Cat's Hill - Race Report from the Newbie

Cat’s Hill:  Finished Unfortunately, most of the bike footage that I took was from tail gunning the race since my gears were skipping the entire time and I couldn’t put any power into the pedals.  

It was so frustrating  especially since I took the bike to the shop just before the race.  But bike stand adjustment doesn’t always equal to working under load.  I was really hoping to help out T Dibbs and Rainer, which is why I kept riding on even though I wanted to throw in the towel since I was so annoyed with the gear chatter.  So were many other riders too,  who were yelling at me to go in the pit.  I didn’t think I would get a free lap, but I was told that if you tell the refs that someone crashed into me and screwed up my derailleur/wheel.  So I rolled in, after getting a wheel from Paul/Hank whom I shouted to on the hill.   But the wheel change did not help, and it sucks stopping after a really hard effort and then jumping back on.  My legs were cramping from then on.  And worse of all, I still kept skipping gears all the way to the finish.  Oi Vey! Oh well, there are plenty of other races.  So   I ate and drank my frustration away at a dinner party.   Good sake and good conversation helps you easily dismiss a bad day on the bike.

-Steve

Mike's Bikes Cat's Hill Classic -- Cat 4

“WE HAVE A FEW MIKE'S BIKES RIDERS IN THE GROUP TODAY!!!”, the announcer’s voice came booming over the PA system as well rolled to the line for the Elite 4 start. And we certainly did. Team racers Daniel Velasco and I were joined by Jason MartelDye (a genuine Mike's Bikes employee from the Sacramento store) for the 38th edition of one of the most celebrated and toughest Crits in Northern California. If you managed to make it out this year, then you know what a party it is. If you have yet to experience it, COME OUT NEXT YEAR!!

Mike's Bikes led this one from beginning to end!!

Going over a bit of pre-race strategy (alone on the trainer in front of the Los Gatos Mike's location, mind you) I knew that a fast start was important for this race. Having done this race before, I knew that moving up on this course was an energy-expensive proposition, and I saw no reason to spend where I didn't need to. Danny and I jumped off the line with Jason in tow and settled into a good rhythm for the first few laps.

Yours truly, paying some attention to the pointy end of things.

While a few riders attempted to jump away from the group, most were content to simply survive until the last few laps and see how things would play out. With 2 to go, the pace picked up (or at least the effort required to maintain the pace did) and the group began to really stretch out on the hill. On the last lap, with legs on FIRE, I caught a glimpse of Danny moving away from the group HARD.

Danny leading the group up the climb, last lap. He wouldn't give that lead up.

Not only did he lead over the climb and get a bit of day-light, but his second push over the roller at the top of the course established a gap that no one would cross. As we bombed the descent onto the start finish straight, I could just catch a glimpse of Danny as he accelerated for the win. WHAT A BOSS!!

While my finish was much less awe inspiring, I love this race!! See you next year!

Pay attention, class, this is how it's DONE!! (Big thanks to Allan from www.focusoncycling.com for this photo!!)

Congrats to Daniel Velasco on an epic win at an epic race!

Party with us at the Marin Bike to Work Day After-Party & Expo

5:30-8pm, join Mike's at the Marin County Bike Coalition Bike to Work Day After-Party at the Marin   Brewing Company in Larkspur (right across from the Ferry Terminal). Anyone who rides with us from either our San Rafael or Sausalito stores at 5:30pm will receive a free beer/beverage token! Hank will be leading the ride from the Mike's Bikes in Sausalito.

At the Marin Brew Co the MCBC, Mike's Bikes, WTB, and Marin Country Market will play hosts to a commute bike bash with an expo demonstrating products and services to make bike-to-work life easier. MCBC will also announce the Commuter of the Year and will have a meet-and-greet with the Bike Locally Challenge participants.

Come on out for fun, friends, beverages, and a celebration of cycle commuting!

Energizer Stations Throughout Northern California:

Click Here!

Team Mike’s Bikes Welcomes Steve Pelaez!

If you have been riding or racing on the Road or at the Track in Northern California, you probably know Steve Pelaez. He is an extremely accomplished rider with over 15 years of racing experience as a multiple elite national medalist, national champ in the madison, and multiple time district champ. Steve used to manage the Lombardi team and has mentored the likes of Daniel Holloway, Eric Riggs, Adam Switters, and Evan Huffman. Now Steve will join the ranks of Team Mike's Bikes as a guest rider to help develop our current riders and roster for the 2012 season.

