Stanford Collegiate Races

New teammate Eddie here with my first blog post about this past weekend's collegiate races, hosted this week by Stanford. While I competed this weekend with the UCSC collegiate team (where I'm a graduate student), I figured I'd share with my experience with the team while I anxiously await my Team Bike Trip kit! The weekend consisted of three races: a team trial and road race Saturday in Panoche Road (same stretch as the Panoche Valley RR course on 5/5/13), and a crit on Sunday in Morgan Hill next to the Specialized headquarters. Fellow new Bike Trip teammate Matt Wittmann and I raced the Men's collegiate C category, which translates to a Men's road 4/5 field.

The 4-person team time trial was a 12-mile out and back course first thing in the morning before the road race. Originally, Matt and I had only planned to do the RR, but found another UCSC graduate student, Auric Kantz, who was eager to give it a shot with us. Our sentiment going into the TTT was to have fun and use it as a learning experience, but once the whistle blew Matt jumped out of the gate fast and the ride was on. We gave it a solid effort, though keeping in mind we wanted to save some pony for the main event later in the morning. We finished in 32:06, with UC Davis claiming first with a time of 29:37. While we placed 6/6, '28 behind 5th CSU Fresno, we had a good time doing so and it was a great learning experience. And hell, at this point in our racing careers, we'll take a top-10 finish any way we can get it!

The road race was a 36 mile out-and-back course that consisted of about 2,000 ft of climbing, and reminded me a lot of 84/San Gregorio/Alpine. The wind was blowing a decent clip to the East, meaning that we'd have a headwind coming back down the hill. There was plenty of UCSC representation in the field of 45: along with Matt and I, we had Bike Trip's own Andrew Smith, as well as Auric and Brent Adams. The race started out very slow over the first 10 or so miles which consisted of gentle rollers, with plenty of collegial (no pun intended) conversation within the peloton. Once the first main climb came, it was game time. Almost simultaneously, everyone hit the pedals hard and it was the moment of truth to see who could hang on with the heavy hitters. I was positioned about a third of the way back for this mile-long climb and when I saw a group of about 15 pulling away, I put my head down and spun as fast as I could. The pain was delicious as my heart red-lined the entire 4-5 minutes it took to get up the hill. I kept telling myself "Hey! This is just like Wednesday repeats... get your ass up this hill!" and sure enough, it was over just in time to stop my heart from exploding. After the dust settled, a group of 12 or so had gotten away off the front, but Matt and I joined up with another 10 or so riders to form a second group. Feeling pretty salty and very alive at that point, a Stanford rider named Mike and I took turns pulling the group to the turn-around point at the top.

The lead pack had about a minute on us at the turnaround, so we had our work cut out for us. It quickly became apparent however that our group was more interested in competing against each other than working to close the gap through the wind, so Matt and I decided to relax. If they wanted to do most of the work back to the finish, we'd be kind enough to let them. The rest of the descent was fairly uneventful, though a USC guy successfully attacked off the front of our group and held it against the wind for the last 3-4 miles, much to my surprise. Kudos to him, but since it wasn't a winning break and he was only one of about 10 of us, there wasn't a big onus to reel him in. Heading into the final stretch, through ever-so-excellent planning, I found myself in the precarious position of leading the pack out for the sprint. While I wasn't too happy about my execution, I figured I could at least lead out Matt for the sprint. As expected, the pack came zooming past me, and I tried to jump on them as hard as I could. Matt got beat well before the line and eased his pace. Still going hard, I came zooming up behind him, and it became clear that I would/could pass him before the line. I thought momentarily about slowing down to let him finish ahead (which would've been the sportsman-like thing to do), however, Matt being a good friend, my primary training partner, and a hellacious competitor, I followed the only choice I really had, and passed him with 10 feet to go to finish 22/45. And while petty, a chance to hold (small) bragging rights over Matt is an opportunity one simply must take when given the opportunity, since they are far and few between. ;)

Cal Poly Crit on 2/9/13, but hey! I couldn't be the
only blog post without a fancy picture!

