2007 Nov 23 - Race the World Cups Points Race - A

CTL: 109
TSB: -1
Was running late and thought I had pre packed my arm warmers and leg warmers but found out those were MIA when I got to the track and unpacked. Well this is just for fun and supporting our Proman compatriots so no biggie.

Only five riders signed up for the B's including myself so they asked us to pick between the A and the C race and I went with A's. Switched from the 48x15 gear to the 50x15 gear and hoped for the best. Donned the warm weather gear that I had which were the winter gloves, glove liners, and Sheila Moon beanie so it wasn't too bad.

I made a mistake which is a repeat of the last time I did an A points race so this was really stupid. Did not go super hard at the start. A small gap opened up in front of me and I spent ten laps going 28 mph and not closing it and finally had to give up and go a lap down. This took a long time to recover from so ended up losing seven! laps to the lead riders, but hung in there and finished so got a decent workout.

Haven't ridden the track bike in a long time so it was fun to be out there and race and it's nice just going all out and hearing the tires sing and the wind and banking push back against you hard. Plus, who can pass up an opportunity to drool on oneself in public?

T: 45:49
S: 40.6 kph
C: 97
D: 31 km
H: 173
Pavg: 244
Pnorm: 256

2007 November 22, Low Key Hill Climb, Mt Hamilton

CTL: 110
TSB: 10
Teammates: Jay, Lucia, Luke, Phil, Rich and Saturday ride regular Dan.

Local superannuated track star Leo and I smack talked a bit before the race and I told him my best time up from the bottom to the observatory was 2:12 and he told me he did 1:57 two years ago so now I had a target to match!

Really big turnout and not much to say other than I cracked on the first climb! Took about 29:00 on the first climb and was right at FTP for NP but got a little ahead of myself and started leading a little group of LGBRC riders to help get Lucia up the road from the other ladies. We did drop one of her competitors at this point, and put the other on the ropes. Then I overdid it a bit and lost it. This was probably the worst spot to do it because there is a descent and a long section (most of the second climb) where drafting would be of significant help that I rode a solo for a large percentage of the time.

Anyways, duked it out with Dan for the next two climbs, taking 15:00 minutes for the second climb at NP of 234 and then struggling in the last climb at 41:00 minutes for a NP of 229. Probably harder than any of the road races I have done this year, but then again, probably need to try harder during the road races.

On the plus side, set a PR by about forty five minutes, and never sprinted so hopefully will have a good kick tomorrow at the track.

Now for the turkey...

Pavg: 221
Pnorm: 233
T: 1:33:15
C: 80
S: 19.2
D: 29.9 km
H: 177

2007 Nov 19 - Peak Season CX #1

TSB: 7
CTL: 105

Teammates: none
Wanted to get a longer ride in after the race, and judging by the lap times of the last CCCX race (thanks Joe), I would be mid pack in the C's, so signed up for the first race of the day in the C's.

New course and venue, lots of narrow sections and a couple of tight corners on a three foot wide wooden walkway over a very fecund looking lake. One long run up with stairs with about thirty inches between steps and another equally long section that was rideable with my 34x26.

Used the Michelin Mud in the front and Jet in the rear with both at the lowest recommended pressure, 36 PSI. The grass was pretty slick from the morning dew and the fog still had not lifted when the race started.

The juniors started thirty seconds back of us and the starter Mike told us to play nice in case we were lapping or being lapped. :)

Since the field was only about twenty riders it was not too hard to stay with the fastest riders on the first lap until we hit the first technical section and the rider in front of me almost came to a stop at a hairpin and this is the last contact I had with the top four riders. It's amazing how that happens! I am just not aggressive enough...

Anyways once we have some separation, then I am in front of this next group I start having problems with the fog, can't see without my glasses and the glasses are too moist to see through so I have to slow on the long, fast sections out of self preservation and other riders make up ground on me quickly, or I am just fading after the first two laps, or a combination of the two. Finding myself close behind another rider I put my new found confidence in the low pressure of the tires in a slick corner and promptly wash out the front tire. I think I may have flatted here as well but since the tubes have sealant, the pressure goes down just a little due to lost air.

On the next to the last lap I can see one of the wee juniors giving a spirited chase in one of the loop back sections of the course so I can't give up yet! On the last lap we are separated by the same amount but now the fog has cleared up a bit more so I can use my huge weight advantage on the downhills to put a little distance on him by the finish. Mass before youth...

Ride a lap with the B racers and my low pressure front goes flat as soon as I hit a hard root on the first lap. Will have to go back to forty PSI for the next race.

I explore Watsonville for a few hours after the race, find mundane looking subdivision roads that become much more interesting and rural and rolling after a few twists and turns. I only see three other riders in three hours, one recommends Hazel Dell which I go up for ten minutes and save the rest for later. By chance I find Mt Madonna Road which I have only heard about beforehand, only have time to go to the top and back today but next time I am coming back straight here to fully enjoy all of it.

Results show only got tenth in the C's! Just nine more top tens to get an upgrade from 4 to 3.

I think this puts me first in the Low Key Hill Climb/Cyclocross omnium this week, though. Next week I am going for the Low Key Hill Climb/Track Points Race/Cyclocross omnium...



Pavg:173
Pnorm: 221
H: 177
C: 80
S: 19.9 kph
T: 33:28

2007 Nov 18 - Low Key Hill Climb, Sierra Road

Teammates: Dan, Rich, Jay, Luke, Eric, Rob? and Dan from the Saturday ride.

TSB: 11
CTL: 106

Based on the approximate 19 minute times for the pros, gave myself a target of 30 minutes using a 50% handicap per my best time on OLH versus the pros.

For a warmup, managed to park near where we do our informal Mount Hamilton rides and had to hustle to make the start on time.

