Sea Otter Circuit Race - Men Cat 5 Elite

Race: Sea Otter Circuit Race     

Date: 4/16/2011

Category/Field Size: Elite 5, 30-40 racers

Team Mates: Chris Grove (Army of One)

Weather/Course Description: Cool morning with an 8:00am start time.  Riding the Laguna Seca race track.  Pot holes everywhere!!!  Not really.  The track is in excellent condition.

Race Plan: Stay towards the front and look to get myself in a good position to sprint at the finish.

Race

From just racing last night I was feeling lethargic this morning.  To counter that, I wanted to line up at the very front and do the initial lead up to the top of the corkscrew.  I figured that if I take the early lead I can set the pace most of the way up, and therefore do it at a pace I could handle, and when they start passing me I won’t move too far back into the group.  (I call it the Lemming Strategy.) That strategy worked well as I led the pack half way up at a comfortable pace.  As I started to get passed I just stayed in my seat and let them go knowing that I would catch them in the corkscrew.

The second lap is when trouble started…  I wanted to start keeping up with the leaders on the climb so I got out of the saddle to start pedaling.  As I did, my left foot came out of the pedal.  As I tried to get my shoe clipped back in I realized that I wasn’t getting a solid clip.  Before the race, I had walked from the parking lot to the start of the race with my dad and two of my boys, which I think clogged up my cleat. 

At this point I have some safety concerns.  I don’t feel like it would be good for me to ride up the hills with the pack or be going for a sprint finish.  I decided to alter my strategy a little so that on the climbs, I am way off to the right or left of the pack.  If I am still with the group going into the finish I wouldn’t sprint for it because I don’t want to take out half the peloton.  

Without being able to stand to match the pace of the group up the climb, I was forced into a catch-up mode while riding the rest of the course.  On one climb I fell far enough back that the motorcycle and pace car that was following the peloton passed me.  That didn’t last for long as I put my cornering skills (from BCRT skills clinic) to use on the next descent down the corkscrew. I was back towards the front of the group in no time.  

As I was approaching the hill again I realized that my left shoe finally had a solid clip.  I am back in the race!  I sprung out of my saddle and kept up with the pack on this climb.  Next time around, trouble sprung up again as I dropped my chain!  Need to get that chain catcher before my next race…  I was able to recover without stopping but I was in catch-up mode again.  

I am starting to get tired from burning matches on the catch-up efforts.  I am back with the group with one lap to go.  The pace on the last lap surged up the hill.  I tried to match it but I was totally spent and couldn’t keep up with the pace.  As I made the descent down the corkscrew I realized that there were a bunch of stragglers behind and in front of me.  The main pack was too far off to catch so this became a race between me and whoever was left.  

Maximizing momentum down the corkscrew I came into the sharp left turn after the corkscrew a little too hot and found myself on the warning track.  Thunk-Thunk-Thunk-Thunk-Thunk.  I pulled out of it easily enough and was grinning because it was a very fun experience to be pushing it that close to the edge in my speed.  (I think my wife’s need for speed may be rubbing off on me.) In hindsight I think I also didn’t take the best angle through that turn like I did most of the rest of the race.  I think I was getting anxious for the finish and wasn’t paying as close attention to the details of making a good turn.  

I used my momentum to pass a few people and got behind another guy to get a draft break as we headed towards the finish.  The stragglers were getting restless and started powering towards the line so I did the same.  I passed several people but one guy came by me just before the finish.  I heard him coming but was already maxed out and couldn’t do anything about it.

Results

Initially I was listed as finishing 12^th.  On Sunday night it changed to 16^th.  We will see what number they finally come up with when they post it to the USA Cycling website.

Lessons

1. When you have to park a long way from the start and walk with the family, wear tennis shoes to the start of the race.  Walking on asphalt, sand, gravel, and dirt from the parking lot to the start of the race isn’t good for your cleats.

2. Get a chain catcher.

3. Playing catch-up the entire race isn’t a good way to get a top 10 finish.

Sponsors Note

The pictures my dad took of me on the race track wearing the Nike glasses looks cool.

Warming up before the race

Sea Otter Road Race - Men Cat 5 Elite

Race:   Sea Otter Road Race

Date:    4/15/2011

Category/Field Size:    Elite 5, about 50-60 racers

Team Mates:  Chris Grove (Army of One)

Weather/Course Description: Warm and windy with a 3:30pm start time.  Neutral start down a canyon road to a looped course and then you climb back up the hill that served as a neutral start.

Race Plan:  Stay towards the front.  Look for breaks and get on one if I can.  Be in the lead group for the final climb.