The 30 minute crit the following day was fast and fun, though only Brent and myself competed in our field for UCSC. The laps were 1/2 mile, CCW, with 5 corners (the last segment was banana shaped). Physically, I felt A-ok, but I had a hard time staying near the front of the peloton given the number of riders on the course. I had a nice starting spot on the line, but had trouble clipping in, started near the back, and spent the entire race trying to find lanes to move up. Towards the end, I had finally gotten myself to a decent position, but lost it on a bad approach to the corner going into the last lap and couldn't catch the back of the group sprinting out the last lap. I went hard around the course to the finish line hoping for the best, but the damage was done, and finished 23/36. Not as well as I had hoped, but you live and learn, and thankfully there's always another crit around the corner for redemption.

This weekend's collegiate races will be hosted by UC Berkeley. The RR takes place in the quaint town of Crockett, bordering my hometown of Martinez, which I hope will provide an extra boost to place well. With that said, this means I must defend my home turf, even if it means keeling over climbing up the brutal Mc Ewen Road trying!

CCCX Circuit Race #2, 45+, 3/2/2013

By Dennis Pedersen

Part Deux of the CCCX series was in Fort Ord again, but on a new course on a rolling stretch of super-smooth pavement connected by a very tight U-turn at either end. It starts just south of the Eucalyptus Road summit and was 50 minutes long. I wanted to race in the 45+ 3/4 category again, that morning, but because I had to work that morning (starting 4:00 AM no less), I was forced to enter the faster open-category afternoon race at 3:10. Oh well, hard training was my goal.

It was a nice day until about 5 minutes after I arrived when the fog started blowing in. After trying to warm up I added a warm base layer and arm-warmers. A crosswind also added some technical challenges. When I lined up at the start line I found there were only seven of us, the smallest field I've ever seen in a road race. One was Keith DeFiebre, who is the race promoter and a fast Cat 2.

As we started I didn't hesitate to go right to the front and set tempo as I knew a couple guys had raced that morning as well. I didn't feel strong, but even so I was able to control the pace with some help from a guy from Thirsty Bear. I wanted to wear people down a bit by opening gaps on the many short climbs, thus forcing them into the wind to chase me. Otherwise they'd just draft and conserve energy; I needed them to burn energy.

One guy was always at the back of our small peloton: Keith. He spent no time at all in the wind. I started wondering if he was that tired, or if he was merely trying to fill out this tiny race for appearances. Well, neither, it turned out.

After five laps of jumping up the small hills and then resting downhill, I went hard off the front with 1/2 lap to go. I wanted to force a chase they'd be unable to recover from before the final sprint, and also to be first around the last U-turn, at the bottom of a hill leading up about 400 meters to the finish. This worked well as I was able to coast easily into the U-turn before I opened up yet another gap on the last climb. I then stood up to look back and saw I had a small gap. I jumped again but soon heard Keith come up behind me. By then I was gasping from the effort and he was able to beat me easily to the line.

Oh well, 2nd place ain't too bad and I won a T-shirt and a $35 awards certificate. Maybe I can apply my vast winnings to a high-end road bike. ;-)

CCCX Circuit Race #1, 45+ 3/4, 2/2/2013

By Dennis Pedersen

I signed up for this race on Monday morning... and promptly came down with a cold Tuesday night. So I wasn't sure I'd be up for road-racing at CCCX on Saturday. But it was just a head cold, and a short ride on Friday reassured me, so I hit the road to Fort Ord after my usual race-day breakfast. Bob Montague lined up too; I was very happy to have a teammate with me.

It was cold with dense fog so we wore warm base layers, plus arm- and knee-warmers. I opted for no lenses too as they'd just fog up anyway. I now road-race on my 2007 Giant since I sold my 2009; I would rather invest in track gear at this point.

Right from the start I was at the very front, pulling the small pack of a couple dozen guys. A few from SJBC and from Bicyclebluebook.com took pulls too, but most seemed content to follow wheels. I didn't mind because I was just training anyway and I could justify my extra  work as helping Bob to sit in.