"I’m really excited to be part of TMB. Having spoken to Hank and Ben, I know that the team has a great core of quality riders and a fantastic sponsor in MB. I’m really looking forward to working with the team and to learn how I can contribute to its success.

I have 2 great kids (7 and 5 yrs. old) who think I’m the fastest rider in the universe but Lance is a close second though. One day, the truth will come out that I’m a lot slower, and it’ll hurt, a lot. I have my own business(web service for business travelers) – This has afforded me the luxury to train and still balance a busy personal life.

As for my strengths on the bike – it’s speed and experience. I really enjoy helping out and would gladly lay it on the line for anyone on the team. As part of being a great team, it’s really important to feel purposeful during a race whether it’s covering breaks, bringing a rider up, leading out, or sprinting for the win. Personally, I find it meaningful when I feel that I contributed in some form to the team’s success. It’s a great feeling."

Steve will be racing at the Mike's Bikes Cat's Hill Classic this weekend with our Cat 1/2 squad.

Welcome to TMB Steve!

Tour of the Gila

First things first, New Mexico is windy. As a teaser, we faced a 30 mph cross wind in the TT with gusts up 50. I look at my week there as karma for ever complaining about wind anywhere else. Second, despite the wind, the Tour of the Gila is a great race. Great roads, nice people and really well run.

Possibly the nicest of the nice people were my host family, Dave and Pat Wasmund. They were accommodating, great conversators, knowledgeable about cycling, and made some fantastic food. That included burgers made from home ground meat and buns made from scratch. I may have gained weight during a five day stage race.

California transplant and former Mike’s Bikes sponsored athlete Justin Laue was also a great host and really made the race possible and enjoyable for me.

Stage One

A break got up the road super early – one of the first things to go when you’re racing solo in a stage race is caring much about early breaks. Guys went off within the first eight miles or so- I figured if they stayed away, they would have earned it. Plus the five Garmin development team guys looked pretty pro, so I figured they’d handle things.

Turned out the break stayed away, at least mostly. We rolled pretty slowly through the long flat windy section and the break built close to a four minute lead at points. A few chase groups got away late, I would have tried to go off with them, but I was taking care of some personal business at the back of the pack.

The breaks and chases had several minutes when we hit the base of the final climb. My only frame of reference for this climb was that I had been told that Levi put 1:30 on the pro field on it last year. So that basically told me nothing.

We hit the first section of the climb pretty hard. I was happy as it looked liked we’d take at least a big chunk of out of the break’s lead by the top. Then the road turned to a false flat down and things all but degraded to a track stand competition. Furious, I turned it on as soon as the road again tilted up. The move shed most of the field and it was down to me and a few guys. Gradually we shed all but one and we started to see riders who had fallen off of the breaks. Then as we passed the two miles to go sign, I blew up. My attack that thinned out the field might have been an ok idea at sea level, but it was a probably a bit much at 6,000 feet. I fell off the one remaining guy from the pack, but did manage to continue gradually reeling guys in from the breaks. Then I got passed back by one more guy from the pack and finished seventh.

Stage Two



Nothing particularly of note here other than a guy who took off on a solo break with about 25 miles to go staying off by about half a bike lengths for the win. As a non-sprinter, it’s always cool to see stuff like that.

I finished 12^th in a field filled largely with other non-sprinters. I remained in 7^th in the GC.

Stage Three: The TT

I pulled my race wheels out of the car – within 30 seconds, they blew over. I put the wheels in my bike, it blew over. Then my trainer tipped. To be fair, the trainer was kind of precariously placed.

Realizing the wind was seriously bad and that all of my non-deep front wheels were back in CA, I decided to sacrifice a little warm up time to try to find someone to lend me a safe front wheel option. I managed to bum a ZIPP 101 from another car in the parking lot and hit the road with a little more confidence, up from none, that I’d be able to keep the rubber side down.

After a fairly rough warm up of getting blown around and probably not eating or drinking nearly enough, I hit the start line for what ended up basically being 40+ min of bike sumo drill on a TT bike. Head-cross wind on the way out, cross-tail on the way back. Respect to the guys who still rode discs, deep front wheels and stayed in their aero bars the whole way back on the long, fairly fast descent back. I certainly wasn’t one of them. For those of you power wonks out there, if you could assign a TSS score for holding the bike upright, I’d say it would be higher than what I generating pedaling.