Race

The Naval Post Grad team was there in full force with at least 9 riders (that is how many were in front of me at the start, there might have been more scattered around).  The 9 that I counted were at the front of the start line stretched from side to side.  I lined up directly behind then so that I could spy on them and use them as a wind break as the race got started (is it legal for me to do that to our military?).

As the race got off to a neutral start, the peloton was really sketchy, especially on the descent down Barloy Canyon Rd.  My spider senses were tingling and I was looking for a safe spot to descend when someone in front and to my right crashed.  His crash went left (towards the riders in front of me) and took all of them out as well.  I was suddenly dodging bodies, wheels, hands, legs, and a frame pump (who races with a frame pump?!?!?).  I made it out okay but somehow my seat angle got knocked all the way forward.  I couldn’t get it to go back in place while riding so I got off the bike, got it close enough, hopped back on and caught back on to the peloton.

 

As we went around the loops we would lose riders off the main pack with every climb.  I was worried that the Naval team would have some sort of strategy, but most of them dropped off the main group quickly.  On an early break attempt I used momentum on the rollers to slingshot the gap but the break didn’t stick.  

As the race was going on I was getting tired keeping the pace up the two climbs in the loop.  I sucked through one of my bottles in no time.  I still had a full second bottle when I hit a series of small pot holes the knocked my second bottle (Good bye Body Concepts bottle) out of the cage.  Fortunately Hammer Nutrition was providing support with bottles filled with some sort of energy drink.  It was foul tasting but I needed the energy more than the taste.  

At this point there are about 12 of us left in the lead group. As we go around to the start of another lap a racer aggressively attacks the hill.  I didn’t really consider it much of a threat (the guy seemed pretty tired on previous climbs) and neither did anyone else.  Next thing we knew this guy had a huge lead.  The lead was too big for me to try and gap and I was barely hanging on as it was.  The group eventually organized to get a pace line going to try and catch him.  I was extremely tired and decided not to participate in the line and hung off the back.  That may have ruffled feathers but I felt that if I took a lead I would be too tired to latch back on at the end of the line.  Once organized, the guy was caught pretty quickly and the pace settled down for the last lap through as everyone was anticipating the big climb out.

There were some strong climbers in this group and I didn’t really think I stood a chance at finishing in the top 3 as they had outpaced my best efforts in the loop.  So my plan was to work my way up as many riders as I could on the climb out.  Top 5 isn’t out of the question.  During the climb I was with the group when some riders started to fall off the pace.  Things were going well until a guy next to me started to have shifting problems.  He stared down at his gears and veered left, right towards me.  I stopped pedaling and veered left as well to avoid being hit.  This instantly gave the group a good sized gap on me.  And I was left going solo the rest of the way up.    I did pass another rider, maybe two…  Not enough oxygen to keep the brain working properly so I can’t remember.  

While, because of the pace, the final hill was difficult it wasn’t really that steep, which would have worked to my strengths. I tried to push as hard as I could all the way to the finish and I was thankful to see the white line coming up because I was getting light-headed. In the end I was satisfied because I was utterly wiped; I had put forth my best effort and I raced in the strongest group of riders I have ever ridden against in an elite age-group in such a major race with folks participating from all over.

Results

I finished 8^th.

Lessons

1.  Listen to your spider senses.

2.  Don’t carry a frame pump.

3.  This is the third time that an obstacle arose close to the finish which caused me to stop pedaling or throw me off my pace.  I need to get better at blocking that stuff out and pedal through problems. 

Turlock Lake Road Race - Men Cat 5 Masters 35+

Race: Turlock Lake

Date: 4/9/2011

Category/Field Size: Men Cat 5 35+.  About 24 riders.

Team Mates: Chris and Felix

Weather/Course Description:

COLD!!!!  8:50 start was about 40 degrees.  The course has some rollers.  The finish has no significant elevation change.

Race Plan: 

With only two riders we decided to use this race to play around some.  Felix and I were going to cover and/or attack.  If we are together at the end, try and get a lead-out going.

Race:

I was shivering at the start and wasn’t anxious to get moving.  It didn’t appear anyone else was ready to race either.  We slowly left the start line and gently worked our way up to a 15mph pace.  The slow pace continued for the first 8 miles.  As we were riding I was surveying the type of riders in the group and it appeared that there were a lot of power guys there.  That had me really motivated to catch or create a break.  I am not going to win many battles with the power guys on a mass sprint to the finish.  

About this time we were approaching one of the steeper climbs.  As we started to go up the lead rider continued the low-effort pace by slowing down.  I thought this would be a good time to do a low-risk test to see who the strong riders were.  Instead of slowing down with him I kept the pace all the way up the hill.  Without much effort I was first up the hill with a gap over the rest of the group but I could see people charging up to come after me.  I had no intention in trying to solo the next 45 miles so I let them catch me and grabbed on to one of the wheels that was going around me.  The race is on!!!  