Each of the 5 laps over the rolling hills was about 12 minutes; 1 minute slower than I'm used to. That really made my legs happy! Even though I spent the whole race at or near the front I still felt I'd be able to contest the increasingly-likely sprint finish. This course finishes on a slight climb which helps small sprinters like me.

I'd marked a few guys to watch, but in the end they were not contenders. Instead a few sprinters who had sat in moved up on the last lap. I probably could have tried a breakaway on the last trip up the "stair-step" climb on Eucalyptus Road, as Bob later told me he'd considered, but I felt confident enough in my sprint to rest a bit instead.

Even so I was again at the front as we descended toward the last two turns. That enabled me to watch for guys who started their sprint early... as one guy did. I watched him on my right when he dramatically unclipped from his pedal, almost crashing. I followed another guy until he faded, then moved behind the guy who'd unclipped; he'd recovered enough to be first with two turns to go. Out of the last turn I jumped past him with a healthy gap up to the finish line for the win. Got $30 cash too.

I'm under no illusions; this race would be much harder with my usual 45+ 1/2/3 crowd. But I'll take this rare road-race win as the accomplishment it is for a slow old guy like me.

Henleyville Road Race 2012

The Schaupps Take the 2012 Henleyville Road Race by Storm
by John Schaupp

I did the Henleyville RR last weekend – 54 miles, three 18-mile laps. I thought my season was over about a month ago, but about a week prior to the race my son Matt decided he wanted to do the race working toward his Cat 1 upgrade. I figured since I was going anyway, I may as well race 55+ and I went back into training mode for a week.

It was a small turnout at the race. It is a relatively flat course with a few rollers in it. The first lap was relatively uneventful with a few attacks that were immediately covered. Just after the completion of the first lap there was a serious attack by a Chico Masters Cycling racer. He stayed off for a respectable amount of time and was then quickly joined by Tracy Muegge of Team Bicycles Plus Sierra. I didn’t know who he was, but I learned quickly.

Within about a half a lap, Tracey dropped the Chico rider. Behind there were 4 to 5 of us chasing with everyone else sitting in. We were very disorganized with several chasers doing minimal work. Tracy did an admirable job keeping a several-hundred meter gap solo for close to an entire lap. Tracy had a teammate, Douglas Gonda, happily chatting and generally teasing us as we had to chase while he got to sit in.

Finally we reeled Tracy in a few miles from the finish. Another racer surged from out of the pack. I had been feeling good, so I covered his attack. To my dismay I found both my quads cramping. I guess the heat (98 degrees) and intensity of the chase, combined with my lack of serious training for 3 out of 4 prior weeks got to me. Fortunately I had time to recover and spin my legs out. I stood up and stretched my hamstrings as best I could.

It was a narrow road with a centerline rule in effect. The start/finish line had tape just on half of the road. At the start we were warned by the officials if we did not run over the tape at the finish we would be disqualified. As such I decided to stay in the front for positioning even though I would have much rather slipped back to get a wheel. I got boxed in at Dunnigan earlier this year and did not want this happening again. I stayed to the right of the road so I only had to watch my left side. With just over 200 meters to go I saw the attack coming and jumped. Oh man, did that hurt.

It was Douglas playing the perfect scenario after his teammate gave his all. He got a great jump. I was only able to match him and hold my position. I mentally conceded 1st to Douglas and sat down. Suddenly fearing slipping to 3rd place, I stood up and started sprinting again. Jeeeze, Douglas had blown and I started to gain on him. He had totally blown. Unfortunately my hesitation cost me the race. I only needed 10 more feet to win, but ended up 2nd. Tracy, even after his solo performance, took 3rd. Next year! My son Matt also had a great race placing 3rd in the Pro, 1, 2. Good times!

