem to know how to hold a line and pedal at the same time through a turn. I enjoyed the race and felt like I could move up, but the front of the race did not seem too safe. Christian was also in this race and he rode very well, especially considering he rode the Mt. Hamilton race the day before, he was the one that told me the front of the race was pretty sketchy, but I’ll let him give his side of the story. I was happy with my top 30 placing considering I didn’t do much work the entire race and I didn’t sprint until I saw Christian go flying past me with 200 yards to go. I grabbed his wheel and finished about a bike length behind him.

Race 2: Masters 45+ 1/2/3/4 77 riders
Finish: 56th overall, 4th place in the 4's
I almost didn’t do this race, but when I found out it was only $10, I had to at least give it a shot. It was the same race as above but, 45 minutes in length. Turn two was considerably faster than the previous race, there were more attacks, and we averaged almost 27 mph! Oddly enough, even though crits scare me, I was much more comfortable in this race. I sat in the back half of the pack (but closer to the middle, than last race) for most of the ride, but I was able to move around in the pack with much more ease and I was actually less tired racing this category than the previous due to the consistency of speed through the turns and the constant attacks which kept the speed high throughout the race. At one point, with about 7 or 8 laps to go, I moved up to about 15th and considered following the next break. I didn’t do it, because I was concerned I might get dropped after we got caught. In hindsight, I wish I would have tried. It would be good to know if I can recover from and effort like that. Oh well, live and learn.

I had fun racing again now I am much more confident that I will be able to do three races in two days next weekend. This week will be a recovery week with only two days of easy spins as I taper for next Saturday. If I don’t see you up in Copperopolis, I will plan to be out riding the group rides next week.

CCCX Mnt Bike Race Report-Dave T.

2011-05-31T08:15:00.000-07:00

Boggs Mountain Bash, Cobb CA
May 21st, 2011
Sport Class 45-54
Place: 2nd
Distance 21.4miles
2300 ft of climbing

CCCX Series, Monterey
May 28th, 2011
Sport Class 45-54
Place: 3nd - I think because they had me as a DNF but I did finish the race and sent them my garmin record and times. Donno what they are going to do..
Distance 23.4miles
2300 ft of climbing
Pics by Tim Westmore (he really makes you look good!!)

Two more MTB races in the last last 2 weeks - sorry for the catch up - both being very different. Boggs is in a demonstration forest with thick "BIG" pines, steep hills, and rocky single track. CCCX is in Monterey at Fort Ord with rolling rutted and dusty single track, some fire roads, and some thick sand that can stop you dead in your tracks. For both of these races I moved up a category to Sport which like cat 3/4 and is typically very competitive because the guys normally race on a regular basis. Boggs was much more of a techical course and is one of my favorite venues from days gone by. Boggs started out as a group start with ALL categories going at once - this was mass chaos for the beginning however they ran us up a 2-3 mile section of up hill fire road before heading us back down a very cool "big" tree lined single track which was super fun. From there you went on a short fire road climb and then headed into more sweetie sweet single track with slippery pine needles - yike. Then uphill again to to more up hill single track then to the fast single track to home. I was leading in my cat for the first lap which I didn't know because of the mass start but ended up running out of gas on the last single track up hill being beat by 35 seconds - bummer. During the race I did slightly tag a tree with my handlebar but thankfully didn't go down. The first year I did this race someone ran into a tree with his face and had to be helicopter out of there and I didn't want that to happen to me. Overall very happy with 2nd place and glad I move up a cat.

The CCCX series is much different. The course is about 4.7 miles long and you had to do 5 laps. This for me was tough because you were eating and breathing dust for almost 2 hours.This race however had some great riders with more engine than I think I have ever had - just in unbelievable shape! The course itself was pretty fun in the beginning with some very burmed single track in the middle that you could really lean over into, small very cool little jumps " see pics", and some very fast hard packed double track. But by the end I was ready for a lung bath and a good shower.

I think I finished the race in 3rd but they had me as a DNF. I just send them my garmin report with times and laps I did and I hope that can correct it. Also Tim Westmore said hello once I finished the race as well - perhaps he can vouch for me!

I also attached the pics from Tim who can really take some GOOD photo's. Thanks Tim!!

Dave

Race Report (kind of) from Devon on Golden State Crit

2011-05-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

Devon Joos
Golden State Crit in Sacramento (5/21/11)
Pic by our new sponsor: Tim Westmore ; Argentum Imago

So I raced the golden state crit. 4 broke away I pulled the last couple laps w/out much help. Very effective blocking by Davis team and some other weenies. 26.2 average and a good workout

Scotts Valley GP report: 45+ 3/4 and 1/2/3

2011-05-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

Scotts Valley Grand Prix
May 15th 2011
Race report by Andrew A.
45+ 3/4
35+/45+ 1/2/3

I got my head back on straight and came to race. All signs and hangover from Santa Cruz are gone (for those new to our group, refer to that race report).

I was not sure I would head down to Scotts Valley for this race until five minutes before I left the house. It was raining and hailing most the morning and I thought I would stay in the garage and ride the rollers. But the family was out for the day, I was alone and figured I would go and check out this race. If it was pouring when I got there, I would stay in the car, watch a bit and leave. Well, it was cold, but it was dry.

Suited up, and jumped in the 45+3/4 race. Think we had about 15 guys racing. This is a really fun course. Very fast with some sweeping turns and a nice finishing stretch. Back of the course had a nice head wind. A few attacks went and I went with them. At one point SJBC rider (Rick-You may recall him from my Turlock report) hammered out for a break. I jumped on him and it was the two of us with about a 50 meter gap. I rolled up and asked, "want to go for it"? He responded with a "what do you think?" By that point the rest of the pack was back on our tail. Good lesson learned…stop all the gabbing and just go. Group stayed together till last lap. I stayed in the wind in the first spot. I felt good so figured it was not a risk. I kept my ears open for any attack. Last quarter of the lap I saw a Davis rider ramp up on my left. By the time he went by me I was up to speed and jumped on his wheel. We hammered the final two corners. With about 50 meters to the line I came out of his draft and started to try and pass. I made it to the middle of his bike when the line passed beneath our wheels. Got a second place. Netted me $25 check/carton of strawberries and an iPhone case (I don’t own an iPhone, but ok).

Next race was the 35+/45+ 1/2/3's. Wow, now this was a race. About 60 riders line up. Honestly at the start I was a bit intimidated. Yahoo! rider Pat Briggs lined up next to me along with last years winner from Safeway on the other side of me. My thoughts are "what the f… am I doing here". They had a bit of a "call up" before the race and they asked everyone who has won a 1/2/3 race this year to roll to the front. Seven other guys roll up. They ask for all National champs. Three more roll up. This race was stacked!

Whistle blows and we are off. Within half a lap the field is strung out single file. They are hauling ass. I actually feel pretty good and start getting a bit giddy that I am riding with these guys and feeling ok. Every lap there are at least two or three break attempts. One lap I am on Briggs wheel when a break goes. I figure I will stay with him and if he tries to bridge he can pull me with him. Well, he goes for the bridge and leaves me in the pack thinking, "where did he go?". He took off so fast I just sat and watched. It all came back. Next lap another group of four are off and I decide to see if I can do what Briggs did. I jump to close the gap. Honestly it looked just like what Briggs did… in super slow mo. Anyway, I got the break and we lasted about a quarter lap before we are all together again.

Final lap and pace gets frantic. Everyone is jostling for position and trying to get near the front. If you so much as blinked you would find yourself 25 places further back. I made a surge up the inside and got myself into the top 15. We hit the second to last turn on the backside four abreast at 32 mph. When we hit the finishing straight everyone just exploded for the line. I rolled across in the top 25 of the race which put me in 8th place in the 45+ group (they placed the 35+ and 45+ separately). Yahoo! dude, Briggs, won the race.

Quick reflections. It was great finishing second place in the first race but the second race was way more fun. These were dudes out for blood and they were good racers. Made it a lot of fun just hanging in with them and doing what I could. Next up…Top Sport Stage Race. Come on team, sign up for this. Even if you don’t want to race, come up for the night, drink beer and heckle those racing. See you soon.

Andrew
www.coretechscycling.com

Christian's 3 Race Reports in one (Cat's/Scotts Valley)

2011-05-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

Cat's Hill Crit. Saturday 5/14/11
Category 4 ..........Master Category 4/5
12 laps/ 12 laps short 25% steep hill

Scotts Valley Crit, Saturday 5/15/11
Category 4
35 minutes

I did two races this Saturday and finished one. The course had many tricks including large slabs of concrete with wheel-sucking cracks and a sharp 90 degree corner entering the Cat's Hill/Wall.

Race 1. In the first race I joined up with 3 Stanford Cycling friends and jumped into the pack for some fun. On lap 10 as I crested the top of the climb I spotted a fading Stanford cyclist drifting backwards at the end of the pack. Well, with a hand on his back I gave him a really good slingshot that pushed him back into the group and me.. into a hedge. In my defense, the hedge jutted out into the course and was really 10 years of trimmed branches covered in leaves that no pruning sheers could have clipped. After it ejected me back into the course on my back, I flung the bike back into the bushes with my feet clipped in and saved a pileup. Solo crash and DNF

Race 2. With a bleeding elbow and bruised calf, I helped Mark Foster scale a 6 foot fence as he was late to the party. The two of us were off with CoreTechs supporters on course cheering us on. I learned that day that having CoreTechs friends yell at you on course makes you want to stay in the front to say hi. So Mark and I stayed in the top 15 most of the race with a final top ten sprint finish.

Race3. Limped 15 minutes before my race with cash in hand to the registration table. Warmed up and started the crit with my friend John and 18 other racers. Super fast course with a windy back section that promoted attacks. After trying 3 breaks, I sat in. John attacked for a prime and I yelled to the group that I'd chase him down. They waited, he won and received the Ipad... (case) it turned out. Finished top ten, went to the beer tent several times, wobbled to the podium for some podium girl pictures, and cheered for Andrew's two races. He rocked a 2nd and then raced with a huge peloton of retired and non retired pros to a finish in the front of the group. Very nice.
-Christian

Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/johnwilde/ScottsValley2011#

Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/johnwilde/CatsHill2011#

Video first race w/ hedge: http://vimeo.com/23756660

PG&E/Livermore Crit-May 7th 2011-45+ 1/2/3

2011-05-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

45+ 1/2/3 PG&E Crit
May 7th 2011
Written by Andrew Adelman

This is the safest crit courses I have ever done. Wide roads with new pavement. If anyone is interested in trying a crit next year, this is the one to do for pure ease of course.

This was my first race since my debacle at the SC Crit a few weeks back. As of right now, that SC crit cost me close to 3k (two cracked Carbonsport Lightweights, two tubular tires and race entry) to participate in. I am still bitter. I needed something to get that taste out of my mouth. This Livermore race helped, but I still need to gargle with another crit or two. I came into this race with a chip on my shoulder and a bad attitude. I think it helped.

Round and round we went at mostly a sedate pace. No one tried to push the pace till the prime laps. Pace would pick up till the prime was won and back everyone would come together. Most laps someone would try to break off the front and due to my poor attitude, I chased down every attempt. I should have known from Copperopolis (see that report) not to do this, but as I said, I was mad. There were a few teams with multiple guys. About three times a guy who was not in a team kit broke off the front and each time I would wait for someone else to chase him and then I would jump on that person. Each time he got caught. I thought he kept going at strange times. For instance he would attack just after the prime lap but with still eight or nine laps left. The wind was strong and no way was one guy going to stay away. Well, with two laps to go he did it again. Two guys joined him from the Christian cycling team and a guy with no team. I was sure this race was going to be a field sprint and those guys would be caught. I wanted to save my matches for that. So this one and only time I did not chase the break. I was in second position in the field. No one chased. We kept them in sight for the rest of that lap. One lap to go. No one chased. I tried my best to be patient, still no one chased. The gap got bigger. I saw the race slipping away. No one chased. Finally I went to the front and hammered for a half a lap. Then a strong SJ rider came by and went hard. We got close but the break stayed away.

The main field sprinted, I was behind the big SJ rider in second spot. Thought I was set up well. Big guy died with 150 meters left. We were against the curb and got swarmed. Boxed in with nowhere to go, I rolled across in 9th place.

Bad tactics on my part. Lessons learned: 1) once again, as in Copper, don’t chase every break, especially the early ones. 2) If more than one guy breaks with two or less laps to go, go with them!

Andrew

Ken's PG&E (Livermore) Crit Report-5/7/11

2011-05-10T11:44:00.000-07:00

Ken Spencer's PG&E crit (Livermore) Race Report
May 7th 2011
Place: 4th (from the end)

Against my better judgment I entered a crit. I met two-thirds of my goals: 1) don't crash (succeeded), 2) entertain my 4 yr old and 2 yr old (succeeded, sort of), 3) be part of a successful break. I met #1 by riding far off the last wheel until 5 laps to go. This also allowed me to safely waive at my kids every time around. I think they liked that. I jumped to the front with 5 laps to go, pulled 2 laps (but left a lot in the tank for that break that was sure to come). Wife and 2 year old missed my moment on the front bc she was changing a 'poopy diaper'. Critical error for me was not initiating a break. I kept waiting and with 2 laps left got cut off by one guy and before I knew it I went from front to back again. Group finish and I had no where to go. What a waste. Recurring key learning for me is - don't be scared, just go for it. Next up: Mt Hamilton.

P/1/2 Pitt Crit Race Report by Keith Szolusha

2011-05-08T20:03:00.000-07:00

Pitt Crit Race Report by Keith Szolusha
P/1/2

The Twilight race called the Pitt Crit p/1/2 field was at 8pm last night (5/7/11). It was cold and windy (50F and 20-30mph with gusts). We watched the very small womens field blow apart early, so it was a little intimidating.

This race was literally night and day compared to the Menlo Park crit that I recently did. Not just because it was actually at night, but because it was fast, technical, longer - 75min. windy, and cold. There were notable fast guys there and people were there for the 20 deep $5k prizelist. Fast Freddy Rodriguez (3 time US pro champion and past Giro d'Italia road stage winner) looks like he's doing some local money races on the Specialized team - he won. Logan Loader, Roman Kilun, Bernard Van Ulden, Steve Reaney (current US elite crit champion), Sterling Magnell and many others including an under 23 national crit champion and many past champions.

Seems like we had 80-100 guys. There were callups, music, announcers, podium models, prizes, lights, etc. Downtown Pittsburg is best described at 'the pit', so I am changing the name of this one to Pit Crit.
Race was fast and hard. It was a challenge to finish. Many guys just blew up with the constant single file pace. At one point during the race, there were 15 straight (1k with 5 turns) laps that must have been 35mph single file with no change of positions or chance for changes. It was crazy how fast it got. Guys would blow up in the middle of the pack and then others would have to make up the lost ground. I was on alert the entire race and never let anything significant open up. I didn't get to the front, but when we hit 8 laps to go (the first time that they called laps and put out cards) it seemed to ease up. There was a 5 person break just off the front and I think that everybody decided that it was not going to be hard to catch it or that we wouldn't catch it and they decided to save it for the sprint. As a matter of fact, the end got so easy that the pack didn't single file until 2 to go and it was a chance for the crazies to dive corners and get into the front of the pack. I slowly moved around in the pack and took what opened up in front of me without forcing anything. I debated about diving corners and making a play for the front, but the rest of the race had been so hard that it was nice to have an easy pace and rest for a bit. At the end, on the last lap, gaps were opening, and I had to jump a few. I ended up speeding in at about 38th position. A lot of guys didn't finish, so just finishing this one with the pack was a victory. It was really super fun and I didn't notice the cold air when racing because it was such a hard race.

