Mt Hamilton Challenge

Milpitas to CA 130 up and over Mt Hamilton to Lick Observatory to Livermore via Mines road, then back to Milpitas via Calaveras.

NP: 185
TSS: 428 - so it was the equivalent stress on my body of doing 4 one hour TT at my FTP in one day.
IF: 0.76

Wente RR 35+ 4/5

Teammates: Gene Ragan and Jim Werle
Overcast and cool
Used the 50x34 with the 12x25 cassette. Might use the 11x23 next time, felt like I was spun out with the tail wind at 60kph a few times with the 50x12.

The first major bump was the feedzone/finish hill and this took about five minutes at v02max. Then there is about three minutes at tempo then another four minute effort for the hills after the 580 overpass. Gapped with about ten other guys near the finish line atop the hill. Might have blown up here because the first minute plus is at L6 pace but I managed to get through the feed zone still with some folks. At least this was farther with the group than the last time I did this. Could see the remains of our group ahead across the 580 overpass about 50 meters ahead. Was gaining on them (in my mind...) when I dropped the chain on the uphill before the first downhill, took at least 20 seconds according to the data to get it all back together - got it on, got on bike, started pedaling, then it came off again, got off, repeat, probably didn't make too much of a difference, but the ten guys behind me passed me while I was doing this. Gritted my teeth and started time trialing and started catching guys on the hill after doing about one lap solo.
Caught about six of these guys over the next two laps, rode with one fellow back of the packer for our next to last lap as he clarified that it was our next to last lap and not our last lap as I mistakenly believed - doh. He fell back on the last lap and I caught about five other guys in my class before the finish. One of the guys did not want to work on the last lap and attacked me on the tight downhill corner with the hay bales, it was pretty easy to catch back up to him and leave him behind once we started going up again.

On the plus side I did not cramp - ate three Gu's, three Enduralytes and drank one bottle during the race. Probably could have gotten away with one bottle.

Wente RR
~69/75 (official results only go to 68...)
AP: 181
NP: 219
TSS: 210
IF: 0.89
T: 2:37:49
D: 76.73 km

Thursday Night Points Race, April 20

B Points race
Field: 13
Teammates: Daniel Tisdell

Conditions: Cold and the usual headwind in the back stretch. With the full sleeve skinsuit and an undershirt, my arms still felt cold, will need to wear arm warmers underneath the skinsuit next time.

P: 258
S: 23.8
H: 183
T: 40.0
C: 89

Hed 3 wheel in front and a Deep V in back with a CH Aero cover. Vredestein piste tires front and back at 100 PSI.
51x15 gearing to try something different from the 50x15 I used for most of last year. This was the first non sprint track race I have done in about six months. Not sure if the difficulty I had keep up was with the gearing or the adaption to racing on a fixed. We'll find out next week. My average speed seems pretty low for the effort. Wanted to use the race as a L4 workout and the average power is good for me for this length of time. Got spit out the back in about ten laps and worked with Joe, Jeff, and Mike for a long time. We got lapped about twice when we got 14 laps to go. I remember this because when the field passed us this time a couple of fellows in the lead group were overlapping wheels and one of them moved and the other fell in front of us. Mike went underneath and I went up track to slow down but the rider started walking up track so I had to slow more and yell at him repeatedly to stay. At this point I just wanted to finish without any more incidents so I just latched onto the field of five or six riders the next time they came past. With five to go I looked behind and did not see anyone while in turn three so felt content to just follow the last rider in the lead pack until the finish when the leaders started slowing down signficantly and going up track. I made a newbie mistake and did not look back when I followed the other riders (assuming we had dropped the other riders for good) and immediately felt someone elses axle in my rear wheel, although he should not have been overlapping my wheel at this point because we were down on laps and totally out of contention. Fortunately neither of us went down but I get to rebuild my rear wheel and buy a new wheel cover. :(

I calibrated the SRM a couple of weeks ago and zeroed it at the start of the racing so fairly confident in the accuracy. Higher power but lower speed than last years' data. Spending more time on the front of the chasing group, and almost coming to a stop for the first accident probably explains the higher average power and the lower speed.

Just put new spokes in the rear wheel and it seems fine. Possibly will just duct tape the cover back together. It appears the axle was on the cover for three rotations of the wheel, perhaps the cover keeping the front wheel out of there for a bit, and saving the other rider for a while.

Menlo Park Grand Prix

A 1 KM rectangular course. The two short straights were about 100 meters long. The start finish was about 200 meters from turn 4. There was a strong wind against the field in the backstretch and in between turns 3 and 4. Overcast and cool with intermittent showers. If it was crowded, position in turn 3 would dictate finish position.

I got in an accident descending OLH earlier this week and had a bit of road rash on my right knee and shoulder and on my backside. I had full mobility without pain from the accident while cycling but it hurt to move my right arm in certain ways - had trouble zipping up, putting on skinsuit, so would not be sprinting very aggressively. If I had not already preregistered I would have skipped this race but so it goes. Figured I would get in some speed work and avoid anything remotely sketchy.


35+ 4/5
Teammates: George (from Bakersfield!)
friendly rivals: John and Robert from EMC, Eric P from the city

Was raining immediately prior to this event then stopped for the duration. George said this was his first race back from his broken collarbone, so we would just play it by ear. Eric had the same issue, first crit since breaking collarbone at Giro di SF last year. Stayed near the front for the first 15 minutes. Small groups would go off the front and get absorbed. A group of five got about ten seconds so I thought I would try it once and moved up easily on the backstretch, by the time I caught up, the lead five had shattered and no one would work so I pulled into turn four, turned out to let the guy on my wheel do some work but he would not budge so I pulled about half of the front straight but still no help so I gave up and we were reabsorbed. Moved to the back of the pack where Eric was hanging out. We got lap cards at eleven or so to go. Started working on moving up, bit by bit. Got to about 25th position with two to go when a couple of riders slightly ahead appeared to lock handlebars on the right near the start/finish. Moved to the left when suddenly a bicycle came cartwheeling out of the crash towards the left and it was still going pretty fast by the time I got up to it so I had to brake with about one meter of room on my left. About 25 riders were ahead at this point. I put my head down and worked on bridging back up. A few riders ahead of me started giving up and swerving across the road so I had to brake a few times and I gave up about ten seconds short of the field in turn 3. The hardest thing about this race was that sometimes the leaders would lead the pack into a poor line on the right hand turn 3 that was way on the right side, so folks were getting all cluttered in the exit of the turn and braking a lot, and some folks adjusted their line for no reason whatsoever in the middle of the turn.

Ate half a bagel, drank one bottle of Gu O2 and took two Enduralyte capsules. Was able to make it through the second race with only a little cramp on my calves towards the end.
E4
Teammates: Shawn, Steven R, George (from Bakersfield!)
friendly rivals: John and Robert from EMC, Eric P from the city

Started raining after the first couple of laps and kept up for half the race. One rider went off the front immediately. Steven said he was more of a breakaway type of guy so I sat near the front for the first ten minutes, making sure nothing got too far away without us. Over the next twenty or so minutes, sat midpack, and could see Shawn, Steven R and George doing work near the front. A few sketchy moves combined with the rain caused me to give up some position so I found myself on the back with Eric again. With five to go we started moving up. A loud explosion happened behind us in turn four, someone had a blow out but thankfully not causing any crashes. With one to go I was back in 20th position. On the backside I prepared to move up in turn 3 to slot in behind Steven but several riders braked hard into this turn forcing a lot of close contact so I had to back off. Out of turn four I was ready to sprint but it was too crowded to move up so I did not get to sprint in either race. As we were cooling down, Eric had a front blowout on the backstretch, fortunately he was going very slowly so he was not hurt.

Santa Cruz Crit 35+ 4/5

Teammates: none, Mark Davis (with a sweet Ergomo Pro and the wife unit) in 3 and 35+ 123's.
Friendly rivals: Keith DeFiebre, Rob Evans from the wattage list(finally met).

6/32 - woohoo, finally got a T-shirt.

AC 420 wheel in front, standard PowerTap wheel in back, Michelin Pro Race 2 tires, 100 PSI, no bottles, 50/34 12/25.

Got up at 6:00, felt pretty good with a taper week, but my knee was sore from running a lot (more than I do for cyclocross practice...) during my day as an official at Sea Otter on Friday. The last two years I have done this race I got dropped after three or four laps so I wanted to improve on that and try to not work too much early. Got in a few practice laps at the start of each race while racers were staging for the first two races. I saw Dan Adkins pulled out of the three race and he said he was toast - had felt good and thought he would try an attack late but once he was brought back his legs did not feel so good and he got dropped from the pack. I would heed Dan's experience and not be too bold.

In the elite three race it appeared that the winner attacked near the bottom of the finish straight.

Tom Simonson was the starter and told us to do one final practice lap before staging. Turnout was only 32, perhaps due to the forecast of inclement weather - it was sunny and cool until I left Santa Cruz. Some strong folks who have accumulated almost 30 points in the 4's did not show up so that probably made the race easier than it could have been.

The start finish line is at the peak of a small hill. The course goes downhill for a long ways until there is a dogleg 150 turn to the right that is off camber. Then it goes downhill with some rough spots through a slight turn to the right then a 90 left with a short block until a 90 right, a 45 right, then uphill steep for a bit, a crest with a tiny bit of a downhill, then uphill again until 90 right on the front straightaway, steepest bit here for about 25 seconds, then a dip, then uphill again until the finish line.

The first four laps I stayed in the top three so I could try different speeds for the dogleg downhill off camber turn. The last time I tried to take it really tight but started pedaling too soon so lifted my rear wheel when I had a pedal strike on the inside so I was more cautious the rest of the race. Also, entering the turn I came from as far left as possible not only to get a good apex but to discourage anyone from coming up the gutter on my left where the pavement was rough and I had witnessed a few riders bobbling it early in the race.

It was possible to rest on the first uphill steep bit after the first crest if one was behind people until very close to the finish straight turn ( this was repaved two years ago so that in prior years the road was very rough and coasting did not get one very far back then), and on the finish straight when the course crested for a bit. What happened before the final straight turn is the guys in front would slow quite a bit for the steeper grade so if you were behind you had to brake a bit and lose some momentum as the field spread out and the road was narrow until the finish straight. On the finish straight steep bit I found myself staying seated and spinning the 50/23 while I noticed the most other folks standing and working hard so I thought I might have a good day. The weird thing is I never felt in trouble like I have in some flat crits. As the lap cards counted down I realized my initial goal of getting farther in the race than the last few attempts so now I reset my goals to placing. As everyone slowed down massively on the steep part of the front stretch and this did not feel difficult to me to move up through the field I thought I had a good chance. At two to go I moved from the back up a bit on the steep bit. With one to go, a Cyclesports fellow attacked hard at the very bottom of the hill. I was still only midpack by this point so I bided my time while other riders were slightly pushing the pace at the front and closing the gap. Once we started going up I started passing riders, and pedaling hard where we had coasted before, by the finish straight there were still ten folks ahead of me so I had to brake slightly again. We hit the steepest bit and I really wanted to just go for it but found myself boxed in, when I moved to get out, riders in front of me drifted over several times and I found my bars nearly inside someone elses a couple of times... Eventually I was able to work my way out with about 120 meters to go and started picking off the riders in front of me. I got sixth, missing fifth by a wheel. The guys in front were only a few bike lengths ahead so perhaps if I had gotten a better position or the guys in front of me had just turned a slightly different way...

S: 22.6
T: 29:18
D: 11.0
P: 202
C: 78
NP: 265
IF: 1.08
TSS: 57

The NP indicates this was the hardest half hour I have ever done even though I did not feel that spent except for the final sprint. I may need to up my L4 interval intensity because I have been assuming a FTP of 245 from the Monterey Circuit race in February and this data indicates either a FTP of about 255 or a high anerobic work component to the race effort.



Won $10 and a T-shirt. Doug Smith congratulated me and said "You're a pro now." Unfortunately if one includes all the costs I think I am still about $20,000 in the hole. :)

Hellyer Sprint Tournament

Teammates: Rick Adams, Rob Jensen, Gene Ragan
Friendly rivals: 38 other people...
Used the best cRR tire, Vredestein piste tire in the rear (wore out the current speedmax during the winter on the trainer and forgot to change the tire until I got to Hellyer) and one of the worst cRR tires, a Ritchey Speedmax in the front. Had the Velocity Deep rim training wheels with a CH Aero ghetto cover on the rear wheel. Since the wheel cover is meant to be used on a wheel with dish and track wheels do not have dish, I had to cut one side of the cover to fold the material over to change the angle of the cone and use a lot of electrical tape to make the cover sit flush with the spokes.

Flying 200 meter time trial
13.53

Actually tried to pace myself for a flying 200 meter with my powermeter. :)
My internal perceived exertion meter stinks. I kept it at L4 for the first two laps, ramped it up to L5 in the front straight, went to L6 in turn 1 and jumped a bit early in turn 2. This is my best time but only by 0.02 seconds so that's within the precision of hand timing. I am happy I was able to get a higher max peak for a few seconds for the flying 200 than in prior attempts but mistimed the jump a bit. Also, my effort in the match sprint was better but that could be because I jumped from 5mph versus 25mph with in the flying 200. 130 rpm seems kinda of tame for a max as well. I may have to try a slightly bigger gear, but on the other hand, not really doing a lot of L6 or L7 workouts right now which is my weakness.


This time was actually good enough to put me somewhere in the middle of the pack. The most surprising thing to me was that the range of gearing in was 78 to 98 gear inches for the fastest qualifiers - 13.1 and under.



Match Sprint versus Kevin Worley
Kevin was not looking back at me from the start, so I attacked entering turn one of the first lap, died in back stretch of last lap, Kevin blew past me quite easily as I was fading near the pursuit line in the backstretch. Hit 15.4 w/kg for 5 seconds during the initial acceleration which is my high for the year (even taking into account the SRM/PowerTap differences). This would make me a strong sprinter for a cat 4, unfortunately I am a cat 3 on the track so that puts me in the low end of the scale.