Race Around Lake Tahoe Report

At the start (about a third of the team)

Race Around Lake Tahoe Report
Saturday, September 29, 2012

2:59:52! Team Symantec gets it done
by Jim Langley

For me, this was the second attempt at the Race Around Lake Tahoe with Team Symantec. Our goal: to get team founder, captain, sponsor and class act, Enrique Salem across the line under three hours. That's the gold standard at Tahoe and not so easy.

The team has tried to cover the supposed 72-mile course (some Strava files say it's a bit shorter) under the three-hour barrier without luck, including last year when we crossed the line in a frustrating 3:02, a victim of traffic jams, bad roads that forced dismounting and walking; and we probably needed a few more teammates to stoke the fire over the tough final miles of the race. Tahoe is at elevations around and above 6,000 feet and the thin air takes the starch out of your sails sooner or later.

Rolling to the official starting line

This year we brought a bigger team and added to that with friends who wanted to help, like Chris and his up-and-coming racer son Sam. I think all told we line up with close to 20 riders planning to work as a unit to crack three.

While it was nice to have the help, it got confusing figuring who was on our team and who was just using our teamwork to drag them to their fastest time. But one of the fun things about Tahoe is how many of these people thank us at the finish for helping them set a new PR.

Instead of staying in the team house, Mark Edwards and I decided to use the trip as a mini vacation, and with our wives, got campsites in the Zephyr Cove RV park. It's perfectly located right at the start of the ride.

For you history buffs, I was amazed to learn that the Zephyr Cove Resort where the RV park and the restaurant/beach where the race starts, was founded in 1862 and has been in constant operation since! Nice place to stay and it has a beautiful beach, too.

Mark and I met up in the morning just 30 minutes before the start and wondered if we should bundle up more since it felt cold with the sun not up yet. We decided to just wear arm warmers and headed over to join the team. I was laughing at Mark's mandatory helmet timing chip that was sticking straight up, making him look like a California quail - you can see it on everyone in the photos (I taped mine flat).

One of the quirky Tahoe traditions is that the starter fires a double-barreled shotgun. I wasn't paying attention and about fell off my bike when the blast went off and we tried to get into our pedals ASAP and rocket up the fairly long climb the race starts with.

And we're off! Team Symantec on the front

Right away, I was too cold, so I hit the hill with the leaders and went hard up that first wall. It didn't do any good and by the top, my hands were frozen. I had to back off a little and pick my position carefully in the bunch because I couldn't feel my levers to brake or shift.

The first 10 miles or so were crazy with squirrelly riders, cops racing alongside the pack on both sides sirens sounding and then stopping in the road to halt traffic but also risking us by stopping right smack in our lane. You're following wheels and you keep hitting ruts and potholes left by the constant construction around Tahoe. This caused some near crashes as riders dropped bottles, others ran over them and guys swerved and braked to stay upright. Not exactly a race peloton, that's for sure. More like a century ride on steroids.

As we put some miles behind us and I needed to get some calories down, my hands were still gone and I couldn't eat or drink for fear of dropping my food/bottle or running into some wobbly rider in front and crashing. We eventually saw the sun and got rid of some of the tired riders as we flew up the steep climbs over Emerald Bay. Enrique was riding super strong and sticking tight.

No stopping at South Lake Tahoe's casinos!

Emerald is always where the strongest riders open a small gap and that happened again. Our goal is to ride as a team and get as many riders as possible, and especially Enrique, across the line under three hours, not to win the race. So we let them go. Maybe next year we'll try to set someone up to break the course record of 2:50, which would mean winning a $500 purse, too.

Our team was intact until about halfway around the lake. Once over the climbs at Emerald Bay there are some sweet descents on wide, smooth roads with epic scenery that you're going too fast to see much of. Then the road becomes more rolling and you have to earn your miles. The team kept the pace high and every time I looked forward I'd see our yellow jerseys setting the tempo at the front.

Then things started going wrong. Mark had to pee so bad he was forced to stop, so we lost one of our strongest riders. He couldn't take care of business while riding because an official car was following the lead pack.

No time to stop and enjoy the view either

Later Steve and Dennis flatted. So, with only the climbs over Spooner Summit and the rollers on the way back down to the finish at Zephyr Cove to go, we were in danger of not going any faster than last year, even though we had brought even more riders.

Around then, I asked Dave how we were doing, and he said something like, 'We've only got 14 miles to go and 30 minutes to do it; we'll make it easy.'

I liked his optimism, but we definitely weren't going anywhere near 30mph, and the pack was tiring, slowing and not working together at all. I panicked and started hollering obnoxiously at the team, trying to get guys to ride a proper rotating paceline so that we would speed up.

This didn't work at all. They were probably too tired. They'd get to the front and sit there and we'd go slower and slower. The same for the non-Symantec riders. Instead of adding fuel to the fire and increasing our pace, everyone was essentially getting to the front and blocking so that we went slower and slower.

Enrique (yellow rim) does it!

After yelling a bit and not getting any results, and guys just clogging up the front, I did what you have to, and started going to the front and trying to raise the pace myself. Kirk Carlsen, a pro recently signed by Team Exergy and who rides for our team at Tahoe, was way up the road, and luckily for us, he turned around and came back, saw the situation and started helping.

Dave was charging to the front too, and then Pablo, who motors on his tri bike, got in the game. And just like that, we got the pack flying again and kept it going faster and faster keeping the rotation going.

Meanwhile, Enrique was right there and took some solid pulls to help the effort, as did John. The climbs over Spooner were painful but we fought to keep the pace high and keep everyone together. Then we absolutely bombed the descents immediately leapfrogging each other, going faster and faster, clipping the corners, matching the speeding cars in the fast lane just inches away, and then sprinting maniacally over the rollers in-between the downs as if we were 16-year-old juniors in our first race instead of a bunch of desk jockeys.

Still, as we came into the finish, I chanced a look at my watch and it didn't look good. The race start time was 7 and my watch had just hit 10! Some of the guys had computers and assured me we had done it. But I wasn't going to believe it until I saw the official results. Which showed that we barely broke 3. My time was 2:59:52 and I think everyone was right around there in our little group.

The winning time was only 2:57, so I believe we actually gained ground on the lead group late in the ride. I'd like to find out how fast we could go if we rode a true rotating team-time-trial paceline the whole way. I have to think we could go much faster.

The last sub-3 guys

Mark rolled in just a couple of minutes behind us. He told me that after stopping, he helped teammate Melissa (Dave's wife). She ended up winning the women's masters division. After that Mark started chasing us in earnest. I am pretty sure he would have caught us, but he took a wrong turn (the course was not marked and there was no course marshal) and had to climb 3 hills over a part of the course where we were taking the correct route which was mostly downhill. So, Mark added distance and time and only finished 3 minutes behind us or he would have broken 3 I am pretty sure.

I feel bad for him and Steve and Dennis, and the other guys who just got dropped. But getting around the lake in under three hours takes as much luck as fitness. I'm sure they'll get it done next time. I am glad I broke three this year and have that monkey off my back. Thanks for all the help out there Team Symantec!

2012 Mountain Bike Marathon National Championship 50-59

"Well, Phil, I was on the rivet the entire way."

2012 Mountain Bike Marathon National Championship
50-59 Category
September 15, 2012
Bend, Oregon 
by Scott Martin 

I ended my 2012 season with a bang (and a whimper) at the Mountain Bike Marathon National Championship in Bend, Oregon, on September 15. 

Held a week after the Bend-based Masters Road Nationals attended by our own TT powerhouse Jim Langley, the Marathon Nationals served up 54 miles and 6,300 feet of climbing. The high-desert course featured tons of fun singletrack, many nasty lava-rock gardens and some tricky deep-sand sections. 

Based on last year’s times, I expected to finish in about 4.5 hours. But then I ran into Santa Cruz local (and Giro founder) Jim Gentes at the packet pick-up. Gentes had done the Masters Road Championships and stayed in Bend to pre-ride the marathon course. He said the course had changed from last year and was brutal. Yikes. 

On race day I lined up with 28 other guys in the 50-59 category, including teammate Chris Baker, Gentes, and a bunch of chiseled guys from mountain bike hotspots like Idaho, Colorado, Utah and of course Oregon. Among them was Bend local Paul Thomasberg, a Mountain Bike Hall of Famer and ex-pro. Double yikes. [Editor's note: Paul won the race.]

We started fast on dusty fire roads. As planned, I went out hard. Probably a little too hard in hindsight. I was still recovering when we hit the first technical sections. Here I quickly realized that a season of competing mostly on the relatively tame trails of the CCCX events at Fort Ord had not prepared me for hard-core mtb racing. I bobbled, I crashed, I got passed again and again. 

By aid station #1 at mile 12, I was struggling to stay positive. But after chugging a bottle and inhaling some energy bar, I began feeling better. One woman who passed me was only slightly faster but way more skillful than me, so I latched on and enrolled in a clinic on technical riding. 

By aid station #2 at mile 24, I began re-passing a few riders and feeling much sharper mentally and physically. 

Aid station #3 at mile 33 came up sooner than expected – always a good sign – and when I hit the last aid station at mile 42, I figured I was practically home. 

Wrong. 

The last 12 miles were cruelly hilly and technical. My back was screaming. I could barely dismount for the many rocky sections. I fell over on one steep climb and was too exhausted to curse. My CamelBak finally went dry. When I hit the pavement with a half-mile to go, my neck was so tweaked I couldn’t turn to see if anyone was behind me. 

Shattered, I crossed the finish line in 5:13 for 16th place. Clearly I have a lot to learn about this crazy event, but I have 12 months to begin figuring it out. Thanks for reading. And thanks to coach Mark Edwards for getting me in such good shape. Here are the full results.

Masters Road National Championships 2012

Masters Road Nationals Race Report (55-59 age group) - September 5 & 6, 2012
by Jim Langley

Ready for the 9-hour drive to Bend

The USA Cycling Masters National Road Races, took place in Bend, Oregon last week. I thought I'd take a different approach this year and for my report, share what I wrote about the races for my weekly column on roadbikerider. 

I'll offer some background on the Nationals that might put things in perspective for all you teammates who have never competed at this level. 

My hope is that I might motivate you to put a trip to Bend on your racing calendar next year - after that the Natz could move back to Louisville, Kentucky or some other distant location not so easy to get to as Bend. 

I drove up alone last year, and again this year. The event may be as much as a month earlier in 2013 and it would be fun to go up as a team instead of an individual. If they use the same courses as they did this year, they suit Santa Cruz Country road racers just fine. And the time trial is especially easy, much moreso than our tough Swanton course.

I stayed with teammate Jim Holmes in Bend. Nice garage!

For American athletes over age 35, the Nationals is the big show. And, you don’t even have to qualify. You just have to hold a USA Cycling license and pay the entry fee, about $60 per event.

It’s a chance to line up against the best in the country and see what you’ve got. And I do mean the best in the country. 

There are men’s and women’s categories broken down in five-year age categories from 35 to 40 all the way up to 95 to 100 years-old - when there are entrants.

If you look at the names year in and out, it’s a who’s who of former road stars, like Wayne Stetina, Tom Officer, Tom Doughty and Karen Armstrong. These are racers who’ve competed at the highest level, been on pro teams, the USA national team or on major amateur squads. To me, just riding with them is special.

The Time Trial course: flat, fast, smooth, no wind!

The racing starts with an individual time trial. This year it was on Wednesday, September 5. Next is the road race. And the week of racing concludes with a criterium. In each race there are five podium spots. But everyone dreams of knocking off one of the top dogs and nabbing the title of USA Masters National Champion and the coveted stars-and-stripes jersey that goes along with it.

This was the fourth time I attended the Nationals, racing in the 55 to 59 age group. The first two years when it was held in Louisville, Kentucky, I got killed, a victim of the high-caliber racing and awful heat. When they moved the event to Bend last year, which is a lot like Santa Cruz I did much better. I trained extra hard all of 2012 preparing for my return to Bend.

