Scott Martin's Race Reports, 2012

By Scott Martin

After several years of road racing, I decided this season to return to mountain bike racing. (Or, as my mountain biking friends said, "So, you've come back from the dark side.")

There aren't nearly as many off-road races, but luckily we have the CCCX series in our backyard (Fort Ord and Toro Park). It's low-key, fun and not scary-technical. I missed the first 2 events in the 9-race series, but managed to hit all the rest, including the finale over Labor Day weekend. I won the last 7 races and the overall series in the 55+ Category 2 division. Hats off to fellow Bike Tripper Dwight Goss who finished second overall and was getting closer and closer to me each race. The Trip was also well represented throughout the series in other categories with Chris Baker, Matt Wocasek, Geoff Drake, Jose and others I'm no doubt forgetting. 

I really slacked on my race reporting this year, so here's a quick recap of the rest of my season:

April 15

1st 55+ Cat 2 at Napa Valley Dirt Classic, Angwin

Very muddy. Very steep. Crashed hard, lost my pump (and my nerve) but hung on.

Apr. 22: 3rd 55+ Cat 2 at Sea Otter Classic mtb, Monterey

Two SoCal guys schooled us, but I used my road racing skills (i.e., wheelsucking) to stay with another L.A.-area rider and sneak away on the final climb to get my first-ever Sea Otter podium by less than 15 seconds.

April 28

4th 55+ Cat 4 at Wente RR, Livermore

My token road race. 

May 12

6th 50+ Cat 2 at Rockhopper, Vacaville

100 degrees, brutal course. Managed to get a piece of paper towel stuck in my CamelBak hose. (Don't ask.) Long day. 

Next up: Chris Baker and I are heading to Bend, Oregon, for the Mountain Bike Marathon National Championship on September 15. At 60 miles, it will be almost 3 times as long as my next-longest race this year. Gulp.

Yikes Fame to Flame at Rohnert Park, pic's to follow.  I did a Age 60 Category to see If I could keep up with people my age and up.   I think there was maybe 40/50 guys in my race. My team mates were there and they recommended I stay up in the front as much as possible and to stay to the left on the head wind side of the course.  I started good, hung really well trading of with a few different riders.  There were 3 guys about 20 sec's ahead at midway in the race. I know cause I heard someone in the crowd shout out the interval. 
Well we finally caught them towards the end.  I was pretty aggressive in this race staying really close to the guy ahead of me to catch his wind, another guy on my right wanted to squeeze in and I pushed his arm a little to keep him from colliding with me and told him I have this wheel, he remarked that he was ahead of me on my right and I repeated I had this wheel and he didn't bother me the rest of the race. 

                                 "The Last 2 laps"
I'm doing really well running 2nd, guys keep trying to get me to take the pull and I say nope.  I hear a guy from behind yell out "Chicken".  I replied its an age thing, but I didn't see him pass me neither.  On the last lap I was pretty much 2nd place to the end.  So the only strategy I had was to keep tucked in behind the first place wheel, and that was what I did, we had a small break on the group but not enough, on the last turn, WOW! I am still in 2nd and forget about the Finish. About 400 meters from the finish the first place guy speeds up, he must have seen the group coming as he either faded back to the line or dropped out or sprinted ahead, maybe I just pulled out, I was pretty much dazed and confused at this point as I was pretty much hung out to dry at the 200 meter mark a freight train of almost the whole group passed me on the left.  Fame to Flame.  But you bet your Joey's bootees I won't do that again. 

Thanks

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!

NorCal/Nevada District Time Trail Championships 2012

Second place! L-R: Me, Rob Anderson, David Kelley

NorCal/Nevada District Time Trial Championships 2012 (June 10, 2012)
by Jim Langley

Nils Tikkanen and I took the long drive up to Sattley for the State TT Championships last weekend and we had a fantastic couple of days enjoying the beautiful high country around the Donner Lake area and racing our funny bikes in our even funnier speedsuits and pointy helmets.

I've been working hard since I managed a tenth in the National TT Championship last year and Coach Mark encouraged me to focus more on time trialing - since it seems I have some ability there. I've been riding our UCSC repeats on the TT bike and Mark has scheduled Saturday workouts where we do repeats on Swanton Road, that are perfect for the aero bikes too.

These workouts work wonders. This past Thursday on one of the windiest nights I've experienced out there, I knocked another 10 seconds off my Swanton TT posting a 29:28, so I went into the States feeling ready.

Nils on the left. You can see how flat the road is.

I've also been steadily improving my two-wheeled missile and aero tuck. I have dropped my front end close to three inches and narrowed my arms almost as much. And Mark has tweaked my training to ensure I can deliver the steady power required to hammer non-stop for almost an hour. (If you need any time trial training or equipment advice, just ask, because we've probably been there, done that, and we are learning what works and what doesn't.)

Nils has been setting blistering times on the Swanton TT too, has ridden in the 51s up at Sattley in the past and has his Giant Trinity dialed and flying. He had also picked up a spanking-new Castelli speed suit and Giro Selector aero lid for the race, too (same helmet I'm riding). He could have entered the age-group event but decided to sign up for the stacked Elite Men category.

Jim, just before the turnaround.

