Panoche Valley Road Race, 45+1/2/3

By Russ Cadwallader

One thing that should be understood is that I'm a roofer. I work in the valley. Heat was my friend until this race. It was super flippin' hot.

Started out with an attack off the line from Hunter Z. Attacks off and on all the way up by Jon O, Jan (the VOS attack team) and the Morgan Stanley crew. I stayed forward up the climb doing some work. Almost crashed when a Morgan Stanley rider had to swerve. I was overlapping his wheel, (a no no).

At the turn around I had dropped back. A very bad move, because there was a brake of 8 riders at the turn around. I rode up the double yellow yelling for people to work with me to close the gap but most of the riders up front were saying that they had someone in the break. However, I did recruit Mike Gadow (Tieni Duro). Both of us took some real hard long pulls. Brought the gap down to less than 50 seconds. Did have JD, a Morgan Stanley rider and fellow friend do some really good work as we headed towards the top.

Just before we got to the top, Jan from VOS went to bridge across the gap. I went with him, but half way out I was too toasted from the work I had done, so I fell back to the chase group. Mike & I were now pissed that no one would work. We really picked the tempo up and brought the chase group down to 10 or so.

The heat was really getting to us. When we got to the top water station we all grabbed water. Most of the bottles were only a quarter filled. This was the start of the real pain. Then a super nasty crash right in front of me. We were railing thru the sharpest turn on the down hill and Stefano Schiaffino didn't think he was going to make it and braked. He went sailing off the road at high speed, slid on gravel, rolled into and out of the drainage gutter and flipped into a bob-wire fence. He got hurt! After that we were down to 8.

Motor ref. kept riding up and telling me that the gap was 50 seconds. I was now in a dream state of mind. I looked over at Mike G and his face and jersey were covered in salt, kinda looked like frost. I said Mike, your face is covered in salt. He looked at me with a blank stare and said, Russ you face is covered in salt too. This was weird. Started feeling like I might stroke-out or something.

Finally on the flats at the bottom, others started to work. Every one of us was out of water with several miles to go. Mike and I were really blasted by the time we got to the finish. However, we both by some act of god dug down and sprinted. We took 3rd and 4th in the chase group sprint. Normally not good, but with all the work we did, I thought that was very cool. Eric Saltzman won the race. I ended up 12th.

As normal, anyone wearing a bike trip jersey raced well in this race. However, gotta say way to go to Amy & Michele, (2nd & 3rd). Knew you could do it Amy. Michele, I'm sorry, but you had an off day if you didn't win.

Brisbane Criterium & Circuit Races, 45+ 3/4

By Russ Cadwallader

Brisbane went well.

The crit was super dangerous and super fast with three good crashes. Stayed up front for the entire race. Had to really be aggressive to hold my position. Half way into the race I heard them say that a prime was a bike car rack. I usually don't go for primes, but I thought that one was worth it. On the back half of the course I drilled it and left the pack. With a thousand yards to the line I looked back and thought I was all alone, had a thousand yards on the field. At 200 yards a Platinum rider from Santa Barbara surprised me and came onto my wheel. I was in too big of a gear and no joke, he got the prime by 2 or 3 inches. I was so exhausted after that prime. I stopped peddling and let the group catch me. I stayed back around fifteenth wheel thinking that my race was now over and how stupid it was, going for the prime and not getting it. Lap after lap I started feeling better and was finally able to recover and move back up to the front 5 wheels. The last lap was fast. I had to keep punching it to hold position. In the hairpin there was a crash on my left. I avoided it, barely. I was 4th wheel out of the hairpin and was only able to hold that position to the line.

The circuit race was much different for me. Very slow tempo up the hill on every lap. Geoff and I stayed up front the entire race. Dennis was also forward of most riders. A couple of brakes that I knew were not going to stick. Second to last lap, Geoff went up and tried to close a gap on a solo brake. I almost screamed to him to get out of the wind. I knew this guy was history on the last climb to the line. Geoff got out of the wind on the down hill. I was first through the turn at the bottom of the hill. I almost went for it at that point, but backed off and waited for the front of the field. Geoff and I were positioned in the top five up the hill. A few surges, but for the most part, fairly moderate tempo. At 300 yards to the line the pace picked up. It started to bunch up a little and Geoff and I lost a few positions. Someone went into my back wheel fairly hard, found out later that it was Geoff. No bid deal. At 200 yards the sprint went down. Geoff and I were both boxed in. Near the line, I was on the right, saw a gap on the left, went all the way across and was able to move forward. Ended up 8th, Geoff 9th Dennis 11th.

Jeff and I talked about going for it 1000 yards before the line on a pre-race discussion. I though we did OK on the circuit race, but I really think that we should have stuck to our pre-race idea. Jeff was probably the best climber in the field. Going at the bottom of the hill, or half way up, probably would have given him a win. I think I would have faired much better also. Instead, the sprinter had their way with us.

Merco Foothills RR - 45+ Cat. 1,2,3,4

Dennis & Joe P. met at my house at 7:00 AM for the drive out to Snelling. Gotta say that Joe P and I were waffling alittle about racing, due to the weather. However, Dennis was ready to race when he rolled up to my house. There was no turning back at this point.

It was pouring rain as we drove down 580. Dennis was a mobile weather channel, showing Joe and I different live radars on his phone. All I saw was green and yellow on the radar. However, Dennis kept pointing at Snelling, "Maybe just a few light showers". Dennis was right on the money. There were just a few very light showers as we arrived at the race. It was actually very scenic; rolling hills with all the nut trees in full blossom.

Parked right at the barn where reg. was...got our numbers and started to warm-up. Lining up at the start, it looked like it was going to start dumping any second. It was a fairly big field, with all the major teams having a very large presence. Joe, Dennis and I lined-up towards the front. The start went off without a hitch.

The course is a loop thru rolling hills. At the beginning of the race, we were greeted with some rain and numerous ambulances and emergency vehicles positioned at large crashed from the previous races. I positioned my self up front in our group and Joe came up to join me. Dennis was playing it cool, behind us trying to stay out of the wind.

I usually don't get too rattled in races, but things were sketchy for me up front. Large groups coming up from the sides and attacking, were throwing me back about 30 wheels. I would have to go out into the wind and move back up to the front on numerous occasions. Lots of people
bumping into each other and sliding on the reflectors on the double yellow center lines. A goober in front of me spasmed and drove into my front wheel. Had some applause for keeping it upright. Tons of attempted breaks, but the larger teams were shutting everything down... I knew nothing was going to stick.

The last lap was fast. There are some small power hills on the last five miles of the course. I was looking for Jon Ornstil & jan from VOS to break on these hills, since they were up front doing lots of attacks, but they drifted back. I stayed fourth to six wheel over the hills and had great positioning at the 1 km sign. Just a small little hill and a slight downhill and then flat to the line. I new that a Safeway sprinter at the front was the wheel to take at the sprint. However, Wells Fargo and others came up strong along the sides. I was stuck behind a bad wheel and I was not focussed enough to try to squeeze thru tight gaps to get on a good wheel. I ended up 12th across
the line, with Dennis and Joe close behind. Still had tons of fun. I'll definitely do this one again.

Russ