I came home late from the race and had trouble sleeping because I was so revved up from racing so hard so late. It was strange.

Later,
k
__._,_.___

Menlo Park GP-Race/Crash Report-Good Reading!

2011-05-05T15:23:00.000-07:00

Race: Menlo Park Crit
Race date: 4-23-11
Class: Elite Cat 4
Riders: approx 50
Report Written By Mark Foster

So my midnight drunken two sentence race update, that I tapped out on my cell phone, seemed a bit weak. So I decided to suck it up and give you guys the goods. I made the decision to ride in the E4’s because I actually enjoy riding with a bunch of much younger, testosterone filled, future hero’s. Not really, but I did want to see what it was like. There are young men in all of these “Elite” classes that are hanging on to the belief that they can “make it” as a bicycle racer. It’s kind of fun to race with that kind of intensity….so I thought. The race was short(40 minutes) and started late in the afternoon(4:40pm) so the typical morning routine went out the window. That worked out well for Liz as I fed and watched the kids in the morning while she hammered out her ride. I arrived at the race in plenty of time to warm up and watch some of my buddies compete in earlier classes. As I was warming up, I looked at the faces of the men wearing the same nine hundred series number as I and noticed that at 49, I could be father to most of the riders in this class. There are around fifty or so in the class, and I push my way into the front row; knowing I needed to be upfront to have any chance of doing well here. The whistle blows, and I get a good start. The first thing I notice is that there is more yelling and cussing going on than I’ve ever experienced in a race. Now I’ve only been racing for a little over a year so I’m a short on bicycle racing experience, but can immediately figure out that the “vibe” here is different. These guys are a bunch of cannibalistic axe murderers who wouldn’t think twice about taking you out and then spitting on you as they blow by on the following lap. One of our Cat 1 racers, Keith S. said an E4 crit is one of the most dangerous in Bicycle racing. I could feel it. The “f-bombs” were flying. The were yelling at each other,”F-you”, “I’ll kick your a$$”. I kept saying, “Guys Calm down, we all have to survive this thing and get home.” I must have said that four or five times.

I stayed in the top five to ten the entire crit; and made sure I was near the front after all of the premium laps in case there was a break. I didn’t try for any premiums, I wanted to save all of my matches for the finish. I felt strong, and had a lot of mojo going into the last lap. The pace picked up and I stayed in the top five down the long back straight into the wind. Two Penn Velo riders made a break down the left side of the road and I was ready for it and timed my acceleration perfectly to grab their wheel. These guys were hammering hard, but there was still over eight hundred yards to go and that funky chicane. I was not close to redlining, but no one was coming along side me going into the final chicane. I felt like I was in the perfect spot(third) going into the last corner. The adrenaline was really flowing hard now, but I told my self, “calm down, don’t pull the trigger until after the final turn”. The straight to the finish was long, so keeping your momentum coming into it was super important. The Penn Velo riders were losing a little steam coming into the corner and unfortunately twenty years of motorcycle racing has allowed me to carry a ton of corner speed. So I had two choices: Hit the brakes coming into the final corner or start the pass. I picked “B” and came around the outside to pass the Penn Velo guy in the final right hand turn. My wheel was probably a foot to the left of him when I crossed wheels. He immediately jumps a foot to the left and hits my wheel…almost as if he read my mind. I actually don’t think it was intentional, I suspect maybe he was passing the guy in front of him. At any rate, I went down so quickly on to my right side, there was no “save” to be had. Game over. Now I knew there were 47 blood thirsty racers behind me wanting to win this race. I also knew they were all screwed, and that I was going to be a pin cushion or punching bag for these guys as they tried in vain to avoid hitting me or my bike. My guess is that about twenty riders crashed. But miraculously, nobody ran into me or my bike. I stood up, turned around; and it was like standing in the middle of the freeway. Bikes brushed me, swerved around me, split me on both sides, but didn’t center punch me. I wasn’t feeling particularly lucky at that moment, but in hind sight, I was. No broken bones. That crash sucked the life out of a lot of us, cause I figured after all the yelling through out the race, some one was going to want to “throw down”(fight). It didn’t happen. Something about asphalt ripping away your skin, kind of takes the fight out of even the most hard core E4 axe murderers. Men were moaning and rolling around writhing in pain. Needless to say I was very bummed out and sore. I really felt as though I could have done well, if not win the thing. I’ll never know. But I did know I needed a shot of something. Morphine preferably, but alcohol would do. Luckily my buddy, Steve Stewart, from BayAreaRider.com had all of the mixings for a fresh Margarita….I indulged. The Penn Velo riders took a lonely first and second place. I am fairly confident they would not have won that race if the gentleman in second didn’t jump over a foot and take out the field. But as I finished my second margarita, the pain of not doing well was fading along with the sting of missing skin….. things were seemingly a little better. Thanks for reading, Mark

Christian's Wente RR 35+ 4 Report

2011-05-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

Christian
Wente Road Race 4/30/11
Masters 4 35+
Apox 45 miles, 3700 ft climbing, 3 laps
Finish 19 out of 100

Hi all. Just finished the Wente Road Race in Livermore. I had an awesome race and a great time considering I've been sick for the past 3 weeks. Our pack stayed together most of the race with separation happening on a 4 minute climb with "groupo compactness" after the descent. The technical descent by the way allowed anyone to make up considerable time if one ignored the intimidating walls of hay on the hairpins (think descending Stage Road over by San Gregorio/Pescadero.) A medevac helicopter stopped all the fields on the last lap, landing in an open meadow on the other side of the hay bail wall. This helicopter put the race into perspective and fortunately our field was left relativley unscathed.
In the last 10 minutes of the race, I went off the front twice for a couple of minutes with no one bridging up, got reabsorbed both times, finished my 5th water bottle, and secured a 19th place victory after being passed by 14 skinnier riders. A perfect day that ended up with 2 trips to the bakery (oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies/ sticky bun.)
CoreTechs rider, Ken also road this race, finishing 6th in the cat E4's without even finishing his one water bottle. Congrats! I could of used him as muscle in my old man category as I was being harassed by Pen Velo over the Scott's defection to our glorious team. Cat's Hill in 2 weeks, see you there, Christian

Team Facts and Info

2011-04-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

Hi Team,

This is year two of the CoreTechs Cycling Team, presented by Fitness 101 and Ironkey. Thought you would like to know a bit about where we are currently. We will call it our "State of the Brain" address. Hold your applause till the end please :). By the way, the logo on our kit is a "brain". CoreTechs = cortex = a brain…thus the logo (just in case you are asked and did not get it yourself).

There are 34 of us on the team. 21 of us are registered with USA Cycling who will/have/intend to race this year. We have 15 podium appearances this year already! Though our emphasis is on getting out there and just having fun with it, it is impressive to see the results. That said, do NOT be intimidated to jump in a race. We really do not care how you do, just that you do. Nobody on this team is getting paid to race, so have some fun with it.

We are well represented in local group rides as well. Yesterday (Tuesday) we had 6 team members out on the noon ride. Very fun and cool to see the kit in action and so well represented. I think the new "black" kit has been well received too. I have had a few guys both at races and in the group rides comment that they liked the look. It is all subjective of course, but I do think it is one of the better looking kits in the peloton, and looking good is more than half the battle…right? The kit is well made and I have received good reviews from most about the quality, though I have also heard from a few that there are some issues with cut and pocket sizes. Before ordering the next go round, I will send out a poll to see if we should try out another vendor. Personally, I think the shorts (the pad specifically) are very comfortable and the jersey is good too (though it could use bigger rear pockets).

We will be donating $500.00 this month to Lucile Packard Children's Hospital in the name of the team as well.

Laura is leading our Wednesday and weekend group rides. She always comes up with some great routes, though expect hills in everything she does. Those rides kicked off this past weekend with seven team riders starting it off. Everyone is welcome to these and feel free to bring along a riding buddy if you want. Gordon runs a Thursday late morning ride at a sedate pace. If you are looking for a really easy/social spin, check out this ride.

We have a few "Key" races coming up for those that like to race. This is an event that I would love to get as many team riders out as possible. Nothing is mandatory, but it is highly encouraged! First "Key" race up on the agenda is the Top Sport Stage Race June 4/5. This event starts with a road race Saturday and then a circuit race and TT on Sunday. I did this race last year and thought is was very well run and a lot of fun. We have a free place to stay Saturday night 45 minutes from race site (race is in Copperopolis). It will be a fun, good bonding event. Registration is now open, so commit! (http://www.topsportcycling.com/events/topsport-stage-race/).

The next key race for the team will either be Dunnigan Hills or San Ardo in August. We can debate which one and choose closer to race date. We may also look at Winters as a key race. The final key race this year may be the Henleyville Road Race in September. John P. says this is a great race. It is fairly far away though, so we will have to figure that out closer to race date. In between there are many other races that we will be doing. Email each other when you are racing and of course, look for the race reports post race.

Finally, we will end the season in Santa Rosa this October at the Levi's Gran Fondo. We have 24 riders registered for this event right now! That is a huge number of us. Will make for some great team photos and should be a lot of fun. The Gran Fondo is closed for new registration, but you can probably buy entry on Craig's List. Also the other, shorter rides are still open. If you are not registered for this, think about getting registered. Don’t miss the fun.

In addition to our main sponsors (CoreTechs, Fitness 101, and Ironkey) we also have Menlo Velo as a shop sponsor. Rainer (owner of Menlo Velo) is offering the team great deals. Make sure to take advantage! We have Leopard Bikes and Clean Bottle sponsoring the team too with significant discounts on their products as well.

I update the team web site- www.coretechscycling.com - (blog page) with the race reports as well as the pics page with current pics. We also have the Face Book page that auto updates from the Blog as well as gets updates from us at least once or twice a week. Make sure to "like" the FB page to see the updates. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/CoreTechs-Cycling-Team/180873784101

I am always looking for ideas to improve the team. If you can think of something that would be fun or have seen something other teams do that looks interesting, please let me know.

We are always recruiting good people. If you know someone that would fit in with this group, recruit them! Finally, I will do another gear order in a month or two. It takes almost 2 months to get a gear order, so plan in advance (especially the Levi's riders).

See you on the road soon. Enjoy the sun!

Menlo Park GP Report-By Chris Scheetz

2011-04-25T09:54:00.000-07:00

Masters 45+ 1,2,3,4 Also had the 55+ guys in the race
The entire field was 50+
I did this race with Devon

This crit is theoretically about as safe as a course can be for a crit, wide roads, turns, couple long straights, overall a mile + in lenght, but then you throw in the "x" factor and anything can happen, see Mark Foster report.

Devon and I set ourselves at the line for the start. Looking around, there were quite a few SJ and Webcor guys in the group. At the whistle, the pace was brisk, but nothing severe. Given SJ and Webcor had such large numbers in this race, they were the ones that kept launching attacks on the first long stretch, which btw, had a good head wind. The peleton would stretch out, then the guy(s) up front would do a dramatic swing to the right or left, depending on which side of the road the group was on so the group would do this big serpentine motion. You just needed to pay attention to the folks around you. The race was pretty benign for the most part, but the pace high, we averaged 25+ mph. The most technical part of the course was a quick left to a quick right hand turn to the start/finish line so if you wanted to be in the money, you had to be well positioned in the group before you went into that section. With 5 laps to go, the pace picked up, with 2, the pace really picked up so jockying for position was tedious. On the final lap the group was still pretty tight and as you can imagine, those who made it to the quick left/right turns were invited to the drag race to the finish. Devon was up front, I was mid-pack. At the line Devon placed 4th for the CAT 3's and I placed 5th for the CAT 4's (28th overall).

Chris

Menlo Park GP-written by Keith S. (P/1/2 Race Report)

2011-04-24T16:56:00.002-07:00

Menlo Park GP p/1/2
Sat. 4/23/11

I retired from M35+ racing last week after Santa Cruz crit was way too short and easy.
I decided to do p/1/2 field today at Menlo Park crit - flat 60 min. short and very easy reintroduction to p/1/2 racing.
Beforehand, I watched Brianne coast in the women's small pack and try 6 different moves/attacks in the race unsuccessfully and she sat up on the final lap without sprinting to avoid some of the local squirrely riders that are still left over in the mix at the end of non-selective races. It wasn't a race made for her.
I do flat lunchtime crits all of the time though, so I'm okay with that stuff mostly.

We had a good field of about 60 riders or more. There were some good guys out there, current pros, former pros, guys that have won lots of races, current US elite national crit champion, yada yada yada. Without teammates, I just go into mercinary mode. Follow strong guys if I see them and try to follow a train at the end. Get lucky if possible.
The race was fast, but easy. Pack was easy to move around. I tried a few breakaway attempts by sitting on the wheels of the national champ and a norcal pro rider that has won lots of races this year. Since there were about 4 teams there with multiple riders, there was the chance of something sticking. There was also the chance of getting in a longer break and collecting a prime sprint or two. I just missed out on a $100 prime and it was taken away by Logan Loader that got 2nd today (I'm surprised that he didn't win). There was a nice crash caused by a Metromint rider trying to pass the pack along some cones and really bad pavement that we passed every lap. It was a dumb move that took down several guys at speed on the flat. I think that rider should get downgraded for that one. I'd sign that petition.
As the laps wound down, I gradually moved up near the front and tried to maneuver through the ebb and flow of the pack without getting swarmed too much. Surprisingly on the last lap, I was easily sitting in the top 20, but didn't make that final dagger move on the backside to top 10. With 4 right angle turns (left, left, left, right) after the long straight, not many positions changed once we hit the turns. The guy in front of me had a little mechanical in the last turn and instead of exploding for top 10, we floated to 12 and 14th place.

So, I have finished 14th in M35+ circuit race, 14th in M35+ crit, and now 14th in p/1/2 crit. Seems that I need to find a race that will pay 14 places (or more) deep soon. They only paid 10 deep today.

Santa Cruz Crit-written by Keith S.

2011-04-24T16:56:00.001-07:00

It was really fun to see Brianne racing competitively. She is very talented in climbing and accelerations. She hasn't trained like we used to train when she got her cat. 1 upgrade, but the form is still there and she's a threat on any difficult training ride. I have encouraged her to do some local races sometimes even though she might not be in mega-brianne racing shape because it kind of forces her to race conservatively. When this happens, she races really smart and does a great sprint at the end. For a while, it looked like she was effortlessly hanging in the pack and I thought she might win the race on Sunday. Axel and I were very happy to see her do so well and we had lots of fun cheering for mommy.

My race in the M35+ 1/2/3 was a bit different. Most of the racers there are former or current p/1/2 guys and there are some significant masters teams out there. It makes the race a little more strategic than difficult. I'm used to doing about 40 laps in the p/1/2 and surviving the first half of crazy fast racing to start racing in the 2nd half. The issue is that the masters race is simply equal in distance to the first half of the p/1/2 race. I wasn't warmed up until about 4 laps to go. That's a good place to be warmed up though.

