NCNCA Master Men Criterium State Championships, 50-54

By Dennis Pedersen

Last year I managed to get 5th in this State Championship, and this year I was hoping to improve on that with a podium finish. For that reason I accepted the offer of Jeff Solt to coach me for the month prior to the race. The workouts were a painfully 'fun' change from my standard weekly program and consisted of very short intervals with limited recovery; no long intervals at all.

I drove up with John Schaupp and we warmed up a bit and chacked out the course. It was a neat undulating course with some slight hills too, though it was a bit windy. All of that made me think a breakaway group could form and win. Since I was alone in my race (John started with me but was in the 55-59 group) I felt that I needed to go with as many attacks as I could or risk missing out. So I was determined not to sit in but to stay near the front and try to go with any attacks. Maybe I could even stay with a successful one and try out my sprint at the finish.

The main instigators turned out to be Team Echelon including Hunter Ziesing and Dirk Himley, plus the super-strong Specialized Masters with Larry Nolan, Bubba Melcher and Don Langley. So when I saw Don take off after a few fast laps, with an Echelon rider in hot pursuit, I went 100% to grab their draft and go with them. I was pretty blown out, but I was hoping we would start a paceline that would keep us ahead of the main pack. Instead Don looked over his shoulder a few times before he decided he didn't like what he saw and sat up. Was I bummed as we drifted back to the pack..


Then Bubba attacked while I was recovering so I couldn't go with him... classic team tactics. Dirk Himley and a couple others went with Bubba while their teammates blocked and thus was born the winning break. I was now in the situation I didn't want to be in: Trying to get the others in the pack motivated and organized so we could chase down the 4-man break. Only 5 or so guys ended up contributing much to the chase, so we weren't really at an advantage at all given the break was 4 highly-motivated and strong riders.

Even so we almost caught the break on the last lap. But so many guys didn't help that they were still ahead as we started the sprint. By then I was so tired from all of that pulling that I couldn't follow when a dozen guys flew by me on the right, heading up to the last 90-degree right turn.

As we went through the last zig-zag two exhausted guys from the break got caught, but Bubba and Dirk took 1st and 2nd. Don Langley managed to pass the two dropped guys from the break and take 3rd. He'd been sitting in and blocking a bit so he was fresh. I flew up that last little hill and passed a few guys but that was still too far back. I ended up in 16th.

So I was disappointed that I wasn't able to translate my improved fitness into any sort of result. And there were some harsh words thrown out by others even more disappointed. Oh well, there's always next year, right?

Menlo Park Grand Prix, 35+ 1/2/3, 7/22/2012

By Dennis Pedersen 

Executive summary: I raced in the 35+ 1/2/3 race. It was too fast for me.

This was their 7th annual race, and I have been to five of them. But the race was always early in the season and prone to nasty crashes because people are testing out their winter training or something, plus the course is often 6 or 8 turns. So I have skipped the last couple of years. I recently hired a coach, though, and he recommended I race more, so racing I went.

I watched Vlada in the 45+ 1/2/3 race earlier, and that race had a successful break with several chase groups. The moderate wind and 6-turn course can encourage guys to break away, and I thought that might happen in my race too so I was determined to follow any breaks. I also watched Michele Heaton win the women's District Championship for her age group, so don't be surprised to see her in a California jersey soon!

Speaking of women racers: Alison Tetrick, who you may have seen in those TV ads with Bob Roll, was in our race, along with over 50 dudes. The race started quite fast after a lap or two. When I heard a bell announcing our the first prime sprint, I considered trying for it. A SJBC rider went off the front, then a few others chased. I drafted them for a while, then sat up when I considered how hard I'd have to work to grab the win. It was hard enough already!

I did a good job of staying near the front for almost the entire race, and a couple of times I did a short bridge up to small breaks. I thought one with about six of us would stay away, but it didn't for long. I was told our race averaged 30 MPH, which I doubt; still it was quite fast.

Near the end I was still forward, but the pace was so high I was nervous I'd blow up completely. I felt really good, but even when drafting was at my limit on the last lap or two. Then the SJBC guys who were pulling at the front slowed down and we all got swarmed. So I ended up getting squeezed back. But going around seemed impossible, so I stayed tucked into the pack.

I did get to practice my sprint anyway as the pack disintegrated on the last lap, giving me lots of room to take 27th. Oh well, at least nobody crashed. The winner was Dean Laberge, wearing his National Championship jersey. He is also the California Champion... it must be rough having to decide which Championship jersey to wear.

What did I learn? While my fitness is good, I have noticed that I have a tendency to drop back a hair when I have guys on both sides of me, almost knocking bars together. Especially when we have a turn coming up. I really need to learn to hold my place in the pack; it's actually more dangerous to drop back than to maintain my place, bars-to-bars with the other riders. Let's see if I can apply what I learned next time!

More stories and photos.

State Track Masters, Hellyer Park Velodrome, 6/30-7/1/2012

By Dennis Pedersen

Looking for attacks from the front, in the scratch race.

State Championships are intimidating, but I decided to enter the scratch race and match sprints, on Saturday, and the 500m time trial and points race on Sunday. My main goal was to evaluate how the different races suited my physiology and temperament. This race weekend was really more a scouting trip for my 2013 season.

The scratch race field was about 20 guys, but from three age groups; 45-49, 50-54 and 55-59. The results would be separated by age group. Very early on, a rider from San Jose Bike Club attacked and gained a half lap pretty quickly while three teammates blocked subtly for him. I took several pulls to gain some ground back, but nobody else pulled through as I always had a SJBC guy behind me. Finally, with me watching from the front, Clark Natwick (Peninsula Velo) went hard and bridged up to him. Maybe I should have tried too, but instead I had to rest a bit. We ended up catching the SJBC rider, but not the other guy. I sort of forgot about the separate age groups so I neglected to sprint hard at the finish; you never know who is ahead of you and they could be from the other age groups. So I only finished 6th.

Holding Bill against the rail in the match sprints. 

I got a break while waiting for my favorite race; match sprints. For the sprints we first did the usual flying-200m seeding runs to determine who we'd be matched against. I wore a new aero helmet, and perhaps it helped as I managed a nice 12.6 seconds. My first round was against Bill Nicely. I won the coin toss and chose to start down track. My 200m time was a hair faster than his, so leading would allow me to control the pace better. Still, I knew he was about as fast as me and I'd have to ride really well. I held him against the rail for the first 1.5 laps, then jumped hard down turn 1's banking and into turn 2. I saw I had a nice gap and held back just a hair (you should never, ever go faster than you have to as otherwise you'll have no energy for the next round). Unfortunately I backed off too much and Bill came around me in turn 3. Darn, he's fast; he got me by a few inches. I should have been able to beat him, but I still have lots to learn about the subtle tactics. And this also meant that I was not going to be able to challenge Don Langley for the gold as the first round was one match only. But Don's 11.77 200m time likely meant I'd be very hard pressed to beat him. I ended up easily winning my next two rounds for 3rd. Still, bronze was pretty cool.

Bronze, NCNCA 2012 Masters Match Sprints.

On Sunday I used my aero helmet again, setting a decent 39.20-second 500m standing start. I probably could've gone a bit harder, but Don's 36.44 was world-class. The trick seems to be to go out as hard as you can, and then hold on to as much momentum as possible even if you slow down at the end. I watched Bobby Walthour almost faint as he finished his run, which tells you something. I felt like I should have gone out harder, and my power meter agreed as I didn't hit my usual peak power even at the start. I tied for 4th.

Later on Sunday afternoon I was joined by teammate Ken Sato in the points race. Nice to have company! I was leary of the points race as guys like Don and Stanley Terusaki are super fast. I used to think this was a good event for me, but I've discovered that it's more suited to guys with high aerobic power, not to pure sprinters at all. Sure enough, Don, Stanley and a SJBC rider went off the front and hammered away at the rest of us, grabbing almost all of the points. I decided to try to help Ken, but I'm not sure how much I contributed. It was hard! I grabbed point(s) in one sprint, just to deny them to a SJBC rider. Guys I think of as fast dropped out, and eventually I did too after the lead trio lapped us. Argh! Like I say, it's an endurance race.

So, I managed to learn a lot more about these races at the top level and how I fit in. That's valuable information. The downside is that I now know that my strength is so heavily skewed toward sprinting that even most track races don't suit me. Plus, if I want to really maximize my potential I will need to radically restructure my training and general lifestyle in a way I may not yet be ready to accept. We'll see how my journey goes.

Photos on Snapfish.

ADA Tour de Cure, 6/10/2012

By Dennis Pedersen

What a perfect day for a big ride! I really enjoyed this year's Tour de Cure fund-raising bicycle ride, as I always do. This was my sixth year on the Hewlett-Packard team, and my fifth as the team's Captain. As such, my main goal is to grow the team and help them all raise money to fight diabetes... and did we ever! I was not disappointed, as the 2012 HP team set new records in every area!

The American Diabetes Association (ADA) now hosts a "Champion's Celebration" dinner for riders who have raised $1,000 (by May 12th). I am proud to say that five HP riders qualified. It was quite classy and held at Silver Creek Valley Country Club, San Jose. Check out the HP team’s statistics from the last few years:

• 2007: 9 riders raised $4,268.
• 2008: 13 riders raised $8,252.86.
• 2009: 7 riders raised $4,633.00.
• 2010: 27 riders raised almost $20,000, 5th place overall in corporate teams.
• 2011: 34 riders raised $21,508.00, 7th place overall in corporate teams.
• 2012: 71 riders raised $32,626.74, 4th place overall in corporate teams.

I am so proud of how the HP team has grown, and how much we've increased our fund-raising. The momentum is palpable, thanks mostly to the help and encouragement of other HP employees, most notably:

• Sue Barsamian, Senior VP, Enterprise Storage, Servers and Networking: I met Sue on a ride last year, and she enthusiastically offered her support for the Tour de Cure. Thanks to her we got HP funding for team jerseys, plus a huge number of new riders.
• Alexa Lallos, Director, Cupertino Executive Briefing Center: She coordinated with me to design and supply the free HP jerseys to the entire team. Woo-hoo!
• Anita Reid, HP's US Wellness Program Manager: She was able to get publicity for the ride with her Wellness programs, and also helped us coordinate two "lunch-and-learns" to help publicize the Tour.
• Lindsey Fish, Cindy Asrir and Bill Kacmarsky: Without them I don't know how I would have managed! They helped me in a bunch of ways, with the two lunch-and-learns, e-mails to employees, general brain-storming and more. Bill also covered for me in the ADA's Tour de Cure Planning Committee.

The custom HP jerseys arrived the week of the ride, so I only had a couple of days to hand them out. I relied on lunch-time handouts at HP's Cupertino and Palo Alto Fitness Centers, and also sent some via Interoffice Mail.

After all that groundwork the ride itself was simply the cherry on my sundae. I just had to get up at 4:20AM and drive through the pre-dawn darkness to the event site in Palo Alto. It was at Lockheed this year, because the usual facilities at HP were being remodeled. I then got some Hobee's coffee cake and coffee, and lined up for the start. Oh, and handed out a few last-minute jerseys and arranged size-swaps. Several of us lined up at the start line for the official 6:30AM opening of the 120k route and were sent off by ADA's Allyson Schloming, Director of Silicon Valley Tour de Cure. It's pretty special doing an early-morning ride like this, knowing it's for a good cause.

I ended up mostly cruising with Glen Elliott (Director, Compensation) and my friend Rob, who donated wine from his winery, Testarossa in Los Gatos, to the "Champion's Celebration" dinner. Rob had crashed on a mountain-bike ride earlier that week and had some huge bruises (and some cracked ribs, it turned out later). But that didn't stop him! And Glen, who I first met on HP's "Bike MS" team last year, turned out to be a super-fast rider, so I was in good company.

So many of my HP teammates worked very hard on their fitness to prepare for this ride. I think there was a record eight of us who rode the 120k route (75 miles, with over 7,000 feet of climbing). And the other routes are by no means all easy either, so people really had to challenge themselves. I like to remind those who are intimidated by the ride that the Tour de Cure isn't a race, and there are routes as short as 25k (15 miles), but that doesn't mean they can't be challenging. It's pretty cool to see people push themselves with such great results and for such a great cause.

I usually hit the first major climb, up Kings Mountain Road, as hard as I can as part of my intervals training. It took me 26:45. We regrouped at the top, at the rest station on Skyline Boulevard. Rob was in pain from his ribs, but insisted he'd do the full ride. The summit was clear and pleasant, so the drop down HWY 84 toward the coast wasn't damp or as cold as it can often be. We turned left onto Pescadero Road and climbed Haskins Hill before resuming the fast descent. We were rewarded with another rest station, in the neat village of Pescadero. I love that area.

We took it pretty easy from there and up Stage Road, drafting the KLA guys a lot. Then up HWY 1 to Tunitas Creek Road for a quick break at the Bike Hut snack shop. The Kiwanis volunteers man these stations, and they are great people. I like to attack Tunitas Creek Road too, for training, so I really worked hard all the way up to Skyline. It took me 33:51. This brought us back to the rest station at the top of Kings Mountain Road. We had some last snacks and flew down Kings Mountain. It's so long and fast that our hands got cramps from braking.

The weather in Woodside was gorgeous, albeit a tad warm, and we started to see a ton of other cyclists from the shorter routes. Definitely a different vibe... they are having lots of fun and decorate their helmets, ride cruisers, etc. We rode down Alameda de las Pulgas to Junipero Serra and... back to the finish at Lockheed. Woo-hoo! I love the cheering volunteers, as if we had just won a huge race! But this is about helping people.

Lunch was quite nice, though for some reason we didn't get an HP team awning this year. Still, a big group of us grabbed a few tables and had an nice, well-deserved lunch. We took some photos but then many of them had to leave for various reasons. Later arrivals also met up there and we took more photos, plus the official team photo by PhotoCrazy (find individual photos here). I have made a Snapfish album of all the photos I took, plus what I could collect from teammates (keep 'em coming; I can add more!). Udi Chatow shared a couple of videos too (here and here).

From left: Bill Romans, Jerry Huck, Debra Walsh, Sue Barsamian, Glen Elliott, Steve Owens, Hobey Landreth, Stefan Merz, Steve Andrews, Josh Jensen, Dennis Pedersen.

The official photo. 

And remember, people can still donate! The fund-raising will continue for another month or so.

The 2013 Tour de Cure will be on June 9th. I hope to see you there. Thanks again to the volunteers, riders and generous donors!

Tuesday Night Racing, Hellyer Park Velodrome, 5/22/2012

By Dennis Pedersen

Nils and I have been racing a lot at Hellyer the last couple of years. I drive there from my office in Cupertino, he meets me there, we race, then carpool home to Santa Cruz. The races start at 7:00, so it's not too hard to get there in time, even with rush hour traffic.

I'm still a Category 3 racer on the track, as is Nils, but the new format allows us to choose between the Cat 3/4 and the Cat 1/2/3 races. Nils decided to race the Category 1/2/3 races that night, probably to spare me the pain he'd otherwise inflict.(He did really well; looked super strong out there!)

My first race was a 9-lap scratch race (just finish first to win). A lot of guys like to mark me, so I tend to get followed around the track a lot. This requires me to come up with new tricks to try and catch them all by surprise. This time I went on the attack, was caught by several guys, but then Raul of SJBC attacked solo and nobody followed him. I refused, thinking I could afford to settle for 2nd. I even took a few pulls to encourage them to chase, but to no avail. So I attacked near the end to get 2nd place.

Next we had a 12-lap points race, with points awarded for our placements every four laps. I took 4th (I think) in the fourth lap after getting attacked hard, then recovering. Then 1st in the eighth lap by attacking with about 1.5 laps before that (6.5 laps in). Last lap I think I got 3rd place. This netted me 2nd in this points race, overall (8 points total).

Then we had another scratch race, but 20 laps this time. I took 1st in this one, with a long effort instead of a short sprint. I don't remember it well, maybe due to lack of oxygen in the brain. It was hard!

Last, another points race, with 30 laps and points for every sixth lap. Again, I don't recall the details, but I somehow ended up in 2nd overall in this points race. I think I got two one 1st, two 3rds and a 4th. But I was credited with 14 points which doesn't add up, so I may remember wrong.

For the "omnium" (the combined results of that evening's races) I took 1st overall, thanks to my consistent placings. Fun stuff!

Tuesday Night Racing, Hellyer Park Velodrome, 5/1/2012

By Dennis Pedersen

I was getting over the flu and a crash that spoiled my races at the Santa Cruz and Sea Otter Classic Criteriums. So, even though I needed to get up at 3:00AM on Wednesday morning, I decided to do some track racing at Hellyer's velodrome on Tuesday night. I've really appreciated the new Cat 3/4 races they now offer too. Hey, live life, carpe diem and all that!

First we lined up along the rail for a 12-lap points race (sprints every fourth lap). Though I was somewhat marked in this race, often finding myself slowly drifting to the front while others watched, I was able to get two 2nds and a 3rd for 3rd overall, behind Stefan and Andrew, a fun Junior on SJBC.