There was a huge turnout for this hill climb, forebodes well for the Tour of California when they do this climb.

Managed to gain even more weight this week so left myself plenty of room for improvement next time I do Sierra.

Met up again with Francis from the dirt Alpine hill climb and RoadBikeReview.com and he claimed it took him an hour to do this last year on his MTB. Well we went back and forth taking turns passing each other. Dan also alternating passing and getting passed with me for quite a while. We talked about this afterwards and he thought I was surging a lot, I was mostly trying to keep my power output below VO2max power so I didn't blow so I slowed up a lot on the steepest sections and went much faster on the flatter sections where some others were recovering.

The hill lived up to the description - even though I had a 34-26 low gear, this was not enough for my abilities as I struggled to just keep moving on several sections. Since I have never done this, wasn't sure of the finish, but tried to pace myself for a thirty minute effort. As the minutes added up to twenty six, twenty seven, I thought for sure the summit would be at the next crest and I would be finishing in much less than thirty minutes but was met with another riser several times. Finally I could see people at the top of yet another rise. This was not that far away and there was a dip before the final bit so put it in the big ring and went all out and someone yelled out to me that there was more to go! The top was about twenty meters after this point where the road flattened out a bit so I had to restart and go a bit more to finish.



T: 29:21
S: 12.1 kph
C: 70! Pretty low average even though I consider myself a grinder and not a spinner.
H: 182
PAvg: 266
PNorm: 273

CCCX #4, Prunedale, November 11

Teammates: Mike S.
CTL: 105
TSB: 15

The fitness is willing but the spirit is still weak...

Switched over to thinner Michelin tires this week with a Mud 2 in the front at 40 psi and a Jet in the rear at 40 psi. The thinner, lower volume tires don't seem much different from the 42 mm Ritcheys in terms of handling and have the bonus feature of being one pound lighter. The rear slid out a bit when turning in the mud but I was going so slow it was not a problem. Never bottomed out either until I took the long sandy and sometimes rocky trail around the park.

Juan showed up so Mike and I had the usual crew for the BOP honors. The course was changed up a little bit from two months ago with the addition of a small run up, an additional few hundred meters of looping around some tape, and double barriers at the top of the course instead of the single.

Tried something different at the start and tried to keep up with the lead pack. The plan got discombobulated when we hit the small singletrack funnel at the top before the mud section and I had to stop for traffic to clear and the group dispersed. This still put me at the front of the BOP as one of the other old and slow guys behind me reminded me. On one of the next laps Juan put in a attack and pulled ahead of me and I had to dig deep to pull him back, and put in a response of my own on the hill. Probably a little too much as I spent a couple of laps recovering from this. Mike then passed me near the bottom of the course and I was able to pull him back on the hill, then he passed me back again near the bottom of the course and I could not respond this time.

Was able to close the gap a little by the finish but not enough in the tank, so this round goes to Mike with Juan a close third. Slightly longer race in terms of time than last time but pretty much the same numbers considering the slower course conditions. The longer laps also meant I was *not* lapped this time so that's an improvement!

Joe Fabris keeps passing me from the 45+ wave in a downhill section, need to learn to keep pushing all the time instead of just on the uphills, and the hardest thing for me to do - push hard into the corners instead of coasting, just so used to conserving energy in road races...

On the mechanical front - new Eggbeaters fixed the pulling out when pulling up hard problem. But got a new problem with bad shifting, probably just overdue with adjustments. Went to the big ring only on the last lap, and it felt OK, maybe should have used the big ring the whole race.


21st/25
T: 52:57
S: 20.0 kph
C: 80
Pavg: 169
Pnorm: 212
H: 179

2007 Nov 11 - Low Key Hill Climb, Alpine Dirt

Teammates: Lucia

TSB: 17
CTL: 111

Daily diet of ice cream and leftover Halloween candy finally starting to catch up with me as weight is 2 kilograms more than the last Low Key Hill Climb...

Last minute venue change from Windy Point to the Alpine fire road from the end of Alpine Road to Page Mill. Did this last month on my road bike so the cross bike seemed like a good choice, used Michelin Jet tires with 40 PSI. On the way up Alpine we formed the largest mountain bike pack I have ever been in since I've done the Sea Otter Cross Country.

The first surprise on the course was a new layer of coarse gravel on the fire road right up until the single track. The found myself at the back of the lead pack of riders, the sight of the fellow on the road bike spurred me onward. There were a couple of lines that had a thinner layer of gravel that every one gravitated towards.

By the time we reached the single track section, the group had blown up into small packs of ones and twos. Was able to pass a few riders in the single track, one of these was a cross rider that I exorted to get back on his bike, because riding the steep section was killing my legs. Once it leveled out he passed me back as I struggled to recover a bit and keep the gas on. I was not sure how much more we had to go after the single track so tried to push hard and eventually caught back up to the other cross rider, and then was passed by Dan who ran most of the singletrack, and then caught sight of Dennis P. Was thinking maybe I should begin my last ditch effort when the next turn brought on a view of the finish within 20 meters so I just sprinted with all I had. Left a bit too much in the tank especially since I went harder up King's Mountain which is much longer!

T: 18:18
S: 12.6kph
PAvg: 267
PNorm: 270
C: 73
H: 186

2007 Nov 4 Pilarcitos CX #3, McClaren Park 35+ B

CTL: 110
TSB: 15
Teammates: Mikey S

Got lucky and found a parking spot about fifty yards from the start line/reg tent, with the drawback that ten yards of that was vertical up a staircase. One could see the twenty foot runup from the start, but then Juan said it went up from there! When we did our warmup lap was able to see this first hand, and ride everything except the barriers. Part of it was it's not so technical if you go slow and I had 34/28 gearing and the lower profile Michelin Mud 2's. Put the pressure at 40 PSI and felt about right. Maybe should have used the mountain bike or a smaller small ring, the course was like a minature mountain bike course, considering the amount of elevation change and singletrack per lap. The only flat sections were the pavement/sidewalk used for the 300 meters or so of the finish.

