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

Written by Tom Rice

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



It was a fun day and I'm tired!

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


Tom Rice
Bicycle Racer
CoreTechs Cycling Team

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cherry Pie Crit-2013

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eric

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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


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

Warning: Politically Incorrect, a bit offensive and darn funny. Chris Rippey reports from Surf City CX race: December 16th, 2012

The date of the race: Yesterday
The location: Watsonville fairground
A quick course description: three muddy sections, two were off camber downhills, two  required running, flat asphalt section by start finish.
The category you raced: singlespeed A
The number of racers: more then twenty

After getting cash, gas and waiting longer then I wanted to get bagels and coffee (screw you Izzy's bagels, if your don't have salt or chocolate chips bagel then don't take an order for them, assholes.) I headed out to Watsonville with my girlfreind in tow. We bumped Kanye most of the way there. At the race I discovered I had forgot my shorts. I was not going to ruin my best pair of jeans so I was left with either wearing my girlfriends  skinsuit (I don't believe in skinsuits, they are dumb!)  or trying to see if I could rustle up some shorts. I saw Miles and Dave and informed them of my situation and decided to borrow Miles shorts cause Dave looks a little AIDSy to me. The shorts were gross but at least they matched and Miles seems like a guy free of sexually transmitted diseases. I did a warmup lap and the course was muddy like everyone said so I just rode around talking shit to my fellow cx racers and let my warm up and chances of victory to the cx gods. We were called to line up. I didn't know anyone except my buddy Angus and Rick. I told both of them all I cared about accomplishing in the race was beating them. The gun goes off and I ride mid pack. After the first run up I rip Miles' short and spent the rest of the race checking and adjusting my shorts so that my junk didn't hang out. I raced smooth and at a consistent pace. I didn't make any big mistakes. Ben Jacques-Maynes commented, in a shitty tone, that I should be riding on the grass cause it was faster when I rode in the mud so he could pass me(dickhead). I beat Angus and Ric and ended up in eighth place. I got coffee after the race and crashed into another driver as we were both backing out of our parking spots. All in all I had fun but my bumper is all messed up now.

Sad Day - Godspeed Ricky

CoreTechs teammate, Ricky Lucero died Saturday December 8th, 2012 while out riding his bike. I have pasted the email from his wife below. It seems so far that it was a medical issue and not a car or crash that was the cause.

Ricky was a tremendous guy. He had a great sense of humor, was extremely kind and a great teammate to race with. Ricky raced an old steel bike but was still able to win Santa Cruz crit in 2011 and be a factor in many other races. After much cajoling we convinced him to upgrade (he was super strong and a great rider and deserved a better bike) and he had just purchased a new SL4 to race in 2013. Hard to express the shock and sadness that this would happen to a young guy, who was so strong. Ricky will be missed tremendously.

Ricky leaves behind two boys ages 14 and 11 and his wife Michele. 

Godspeed Ricky.

Andrew

From Ricky's wife:

It's with my heaviest of hearts that I let everyone know today I lost the love of my life. My beloved husband Ricky of 16 yrs died while on his bike today. Details are unclear. He lost consciousness while on his bike and was unresponsive by the time the paramedics got there. We are all in shock, denial and grief. We are all thinking of happy memories with family right now. Please keep Ricky in your thoughts & prayers.

Michele

Henleyville RR-Sept. 2012-Cat 45+ 1/2/3

Henleyville Road Race
73 miles
Andrew, Daryoush, JP (report written by Andrew)
Cat 45+ 1/2/3 Report:

My hamstrings were starting to cramp, my knees hurt, and my butt was sore. I am not sure I am going to make it. This was hard! I am three hours in and still have another hour or more to go. Crap. No turning back now. I put my head down and concentrate. It’s no good, I can’t do it. I turn to Daryoush and ask him to pull off at the next exit. I have to take a leak.

This is a crazy commute. Daryoush and I were on our way to the Henleyville Road Race. A 73 mile slightly rolling but mostly flat race consisting of four laps over chip sealed, vibration inducing roads. The drive there took us slightly over four hours. This is a commitment to crazy, not just a deviation into it. I have raced 26 times this year, not counting the two tri’s I also jumped in. I understand that there is some issue here. I am sure if you dig (some may say you don’t need to dig that far) you will find some major personality flaw that drives this sort of behavior. I have enough self-awareness to know this, but not enough to do anything about it. So there it is; 28 races for the 2012 season and I am still bummed out that there is no more racing to do.

I think we have found the real reason I started this team. It was to find other crazies like me. The big benefit is that it normalizes my behavior. When I talk to non-cyclists, they seem to view my stories with a strange look of confusion, pity and disgust. I am asked why I do this, why I want to drive four plus hours one way to flog myself in some backwoods location. It is a hard question to answer. I tend to smile, nod and look for someone else to talk too. So now you know why I started this team and why you are on it. I don’t get asked this question and even more, I get guys who volunteer to drive with me. Now this is why I love this group.

Daryoush, John Pauley and myself lined up for the 45+ 1/2/3 race. Mike McLaughlin and Mark Dames were racing a bit later in a different category. We had a great time Friday night talking biking over some beers and margaritas. We figured that made the most sense for pre race hydration. Next morning we met up at the Best Western's complimentary food bar to carbo load for our race. Take note new racers, this is how you fuel up to road race.

Regarding the race, well, to sum it up, race started, some guys tried to break (including Daryoush in a two man break) but none were getting anywhere. Then Dirk (one of the five or six mutants I have mentioned in previous reports) had enough of the chit chat and road away from us. Sure, there were still 50 miles to race, but Dirk wanted some alone time. Who were we to question what a mutant wants? So, we acquiesced and watched him seek solitude up the road. He quickly vanished and from what I was later told, crossed the line in first place. Nice racing with you Dirk, certainly enjoyed those deep conversations we were able to have in the first 15 minutes.

Now that he was gone, the rest of us could play bike racers. We did our best at pretending to break away from the group and then being pulled back. We did some mock chasing and had brilliant conversations. Then at the start/finish line with one lap to go, Daryoush had had enough of this silly game playing and decided to flat. He soon regretted his decision though, tried to fix his flat and chase back on. He never did make it all the way, but he did enjoyed his time alone and was able to take in the magnificent scenery.

Coming into the final three miles we were jockeying for position. With two miles left a kindly motorcycle ref stood in the middle of the road and held up a hand and the race. Yep, 71 miles done with two to go and we all took a 10 minute time out. Guess some poor soul in a race in front of us took too close a look at the pavement while finishing and was now getting a very expensive ride to the local Corning hospital. After the time out, the ref lined us up. He reminded us that we had two miles left and then said, "go". One Davis rider took off. Amazingly he thought he could sprint for two miles. He must have still been in game play mode. Another rider chased and I chased him. Davis rider, surprise, blew up with about a mile left. Then the rider in front of me tried to go and I went with him. Anyway, we got to 500 meters to go and we all sprinted and eventually crossed the finish line. I took second in the sprint and third place in the race and thus earned another coveted poorly designed Velo Promo t-shirt.

It was a fun day in the sun and a great way to end the road season.

Thanks for participating and being part of this team. It has been a blast this year to ride with you guys.