Next; a 20-lap scratch race. Right off the bat I took a pull to speed things up, but nobody was willing to pull through. So I ended up staying at the front, but high on the track, so I could use the banking to accelerate downhill to catch any attackers. None came until John, a Junior on Specialized, flew off the front below me... I refused to chase, given how marked I was, so everybody just continued to follow me around high on the track, with Andrew glued to my wheel the whole race. Stefan mocked him jokingly, but Andrew was not amused like I was! This went on a while until John was a half-lap ahead. Then a few guys took pulls so I joined in and the gap came down to about a quarter-lap. Finally, with 2 laps to go, people woke up and a few of us caught John. Stefan took a strong 1st; I took 2nd by jumping past Andrew at the line.

In our 30-lap points race (sprints every fifth lap), John and I talked about trying a break, and got Andrew to join us. I was worried we'd blow up so I took the first pull, keeping the pace under 300W. But that wasn't hard enough so the pack stayed mostly together. Eventually I was able to go off the front with Andrew briefly, and took a 1st in our sprint, but I gapped him the next time we tried so I held back... that's when John took off. He took the last two sprints while we sat up. Stefan joked about Andrew following me again to the point where tempers flared a bit. I got a few more points along the way so I didn't do too badly with 3rd overall. But we had to soothe some ruffled feathers afterward. I like these guys, so keeping the peace is good.

Once again I succeeded in accomplishing my main goal: to have fun! Plus won a few minor victories to boot.

Velodrome Challenge Qualifier, 4/8/2012

By Dennis Pedersen

One of the Hellyer track season's biggest events will be NCVA's "Hellyer Velodrome Challenge," on July 6th to 8th. This three-day event of oval-track racing requires competitors to qualify, in any one of several Sunday qualifying races, before they can enter. I thought (mistakenly, it turns out) that they will have races for we Cat 3/4 racers, but the Challenge races will all be Cat 1/2/3, so if I want to race in July I'll need to place in the 1/2/3 qualifiers at some point. Yikes!

I drove over alone, on a gorgeous Easter Sunday, with my Felt TK2 on my car's roof-rack. I'd figured out how to mount the bike up there even with the rear disk-wheel in place, so that saves me the time of swapping to my spoked rear wheel during transport. I had also been told how to set and calibrate the PowerTap hub on the disk-wheel so I could get some useful power data after the race. So many people have asked me about things like average speed that I have included some of that info here (for reference, I was using 48x14 gears, or about 90.6-inch road gain, and keep in mind some of the numbers, especially the "cadence" RPM, aren't that accurate).

Our first race was a two-heat "kierin" race, in which we five riders were lined up behind a line, held upright while clipped into the pedals on our bikes by assistants, before having to power forward to grab the draft of the pace motorcycle, driven by veteran Peter Bohls. We were given 6 laps total, with Peter pulling off the track after 4.5 laps after which we'd have to fight it out on our own. The first two finishers would qualify for the second heat.

In the first kierin heat I only managed to get into fourth place behind the motorcycle (in spite of starting from the fifth spot, high on the track), so I knew I'd have to act early to make up the four bike lengths ahead of me. A few seconds before Peter pulled off I went around the leaders and hammered forward, while they were still blocked by his motorcycle (and me!). I then kept my head down as hard as I could for the last 1.5 laps for 1st. I was followed by Zach, who had tried to get me to slow down, as we had a huge lead, to save some energy for the next heat, but the wind noise prevented me from hearing him clearly.

• Max 35.26 MPH at 138 RPM, 798W. Average 25.3 MPH. Total time about 3:10 minutes.

We then got a short break before the second kierin heat, in which I was third wheel behind the motorcycle after starting in the lowest spot (in the sprinter's lane). This time I started my attack just slightly later, since I had less ground to make up, but all I managed was to lead out Zach and Bernard, who both came around me yielding me just 3rd place.

• Max 35.95 MPH at 141 RPM, 881W. Average 27.86 MPH. Total time about 2:55 minutes.

We then lined up on the rail for our 15-lap "scratch" race. I ended up in 3rd for this one. I was marked heavily by other riders and spent a lot of time at the front awaiting attacks by the others that never came. So I attacked with about 2 laps to go, then sat up when I saw my gap wasn't as big as I wanted. I then drafted a bit, but wasn't able to come around the two leaders.

• Max 33.95 MPH at 138 RPM, 990W. Average 23.72 MPH. Total time about 9 minutes.

Next up was our "points" race, which was delayed by a crash in the 1/2/3 field with an ambulance visit for the guy who went down. [I found out later it was Allen Vugrincic who was admitted to the hospital with some broken ribs, scapula, collarbone and a collapsed lung. Man.] We would race for 20 laps, with points awarded for our finish in every fifth lap. So, every fifth lap we attacked, and the rest of the time we tried to recover... while trying to prevent the rest from recovering too much! I grabbed 1st in the first sprint, then got boxed in for 4th in the next sprint, then took another 1st. For the finish I was so heavily marked by everybody that I was slowly leading the whole pack around, on the stayer's line, for two laps! No attacks came! OK, fine; I went all-out with about two laps remaining, but all I did was perform another lead-out for the rest, giving me zero points for my 5th place. So, I ended up with 11 points, for 2nd place behind Zach.

• Max 35.26 MPH at 133 RPM, 807W. Average 23.33 MPH. Total time about 12:23 minutes.

Finally we remaining seven riders lined up for a short "miss-and-out" race (the last rider in every other lap is pulled). I have learned so much about track tactics, and I was able to use that to grab 4th in this race, but I was too tired to stay with the three guys who fought it out to the end.

•  Max 30.14 MPH at 114 RPM, 617W. Average 18.23 MPH. Total time about 8:53 minutes.

One take-away of the power data is that the maximum power requirements aren't all that high for these mass-start races. I can routinely hit much higher peak power than the above results show, but it's very hard to do that after many laps of fast riding and attacks. I'm not sure what the overall result was, but they did post race results.

The gorgeous weather and smart racing really made this day enjoyable, in spite of the ambulance visit. Dinner with friends at the Crow's Nest was the perfect finish!