Happily at the start, they made the 45's who started behind us get behind us! On the first lap, it was pretty congested so when I biffed the first little descent and my front wheel washed out it gave me and the guys behind me had a good laugh so I know we weren't trying that hard if we could do that. The first three laps I felt pretty good on the short, sharp climbs, the longest was only about thirty seconds, but they came one after another after another. At the end of this was a long descent, where for some reason I was faster than a lot of bigger people, but they killed me on the technical spots. Managed to catch and pass Juan at some point. Still had a few problems unclipping from the right shoe when pulling up hard so I guess there is probably a worn out part in my four year old Eggbeaters, will have to bite the bullet and get a new pair.

In the middle of the fourth lap I was not feeling that great at all, and I biffed the same little descent again, a combination of not clipping in and too much speed, but this time I fell and lost five spots. This caused my computer to lose the connection to the wiring harness so no data for the last three laps. The little hills that did not seem so bad early in the race, those were feeling like mountains now. Curt was there supporting his son and yelling for me and Juan so I got a sort of time check on Juan gaining on me every lap. Curt and Jonathon and Matt kept yelling for me so I had to at least put in a good effort for them. One of the last times up that hill there was a saddle from some poor fellow (turned out to be Joe Fabris who passed me easily on a slippery corner earlier in the race) in the middle of the track so I leaned over and threw it to a spectator.


When we go the two laps to go card we shortly afterwards heard the bell so Juan and I were going to get lapped. We got caught at the top of the big descent. I was able to shadow Juan to the pavement and started my last effort from the beginning of the pavement and managed to catch a rider in our group and almost unlapped myself from the second place rider, but since I wasn't sure if he was in first place at this point, did not pass him because I don't think I could have done another lap.

Found a former coworker who owned a beautiful house above the park, they said they would let me park there next time!

Time: 28:44
Pnormalized: 194
Paverage: 142
Heartrate: 179
Cadence: 79
Speed: 15.8 kph

42nd/field 55

2007 October 27 - Low Key Hill Climb - 84/WOLH

CTL: 113
TSB: 21 (AKA it's too dark and cold in the morning to keep riding hard )

Teammates: Luke, Rich, Kwan, and Dan from the Saturday ride.

Can't make the cross race tomorrow so put more focus on having a long day in the saddle today. Mapquest said it was thirty miles from my door to the start and figured it would be better for me just to ride there, finish the climb and crawl back home.

Took two hours to get to the start and burned approximately 900 calories even after going super slow up OLH, had to eat most of the food I brought with me to stock back up. The roads were nice, mostly dry and in the case of 84, freshly paved with as Rich noted, a slightly narrower shoulder than before the paving. Going backwards over the course was a good reminder that it is mostly uphill from the start with lots of small undulations. Got to spend some time enjoying the views of the beach as the nearest portapotty was at the state park about one mile away on Highway 1.

Started twenty seconds behind the fellow with SPD sandals who I traded pulls with at Diablo, and forty seconds behind the woman in the Lifestyles RX kit who wanted to know where Lucia was so they could have a little head to head competition. I told her she won by default. Joked with the sandals guy (sorry no name) that he inspired me to go faster as I did not want to get beat by the guy in sandals!

Went out hard for one minute and was surprised that both of the folks in front of me were keeping pace, then against better judgement I kept a higher than threshold pace for the next eight minutes and very slowly reeled both of them in at the same time. "Sandals" caught Lifestyles just a bit before I caught them and then I passed him. Tried to not draft but since the shoulder was narrow had to balance safety with sportsmanship there, once I felt myself easing up, force myself to pass. Then he passed me back. Then I passed him. This repeated itself for the next ten minutes. Was trying to figure out how far back I should stay when Lifestyles told me in a friendly voice to not draft, and figured I'm too close so I passed again. There was an intermediate timing point at Pescadero Road so I made it there in twenty minutes and change, maybe five seconds ahead of "Sandals". We exchanged passes a couple of more times and passed a few other riders before we got to the bottom of WOLH. Here he opened up a small gap to pass a Sierra Nevada rider.

It only takes about twelve minutes to climb WOLH so I comforted myself with the short amount of suffering left. Rode it earlier this week and knew there were a couple of spots where the big ring would be useful and finishing in the big ring was a good bet. Not a few times I thought of easing up but "Sandals" was always just a little bit ahead, sometimes more than twenty seconds and sometimes less. We got to the last bit where if I was just trying to finish the climb I might use the small ring but since we were racing I kept it in the big ring and almost caught "Sandals" at the finish.


T: 50:38
PAvg: 255
PNorm: 257
C: 84
H: 177
S: 26.7 kph

2007 Oct 21 Pilarcitos CX #2, Candlestick/Monster Park 35+ B

CTL: 115
TSB: 14
Teammates: Mikey S

Used 42mm Ritchey tires with 35 PSI

Curt was sitting this one out in order to race next week in Kentucky at the USGP with his son Jeremy, Juan came and brought the wife and kids so at least Juan and Mikey and I could push each other to go a bit harder at the back of the pack.


The start was a bit of a snafu as some 45+'s staged in our field and just sat there and we 35+'s had to thread our way through them. Juan got a really good start as I could barely see him ahead through all the riders between us. Mike was right behind me.

On the first lap a big gap opened up between Juan's group and me and I killed myself to close it on the long paved section, then I paid for this by losing contact with the group until we got to the paved section again, and then I caught up for good with Juan.

It took a couple of laps for things to thin out where you didn't have to brake all the time in the technical sections.

After a few more laps I put in an effort to pass Juan, and I could hear him for a lap but then he faded, Amy said he just blew. At this point I was thinking, I can beat my two rivals/teammates/friends. :) But then Mike blew past me on one of the rough grassy sections. I was able to keep him in sight for the last three laps. I would get close on the pavement and he would open the gap up on the bumpy stuff. With two to go he had a mechanical and dropped his chain and I passed him, then he got right back on and passed me back! With one to go I planned on catching him on the pavement, but I let him have a little too much rope and only closed to within four seconds of him. So close.

A couple of times my right foot came unclipped when I pulled up so new cleats are going on the race shoes this week.


Even though my heart rate was high, the power numbers aren't close to what I can do for forty something minutes. Probably could have gone much harder on the paved sections instead of concentrating so much on drafting, and on the grassy section right after the paved section for starters.

T: 42:56
Pavg: 177
Pnorm: 202
C: 82
H: 179
S: 20.4

2007 Oct 20 Low Key Hill Climb - Mt Diablo

CTL: 115
TSB: 21

A lot of people use one hour as a bench mark for themselves on this particular climb, I've only done it once before on my mountain bike and it took me about 90 minutes so I had a much easier goal to meet. :)

Tons of club members for the ride and the after climb ride - Luke, Rich, Rob, Dan, Lucia, Kwan for the climb and Spike, Yvette, Garrett for the after climb ride.

I saw one guy who had so little body fat one could see the veins on the front of his legs and he also was using a $5000 pair of Lightweight brand wheels, so I was pretty sure I wasn't seeing him again after the start!

We went off in small groups, Lucia and another woman I that rode in my group at King's were in mine, plus a guy with a Everest Challenge jersey - this one little climb had to be tons easier than the Everest Challenge, but he said he was a slow rider. So of course he guns it after we pass the rough descent near the start and pulls away from everyone.

I consider being rational and pacing myself but can't help myself and go for it, and start reeling in riders from the group ahead and finally the Everest Challenge survivor. Look down at my time/average power and it's pretty good for me for 20:00 and I'm feeling good about myself when a fellow wearing a Camelbak catches and drops me easily - I dropped everything unnecessary from the race bike save one tube and the micro pump. By the one third point, the road starts to flatten out quite a bit and I regret having dropped every one else in my group. The headwinds are strong enough that a draft would probably help here. This proves out when two riders from our group catch me in the middle of this section. I satisfy myself with drafting for the most part for the next third or so of the climb.

The climbing resumes with a tortuous section exposed to the wind but the view is pretty nice to compensate. A few times even though I am working pretty hard I start to shiver uncontrollably which is a bad omen for the descent. Luke catches our group and we follow for a bit and then one by one let him go off at his own pace. There are scattered riders ahead of us and we each surge a bit trying to close the gaps and then my two companions gradually fall off the pace. I spent the last quarter of the climb going back and forth with one rider. At one point it is so cold and windy I can see his breath streaming behind him for a good four or five feet. Finally we see Camelbak, but also signs of the top so I dig really hard and close to within a few seconds of Camelbak but fall just short.

Probably should have paced the entire climb more evenly but unfamiliarity with the course makes that hard.

P.S. Checked out a creaking I heard during the warmup and there was a loose spoke and my rear wheel was rubbing on the brake! Doh.

T: 1:02:49
Pavg: 243
Pnorm: 250
C: 80
S: 17.2
D: 18.09
H: 175

CCCX #3, Fort Ord, 2007 October 13

35+ B
Field: ~15-20
Teammates: Mikey S

TSB: 19
CTL: 120

New course at Fort Ord using the tiniest climbs from the district road race in reverse and lots of slightly rolling singletrack going to and from the big building where we staged for road districts. Thought about going with 30 PSI but the really long course meant a potentially long run back for pit stops so went with 35 PSI. Lots of rain in the days prior to the event meant the mostly sandy course was in great condition.

Committed to going out as hard for as long as possible for once. First time up the hills, the top ten or so guys separated slightly from the rest of us, Mikey and Grant pulled ahead, and I dug deep to catch up to the lead group. One of the riders near the lead biffed the first set of barriers and caused a bigger split. The long singletrack section was a test of traction versus horsepower, having the guys in front of me was a huge motivational factor.

Mikey and I duked it out for a couple of laps, but then he disappeared, it turned out he flatted and had to run half a lap. The fastest 55+ caught me and we went back and forth for the rest of the race. Surprisingly I was faster than the smaller rider on the uphill sections and he dusted me in the flatter, technical sections. Anyways, thought something was wrong when we got four laps to go and I had thirty minutes of racing - I better get lapped or this is going to be a long race.

It ended up being about an hour long race for me, was probably close to being lapped. Even though there was a lot more elevation change at this course, had a much faster average than at Pilarcitos #1 - probably a combination of smaller field and less technical course.


Pavg: 181
Pnorm: 219
T: 1:01:36
S: 23.2 kph
C: 86
H: 181

Pavg:

Pilarcitos #1, Brisbane, 2007 October 7

CTL: 120
TSB: 8

Fitness *still* fading from the road season. Biggest field of the season at about fifty. Bianchi Juan Ortiz (not the one from Pen Velo, need to remind BJO of his doppleganger), and Curt Ferguson, pere of the prodigy Jeremy, and still on Coumadin so he can't crash - ever, show up and we reminisce about when we were actually fast...