Here are some notes of interest about the racing and how I got 8th in the time trial and 23rd in the road race.

Jim & Jim on the Crooked River TT course on Tuesday

Faster but still not fast enough
Last year I got 10th in the time trial averaging 24.6mph. I was pretty happy to finish top-10 at this level, especially after coming in almost dead last in the time trial my first try in Louisville. 

Earlier this year I managed to take the silver medal in the Northern California/Nevada time trial, the district championship, averaging 27mph for 40K. So, I went into this Natz thinking I might go a bit better than in 2011. I did, averaging 26.42mph for this year’s 30K course, or almost 2mph faster. But that only moved me up from 10th to 8th!

Speed by age category
Thinking about how I went faster even though I was a year older, I thought it would be fun to compare the average speed of the men’s time trialists (since I’m a man, not because the women aren’t fast). 

My bars are super low, Power Tap is for pacing

Note that the course length changes so the comparison isn’t perfect, but I still find it interesting how fast everyone goes regardless of age and that it’s so close:
35-39: 28.93mph Sam Krieg (Pocatello, Idaho/Idaho Cycling Enthusiasts)
40-44: 29.52 Richard Feldman (Ketchum, Idaho/ Durance-Colnago)
45-49: 28.59 Robert Garwood (Harrisonburg, Va.)
50-54: 29.53 Jeffrey Hartmann (Boulder, Colo./Boulder Orthopedics)
55-59: 27.9 Gary Painter (Ft Wayne, Ind./Ft. Wayne Outfitters)
60-64: 27.51 Thomas Doughty (Aurora, Ill./Scarlet Fire)
65-69: 25.62 Scott Hennessy (Salinas, Calif./VOS Racing)
70-74: 24.11 S Durward Higgins (Chattanooga, Tenn./Scenic City Velo)
75-79: 24.50 Franz Hammer (Oro Valley, Ariz./Team Green Choice/Team RPM/Airpark Bikes)
80-84: 20.7 Albert Piemme (Sequim, Wash.)
85-90: 15.58 James Harrang (Eugene, Ore.)

“Funny” officials, part 1
A highlight of racing in Bend this year was staying with my teammate Jim Holmes who has a beautiful house there. There were two other racers at the house, six-time Race Across America winner Seana Hogan who was in the 50+ women’s field (how would you like to line up against her?!) and her friend Just Dustyn, a 60+ woman from the Sacramento area, returning to racing after a 20-year hiatus. 

Dustyn’s race machine was a late eighties steel-frame Merckx. The final check the official did at the time-trial start was weighing the bikes to ensure they’re not too light. When he weighed Dustyn’s Belgian bomber, he exclaimed for all of her competitors in line to hear, “Whoa, we have a new winner for the heaviest bicycle!” Not what Dustyn wanted to hear.

10 p.m. bar hacking to pass bike check was not needed!

“Funny” officials part 2
In order to race the time trial your bicycle has to be “cleared” by the race officials the day before the race. You wait in a long line in the broiling sun as they lean one bike at a time against a go/no-go jig that tells them if the seat and bars are in the correct position and a lot of other details that must be exactly right to abide by the UCI’s complicated aero bicycle rules.

After waiting for 40 minutes, the official rolls my Cervelo P2 up to the jig, takes a quick glance, and tells me that it doesn’t pass and must be checked before the race start in the morning. Talk about stress. He doesn’t even tell me why it doesn’t pass. I barely sleep that night worrying about it, only to have a different race official at the time trial barely look at my bike before giving me the green light to race.

This might be why the officials were a little off
After the time trial I was chatting with Tom Doughty, who was stuffing all his wheels and bicycles into a tiny rental car after his winning 60+ time trial. I didn’t think everything would fit, but he said he has rented so many cars at races over the years that he can tell just by looking whether all his race gear will fit or not. 