Lost Hills Road Race, 3/31/2012

By Eddy Price

"Eddy, you have to wake up, it's 4:15 a.m. and you told Jim Moran you would meet him at 4:30 in Aptos  to drive him to a bike race at Lost Hills... remember" my wife shouted in my ear very early Saturday morning as I lay in a deep sleep. It took a few seconds for my brain to process what she had said.

Then I remembered, Jim Moran, my good friend, personal training client and new member of our club-team and I were driving to the Lost Hills Road Race near Bakersfield. Our race started at 9:00 am, it was a three-hour drive, so we had to leave Aptos at 4:30 a.m. to get there by 7:30 a.m. and I had promised to drive Jim in my truck.

I hate early mornings. Normally I wake up between 8:00 and 8:30 am and I stay in bed until I can't keep my eyes closed anymore, which might be up to 45 minutes, or around 9:15 a.m., but 12 to 15 times a year I awake very early in the morning, long before the sun rises, to drive several hours to compete in a bike race in some distant part of Northern California.

My alarm, set for 3:30 a.m. either hadn't gone off or I had slept right through it, but within ten minutes I had dressed, gulped down a cup of coffee, made one cup for the road, inhaled a bowl of oatmeal, packed my cycling clothes, and loaded the truck, arriving only four minutes late in Aptos where Jim and I had arranged to meet.

This was to be Jim Morans first road race and I had been on the lookout for flat road races as a gentle introduction to the sport. I didn't want Jim's first experience to be next week's race at Copperopolis, where the road is flat and smooth for only 50 yards before the route turns left, enters the "pave" and tackles an eleven hundred foot climb.

Jim called me three years ago to start a weight-training program, spotting my name on our team's website and finding my phone number in the yellow pages under my personal training ad. Jim was turning 60 soon and wanted to get in better shape, so his birthday present to himself was six months of personal training sessions with me at my studio in Aptos. We progressed from the gym to weekly training sessions on the bike and last year Jim took the plunge, reading everything he could on training (Chris Carmichael's book was our Bible), watching everything he could find about cycling on YouTube, purchasing a new Cervelo bicycle, competing in the Swanton Time Trial Series and, the final step every male takes towards being a competitive cyclist, shaving his legs.

We arrived at Lost Hills at 7:35 a.m. There was no rain, but it was very windy. Because of the low turnout, they combined the 45+ Cat 4, 45+ Cat 5, Women, and Open Cat 5 together, which amounted to about 30 riders total. The course was a four-corner, 27-mile rectangle around the oil fields of Lost Hills on dead flat roads with very long uninterrupted stretches, as far as you could see, and a four-mile section of dirt road directly into a 30 mile per hour headwind thrown in for good measure.

The race started very fast with a nasty wind from the left. Naturally, the riders at the front stayed as far to the right as possible, so that those behind wouldn't have much shelter from the wind. The only place where I felt a tiny bit of protection from the 30-mile per hour wind was as far to the right as I could possibly ride, so that is where I tried to stay. The problem was the road had zero shoulder and a rough "edge" and frequently I would end up in the dirt for a few seconds, putting my cross skills to the test, but endangering no one because I was riding in last place. The other problem was that every one wanted to ride to the right of the rider in front of them and with 30 riders, this wasn't possible.

I was riding in last place, suffering like a dog and wondering why in the heck I thought this would be an easy introduction to road racing. I rode at the back for the first four miles until I had to start to close gaps that would open in front of me. The third time this happened, I got "mad," not at the rider opening the gap, he was doing the best he could, I became mad at myself for not being more proactive.

So, I moved left of the group all the way to the center-line and motored up to the front of the group, settling in to forth place. Funny thing, the wind was no worse riding to the left of the group than riding as directly behind the group. Near the front, the draft wasn't any better, but at least I wouldn't have to come around the rider in front of me when he cracked and fell off the pace-line.

I eventually cracked right before the 9-mile tailwind section of the course. At that point there were only four riders in front of me. I kept them in sight until we turned right, hitting 36 miles per hour aided by a wind of equal speed. The headwind leg of the course began with a three-mile section of dirt road, dropping my speed to 10 miles per hour and the four in front of me pulled away slowly.

When I crossed the finish line with one lap still to go, I almost quit. The wind was at its strongest, I was riding 8 miles per hour pedaling a 34 x 23 gear combination and wasn't sure I could manage another lap.  Thankfully, the wind died down to a relatively calm 20 miles per hour and I started to feel better. I held 5th place the whole second lap, riding 68 miles in 3 hours 15 minutes. I was so tired that I was barely able to ride the three miles back to my car from the finish line. I even had to close one eye because I was seeing double and it wouldn't go away.

Jim Moran finished only ten minutes behind me, placing a fine 7th in the 45+ Cat 5 race.  It was remarkable considering he was gapped within the first few miles, but he rode strongly, eventually catching a rider from Oakland and they rode together for quite some time. Jim even had the smarts to wait for him several times because he knew they could make much better time working together, but eventually he rode away from him.

I purposely didn't enter the 55+, thinking it was too hard a category, but I would have won because there was only one rider in the group and he finished behind me. Still, 5th place is my highest ranking in several years, and along with my 6th place the week before at the Salinas Criterium, it means that I won two tee shirts on two consecutive weekends. All that pain and suffering for two tee shirts. Yes, I know it sounds crazy and maybe it is, but it keeps me sane.

Ed Price

Copperopolis Road Race 55+, 4/7/2012

By Bob Montague

Saturday was the race I had targeted as my most important race of the season. I really like the course, and I was hoping to do well. Ed and I carpooled up together and met up with Jim Langley and John Schaup. Ed had signed up for the 45+ [category] 4 race, and the rest of us were in the 55+ open field. Our race was stacked with all of the biggest names in our age group in Northern California. The headliners were Rob Anderson, Mark Caldwell, Steve Archer, Kevin Susco and our own Jim Langley. I also expected to see Chris Cerutti, but he was still recovering from illness. Still, we started with near, if not at our limit of 50 guys at the line.