I ended up 17^th, losing serious time to some guys ahead of me in the GC, but also putting a pretty big gap between me and some of the guys behind me. I fell from 7^th to 8^th in the GC.

All things considered, it was probably good the windiest day ended up being the TT, at least for safety’s sake. But it was still a bit frustrating as the TT was a stage in which I hoped to gain time, not lose it. To be fair, everyone in the Cat 2 field had to deal with bad wind as we started last on the day, about 6 hrs and a 30 mph increase in wind speed after the pros went in the morning. And much respect for the guys who rode their tt rigs fast in those conditions. That’s a real skill and those guys are legit time trialists. I just would have liked to see how I would have stacked up on the course without the huge crosswind gusts.

Stage Four – The Crit

Four corners, down town, a hill, one smooth fast turn.

I ended up spending the better part of the race tail gunning it. I was able to move up decently, but found the back to be surprisingly smoother. Nevertheless, I worried about the safety of hanging out in the back as things heated up in the last lap, so I moved up to the front. Then, ironically, as I sat in fifth wheel, one of the then four guys in front of me hit turn two a bit too hot and took me and a few other guys down with him. No one was badly hurt and we were awarded pack time, so things ended up ok.

Stage Five – The Gila Monster

To put in nor-cal terms, hella climbing.

The group raced fairly hard on some rollers out of town and the intensity continued up through the first mountain pass. Then the memo went out that this was a no-drop race and the field slowed to a crawl through a flat headwind section, allowing just about anyone who had fallen off on a climb to catch back on. Downside – probably could have taken it easier up the climbs. Upside- lots of time to relax, eat, drink, etc on what was going to be a very long day.

On the subject of making a long hard day a bit easier, something in the Cannondale Super Six, Reynolds 46, and Specialized Prevail combo is making me pretty aero. Whenever there was a super straight fast descent section, I was able to tuck and move up alongside the field without effort. I was probably one of the five smallest guys there, so something is pretty aero.

Finally, after we hit feed zone number two and got chased out of a group piss break by the highway patrol, sirens blazing, the group again started to race. Lots of guys tried to get away, none succeeded. Though the field did get a bit guttered and strung out in the process.

Then we hit the final climb and people started to up the tempo. We shed most of the field after a mile or so, then about a mile later I decided to thin it out a little further. But what I intended as a hard pull at the front ended up creating about 10 seconds of daylight between me and the rest of the field. So I committed. I knew I had a ways to go, so I kept things pretty under control, but hard enough to at least make any guys who were going to catch me earn it.

So it was just me, the lead car and a whole lot of cow bell. Ok, it was just the one guy in the lead car with a cow bell, but it was still cool. Then the race motorcycle said told me that my chasers were about 20 seconds back and we were about to get caught by the pro field. Then I saw the 15 miles to go sign. Ooops, may have gone a little early.

I crested the climb and started the rolling down hill section before the course would again kick up to finish. A few miles later, I was caught by three chasers. I hung on, recovered a bit, then started working in their rotation.

Things continued like that for several miles until we hit the 1k to go sign. I attacked, created a gap and threw everything I had into holding on. Then I saw the finish banner, entered the crowd gates, heard more cow bell (this time actually from a decent number of people) and zipped up.

Definitely the coolest thing I’ve ever experienced on a bike. Francisco Mancebo won the pro race a few minutes later.

Check out a great account of the race on one of the top GC guy’s blog: http://theroadtocat1.com/

I’m probably done flying with bikes for a little while, but definitely eager for some more stage racing in the near future.

Auburn Downtown Criterium

Not sure if this race had rollercoaster or Nevada City Classic written all over it more. It had a steep climb that was a few blocks long, a couple turns, a false flat, a couple more turns, then a hairball steep downhill that included a few turns before the finish line. photo by: sacpictures

Racers started jammin' right away, and I started in the back so it took a while to move up as one could pretty much only do it on the climb or the false flat. The climb was hard enough just to survive, let alone move up on. However, move up I did and pop off the front I also did. Tried a lap solo to bridge to the lone leader. That didn't work, as a matter a fact I pretty much didn't go anywhere, and I paid for it for probably ten laps. In which time I missed a break of two Macro Pro dudes, Max Jenkins, and Jesse Moore. Fortunately I found myself in a group of six that, after incessant scolding by Yann, a Safeway racer, got organized and chased hard. There were lots of "pull through!", "we almost got them!", "get off the front!", "let's go guys!", obscenities omitted. Dude really got us going! We got within ten seconds of leaders but no further. Damn that hill hurt.

On the final lap I tried to jump away on the false flat at the top of the course but the Safeway racer came around me on the downhill and got the holeshot. Pretty much impossible to come around someone on the downhill sections or on the short sprint to the finish, just too fast and tight. I finished beside but just aft of him. 6th place.

This one's pretty funny: photo by: sacpictures

Copperopolis Cat. 4s

Remember that bad luck that I mentioned a few posts back….Saturday at Copperopolis was a great chance to really take on a true Northern California classic. Having never raced there before, I read quite a few race reports and spoke to more experienced racers on the squad and I heard over and over again, “The roads are ROUGH!”.

A new member of Mike’s Bikes joined me in the trip out the, Daniel Velasco. Daniel is an extremely focused and determined guy, and is certainly a racer on his way through the categories. It was great to talk to him as we drove out to the race. Unfortunately, I learned that he had a twinge of pain in his knee which he was keeping a very close eye on and, as such, he was not sure about how is race would go. As it turned out, Daniel decided to do the smart thing and pull out of the race soon after the start. I was looking forward to a tough day….and I got it. Half way into the first lap I flatted my rear wheel. As I pulled over to wait for a follow car (running tubbies….no swapping tubes here),Webcor Alan rolled by, having dropped himself due to an injury. An idea sprang to my head and I managed to convince him to wait for the car and allow me to take his wheel.

So, wheel swapped, I took off in pursuit of the pack. I could see the pack on a few of the longer stretches of straight road, which gave me hope. After 30+ minutes up the back side of the course, down the decent (WOOOO HOOOO!!!) and past the start/finish area, I finally caught the group at the base of the main climb, lap 2.

I rode with the group up the climb and was spinning happily along, when I went to shift in a slightly harder gear and I realized that the cassette that Allan had on his wheel was much larger than the 11-23 I had been running (I swear it must have been an 11-28). Long story short, the derailleur jammed and wouldn’t shift down out of the 28, which meant I had to dismount, remove my rear wheel, drop gears, reintall the wheel and get going again.

This left me about a minute or so behind the group. I covered this gap back as well (Thanks to Dan from DFL for the last 100 meters), but caught them right at the base of the 2^nd climb, and was dropped, spent from all my chasing. RACE DAY OVER…I rolled around for the 3^rd and final lap to get the mileage in, but certainly was not contesting anything of importance.

Despite the less-than-stellar result, I will definitely head back out to Copperopolis. That course is one of the best I have ridden. Anyone who wins there really earns it. A big thanks to Allan for the wheel…although we definitely have to talk about running a 28 rear cog. Check out his photos at www.focusoncycling.com

Easter Sunday Classic

Day two of my double race weekend was the Easter Sunday Classic, and my legs felt SIGNIFICANTLY better than at the Mike's Bikes Menlo Park Grand Prix the day before. Menlo Park Grand Prix: photos taken by Gabe Morford

This criterium, as Hank described in an earlier blog post, was an interesting one: the Early Bird Criterium diagonally cut in half. It included two 90 degree turns and two 180 degree turns that were impossible to rally at anything faster than a snail's pace. The accelerations out of the hairpins combined with a lot of wind broke apart the race pretty quick. After thirty minutes of accordion stretching, the peloton began to break apart and the final group was Steve Reaney of Cal Giant, Kirk Carlsen of Garmin Development, Rand Miller of Webcor, Eric Wohlberg of Form Fitness, and me. We rode pretty well together until Rand and Steve got away with a couple laps to go and Kirk, Eric and I were messing around, no one wanting to pull the others to the leaders. With one lap to go, worried about encroaching racers I jumped away and rode the final lap a handful of meters in front of them but got passed on the final drag strip to the finish. 5th place.

-Rainier

Easter Sunday Classic - Team Tactics

After a close 5th place yesterday at Menlo Park and my first race back in months, Keven and I were both anxious to get back out there. With the Mike's Bikes Element car, we drove down to Fremont this afternoon for the Cat 3 race.

The race was on Dumbarton Circle which some of you may know from the Early Bird Training Criteriums. When we arrived we were a little disappointed to see a small number cars and find only seven riders already registered. However as we unloaded the car and changed more cars showed up. While Keven warmed up on the training, I took mine to the streets and did a little course recon. The course was literally the Early Bird Crit cut in half with two 180s. As we lined up the field size had at least doubled but was still pretty small, although there were some legs at the start. With tons of wind, two 180s, and small fields, all the previous races of the day had blown up so I knew it was important to stay towards the front, get out of the wind, and get into an easy gear in the turns, especially with my serious lack of fitness. There were a few attacks early on but the wind and small field was keeping everything together. With such a small field no one wanted to work at the front. Halfway through the race Keven put in a huge dig and attacked. Not sure if he went at the right time or put in such a giant acceleration no one could get on his wheel, but he got daylight.

Watching him dangle off the front, I knew it was time to give him a hand and went to the front. Although his gap was small, I knew it would be easy to give him a gap and make it stick but with 20 minutes left in the race, I knew he would need some company. I went to the front and slightly adjusted the pace where riders wouldn't be able or want to quickly come around me. In the turns I safely decelerated the pace to a crawl and accelerated out quickly again to keep the field behind me. I chased down any solo riders attempting to bridge but as soon as I saw two strong riders fly past me, I let em go and continued to keep pace for the field.

With two less riders and the slow pace of the chasing field, the gap quickly increased and riders began to drop out of the race as it became clear the break was going to stay away. Dan Vigil of Audi recognized this and went on his attack. I knew the gap was too big for a solo bridge and all the other riders in the field were spent from attacks and chasing.

With five laps to go I meshed into what was left of the field to rest up for the field sprint. I sat third coming into the final turn but after sitting in the wind and with my serious lack of lack of fitness, I only managed 3rd or 4th but what I think is a top 10. After rolling over the line, I found out that Keven sprinted for 2nd in the break and picked up 3 marshmallow peep primes. Soon Keven, soon.

Stoked be back training and racing. Will post pictures as they are posted. Video below of the finish.

-Hank

Watch Ryan Almost Kiss the Pavement

Watch Ryan almost kiss the Pavement in the Cat 3 race yesterday at Menlo Park @ 6:05.

Looks to me like the rider in front of Ryan went to accelerate out of the saddle and moved a little too far left too quickly overlapping wheels with Ryan. Protect that front wheel. What do you think?

Awesome bike handling skills Ryan!

-Hank

Menlo Park Grand Prix presented by Mike's Bikes

Jun Seita took some awesome photos of the team during the p/1/2 race yesterday. Have a looks at a few below and click here to see the rest of Jun's photos from the day. Below is a quick recap of the days races from Ben Stern and myself: In short, Menlo Park went great! Both our cat 3 and P/1/2 squads raced aggressively and visibly. We had a great turnout with 9 racers out in total, plus our injured rider Nole came out and supported us all day including helping with some course marshalling duties.

We had a great setup with an MB Car, and two tents. Hank even gave a little talk with the announcer about the Mike's Bikes Africa Project. Kevin (Not-Bricknell) from Palo Alto was there as a neutral wrench to help us with little pre-race tweaks. Nice to have a stand and full tools at a crit!

Hank had a great first race back off the bench from injury in the 3's winning a prime, but unfortunately Paul and him got caught behind a rider washing out in the final turn and were unable to contest the sprint. Ryan had a strong showing in his first 3's race winning 2 primes and finishing 8th. Keven was the star of the day just getting pipped at the line for 5th place.

The P/1/2 racers did a good job being in nearly every move of the day (none stuck long) it was a crazy race, very fast and fun! O'Mara put in a savage 30 minutes of Gila threshold prep work, he looks ready! Shawn, Tyler, Ranier, and I did a good job mixing it up and keeping at least one Mikes jersey at the front of the race all day. Our best chance came with Tyler and Ranier alertly making a move with about 4 laps to go. Unfortunately, their move was reeled in by Steve Reaney, and Shawn and I weren't quite fast enough to get into the pack sprint.

Things are starting to go well with riders getting healthy and starting to come together as a unit. Looking good for the Mike's Bikes Cat's Hill Classic in a few weeks!

MBFY!

Mike's Bikes presents the 6th Annual Menlo Park Grand Prix

 

Tomorrow Team Mike's Bikes will be racing at 6th Annual Menlo Park Grand Prix presented by Mike's Bikes. The team will be there in full with a Mike's Element, Tent, and neutral mechanic. Stop by to say hi, cheer us on in the races, and watch us present awards for the women's races. Look for our riders in the early morning Cat 3 and afternoon P/1/2 fields:

P/1/2 Rainier Schaefer

P/1/2 Benjamin Stern

P/1/2 Shawn Rosenthal

P/1/2 Stephen O'Mara

P/1/2 Tyler Dibble

Cat 3 Ryan Johnson

Cat 3 Paul Ngo

Cat 3 Henry Scholz

Cat 3 Keven Bricknell

See you there!

The Tour of Gila Live!

It looks like VeloNews has decided to show the fifth best stage (of five) of The Tour of Gila live online. All hating on crits aside, this is very cool as it looks like the site is going to show most, if not all, of the amateur races.

As for my plan, I get excited about crits after I win one and that hasn’t happened in a few years now. It will be interesting to see how it plays out given the crit comes on Saturday April 30, three very hilly days into the race, and the day prior to the queen stage featuring the infamous Gila Monster. You can watch the crits here.

-Steve

Why Rainier loves his Specialized Prevail...

...even if this happened while he was adjusting it.

Chico Stage Race

After feeling pretty good on the TT bike at Davis last week, I called an audible Thursday and decided to do the Chico Stage Race on Saturday. I’m pretty sure that’s a best practice in race selection and preparation. Nevertheless, I was excited. Saturday - Stage 1. 90 Mile Paskenta Road Race – Mostly flat 45 mile loop with a few rollers. Decent pavement most of the way save a short bumpy section followed by 4 miles on gravel.

Having not done a road race in about seven months, never ridden on gravel, and with a shortened base due to a winter injury, my goal was to survive. The race started off with a bunch of attempted breakaways until one finally made it off about 1/3 of the way through the first lap. WebCor hit the front to chase; I, showing my lack of recent racing or goodwill, decided to help some. The chase fizzled after 15 minutes or so and the group cruised until we hit the gravel.

And that’s when the race really started. A few guys hit it hard at the front while the rest of us struggled just to keep our bikes upright. Save a narrow hole-shot, the gravel was pretty deep through several sections. About half-to-two-thirds of the guys, including me, fell a decent amount off the leaders. Fortunately, I managed to keep things rubber side down and bridge back up once I had my bearing for the terrain.

Consider the Cannondale Super Six battle tested. As was the wrenching of the excellent mechanic team at San Rafael Mike’s Bikes.

We caught the break shortly after the gravel and the 14 or so of us stuck together for most of the next lap. After being traumatized by the gravel on the first go-around, I was determined to hit it from the front the second time through. So I spent most of lap 2 at or near the front, then somehow managed to fall off just as we hit the gravel. Again, still dusting the cobwebs off the racing skills and tactics this year. And trying to build some new ones.

The gravel was tough again. I fell off a bit, but was able to bridge back on the hill following the gravel. Two guys who had snuck off a bit before the gravel were still off. I accelerated a bit as we hit the last roller before the finish, which then incited some attacks that popped me off the back.

I finished 12th, about 15 seconds off the group I had been with, though comfortably ahead of the chunk of the field that we shed on lap one.

Sunday – TT Flat out and back – nice pavement, decent amount of headwind on the way out. We started in one minute intervals and I was neither passed nor caught. I estimated that I held my minute exactly on the guy who started in front of me. That turned out to be true. We finished with the exact same time for the TT, had been awarded the same time for RR (he was with me when he had a mechanical in the last 3k) and would go on to get the same time for the crit. In the Cat 2 GC (pulled separately), he took 1st and I took 2nd, so I’m guessing he must have taken me by a fraction of a second in the TT.

Crit – Downtown course, hella corners, one stretch of drunk girls standing in front of some bars. I took care of the back of the race and tailgunned it for 70 min. Great workout, but I’m going to have to work on my skills there a bit. Pack Time. I’ve enjoyed crits in the past, but having only done one in the past 2 yrs, shockingly, I’m a bit rusty and currently hate them.

Overall- I was very impressed with the promoters and the race. Very friendly staff and volunteers who were all knowledgeable about cycling generally and the race specifically.

9th GC in the P 1-2 Field. 2nd in the Cat 2 field pulled separately.

Team Mike's Bikes Welcomes Daniel Velasco!

After loosing Nole Studley and Maurice Monge to injury for what is looking like the end of the 2011 season, Team Mike's Bikes welcomes Cat 4 phenom Daniel Velasco to its squad.

"This is my first year racing officially. I started racing cyclocross this past season. I raced two B's races and decided after those to make the move to the A's. It was a lot of fun and racing with the fast guys really helped me improve more quickly. My first road race was San Bruno and after that I took advantage of the Early Bird Crits/Clinics to get the points I needed for my upgrade. I raced my first 4's race last Saturday in Monterey (Central Coast Circuit)."

Daniel placed 1st in his category at the 2011 San Bruno Hill Climb with the third fastest time of day 15:50.3 only being beat by Nate Enlgish of yahoo! and Chris Phipps of Iron Data/Thirsty Bear. He then went on to complete the early birds and place 2nd at the Early Bird Criterium getting his upgrade to Cat 4. At his first Cat 4 race, a Central Coast Circuit Race, Daniel placed 1st and got 2nd this past weekend at the Santa Cruz Classic Criterium.

"My main goal is to continue developing my fitness as best I can. I am looking into learning more about how best to train and get the most out of cycling. I want to be riding hard and racing well but I want to be smart and take my time as needed. My goal has been to upgrade to category 2 this season but gaining experience and racing/riding smart are my first priorities."

Daniel will be racing at Copperopolis this weekend in the Category 4 with John Becker. Watch out for those giants!

Weekend Report From Down South

I had been looking forward to Sea Otter for a couple years now: two years ago when I was a 5 and almost did well, and last year when I had to skip out due to a head injury.

Sea Otter Road Race

I'm no hill climber anymore, up about 15 pounds since the beginning of last year, and I was a little nervous when I refreshed myself on the course profile.  Fortunately, up the first short climb, I could feel the magic legs.  Thanks, Shawn!  I hung out for most of the race, watching attacks to and get brought back.  However, something pretty cool and very unexpected happened to me midway through the race: my descending balls dropped again!  I had been trickling down hills ever since my lame crash at team camp, but all of a sudden, without following wheels or anything, I could carve a super tight line down a hill and open up gaps behind me.  Sweetness!

On the first climb with two laps to go, some tall skinny guy went for it.  The whittled pack let him ride; I had no idea the dude had won the crit with a solo move the day prior, but most of the field did.  Before I knew it, he had a one minute gap.  By the start of the second lap, he had two minutes.  Yikes.  We had been chasing since the first time gap was relayed to us, but apparently our efforts weren't working.  I held up and sat in, figuring it was now a race for second.

For those who haven't done this race before: you're lead out neutral down a two mile descent from the race track to the course...a nervous foreshadowing, as that descent is the finishing climb.  We hit the bottom, and, despite my cramping legs (it was hawt out) I felt solid.  I'm a diesel up a hill, so I decided that I'd be better of setting my own pace.  Channelling past suffering up Old la Honda, I went into robot mode and ended up shedding all but a few.  With about 500k to go, I saw the lone leader wobbling back and forth! With 200k to go, someone opened it up, we all hit it, and I managed to hold on to third.  Enough upgrade points in the bag, I was set to become a 3.  Sweet!

Circuit Race

This course rules.  After almost getting taken out twice on the first descent of the corkscrew, I flew the coop and ended up all by myself coming into the second lap.  Pretty foolish, but I thought I might as well go for the glory given I had my upgrade already.  I stayed away until the penultimate lap, where the counterattack went and I just barely missed it.  I recovered and won the field sprint handily for 5th.

Santa Cruz Criterium

Another sweet, sweet, technical course that wasn't flat.  Awesome.  I planned to work for Daniel Velasco and help him get some points, and we found ourselves off the front soon after the race began.  Unfortunately, our group grew to 5 and that was the end of it.  Tough to work with a big group on that course.  Bell lap came around and I told Daniel that I'd give him a monster leadout from the downhill.  Things almost went to plan, I strung it out and Daniel and he went a touch to early but still managed 2nd.

Santa Cruz Classic Criterium

Flying solo for Mike's Bikes against a stacked field of Cal Giant and Specialized, then add to it 39 laps and a hill and I will honestly say I was a little intimidated.

The "plan" was to be near the front and wait a dozen laps or so before attempting to get into a move. Low and behold that plan did not work as before I knew it there was a breakaway with fifteen or more seconds. How did I not see them go? