This is a new stage race based out of the newly built town of Copperopolis. The race consists of a 10 mile out and back Time Trial, a 75 minute circuit race and a 69 mile Road Race, over two days. At the outset, I would have to say that this was a very well organized event over challenging and safe courses, but it was not very well supported by racers in Northern California. Hopefully that will change in the future. If we want to see more opportunities for racing in our area, we must support those promoters who take the risk to put these events on.
My race only had 15 racers entered out of a possible 75. Our first event was the Time Trial. I didn’t have too much information on the course, but I was determined to make a better effort than I had at Madera(28th) and at the 1st Swanton TT last week. I was somewhat optimistic because I had been getting some good input from time trialists and I had done more work in the aero position, enough that I was beginning to become a bit more comfortable. I got in a good warmup on the road and got to the start on time. I went out hard, possibly too hard. My average power about 1 ½ minutes into the effort was between 500 and 600 watts. I had experienced a similar thing at Madera and had made too much of an effort to recover. This course was advertised a gently rolling, so I decided to continue going hard to keep my speed up and only allow for recovery on the downhill sections. I think this strategy worked out pretty well. There were only a couple of spots on the outbound leg that were downhill, but they provided me with a good period for recovery and I was able to work hard on the rollers. I was looking forward to having more downhill on the homeward leg, but it really didn’t turn out that way. After it was over, I and those I spoke to agreed that the course was uphill tailwind on the way out and uphill headwind on the way back. It was a challenging course with no steep hills, but plenty of rollers. The pavement was not particularly good and a few of the riders with the fancy wheels and Time Trial bikes were grousing about it. I was okay with it. I stayed in the aero bars almost the entire time and finished a bit under 30 minutes. The girl at the finish told me that anything under 30 was good, but they had only seen the cat 5’s and a few of our group at that point. Still I was satisfied with my effort. Turns out I was in 4th, about 30 – 35 seconds behind a couple of fit looking Davis Cycling Club riders and 1.5 minutes behind a Webcor rider named Allen. Allen had not raced in 4+ years and had downgraded to our category. Although he said he was 20# overweight, he was clearly the favorite.
Next up was the circuit race, a couple of hours after the TT. The circuit was a 6 mile loop that began at the outskirts of the town center of Copperopolis and then turned on to the left side of a divided 4 lane roadway. We went out 3 miles, made the turn and came back 3 miles. The finish and preme line was at the top of a slight incline after a slight descent. 5 second time bonuses (premes) were awarded for crossing the line first on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th laps. On the finishing lap, time bonuses of 10, 6 and 4 seconds were awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. I picked the wrong wheel for the sprint at the finish, but I did win a 5 second preme on the 3rd lap. I was however relegated for using indelicate phrasing upon crossing the line of that preme, and so lost my time bonus to the man behind me. I will have to let that be a lesson learned. My sometimes colorful use of language is outside the rules of bike racing. The remainder of the circuit course wound through the streets of the town center, but it was still very safe, mostly because it came after the group had exerted itself to get to the line. My finish in the circuit race kept me in 4th place in the GC with only the road race to go.