The pace started off brisk and the initial piece of roadway going down to the feed zone hill is poor at best. I was already at the back of the group on the way down and I realized that would not do if I was going to have any chance of getting up the hill with the leaders. I moved up to the row behind Jim. I know that I can’t out-climb him, but I was hoping to be able to hang on his wheel up the climb. As soon as the feed zone arrived, Rob Anderson set the pace. He is an interesting racer in that he does not have a really big top end. However, when he gets a gap, there are few in our group who can both bridge that gap and then maintain his pace. On this day, he opened that gap with 4 others (Caldwell, Archer, Susco and a guy named George Smith). At the top of the climb, I was maybe 5 seconds off of Jim and he was 15-20 seconds off of this lead group. Jim and I regrouped with 8-10 others and we began to chase. I used the first few moments to recover as Jim was leading our chase group. I realized that our chase was not going to be fast enough to reel the lead group back and I moved to the front. I also wanted to give Jim the chance to sit in with the group. I raced with Anderson at Topsport and I felt that our group could chase them down if we worked together and chased hard. Only one other guy in our group was willing or able to chase as hard as we needed to to bring back the leaders. Jim told me he had hurt himself too much on the climb and perhaps others were in the same circumstance. I worked hard to drive the pace and for the remainder of the first lap, our gap behind the lead group remained about the same. By the time we reached the top of the second climb, it had become clear that we did not have the will to chase down the leaders.

From this point our task changed from one of chasing to one of preparing for the last lap and finish. I could tell that I was as strong as anyone in our group. I went off the front at the finish line at the end of the first lap and stayed away to the bottom of the hill before the feed zone hill. The second time up the main climb was easier than the first. In the group ahead of us, Susco had flatted and George had thrown his chain and dropped back to us. I was trying to think about how to position myself to help Jim at the finish, but he told me that he still could not recover from the first time up the climb. I was feeling good and driving the pace of our group, but I knew there were some better sprinters than me. Kevin Willits and Joe Lemieux along with Marc Hamlin as well as others. I expect that I was the least experienced racer in our group. That probably contributed to my placing at the finish. I did not try to get a gap on the last climb, but in retrospect, I think I should have. Still, a few guys, including Jim, got gapped. I was in front going over the top and everyone hammered the descent pretty hard. I was feeling good and wanted to make my best effort going to the line. I was hoping to go with Willits and when he started his move, so did I. Unfortunately, I got crowded to the edge of the road and had to scrub speed to stay on the road. I tried to reload, but everyone had passed me by and were heading for the line by the time I was able to go again. At that point, I went as hard as I could and passed 2 guys right before the line. I finished 11th and Jim came in at 15th. I would have been happier if I had been able to finish stronger, but I was really thrilled to be able to finish with the caliber of racers that I did cross the line with!

Novice Track Racing, Cat 3/4/5, 4/1/2012

By Dennis Pedersen

This was my second track race of the year, once again part of Michael Wesley's new Novice Racing series designed to give beginning and intermediate-level track racers a place to have fun without having to race with the Pros in the usual 1/2/3 fields. I'd really enjoyed the first race, in March, so I was happy to head over to Hellyer Park in San Jose for some racing on their banked-oval velodrome, especially with the clear weather.

This time I was able to use the disc-covered wheel I bought from teammate Ken Sato (for a very reasonable price... thanks again, Ken!). It even has a power-meter hub, so I can check my actual power output on the track now, just as I do during my countless intervals workouts.

We started off with individual flying-200m runs. And again I had trouble with the front wheel shimmying wildly whenever I went to 100%. I basically had to back off and ended up with a mediocre 13.24-second time (I think that's about 33.8 MPH). My personal best is 12.47 seconds, so I was much slower. Definitely something I need to work on some more. The 10-MPH wind was not helping either, though.

We then had a 15-lap scratch race which I won by, like last time, taking a 2-lap "flyer" by myself. Interestingly, when I checked my power output later on, I found that I'd set new personal records for my 30-second, 1-minute and 5-minute average power. I guess I'll have to check the calibration of the new hub and make sure it isn't lying!

We then ran our individual standing-start 500m runs. Cathy Morgan held us firmly upright, clipped into our pedals, we got the countdown, and then strained all-out to get up to speed and hold it as high as possible. I got a 40.4-second time, which seemed OK to me (I think about the 3rd or 4th fastest rider), though my power definitely dropped toward the end. A good time is for 500m is 38-39 seconds, so now I have something to compare against for future efforts.

Lastly, Michael had us do a quick "unknown distance" race, which was simply a matter of racing until we heard the bell, then sprinting for the finish line. Well, we didn't know how long it would be, so Stefan Eberle went off the front right away, gambling the race would be short. I held back, figuring it might be a bit longer, but then decided the others were too slow so I started bridging up to Stefan. I wasn't convinced I could catch Stefan, though, and still be fresh for a sprint, so I backed off and worked with two chasers. We were closing the gap a little, but then the bell rang and I knew it was too late. I still got 2nd though.

All-in-all a very fun day of racing, and I learned some more lessons. The next Novice race is on April 15th, with my favorite "match sprints"... but I'll miss it due to the Santa Cruz Classic Criterium that same day. Oh well.

Now where are those notes on how to "stomp-test" a power meter...

Topsport Stage Race, 55+

By Bob Montague

I haven’t written any race reports this year. I may start to try and do a better job of it going forward. This report concerns the Topsport Stage Race, a somewhat poorly attended event for masters racers, that I did in the 45+ cat 4 two years ago. That time I finished 3rd of maybe 15 entrants and it was then and remains my highest finish in any race. That finish motivated me to enter again this year, but this time I entered the 55+ open race.
The weather report for Saturday said to stay at home, but I headed out to Copperopolis anyway. I was already a little intimidated because the road race course had been changed from the first time I had done the race. The description said it was a bit hilly, not my strong suit. I also checked the preregistrations and was surprised to see the entrance of Rob Anderson, the current 55 -59 world TT champion, as well as reigning 55 – 59 national road race champion. There were some other strong entrants, including Kevin Willits and two others from the Sierra Nevada Team. My hopes of possibly having a chance to win were dimmed considerably, but I set out determined to do my best and let the chips fall where they might.