Regarding the wishy-washy bike checks by the officials, Tom said that he thought it was due to USA Cycling’s desire to loosen the rules so that more triathletes will come out and race in USA time trials. Fair enough. But at least have set rules and follow them.

Chris Cerruti warming up on chilly Mt. Bachelor

Road race wobbles
The 54-mile road race was bar-none, the most spectacularly scenic race I’ve been in. It started at the top of snowcapped Mt. Bachelor, flew down it for about 20 miles, covered some rollers around the backside for another 30 miles and then finished with a 4-mile climb back to the top. 

The opening descent was awesome except that a large portion of the pack experienced speed wobble. I had the shimmies too. It was a result of the 50+ mph descent combined with the frigid air that chilled us all to the bone causing shivering that amplified the wobbles. Luckily, the pack slowed a bit, everyone got it under control and no one crashed. But it made for a terrifying start.

Quick sidenote: one of the coolest things about the Nationals is that you have lead and follow cars and motorcycles. They're all there to lead and protect the peloton and provide a closed course, meaning you can use the entire road just like in the Tour de France. It's makes the racing feel completely different as the peloton chooses which side of the road to race on and that's often the "wrong" side, and for miles and miles too.

Mt. Bachelor - epic venue for a RR

As everyone knew, the race came down to the final climb. There were many attempts at solo and small-group breakaways on the middle part of the course but the peloton easily pulled every one back. There were two little rollers on the approach to the longer, steeper ascent to the ski-area parking lot start/finish. The group hit these hard enough that I almost came off the back.

But I was there at the base of the big climb with most of the pack because only a handful of the 73 riders had gotten shelled. I was probably a little too far back though. At the front they punched it at the bottom and a group of about 30 opened a gap. I saw this but didn't have the legs or lungs to go with them at that point. We were at altitude and I was feeling it at that moment.

All I could do was try to pace myself. So, I did that and I started passing guys, and more, and then a little group, and then a bigger group. At that point I was feeling much better. I could see the group ahead and went as hard as I could to try to chase them down. I thought I was only halfway up the climb with time maybe to catch more riders and move up.

But then I saw the pack ahead take the right turn that marked the 1K to the finish point, and I knew I wasn't going to catch anyone. I came across the line solo in 23rd place, the third "group" on the road. My big mistake was not riding the course before the race to experience the last climb and know how long it was. But, there wasn't time with no rest day between the time trial and road race, and I couldn't get up to Bend any earlier before the races. 

In any case, it might not have made any difference. I needed to be able to go with the lead group at the bottom of the hill and I just didn't have it at that point, so they made the perfect move to get rid of me.

The Santa Cruz County road mafia, Jim, Evan, Chris

Technical notes
For you gear heads, in no particular order, here are some of the technical changes I made to improve this year (most in the time trial but these tweaks helped me on the road, too): went from Look to Speedplay pedals (with Speedplay-only shoes); lowered and narrowed my aero bars a lot; went from 175mm crankarms on my road bikes to 170, and on my time trial bike to 160; got a faster helmet (see below); increased my training intensity; improved my pedal stroke; switched energy drinks and got a Power Tap watt meter for my TT bike so that all workouts are quality ones and recorded to see how I'm progressing.

Thanks everyone
As I’ve gotten more and more into racing at the Nationals seriously, I’ve sought out the very best in coaching and equipment and I owe a lot to my supporters. Thank you Coach Mark Edwards for the careful analysis and training program that got me so fit. And for helping me improve my aero setup, thanks to Keith Bontrager and Hed who got me on superfast wheels; Giro who supplied the TT helmet of the pros, their Selector; Sidi for putting me on ultra-stiff Speedplay-specific carbon shoes; and of course, team sponsors Bicycle Trip and Symantec.

If after reading this you're inspired to have a go at a National title next year, I'm happy to answer any and all questions and you're welcome to train with Coach Mark's group, too, that I train with. The time to start training and preparing is NOW! And, I'm looking forward to having some teammates to root for next fall.

Ride safe out there,
Jim Langley