The course was mostly in one large field, going out and back several times to create a longer course. It consisted of a short paved start/finish section, a rideable, off camber seven foot hill, a steep drop back to the bottom with a 180 right hander back up the hill, which was faster for folks who ran the whole thing compared to me who rode down it, but I didn't keep the speed up well on the dismount, a meandering back to cross the start finish road, and a long out/back over a field to a series of three barriers followed by a seven foot hill (making a really long running section), down the hill, a few hundred feet, back up another hill, down the seven foot hill for a longer out and back to a different spot on the seven foot hill followed by a dip and rise that you could get big air on without trying, then down the hill again, and up it again for a long loop back to the start finish. Always a test of trying to keep speed up on the corners without washing out the tires.

Lined up near the back of the pack and most of the field walked for a minute once we reached the first dirt section until things opened up again. Lost track of Juan and Curt but it turns out Juan was just ahead of me and motivated by the sight of me behind him and Curt was just behind me and gaining on me every lap.

I never found a good rhythm on the course until late, always losing ground on the long dirt straights and making it up or holding ground on the corners. Got really close to Juan on the last lap when he and I both went hard from about 300 meters out. Need to do that a bit earlier - like the start of the last lap = to play to my strength, and not my weakness, and work on trying harder the rest of the time as the power output was closer to the effort for flat crit.

41/50
T: 46:19
S: 19.4
C: 78
H: 179
Pavg: 165
Pnorm: 187

2007 Oct 6 Low Key Hill Climb - King's Mountain

CTL: 123
TSB: 14
Teammates: Jay (week off the bike and recovering from cold), Luke, Rich, and Saturday ride comrades Erik B and Dan

Somehow got talked into this even though I am not a climber. Started off the day by misreading the start time by an hour due to either dyslexia or dementia. Dog Gam! Anyways showed up early by time trialing to the start thinking I was late, so got a super long warmup with time for extra jibber jabber.


Based on the finish times for Luke and Rich at Montebello, decided to go with the slower group behind them. We warmed up by riding from Alpine/Portola Valley and Dan remarked that he wasn't sure why we were going so fast - most of the riders in our group were unattached and perhaps did not race that much. I didn't think it was that bad but we went so hard we caught the group ahead of us on their warmup.

This was a portent of things to come - Dan and I eventually dropped every one who started with us. We staged in on Greer with Dan and I at the rear about ten yards back of the front of the group. Usually I time from the stop sign at the bottom to the stop sign at the top so I *think* this would be a slightly longer distance from Greer to a little bit short of the stop sign at the top.

The riders at the front went really hard at the start. I just tried to follow wheels and close gaps when riders got dropped. We still had eight riders when we got close to the park entrance when I got tired of the surging and just went to the front. I didn't feel that bad but noticed our intensity for the first ten minutes was almost as hard as I do shorter five minute VO2max intervals!

At this point, it was a matter of reeling riders in front of me from other groups, go hard but not hard enough to blow. Saw lots of folks I know but could only manage a short "hey" or "hi" between gasps for breath. Pacing myself behind people or trying to catch people *seems* easier than just pacing by myself because I managed to set a new PR by about two minutes. Riding the lighter, race bike setup probably helped a lot, too.

This was a really well done event with snacks at the end and free energy gel at the start. May have to do more of these, even though it's not the best prep for cross racing the next day.

30/72

T: 25:59
S: 16.0
C: 83
H: 184
Pavg:274
Pnorm:276
D: 6.879 km

mass: ~65kg

CCCX #2, Salinas, 2007 September 30

CTL: 123
TSB: 14

Still floating by on fitness from the road season, work eased up a bit but catching up on errands, not fitness now.

Teammates: Mike S., Scooby in the 45+ B race, Filip in the B race

Course: starts with a short steep hill (~ 30 seconds) on pavement, a super long descent on singletrack so passing is going to be pretty hard for while after the hill, long flat section of back and forth over barriers, ditches, and serpentine passages of tape back to the start/finish.

The hill doesn't feel so hard the first time up at the pace I would like to go, but then Mike passes me and I realize I need to make myself hurt and pass him back. We keep the group in sight for the next lap but manage to lose them on the next time up the hill. I needed to pass people at this point instead of being satisfied with where we were at. Need to get used to the lung burning feeling, especially since the hill was short and the descent was long.

At this point the only thing I focus on is the race in the race where Mike and I duke it out, sometimes he gains a meter and sometimes I gain a meter. One lap he passes me in the serpentine tape section, then I grit out another attack on the hill and pass him back. This really hurts but in the big picture is a lot less than I normally do for 30 second intervals. Not sure where the sweet spot of repeatability (as opposed to blowing) versus getting close to max ability is. Feel like quitting after Rod says four laps to go, but if Mike can do it, so can I. :)

Anyways, we spot Troy on a singlespeed and follow for a lap and I surge ahead on the climb on the next lap and he and I fight it out side by side on the barrier sections before he tells me to go ahead. Now Mike starts getting closer and closer, and at the same time the B leader laps us and we are down to one lap.

Concentrate on just not making any mistakes and let him get closer until we get to the last pavement section and I surge a bit and pull away from the diesel engine Mike obtained through multiple double centuries over the years. Funny how Mike and I are teammates and manage to end up racing against each other for position in every race!



Pavg:172
Pnorm:221
T:41:00
S:19.6
C:79
H:176

CCCX #1, Prunedale, 23 Sept

Lots of work, little riding so coasting by on fitness from last month.
CTL: 125
TSB: 22
Teammates: Mike S.