I reached the location for the RR and the rain hadn’t arrived yet. The wind was already howling and I could see that the earlier fields were being blown apart. I wasn’t too concerned with the wind, but I could see that it would be raining by the time our race went off. Indeed, it was pouring and very windy at race time. I had been able to change into my kit before the rain came, but it started before I began to warm up. It was hard to get warm and I don’t think I really accomplished it before heading to the line. Once there, I was surprised to learn that the officials were offering options to the fields. We could choose to do the whole race, one lap only, or we could choose to skip the whole thing and all get the same time. I would have probably chosen to do the whole race, but I didn’t feel right saying so when most of the others seemed reticent. The start line was in about the middle of the course and Anderson suggested that we do the out and back leg at a group speed and then decide if we wanted to complete the whole first lap. Everyone seemed to feel that to be a reasonable idea and we were agreed. The official was considering stopping the race all together because there had been some instances of hypothermia in the early fields and a few in our group (predominantly me) were already shivering. I told the official that I would be fine, but that I simply needed to get moving. And so, we were off.

Anderson led us out and stayed at the front setting a high but not uncomfortable pace. I believe that we all stayed together during the out and back leg, but there were a few surges. No one made any mention of quitting as we returned past the start line, so the assumption was that we would do a one lap race. A number of riders launched attacks during the race, but none could stay away. I thought to use a tactic that I have seen Steve Heaton use on several occasions. I attacked multiple times. Each time the field chased me down and I would recover, only to attack again. I probably attacked on 4 separate occasions, the last as we approached the finishing hills. I was unable to get away for long, and I had burned too many matches to figure in the sprint. Indeed, I was assessed an 8 second gap because I couldn’t hang on the back of the finishing sprint. I was not unhappy that I had chosen to attack so much, but I was a bit dejected that I finished last among the group. I was surprised to see in the results that a couple of guys had been shelled from the pack, so at least I was not in overall last place. Still, I was considering throwing my bike in the car and heading home. On returning to the car, I realized that I was very cold and that I needed to get changed and warm as soon as possible. I started my car and turned the heat up as high as I could, but I was unable to recover my body heat until I got to Angels Camp and checked into my room with a long hot shower. Nasty conditions for a bike race, but I consider myself a mudder.

I ate at the only decent restaurant in Angels Camp, an Italian place called Caruscos. It was pretty good and I ran into a few other cyclists there. I didn’t stay out late because I wanted to be rested for the Circuit Race and TT on Sunday.

The circuit race was held on the same course as two years ago, but they went in the opposite direction. I think the course is a little easier in the direction we went this year, but I can’t be sure. I again chose to try and attack on several occasions in the circuit race and again found myself to be unsuccessful. Once again, I didn’t have anything left in the tank for the finishing sprint and was next to last at the line and lost another 3 seconds to the leaders. At this point, I was in 9th place overall and 21 seconds behind the leader and 11 seconds behind those who didn’t have any time bonus from the road race. I admit, I was more than a little dejected and again considered packing it in. I decided instead that I would just have to kill it in the TT.

This is where the story takes a bit of a turn, and it’s funny how the turn in a tale can sometimes follow a different than expected path. I didn’t ride my best TT, but I rode pretty well, and it was partly the choices of others that decided things. I had borrowed wheels from Ben Jacques-Mayne, but I decided not to ride them because this was a very bumpy course and those wheels have fairly worn 19mm tubular on them. Also, I found that I was having some issue with the cassette for the gears on the disc wheel. Instead, I chose to ride my new Enve wheels. My only problem was that the gearing on the cassette was a bit iffy on this rear wheel too. I couldn’t get it adjusted right before the start, and while it was shifting alright, I couldn’t get it to shift into the 12. I had to settle for what I had because there was no time to fix it. I would just have to hope I wouldn’t need it.

At the starting line, it was both impressive and intimidating to be lining up with a guy wearing the stripes of the World Champion. I am grateful that he chooses to enter races that I can also enter. I do not have the abilities that he has, but that does not change the fact that it is an honor to have the opportunity to line up against the world champion. I watched him go off and waited my turn. I got a clean start and began to fight my way into the headwinds that persisted throughout the outbound leg. I passed my 30 second man within a couple of minutes and decided to dial it back a bit. I felt that I was going out too hard and I didn’t want to blow up before the finish. Turns out that with the winds and my gearing, I should have just continued to kill myself on the outbound leg. As I approached the turnaround, I think I saw the Champ coming the other way about 3 minutes before I reached the turnaround. Considering that was the gap between us at the start, he appeared to already have a 3 minute lead on me in the TT. Still, I kept my head down and worked hard into the turn. My 1 minute man was far ahead of me at the turn, but I had my 90 second and 2 minute men in my sites. I began to ramp up the effort to chase them down. Unfortunately, because of the tailwind and my goofy gearing, I was spinning out on the downhill sections at around 40 mph. It took me until the last ¼ of the race to recognize that I had to work with what I had. At that point I spun up to my maximum speed on the downhills and then recovered until the road turned up. Then I had more energy to hammer up the uphills. Using this technique, I passed my 90 second man before the line and was only about 10 seconds behind my 2 minute man. I felt I had ridden this TT as well as I could given the limitations.

Still, it was at about this time that I realized that I had not seen any of the Sierra Nevada Team out on the course. Going into the TT they held 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the overall standings in our race. Turns out, they had missed the start. As a group, they failed to check their start times for the TT. Two of their team chose not to ride the TT, and the one who did ride it was assessed a penalty that left him out of the standings. That moved me from 9th to 6th place without having to do anything. My TT finish moved me up to 4th in the TT and 4th overall in the race. That was good enough for a podium finish as there were awards to the top 5. Stay in the race! You never know what might happen!!

