2006 Apple Pie Criterium

4/5
Results: 21/75
Teammates: David Porter
Conditions:chilly and foggy. Used knee warmers, arm warmers, cap and a jersey on top, still felt pretty cold but the warmup was bearable in a vest. During my warmup laps my glasses were covered in condensation on the outside and the inside of the lenses. The course was moist from the morning dew and fog but I was able to motor through the corners during the warmup on 100 psi without issue.
The heart rate data is intermittent so I just smoothed that for display here - the strap was a little loose on me. I had to rush at the start of the first race back to my car to put it on. Used Vittoria EVO clincher on the front and Michelin Pro Race 2 on the back.

Free snacks and drinks supplied by the promoter.

The chief referee asked for folks who had done the course before to lead us through the first two corners neutral. This was well intentioned but we probably would have required a skills course first to make the field safer. She did ask if this was anyone's first race and no one raised their hand. (I found out later several people were ashamed to admit this...) This course has a 300 meter finish straight with the line about 50 meters from the end with a 90 degree right hander that narrows a bit with a concrete divider, followed by a 90 degree right hander into a sweeping left and then another 90 degree right hander followed very shortly by a 90 degree right hander into a long meandering straight into the final 90 degree right hander. What typically happens here is that riders take lines during slower laps that lead to lots of riders with momentum to take them outside during faster laps trying to use the same outside, edge of the road line so they have to brake or hit the curbs. These riders bump and sometimes go down. Then on the meandering straight before the finish, the pack slows as no one wants to lead it out for nothing and the pack bunches up here, too. This happens when there are only 25-40 people in the field so it was much worse with the bigger field. I started the race in the middle of the pack and watched so many people changing their lines abruptly in the middle of corners that I lost count of who I should be avoiding. I started passing these people but at one point I was close to the front and really did not want to spend this much energy early so drifted to the back. By the halfway point there were three close calls with people bumping handlebars and leaning on each other for support near front of the pack. We got the signal that no more free laps would be given for mechanicals. Some guys were letting their front wheels overlap other riders wheels and this caused the first of three separate accidents. On the meandering stretch quite a few riders went down but there was room to pass on the right so the pack stayed together. Then on the finish straight with four or five laps to go as a chain reaction collision from midroad to the far left forced me to brake and come to a complete halt. This is the explanation for the drop in speed to zero near the end of the race. Another rider started the effort to bridge back up for half a lap and I took over from there and was able to catch back on by the start of the next lap. This left me a whole lap to rest for the final lap. I tried moving up but it wasn't safe to do so until the meandering straight. Here I jumped hard and immediately had to coast because I could see a problem ahead with the domino effect of rider after rider falling down, one particularly hard, on the middle of the road, spreading to the far left. I aimed for the open road but one rider panicked and locked up both wheels and slowed me down enough that a straggler from the accident out of control of his bike careened to the far right so I had to slow for him, too. Finally the road opened up but the lead riders were a good 50 meters up the road. I think in the last one minute I got four or five sprint efforts in due to all the rapid changes in pack composition and speed. A couple of riders were signed up for the 35+ 4/5 but backed out after the seriousness of the accidents ( possibly one broken hip and one broken elbow) and said "that was my first crit and I'm never doing another one"...

I think this is the most I have ever used my brakes in a criterium - the smell of melting brake pads was a common occurrence even with the moisture and cool temperature.

Postscript - reading another racer's report that he was in a crash because he did not anticipate the braking by the only five riders in front of them so he ran into them. Folks should probably eave a bigger cushion for safety when the road is wet as the yo-yo effect is magnified and to account for riders who do not ride in the rain very much and slow down more than is necessary.

P: 177 W
S: 24.9
H: ~150 (strap kept slipping - probably closer to 170
C: 77
T: 41:55




Had about an hour to recharge and watch the LGBRC juniors rock the house. Thanks for the pie, fellas. Gene was signed up but I did not seem him, perhaps he was sick like Jun. The sun finally came out so we got a dry course. Either due to the dryer course or the conservativeness of the old guys this race was notably safer. This time I stayed mid pack for most of the race. I did not think I had tried that hard during the first race (but the sprint workout in the last minute was much harder than I thought it was) so I wanted to try something different. So I forced myself to wait patiently until the last couple of laps. As with the first race, during the meandering straight, the right side was wide open for folks who wanted to burn a match and get to the front. At one point I felt a slight twinge in my calves - I should have used this as a signal to try the advice Stan Urban gave me to water them down but I forgot. There was not a way to get to the front and be lazy at the same time for the last five laps - no free ride here. On the next to last lap the pace slowed and gave me deja vu of the slowing during the prior race and the ensuing accident. I really wanted the race to be faster so it would be safer, plus laps only took about two minutes and I have been doing quite a bit of shorter intervals so this would fit in nicely. I jumped hard to get up to the front on the meandering straightaway. When I looked back I had about ten meters so I figured what the heck? As I motored through the last corner and down the finish straight my calves starting cramping up. Doh. I tried soft pedaling for a bit but it was no good so I led the pack through the first corner and the next straight and begged off and let the guys behind me know I was cramping. Jason was right behind me so that was cool. There was a slight hesitation here but still about twenty guys passed me through the next three corners. I recovered enough to hold that position but that was pretty much the end of the race for me. I was told there was a crash far behind me in the last corner when I was leading the pack. This was weird because I made sure to exit the corner with plenty of room to the left so the natural drift of the pack would be able to fill that safely. I also have to remember to hydrate better on two crit days - this happened to me last year and I can't believe I forgot to do a better job after the first crit. Oh well, the apple pie shared by BB and the other LGBRC juniors was delicious.
35+ 4/5
Results: 26/~60
Teammates: none
Friendly rivals: Jason D from slowtwitch.com forums, John C and Raymond from EMC
P:173
S:25.0
H:167
C:75
T:39:51



Postscript: Results are finally posted and I can't believe I did better in the 4/5 race in spite of the bridging effort. I lost 25 places in one lap in the 35+ 4/5 race, doh.

