Welcome to Bumpville

New course and no expectations brought me to Ione for Round 6 of the Sacramento race series.  Ione is actually nowhere near Sacramento.  It's a small town in the Sierra foothills that just happens to be near where my parents live.  What a great opportunity to have a visit with the elders and get some VO2 max suffering in.  My wrist and thumb are still hurting from my crash two weeks previous, but I have been pushing through it.  I am not sure it will even be healed in 6 months, so why rest it now.  The only thing that would prevent me from riding would be a cast...or would it?

The first thing I heard when I got to the venue was, "Man, this course is bumpy."  Not good when you can barely grip the handlebars.  But I had devised a plan.  Riding in the drops felt better than on the hoods so I was going to ride it like a crit.  Low turnout for the 35+ A's.  Only 3 guys in the field!  Possibly the lowest I have ever raced.  But Jeff Mitchell, the series leader, was there and we have had some battles in the past.  I couldn't wait to get it on.

Off we went and after a half of a lap Jeff and I were on our own.  The course was like being in a pinball machine.  We were getting kicked and punched all around this course.  There were some flat, fast sections and some technical turns through trees and such.  Overall a fun one.  The one thing that I was not really happy about was the "downhill dismount over a log".  Race promoters, please don't include downhill dismounts in your courses.  They are unsafe and there is a reason that the UCI forbids them.  Ok, off the soapbox.

Jeff and I just traded off leading laps.  I was trying to figure out where I could take it to him.  Seemed like he was better in the turns and I was faster in the straights.  So we had some cat and mouse attacks to see if we could crack one another.  We couldn't.  Jeff had a dig on the last lap, but I easily got on his wheel and tried to catch a draft.  It was all going to come down to the bitter end.  There was a long dirt straightaway before the finish.  I caught a little draft coming into it and then came around Jeff at the last second and won with a bike throw.  It was like a crit.  A great hour of racing and like I always say, "Just because there were low numbers at a race doesn't mean you don't deserve the win.  You beat all the people that didn't even show up."

Saturday Night Lights

Yeah, I know it is supposed to be "Friday Night Lights", but this was on Saturday night.  The promoters have moved the times around a bit in the last few years.  This year the Master's A's started at 7pm and it was dark.  Not very dark, but it was hard to see the best lines in some of the turns.  That made it challenging. Got a call up from the last race.  6th places on the front row...and I was #6.

All smiles before the suffering.

Being on the front really helps in these races.  Chaos usually ensues very closely around the first turns.  This race was not an exception to that rule.  A long paved stretch lead to a curb that had sandbags for a ramp.  The pavement is long enough so you can get enough speed to really hurt yourself on the curb jump.  Amazingly no one went down on the first turn...but the second turn caused some grief.  Some guy came flying recklessly around a bunch of us.  I was sitting about 5th or 6th.  On the second turn there has always been a metal plate.  It was there again and this guy slipped on the black ice.  He didn't take anyone out, except himself, but that was all Coates and Swanson needed to get away.  The chase was on.

I managed to get up to them after bursting both my lungs. But I couldn't hold on.  I popped and got into a chase group with 5 others.  One being national champ Don Myrah.  We traded pulls for a few laps and tried in vain to bring anyone back.  Don wasn't riding as smoothly as he has in the past.  He was all over the place.  Not really sure what was going on him.  The other 3 sat in for a while.  Then, this guy named Reno Jude took off and had a dig.  My jaw dropped as he dropped us all.  I couldn't believe.  I have raced with him in Sac and he has a huge engine.  Not in the greatest shape, but is the Energizer bunny.

Eventually I got dropped by Don and a Pen Velo fella.  I was with Eric Bustos from Giant berries.  On the last lap Don and Velo actually got tangled up in one another and crashed hard.  We came in pretty hot and I was kicking myself because I wasn't aggressive enough.  But they were having a yard sale all over the course.  I couldn't get around them.  So then we were all together for a "bunch" sprint for the finish.  I ended up 3rd in the sprint and should have been 8th, but I guess they got me in 9th.  Lesson: always check the results.  Not like it matters, except for placement in the next race.

For a bumpy course with lots of turns I had a pretty good go at it.  Only getting stronger as the year continues.  Problem is the season will be over right when I hit my stride.  Still some fun races to though.

One of the best parts of the night was seeing one of my coaching clients score a 5th place in the B's race, which had 92 people in it.  My other client finished his first race of the season a couple weeks ago in last.  This last one he got 50th out of 75 people.  Improvement....that's awesome.

Below are a couple "artsy" photos of me.  One taken a couple weeks ago by Brent the Elder at Candlestick Park.  The other was a mistake when I was putting the iPhone back into my pocket.  Artistic, I know.  Lots of talent here.

Hardest Ever???