Team Bike Trip was fortunate to have been offered accommodations at Robert’s mother’s lake house, about 10 minutes from Copperopolis. The house was very nice and provided us with everything we needed to rest up for the next event. The road race was scheduled for 69 miles on Sunday and scheduled for two waves, the earlier one between 8 and 8:30 am, and the latter between 11:30 and noon. I was to go off at 11:45, but I went over early since Nils and Robert were scheduled to go in the early wave. After their races took off, I ate and read the paper in the town square. It was a very nice day. Nils came back in early with a flatted tubular, not too happy that his race had ended early. About that time, I got suited up and got in an easy warm up. I didn’t do too much because I figured that we wouldn’t go out hard after the prior day’s racing and nearly 70 miles ahead of us. Turned out that they led us out neutrally with our support vehicle for about 4 miles, so we were all plenty warmed up by the time a pedal was turned in anger. And, pedals were turned in anger. Davis had 3 men in the group and 2 of them were in 2nd and 3rd in the GC. They sent their third man to the front on the first lap of this three lap race and then began to take turns cranking up the pace. They hoped, I’m sure, to drop Allen from Webcor as the leader on the road. The pace was harder than I had expected as compared to the shorter race at Madera which had been a younger and bigger field. I believe one or two guys got dropped from the pace on the first lap, but I was too busy hanging on and trying to conserve to do any counting. Part of the course was on the windy backstretch of the Copperopolis Road Race course. When we first got there, Allen showed us what we were in for. As we turned back into a wicked crosswind, he launched a brutal pace and every man was challenged to stay on. Still, I think most did. The course continued over mostly horrible roads with some cattle grates and occasional gravel sections for several miles. What climbing there was were power hills and they suited me well. We continued on to a turnaround point and then back past the finish line to a turnaround point at the start line and were off on our 2nd of 3 laps. The 2nd lap is where our race was decided. Davis had let up on their attacks but Allen continued to push the pace. As we approached the windy section he jumped hard and set a torrid pace with 3 guys hanging on for dear life. I was not one of those guys but I recognized that I needed to be. I burned the biggest match in my book and put the hammer down. Davis’s 3rd positioned rider had gone with me but he told me that he couldn’t help because his team had a rider in the break. I looked back at him and asked, “What, are you kidding me? This is our race! Either we work together and get back on now, or we are done.”. He thought it over and agreed, taking a short pull as we started up a fairly long incline. It was enough. I was able to recover while he pulled me for about 20 seconds. I launched with everything I had and was able to complete the bridge just as the lead group crested the rise. Unfortunately, the Davis rider who had helped me had not made it. This was the winning break. We would stay together, the remaining 5 of us, to the finish. Attacks were launched, but no one could get away. I had burned a lot of energy bridging the gap and chose to ride conservatively from that point. I wanted to try to win the road race, but I was also concerned that I might bonk. I tried to remain hyper aware of the moves around me and made sure not to let myself drift off the back at all. Still, as we came closer to the finish on our 3rd lap, I tried to position myself for the sprint. There were only 5 of us and plenty of roadway, and when the time came, I was on the right wheel. The only problem was that my legs had nothing left to respond. I tried to go, but couldn’t. I was 5th in a 5 man sprint. More than a little frustrating. Still, I was thrilled to be there at the end of what had been a brutal road race. And I didn’t lose any time in the GC to any of the guys who were close behind me. Plus, one of the Davis riders who was dropped had been in 3rd position. He finished well back and I moved up one position in the GC to 3rd. Podium!!!!!!!!!!! Huge cash and merchandise. OK, 20 bucks and a Teeshirt. Still, I’ll be framing all of it. I’m stoked
Monday, March 29, 2010
Cool Poster Art
Some of you might appreciate this poster art from the Monterey Bay Aquarium's new climate change exhibit. Inspired by a bicycle chain advertisement by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. French, 1896. © Monterey Bay Aquarium
2010 Topsport Stage Race Report (Elite 3)
In summary, my old (but not too old) Veloflex Carbon tubular tires were out to get me this otherwise excellent race weekend. Here's how it unfolded.
Stage 1 - Little John Circuit Race a.k.a the conspiring front tire: ~90 minutes on a 6-mile circuit. Excellent pavement, crazy roller-coaster like 6-turn section through town square, and a fast out and back on rolling Little John Rd. Very safe race, as the turns were right after the finish and were more fun than an actual factor in the race.
Nothing too much to say, except I put in a few moves, fought pretty hard position-wise for an intermediate time bonus, somehow developed a slow leak in my front tire, and saw exactly when Paul Dyrwal from MS/Spec planned to separate the field. He took 10 other guys with him. It's not fun trying to motor with 20psi in your front tire, and it certainly makes the corners interesting... nonetheless, I worked hard to minimize the damage and somehow ended up 13th with my crazy low-pressure front tire.
Stage 2 - Little Rock ITT a.k.a. our cat 3 field has some sandbaggers: ~11 miles on pretty rough pavement, rolling hills, the narrowest turnaround ever (coming off a FAST downhill!) and a steadily-increasing afternoon wind. I warmed up, definitely felt the morning's efforts, got to the line, and hoped my legs would treat me well.
Not much to say, except my 25:25 time put me in 3rd in the TT, and 3rd in the GC. It was a brutal course, and it was mentally tough to focus with the rollers and wind and not ever catching my minute man (Johnathan Teeter, who, it turns out, won San Dimas and was the only racer to break 24 minutes in the whole race). The cat 3 1st and 2nd times would have also been 1st and 2nd in the p/1/2 field.
Stage 2.5 - Epic dinner calorie consumption race: Bob Montague, our teammate and owner of Cafe Sparrow in Aptos, cooked us up a mighty fine dinner fit for kings. Did I mention we stayed in Rob's mom's sweet vacation pad for the weekend? In this case, two pictures are worth two thousand words:
Stage 3 - Pavement of a thousand deaths RR: I gotta say, It was a pretty novel experience to hear people talking about me and eyeing my GC spot. Perhaps it was a premonition, but I felt like there was so much to lose today, and that I should race as defensively as possible... but I didn't even get a chance to. My rear tire punctured in the first 30 minutes, and I had no wheels in the follow car (race organizers: it's nice to know about follow cars before you're staging!). I must admit that violently tearing off the offending tubulars was quite therapeutic.
Lessons learned: Always have a wheel in the follow car. Maybe get a set of burly tires for races that question the definition of 'pavement'. Never forget that each race tempts fate.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Land Park Criterium Cat. 4 Women 3-21-10
Land Park Criterium Cat. 4 Women 3-21-10
Michele Heaton
Being cautious by nature, combined with becoming a cyclist at the age of 39 after 6 years of rehabilitation and multiple knee reconstruction surgeries, racing was not in my vocabulary. I did not want to up the crash ante at all. Two years ago when I did decide to give it a try I made Criteriums against my religion. But with last weeks upgrade denial (I had accidentaly given myself 2 points too many for a circuit race thinking it was the same value as a road race), I found myself officially desperate and willing to give one a try.
Off Amy and I went to Sacremento last Sunday to race the Land Park Criterium. This was a super fun course with some sweeping turns on one half and a few technical turns on the back side. They had 2 mentors take us through the course to show us some good lines through the corners. Believe me, I was listening closely to every tip they gave on how to keep the race safe.
As we were in one of the final corners of this educational lap, there was a loud “kerpow!” Was that me? Yes, I had a blowout. Someone yelled, “quick, get a wheel at neutral support!” I rolled up to the start line and asked if there was a wheel I could borrow. Nope. No wheels. A woman said, “Here, take my wheel.” I said “what about you?” Don’t worry, I race later and I’ll fix your flat...here” and she quickly put her wheel on my bike. What a gal. Boom. The race starts. Plenty of adrenaline was going now and I quickly was about 3rd wheel in a field of 33.
Apparently the pace of this race was high. It stayed strung out and safe. I stayed in the first 5 or so wheels pretty much the entire race. There were constant fun dynamics. I got in both breaks. The second one looked particularly threatening. I jumped on the wheel of the woman who ended up winning and we bridged a pretty big gap together. Our break of 5 eventually got caught with 10+ minutes left to race. I sat in for the first time to try to get a bit of recovery. Eventually moving forward, for some unknown reason I decided to attack from about 4th wheel with 1 full lap to go. Not sure why I did this as my original idea was to go after the last corner (would have been much more sensible.) I got a big gap but no one had come with me. Oh well, I was committed now. I told myself, “go Michele go, only a 3+ minute effort.” I flew through the corners. They looked like they were gaining on me but I still had a huge gap. Came into the final corner and stretch into a head wind. I am thinking this might work. Almost to the line. Now my legs were really starting to load. Almost to the line...pushing with all I had I hear wheels behind me just a few feet from the line. Whoosh, whoosh (x11) sprint past me at the finish. Not this time. It was 12th place for me. My first Criterium was an absolute blast and totally surprised me. This one felt safer than a flat road race. I had a blast riding aggressively and staying in the front. Loved the short, intense effort, constant action and not being totally destroyed after the race.
Michele Heaton
Being cautious by nature, combined with becoming a cyclist at the age of 39 after 6 years of rehabilitation and multiple knee reconstruction surgeries, racing was not in my vocabulary. I did not want to up the crash ante at all. Two years ago when I did decide to give it a try I made Criteriums against my religion. But with last weeks upgrade denial (I had accidentaly given myself 2 points too many for a circuit race thinking it was the same value as a road race), I found myself officially desperate and willing to give one a try.
Off Amy and I went to Sacremento last Sunday to race the Land Park Criterium. This was a super fun course with some sweeping turns on one half and a few technical turns on the back side. They had 2 mentors take us through the course to show us some good lines through the corners. Believe me, I was listening closely to every tip they gave on how to keep the race safe.
As we were in one of the final corners of this educational lap, there was a loud “kerpow!” Was that me? Yes, I had a blowout. Someone yelled, “quick, get a wheel at neutral support!” I rolled up to the start line and asked if there was a wheel I could borrow. Nope. No wheels. A woman said, “Here, take my wheel.” I said “what about you?” Don’t worry, I race later and I’ll fix your flat...here” and she quickly put her wheel on my bike. What a gal. Boom. The race starts. Plenty of adrenaline was going now and I quickly was about 3rd wheel in a field of 33.
Apparently the pace of this race was high. It stayed strung out and safe. I stayed in the first 5 or so wheels pretty much the entire race. There were constant fun dynamics. I got in both breaks. The second one looked particularly threatening. I jumped on the wheel of the woman who ended up winning and we bridged a pretty big gap together. Our break of 5 eventually got caught with 10+ minutes left to race. I sat in for the first time to try to get a bit of recovery. Eventually moving forward, for some unknown reason I decided to attack from about 4th wheel with 1 full lap to go. Not sure why I did this as my original idea was to go after the last corner (would have been much more sensible.) I got a big gap but no one had come with me. Oh well, I was committed now. I told myself, “go Michele go, only a 3+ minute effort.” I flew through the corners. They looked like they were gaining on me but I still had a huge gap. Came into the final corner and stretch into a head wind. I am thinking this might work. Almost to the line. Now my legs were really starting to load. Almost to the line...pushing with all I had I hear wheels behind me just a few feet from the line. Whoosh, whoosh (x11) sprint past me at the finish. Not this time. It was 12th place for me. My first Criterium was an absolute blast and totally surprised me. This one felt safer than a flat road race. I had a blast riding aggressively and staying in the front. Loved the short, intense effort, constant action and not being totally destroyed after the race.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Hellyer Velodrome, Tuesday March 23, 2010 Cat 1-2 Pro
I arrived at the track before 0600 pm. it’s about a 50 min drive from the Westside of Santa Cruz. After a good warm up my race started at about 0700 pm. Rode my usual 51 X 15 gear, considered large. Immediately before the races Larry Nolan, the promoter, encouraged anyone with a Cat 3 track license to race with the 1-2 Pros, to even out the field sizes, I accepted.
Scratch Race 25 laps.
“Scratch race”- the first rider across the line wins, the type of race we are all most familiar with.
The race started out fast with a series of attacks. I sat back, watched the other riders and only closed gaps if the others didn’t look like they could. About half way through, the group started to break apart and I was moving up. With less than 10 laps to go I was in 4th position and should have moved up to third but assumed the guy in front of me had enough left to close the small gap. Turned out he didn’t, I got stuck in no man’s land and was in third position until 2 laps to go when the 3 guys behind me, working together, blew by me before the finish. My potential 3rd place quickly turned into 6th.
Points race, 40 laps sprints every 5 laps.
A “points race” is a specific type of a track race were points are awarded 5,3,2,1 for 1st through 4th place at multiple intervals during the race (20 points for lapping field or 20 points subtracted for losing a lap). The winner of race is the person with the most points.
My tactic for the points race was to sit back and wait. Unfortunately the others never tired to the point that I could put in an effective attack. Unlike the scratch race the pace was slower so the sprinters had a chance to recover so they could easily cover any attacks. I did try an attack with into the final sprint but it was easily covered and I was not able to score any points.
I am a really crappy sprinter (my peak 5 second power is incredibly low) and I enjoy track racing. My point is I don’t think anyone should avoid track riding/racing because they don’t see themselves as a sprinter. And if you do consider yourself a sprinter- definitely should give it a try. I find it safe and a very good speed workout.
Everyone should give track riding a try. Just like, I assume, everyone has given off and on road riding a try. Track bikes are available to rent for $5, bring your pedals. Anyone can ride on most Saturday mornings- go to www.ridethetrack.com to check the schedule, more information. After riding 3 Saturdays you can race during the week. Please let me know if you are thinking of racing- send me an e-mail at merckx71@msn.com. I have an extra 56 cm track bike that I would be happy to share.
Ken Sato
Scratch Race 25 laps.
“Scratch race”- the first rider across the line wins, the type of race we are all most familiar with.
The race started out fast with a series of attacks. I sat back, watched the other riders and only closed gaps if the others didn’t look like they could. About half way through, the group started to break apart and I was moving up. With less than 10 laps to go I was in 4th position and should have moved up to third but assumed the guy in front of me had enough left to close the small gap. Turned out he didn’t, I got stuck in no man’s land and was in third position until 2 laps to go when the 3 guys behind me, working together, blew by me before the finish. My potential 3rd place quickly turned into 6th.
Points race, 40 laps sprints every 5 laps.
A “points race” is a specific type of a track race were points are awarded 5,3,2,1 for 1st through 4th place at multiple intervals during the race (20 points for lapping field or 20 points subtracted for losing a lap). The winner of race is the person with the most points.
My tactic for the points race was to sit back and wait. Unfortunately the others never tired to the point that I could put in an effective attack. Unlike the scratch race the pace was slower so the sprinters had a chance to recover so they could easily cover any attacks. I did try an attack with into the final sprint but it was easily covered and I was not able to score any points.
I am a really crappy sprinter (my peak 5 second power is incredibly low) and I enjoy track racing. My point is I don’t think anyone should avoid track riding/racing because they don’t see themselves as a sprinter. And if you do consider yourself a sprinter- definitely should give it a try. I find it safe and a very good speed workout.
Everyone should give track riding a try. Just like, I assume, everyone has given off and on road riding a try. Track bikes are available to rent for $5, bring your pedals. Anyone can ride on most Saturday mornings- go to www.ridethetrack.com to check the schedule, more information. After riding 3 Saturdays you can race during the week. Please let me know if you are thinking of racing- send me an e-mail at merckx71@msn.com. I have an extra 56 cm track bike that I would be happy to share.
Ken Sato
Monday, March 22, 2010
Salinas Criterium, 45+ 1/2/3/4
By Dennis Pedersen
Talk about low expectations: I rode 75 miles in our Swanton Road intervals the day before, and surfed at Pleasure Point and did electrical work on our house that Sunday morning. And Salinas is a new race, so who knew whether it would be well-run... though the thought of driving to Sacramento to race at "Land Park" instead was less appealing.
Originally I wanted to help Nils in the Elite 3 race, but he was tired from taking 8th at Bariani Road Race on Saturday... cry me a river (just kidding!). Only 7 guys had pre-registered for 45+, so I visualized a tiny field of riders chasing each other around the smooth, flat, 5-corner course by Salinas Airport. The steady wind would split things up too, no doubt, so it could be interesting. But when I lined up I saw I was alone against 7 guys from San Jose Bike Club, 5 from VOS, 3 from IC3 and a variety of others: about 25 total. Well, interesting is what we want, right? I was a bachelor that day and "fun" was my goal.
Right from the start SJBC launched hard attacks and IC3 did a good job of going with them a few times. I was up front the whole race and had to chase down a lot of these attacks, though I noticed VOS contributed too. But I also noticed that VOS never went on any hard attacks... perhaps they wanted a field sprint? And Morgan Stanley only had Eric Saltzman, who mostly sat in smartly while watching me pull the pack up to various breaks.