Racing started with Andrew saving a spot on the line for me. Thanks! That helps. If I see a hole during a race or a chance for a move, I like to go for it. "Sometimes I attack" (famous quote by Abdujaborov sp?). Sometimes it works, sometimes it gets you warmed up. It is good to do an effort or two to bridge or attack in the first few laps to practice for the final sprint or final selection when it is needed. A safeway rider went off on the first lap and he was out there by himself. With my good start spot, I took off the first time up the little hill to bridge. It took about 1/4 lap to get to him at the hairpin. However, just when I caught his wheel, although we had a little gap, he stopped pedaling completely. Occurances like this are why I am going to retire from 35+ racing and go back to p/1/2. There was no reason to stop pedaling and we could have made a little run of it for a few laps at least. Strategic non-racing is a little too negative for me.
The race continued at an okay pace with a bunch of 'teams' sending a few guys off the front and then others chasing them back quickly. There wasn't much reason to go chase, so I hung in and enjoyed the short race as much as I could. I told Andrew before the race that I would not chase 2 or 3 guys, but that if a selection of 10 occured, I wanted to be in it. I drifted back and found Andrew in the middle and he seemed to be doing just fine. As the race went on, I found my groove up the hill and could move up if I wanted. I practiced inside and outside of the final turn and sitting on the left of the road and going up the right into the small wind. At about 10 to go, I saw a good move with 5 guys - old teammates and top 5 regular finishers. Around the final turn and one or two had just bridged, so I decided to do a solo bridge. With no teammates in the field, the goal is not to drag the pack, but instead to attack hard enough at an opportune time to open a gap and get yourself to the front group. You have to have the motor to go alone and you have to make the bridge quickly - otherwise, you are just wearing yourself out and possibly killing the chase. If you drag everybody up, then you have helped all of the other teams in the pack and worn yourself out. With my practice bridge at the end of the first lap, I knew where to go. I went a little harder this time and TT'd across to the break before the downhill hairpin. They seemed disorganized and I made the bridge easily. Unfortunately, I inspired one or two in the pack to try to do the same. They were not on my wheel, but soon after I made the move, everybody else made the move. I think it was growing too big for the teams to feel comfortable. So, we were all back together again. Had I not gone, I think that the move would have stuck and the pack would have ridden slow. If one guy would not have been inspired by my move, I think that the break would have stuck. oh well. Its always a gamble.
After that, I just sat in, realizing that the finish wasn't far away and there was too much chasing. With several laps to go, a small group of 2-4 was just off the front and guys weren't really chasing. Were they tired? I don't know. I decided to not stir things up because I have too many 'buddies' in the pack that would not let me get in a move at the end with the pack close. I was hoping it would be brought back out of ridiculosity of how small the race was. I think it was sort of caught on the last lap. I didn't fight for position with 1 to go and came out of the last turn in poor position. I finished around 15th

Canada Road TT-written by John P.

2011-04-24T16:54:00.000-07:00

When: Saturday April 16th
Where: Canada Road TT
Distance: 10 miles (the flyer said 9.7, but my GPS got exactly 10 miles both times I did the course)
Teammates: John P.,Mark, Keith and Brianne

I wasn't planning on writing a recap, because I was embarrassed at my time. However, I changed my mind as the week has gone on.

You all know the road very well. The TT course starts on the flat section midway between where Canada road goes under 280 near Edgewood and the stop sign at Jefferson road. It finishes at "the tree" that signifies the top of the hill going south (some call it the boneyard because the "bones of cyclists" that can't make it up that section, with the noon ride, are scattered all around there).

Anyway, I will keep this short. It is 10 miles out and back and the reason I was embarrassed is because I used to do this in under 25 minutes and I felt I was in good enough shape to at least be around that 25 minute mark. My time was an excrutiating 26:33!

It turns out there are two reasons for my pitiful time:
1. I went out way too fast. My time at the turn was 11 minutes and 13 seconds. I knew I was in trouble when I couldn't keep 20 mph up the little hill before the descent to the water temple. So, since I was 11:13 out, that means I was 15 minutes and 20 seconds on the way back! Not so good.
2. I mentioned to Mark and Andrew that I was not happy and there must be something wrong with me. I have been training and riding well, but I can't seem to get as strong as I feel I should be. Well, Sunday night I started getting sick and by today I have a sore throat and my muscles feel like I just lifted weights and then ran 5 miles. So, I am going to use that as part of my excuse and hope to do better next time.

SC Crit Race Report from Womens P/1/2 Race-Brianne

2011-04-18T16:05:00.000-07:00

Brianne's Race Report
Santa Cruz Crit
W1/2/3
5th out of 20-30 women

I haven't raced since 2009, where I did 4 crits after having my son, so I haven't "really raced" since June of 2008, but who's counting? :)
I was quite nervous to say the least, but to my surprise the .9 mile race for 20 laps was much easier than expected. My goal was to finish and stay upright, so I didn't plan on doing a lot of work. The first laps were slower than I what I remember. I sat in the middle of the pack and as the race went on I found myself getting more comfortable so I allowed myself to hang out at the back. At about 10 laps to go I was getting ready to go for a prime, we crested the top of the 'hill' and up ahead I saw two riders. I ask the girl next to me if they were dropped riders and before she could answer she took off to win the prime. If you were there you would have seen me tap my helmet for being so stupid. that is what I get for sitting near the back and not knowing exactly what was happening at the front. So no $10 for me. No breaks or moves got or stayed away. it was quite a local field of women with a couple of girls who were very strong so the race was slower than in past years. With 2 laps to go the Swiss National champion attacked the field and rode away. Two breaks of 4 quickly formed to chase her down. I, sitting at the back, had to make up a lot of ground. I was able to bridge to the first group within 100 meters and the second group by the time we made it around the course to the hill. I was sitting about 7-8th wheel as we went up the hill. I wound up and jumped as hard as I could. I thought for sure I was going to get third, but unfortunately, my "sprint" wasn't what it use to be and I crossed the line 5th. I was still happy the race picked up at the end to give me the surge I needed to position myself and be able to sprint. Being a road racer I am not much of a field sprinter, so the faster the end of the race the better I do. I am really glad I raced because I almost chickened out. Hopefully this can motivate any of you out there who are on the fence.....just remember to have no expectations.......to dig deep/suffer hard and then at the end to GO! before your brain can tell you to hesitate.

Thanks for reading!
Brianne
Thanks for those of you who were there cheering Keith and I on. It was fun seeing the kit out there!

Santa Cruz Crit Report-by Mark Foster

2011-04-18T15:38:00.000-07:00

Race: Santa Cruz Crit
Race Date: 4-17-11
Class: Masters 35+ Cat4 (Mark Foster/Devon Joos)

So I meet Devon Joos at the park and ride on Pagemill and 280 at 7:15am Sunday morning and we bomb down to Santa Cruz to go have some fun. He was supposed to get his Cat 3 upgrade for the weekend, but Larry Nolan never got back to him, so unfortunately he was riding in my class. I’m kidding of course, it’s always nice to have a team mate to ride with; but Devon can put out so much power, that beating him to the finish line would require some sort of divine intervention.

I think there were about 50 racers in our class. I was told by a reliable source to ride Santa Cruz more like a motorcycle race than a bicycle race. By that he meant get a good start, stay at the front. I don’t think he meant ride it like an AMA superbike race. Which means try to get the “wholeshot”, lead as much as you can and if you have a wheel on somebody, it’s your line, chop him.

So as I go to line up, the Penn Velo group had around eight guys on the front row. I go along the sidewalk and then drop into a ten inch gap between the curb on the right and the now irritated rider on my left. He asks me, “would you mind if I went ahead when the whistle blows since there’s not room for both of us”…”no problem”. After all, I was the one poaching his space. The whistle blows and he clips in and gets rolling just before me as we agreed. I hammer and get a great start. I was third into the downhill hairball hairpin turn. I was told by one of our experienced teammates to stay in the drops when ever it gets crowded so you don’t get your bars taken out. So that’s what I did pretty much the whole race…stayed in the drops. I wondered where Devon was? He came by toward the end of the first lap and the two of us stayed in the top five to eight positions the entire race. Up the hill one time I had a guy yell at me when I moved over and stole the wheel he wanted to follow. Devon pulls up next to me and says laughingly,”They’re yelling at you”. I respond, “Whatever”. The race goes on and is a ton of fun bombing around these tight turns with a 300 yard hill in between. Some guy gets all squirly and does a tank slapper(motorcycle racing term) and almost takes out Devon, but saves it. With two or three laps to go I hear a terrible sounding crash behind me…bummer. With one lap to go the pace picks up dramatically up the hill and I briefly fall back to about tenth or so but hammer on Devon’s rear wheel and we’re comfortably in the top few going into the hairpin. This was fun! I don’t really know or understand the etiquette of bicycle criterium racing; but I certainly didn’t want to take anyone out. Nor did I want to get taken out. As we came up to the corners, I was concerned about getting stuffed(again, a motorcycle racing term meaning to get passed on the inside). So although I left a foot or so on the inside, I took more of an inside line than Devon and the guys he was following; effectively closing any chance of passing with out causing a crash. There was one more area right next to a bush covered wall, right before the final corner on to the straight; where there had been a bunch of passing throughout the race. I pulled to the right out of the draft, but cutting off any aggressive attempts to pass coming into the last corner. Again somebody yelled at me, but last I checked, we were racing. We came around the last corner and I held Devon’s wheel as I saw more than a few people around me powering up the climb for the last time. At this point it is all a blur. About halfway up the hill there was only Devon, one other dude named Ricky Lucero, and me. As we crested the hill I think Ricky was on my left. Devon started to gap me and Ricky got his wheel. Oops, now he’s leading out a very fit strong dude instead of me. And worse than that, a guy is starting to pass me on the right. Now I’m digging as deep as I can. The hill is flattening out, Devon and Ricky are side by side; the guy on my right is about half past me. I’m continuing to upshift and with twenty yards to go the guy on my right lets out a thunderous scream and gives up. I finish third. I couldn’t tell who won, but it ended up that Ricky beat Devon by a tire. Good result for Coretechs, although Devon a bit disappointed, I was happy. -Mark

Sea Otter Race Report (Crit)

2011-04-15T15:02:00.000-07:00

Mark Foster's Sea Otter Race Report
Race date:4-14-11
Race location: Laguna Seca
Class: Masters 45+ Cat 4 Criterium
Distance: 40 minutes

I’ve ridden and raced at Laguna Seca many times over the years, but in full leathers at the AMA superbike nationals. The track seems much bigger without 180 horsepower at the rear wheel. I always had bad luck at Laguna, but I felt my luck changing. I chose to ride the criterium there because it looked fun and it was on Thursday giving me two days to recover before the Santa Cruz crit. The crit goes back and forth between turns 11 and 2 running the track backwards and then through the hotpit(the correct direction), over turn one(still in the hotpit lane), down to turn 2 via the downhill left turn “hotpit exit” on to the track, then a sharp right back up through turn 2 over the gradual right(running it backwards) turn climb at turn 1, cresting the hill, then back down to a 90 degree right hand(again backwards) turn 11, then twenty yards to a 180 degree right setting you up for a 90 degree left on to the hotpit lane to the bicycle crit start/finish.

They combined the cat 4 and 5 riders and the grid was still maybe only 20 riders; not a big turnout probably because most racers wouldn’t want to miss a work day for an event like this. We lined up for the start and when the whistle blew, I found myself floundering to get into my new carbon Dura-ace pedals. Note to self, “Don’t change equipment right before a race”. By the time I got clipped in, I had already fallen about a hundred yards off of the back of the pack and it looked to me that a couple of guys were already trying a break…bummer. I sprinted hard to catch back up and was on the rev limiter when I came to the technical little downhill chicane leading onto the track. I caught up to the leaders by the time we finished the first lap but was panting much harder than all of the guys I was riding with…Oops. I followed about five guys through the downhill chicane I keep talking about, and noticed that they were very timid through there and then we’d accelerate around the right hander(turn 2) all the way to the top of the hill and then we’d all soft pedal down to turn 11. Next lap, being in third or so, I passed the leaders going into the chicane and carried a ton of speed into and through the downhill left hander. When I turned the bike back to the right onto the racetrack, I looked over my shoulder and had a ten bike gap on second place. Note to self, “They are slow through the fast technical section”. This time I soft pedaled up and over the hill and the guys caught and passed me on the downhill. I finally recovered from my crappy start and tucked behind a guy into 3rd or 4th place and carried that position through the less technical turns back onto the hotpit and followed them up and over the hill. Then again passed them all and gapped them in the fast downhill “chicane” and had the same 10 bike gap. So this went on lap after lap. It was nice to have a section of track where I could make up ten bike lengths and rest a bit. The next thing I knew there was 1 lap to go.

I was in second place with one lap to go and two guys go blowing by me on the far left side of the hot pit. I missed that break, but then a third came by in hot pursuit. I grabbed his wheel and told my self not to panic and used him to close the gap up and over the hill in the hotpit. He closed it a bit, but those guys had twenty bike lengths or so as we crested the hill. I passed the third place rider as we crested the hotpit hill for the last time and kept good power on, upshifting into the downhill left hander. I carried massive speed into the turn and told my self “dude, you can definitely crash going this fast into the corner”, but managed to keep it on two wheels and reeled those guys back in as we made the right back onto the racetrack. Nice. They sprinted up the hill and I had no problem hanging on, though my pulse was near redline. I looked over my shoulder and we had a big gap back to 4th place. Then our leader decided to not keep the hammer down to the final corners…bummer. I thought we were going to get caught by the final turns, but I wasn’t willing to stick my nose out into the wind, preferring to save it all for the final three hundred yards from the final turn to the finish. They caught us(I think), but didn’t try to pass as we entered the final corners. The guy in second and I immediately blew by the leader coming off of the last turn and now it was game on! I slowly was passing him into the finish..inch by miserable inch. I was within a half a wheel length from passing him when we crossed the finish line. Oh well, second is good. I should have followed him for a hundred yards or so instead of trying to make the pass immediately out of the last corner. But I must admit, I had a blast! -Mark

Calaveras TT and TTT-Keith and Brianne represent!

2011-04-11T15:31:00.000-07:00

We each did the solo and then we teamed up for 2person. Each of us has not raced a TT in about 2-3 years. We started riding our TT bikes the last few weeks and got our equip together for this race since Berkeley was cancelled. There were no real prizes for 2person, but we did it for team building. We each rode quite a pedestrian pace in the solo TT and we were unimpressed with our own times. However, we also understand the process of training, racing, and getting better at TTs and this is a little of a start. For the first (or 2nd for me) race of the season it was great for nothing to go wrong and nothing to be forgotten at home. Making your start time is very, very important for a TT and we were flawless today.

For the 10 miles, Brianne rode 28min and I rode 24:27. I was over a minute off my old time on this course I believe. I will have to look it up. I still have some winter weight to burn and Brianne is just starting intensity. We had crazy weeks of normal working parents and we really did a great job to do everything right on Saturday. The girl that Brianne is coaching finished in front of her by 1.5min. That was great for us to see. Neither of us was in or close to the top 3. I chose M35+ instead of p/1/2 due to later start time, and I'm glad because I would have been at the end of the p/1/2 field.

During the TT, I was catching my minute man before the turnaround so I thought I was having a good time. However, I got passed before I caught him. Three of us were a little congested for a bit on the twisting downhill, but then it spread back out for the 4 rolling miles back. The course was 5 miles out with last mile as a 3-5% climb. The other 4 miles were rolling and tailwind out and rolling and headwind back. It hurt.

For the 2person, our goal was to try to catch the team in front of us. However, our other goal was to ride as a good team and that meant that I would pull hard and Brianne would lock on my wheel. When we are going well, Brianne commands me by telling me to speed up, slow down, move left, move right, or that there is a gap formed. No gaps, only one 'move left'. I got a 'I can go faster' command 2 miles in, so I offered to let her pull, but that would not have been smart because her job is to save it for the hill and then if she's feeling like I'm too slow on the hill to come to the front and drag me up. As it was, it worked out just perfect that we both suffered equally well with me pulling hard and her sitting on tucked in. We finished 25:08 and had our minute team in sight and our two minute team in sight. We were the 3rd 2person team, but there was no podium or prizes for that. We were beat by very respectable teams, but there werent' enough teams to actually make a real field. There were only 3 coed teams I believe and we were top of that group. So we still have not been beaten by another coed 2person team.

Turlock Lake RR, 45+ 1/2/3 April 9th 2011

2011-04-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

50 Riders: Cat 45+ 1/2/3 : Just me (no teammates): April 9th 2011

So, let's first get this straight; Turlock is not close to the Bay Area. This is a good 2.25 hours each way. It is a haul. Anyway, 8:40am I meet up with Daryoush and Greg Shores for the journey. We get there with an hour to spare for my 12pm race. I guess there was a crash on course that required them to shut the course down for a full hour. That means my race did not start till 1pm, so much for getting back in time for dinner.

Four pees later, we finally start. For my cat this was a two loop affair. Each loop was about 26 miles. This course is very much like a long Monterey Circuit race. The rollers are very similar. Not too steep and not too long…Goldilocks rollers, just right. I would say the route was rarely flat, but there were no climbs that were rough either. This was not a course for 145lbs climbers. Much better suited for the bigger riders. The road conditions were pretty good as well. They did have their share of cow country pot holes, but in all, I really thought this was a fun course.

I learned my lesson from Copper last week. No chasing breaks first lap. Sure enough, there were about five or six attempts, but each time the pack brought them back. I stayed tucked in and comfortable. Second lap much of the same. Finally with out 10 miles left, one of the Noon riders I know (Rick on SJBC) took a flyer. Since SJBC had about 10 riders in the field and was by far the biggest team and Rick is a strong rider, I thought I should go with him. We had one other join us. With about a 100 meter gap, I rolled next to Rick and asked, "you want to go for it?" Response was, "my team will not chase". I figured that meant "yes". Turns out it meant "no, you kill yourself and I will watch". I went to the front of our three man break and put my head down and went hard. After a few minutes (probably two, but felt like five or six) I gave the elbow to have someone else pull through. No one does. I look back and I am by myself by a good 25 meters or more. Hmm, ok, I sit up and let the pack catch me.

Final right hand turn and we have about 1 mile left. SJBC rolls all their riders to the front. They have an impressive 8 man train going. Problem is, while it looked impressive, they seemed to slow down. Now the pack was a mess. We had five guys across the road and ten rows deep. Guys are ramping up and all over the place. 1k to go and I am surrounded by potential winners all acting crazy and throwing shoulders and elbows. Lots of curse words. Had it not been for all the lycra, I would have believed I was back in Marine Corp boot camp. 500 meters to go and I am still boxed in. I am close to just giving in and having a mid pack finish. With about 150 meters to go I have a bit of an opening. My old pal Rick comes by full sprint and I jump on his wheel. 50 meters to go I get by him and have some daylight. I see four guy ahead but they have a half a bike length gap. Can't catch them. I roll across 6th. Last spot in the money. I am $10 bucks richer and add a T-Shirt to my stunning collection of 80's beaters.

This is a fun race and a great course. Had this race not been across the country to get too, I would be back next year without doubt. I still will probably be back. Nothing like a high quality T-shirt to motivate me for 5 hours of driving.

Andrew

TopSport Circuit Race 45+ 1/2/3

2011-04-03T11:06:00.000-07:00

Race Report: Copperopolis: 45+ 1/2/3.
Teammates: Just me (Andrew)

Devon sprints to the win in the Cat 45+ 4's, Daryoush (rides for Form but many of us know him- we are working on him to ride with CoreTechs. Good guy) finishes about eight. I will let Devon tell his story, but he crushes the field. He should now be able to jump to the 3's and kill that field!

My race is the 45+ 1/2/3 race. We had about 30 in the field. First lap there are three break attempts. I jump on each one. Why? I am not sure but I felt good. Each time the break did not work together and we were easily brought back. Second lap I made it in a break of six of us, we stayed away about 3/4 of a lap (about three miles) when we were caught. I went really hard in that break and was tired. Two more laps to go and we are back together. Another break goes off the front. I am about 12th position in pack and can not go with it since I am so far back. I sit in the group and no one chases…shit. I go to the front with 1/4 lap to go. Probably should not have as there were teams there, but I could not tell who was in the break so did not know which teams had to chase. Anyway, I go really hard and bring the field to within 50 meters of the break and then about five or six guys go ripping by me. I jump on the back. We are probably now 10 meters behind the break when we hit this really scary chicane back into town. Everyone holds their places in line, but can not catch the break. The four in front win by a bike length and then the field comes in. I just sit in that group since I am aware of the fact that I am 45 years old and have no need to kill myself for 5th or 6th place. Some guys don’t get that and squeeze by me going 35+ in a turn. I finish with that second group somewhere in the top 15 or so guys.

Lesson learned here? Stay near the top five to seven spots in the last lap so a break does not get away from you. Good fun in all!

Andrew

Bariani Race Report: 45+ 1/2/3/4's By Andrew

2011-03-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

Bariani Road Race Report by Andrew
Team: Andrew/Devon/Mark/Chris and John Pauley
Cat: 45+ 1/2/3/4

So it has been a while since I reported on a race and thought I would jump in and give my two cents on Bariani (Zamora) Road Race.

The day started at 4:10am, which, if you did not know, is freakin early. I met up with Mark, Devon and Chris at the Park and Ride in Woodside and off we went. Two hours later we pull into an olive oil plant which is the start of the race. It is about 38 degrees, but at least no rain. We gear up and head to the start.

We are joined by John Pauley and so we have five guys in the field. Safeway has about eight guys and Well Fargo has about eight. This was my first race with 1/2's in the field, all be it old 1/2's (45+), but still. So going in I figured tactics would play a much greater role than they did in the 3/4 races. After spending way to much time reading Internet race reports, I really expected Safeway to throw attack after attack till one stuck. With this in mind I wanted to be in the top five guys in order to catch on to one of those attacks.

So there I sat most the race. Riding 5th wheel or so and wondering, "when is the big attack coming?" Well, there were probably four or five attacks, and I jumped on each one, but all of them seemed half hearted. Once about five or six of us got about a 20 meter gap and I thought we might have something when the motto raced to the front of our group and told us to slow down. It happened to be as we were passing the group that started ahead of us and she was trying to get them to move to the side of the road, but still, I thought that was odd to have happen in a race. Anyway, we were all back together and it looked like that was how it was going to be.

Final lap comes and we hit the one hill. I would say it is about like Sandhill. Not too steep and not too long. The actual hard part of the race is just after the hill. You come to a mile and a half long straight road that is right into the wind. The road surface is similar to how they describe the moon. Full of craters. Between the holes and the rocks on the road, it is a pretty sketchy ride. Some guy goes to the front just after the hill and starts to really drill it. We are strung out at this point and we are moving fast. We make the left turn to the final straight away and pace picks up a bit more. One guy in front of me moves left to avoid something and I go right. About three guys go by me, including Devon. I jump back on the wheel of the guy just in back of Devon. I would say I am about 10th position and Devon 8th. We are 600 or so meters from the line. Not sure what happens next, but guy I am following loses it. Does a summersault in front of me. I veer right to avoid a tumbling bike and rider. By this point we are probably 500 meters from the line and the guys in front of the crash are gone. I soft pedal the rest of the way in and try and catch my breath. A few go by in those final meters and I finish somewhere in the top 15. Devon holds on for a solid 6th or 7th. If I had to be honest with myself, I don’t think I had much of a sprint left in my lungs that last 500 meters and would have maybe held my spot in 8th to 10th. So, in all, felt good and was happy to have felt fine racing with old 1/2 guys.

Just to finish the tale of what happened to the others…Mark flats six miles into the race. He has tubulars and has to walk/hitchhike the last four miles back. Luckily for him his new bike only weighs 13.5 lbs so it is not as rough as it sounds. JP flatted as well and then road the course backwards. I caught site of him a few times going the other way. Chris hung in the pack and rolled in with the group.

Fun race, but not sure I would do this one next year if the road conditions stay the same. They really need to fill in the moonscape to make it a good race.

Andrew

Bariani Race Report: 35+ 4's By Scott F.

2011-03-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

Date: 3/27/2011
Race: Bariani RR, M35 Cat 4
Field: ~60
Teammates: Christian
Place: 4th

After a week of minimal riding, I wasn’t sure what to expect today with myself or the weather. Miles, Christian and I drove out to Bariani for an 11:05 start. Upon arrival, we walked to the start - finish line to cheer on our fellow CoreTechs members who would be wrapping up their 8:00 race. What surprised me were the number of riders walking across the finish line with flat tires, or just abandoning the race in general. What had we signed up for !?!?!?!

After chit chatting with the other club members, we went back to the car to get ready for our race, talk strategy, and warm up. Before we knew it, we were scrambling to the start line for our race. As Christian and I rolled to the staging area, we were hurried to the back of the pack that was just about to be sent off. Yep, CoreTechs Cycling was representing by bringing up the rear in style.

We had four laps at 10 miles per lap. The course has one leg with a tail wind, two legs with a strong cross wind, and one leg with a pretty steady headwind. The first lap was a pretty quick pace, or maybe that was because we were bringing up the rear and jockeying for better position.

Second lap was uneventful, just trying to find the groove and settle in. As we came around for the third lap, the pack was separating and we were down to 30 riders. Final lap, we were a group of maybe 20 and had a sizable lead over any chasers behind us.

A few riders made an attempt to break away, and given the strong winds with a few rolling climbs ahead, we let them go thinking they would come back into the fold soon enough. As we hit the base of the final “climb” the moto official announced they had a 25 second lead. Christian and I attacked, and brought one other rider with us. Now we were a group of three, chasing the lead group and putting distance on the remaining competitors. I was under the impression that five riders were ahead of us, and didn’t want to burn all of my matches to bridge the gap and then go into a final sprint of 8. The three of us worked together taking pulls, and lined up for the final sprint.

After finishing the race, turned out only three riders were ahead of us. The other two were lapped riders that were caught by the breakaway group. I ended up 4th for the day.

The field was full of teams with large showings: Pen Velo had 9, Rio Strada had 7, Audi had several. Christian and I had a fun race, rode smart, and finished in the top 10. Not bad for a team of two, that started literally dead last.

Thanks for reading-
Scott

Laura's Cross Country Ski Race report: Kind of...

2011-03-23T20:47:00.000-07:00

So, Laura (our sadistic ride leader for our weekend rides) is a cross country ski racer in winter. She was innocently asked; "how was your race this past weekend":

You asked for it.

We left Menlo at 6 pm and arrived in Auburn, where we always stop for gas, in record time.... only to find that 80 was still closed (since 1:30pm!) due to the 45 car pile-up and jack-knifed truck that was hauling liquid hydrogen. It was storming and rumored that 80 would stay shut all night. All motels in Auburn were booked, so we thought maybe we could sneak around via Nevada City and Hwy 20. So drove the extra 30 miles only to find out that it had just closed too. So we resume the motel search and hear repeatedly that everything is booked between Nevada City to Auburn to Roseville, so we better go back to Sacramento (!) So we go back to Auburn to refuel again, and decide to just hide in the van in the neighboring truckers lot! I had my iPad so checked the CalTrans website every so often. At 1:30am, 80 reopens.

So we head up the hill, slow going with chain control the whole way. We arrive at the cabin on Donner Lake at 3:45 am... only to find that our driveway plow guy hadn't come by that night! It took us an hour to shovel the 3' cement-like snow "berm" by the street, as well as the lighter 2' of snow in the driveway to get the van off the street and to get us into the cabin. At 5am it's finally time to call it a night. (I'm always up at about 4:45am midweek to start the day, so it was a loooong day.)

Saturday storms all day, and we pick up our race numbers up at Royal Gorge and ski for all of 30 minutes. The Gold Rush is a 45km race (marathon distance) so we didn't want to overextend on Saturday. (Plus, the weather was abysmal.) We go back to the cabin and spend much of the afternoon shivering out on the deck and preparing our skis with expensive race-wax and fluorocarbons.

Suddenly it's Sunday, and we're back up at 5am and cant even see the van under all the snow that fell overnight. So madly start shoveling, then suddenly realize that 80 has re-closed. Then Mark throws his back out during the shoveling. 80 doesn't open, so the race gets cancelled (partly due to nobody being able to get to the race, and partly due to too much snow to be able to deal with.) There is so much snow that it completely fills in between the side of Mark's van (all the way to the top of the van) and the side of the driveway.

At 4 pm or so, 80 suddenly reopens. (For the 2nd time of the weekend, it was closed for 12 hours straight.) We frantically clean the cabin and close it up, and then frantically shovel again because our plow guy is still apparently MIA.

We finally escape at about 6:15 pm. It's still storming out, and the road is incredibly bumpy... so we thought. We drive up the Donner Lake interchange, get to the chain control guy at 80, and he says "don't you know you have a flat tire???!!!" We never felt it, nor saw it, because of the snow drift in the driveway!

We pull over, unload nearly the entire van to get to the spare tire (and it's STILL storming out), and end up getting the jack totally stuck under the van. It was very cold and windy, and not particularly easygoing since we're stuck on ice and lots of new snow. To make a long story ever-so-slightly shorter, we FINALLY got on 80 at 9pm Sunday night, and arrived home at 2am.

Oh, the things we do for fun.

CCCX Race Report 3-19-11

2011-03-21T12:30:00.001-07:00

Report By Mark Foster
Race Date: 3-19-11
Location: Ft. Ord, Monterey, CA
Type: Circuit race, 60 minutes, 4.2 mile laps, rolling
Class: Masters 45+ Cat4/5

So after reviewing the weather, the last thing I wanted to do was drive down to Ft. Ord and race a bicycle in the rain. I needed one more race to upgrade to a Cat 4 and I promised our team I'd get my upgrade by mid March so that I could join them in the 1/2/3/4 Master's race at Bariani on March 27th.

At least I didn't need to do two races. If I was going to skip one, it would be the Open aged(E) Cat 5 race. After the blood bath I witnessed last weekend, no longer having to race that class was a relief to say the least. Also, the E5 race was at 8:30am and the Masters race was at 11:20;the extra sleep is always nice as well.

It was raining really hard when I left the Bay Area, but as I rolled into Monterey it slowed to a drizzle. Then as I got closer to Ft. Ord it had stopped completely....nice!

The race started on time and although the ground was damp, the weather was dry. There were only 15 racers that bothered to show up, less than a third of the previous Ft. Ord Masters race; predicted rain was obviously the cause of the slim field. The 45+ 4/5 Masters did the typical slow start. It was a nice leisurely ride, but I wanted a workout as well, so at the beginning of the second lap, I made the decision to get the race going. I left my hiding spot and hammered for about 3/4 of a loop. I wasn't quite redlining, but close. Nine guys hung on, and now we had a race. One of the Penn Velo riders, Jeff, worked with me on the backside of that loop. Then, he and a couple of other guys continued to push the pace the rest of the way. Much better pace and workout, my plan was coming together. After getting everybody fired up I hid and recovered nicely. I noticed the winner of the last 45 Masters Ft.Ord race, Mark Perry, was hiding as well.

On the final lap things picked up even more leading into the final descent. A Webcor guy took the lead followed by a SJBC guy, then me. I soft pedaled to stay behind them all the way to the final turn. An attack came from both sides and the guy passing us on the left was Mark Perry; so I grabbed his wheel as he came by. He pulled into the lead on the final sprint with me perfectly positioned in his draft. With 100 yards to go I hammered by and took the win and the bottle of wine....nice! Winning a Cat 4 race is a great way to finish up as a Cat 5! -Mark

Snelling: Christian's Podium Race Report

2011-03-01T07:36:00.001-08:00

Who: Christian, Cat 4 rider for 7 years
Where: Snelling, California- Outside of Merced about 2 1/2 hour drive.
When: February 26, 2011
Course: 4 laps @ 12 miles each, Mostly flat with some rollers. Closed course
with both lanes up for grabs. Some gradual sandy corners and some teeth rattling
rough roads, Awesome!
Weather: Super sunny, low 50's, light wind, - Snow/ sleet was predicted.
Result: 3rd out of Aprox. 45. (results not posted yet)

Greetings Coretechs,
I'd been looking forward to the Snelling Road Race as our local criteriums
remind what it's like to drive on the LA freeways with agro drivers fighting for
every inch of free space. I wanted sun, scenery, and some gamesmanship.
Snelling provided.
Drove up with an Alto Velo rider (Holger, a Cat 3 Master's rider) after
realizing no Coretech teammates were registered for the afternoon race. We got
lost driving as the direct rodes to the start are closed, so read the race
flyer next time Christian! When we arrived to the local park to get set up, we
looked out over 1000 racers grouped up in teams talking about how they just
killed it in the mornings race and/or handing out advice for
the afternoon racers. The most common questions overheard were, What should I
wear! When did you flat? What happened to you?......
Background. Snow was predicted with temps in the high 30's. So if snow
never showed, sleet was coming down for our 50 mile race. Andrew texted twice
saying he was snowed in (but a great ski day I'm sure) so I was off alone.
Turns out, the sun stayed out, sunscreen was applied to the face, and away we
went with our very own motorcycle escort through town and for the next 50 miles.
We were a group of around 45 middle aged guys with aprox. 10 Wells Fargo
riders dominating the landscape. No other team had more than 3 riders that I
could see so it looked like it was time to form an alliance. No agreement took
shape then I spotted two strong Cal/Giant riders (strawberry guys.) I tried to
work for them a bit but no breaks got out of sight and with the lack of long
hills, everyone was able to chase. I wished for some organized attacking but to
the groups' defense, it was a gorgeous day for a bike ride.
Final lap, last minute, the mob gets strung out. Finishing straight is on a
short hill. I follow the tallest, skinniest guy (recommended) from 15th placed
wheel to a 3rd place finish passing both strawberry guys.

Received a t-shirt and a slight sunburn. The photo shoes the neon arm warmer
bandit....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennv-photos/5480631911/

Bariani Road Race is coming up team. Lets do this!

Gregg Shores Mega Monster Report 2/16/11

2011-02-16T08:11:00.000-08:00

CoreTechs Cycling Team covered itself with glory last Saturday. In Monterey that is. Congrats to Devon and everyone who went down to Ft Ord. An hour on the bike, win, top step of the podium. How can life get better?

A few miles to east, CoreTechs was having a different racing experience at the Mega-Monster Enduro on lonesome hwy 25. This event is like a TTT: 51 miles south, turn around, 51 miles back. The team was just me and the Ringer (a friend of ours, as a junior he raced with guys like Lance, George and Fast Freddy, but lately his racing companions are... less distinguished). Mark Dames was out sick. Smart move.

The concept of this ride: Bicycles can fly. No traffic, no stop signs, no big climbs, good tarmac, if you've ever caught a tailwind out there, you know you can go fast for a long way. The forecast was for sunny, warm weather. Wind 5 mph from the west. So, neutral and perfect.

It was warming up nicely by the time we got to Paicines. No mass start here, you roll when ready, and that's when your clock starts. We were the very last team to set off. The race rule is TT style: no drafting off other riders, but everyone else was long gone anyway.

We set off south feeling good, but soon the breeze felt way too strong. A stiff south wind? For 50 miles? That wasn't in the game plan. This wasn't flying, more like swimming upstream. But this was a race, we were committed, we gave it everything we had. The course on-lookers-- the cows-- had an expression that said, "we've seen better."

In a period of time only slightly less than forever, we reached the turnaround. Ah, finally! Re-fuel, re-water, enjoy that tailwind and fly back north. "We'll be doin 35 mph" bragged the Ringer, only half kidding. However, Race Director Kevin Winterfield had some bad news. "Actually, the wind can shift in the afternoon, you guys are kinda late, you'll probably get a headwind going back." Huh? Maybe we better get going.

We had a few good miles, but soon the diabolical wind had indeed shifted, now out the north and in our face again. Just as hard as in the morning. We drank a lot, but strangely no nature breaks were necessary for either of us the whole day. I sucked down as much Hammer gel as I could stomach. For me, solid food was out of the question.

We made it back. It took a while, even with the Ringer pulling much more than his fair share and both of us leaving it all on the road. I arrived crusted with salt. A beautiful day, but easily one of my five hardest days in the saddle. 6 hours at the limit.

On the positive side, easily my fastest century ever. And one hell of a workout. If I ever recover, I'm sure I'll be the stronger for it.

Mega-Monster? Never again!

Of course, if we got an early start we could get better conditions, and bring a bigger stronger team. get Dames' big engine out there, maybe train some on Canada, maybe even go down to Paicines and work out on the course...

2011 Brisbane Crit Race Report

2011-02-07T09:42:00.000-08:00

Feb 5th 2011
Brisbane Rhonde whatever, whatever Crit
Teammates: Devon Joos, Chris Scheetz, Christian Parker and John Tsamasfyros

You have heard of, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em"? Well how about, "if you can't beat 'em, have them join you?".

I arrive at 7:20 for a nine o'clock race. Beautiful day: Sun and temps in the high 40's. Nice. Before the 5's started at 8am I got on the course and did a lap. Uh oh. The course is narrow and has lots of turns in it's .6 mile loop. It also has a 180 degree turn. This turn comes right off a bit of a straight away, so you have some speed coming into it. I have to admit, first race of 2011 and confidence in the course was shaky!

Devon and Chris Scheetz show up and I introduce them to John T. This was John's very first race. What a course to have as your inauguration to racing. He started at 8am and we watched him while we warmed up on the rollers. He did great. Good positioning in the first few laps. Stayed in the top 10. Then the pace got to him and he slowly drifted off pace. For a very first race, it was a good showing. Congrats John.

Next up was our race. It was old man 3/4 cat. Total in race is about 30 to 35 guys. With my course preview fresh in mind, I did not want to ride mid pack. Way too scary taking those tight turns in a group. Instead I went out to the fourth spot from the gun. We were taking turns fast! Honestly it had me considering what the F… am I doing here. Still though, I felt good and I was racing, so I wanted to make the best of it.

First preem came up and Devon rolls by me into 4th position. On the finishing straight he goes and no one challenges his quick acceleration. He wins the preem. Nice. We keep rolling and on the next lap I hear a crash behind me. Not sure what happened, but it woke me up a bit. I move into second position. While following the leader through the 180 turn, he cant hold his line and crashes right in front of me. One of those slow motion things. I could see him going down and knew it may not be good for me. I drift to the far side and his wheels hit me. I have to come unclipped and ride the top tube, but I stay up right. I watch the group go speeding by. I get back in the pedals and catch back on. Unfortunately, the incident takes out my front derailleur. I now can not use my big ring and I am at the back of the pack. At this point I mentally checked out a bit. Was thinking about just riding it in but since I was still with the group figured I would play it out and see what happened.

We get the countdown to five laps to go. I am at the back. This kind of sucks. Two laps to go and I am pissed. Felt good, first race of the year and here I am at the back. Well, what the hell. I come out of the pack on the finishing straight going into the last lap and move back up to third position. I feel like a hamster on a wheel with my legs spinning out (no big ring). Two SJ Bike club guys start hammering. I recognize the second in line from the noon ride. Anyway, it is obvious his buddy is trying to lead him out. We hit the final straight away and a black blur goes flying by…Devon. Kid is moving. I have to say, Devon has a hell of a kick. This is Devon's fifth race and first crit and he WON… every race he has entered. This was a Cat 3/4 race and he hammered all the 3's. If he was 25 years younger, I would say kid had a future making money on a bike. Of course, he is 47, so instead, he just gets to beat up on the likes of us. As I mentioned above, if you can't beat 'em, have them join you. Good thing my year of begging and pleading for him to join us worked. I spun my hamster legs to a 4th, so I was able to stand on the podium with Devon. Made sure to have a pic taken to prove it. When D moves on Radioshack, I will say I knew him at the start.

Things learned from this race; Tight turns…be near the front. Get out of Devon's way during a sprint, he will just blow by you anyway and finally, I don’t make a good hamster. Last thing, the booty was not bad. D Money (his new name) won a set of $300 bike shoes, $25 in cash and some other junk. I got a warm smile and a hearty handshake.

Finally, I stayed for the next race and watched Christian tear up a 3rd place in the 35+ Cat 4 race. Not sure what happened to him over the winter, but whatever Christian is eating, I want some. He is kicking ass. We had a few guys come up to us after each race asking about the team. Seems we are starting to get some notice, and this year not just for our ample girth.

Keep riding.

Andrew
www.coretechscycling.com

Race Schedule is out!

2011-01-14T10:44:00.000-08:00

The CoreTechs team has grown! We now have racers in all Categories. We will have racers out in a lot of races this year, but so far we have two target races where we will try and get a good size team out. You can see these key races on the web site under schedule. Looking forward to a great year!

Levi's Gran Fondo Ride Report-Jon H-10/9/10

2010-10-13T17:02:00.000-07:00

Event: Levi Leipheimer's King Ridge Gran Fondo
Date: Saturday, October 9, 2010
Distance: 103 miles
Summary: Epic

This was the second edition of Levi's ride. A year's experience made a big
difference. Everything felt smooth and well organized. Last year it fell on my
anniversary so I did the Medio (100K) route to get home in time for dinner. This
time I went all in and tackled King Ridge. It was awesome. Definitely helped
that the day was perfectly clear with very little wind.

Lining up with 6000 riders was crazy. Amazingly, more than half the people were
from outside California. And up in the front there were some young guns: Taylor
Phinney and Ben King, some not-as-young guns: Fast Freddie Rodriguez and Dylan
Casey, plus a whole bunch more names I sort of recognized.

We rolled out at 8am and it was chilly until the sun made it up above the trees.
The first 30 miles were mostly flat with just a few rollers. The pack gradually
thinned and I settled into a good group. We worked together and covered the
distance in less than 90 minutes, even with the slow start.

Then I made my first rest stop before starting up King Ridge. I should point out
there were eight rest stops over the 100 miles. This was great to help reduce
the crowds and I never had to wait in line the four times I stopped to refill.
(Don't judge, I drink/sweat a lot.)

The climb up King Ridge was really two climbs. The first wound through the trees
and reminded me of Tunitas or the lower part of West Alpine. After a descent,
the second was through open ranch land and we were rewarded with amazing views
of the Pacific. Up on top, the narrow road was definitely bumpy though not as
rough as I had expected. The descent to the coast was technical and fun.

The stretch down highway 1 had the most traffic of the day, but there were
plenty of CHP officers keeping an eye on things. Also worth noting is there was
traffic control at every intersection, allowing us to roll through all the stop
signs, and I only remember one traffic light along the whole route.

The last big challenge of the day was the climb away from the coast up Coleman
Valley Road. It started pretty steep then mellowed as it went on a little longer
than one would hope. Again, the views from the ridge were well worth the effort.
Finally, I was flying down the other side into Occidental, then cruising along
the flats back to Santa Rosa. Another improvement this year was that the last
few miles along the bike path have been paved. Finishing on gravel last year
wasn't as fun as you'd think.

The Gran Fondo isn't a race, but everyone gets a timing chip and eventually the
results will be posted. I didn't try to kill it, took my time chowing down at
the rest stops, and finished in a little over 7 hours, with 6:27 of ride time.

This event is a terrific way to cap off the season. Having joined the CoreTechs
team and riding a lot more this year, I felt about 10 times better at the end of
the 100 mile route than I did at the end of the 100K route last year. Definitely
a reward for all the hard/fun work. There is a reason this event sells out so
fast. It would be great to do it with a group next year.

Thanks for reading.
-Jon

2010-10-13T10:11:00.000-07:00

The 2010 season has come to an end (at least as far as racing goes). What a great inaugural year for the CoreTechs Cycling Team. We have 28 team members right now, with the group split evenly between those that race and those that ride. We have five Cat 4 racers, six Cat 5 racers and one Cat 3. All of our racers are in the 35+ age category, though that would not prevent us from having younger folks race with us. Cat 5 is the entry level. You need 10 Cat 5 races and then you can upgrade to a 4. I encourage anyone interested in racing to try it out. It really is a lot of fun. There is no judgment on results, just go out and have some fun. Woman can race too by the way! We will be looking to add a few new teammates for the 2011 season, so when out riding, start recruiting riders to join us. Just have them email you and then forward to me or go to our web site for contact info (www.coretechscycling.com).

I wanted to give special thanks to Gordon at Fitness 101 and Dave at Ironkey for the tremendous support they provided. Really could not ask for better sponsors. The GREAT news is both have agreed to again sponsor the team in 2011 (along with CoreTechs). So, we will be back for year two! If there is any way you can support these businesses, do so! Check them out at www.fitness101.com and www.ironkey.com.

We also had some great non financial sponsors, including Menlo Velo (located in Menlo Park on El Camino). They offered the team some significant discounts on service, bikes and gear. Now that the off season is here, get your bike tuned up or get an upgrade from them. The discount they offered is fantastic, but regardless, their service and advice has always been top notch. Make sure to mention you are part of the team to get the discount.