I made the pilgrimage down to the land of the Banana Slugs and my old alma mater, UC of the Santa Cruz this weekend.  Ten years in one town is quite a long time and I thoroughly enjoyed my time in da Cruz.  This is truly the land of cyclocross.  The surrounding hills and bluffs contain soft sandy soil that is perfect for your cross bike.  Yeah, mountain bikes work there, but the cross bike is so versatile.  Besides the Godfather of cross bikes sculpts his masterpieces there - Paul Sadoff of Rock Lobster.

I had always wanted a Rock Lobster bike.  I remember catching a glimpse of one in the late 80's.  Custom bike? What is that?  And green too?  Way cool.  So last year I approached Paul about joining one of the most prolific cross teams in the nation.  Paul's sole focus is on cross and he produces.  So yeah, I was going to Santa Cruz last weekend to race and re-live old memories of college (well not all of those memories), but the real reason was to pay my homage to the Godfather.

I raced an occasional Surf City race before, but never at Aptos High School.  After taking a warm-up lap I determined that this course was the hardest I had ever been on.  Now I haven't been doing this for 20 years, but I have ridden my fair share of race courses around the country.  I heard someone say there was 200 feet of climbing on each lap.  Not a ton for a roadie, but it is quite a bit for this linebacker.

I started in the back, then made my way further back on the first climb.  There were some great winding turns on the way down the mountain, a few crashes, lots of sand (which I love) and then turn around and go back uphill.  Boooo.  On the way down and up, there was a telephone pole across the road.  My mountain bike skills are Beanie Wells, not Todd Wells.  I couldn't jump on the way down and when I tried to jump it on the way up....over the handlebars.  What!  I jumped it in warm-ups.  More uphill and I was just cruising to survive.  Then, some more uphill.  Okay I've had enough.  Tried to ride this stair section and crashed.  Then, for some strange reason or twist, there was more uphill.  Are you seeing a theme here?  And then it ended, thankfully.  Oh the agony!

Hey, look at me.  I'm actually going downhill.

Back to the Stick

For those that don't know...I'm talking about Candlestick Park.  Well, I guess officially it would be Candlestick Point.  After a couple year hiatus the BASP was allowed back to the park.  

CX Nation at the Stick

It was good to see that BASP didn't pack it in after last year.  Now they are back for 4 races with the first one last Sunday at the Stick.  They course was a similar layout to years ago with a little twist - The Go Pro Flyover.  After a couple years of trying the fellas at BASP rolled out the flyover - run up the stairs on one side and ride down the other.  Then, you get to ride underneath it.  Euro class....

Good warm-up, watched one of my athletes race and then lined up on the front row of the Master's A's race.  This year I have had some early success, but the BASP is really where all the great riders in the Bay Area come out to play.  3 National champs in the front row and 3 "not" National Champs. I was one of the "nots".  Doesn't matter though.  I was going out hard.

Brock Dickie got a great jump, along with Coats; but I was right on their wheel.  On the second turn Coats went in hot and crashed into a pole.  Amazingly we avoided him and then he got ride back up and was right there with us.  I heard there was a crash behind us and after the first lap the three of us had a huge lead.  Coats went to the front and started drilling it.  I tried my best to just hang on, but by the end of the second lap I was off the back.  Myrah passed me going Mach 10 at the end of the second lap.  Then, came Hoefner.  Each time I tried to latch on, but got popped off each time.  

So I was sitting fourth and eating tons of dirt.  The course was very bumpy and I lowered the pressure in my tires down after a pre-ride.  Because of this I really had to pay attention in the turns.  Getting squirrly, look out.  Hoefner broke his seat, so now I was sitting 4th in the race.  Murray Swanson of Pen Velo got past me and I was starting to get pissed.  When will people stop passing me? Come on, stop it!

At this point I was looking behind me.  Always a bad thing to do.  I saw Hoefner and his teammate Jon Mundelius charging hard.  They were actually drafting each other and pulling me back.  Ugh..I thought this was cross and not road racing.  How could they?  Eventually Jon caught me and we battled for a couple laps.

He ended up dropping me on the last lap and I finished gasping for air in the 6th place.  You would have thought that the air would be moist when riding next to the SF Bay.  Not the case....  So all and all a pretty good race for me.  I finished a little higher than last year and I will only get stronger as the season progresses. Hopefully the rest of these guys get weaker.

Cross Crit Racing

Round 2 of the Sacramento series was the exact opposite of Round 1.  While #1 was a bumpy, rough cow pasture, Round #2 was a smooth, soft stick of butter.  It took place in Henry Renfree park.  The course consisted of Bermuda grass that was without ruts or bumps and hard, fast, flat  single track.  A power course - right up my alley.  We started out with close to 20 of us.  It was fast and furious from the gun.  I have had good starts lately and this was no exception.  I settled in to 2nd wheel and just followed wheels till there was just 4 of us.  Our lead kept growing as the laps went by.  I saw that one of the four was a little weak - sitting at the back, not taking pulls.  Smart guy I guess, but I can't stand that. So I attacked every other lap.  But I couldn't get rid of him, mostly because the others wouldn't keep the pace up.