The riders that caught me took off on a blistering pace.  Someone was yelling about having a gap and was urging everyone to continue the high effort.  As we were getting about 15 miles into the race I was starting to fatigue a little and took a glance behind me.  No one was around for as far as I could see.  We lost Felix somewhere.  If I don’t keep up the pace, the race could be over.  Fortunately the pace slowed down shortly after that and we settled into a more moderate pace.  

As we finished the rollers on Hawkins and got into the flat area next to the Start/Finish, the pace really started to slow down.  Riders started reaching for their gels and other foods.  I did the same but had a problem…  It was so cold at the start I had my clumsy long fingered gloves.  As I pulled out the food I wasn’t able to get the packs open (I should have pre-opened them before the race).  As we got back towards the rollers I noticed that with a monster effort, Felix and another rider managed to catch back on.  Awesome!!!  We have about 11 riders in the group including Felix and I.  This is perfect for landing at least 1 rider in the top 5.

I tried to go with an attack from Peter (Rio Strada) and we were out there for a little bit but the peloton was determined to not let us slip away.  As we are approaching the rollers on Hawkins I am feeling really strong.  Felix is a little tired from catching the peloton but he is probably good enough for a lead-out.  Looking at the power guys, I am guessing that they are tired too by the way they are riding.  The power guys were also taking a lot of pulls on the final lap.  With the power guys looking tired I am thinking that the rollers on Hawkins might be a good place to do another test to see who responds and maybe I can get a break going to the finish.    

With Hawkins in sight we see a bunch of riders from another category stopped at the turn.  We come to a stop as well and the race is neutralized for 40 minutes due to an accident from the women’s category along Hawkins road.  By the time the race is started again we had 20 something riders back together and rested.  

The pace takes off pretty quickly and my calves start to cramp a little.  At that time a rider from Fun Sport Bike (FSB) takes off to get a break going.  I want to join him but I am riding cautiously because of the cramps.  The FSB rider has a huge lead on the rest of the group but we manage to bring him back in with less than 1 km to go.  As we approach the 200m line I lost track of where Felix is at and I am second in line.  The rider in front takes off on an early sprint which leaves me in the wind so I go after him.  By the time I catch him I am burned out and have nothing left for a sprint.  I got passed by a LOT of riders.  I think I finished 10^th but I am not sure because we didn’t have time to wait for the results.  

Results

I think I finished 10^th but I am not sure because we didn’t have time to wait for the results.  Felix came in shortly after.

Lessons

1.  This is the second time I have been in a lead group and had the race neutralized where everyone catches up.  It really adds to what has already been said about how hard it is to win a race.  You can be doing everything right only to have a wild card show up and ruin the plans.

2. I need to be a little less aggressive from 1km to 200m.  I keep burning myself out before the finish.  On the bright side, if I was leading for someone, the designated rider would be delivered to an awesome position on my last two races.

3. I need to communicate more with Felix.  He was with us going through Hawkins and I should have asked him to get in front of me so that we could have worked together down the final stretch.

Sponsors Note

The Nike Vision glasses continue  to work great.  The MaxAdapt lenses provided a bright and clear view for the early start but continued to provide enough shade for the mid-day finish. 

Bariani Road Race - Men Cat 5 Masters 35+

Race - Bariani Road Race  

                                                       

Date - 3/27/11

Category/Field Size – Men Cat 5 Masters 35+, 45 riders

Team Mates – Chris Grove (report writer), Rod Rozman, Rob Strong, Patrick Peters

Weather/Course Description – High 40s, Low 50s.  Cold wind, mostly cloudy.

Race Plan – Rod and I cover attacks with Patrick as the designated rider and Rob as the final lead-out and backup sprinter.

Race

The pace of the first lap started out brisk and I didn’t feel ready to race yet.  I think my legs were slow to wake up because I did the Land Park Crit the day before.  On the first few inclines I lost ground to the lead riders but I wasn’t fretting too much.  Rod had excellent position in the top 3-5 riders and Rob wasn’t too far behind.  Patrick was also in the area as well, occasionally shifting from the back to the front.  

As we got to the second lap I started to feel ready to race and started to be more active in moving towards the front and staying close to my teammates.  A couple of attacks went and I thought that they were all reeled back in until some guys started talking about how one guy is up ahead on his own.  I wasn’t sure if they were serious or if that was a ruse.  I thought everyone was caught and I conferred with Rod who was also up front.  Rod agreed with my assessment.  It turns out that we had confused stragglers from the two launches before us (there were a LOT of them in this race) with the guy that was out on an attack.  

We were debating whether to chase or not when Rob makes the key decision to chase him down.  At this point Body Concepts took over the pace of the peloton and started the chase.  Unlike Snelling, other riders came up to continue to drive the pace.  However, while Rob and I thought it was a good idea at the time, we realized that we made a tactical error.  We started the chase right before the base of the KOM.  As other riders came up to take over, we were over-extended as the climb started.  Rod stuck it out and managed to be the first one up and I wasn’t far behind.  However more riders came up to continue the drive and Rod started to fall back.  I came up to close the gap and told Rod to grab my wheel as I went by.  

At this point, the pace was furious.  I was doing everything I could to hang on to the wheel in front of me.  I was towards the back of the massive pace line that had formed so I was constantly in on/off mode trying to stay on in the back.  I couldn’t take time to look to see if teammates were behind me or not until we were approaching the last KOM.  At this point I was scanning the jerseys around me.  Several Victory Velo guys were there, 2 Folsom Bike, 2 Rio Strada, 3 Pen Velo, and I thought there were 2 Golden Wheelman.  (Looking at the results, there was really only one. Maybe there was another jersey that was similar.)  With that many riders with teammates, I thought I was going to be in trouble.  Going up the last KOM turned out to be pretty tame as everyone knew that the finish line was coming up shortly after the KOM and no one wanted to burn themselves out. After the climb, some riders shot out.  There were at least two, maybe three gaps in front of me (hard to tell exactly because we were catching the tail end of the cat that launched before us plus I had to focus a lot on the road because between puddles and pot holes, that final stretch was a mine field).  I was debating if I should stay in the group and conserve energy until the finish or if I should start bridging the gaps in case they don’t get closed.  I decided I didn’t want to finish the race with anything left in the tank so I started bridging the gaps.  It worked pretty well as I was able to separate out from the group and got an 8^th place finish.  I was in the running for top 5 but ran out of gas.  John Metzger, from Folsom Bike, edged by me right before the finish line.  Interestingly, even though there were plenty of teams with numbers, it didn’t appear that they were working together at the finish.  

In thinking about this the next day, there is one thing I could have done a little bit better when I was bridging the gaps.  The last gap was one guy from Taleo Racing.  As I caught his wheel I saw the finish line coming up and went around him even though I was exhausted.  I should have stayed back there a few more seconds to get a brief recharge before the final sprint.  Even though I passed him, I ran out of gas and he passed me to finish 6^th.  

Results

8 – Chris

25 – Rob

26 – Rod

27 - Patrick

Lessons

1.  Try to be smarter on the final sprint.

2. It is good to have teammates.  While I did the final lap alone, it was helpful to have teammates that were able to hold down the fort while I was trying to get my legs going.

Sponsors Note

The Nike Vision Impel glasses continue to be great.  I was worried at first…  I have gas permeable contacts that give my eyes a lot of trouble when I ride.  To protect them I usually find the sunglasses with the biggest lenses possible to shield my eyes from the wind. The Impel lenses were substantially smaller than my Oakleys.  However the protection has been awesome.  Also, they haven’t been fogging up all the time like my Oakleys do.

Central Coast Circuit #3 Race Report – Elite 5, Masters 35+ 4/5

3/12/2011 Central Coast Circuit #3 Race Report – Elite 5

Team: Chris G, Todd T, Felix J

Weather:

A little cool.  Not much wind.  Course was in great shape.  More hills than I thought.

Race Plan:

Felix covers attacks and Todd does a lead out for Chris.

Race:

There were two large teams at the race.  One was the SJBC and they had a LOT of young riders in the 15-18 category.  The other team was a Navy Academy team.   The Navy team rides the course every Tuesday and considered this course their home turf.  As the race got started the SJBC and Navy teams started to go at it.  Each team was launching attacks to break up the peloton.  The Navy team was much more organized in their attacks while the SJBC seemed to attack randomly. 

The barrage of attacks was taking its toll on the Peloton.  Todd told me he was having a hard time keeping the pace and I didn’t know where Felix was (I found out later Felix dropped a chain).  I tried to keep positioning myself in the front so that I could see what was going on with the attacks and try to make sure I was there if something was going to stick.  The problem is that the attacks were very frequent and often involved several riders.  I found myself constantly surging to follow the attacks or to make sure I was at the front of the peloton.  At one point 3 or 4 riders had a gap.  My mind flashed back to Snelling, where a similar sized group got away.  So I launched out to close the gap.  By the time I got there, the peloton wasn’t too far behind so the riders gave up on their break. 