Some of the breaks looked like danger, especially the solo breaks by one of the SJBC guys (Andrew Nevitt?). Some others I didn't bother to follow. Only a few times did two guys break away for a couple of laps at most. I tried to get a bigger break going but each time it fell apart. They almost all attacked solo on the other side of the course from me so I had to work hard just to go with them, then they'd sit up. Darn! I think we could have done it, but most of the guys seemed to want to try solo flyers, while VOS wanted to keep the field together.
After a last attack by the fast SJBC rider with 2 laps to go, that I chased down, I was leading the pack for the last lap... sigh, how did I get suckered into that? I thought I was soft-pedaling but the vicious whoosh of the pack swallowing me up on the last straight confirmed that my form wasn't good enough for a strong sprint. My legs could have kept on racing at threshold for a while longer, but my top-end was shot.
A guy from VOS won the sprint finish so I can see why they waited. SJBC and IC3 didn't get anything though.
Well, I did have tons o' fun with my chosen activities on my bachelor day, and that's what counts!
Talk about low expectations: I rode 75 miles in our Swanton Road intervals the day before, and surfed at Pleasure Point and did electrical work on our house that Sunday morning. And Salinas is a new race, so who knew whether it would be well-run... though the thought of driving to Sacramento to race at "Land Park" instead was less appealing.
Originally I wanted to help Nils in the Elite 3 race, but he was tired from taking 8th at Bariani Road Race on Saturday... cry me a river (just kidding!). Only 7 guys had pre-registered for 45+, so I visualized a tiny field of riders chasing each other around the smooth, flat, 5-corner course by Salinas Airport. The steady wind would split things up too, no doubt, so it could be interesting. But when I lined up I saw I was alone against 7 guys from San Jose Bike Club, 5 from VOS, 3 from IC3 and a variety of others: about 25 total. Well, interesting is what we want, right? I was a bachelor that day and "fun" was my goal.
Right from the start SJBC launched hard attacks and IC3 did a good job of going with them a few times. I was up front the whole race and had to chase down a lot of these attacks, though I noticed VOS contributed too. But I also noticed that VOS never went on any hard attacks... perhaps they wanted a field sprint? And Morgan Stanley only had Eric Saltzman, who mostly sat in smartly while watching me pull the pack up to various breaks.
Some of the breaks looked like danger, especially the solo breaks by one of the SJBC guys (Andrew Nevitt?). Some others I didn't bother to follow. Only a few times did two guys break away for a couple of laps at most. I tried to get a bigger break going but each time it fell apart. They almost all attacked solo on the other side of the course from me so I had to work hard just to go with them, then they'd sit up. Darn! I think we could have done it, but most of the guys seemed to want to try solo flyers, while VOS wanted to keep the field together.
After a last attack by the fast SJBC rider with 2 laps to go, that I chased down, I was leading the pack for the last lap... sigh, how did I get suckered into that? I thought I was soft-pedaling but the vicious whoosh of the pack swallowing me up on the last straight confirmed that my form wasn't good enough for a strong sprint. My legs could have kept on racing at threshold for a while longer, but my top-end was shot.
A guy from VOS won the sprint finish so I can see why they waited. SJBC and IC3 didn't get anything though.
Well, I did have tons o' fun with my chosen activities on my bachelor day, and that's what counts!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Orosi Road Race 45-plus 1-2-3
By Geoff Drake
I’ve never done Orosi before, but it always sounded like one I’d enjoy. I’m partial to old-style road races, and it didn’t take long to see that Orosi fell into that category: lots of broken pavement, gravel sections, copious climbing, ripping descents with cliff-edge drop-offs, accompanied by jagged snow-capped peaks all around and blooming wildflowers lining every road. Bike racing at its best!
My race was two laps—about 60 miles. I noticed at the start that we were missing Jon Ornstil, who is a frequent animator of this race. But we still had Carl Nielsen, who has been flying lately, and a host of other strong-looking riders.