So we went round and round - lap after lap.  60 minutes of drafting, 60 minutes of crit riding and this was going to come down to the last lap.  As soon as we came to the start/finish for the last lap, the guy who was "punching his ticket on the train" made his move.  I immediately got on his wheel and then I heard music to my ears - a crash behind me.  I guess one of the other 4 had pinched John M, Cal Giant rider, into the barriers and they both went down. I told the guy in front to punch, then my plan started to take form.  I would wait until he had taken us into the final stretch and then I would attack.

I waited and waited, and then I went.  I didn't look back but I knew I had him.  I started to catch the Pro 1,2 group and I was still going fast - way too fast.  Mostly due to adrenaline.  I hadn't won a cross race all last year - not even close.  And now I was going to take two in a row.  But it was not to be.  On literally the 2nd to last turn a lapped rider pulled up next to me and was going to "race" me to the end.  I told him I was the leader and he started to back off, but it was too late.  He had distracted me and I lost the good line into the turn.  I went down in a heap, rolled my tire and lost my chain.  I actually got up and didn't even know what was wrong until some guy yelled that my front tire was coming off.  I didn't have time to get it back on, so I just ran.

You don't have to be a genius to figure out that a person on a bike is faster than a person running with a bike.  In those last 100 meters I went from the penthouse to the outhouse - although I did manage to run to 3rd place.  Ah...those are the breaks.  I have to remember to bring my camera next time too.  Not many photogs are giving up their pictures for free anymore.  I don't blame them.  They need to make money too.  So I have no pictures this time around.  BASP round 1 next weekend.  I should really find out in this race where my fitness is because all the big dawgs will be there.  See you then.....

 

Lion of Fairfax

Great course, great people and a great cause. All the proceeds are donated to the school.  I presented this concept to a few school in my area and they all turned me down.  I don't understand it.  Don't schools have a lack of funding, yet they don't want money.  I don't get it.  But White Hill School in Fairfax gets it.  Fast, hard course with a good run up, followed by a quick fast downhill, lots of technical cornering and riding through the halls of the school = lots of places to crash and get seriously hurt.

I wasn't sure how the legs were going to react.  I felt a little slow during warm ups.  I just needed to be in the top 5 at the first corner because it really narrows after that.  Fast start in the Master's 35+ A's race.  I got the hole shot and then slipped back to 2nd by the second turn.  Perfect.  Buy Cell.com Aaron Welcher  took the lead and really started to pour it on.  I dug deep and caught him at the single track.  Not a lot of places to pass in this course, so I had to stay close to him.  I noticed that he was slowing down in the single track sections.  Not sure why, but I kept note of it.  I also noticed that he shouldered his bike up the hill.  I am not a fan of shouldering the bike if you can get away with pushing the bike.  One extra step that you can get ride of.  I was able to seek by him a couple times by pushing my bike up the hill.  Hmmmm....might have to use that later in the race.

We slugged it out the entire race.  On the final lap I passed him on the uphill and never looked back.  I poured it on in the uphill riding section along the street and rolled into the finish line in first place.  At first the officials said I had one more lap, so I started to go again and then they said stop.  Missed my celebration.  It was nice to get my first win in a couple years.  In fact, first win in the Master's A's.  I hope to keep this good form going for the rest of the season.

Going Local

First local race of the season happened for me in Sacramento.   I have done a few of the Sac races in the past, but not a ton.  Since I haven't done many races this year in any discipline I have decided to do more of the Sac races.  This one I probably should have skipped.  It took place at a farm that is owned by a local bike shop.  There is a really cool pump track and various jumps for the kids. They put the pump track into the cross race.  This was fun, but I don't really consider pump tracks legitimate course material for cyclocross courses.  Yes, there are some courses in Europe that have rollers, but not a whole track.  Believe me though, the pump track was the best part of the course.

The rest of the course consisted of a bombed out tractor path filled with goat heads.  I was more worried about a flat than competing in the race.  Throw a 20 mph headwind on the way out and that is misery.  That did mean it was a tailwind on the way back though.  I guess there is always a silver lining.

We were off at the gun and I actually got the hole shot.  I poured it on for a quarter of a lap into a headwind, then I zigged when I should have zagged and I was off course.  Four guys passed me and  had trouble getting going again.  I pretty much was all alone the rest of the race.  A 59 minute time trail. Great for training - little else.  No flats though....until  I was walking both my bikes back from the pits.  I got two rear wheel flats, one clincher and one tubular, on the way back to the car!  This race just got expensive.

BMX racing - without the bike

Bump, bump, bump, bump - you get the point