CCCX Fort Ord Circuit Race Feb 4, 2006

Field: 35+ 4/5 around 20/35
Teammates: None
East Garrison, Fort Ord

P: 184
NP: 246
IF:1.015(I think I need to adjust my FTP up a bit from 245)
S: 21.7
H: 176
T: 1:00:59
D: 22.0 miles
Used the bike with 50/34 in the front and 12/25 in the back with an AC 420 wheel with Michelin 2 Pro race tires in front and a Ritchey WCS tire in back. Supposedly the Michelin has among the best rolling resistance of any clincher and the Ritchey is among the worst with about 15-30 watts difference with just one wheel - I had neglected in my pre-race prep to change the tire and my other good wheel had an 11/23 cassette so the easiest thing to do was just use this wheel with the Ritchey tire. I had run out of good race tires and did not feel like swapping the good tires around. I considered using the bike with 53/39 in front but thought I might need the little gear to spin up the steep bumps. Compared to cyclocross racing, road racing requires one to wake up pretty dang early, the alternating drizzly and overcast skies had me considering turning around by Watsonville. On the plus side one doesn't have to spend more time cleaning up the bike than racing. It was pretty chilly so I had to wear knee warmers,arm warmers, and a cap. At the line I tried to avoid the bad habit of leading the pack around for the first lap so I managed to keep myself in check for half a lap. It took a few laps to sort things out and get used to the dynamics of the pack, plus it rained intermittently after the first lap, making things a bit exciting. The finish was on a long shallow grade and the short descent afterwards was followed by a sharp right. It was usually easy to goof off in back and catch up right here or the following dip, because the rise afterwards was so sharp that the people drafting and not in first had to brake to avoid hitting the people in front and no one really pushed the pace after the rise. A 150 dogleg right followed this rise with a really long descent with a 30 degree turn into a long slight rise and a wide 180 turn with another long gradual descent followed by a 90 left, very short rise, semi corkscrew descent, sharp short hill, right turn onto the finish straight. We had both lanes except on the long descent where cones marked off some serious potholes. Even after the first laps some not so smart folks insisted on attempting to pass without enough speed to make it past everyone before we got to the cones on the long descent. Then some other folks countersteered really heavily into the *30* degree turn. It was possible to use momentum from the downhill here to pass everyone or in the following descent after the 180. I think we did 8 1/2 laps( start was right before the slight rise and 180 turn). After the first two laps I just concentrated on staying with the pack through the areas I had to pedal hard, the rise before the start finish, tempo on the finish, pretty much sprint on the sharp hill, and sprint like mad to get into the draft on the big downhill. There were a couple of wrecks, one in the 150 dogleg where two riders went too hot and took each other out wide and got back in the race, and on the last lap up the sharp rise a rider went off course and managed to get back on course. I stayed with the pack until the last time up the finish area and just could not manage to hang on there. I could see the small pack dangling in front of me but didn't have the lungs/legs to catch back up so no sprint today. But I was happy with almost finishing with the group this early in the year on a hilly course. I spoke with one fellow and he said a rider was off the front solo for three laps and he could not close the gap by himself and came in second.
Afterwards, explored the roads around Fort Ord and managed to get lost and do parts of the Sea Otter XC (it rained the prior day so the sandy stuff was pretty firm) and the Sea Otter Road Race a couple of times ( the hard part on Barloy ).

Postscript: I just got this book :
http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=202057754&loc=106&sp=1
and was struck by one of the examples where a coach details analyzing race files to determine why someone was getting dropped. In that case the rider's cadence was going low with a wattage the rider probably could maintain. So they switched the rider's gearing around to a 12-27 cassette instead of the 11-23 and now the rider can keep up with their body's preferred cadence. After being stumped on why I got dropped on the penultimate lap I might have an answer - I may have downshifted too much or attempted to use the gears that worked for me on prior laps and forced myself to use too high of a cadence on a critical section of the course, causing me to lose contact with the field, as the wattage was well within what I had done on prior laps. Of course there's no knowing if I could have kept up with a higher gear but next time...

SCCCC Peak Season CX #3 Watsonville

Category:35+ B
Field: 8
Place: 6
Teammates: None
Friendly rivals: Travis in B's.
P:163
S:10.1
H:186
I had issues with my PowerTap harness from a little easy ride on Friday so I just swapped it out with a different one I had lying around. After I took off the defective one it worked fine, go figure. I thought the average power number was pretty anemic even considering the ten percent running not included. But then I checked the race data for when I did the same course in November when it was dry and that is about fifteen percent lower so at least I was able to push myself harder this time.
Rained the prior day and night so course was mucky. Not as much shoe sucking mud as last time, though. Those wimps at CX worlds had a much tidier course. :) I rode really hard for a bit with the outcasts from LGBRC on Saturday so wasn't sure how my legs would respond today. Set up the Kelly with Hutchinson 30mm 55 psi front and back and the Litespeed with the Ritchey 35mm Excavaders at 52 psi front and back. This felt good enough on my half lap reconnaisance of the course - did not feel like washing the bike any more before the race so warmed up on the ample pavement around the course. Since last week I forgot to put on the heart rate strap the first thing I did in my race prep was put on the heart rate strap.

This time we would be doing the big runup and it was a tough slog since there the mud was formed into little steps by prior races, yet still malleable to forming new ones or sliding away. At the start I tried to not go out super hard for a change and still managed to hold my position firmly at the back of the pack. The two SCCCC guys that I was duking it out with at the last race were with me for the first two laps. Most of the course was the same as the US GP of cross race in November. The mud made it much easier for me to make a decision on trying to ride or run tougher technical sections - I ran almost all of them. Probably due to this I had one of my better races on technical issues and did not crash once, yay!, as I was prepared to dismount every time I dismounted, plus it's surprising how much difference lower profile tires make in remounting. I also did not brake on the big descent - is that due to the slower speeds in the mud? The mud was very wet peanut butter like on the section parallel to the chain link fence, but at least it did not smell of a stable as the wet peanut butter mud next to the stables did. Instead of going all out on the runup and passing people like I did in November I took lots of tiny steps just to maintain position, like Darrel, and found I had a lot more for the on the bike portions of the race. One of the key technical sections was : a three foot high pile of leaves. At one point in the race a one of the SCCCC riders in front of me lost it there and blocked the rider behind him, I decided to run over high point instead of the race groove lower in the pile and never saw those riders again. No major issues with my frankenstein bike, some minor shifting problems but this was again due to all the space between the cogs and inside the chain links filling with mud. The Excavaders were pretty good for the mud slog - enough knobs for traction and they cleaned themselves pretty well once I got out of the muddy sections. After my 40 minute cleaning of the two bikes I rode the Litespeed on some of the flattest roads I have ever ridden in California and it felt like I was riding a new bike.