The course was changed a bit from past years with the two somewhat steep but very short runup removed so laps were fast and shorter. Usually finish with Mike and Grant from SCCCC so when we started I found Grant's wheel and followed him up the hill the first couple of times. The second time there was a small gap but I didn't think anything of this but we never closed this up. This was Grant's third cross race this week and he was feeling it in his legs and he dropped off a bit afterwards. I felt like I was going hard but the data shows otherwise. Gotta learn to ignore that perceived effort thing and just go till I blow next time. After this, never caught anybody in front of us except for a few stragglers, and Mikey kept the same distance behind me each lap. Loved the new course, just have to push myself harder next time.


T: 43:20
Pavg: 173
Pnorm: 207
S: 21.0 kph
C: 80

Benicia Town Race

CTL: 128
TSB: 8

Last planned road race/crit for my 2007 season so hope to be able to produce something positive today. Plus I don't think I can maintain the current weight with my current diet of ice cream every day for breakfast. New course with a lot of character, technical, hilly with mostly good pavement with a few rough spots. Nice change of pace for a crit and right in the middle of a neighborhood, near downtown Benicia. Feels like cross weather, though, with the overcast skies, fifty degree temperature and brisk winds.

The officials start us off with a neutral lap and we get a whistle for a rolling start on the lap after that. That's a new one for the road, used to doing that on the track only.

The start/finish straight is one half of the road, slightly downhill/uphill/downhill/uphill, and into the wind, so what ends up happening every lap is that it gets strung out, then the momentum runs out and no one wants to be first into the wind so it bunches up, we go into the first corner all bunched up, then it gradually strings out a bit on the slight uphill into turn two, then the course goes vertical, a bit harder than Vacaville, but we have the full road so there is plenty of room to pass, then a small descent, then back up another hill, then turn three where we bunch up again, a small descent, a small rise, then turn four back onto the finish straight. The first four times into turn three I can smell burning brake pads from folks wanting to suck wheel a little too enthusiastically, and usually there are one or two guys who are braking so hard that their handlebars are shaking from the front brake pads grabbing the front rim. I assume there is going to be a crash here, but instead after seven laps, there is a crash about thirty meters in front of turn two, where we bunch up due to the headwind. Two riders make contact a few meters in front of me, and I think about squeezing through to the right, but hesitate, then a rider starts rolling to the right on the ground, taking up that hole, then I think about going up the middle, but then more riders hit the deck in the middle, and soon I am at a complete stop. I was actually still in front of some people but decided to pull out and save it for the next races. That's the bad thing about reg'ing for multiple events, sometimes you just think about saving something for the next event. My legs didn't feel that great at this point, and I thought the race was hard while I was in it, but it really wasn't that hard according to the data, which goes to show me that I should just ignore whatever I'm feeling sometimes...


Cat 4 Race
T: 14:02
Pavg: 190
Pnorm: 232
C: 94
S: 38.5



Lots of familiar faces. One more chance to redeem myself. This feels easier, but the final data shows the race was actually harder! This may be due to having a bigger field where there is more shelter from the wind, but also more people to push the pace.

This time I committed to staying a bit closer to the front, but still could not stay where I wanted to in the top ten. I have little trouble moving up on the hill when I want to, it's just a question of when to do it.

At one point there is a prime and two riders go up the road a bit. Somehow they manage to crash each other out on turn three while in the lead. Then an ambulance shows up for them. This is a bit unnerving, and I don't think I quite mentally got back into it after this, and slide back through the pack.

But the bell works on me like Pavlov's dog, and I start thinking about moving forward after turn one. By turn two I am about thirtieth ( did we drop anybody? these old guys are fit! ), surge up the hill into the top ten. Here I made a tactical blunder and eased up. I should have just kept on going and went for it all the way to the finish. What happened was I thought about the crashes in turn three and near crashes and just bided my time and was only about fifteenth going into the final turn. The eventual winner surged out of the turn, and the fellows behind him hesitated. They were all strung out on the left, so I just went for it up the right. I easily passed four, five, six, seven, eight riders when I noticed there was a photographer standing in the road in front of me at the finish line. I had to ease up off the pedals, and there were seven or eight of us spread across the road at the finish line, and I got about last of the leading group. Since prizes only go three deep, not that upset about the photographer, but geez, hope I am not that oblivious.

Also, I need to not let these races finish in field sprints if my sprint is not my strength...

35+ 4/5
T: 39:33
PAvg: 183
PNorm: 229
C: 97
S: 38.7

Giro di San Francisco

CTL: 132
TSB: -1

I was considering ending the road season but have a ridiculous amount of fitness for me and am really close to upgrading via top tens or points (15 points for the calendar year after some points aged over twelve months this week...), and get to see most of the other familiar faces for this end of season crit (used to be), so I pre-reged for a couple of races.

The course layout at the Giro has the start/finish about 150 meters from the final turn. The first, left turn is a slight descent parallel to some old trolley tracks so it's tight, then there's a right after a short block, then another right with a gradual ascent for one block, then a slightly steeper ascent for one block over a bridge that narrows, making passing difficult sometimes in bigger fields, then three blocks of flat or slightly descending to the next to last turn, a right for a steep downhill but short block, then the final right hand turn. Position at the top of the hill on the last lap pretty much determines within a few places where one finishes in a field sprint because only a few places can be made up or lost due to the descent/two corners/short finish straight. In some ways this is good for me as I am not a sprinter but I can go really hard for two to five minutes. The roads are in pretty rough shape as well to add to the challenge.


35+ 4/5
Field: 75
Teammates: Erik O

Haven't race a flattish crit in a while. Since most of my teammates are in different age groups/categories, the best courses for me by myself are a little hilly, which isn't the Giro! Forgot about the thrills and spills.