Novice Track Racing, Cat 3/4/5, 3/3/2012

By Dennis Pedersen

This year the NCVA is offering a new series of weekend "novice races" that cater mostly to juniors and beginners... but also with races for old guys like me. The first one was last Saturday. I hadn't raced on the oval track since last Fall, so I was looking forward to racing at Hellyer Park's velodrome again.

First up were our timed flying-200-meter individual time trials. I was one of the last up and managed a 13.08-second run. Not my best (which is 12.48). I sometimes have a wobble in the steering during these maximum efforts, and that happened this time. But it seemed everybody else was a bit slow too, perhaps because of the wind, so I ended up well placed; I think 3rd or 4th.

This was followed by a 12-lap "scratch race." They ended up shifting us Masters away from the planned race, with juniors and women, and into the open-age Category 3/4/5 race. That ended up being fine with me, since I was able to jump with 1.5 laps remaining and solo to 1st place. Woo-hoo! As a sprinter it's usually better for me to wait until we have maybe a half-lap remaining... but I knew guys like Andreas Vogel could probably out-sprint me at that distance, hence my decision to jump much sooner. (Video on FaceBook.)

Then we did some cool standing-start-500-meter individual time trials. I'd never done one of these before, though it's the same concept as the 1-kilometer I did back in 2007. Michael Wesley was our "holder" and did a great job of holding me while I was clipped into both pedals, on my bike, at the ready on the track. They even had a very Pro-sounding starting audio signal. I actually had the best start of the day, but faded a bit toward the end. Anthony Borba consoled me by saying the wind picked up during my run. Even so, I think I got 3rd fastest time.

Last up was our Cat 3/4/5 15-lap "points race." I won the first sprint, on lap 5, giving me 5 points. But I got boxed in on the second sprint, on lap 10, for zero points. For the final sprint I again managed to take the win, giving me a total of 10 points. But "Scott," from Chico Corsa, had managed two 2nds, plus a 1st, giving him 11 points. So, I got 2nd place. (Video on YouTube.)

As always, I had a great time and was really happy I made it to this race. I'm looking forward to the rest of the track-racing season!

Cherry Pie Criterium, 45+ 1/2/3, Napa, 2/5/2012

By Dennis Pedersen

This race ended up pretty much the same for me as it did last year; chasing down breaks that got shut down, then watching the winning break recede into the distance. That isn't to say I didn't have fun, I sure did, but the race also demonstrated why having teammates in a race is so much better than racing solo.

I really love technical criteriums, and the finish on this 1-mile course is slightly uphill, with about 20-30 seconds of climbing, while the rest of the course is flat. Perfect for me! The problem is that we make that climb about 18 times, and the many turns (about 9 turns, including a hard U-turn at the top of the climb) open up gaps in the pack of riders, so we end up working pretty hard before we start the last climb. And these courses often encourage guys to breakaway off the front, rather than drafting and resting for the final sprint. That happened last year, when a two-man break got away and they took 1st and 2nd.

Margaret and I drove up on Saturday and had a nice dinner before hitting the hay at the official race hotel, Meritage Resort at Napa—a very nice place that we'd definitely recommend. It was so nice being able to visit their brunch buffet and suit up in our hotel room (by the way, the new Voler skinsuits have an awesome fit). The hotel was right on the course, so we just walked to the start line. It was a bit of a shocker to write "51" as my race age at registration though!

Me at the front, trying to form a break out of the U-turn.

The weather was a perfect 64 degrees as our 50-man field lined up for the start. I spotted the usual Championship stripes on the sleeves of many guys, but was also happy to see my friends Rob and Chris, from LGBRC, lined up after a long break from racing. Our race was to be 40 minutes.

I moved forward after the first lap to look for breaks. My hope was that I'd be able to join in with a few others from the bigger teams and stay away from the main pack so I could just sprint from a small group and have a good chance at a podium finish. One break formed before I could catch them, so I helped pull at the front a bit. After they got caught I tried to encourage more breaks, but nobody took the "bait." The best chance I had was when Hunter Ziesing (Echelon) and Max Mack (Health is Wealth) plus a guy from team Gnarlube (I think) took off and I bridged up to them before the gap got too big. But Hunter kept looking over his shoulder and soon sat up. I kept pulling for a bit, hoping somebody would join me, but without success.

The break descending as we start the climb.

After resting from one of my many attempts at forming or joining breaks I saw that guys from Team Specialized and Gnarlube were blocking. Clearly a break had formed while I was gasping for air and soon enough I could spot a 3-man break as they descended after the U-turn at the top of the hill. Darn, just what I had feared. I was able to partially ID them, thanks in part to the announcer (none other than Bruce Hildebrand), as Craig Roemer, "Jens" (Hillen, of Gnarlube) and a Team Bicycles Plus guy (Rodney Spradlin). And... that's how they finished the race.

Rob pips me!

When I could tell that there were no real efforts to chase them down, I decided to try a last-lap "flyer" by myself, in the hopes of finishing 4th. On the penultimate climb I pedaled hard out of the right-left chicane before the climb, got to top of the hill alone and through the U-turn with a sizable gap, then looked back to see how hard I was being chased down; rather hard, it turned out. I stayed away for 1/4 lap before they caught me, after which I simply tried to recover as near the front as I could. This netted me 17th place. My friend Rob squeezed past me just before the finish, which made me chuckle (as much as one can chuckle while almost vomiting from effort!).

Margaret took the great photos you see here; she has real talent! And after the race we visited the very excellent Patz & Hall tasting "Salon," right inside the race course, where Margaret promptly bought 8 bottles of premium wine and signed us up for their wine club—I would say she won my race!