The domino accident…  On the second lap one rider went down on the section of the circuit with long descent.  On the next lap we descend again and got a high speed surprise: we were going about 40mph when we turn a corner and find vehicles parked on the course.  Everyone slammed on their brakes and took evasive maneuvers to avoid the cars and each other.  In the process another rider slams into the open door of a race official’s/emt’s car.  His frame snapped into a few pieces and he had to be flown to the hospital.  I am not sure why the race organizers didn’t have someone warning the riders at the top of the hill and I am not sure why the race wasn’t neutralized.  On the next lap there still wasn’t anyone at the top of the hill but everyone is a little cautious given what happened last time.  As we approach the accident scene, there are now 6 or 7 riders sprawled around the road.  I am not sure when Todd got off of his bike, but on one of the laps he dismounted and put his old EMT skills to use.  Kudos to Todd for adding sanity to the accident scene until trained professionals arrived.  At the end of the fourth lap, the race was finally brought to a temporary stop.  Something else I don’t get…  It appears that the race officials have no means of communicating with each other.  How does something like that happen when everyone has mobile phones?!

After waiting for at least 50 minutes, we finally get notified that the race is going to continue as a one lap race.  While I want to finish the race, this is bad news.  The peloton had split with me in the lead group and I had felt like I was in excellent position for a top 5 finish.  This restart had everyone bunched up again.  At the start, the Navy team sent 3 guys out at full speed.  I was behind a guy that was following them at 28mph.  After being stopped for about an hour, my legs felt like they were going to explode!  One of the Navy guys started to falter.  The guy in front of me hesitated which caused the first two riders to get a gap.  I should have gone around him when he hesitated…  Lesson for next time.  The guy in front of me burned up while trying to close the gap which gave the Navy guys an even bigger lead.  At this point I went solo to try and close the gap, but I couldn’t close it fast enough.  Some other riders went around me and I caught their wheel.  Eventually the Navy team just had one guy with a huge gap as his teammate fell off the pace.  The group of us that were chasing him were a little too un-organized.  We were too spread out with individual efforts going after him.  I wasn’t sure which wheel I should get behind so I did several solo stints as well.  Coming down the descent to the final turn, the Navy guy was caught.  I was about 8 riders back, which was a little far, but not too bad if I could get a good sprint going.  No go on the sprint.  I was so burned out from the high speed lap and taking on all that wind, I didn’t have anything left for a sprint.  I passed a rider or two and got passed.  I ended up with an 8^th place finish.  Not bad, but I should have done better.

Lessons:

1.       When a break is going and the guy in front of you shows signs of faltering, get around him ASAP.

2.       Communicate with the other riders to try and organize the chase.

3.       Stay out of the wind.

3/12/2011 Central Coast Circuit #3 Race Report – Masters 35+ 4/5

Team: Chris G, Todd T, Felix J

Weather:

Great.  Not much wind.  Course was in great shape.  Even though I just raced it this morning, there still seems to be more hills than I thought.

Race Plan: 

Highly adjustable depending on first race but we were thinking that Felix and Chris does lead out for Todd.

Race:

From the start, Todd and I were toast.  Felix looked like he was just warming up and darted to the front.  At this point, my thought was to stay with the peloton and see if I can do something to help Felix on the last lap.  That thought ended quickly when a rider turned in towards the peloton and crashed several riders including Felix. 

Next plan…  The peloton is losing me a little on the hills, but I am keeping up and I am easily able to regain position on the flats and descents.  I know I don’t have enough left in the tank to out-sprint the riders that are going to be finishing in the top five.  So my plan is to keep hanging on and try to sling-shot my way up the pack on the final descent.  If I can get in the top 15, I can probably get enough of a sprint going to sneak in at top 10.

Time for another plan…  On the third lap my left calf muscle starts cramping and the peloton starts ditching me on the inclines.  On the forth lap my right calf starts cramping.  Still…  The peloton is moving like a snail compared to the morning race and I have them in my sights again.  If I can just grab onto the back, I might be able to get back in the action.  At this point they are about 15 seconds ahead.  And then they take off.  I try to match the pace but the cramps come back. 

Time for another plan…  I see people falling out the back of the peloton so at this point my goal is to pass everyone that falls off.  Finally, a plan I can achieve!!!  One guy in particular grabbed my wheel as I passed him and rode it all the way to the final turn.  I didn’t know what his plans were but I wasn’t going to let him pass me right before the finish, even if we are racing for 40^th place.  I hop out of my saddle and crank away with what I have left and left him behind.  It probably looked ridiculous, but I will take that victory. 

Team Body Concepts 2011