I signed up for the Masters Men 55-59, my last time competing in this category because my racing age will be 60 next year. Racers seems to sign up late for Sattley and for the longest time the only other person registered was National and World Champ Rob Anderson who had taken almost two minutes out of me over only a 25K TT course up in Bend, Oregon last year at the Nationals 55-59 TT. But, by the morning of the race, a few other big names had signed up, including Mac Carey who I have never come close to in a time trial.

One of the highlights of the trip was staying at teammate Larry and Priscilla Broberg's lovely home only a half hour away from the race course. They took us out for a gourmet meal at The Lodge restaurant and then fired us up for Sunday's racing by tuning in the final time trial of the Criterium du Dauphine on the TV. Watching Peter Sagan barely beat Cancellara was something else and I'm sure Nils had as much trouble getting to sleep as I did thinking about how we were going to tear the cranks off our bikes all Sagan-like in the morning.

Awesome shot of Nils

Before we headed off for the racing, Larry whipped up a couple of amazing lattes for the road with his cool little coffee-maker and Nils drank two for good measure. Arriving at the race, we parked next to another 55-59er named Craig Larsen who had an easy-up shelter that he offered to share if we'd help him set it up. It was nice warming up on the trainers out of the sun. The air was cool in the morning but the sun was already hot.

Time trials are pretty laid-back scenes. There's no posturing or trash talking because there's no place to hide out there on the race course. You either have it or you don't and the clock doesn't lie. So, usually people are talking and getting their bikes ready and warming up pretty seriously. I even heard a lot of guys joking about how slow they were going to go. There were about 150 racers in all, going off in 30-second intervals.

The course is almost dead-straight and pancake flat (compared to anything we have around Santa Cruz). It does rise ever so gently on the way out and descends the same on the way back. There are mile markers painted on the road - 1 through 12 and then there's the turnaround cone in the road and the numbers go down from 12 to 1 again on the way in on the other side of the road (not 13 to 24 as you might expect). I was only passed by three cars over the entire 25-mile ride.

Nils went before me looking super fast in his new kit in his super-low tuck and set a time around 53 minutes. [Note: maybe Nils will have a chance to add some of his race comments]

I left at 9:26 a.m. with three guys in my group leaving before me, including Mac. The fun thing about Sattley is that the road is so straight you can see your 30-second man and gauge how you're going watching him come back or pull away!

Homeward bound - I need to get even lower

I had a watts target and took off a bit conservatively, but couldn't stop looking at that guy in front of me and gradually took it up to around 250 average watts. Coach Mark had strongly advised me to be careful due to racing at 5,000 feet and the effect of the thin air making it feel easy but coming back to hurt you badly late in the race if you burned your matches too early.

So, I tried to keep steady pressure on the pedals and reel in the guy ahead while letting the watts drop to around 243. I felt good. There was a pretty strong wind from the right pushing me toward the middle of the road thanks to my 90mm front Bontrager Aeolus wheel. But I'm used to much worse wind on the Swanton time trial, and I just kept focused on riding straight. Still, by the turnaround I had a minor shoulder cramp from the countersteering I was doing to ride straight.

About 10 miles in I caught my 30-second man and realized I was close to the two guys ahead of him. I kept the pace steady and caught both of them before the turnaround worrying that I might be pushing it too hard, because one of them was Mac and I have never been close to him before in a time trial (he is coming off a really bad crash so I think he's just getting his form back).

I glanced at the time at the turnaround and saw that I was over 30 minutes already. That was frustrating because my first goal was to break an hour. But, as soon as I was heading home I could feel that the going was easier. On the outboard leg it was difficult to hit 26mph and now I was able to punch it to over 30mph.

The ride in started great but quickly turned painful. I was concerned the entire time that I had gone out too hard because my legs started aching more and more, and I couldn't generate the speed I felt I should have been able to.

I've got a 55/11 highest gear on my Cervelo P2 and I spent the whole return leg on that or the 12 and was over 30mph a lot of the way, sometimes 34. My watts were stuck at around 243 though. I just couldn't add any more. I kept watching the speed and gave it everything trying to keep above 30mph. The mile markers clicked off fast, 9, 8, 7, 6 - then I lost track of them because I had to focus 100% on my form and finishing strong.

I did see the 5K to-go marker and then the mile to-go sign. By that point I was breathing heavily and my legs were thrashing, losing coordination. I was afraid to look at the timer but decided to, just to take my mind off the feeling that I was losing it. I was amazed to see that I was at around 54 minutes! If I could only maintain speed I could finish in the 55s - a quality time! So I tried harder still and even stood up and sprinted for the line - more like wobbled since my legs almost gave out when I rose off the seat.

I was super happy to finish in 55:31 for an average speed of 27mph. It wasn't fast enough to win. Rob had a great ride finishing in 54:26 with an average speed about .5mph faster than mine. So he won and I took the silver medal and David Kelley took third with a fine 56:32.

Second in the Districts is my best finish ever so I want to thank Coach Mark Edwards for all his help getting me there, Keith Bontrager for loaning me the fastest front wheel on the planet, Giro for getting me into one of their sweet Selector helmets way back in October, Lightning Cycle Dynamics for providing their trick carbon crankset with 160mm arms, the Bicycle Trip for all the support this year, Wade Hall at The Spokesman for suggesting the shorter cranks, and all you teammates for getting out there every week and pushing me to get better. Thanks everyone!

Jim