Predictably, Carl went straight to the front on the first, 1,000-foot climb and proceeded to rip everyone’s legs off. I sat on his wheel like grim death. When we crested the summit, I finally took a look around, and there were just four of us remaining, including Carl, Bill Brier, Chris Courtney, and myself.
On the back side of the course I was concerned that our pace wasn’t high enough, and sure enough, before the final descent, we were caught by several riders.
But I knew there would be another separation on the second trip up the big climb. Carl again went to the front, this time hitting it even harder than on the first lap. Once over the top, we were a group of five this time.
Once again, I became concerned that we’d be caught. I exhorted everyone (in a nice way) to work together, and tried to put some emphasis on my request by going to the front on several occasions. I’d much rather be last in a small breakaway than suffer the boredom and uncertainty of a field sprint.
Lo and behold, after my repeated requests, everyone started working together. Thus began one of my favorite things in bike racing: a small group of riders, committed to staying away, taking equal turns at the front. The miles rolled, and the chasers were never to be seen again. Fun!
Before the final descent, Courtney noodled off the front. It didn’t seem serious, but before we knew it he had a decent gap. As we hit the valley floor, we could see him up the road and started working together. Despite a coordinated effort, we couldn’t bring him back. With just a few 90-degree turns to the finish, our group of four starting thinking about the sprint for second.
For once, I was determined not to be The Big Strong Dumb Guy Who Goes Too Early. Mark had given me some good landmarks for the finish. I gauged the wind, picked the sheltered side of the road, and waited. Two guys jumped. I glued up to their wheels, put my head down, and came around with several bike lengths to spare.
Second place. I’ll take it!
Plus, Scott was fourth in his race, so maybe it was worth leaving at 4:30 a.m. after all…
I’ve never done Orosi before, but it always sounded like one I’d enjoy. I’m partial to old-style road races, and it didn’t take long to see that Orosi fell into that category: lots of broken pavement, gravel sections, copious climbing, ripping descents with cliff-edge drop-offs, accompanied by jagged snow-capped peaks all around and blooming wildflowers lining every road. Bike racing at its best!
My race was two laps—about 60 miles. I noticed at the start that we were missing Jon Ornstil, who is a frequent animator of this race. But we still had Carl Nielsen, who has been flying lately, and a host of other strong-looking riders.
Predictably, Carl went straight to the front on the first, 1,000-foot climb and proceeded to rip everyone’s legs off. I sat on his wheel like grim death. When we crested the summit, I finally took a look around, and there were just four of us remaining, including Carl, Bill Brier, Chris Courtney, and myself.
On the back side of the course I was concerned that our pace wasn’t high enough, and sure enough, before the final descent, we were caught by several riders.
But I knew there would be another separation on the second trip up the big climb. Carl again went to the front, this time hitting it even harder than on the first lap. Once over the top, we were a group of five this time.
Once again, I became concerned that we’d be caught. I exhorted everyone (in a nice way) to work together, and tried to put some emphasis on my request by going to the front on several occasions. I’d much rather be last in a small breakaway than suffer the boredom and uncertainty of a field sprint.
Lo and behold, after my repeated requests, everyone started working together. Thus began one of my favorite things in bike racing: a small group of riders, committed to staying away, taking equal turns at the front. The miles rolled, and the chasers were never to be seen again. Fun!
Before the final descent, Courtney noodled off the front. It didn’t seem serious, but before we knew it he had a decent gap. As we hit the valley floor, we could see him up the road and started working together. Despite a coordinated effort, we couldn’t bring him back. With just a few 90-degree turns to the finish, our group of four starting thinking about the sprint for second.
For once, I was determined not to be The Big Strong Dumb Guy Who Goes Too Early. Mark had given me some good landmarks for the finish. I gauged the wind, picked the sheltered side of the road, and waited. Two guys jumped. I glued up to their wheels, put my head down, and came around with several bike lengths to spare.
Second place. I’ll take it!
Plus, Scott was fourth in his race, so maybe it was worth leaving at 4:30 a.m. after all…
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