Michael Kim (CoreTechs team rider) has gotten into the bike fit game. He took a week long course from the bike fit guru in Seattle and came back fully armed with knowledge. I admit I was skeptical at first, but I had Michael fit me to my bikes (two of them). He did a Fantastic job. He uses a laser machine to monitor pedal stroke and really dials in the position. If you are interested, email him at mykim@prodigy.net.

Through your membership the team was also able to donate $1500.00 to the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. This is a not for profit team, so any and all funds that are not used for equipment or sponsoring riders, goes directly to this charity. On this note, your 2011 dues will be $30.00 bucks. What a deal! To entice you to sign up early, as long as I have your size in stock, I will get you a pair of team socks with the sign up…as they say, while supplies last! For our sponsored riders (Cat 3/4 team we cover this. More incentive to upgrade for those interested)

So what do we have planned for year two? I would like to be able to donate even more to the Packard Children's Hospital next year! I was also thinking about a potential team bonding/training day up in Bear Valley during the winter. They have a great cross country ski area there. Thought we could get a good work out in and have some fun doing that for the day. Since Laura is an expert level cross country skier, I thought we could recruit her to help us out. All the team is invited and we would have a place to stay that weekend or if you want to bring the family, there are some very reasonable rentals in the area. We will also have our second annual team BBQ and many group rides.

Our race team will have a four "key" events in 2011. The full schedule will be announced once the race schedule comes out. We will though do one stage race in late March. The Top Sport Stage race in Copperopolis, CA - 2hrs from Bay Area. It is a two day race. They have a circuit race and a TT on Saturday and a road race on Sunday. Another team building event!

I think the whole team would enjoy the Levi Gran Fondo in Santa Rosa. That is a century ride that can be done at any pace you like. It occurred just this last weekend, Oct 9th. Jon H did the ride and loved it. His ride report will be posted just after this note. (URL: http://www.levisgranfondo.com). Could be fun for all of us.

We have lots of gear left as well. If you don’t have a full kit (jersey and shorts), make sure to contact Gordon (gbliss@fitness101.com). He can hook you up with the jersey's or shorts. Also looking for gear input. I have lots of thoughts, but would like to hear from you as to what gear you would like us to get.

I am contemplating ordering an alternative kit to go with our current white kit. One thought is basically the same kit but in reverse colors. So where there is white, it would be black and where black, it would be white (except on the shorts. Don’t need white shorts. They become a bit see through and I certainly don’t need that view when you guys go to the front). Kind of a Winter kit or cooler temp kit (since the darker color would be good for that).

If you use FaceBook, make sure to become a "friend" of our team. Just search under CoreTechs Cycling Team on FB to find us.

Finally, give me some feedback. Is there anything you want to see or do in the 2011 or anything we can do to make this a better team? Would love to hear from all of you!

Stay in shape over winter!

Circuit Race: Monterey: Andrew-4/5 race

2010-10-04T09:55:00.000-07:00

Central Coast Circuit Race (in Monterey at Fort Ord-Oct 2nd-they run this three times a year)
Commute: 1:40
Cat 4/5: 25 racers
Teammates: Mark Foster, Gregg Shores

I ended the year as I started, 4th place. Arrgg. Have to say it is all a matter of perspective. When I finished fourth at the Top Sport Stage race in Copperopolis last March, I was thrilled. Now; not so much. I have found that I need to learn to finish a sprint. I seem to under gear so that when I start the sprint, it feels good, but then spin out at the finish. I find you can not shift up during the final of a sprint, so I am stuck in a seated sprint. I have done this several times and it has cost me each time. I guess that gives me something to really focus on this winter.

The race started at 11:15am. I love that. Just great to not have to wake up at 4:30am to get to a race. The course is on closed roads, though twice a car passed us and once we saw two recreational riders out on the course, so keep the eyes open! The first lap started very leisurely. No one was willing to hammer, so we road it at a nice pace for a warm up. The course basically has three hills. Each is short, maybe 250 meters, and none are very steep. I would say the steepest (hill number three) is about 7%. There is then a sweeping downhill till you reach a 90 degree right turn. After that turn you have about 150 meters to the finish which is a slight up hill (maybe 5% grade). I noticed that in the September race, the guy who won it was in our race. He was wearing a Mission Cycling kit, so I kept an eye on him.

On lap three they had a prime. That is a prize to the winner of that lap. For this race it was a bottle of wine. I had no intention of going for it, but was in second position coming around that 90 degree turn to the finish so figured what the heck. I sprinted for it and was passed about a bike length from the line by the guy in the Mission Cycling kit. At least now I knew he was one to seriously watch!

There were a few surges here and there but there but for the most part the pack stayed together. Coming into the last lap (I think we did six laps) the pace picked up and you could feel the tension pick up with it. I wanted to keep myself in the top five to eight riders so I had a shot at the end. I would jump from one rider to the next as someone would try and shoot out for a lead. Coming into the final right hand turn I found myself in third position. Once we hit that 150 meter to the uphill finish, I sprinted past the second guy and was closing quick on the first guy. With about 25 meters to go I was spinning and could not stand so had to stay seated. All I could do was try and pick up the leg turnover. I got to half a bike length of the leader when two San Jose Cycling team guys pushed through. They knocked shoulders with me to squeeze through on the line. All four of us crossed the line within a tire of each other. Turns out the guy who won was the teammate of the Mission Cycling kit guy I was watching (there were two of them in the race). The guy I was watching finished in 5th, so I beat him!

This is a very fun course and pretty safe. There is one turn that you have to pay attention too. It is just before the downhill to the long straight away that leads to the 90 degree finish turn. Otherwise it is straight forward. The hills make is challenging, but not so challenging that you have to worry about them. It is a good power climber course. Not for those little guys who climb OLH in 17 minutes. More for the big strong guys. I will do this race several times next year!

Andrew
www.coretechscycing.com

Winters RR-Andrew-Cat 4 35+ 2010

2010-09-08T10:38:00.000-07:00

Winters Road Race (1:45 hrs from Peninsula)
Cat 4 35+ (44 racers)
Teammates: John Pauley, Chris Scheetz
Place: 6th

This is a fun race. It is slightly rolling with one Sandhill distance climb about 2/3into the race. The hill has two sections. The first is through the feed zone and is probably about 4% grade. It is not a difficult section, but gets you a bit out of breath. Then you hit a flat for maybe 1/8 of a mile till the next climb. That section is fairly steep (about 7%) and about 500 meters long. The climb is followed by a rather steep and twisty descent. It is a fun downhill, but you need to be on your game as you can easily overcook a corner and find yourself in a bit of trouble. You do two laps with each lap about 24 miles.

The key to this race is surviving the hill. The first lap the group broke up on the hill, but then regrouped afterwards as no one wanted to hammer the second lap till we made it back to the hill again. Once on the hill the second time the race heated up. I made sure to stay in the top five or six guys so as not to get gapped. Once we hit the final switch back of the climb, I was really hurting. I had thoughts of cracking. I am sure the people at the finish line 10 miles away could hear my breathing at that point. Still though, I hung on and came over the top in about fifth position. We went screaming down the back and hit the bottom with about a five second gap on the next seven guys. The five of us tried to pace line and stay away, but the back seven eventually caught us. We were now a pack of 12. We then worked to stay away from everyone else, each person taking about a 30 second pull at the front. We were moving pretty good. The finish is about five miles from the bottom of the hill. I tried to stay patient, but was getting anxious. When we hit the 1k to go sign some guy took off full speed up the road. Another chased and I got on his wheel. We caught the front guy who then slowed with about 500 meters to go. We were all back together again. Then with 200 meters to go another guy launches off the front. I am boxed in on the right side of the road with someone directly in front and on my left. Unless I want to get real aggressive and probably crash, I have no choice but to wait till the guy in front or on my left takes off. With about 150 to go they do. We are hammering. My tongue is hanging out and I basically hold my position through to the line. I end up 6th and win the coveted T-Shirt.

This is a good race. The hill offers a challenge and prevents the lollygagging that occurred at Dunnigan. At the end of this race, you feel like you raced. Good to see the team well represented too. I posted a few pics on our web site, so check those out.

Dunnigan Hills Epic Story: Mark Dames-Cat 5 45+

2010-08-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

Race: Dunnigan Hills
8/14/2010
45+ Cat 5 group.

Rider: Mark D.

Steve McQueen said, “Racing is life. Everything else, is just waiting”.
Well, in Dunnigan, there was a lot of “everything else” going on.
The racing was, shall we say, limited, and when it did happen, it was over in about three minutes.

Let me begin with the waiting.
This was to be a racing double header for myself and my daughter who would accompany me to the aforesaid bicycle road race, and co-author a relay team effort at the Folsom Olympic Distance Triathlon on Sunday. The plan was to leave early by noon on Friday to beat traffic on the drive up to Woodland where we would spend the night before the Saturday morning race in nearby Yolo. (Why this isn’t called the “Yolo race” escapes me, and I’ll explain the thin connection to Dunnigan later). The “waiting” began in earnest on I-80 when I suspect an obligatory summons was sent out to every Contra Costa County goof with an automobile advising them that I was approaching Fairfield and that they should immediately flood the freeway with SUV’s going 5 mph so that my forward progress would be impeded to a crawl. The good citizens of CoCo County were attentive to their duties, and successfully extracted two hours from my life, which tragically will never be recovered.

Arriving in Woodland, further delay was threatened when the motel clerk advised that my online reservation was made for a smoking room (they still have those?) and that no non-smoking rooms were available on the ground floor. As it happened we were in luck per the clerk, as a baseball team had just cancelled, opening up a second floor non-smoker. Fine, we’ll haul the bikes to the second floor. Gimme the key.

After checking in we drove the five minutes to the Yolo exit off I-5 to reconnoiter the race course. This a 43 mile, clockwise circuit of county roads, along the flat farmland of the Woodland area. The roads are mostly dead straight, set at right angles to each other, in giant grids that are reflective of the square mile farm plots that typify rural areas. Occasionally, hilly topography presents the anomaly to this pattern, and some curves and climbing opportunities appear on the course. John Pauley has cautioned that there is a crucial left turn crossing Highway 505 that will turn into a fierce, pelaton splitting wind. Those who are lagging behind the leaders at this juncture he advises, will be subjugated to playing catch up and will likely fail. We find the aforementioned turn along a frontage road that has been following 505 for five and a half miles. At the juncture of Road 14, the frontage road rises gently to the freeway overpass level wherein the left turn lies. Across 505 road 14 winds and twist with ups and downs before falling back down to the valley floor for a dead straight run due West to a right turn at Road 85. Pauley advises that this entire segment is critical. Stick to the leaders or you’re done here. Several miles down 14 I pull over and get out of the car to test the wind. It’s not a head wind but is coming from the side and behind, a three-quarter tail wind. I wonder if the time of day is the difference. I also note its 92 degrees out. We complete the reconnaissance of the route arriving at the final leg, a right turn at the “town” of Dunnigan (a cross road junction with a couple of buildings) , and a flat 10.9 mile straightaway South on Road 99W. I think in automotive terms a lot, and this section screams out for high speed, the kind of triple digit mile per hour blast one might due if a Ferrari was nosed down this stretch of asphalt. I don’t know why but I’m thinking huge pulls by organized teams and breaks are going to go down here.

The race finish is just off 99W on a cross street that crosses the adjacent I-5 Freeway on Road 96. We make the turn and explore the road. It ends in a “T” a half mile after the overpass. Somewhere along here the finish line will be. Andrew has advised that the decision in the race will likely be made on the sprint up and down this overpass. I’m not entirely comfortable with letting this go down to a holeshot on an uphill stretch. The 96 cross street is almost imperceptible from the rest of the landscape along the vast length of Road 99W. We return to identify some landmarks. Several large silos are on either side of the road just before the turn. Those will be my markers. I decide, somewhere before the silos, I’m going to launch.

The race website advises that race registration will close at 7:45 am with race waves starting thereafter. The next morning I’m there by 6:30, I get my number, and park. Andrew, Mark F. and John H. show up. Gregg S. is in route but has to wait in a crowd that is competing for limited registration resources. We wait. The start time gets pushed back 15 minutes. We wait some more. The start is on a side road leading to Road 17, and the 43 mile loop. Hundreds of racers are here. I note numerous teams, Taleo, Wells Fargo, Smith Barney, Webcor, and many others. The organizers line up the waves, give brief instruction about staying on the right side of the road, and send them off. One wave seems to have over a hundred people. Andrew and John P go off. Finally it’s the 45+ cat 5 group turn. Mark Foster, Gregg Shores and myself are lined up. I recognize several guys from the Copper Town race, including Thor Hushovd’s lookalike and his teammate. Taleo has three riders in our group. They’re rail thin and look like bike racers. I expect them to be a force. One guy joining the lineup gives cause for concern. He’s wearing a motorcycle helmet with a face guard, the kind you see dirt bike guys wearing. The helmet only partially contains a long beard and wild frizzed hair which seems to explode out the back. He looks like a helmeted Hagrid from the Harry Potter movies. I guess that this chap regards bike racing as a contact sport. Hmmm. I’ll keep my distance. The Coretechs trio poses for a photo shot taken by Gregg’s wife Susan. Having memorialized his appearance, Gregg’s rear tire then blows out, just as we are sitting on the starting line. He offers his apologies for having to withdraw without a sweat and promptly makes lunch reservations. No goo packs for him today.

At 9:30, the race starts and a pack of about 35 riders is off. I try to stay near the front, about 10 riders back. Mark F. does better and is generally in the first 5. The roads are narrow and we’ve been advised that if we cross the center line we’ll be disqualified. There is a race referee following our wave on a motorcycle to enforce the sanction. This makes positioning in the pack a bit dicey. There are large tractors and other pieces of farm equipment that lumber along these roads which make excursions into the opposite lane inadvisable. Within the first ten miles a solo break goes off the front. He gets out several hundred yards and hovers there looking back to see if anyone will join him. No one does. He gets swallowed up within minutes. I am nervous about getting gapped. I stay close to the wheels in front. They are going to provide me shelter from the Pauley promised hurricane winds that are coming up. I have a business card sized race map zip-tied to my handle bars. I glance down to check the mileage on each segment to compare with my bike computer. I want to be ready for every turn. During one of my map checks I nearly run into a rider in front of me. I decide not to do that again. As we approach mile 13.8, the critical turn to Road 14, the group seems to get antsy and starts to crowd forward on the run up to the overpass. Hagrid is off the pavement passing people on the gravel. I believe something is going to happen. I accelerate to the front.. We are up and around the turn and I tuck in behind the leaders. We roll into the hills at a brisk pace. People are up out of the saddle keeping the pace high but there are no break away efforts. The feared split in the pelaton hasn’t yet occurred. When we flatten out onto the valley floor I expect a huge push at high speed to split the group. It doesn’t happen. I keep to the left side of the pack to avoid what I perceive is wind coming from the right. The wind appears moderate. No gales are blowing out here today. We get all the way to the Northbound right turn at 19 miles without event. Now undulating hills take us up and down numerous rises. The schizophrenic leaders accelerate up hills, then slow on the downhills, sometimes threatening to crash the too-fast approaching rear of the group. An hour into the “race” and we’ve passed the selection point, I’m not tired, not even working hard. I start to think I could make it to the finale. I expected a sustained hammer-fest attempt by the leaders to thin out the crowd, but this group appears to have no such ambitions. We turn right on Road six, a section with more undulating hills and several miles along the pelaton suddenly slows. Dismounted riders from a previous wave are out in the middle of the road waving us into the other lane. We come upon a bike crash with a victim lying prone on the pavement. As we pass the scene the front end starts to accelerate. It’s a little more than a get-back-up-to speed acceleration. Maybe this will be the attempt to split the pack. It doesn’t come to pass. The entire pack reforms.