The race felt pretty tame for the first few laps and was able to move up easily on the hill. I wanted to try to attack on the hill and see what kind of gap I could get so when the next prime was announced I moved up to fifth wheel, then just jumped hard when the climb got steep. By the next to last corner I could see Eugene/ICCC chasing so I took the last two downhill corners without braking and put in a little sprint on the finish straight to make sure I got the prime and was able to coast across the line. Now if I could only do that on the last lap! The pack was about five seconds back when I was in turn two, when I heard the sound of bikes and riders falling, looked under my arm and saw it was in turn one. Eugene had caught up and I hung onto his wheel up the climb then thought better of trying to stay away, then the announcer said neutralize. So we went kind easy/tempo for three laps while they attended to one of the fallen riders. Then it was game on again.

Rest near the back when one of the riders and I collide after turn two, we took slightly different lines but his handlebars go into mine from behind, I steady and after a bit of wobbling he steadies and we both slow and unlock bars and get back to racing. I use this to make myself start moving up.

I planned to attack on the last lap up the hill so moved into position, but let myself drift a bit too far back. Was in about thirtieth position entering the hill but easily passed about twenty riders. The problem for me was the riders ahead were slowly drifting to the right, and cutting off the virtual passing lane. I was about to burst into the lead, right at the corner when the rider two feet to the left of me took the corner really tight and took me into the curb so I had the choice of braking hard or attempting to jump the curb and I braked. What someone told me afterwards was one of the riders behind me locked it up and a few riders went down, but since it was uphill they were not hurt badly. After braking there was a gap to the first ten riders so I had to sprint on the descent to catch up, got in the draft just before the next to last corner and waited a bit too long to uncork my sprint on the finish straight, was gaining on everyone but only got seventh, too little too late.


Pavg: 192
Pnorm: 238
C: 87
S: 38.8
T: 45:03




4
Field: 75
Teammates: Erik O

OK, after finally being in position for a sprint at this race, what I learned was I need to burn a match *two* laps before the finish to ensure the correct setup for last lap position, so my goal is to attack two laps to go and one lap to go.

This race feels about the same as the first race but more strung out, possibly due to higher winds. Then as I sit in the shelter of Erik's wheel, some riders go down between turns one and two (again!) and one of them is screaming quite loudly. More than anything this is a sign that he is OK, a silent rider would be one that one would worry about. Our race gets neutralized because he's in the middle of the road between turns one and two. So we start riding neutral but it still feels kind of fast to me, just sitting in, we go hard until we get to turn one and we go five miles per hour, then sprint up the hill, that's probably what makes it feel harder than it is. So we get the signal to start racing again after four or five laps, and then we get the signal to stop racing.

Apparently a spectator saw the blood from the downed rider and fainted and fell on his head so an ambulance was called for the spectator. We have to stop and the start and leave room for the EMT's to drive pass on the course. After about twenty minutes we restart with ten laps on the lapcards and a prime a lap. I try to mentally prepare myself - this is going to hurt. The ref says the first lap will be neutral but when the moto pulls off with a 500 meter lead, it's only neutral if we catch the moto... Erik gets a great start and I use him as a carrot. I tell myself I've done track races much harder than this to motivate myself to hang in there when I feel like quitting. Every single time we go into turn one it seems like there is a potential crash or five - we are single file until that corner when we are going so slow that everyone bunches up and there is a lot of close contact and none of us is strong enough to go to the front and keep the pace up. Finally this catches up to us with two laps to go, a few riders make contact, and one starts cartwheel with his bike and the other careens the other direction. Another rider trying to avoid the carnage without braking runs right into Erik and locks bars with him and I see Erik braking hard and I am braking hard to avoid running into him when finally the other guy goes down and this takes Erik's bars out (thankfully at a very slow speed so I am sure he is not hurt badly and this is confirmed after the race). I do my best standing start after forty minutes of racing and chase. The group has about fifty meters now at the bottom of the hill. I pound the pedals and make up twenty meters and keep even for the rest of the lap. The next time out of turn two, another rider rides into my handlebars from behind so we have a side by side tandem for an excruciatingly long time, I can feel him wobbling while I keep it steady and he brakes a bit and we finally disengage. OK, now after that drama, it's last time up the hill, I put everything into it and I make it back to the lead group. Keep up until we get to the start of the descent and I have nothing in the tank. Roll in for a back of the front group finish, with one rider off the front, and my first sixty plus minute crit. Almost threw up after the finish. This made me think it was harder but the data reveals it was only harder for that bridge effort, the total effort was easier than the first race, I just didn't push myself hard enough in the second race to make something positive happen.

Pavg: 175
Pnorm: 231
C: 87
S: 37.1
T: 41:22

San Ardo Road Race, 35+ 4/5 Group A

Field: ~40 riders
TSB: 5
CTL: 129
A couple of teams had pretty big representation, but usually nothing stays away due to the flattish last fifteen miles of the twenty three mile lap. Checked out the finish and it was five hundred feet from the last corner to the finish line with a slight incline, and a much longer incline leading up to the turn. Started the race about as fit as I have ever been so I felt confident. A little too confident as it turns out. Needed a fourth place finish to upgrade to cat 3 or I would have to start earning a lot more points because my points from 2006 would start expiring. Stayed in the top four or five for the first thirty miles, covering moves or leading the group. There are some steep hills but they are very short so non climbers like myself have a chance. As we entered the flat section for the second lap, a small group of a couple was ahead but I figured there's always someone to chase stuff like this down. Started to worry when a few miles past and they seemed to be increasing their lead so I started spending a bit more time on the front to reel them in when a couple of counter attacks went off and two more riders joined the other two ahead making it four, then two more riders went and this made six riders ahead by about thirty seconds. Was a bit stuffed from spending too much time on the front and could not respond yet. When we got to the hilly section on the final lap, and the breakaways were out of sight. At first I was disappointed because it looked unlikely that I would get any upgrade points out of this, but then figured I should just enjoy the ride. Spent a lot of time on the front during the hilly section to try and up the pace, but there were so many teams represented in the break I didn't get much help except from one team.

Finally just drilled it off the front for five minutes and was rewarded by the sight of a couple of the breakaways. The group behind got some motivation from this as well and started closing on me. One rider was off the front and joined me and I was about to rest on his wheel when my left calf just seized up and had to pedal very gingerly for a minute and massage the muscle. The group then caught and dropped me during this muscle spasm. The group reabsorbed the breakaways and now one of the bigger teams in the lead group had some motivation to chase the other breakaways. For a moment felt sorry for myself then gritted my teeth because I was determined to at least finish with this group so I put the hammer down for a couple of minutes and caught them on the next hill.

Now we were racing for fifth place. When we got to the long flattish section, Jay took a break to look behind us and said we dropped half the field by this point. I was scouring the horizon for sign of the break but they were out of sight and had to be at least a mile ahead of us by now. Knowing the distance at this point helps a lot and we had sixty three miles done, and six miles to go. After massaging my calves at the back of the group for a while I went back to the first four or so and waited for the finale, and counted down the miles. Three teams had enough riders left for leadouts, and on the final hill before the turn, Dolce Vita and EMC both were upping the pace signficantly. I had to dig deep to hang onto wheels but pushed through the pain and almost made the stupid mistake and turning onto 101 instead of the finish straight. Made sure to attack hard at the finish turn so I would be passing or on the wheels of the riders in front of me in the final 500 feet. Three riders were ahead of me and I was just able to pass them before the line for fifth place.

After the race I investigated a noise my bike was making since lap one and it turned out that I bent my front rim and the brake was rubbing for most of the race...

T: 3:12:03
D: 112.49 km
S: 35.1 kph
C: 84
Pavg: 171
Pnorm: 213
TSS: 241
W: 1966 kJ

Patterson Pass Road Race 35+ 4/5

CTL: 128
TSB: 7

Wanted to do this race because I had never done it before. The profile sort of resembles 80% of OLH on the first big hill, and the second hill is like Haskins, so in the prior weeks went really hard on OLH and Haskins and set some PRs just to prepare myself for the probably length and intensity of the race effort. Wind is a big factor as the headwind on the big hill kind of neutralizes the strength of the pure climbers.

The race starts out pretty mellow because there are about sixty of us together and the road is narrow. Even though it's uphill from the gun the pace feels easily doable to me, any time I put my nose in the wind, and the effort required chastens me back to the safety of the pack. It only feels hard for the last couple of minutes, we crest the hill and effort turns out to be a bit less than my best efforts on OLH but with really stochastic with lot more short hard efforts interspersed with a lot of freewheeling. The descent is a bit sketchy with the pack intact but it's fairly easy to stay a bit farther back and catch up, then the right hand turn of the base of the second big hill comes up. It hurts to stay on, and I almost lose the pack when I struggle to stay on and realize the crest of the hill we are on is not the final rise, but a friendly voice encourages me and I dig a bit deeper and we catch back onto the group when we cross over 580. A long meandering descent at about 50 mph follows with a couple of short hills and the start/finish.

The next time up the big hill, the womens' 3 field is neutralized to allow us to pass. We still go up the hill fairly easy. Now we are neutralized to let the womens' 3 field pass us. When we get closer to the top, folks are putting the heat on and it's going to be a close call if we catch or don't catch the women's 3 field, and the moto is nowhere to be seen. It would seem unsporting to use them to cause a gap but this is what happens, if I had the legs maybe I would have done it, too. About ten guys catch then pass the women's field at the top of the hill, I am just behind and with the rest of the men we have a very hairy descent where a lot of people are going on the left side of the road into blind corners. We also have trouble passing the women's field due to the narrowness of the road. An oncoming truck narrow misses several of the riders on the left and I ease up to avoid any potentially cartwheeling bikes/riders. This time on the second hill I am with the second group and we are about twenty seconds back. We are going to catch the women's field and the moto neutralizes them for us, but the effort takes so much out of me that my legs don't respond when we hit the next small rise and I have to recover for a bit and the group rides away from me. Not sure if I didn't eat enough or spent too much time over threshold but didn't have any breathing problems, just no legs at this point.

One thing I would do differently in preparation if I do this again is probably intervals on OLH, then 84 to Skyline, then repeat to simulate the effort required for two laps.




Pavg: 180
Pnorm:227
W: 1624
TSS: 210
T: 2:26:21
D: 71.8 km
C: 88
S: 29.4

Fort Ord Road Race E4

TSB: 10
CTL: 127

Did the E4 race instead of the 35+ 4/5 race because the E4 race started around 8:00 and the 35+ 4/5 race started around noon.

Start and finish moved from last year. Last year it was sunny and cool, this year, very cold, foggy, overcast and windy until I left at about 1:00.

A little *excitement* at the start due to the no show of porta potties until five minutes after the P12 start, if you visit Fort Ord any time soon, watch your step!

Just rode with the group until the one big hill, and was caught behind a little crash and crested about 20 seconds back, followed a couple of other guys to get back onto the group by the finish line. Really never felt recovered from this effort and on one of the small rollers to the 180, just could not pedal fast enough to keep up and had to recover for a minute, then started chasing and for the next lap and a half, stayed the same distance back from the pack. Lost it on the fourth lap and started losing ground so packed it in - ended up with a similar effort to last years 35+ 4/5 race. Lasted forty five minutes with the pack, not sure if I didn't eat enough during the race or if I was over threshold for too long on the short sharp hills.

T: 2:27
W: 1573 kJ
Pavg: 178
Pnorm: 223
D: 71.8 km
C:87