SCCCC Peak Season CX #2 Watsonville

Teammates - none
Friendly rivals - Paul in 35+B, Andrew in the 35+B (had mechanical so he missed the C's), David and Travis in the B's.

This time I remembered to check the weather report for Watsonville during the week and it rained so I switched to the 35mm Ritchey Excavaders with 50 psi in the rear and 55 psi in the front( these measure more like 30mm ). These worked pretty well - no clogging of the fork and only some minor issues in back near the bottom bracket. The tread seemed to collect a lot of mud which would come out on the long pavement sections but not sure what would be better - the traction provided by the tread was much needed during the mud bogs. Put on two layers on top with arm warmers and knee warmers to get comfortable. Rode a lap on the course and found the quality of mud this time to be different - sticky but not as tacky as last week and very stinky since it rained on Thursday and festered for three days. No big runup but the degradation of the soil made much of the course a grind in mud with many ruts to negotiate. Took off the knee warmers because they would get covered in mud anyways so it was going to be pointless to wear them. About 3/4 of the section by the chain link fence in past races was two to four inches deep in mud with fetid water pools and the same goes for the zig zag around the stables. A much different course than last week without the big run up. I forgot to put on my chest strap for the heart rate data. The Powertap stopped detecting data after three laps. Then it started working again for the last half lap. This happens at about the 50:30 mark. I think I am missing two laps of data. I put in a big sprint (for me) at the end because I saw someone on the course ahead of me on the final straight but he was just warming up. :(
I still need to work on not slowing down so much for a high speed dismount. The faucet on the building with the bathrooms is only hot water. Cleaning the bike afterward I found the chainrings/cogs/derraileurs jammed with mud and it looks like the pulleys are getting worn out from all the abrasion from the mud.

35+ B
7/10
P avg : 201
S: 12.2 ( this is close to accurate since I used smaller tires...)

SCCCC Peak CX #1 Watsonville

Sunny, cool enough for arm warmers, too hot for knee warmers, heavy rain on prior day

35+ B 7/11

Teammates: Michael Schaller in 35+B
Friendly rivals: Wayne in 45+B, David, Travis in B

Course ranged from pavement to rocky access road to tacky mud to clay mud. I had forgotten how bad the mud can get at Watsonville so had the really fat 42 Ritchey tires on the Litespeed and the 35 Ritchey tires on the Kelly and should have put narrower tires on the Litespeed. Oh well. The nice thing about the fat tires was that the slowly hardening mud would form ruts from prior laps so that the fatter tire rolled over these easily. When I had to switch bikes, the handling was noticeably trickier as one had to be careful to not deviate from the ruts as this required a lot of manhandling of the handlebars to maintain forward momentum, but at least the clean bike with skinny tires was about five pounds lighter. This course did not have the steeper long run up ala Surf City but it did have the run up from the creekside road. This got worse as our race went on such that if one rode all the way to the base of the run up one's tires got clogged with mud. It became better to just run from farther and farther out as the race went on, and this made an already long runup really painful. I had to swap bikes in the fourth lap so no power for the last lap. For some reason at first the chain would move from the big ring to the small ring, and then on the lap when I gave up on the bike, the chain would move from my small ring entirely off the crank which is visible in the noticeably lower surges in the recorded part of that lap. (When I cleaned my bike every place that could hold mud was mucky, the area between the chain rings and between the chainring and the crank arm and the area between the cogs in the rear and the rear derailleur pulleys were filled with mud.) This inability to pedal much was really bad because there were very few places where one would coast as the mud was so thick in places that one would stop moving if one could not pedal. On the plus side I only had minor issues with clipping in with the Candy Eggbeaters (had to step down harder to force the mud out) as others notably had to actually stop to get clipped in with other pedals. Also did not have a problem with mud buildup around the tires/frame/brakes until the lap when conditions changed so much on the runup that I rode too far in the leadup to it before I realized my mistake and had to spend 1/2 a lap just getting rid of that mud that collected in about twenty yards of riding. Cleaning both bikes and the shoes afterwards took about as long as the race, but at least they had running water for this.
M:71 kg
P:168
S:10.1
H:176

CCCX #6 Fort Ord, East Garrison 8 January 2006

Teammates: Dino and Bill in 45B, Mike in 35B, Darrel and Steve in 35A
Friendly competitors: Benoit, Murray and Mark in 35B, David in B's
15/20 ( I know I finished about one bike length behind Benoit and at least one rider dnf)
Course was in really good shape considering all the rain but it's sandy so it holds up really well. Fastest race this year for me which is odd considering it seemed somewhat hilly. The hills were really short so it was possible for me to get into a good rhythm, and the semi-corkscrew descent was a lot of fun. My dismount skills were a bit rusty. There were three logs of different sizes that were bunny hoppable but at the speed I would jump them it would have been faster to run.

M: 69kg
S: 13.0
Pavg:176
Pnorm:217
IF:0.90
HRavg:184

MTB ride for fun

Cast of Characters:Dino, Benoit, and Jun.

Woke up late and had to stuff the bike into the car and drive to the starting point to get there only a little late but my rush made me neglect to bring my camera. Luckily Jun showed up even later so I didn't feel so bad. :) Unluckily I managed to mangle my front derailleur so I could not get it out of the granny gear. So I rode the first couple of miles on the road spinning like a madman trying to keep up with everyone else. The other guys took a short break in Fremont Older and graciously gave me enough time to move the derailleur so I could use the middle.

I think my odometer and speed are about ten percent high - compared my speed data to Dino and Benoit and I realized I had the low profile slick on my MTB and I never bother to update the computer for any wheel size other than the one on my road bikes.

S avg 11.3 so probably 10.2 in reality
P avg 141
P norm 200
TSS 224 - I thought this felt really hard for a three hour ride
IF 0.85

Pilarcitos #3 Coyote Point

35+B
Teammates: Chris D, Darrel in 35A, Steve Stewart on sidelines watching
Friendly rivals: Cody and Jeremy in juniors, Curt, Greg, Murray in 35B, Alden, Travis and Gregg in C's.

It was about 35 degrees when I showed up so I wore two pairs of arm warmers, thick Sheila Moon knee warmers and a vest and was still a bit chilly during the four warmup laps.

Did a lap on the 40-12/25 bike with 32 mm tires and it felt fast but hard going in the second minor hill up to the road crossing so I switched to the 44/34-12/25 bike with 42mm tires ( but managed to just use the big ring for four of five laps...) Went out first with 38 PSI for a couple of laps and the noise of the tires rubbing on the long pavement sections reminded me of the worse rolling resistance, plus it would be faster to run more of the runup than relying on lower tire pressure to allow me to ride more so I upped the pressure to 42 PSI. Still not one flat during a race this year. I did mis shift one time to the small ring and threw the chain off during the hill before the long run up so I quit trying to shift the front after that.

I am such a klutz that while I was pinning on Alden's number I managed to fall over and spike myself in the butt with my STI lever and get a really large bruise as part of my warmup. This made it hurt every time I pedaled with my right leg. This hurts so much I am not sure if I am racing tomorrow.


Went out really hard and attempted to stay with the guys that I went into the first hill with and really blew hard on the second lap. At this point Greg passed me back and when I tried to sit on his wheel on the flats could not do anything so I had to do the long paved section solo. The short paved hill really killed my legs for the long runup that followed and this made it hard to get in to any sort of rhythm as I am usually stronger on the run. I had to spend the third *and* fourth lap sort of recovering then Jeremy and Cody passed me ( unusually not the first junior as an overzealous C forced Jeremy to crash into a curb) and finally Curt passed, and we had to slow on the fast downhill due to a hurt rider semi-blocking the double track. I was able to follow at a distance but doing the long flat sections solo was mentally taxing. Gregg passed me on the last time up the long runup but he was walking the barriers so I passed him back and he passed me a final time on the pavement at the top of the course. Seeing Gregg and Curt just ahead finally motivated me to push hard on the last lap but was able 20 meters short at the line and I felt like I had tried really hard for most of the race and didn't make any major technical mistakes after learning the course on the four warmup laps, just was slow. :)
P: 175
S: 11.9

CCCX #4 Prunedale 27 November

35+B
26/27
70 kg
Went with a bit lower pressure after reading the back and forth on tire pressures, about 38 front and back with the 42mm wide Ritcheys. Felt a bit wobbly in the rear on the paved hill but no pinch flats.
Teammates: Chris Pearson, Dino in 45+B, Chris D, Darrel B in 35A, Joe Fabris, Steve Stewart in 45A.
Friendly rivals: Andrew in juniors, Travis in C's, Murray and Erik in 35B/45B, Jason in the B's.


P: 159
S: 12.2

I felt like I was really slow but this was faster than I went at Surf City Watsonville or Clark Natwick and I still came in next to last! I think it was much easier to go faster here because the fields were smaller and there was plenty of room to pass. Got lapped on the last lap so I got to do one less lap than most of the other folks. I tried to not go too hard at the start and could not help myself and pulled off a typical crit start and sprinted for the heck of it at the end of the race since three B's had lapped me.

Clark Natwick CX at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

35+B
34/43 finishers
teammates - Michael Schaller in 35B's, Chris Daugherty and Darrel Brokeshoulder in 35A's, Joe Fabris in 45A

friendly rivals - (so many folks at this race I probably forgot someone) Mark and Murray, Curt Ferguson, Darryl Smith, Jeremy, Cody and Marcus in the juniors, Gregg in the C's, Alden and Channing in the B's, Cece's better half in 45B's, Eric in singlespeed, Ruben in 35A's. Finally saw Juan Ortiz, haven't seen him since the first race, his back went out during the second and he had to end his season.

I only bothered to bring one bike up, the Litespeed with the 42mm wide Zed front and rear and pumped up the tires to 40 psi again, cause it felt awfully hard and that pinch flat yesterday had to be a fluke, and I did not want to leave a bike unattended in a pit in the city. My legs were still sore from racing yesterday( and for only 30 minutes, too)so I considered not showing up but one of the benefits or drawbacks of preregistering is that one has already invested in the entry fee so it gives one additional motivation to show up and race. I felt better after we started, though.

Cool day, had to keep arm warmers and knee warmers on for the race, and almost needed another layer like a undershirt. Very long course, with lots and lots of singletrack, one set of barriers, one twenty yard long hill that was faster for me to run, loose soil in the corners that got looser as more people rode the course and lots of roots to knock your handlebars out from under you. Started off rubbing shoulders with Curt on one side and someone else on the other side. We all sprinted to the sharp right hand turn at the end of the raised running track so we could come to a complete stop and rush to get the hole shot on the next corner... The stuff that was fast and fun during the warmup was somewhat nerve wracking during the race, never sure if the guy in front of you was going to fall down or what during the technical sections or over a root, and then when they did having to either jump off and run or somehow stay on and manuever around them. It seemed like there were too many places to get stuck behind someone and not enough areas to pass them. On the first long pavement section I was behind Curt who was behind someone else who was getting weaker so I jumped, hoping Curt would come along but he didn't bite. Then after two laps or twenty minutes I blew up (hey, we only raced for about twenty minutes during the track racing nights) had to ease up and cut my losses on the third lap and hola, a guy in my race passed me in the beginning of the fourth and final lap so I had someone to race against again. So I passed him back before the single track and held him off and caught another guy with mechanical issues and a guy who crashed but the guy who crashed made a strong move to pass me in the last single track section and that's where we ended finishing. I didn't see anyone behind me so I eased up on the final straight and Gregg still managed to almost catch me at the end (his group started one minute after us). At least today I made different mistakes in different places each lap.

Surf City #3, Watsonville 19 November

35+ B's
P:146 average
S:11.3
22/23

Teammates: Chris Pearson and Michael Schaller, Dino in 45B, Steve Stewart and Joe Fabris in 45A, Chris Daugherty and Darrel Brokeshoulder in 35A
friendly rivals Mark in 35B, Eric in 45B, Curt in 35B, Jeremy and Joel in the junior Bs, Ruben in 35A

Rode a lap on the 40-12/25 bike and felt overgeared when trying to ride the climbs and switched to the 44/35-12/25 bike with 42mm tires and felt much better but with some tire slippage on the steep bits. Should have let more air out of the tires and adjusted my riding style but went with the 40 psi I put in beforehand.

Arm warmers and knee warmers necessary for the warmup, stripped down to shorts and jersey by race time. Showed up early enough to get in a couple of laps before the race started. Have to remember to not be so stubborn and to not listen to Chris' advice, especially when he is drunk. :) Kept making the same mistake every lap in the same places - trying to ride every hill. During the race I carried too much speed into the hills and hit or came close to hitting someone on each of the two smaller hills and on the second longest hill I fell over while trying to ride up it and on the long run up I rode up it partway then a guy walking swung his bike into my head to force me off and then as I ran past him I managed to get my handlebars entangled in his wheel... And that was just the first lap. On the small hill every time I either rode into or came very close to Curt or someone else. Each time I thought he was going to make but he lost traction at just the wrong time. :( Next race I am going to have to be more flexible and prepared to jump off and run, even if it hurts more. On my second trip up the big run up, Jeremy rode up, making it look easy. On the third time up, I fell down again and Mikey scampered past me. Maybe I should just commit to running it next time... On the last time, the smaller junior from Sacramento that Curt introduced to me passed both Curt and me on that big run up but we had the satisfaction of passing him back on the flats before the finish. I was able to draft off of Curt and pass someone else at the line for a little satisfaction but I think that is the most times I have fallen off of my cross bike in a race. Afterwards my front tire went flat - I had a pinch flat during the race but the Specialized Airlock innertube covered a 4mm long slash to make it a slow leak so it was rideable and I didn't really notice during the race. Then I took the spare bike to watch and cheer on the other racers and got two more flats, both in Specialized Airlock innertubes. The Airlock inner tubes work for quite a few small punctures but I pulled about thirty goathead thorns out of the front tire and eight goathead thorns out of the rear which was too much for them to handle. I was able to inflate the rear but the front was a lost cause. So next time, no riding off of the course for me at Watsonville.

After watching the elite men and women I felt better about falling off as both the elite women and men had riders near the front not cleaning several sections of the course their first time through.

FIAC National CX Championships, Watsonville

Woke up late, throat was scratchy, bed was warm, outside was freezing but mapquest said it was only fifty one minutes so I had to give it a go.





Teammates: Michael Schaller, someone else in the under 35 B's, Joe Fabris in the 45 A's. Steve Stewart and Chris Daugherty showed up and both decided not to race.
Friendly rivals: Mark from PenVelo, Curt Ferguson and son Jeremy in the juniors.


The course was mostly flat but not totally flat. One uphill runup took me twenty seconds and the bigger runup took about thirty seconds. Two barrier sections on flat parts of the course to force dismounts and one four foot wide set of stairs with eight steps to run up. Showed up an hour early and the laps were so long I only had time to do two slow warmup laps. Did a lap on the bike with the 35mm Ritchey SpeedMax and one lap on the bike with 42mm Ritchey Zed's mounted. At race speed it took me about ten minutes per lap.


S:12.8
P:149
Took it easy at the start and was almost last, right where I needed to be!, going in the first 180 and started picking off riders including Mike who went wide at the first 180 and was getting thrown around by the bumpy surface hidden by the grass. Caught some riders at the first barriers shortly after that. Then we went into the chicane in between a few shipping containers where I lost my nerve and had to brake, doh. Then a long grass section, barriers, 180 turn to a gravel rolling section, 180 turn to a gravel downhill, 90 turn on grass to uphill, barriers, twenty second run up, short gravel road to a loop of a rodeo arena on dirt to a short set of stairs!, sweeping left turn, then a sweeping downhill right turn onto grass, then uphill then 180 downhill, then a 90 left to the in and out around the stables to a zig zag until the thirty second runup with a six inch barrier at the bottom, then a longer grass section, 180 left then a last set of barriers, then sixty meters to the finish line. One really wanted to have company on the long flat section around the rodeo track. I was able catch then hang with Curt and the Steelman guy for the most of the first lap, lost them on a 180 downhill turn on gravel, then caught and passed them on the long run up, then they passed me back. The next lap I was able to ride with Curt again, this time for most of the rest of the lap, passing him on the run up. This time the Steelman fellow caught me after I passed the start finish and I could not reel him in, seeing him a short distance ahead. During this lap I thought my front wheel was losing air or something was loose - it was my headset, and this jostled the PowerTap CPU loose so this is why I only had 2.5 laps of the race recorded.

I did really well on the longer uphill runups as I was able to catch and pass folks but that probably killed my legs for a good time duration as it took quite a while to get up to speed after each of them.

Surf City #2 Soquel

Field: 35+ B
27/30


used the 44/34 12-25 bike with the 35mm wide Ritchey Excavaders inflated to 55 front and back. The Excavaders are about 3mm narrower than the 35mm Ritchey Speedmax, apparently Ritchey is measuring from outside knob to outside knob. For the first time this year during a race I used the small ring, at the beginning there was so much traffic that some guys had to stop and I downshifted so I could keep pedaling in the first sandy climb.
Teammates: Mike Schaller, Chris Pearson in the 35+ B's. Scott Dino in the 45+ B's, Chris D and Darrel Brokeshoulder in the 35+ A's, Joe Fabris in the 45+ A's. Friendly rivals : Murray and Mark from Pen Velo, Troy Boone and a bunch of guys I recognized from podiums in past years in 35+ B's, and Antonio Diaz and X-Men Eric Balfus, fellow cat 3 from the track in the C's.

Only got the first ten minutes as the PowerTap CPU flew off on an uphill(only about five vertical feet!) rough section after a long pavement/sidewalk. Started thinking, geez I'm an idiot to use a two hundred dollar bike computer during a cyclocross race, plus, I almost lost it once during a mtb race the same way. Thank goodness it's bright yellow as I saw it two laps later and picked it up after the race was over. Need to remember to use packing tape or something like that to hold that sucker on there tight.
S: 13.5
P: 191
W: 70 kg
I felt really fresh after finishing so I obviously did not push myself hard enough, again. They were still setting up the course after the race was scheduled to start so our start was delayed by ten minutes. The race started with a very short forty meter straightaway - not up to UCI/USCF spec dang it, then a 30 yard long climb in sand to a miniloop of the school, then a few hairpin turns until the graveyard, and a 300 meter pavement section that ended with a curb jump that had a short, 5 inch drop (they delayed the start to add in some planks to eliminate the need to do a jump but a jump would be smoothest here), then a short rise, then the traditional Soquel long off camber left into the tennis courts into the only run up. Ten minutes before start time they put a barrier here. The elevation change was about fifteen feet onto the wide trail parallel to the running track onto the paved section behind the sports field onto the ten foot rise onto the baseball diamond, a big loop around this field, a short fast descent onto the sports field with a hairpin turn into the double barriers then a short climb back to the baseball field level with a short sharp descending corner back to the lower sports field, around the sports field to the start finish. The main technical difficulties were in the transitions from fields at different levels as some of these ascents and descents were also hairpin corners or very off camber. Very fast course considering how little pavement there is. On the last lap Mike Schaller caught me (again!) and I followed him and was going to pass him at the line but the other two guys drafting him almost knocked each other over so I had to delay my move. I thought I didn't pip him but I got credit for being ahead of him in the official results. On the bright side I beat some folks that were ahead of me earlier this year and was closer to Troy timewise. Even though this had much more changes in elevation and less pavement than either of the races at Monster Park in San Francisco, the average speed for me was much greater. I think this is due to the fact that one could actually coast and keep one's speed up pretty high on the most of the course and the rough grass and sand sections were much shorter.

Joe Fabris had a cool GPS gadget that also was a HRM so he could download his races and overlay his progress on a topo map or compare his times and progress to others who did the same course with the GPS.

At one point in the race Eric Balfus (Eric Baijos in the results) came flying past me then came to an abrupt halt, a couple of times withing view of me in front of me. It turns out one of his brake pads on his cantilevers in the rear came loose and lodged itself underneath the rim. He had to stop and disabled his rear brake so he could continue.

Pilarcitos #2 at Monster Park in San Francisco

35+ B
26th/27 ( I know I saw at least two guys DNF!)
Teammates:none. Darryl and Steve Stewart in the 35+ A's.
Friendly rivals:Murray, Mark of Penvelo, Jeremy Ferguson ( Curt raced the day before and was there for support.) and Blake Anton in the Juniors.

Had a good training week, setting a couple of personal best times on Kings Mountain and OLH.

This week registration opened at the scheduled 8:00. There was a line of ten by 7:r5 when I showed up. By 8:00 there were forty people in line. So if you come to a 9:00 CX race with a big turnout, show up even earlier so you don't have to waste too much time just standing in the registration line.

Similar to first course at Monster Park, mostly flat but hard to get a rhythm as much of the course was ungroomed and bumpy or turned to sand by the race two weeks ago. Switched the Kelly to a single chainring 40 to accomodate the SRM crank. Probably should have ridden this as I used the 44/34 bike and never used the small ring but felt a bit overgeared. After two laps I lost sight of the 35+ B I was following due to some passing C's and really lost concentration - had trouble forcing the pace without a rabbit. Then Blake and Jeremy passed me in quick succession. The power numbers are similar to what I would get for a crit, but I should really be pushing myself harder as there was only one spot where one would get the benefit of drafting. At least I was able to pass or keep up with everyone when I was running but that may be because I saved up too much energy with too much coasting. Unlike the first race at Monster Park I felt pretty fresh after the finish. Next race I will concentrate more on consistent hard pacing which has led to my better climbing. Other things I noted - there was one small whoop de whoop that would have been fastest to ride down - dismount - run up but I have not practiced dismounting on a downhill so I was a total klutz.

NP: 208W
IF: 0.89
AVG: 182W
T: 39:14
S: 12.2

Sacramento CX - Granite Beach

Some folks in the club were complaining about the commute time, so for the record it took me 2:15 to get there and 2:30 to get back. There is a seven dollar parking fee but I could not figure out how to do this with self service so I skipped this - later in the day the entrance is manned. There were bathrooms as the race flyer was so proud of but the toilet in the one I used functioned as a bidet - it spit water out laterally about three feet. I was going to do the C's at 9:45 and the B race at 12:45 but the C race took me about forty five minutes to complete instead of the scheduled thirty so I got my entry fee's worth in right there. Tried doing a few efforts after finishing the C's and eating and hydrating to see if I could do anything but had nothing left in the legs so decided not to race the B's. I'm kinda glad because the rider that Curt and I refer to as the worst bike handler in NorCal showed up to race the B's on his touring bike.

Category: C
Friendly rivals: Jeremy Ferguson in the Junior B's, Curt Ferguson in the B's, Blake Anton in the Junior A's and the Junior B's. Juan said he was going to show up but apparently bailed.
Results: 12/18 5:18 behind the winner. After racing in the C's, Master B's, Master A's, and the B's, always seem to be about a minute per lap down on the winner. I am nothing if not consistent.
Needed arm warmers in the shade but overheated quickly after doing a hot lap of the course. This temperature held well into the afternoon. It was tricky to find the maximum speed in some of the turns with a lot of sand. Went with the 44/34 bike with the Excavaders at 60PSI. Never used the small ring. The course was about two miles long and mostly flat. It started with four hundred meters of pavement, a slight turn up hill then onto double track with a bottleneck two feet wide made by a couple of thousand pound boulders, then a slight singletrack descent that was very sandy and twisty into doubletrack on an open field that led into the first sand trap of about ten yards length leading to a road with a slight incline for about five hundred meters, then a 180 turn into a single track descent that led into the fifteen meter sand pit, a few twists, then a descent down to the beach and back to the sidewalk surrounding the beach for a long 400 meters or so of very wide sidewalk, then a short double track section into the double barriers and back to the start finish. Lots of running in sand. On the first lap was with everyone else until the twisty descent when I lost my never and let a gap open. This gap got bigger on the first sand pit as I just grinded my way through when it was faster to get off and run. Had trouble motivating myself to push hard when I saw the gap, either that or my ride yesterday killed my legs. Fell a couple times in sandy sections on the first couple of laps and learned to follow the shallow lines in the sandy areas instead of the deep ruts pretty quickly. After that I was mostly solo with a few riders catching me or me catching a rider. This made the race harder than it needed to be as there were several four hundred to six hundred meter sections on the road or a hard running surface that would have been much easier with a wheel to suck. On the last lap I could see a couple of guys that passed me earlier, managed to outrun one guy during the longer sand pit so he must have been really tired, then after the double barriers, had a 30 meter gap behind the other guy. I sprinted with all I had and came up a wheel short (about 13 w/kg), he didn't know I was there until he heard my labored breathing after the finish line... My average and normalized power are pretty dang low. Had trouble motivating myself when I was solo in those long paved/hardpack sections. Need to pace myself with the power meter or something just to make myself go hard enough, and run more instead of grinding slowly in the sand.