We come out of the hills and pass over I-5 for the right turn South on 99W and the 10.9 mile straightway. I wait for a team to try and pull away. I wait in vain. No one goes. After a while I see silos in the distance but they are only on one side of the road, not the silo landmarks that straddle 99W on both sides at the final Road 96 intersection. We move past at a methodical pace which is slowing. Miles go by. Instead of the usual two-across single file lines, guys are arrayed across the entire lane and are dogging it at 20-23 mph. They are blocking any movement up. I’m boxed in at the back. The pelaton seems content to dawdle along in anticipation of the final sprint. I’m not game for that. I try to get around on the dirt side of the road. No one is moving to let me through. One guy comments “I want this wheel” meaning he doesn’t want me to impede his draft of the guy immediately in front. Geez, I just want to go around ALL you guys, Get out of my way! I try and move left to the center line. There’s no room there without violating the center line rule. Minutes drag by. Even Hagrid makes no move. A crease finally opens up on the left side of the pelaton. I look at my odometer. We’re at 41 miles and change. My google maps route has calculated the route total to be only 42 miles and change. The twin silos are less than 1 mile off now. We are still at parade pace. We need some chaos. I decide to take off.

Up the left side I go head down and pumping. As usual Mark F. is near the front when I go. The speedometer goes to 30 mph. I know at least one guy has jumped on my tail but I keep going. I hope that Mark F. is being attentive but I can’t look back. This is it. This is my two minutes of glory. I imagine Phil Liggett screaming “Dames has gone, Dames has gone!” I’m out in front with less than a mile to go. My jersey is zipped up in anticipation of the finish. Somewhere up there the helicopter cameras must be following my every pedal stroke. No doubt now the sponsor is going to renew my contract for next year. Time and distance seem to compress. All the oxygen goes to the leg muscles and my brain goes dormant. I can usually hold a time trial tempo on a dead flat in the 25-27 mph range for a while, but now 30 looks like a nice number on my speedo, and this is pure adrenaline rush so I decide to stick with 30. Hey, why not? It seems like I’m leading for an eternity. In reality its probably a minute plus of red lining effort. This feels good. I have control of my own destiny now. Thoughts of amortizing my effort are dismissed and I keep the pedal to the metal. All my chips are in. There don’t appear to be any other contenders for the front. They’re probably all back there huddled in the draft debating why I didn’t get the dawdle message.

I’m not yet at the silos when the leg muscles start to mutiny. I send down orders for more engines but the glycogen and oxygen stores have been exhausted, and the speedometer is falling off precipitously. I’m desperate for more speed and downshift to get my cadence back up. If I can just make it to the turn I can practically coast home. I’m down to 25 mph when the pelaton hammers by me. Not just a few of them, but everyone. I attempt to latch on to their draft but to no avail. They are like greased telfon, and I can’t grab them. I need a rope and a grappling hook, anything. It’s no use. I’m going backwards. I’ve gone from 30 mph missile to torpedoed barge in less than a minute. A Cancellara seat-tube motor (ask Laura about this) would be nice about now but I’ve failed to plan in that regard. There’s no pity in the pelaton. No words of encouragement, no thanks for the lead out, are uttered as they fly by. They shed me like a used candy wrapper to the curb and move on. We pass the silos and turn onto 96. The overpass looms large, and I get out of the saddle to struggle up the hill. Somewhere up there the race is being decided without me. I summon the spirits of Old La Honda, and surprisingly my legs respond. I crest the hill still at a modicum of speed and spin down the other side, up shifting again and again, gasping for more O2. Two targets appear in front of me. One guy looks spent, the other guy is sitting up as if confused about the finish. Ha! Ducks in a barrel. I claw my way past them both ---finish line ! I barely make it out of the cellar. At the front Mark Foster has made his way to fourth place! Congratulations to him for back to back finishes in the points.

After 42 miles of riding, this turns out to be a one mile race.

Lessons learned:
I’m glad I drove the course before hand. Knowing what was ahead gave me more confidence. The finish line, and last turn landmarks were also good to know.
Now that I’m figuring out how these races go it occurs to me that one’s sprint time and speed over given distance should be a known quantity like a 40 or 100 yrd dash time is for a football player.
I could see a benefit to practicing maximum effort pulls to see exactly how long time-wise and over what distance one could maintain a solo pull at a given speed before blowing up (example: 30 mph for 1 minute and ½ mile). On race morning I’d then backtrack that distance from the finish line and find a landmark for my launch. My idea of what I could do, and reality turned out to be at least a quarter mile off.
All in all a great learning experience.

Dunnigan Hills RR-2010-45+ Cat 5-Mark Foster

2010-08-19T09:17:00.001-07:00

Race: Dunnigan Hills Road Race
Race Date: 8-14-10
Distance: 43 miles
Class: 45+ Cat 5
Rider: Mark C. Foster

So here I am again writing up a race report for my third weekend racing in a row, and the fifth bicycle race in my life. Now although I’m a newby bicycle racer, I have literally hundreds of motorcycle races logged over a twenty year period. So I definitely have a lot of racing experience in leather, but not in spandex.

I have numerous accomplished bicycle racing friends that told me Dunnigan Hills can be a tough race. I have a lot of respect for these riders so I took it seriously and prepared for another sufferfest equal to the likes of Patterson Pass. I knew it probably wouldn’t be as painful, but there was only one way to find out…ride the race.

The week before Patterson I felt crappy, but the week before Dunnigan I felt good. I have no idea why the difference, but I was glad ‘cause good is always better than crappy.

Andrew, John and I met in Portola Valley at 0 dark thirty and loaded up his car for a morning blitz up to the race. Dunnigan is in Woodland, Yolo County and does a 43 mile loop around hwy 505 and hwy 99 just north of Hwy 80. It took us an hour and a half to get there. I hard boiled some eggs the night before and had a leisurely breakfast on the way up. It was an easy drive and I was looking forward to a nice Saturday ride in the rolling hills of Yolo county.

Registration was fairly painless. I did notice that the longest lines are for the old guy classes. Apparently as we age and go through our midlife crisis we all decide that bicycle racing will keep us youthful and fit; or maybe it’s a way to make the everyday pain of life seem downright pleasant when compared to the suffering we endure during a bicycle race. Either way, it seems the majority of racers at these events are over 45. So relatively speaking, at 48, I’m just a kid…..nice!

Since the start of our different class races was over a half an hour apart, my car mates warmed up with out me; and when I got out there to warm up, I decided to go check out the finish which was a couple of miles from the starting area. I saw on the course map (that Mark D. handed out), there was a right turn to a short straight over a freeway overpass then a short blast to the finish. They were closing the road to through traffic and letting us use the whole road. That’ll be pretty crazy, sort of like the pros we watch on TV….cool. I rode over the freeway and saw that it was not a short blast to the finish at all, but a 700 meter straight shot after the overpass. Way too long for me to sprint. Note to self,”Don’t lead into the last turn or over the freeway”.

Mark Dames, Greg Shores and I lined up for our race at about 9:30. As we were waiting for our start, a tire popped and the sound of 120 psi leaking to zero ripped at our eardrums. We all looked down at our bikes to see if we were the unlucky bloke who flatted at the starting line. After squeezing my tires I was relieved to find it wasn’t me. Greg wasn’t so lucky. His rear tire died at the line, and with sew-ups and no time, he was screwed. Race over. Yes we were all lucky Greg couldn’t inflict his can of industrial strength woop-ass on us. Even though it was one more person I didn’t have to race, I was bummed for him ‘cause I knew how excited he was to ride;as this was his first race…Damn!

The race started at around 9:35 or so and had 39 riders signed up to race. I knew one was out and that left 38. I never counted to verify the number but it didn’t matter anyway because I was going to ride the whole race at the front. I was told to do that, because Dunnigan has a couple spots where a break will work; so if you’re not prepared to go with them, then you’ll finish behind them. I wasn’t going to miss that opportunity should it arise. The pace was very slow, so staying at the front required a little maneuvering around because I wasn’t the only one who wanted to make sure he didn’t miss a break. I wasn’t worried about a one man break, nor was anyone else…there were several of those. Sure enough they came right back to us. One guy took off a few times, I was curious as to where he’d be in the end…his doping regimen gave him confidence, but not brains. At this beginner level no one could or would get organized enough to try a real attempt at a break. So the race was super easy for 41miles. We were chatting and laughing and having a wonderful Saturday stroll through the rolling hills of Dunnigan. No pain other than having to take a leak…bummer. I didn’t need all that water at this pace. We did roll up on the aftermath of a bad crash. The ambulance and fire truck was there with some poor racer on the ground writhing in pain…not good. I didn’t wear a heart monitor, but other than the last couple of miles, that was probably the highest my pulse got during the ride, was from the sympathetic pain of watching the aftermath of that crash. I didn’t wear it ‘cause I figured it didn’t matter because I was going to hang on to whatever or whomever started to hammer, regardless of what my Garmin said. I wasn’t going to psych myself out by looking at the numbers…like at Patterson. I was hanging on or going up in big ball of lactic flames and coronary overload. Yep…a do or die….didn’t need a heart monitor for that; pain was my monitor. As it turned out there wasn’t much pain. In fact, climbing with our loyal Coretechs teammate Laura Sterns is much much harder than riding in this pack. I was starting to worry that this was just way too slow and this race was going to be won by the best sprinter and fitness was going to have very little to do with it. With about five miles to go, Mark D. told me the turn was at the two big white silos, so be ready. He had been leading the pack off and on and I had a feeling I knew what he meant. He pulled everyone a few times in the last few miles and then with about a mile or two to go before the turn, he took off like a scalded ape! It was beautiful. He was down low and hammering. The pack took off after him and I settled in to a comfortable fourth position or so and everybody’s pulse was going up and it was game on! That was exactly what I needed; a little suffering before the sprint to soften up some of the stronger guys. Thanks Mark! He pulled a long way and must have completely spent himself in a blaze of selfless glory, because I had no idea Mark was so strong and flat out mad, it was awesome. I like to think he did it for me, but I’m not sure. He may have just been feeling a deep dark anger inside that made him want to turn himself inside out due to sheer masochistic self destructive insanity that few of us ever experience. Whatever the reason, all I knew was: he threw himself on the grenade and lit off the beginning of two miles of fireworks not spent yet due to all of the extra powder we had left to burn from such a meandering pace.

The rest is sort of a blur so it’ll be interesting to hear Mark’s perspective, but what I remember is a big guy hammering by Mark and me jumping on to his rear wheel as he passed me and me not letting anyone in as they were trying to get over to grab his wheel too. I have no idea what happened to Mark after that, I’m assuming he locked up at some point and limped in to an agonizing finish.

It was perfect. I was second coming into the final turn. As the next guy passed me, I could grab that wheel and so on, for a glorious finish. Then the leader blew the corner and went straight into the dirt on the left side of the road…Damn. Now I was leading with too far to go before the finish. I backed off a hair so I wouldn’t lead over the overpass, and sure enough, two guys split me. One on each side, and they were flying! I lit my afterburner to stay with them and went after the wheel on my right and stuck to it like Velcro. I wasn’t giving up. After what Mark did, the least I could do is try 100% with everything in my soul to hang on…I did. I was in a great position to win this thing, when I looked up and saw a police car blocking the entire left lane and about a third of the right lane…Oh my God! This was not safe and a potentially really bad situation was forming in front of me… in fast motion. All of the sudden my mind went from, “I’m gonna win this thing!” to, “Holy Crap I really need to survive this thing” Now you couldn’t see the finish line and we all started moving to the far right, so to not smash into three tons of flashing steel. I thought about the other thiry-five riders right on my tail ready to pile drive me into the side of the car just in case I survive the first impact!. This was ridiculous. I had to back off a hair so I wouldn’t hit the guy in front of me and immediately there was someone on my right so I couldn’t go there. I missed the cop car by a few inches and was boxed in. I dug deep after passing the obstacle, but my drive had been thwarted by the dude on my right who had a better position. I powered through the finish in fourth place….Damn. Still good, but not what I thought it could have been if there was a clean unobstructed finish. Apparently, I seem to be a better sprinter than I thought and I gotta admit the adrenaline from that final sprint was up there with all of the other things I’ve raced. Now I’m starting to get addicted to racing and fully understand how the pros get hooked. It’s a lot of fun when you’re not suffering the entire time…go figure. Unfortunately that’s my last race of the year(I think). The next race the team is doing is full, unless I sign up for the open Masters class. That might take some of the fun out of it and put the pain back in. Either way, I’ll see you guys and gals on one of our team training rides!
Ciao, Mark F.

Patterson Pass RR- Mark Foster - 35+ Cat 5 Report

2010-08-09T19:57:00.000-07:00

Race: Patterson Pass 8-8-10
Course: 2 Loops for a total of 46 miles and 4400 ft of climbing
Conditions: Windy and around 70 degrees F
Class: Masters 35+ Cat 5
Coretechs racer: Mark C. Foster

Patterson Pass Road Race is not one you do for fun….it’s not fun. If you’re not a good climber you probably won’t do very well, but you’ll suffer either way. My first ever bicycle race was Patterson in 09’ and I swore I’d never race a bicycle again for the rest of my life. Meeting Andrew and joining the Coretechs team made me break my promise. He convinced me racing can be fun and after Copper Town, I will agree that he’s right. I felt I had to ride Patterson again though, to redeem myself after last year’s miserably painful failure. Last year I made a lot of mistakes, but basically suffered in the battle for fifth place for two hours and then cramped up so profusely with only four miles to go that I was reduced to first gear and eight miles per hour on the flat. People were passing me at the end like I was chained to a post. I finished 15th in 09’. It took me a long time to fully recover because obviously I twisted myself completely inside out.

Now here I was a year later, smarter and better trained. The weather was twenty-five degrees cooler this year and you could tell by the windmills that the wind was howling over the top of the first climb….Yipee! I needed to be able to keep up with the leaders over the pass and try to recover and have something for the finish. The fear of cramping was etched into my brain so I bought “enduralites” to try to get through this miserable race without locking up somewhere before the finish. I also carried other food which I was going to force myself to ingest. Water was critical last year, so I was going to force myself to drink both bottles before the neutral feed zone so I could grab two more and be hydrated for a strong finish…I didn’t do that last year…to my demise.

I’m not a great climber by any stretch, but would classify myself as pretty good for a Cat 5 guy my age(48). To put it in perspective for you bay area riders, I can break 19 minutes up Old La Honda but not back to back. I’d been trying to climb recently, but seemed to have worked too hard the week before Patterson, ‘cause I was feeling kind of blown out and “bonky”. So I rode super easy Thursday, nothing Friday, and an easy spin Saturday before the race. By Sunday morning I felt OK, not great, but not bad either. I spent the night in Livermore at a friends house, Craig Ayers, who I shamefully convinced should ride the race with me…he did. It was his first race and I did warn him that he would feel more pain than he’s ever experienced cycling and might in fact cramp up. He said that he had done plenty of centuries and has never cramped, so seriously doubted my premonition of him cramping… he put a bunch of my “enduralites” in his jersey just in case. Yea, OK, we’ll see.