CCCX MTB #4

Category: 35-44 Beginner
6/17
Three laps of a 5.5 mile course. Many shallow hills. Never considered using the granny gear. The cyclocross bike perhaps could be optimal for this course. This is the fastest average speed I have ever done a mountain bike race and is faster than I do most cyclocross races. I think I am not allergic to poison oak as this course is notorious for that and I went off course multiple times and have no rashes to speak of yet.

Teammates: Mike Schaller in Sport
Friendly rivals: Curt Ferguson
The heart rate receiver in the PowerTap CPU is broken so no heart rate data.
Used semi-slicks in the rear and a cut down directional knobby in the front, 40psi each.
Total TSS warmup/cooldown/race:138
Race only
NP: 234
IF: 0.95
D: 16.9 miles
S: 14.7 mph
C: 78
First time to wear a skinsuit. These things make it awkward to go to the bathroom and the long sleeve arms are not quite as comfy as a good armwarmer. Plus with armwarmers I can always use multiple layers - may have to put a thin one on prior to the skinsuit if it's really cold, today I felt OK once we started racing but too cold at the start and after the race. Also for a race of this length, probably should consider going without any water or tools and just DNF if there is a mechanical as I took only a couple sips of water, mainly to wash out the mud.

Curt gave me a very helpful guided tour of the first mile of the course. We started uphill on pavement for about 3/4 of a mile then went offroad. Most of the hills are pretty short and take less than five minutes so my goal was to go up all of the hills at close to V02Max power and see what happened, I also wanted to do the track sprint tournament in the afternoon so I wanted to avoid going above that too much to save something for that later event. Curt took off like a rocket at the gun which is impressive considering he is the largest rider in the field. A group of seven of us worked hard to hold his wheel, separating us from the rest of the 18-34/35-44 beginners, after looking back and seeing a huge gap I noticed our speed was about 20mph going uphill. At one point on the hill I was having trouble keeping up and not going over VO2Max and still there was no one close behind me so I eased up a bit to go at my own pace. Since I have not ridden my mountain bike that fast since the one race I did last year, I was tentative in some of the turns and managed to biff almost every technical turn by braking too much, and had to accelerate hard out of them to keep up with the riders I was catching on the uphills. After a full lap, I finally caught back up to Curt and the riders that were with him. I tried to encourage him to go as hard as he had gone on the first lap but he was not up to it so I had to push hard to keep the pace up since a few people were on my tail and lost Curt on a short climb. A couple of riders stuck with me so we constantly traded position until it was just me and one other rider ( and the four others off the front). I attacked once on the second long paved climb since he had difficulty there the first lap but he came back to me on the following descent. He let me lead until the last hard short climb about a mile from the finish. He pushed it really hard and keeping up was forcing me into L6 so I eased up a bit. He stayed 20 meters ahead until the finishing stretch - this was a bit technical and downhill so it was hard to make up any ground here and I got within a couple of bike lengths by the end but that was it.

Alameda Crit

35+ 4/5 pack/75
Teammates:none
Friendly rivals: Mark Nakamura-san
The forecast called for 25-35 mph winds with gusts to 55 and rain. On the plus side, it did not start raining until midway through the second race I did. I chose to use the Hed 60 and this gave me a lot of trouble in a couple of the cross wind sections even with both hands in the drops during a few warm up laps. A few riders attacked at the gun so I just eased in behind them. Some folks did not want to keep this up and let a gap open up - at one point it was about 50 meters. I bridged up but when I checked under my arm, one of the teammates of the guys in the break had followed and dragged the rest of the field up to the break behind me... Since this had taken about nine laps I sat in and rested up for a bit. Managed to stay mid pack for a pretty long time which is good for me and only got to the back when we got the eight laps to go sign. Worked my way up to 20th by 2 laps to go, then there was a crash in the middle of the top 20 which required me to slow a lot. I was able to bridge up to the pack by 3/4 of a lap to go but that pretty much ended my race there. As we were cruising about 100 meters from the finish line I could see one of the leaders fall near the finish line with his bike falling away from him so we had to ease up to avoid the carnage.

M 68 kg

P 185
S 24.1
C 75
H 174
NP 209
IF 0.85



4 dnf/50
Teammates:David Porter
Friendly rivals: Kelyn, Elliot and Rory.

I had about fifteen minutes to get ready for the next race. I am not sure if it was the wind picking up or smaller field leading to less shelter or fatigue or dropping my ClifBar and unwillingness to eat it for nutrition or what but even when I was six inches behind the rider in front of me it felt like I was not getting a lot of relief from the wind. Steve Ryan's suggestion of echelon is what I should have been doing, doh. Since the field was much smaller it seems like it strung out right away and a lot of people got dropped each lap. I was not feeling so hot so when it started sprinkling and Tom Simonson announced that the halfway point had been reached, I decided to call it a day.

P 206
S 23.6
C 77
H 178
NP 222
IF 0.90

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.