P: 148
NP: 177
D: 10.33
S: 13.4
T: 46:something

Pilarcitos CX #1 at Monster Park in South San Francisco

Category:35+ B
Results:24/~35
Cast of characters
Teammates: Mike Schaller, David Puglia in 35+ B's. Darrel Brokeshoulder, Matt McNamara, Mark Kurashige in the 35+ A's. Friendly rivals Curt Ferguson, Juan Ortiz, Mark from EMC, Mark and Murray Swanson(?) from PenVelo in 35+ B's, Jeremy Ferguson, Joel Shaffer in the Juniors, Keith, Antonio, Channing and Gregg Machaz in the C's.

Was sick since Santa Cruz Crit so didn't ride much or was "well rested" coming into this race. Course was flat. Two sets of barriers. Pilarcitos up'ed the race time from last years' thirty minutes to forty minutes this year. Juan said he had been standing for the past two days at Interbike and hadn't ridden in while. I got there early and this year Pilarcitos opened registration early so the thirty minute line of last year was not repeated, thank goodness. Got in two easy laps and two hot laps of the course, the main difficulty was there were two very big holes that could knock you off your bike if you were unaware of their presence ( this eliminated Mark from PenVelo as he was solo in the lead on the first lap and hit one of them and broke off one of his STI levers in the ensuing carnage), a couple of turns on loose stuff that had a very high entry speed and a five foot hill after the second set of barriers and two five foot hills separated by about ten feet of riding including a 135 degree turn. About twenty feet of elevation change per lap so my kind of course. Chose to use the slightly higher geared 44/34 12/25 bike with 60 PSI in the Ritchey Excavaders. Juan was on the front for the start, invited me up there but I didn't think it would matter that much but I was wrong as the course was too narrow by modern standards and did not permit passing very easily in many spots. Mike got to the start late and was in the back row behind about forty guys. Did not see Juan again after the first lap, he finished up two minutes ahead of me. Mike was behind me until the next to last lap when I let a fellow knock me over in one of the many narrow sections of the course. I almost caught up to Mike at the end, 2 seconds back, but ran out of room, waited too long to try to catch up. I thought I was suffering pretty badly after the first lap and pretty much each lap afterwards was hoping to hear a lap countdown while passing through the start finish. When we got it, I was expecting the bell but heard three laps to go. For whatever reason I was doing better in the off road sections that many of the other people around me but they put the hurt on me in the long pavement section, which was the opposite of what I was expecting given my tire pressures - perhaps the tread is better for loose stuff? The course deteriorated and turned to a very sandy loam in many spots, I fell once on my own in each of the last two laps. I felt better about this when I watched the Master A's race and many of them fell at various points during their race. Channing (I think) caught me after just five minutes even though he staged 30 seconds back, and young Jeremy caught me after 18 minutes after spotting me one minute. Ran into Mark Kurashige at the end of my race. He had left his shoes and helmet at home (I like to bring two pairs of shoes to each race for some reason) and raced back home to get them and missed our 35+ B start and chose to race the 35+ A race with three different national champions instead.

The average and normalized power were both much lower than I expected as I know I can do much more than that, even accounting for the fact that the running is not included in the power data. I hope it's just the aftereffects of the cold/flu as I felt I was pushing as much as I could. And my quads and hamstrings felt a little sore afterwards, I thought this was pretty unusual as there were only two dismounts per lap for a total of fourteen x five yards of running, and my legs never get sore even after really hard bike rides. Some of the fast guys I saw were running the two hill junction and were running farther after the first set of barriers but this may have been due to the course deteriorating under the load of hundreds of guys doing lap after lap. On the plus side no mechanical issues for me as I saw plenty of others quit due to mechanicals which was somewhat surprising on a flat, nontechnical course.

M: 70 kg ( got down to 68 last week but then got sick so may stick around here for a while...)
T: 45:24
P: 178
S: 12.4
D: 9.34 miles
NP: 200
IF: .83

Power for cyclocross

Since I can retire my criterium bike for five months I put a spare PowerTap wiring harness on one of my cyclocross bikes and put a cross tire on a road wheel(no longer needed just for crits). Now I get a record of what happens during a cyclocross race. Wonder how to estimate the demands of the running sections...

I did not feel like making another stem mount out of carbon fiber so I got a worn out inner tube and cut a little piece off and made my own doohickey to mount the PowerTap CPU on the stem. I could have mounted the CPU to the handlebars but that takes up a bit more space and putting it on the stem does not hypothetically put it in the way as I am not long limbed enough to do the carry the bike with a hand over the stem move comfortably.

18 September 2005 Santa Cruz Crit 35+ 4/5

40+ riders/DNF
Used the steel crit bike with 53/39 12/25. Probably could have used the compact gearing bike and kept it in the big ring all day with the same result. Maybe next year. Turnout was about the same or a little higher than last year. This year the event was moved from the typical right after Sea Otter date because they repaved the climb. This made it possible to go coast quite a ways up hill.

Cool conditions, needed arm warmers and knee warmers, and head gear.
peak flow 475
Teammates: Gene Ragan, Chris Pearson, Bob Skubis, with Mark Davis, Thomas Oelsner in the 3's. Phil Mehlitz and Abe Gore in the 4's, both fresh from the Mount Tam race yesterday.

Didn't feel that great during my warmup up and this continued in the race. Right before the start, got my front tire stuck in a crack in a sidewalk and almost did a face plant onto a picket fence, saved myself with an outreached arm but the bicep on that arm is still sore some twelve hours later... Got dropped at four laps and pulled at seven. At least I was with the group for one more lap this year, using Eric Bustos' recommendation of small ring up the hill may have helped, but since the field was larger this year they pulled dropped riders. Top graph is of this years' race and bottom graph is last years' race, about the same effort, for much less time this year, didn't have anyone behind to work with (or a rabbit like Juan just in front of me) to motivate me this year, was already looking forward to cross season, too. :)
2005
NP: 264
P avg: 206
T:15:54

2004
NP: 277
P avg: 220
T: 26:18
Chris hung in for a bit longer than me and thought the start was outrageously hard, this was partially due to Gene on the front pushing the pace for four laps but he got dropped with four to go. Bob hung out in the top few riders for ten laps and then said he had nothing left but was able to finish in the pack. Went for a ride afterwards down West Cliff Drive and to the blue whale and grey whale skeleton exhibits at the UC Santa Cruz extension and back.

Giro di San Francisco

35+ 4/5
~20/75
70kg

P: 189 Watts average
S: 24.9 miles per hour average
T: 43:51
C: 84 rpm average
NP: 238 Watts
TSS: 71
IF: .99
Used the 22 pound road bike with the Hed 60 in front and the velocity deep rim in the back, did better than last year with the 18 pound road bike.

Giro de San Francisco
35+ 4/5
teammates: Rob Jensen, Chris Tanner, Gene Ragan
friendly rivals: Juan Ortiz, Eric Peterson, Ray Alvarez, Derrick from PV.

Chris asked if I was going on the attack on the first lap so I told him I would hold back a little and follow the Berkeley guy who always attacks on the first lap.
This is what happened but the Berkeley guy went a bit harder than I wanted to go so I just followed the fellow in the yellowish jersey until we caught the Berkeley guy. Stayed near the front for a few laps then drifted back. I could hear Ray letting me know he was behind me so I wouldn't cut him off in the corners so I slowed a bit to let him in front of me as I was not feeling great. After a bit I could see Juan and Ray way up near the front, this motivated me to endure a bit more suffering as I did not want to get dropped as I did last year in my first time on the new course. Tried to conserve as much as possible, shifting down on the small hill, but using the 53 only. Many people lost a lot of momentum here and on the last two downhill corners where it was possible to ride without braking when no one was in front of you or if you just rode right next to the riders in front of you coming out of the corners. When we got to eight laps to go I was feeling a bit of relief as I knew I could finish, now just had to move up for a better result as I looked behind me and realized I was the tail gunner. Made it up to Juan when inexplicably a chain reaction crash happened on the downhill straightaway, near where the trash bin made the road narrow from 30 yards to *only* 25 yards and falling cyclists (unfortunately including Derrick and Eric, later reports indicate four broken collarbones in there) soon filled the entire width of the road... Then behind me I heard another crash, probably someone not looking up and crashing right into someone who was braking. As soon as we cleared the carnage Juan put the hammer down in an effort to close the gap between us caught behind the crash and those ahead of the crash so I gritted my teeth and got on his wheel. After two really hard laps (Juan doing most of the work) we made it back in time to rest for a lap and sprint on the next lap. On the first turn onto the uphill Juan got onto the wheel of a couple of guys who I noted were slowing significantly near the top of the climb on previous laps so I jumped to the outside of these guys and put in a hard effort to distance myself for the downhill straight and the last two fast downhill corners. Had to brake slightly in the next to last corner for some nervous nellies and just did what I could out of the last corner to beat Juan in the race within the race. I thought I had more left and was only able to get about 14 w/kg in the sprint, the NP indicates this was about as hard as I could go for the duration of the race.

2 September 2005 Friday night racing

70kg
50x15
500 peak flow
teammates : Paul Mircik, Vance Sprock in the 3/masters, Jim Ryan in the P12 and Claire in the juniors.
Changed up the warmup again and did a longish Z4-Z5 effort and one big sprint which turned out to be my hardest effort of the night as the group was so big the only time to get a hard effort in was to be near the front and I was not aware I was near the front at the end the one time I was there.

18 riders in cat 3/masters
10 lap point a lap
This felt pretty easy as I just followed wheels around until the wheel I was following got gapped and I had to chase back on to catch the group just as they were sprinting for the last couple of points, several riders would go off for a few laps to get a few points and we would catch them and the last time I wasn't sure if the four riders I caught were the top four or the third through sixth because I had to chase back on but it turned out they were sprinting for the final 3-2-1 points and I just missed out.
T: 5:12
P: 277
S: 28.6
C: 110

8 lap scratch
This played out like the point a lap, I followed wheels until the rider I was following got gapped, I passed, caught the group just as they were winding it up for the sprint with two to go and hung on.
T: 3:36
P: 313
S: 27.0
C: 104

Miss and out
This felt really easy as I only tried hard at the very beginning and got boxed in immediately. Started fighting for position in the pole with another rider until he spoke out - sorry Vance!, then just got in behind him, third in the pole. This was going to be safe for a little while, but would have to pay attention to who was behind me. Kind of sketchy with so many riders so I had to focus on who was in front of me too much and when I ended up at the back missed the opportunity to get out of the pole and was eliminated after about six laps, feeling ridiculously fresh.
T: 3:00
P: 223
S: 25.0
C: 92

7 lap to win and out
Peter Tapscott attacked immediately but Dick jumped right on him and I didn't want to concede the race right away and jumped to catch up to them. We caught them and after they pulled up I led for a lap and pulled up and Vance got in the rotation in front of me got dropped but was going hard enough to make it hard to pass him so I followed him for a few laps and we got to witness John pull his foot out of the pedal and do a somewhat gentle solo tumble and I could sense Vance giving up at this point (understandably) with us about 30 meters back and two laps to go, watched the race play out from behind.
T: 5:11
P: 308
S: 26
C: 100