I was running late and didn’t get much warm up before the start and unfortunately knew the pace was going to hurt, seeing as the race starts with a 1500 foot climb in five miles. I’d be warmed up soon enough. The race started and didn’t seem too bad. It was super windy so I tried to hide in about forth or fifth up the hill. The pain level was tolerable, I looked at my Garmin as the front group crested the first hill, we had been racing for 25 minutes, with a long way to go. I led the fast decent down to north Flynn Rd and was wishing there were some technical sections so to use my twenty years of motorcycle racing experience. Unfortunately it’s basically just a straight shot until it flattens out. I soft pedaled hoping I’d get passed so I wouldn’t lead into the next section. Sure enough, I dropped back and was in a great place to endure the next small climb. It seemed the pace quickened up the short 500 foot climb on N. Flynn or maybe I was feeling fatigue, either way my pulse was climbing and I was slipping back in the pack of what was now 15 or so riders. I couldn’t believe there were so many guys that hung on during those ascents…damn! The grade leveled out and the wind seemed to back off a bit and I was able to hide in the pack and force myself to eat and drink. I got through one bottle by the time we crossed over 580 at Altamont Pass and was actually starting to feel a little better. I was near the rear feeling pretty good and we came into a fast chicane(right – left) through a stop sign that the cops were controlling to allow the racers to bomb through it. The guy I was following checked up and parked it through the corner so a ten to fifteen bike length gap formed in front of him as the pack started to hammer. Damn it! So I had to sprint to close the gap and it took way too long to catch back up. By the time we caught back my pulse had nearly redlined again as I expended way too much energy for following a strong rider afraid to go fast through the corner. We dropped three guys in that little mishap. The pace was brisk all the way to the right turn on to Midway where the pace slowed. It remained slow all the way back to the start/finish area, so it was at this point that I finished my second bottle of water and forced down some more food. I felt really full but was going to grab more water at the neutral feed zone anyway to prepare for the final loop from hell.

After grabbing two full water bottles at the feed zone, I got in front to try and slow the pace. The wind was horrendous. I don’t like leading, especially on a climb in a headwind! That worked for a couple of minutes but then the climbers decided to have none of that tactic…the pace quickened and I dropped to the back of the pack. I was still OK, but my pulse was reaching the high 160’s and I thought about tossing my water to lighten the load. Then came Satan and his band of devils… The young leaders of a different race caught and passed us about halfway up the climb. The climbers from our group wanted none of that humiliation, so our pace picked up to match theirs. I tossed one of my waters as my pulse passed 175 and climbing. The pain worsened…180. Do I toss my last water? I stood up and hung on for another few minutes, but then it happened…a gap. S**T! The wind started howling again…the gap widened…pulse 183. I pushed harder. The pain was more than I could handle, I just couldn’t get it out of my mind, I couldn’t hang on any further, If only I felt better…I CAN”T TAKE IT ANYMORE!! I was suddenly alone in the raging wind….alone watching the pack pull away. I can’t catch up. So the wheels basically came off the cart right then…I got dropped and there was no way to get back on because I still had over a mile to go of climbing with a 20% grade at the end. So at that point I pretty much knew that as far as getting a good finish, it was over. For the rest of the hill I passed other suffering loners from other classes who long ago lost their race as well. We were racing against the demons in our mind now. I finally reach the top…too tired to be angry. The decent wasn’t technical enough for me to catch up and there were too many guys to reel them in on the flat….game over. So I decided not to blow myself out for this week and just finish. I slowed and let my pulse drop to a less painful level. A couple of other guys got dropped on the next hill and I kept them in sight the entire rest of the lap until the finish. No one else caught me and I caught and passed a few solo riders from other classes who were also blown up, dejected and just trying to get home. Yes, we were all doing the ride of shame. At least I wasn’t reduced to pile of drooling goo, cringing in pain, going eight miles an hour on the flat like last year. This year was different…still lonely, but different. I had recovered from my climbing debacle and there was power left in the motor, but no sprint finish. No chatting after the race. I ended up five minutes behind the leaders at the finish. 2:19:00 according to my Garmin. 11th place. I felt like I had a bad day, but life has a lot of those and this was just another one. No big deal. I rode Patterson because I knew it’d be really hard for me. As we all know, pain seems to be a big part of this sport and there are times when you can break through and keep going and times when you can’t. If one of those insecure thoughts hit you at the wrong time, it’s over…you get dropped. Unfortunately I couldn’t push through the pain. I still like the sport, but it is very humbling for an old novice like me.

Oh, I almost forgot. My buddy, Craig, finished the race…barely. He started cramping on the big climb of the second lap and suffered through the entire lap…but finished. He had never cramped at all before and couldn’t believe it and how brutal it is. It took him three hours to finish, but I was proud of him for not giving up! Apparently we all face our own demons at Patterson Pass.
-Mark F.

VERY FUNNY Race Report: Mark Dames-45+ Cat 5

2010-08-03T15:05:00.000-07:00

Race Report: Copper Town 7-31-2010
Mens : 45+ Cat 5
Filed by: Mark D.

The morning of July 31st started for me in the deepest woods of Arnold, California, where I had been in training retreat for the past week. I was swimming, biking and running at 4500 feet, amidst the fresh air, pine trees and splendor of the mountains. The preparation had included several bike rides with several thousand feet of climbing and several runs up and down the hills of Blue Lake Springs. I figured my altitude embellished red blood cell count was now rivaling any EPO enhanced TDF contestant. I had allowed myself a generous two day taper, going into Saturday morning. I was ready for this pivotal moment in my racing career. 5:00 am my alarm went off and I suited up in the CT gear, had breakfast, loaded a cup of coffee, and set off down the hill to Copperopolis.

If Arnold is, as my wife describes “Heaven on earth”, the race site of Copperopolis could best be described as Dante’s Inferno. 3000’ lower, in the rolling foot hills of the Central Valley, its featureless landscape is vacant of any shade, and the subject of regular 100+ degree heat during the Summer. The actual town, a backwater stop off Highway 4, looks to be a hodgepodge of tattered structures whose purpose seemed to have passed somewhere in the early part of the prior century. I had driven by this town many times before, but never dared to stop. It seemed the type of place where vultures might circle in anticipation of any living thing which might attempt to cross the desolate landscape. As I approach, I am mindful that the CHP has a station here, and regularly crawl the adjacent highway in search of inattentive speeders. I slow for Copperopolis, but continue on the highway for about a mile to what my youngest daughter refers to as “Mickey’s Toon Town”, a reference to the Disneyland theme area. “Copper Town”, as it was named by it’s developer, is a surreal apparition, rising off the highway, like a Hollywood Western set, about a mile from the original town of Copperopolis. A replica of a Western main street, with a city hall like structure, quaint storefronts, city square, and meandering side walks, it appears brand new and sporting freshly painted exteriors. Built by the Dole Corporation to augment their golf resort and residential development 4 miles away, Copper Town, stands almost completely vacant, as if waiting for a play or movie filming to start. Fully, four-fifths of the shops are empty. If Copper Town has one significant attribute, it’s free and bountiful parking. All around the “town” are vacant parking lots waiting for tourists who never arrive. I select a spot, park, and make my way to a cabana in the picturesque town square where race registration is set up. They ask for my license. Ha! I’m prepared for this. I’ve got one. I hand it over with casual confidence. I’m part of the “in” crowd, I’ve got a team, I belong, I’m here to take home some prize money, where do I sign for it? They give me a number and tell me it goes on my right, backside, but sideways. I have no idea what they are talking about. I ask them to explain. (They don’t have electronic timing chips, there’s a video camera at the finish line to record finishing places) My cover is blown. This is my first bike race.

The day before I had driven down with my oldest daughter to reconnoiter the route. She blocked behind in the car while I road the 5.5 mile loop on my bike. I recorded about 18.5 mph in 19 minutes to complete it. I wasn’t trying to go really fast, but I was attempting a brisk pace. Andrew had advised to expect 22-23 mph average speed. This concerns me as I perceive a fair headwind on the way out, and an extra 4 mph in pace would have cost me a lot. I estimate I have to last four laps to complete the one hour race.

Race morning I am confident and feeling good. My bike is stripped per Andrew’s advice, sans aero bars, tool kit, and extra water. He asked me if I was kidding when I asked him about any proscriptions against aero equipment. His admonition that they’re banned brought a similar “Is he kidding?” query from my wife. Cultures collide. I am a triathloner, where drafting is banned and draws four minute time penalties from the race referees, where it is man and aero machine in the race of truth against the clock. This is new territory for me. Some sort of Neanderthal purism, that frowns, nay banishes aero technology. I wonder how serious can they be. I’ve forgotten getting blown off the back of the Spectrum ride at the first ascent some months ago. I am Samson, ready to enter the Lions’ den.

John P. arrives and parks. I recognize the Leopard bike on top of his car before I recognize him. There is a stern countenance about the fellow which suggests he is deep in thought, or committed to the task at hand to the exclusion of other worldly influence. He emerges from his vehicle and takes off for race registration. Andrew, Mark and Christian arrive. Each has a similar grim determination that seems to smolder beneath an apparent unconcerned façade. We go out for a warm up ride. Andrew counsels to “be near the front on the turn arounds”, “don’t lead the pack, let someone else do the work” , “don’t chase down breaks”, “get third wheel for the best draft”, “keep the heart rate low” , “conserve for the final sprint.” He’s broken this down into a game plan formula. Probably an adaption of his old Marine Corps play book. These are serious guys.

I believe I’m going to get dropped on the first lap.

Race start comes. It all seems surprisingly informal. No loudspeaker, no national anthem, a single guy with a couple of words about “British style” riding (the opposite side of the road) and a whistle. It blows and we’re off. The initial couple of turns in town take us out to Little John Road, a new wide stretch of road with a center divider that’s been built to access the golf resort of Saddle Creek four miles away. It hasn’t begun to show the degradation of 100 degree heat and blistered asphalt. It’s smooth with gentle rolling hills. I take the 3rd wheel thing seriously and sprint after the second turn in town to get it. To my surprise it’s uncontested. We hit the main road and the pace gradually increases to 18, 19, 20 mph. Number 1 starts to lift the pace, 21, 22 mph. He holds the pace, I hold #3. This is easy in the draft, I’m not seeing how this is racing. Our pack leader looks intent on setting the pace. I’m enjoying the benefits. After several minutes number 1 breaks right to stop pace making and number two immediately drops back in response. I’m suddenly in my first bike race and in the lead! Well then. I can lead this pack. I drop down and hang my forearms off the front to get aero and start to pump. We’re going 23, 24 mph. I’m a minute into this and remember Andrew’s admonition “stay third”. I’m working too hard. I hear Phil and Paul in the back of my head talking about the “tremendous amount of work being done at the front of the pelaton”. I complete the thought, “by the dummies with big egos”. I pull off to the right and yield the lead. I get along side teammate Mark Foster. He comments about the speed (or lack thereof) and that his heart rate is only 110. I confess that I didn’t bring a heart rate monitor. He’s got some max heart rate that’s way above what I once had five years ago. He’s a contender. I try to chat him up for race strategy and sprinting experience. It’s his third race and his sprint experience is going up Old La Honda in 19 minutes. I disclose I’m a bit off that pace ( by 10 minutes ) and this is my first race. He moves up to toy with the folks at the front.

Coming back on the other side of the road is the 35+ Cat 4, pack who started 3 minutes before us. I see Andrew and John near the front of the group. Andrew is 2nd or 3rd. John lurks close by. I wonder what they’ve got planned. They fly by.

We get to the turn around. This is mission critical per Andrew. Be in the front going in or get relegated to the accordion effect and have to catch up. I get it done reasonably efficiently and don’t have to accelerate very hard to stay with the front. A couple of miles more and we’re back in town snaking our way around the town square. There are spectators sitting along the square on benches observing the race. Tourists in the vacant town built for them to come. Non-racers. The emptiness of these lives shocks me.

(OK, OK, I plagiarized that last part from Tim Krabbe)

Back to the race. I complete lap one. I haven’t been dropped. The pace is actually easy. Lap two is much the same. An easy pack ride. Is this just about guys with big thighs trying to snap the cranks off in the last 200 yards? I think about trying to go off the front, but the third wheel admonition keeps coming back to me. The situation changes on lap three. Folks are starting to move forward. Foster is being a complete insubordinate and is leading the pack for significant periods. He’s surging up hills then backing off on the downhill, testing the group. I find this difficult to keep pace with. I’d much rather surge downhill, or on the flats. A slight hill takes us past the finish line where they are ringing a cow bell to signal the final lap. We sweep through the town square at the end of lap three and I have to get out of the saddle to maintain contact with the group as we settle in for the fourth and final lap. We’re heading out on the last lap at a higher pace. I try to key on two guys from my age group who are wearing the same team jersey. One small guy leads and a huge guy trails him. I follow the big fellow. He has the look of a Thor Hushovd who may attack in the final sprint. I envision a huge vacuum behind this chap, sucking me forward. Riders are jockeying for position who hadn’t before as we approach the turn around. I’m no longer in third position and have slipped back in the pack as we go through the turn around. Somewhere there must be polka music playing. As we emerge from the turn I’m doing that accordion thing and sprinting to catch up (a violation of Captain’s position rule for turn arounds ). This gets my heart rate up which I try but fail to get back down after catching the group. The herd is accelerating for the barn. I struggle to stay with them. I’m looking for Thor, but he’s gone up the pack. Trying to approach the front now involves moving around and out of the draft, a seemingly diminishing return exercise. Next hill and the group really surges, I’m off the back now , and it’s a sprint to the finish, down a slight hill and up the final hill to the line. The elastic hasn’t snapped but it’s stretched to the limit. I have incrementally gone redline over the course of the final mile. Not hammering into it like stabbing the accelerator to the floorboard, but a slow drawn out climb into oxygen debt that has my lungs burning and legs looking for more power. I’m 50 yards back before I realize what’s happened. The dashboard light for lactate acid threshold is blinking wildly. I get aero and spin for dear life trying to catch the group. The VO2 max light goes off, the computer is warning, “shut down imminent!” I keep it floored. I haul in one straggler and pass him but he catches my draft. Where’s the race ref when you need him? I close to within twenty yards of the pack but can’t get any closer. I completely miss the show of Mark F. at the front puttin’ the hurt on the rest of the pelaton. Draft boy speeds past me. We cross the finish line and I’m too spent to think to glance back and see if anyone else is behind me. I suspect I’m the Lantern Rouge of the pack.

Mark Foster takes first. Congratulations to him for a great race.
My fifth place (out of five 45+ ‘ers) is good enough for a t-shirt.
Hey, I showed up !

All in all, a good time, on a nice course. And we finished before the temp’s hit 90.
Next time I’d pay more attention to maintaining forward turn around position especially on the final turn.
I’d also practice more hill sprints.
Congratulations to everyone competing this weekend, and especially John & Mark F for their top finishes and Andrew for placing in two races.
Heroic deeds indeed.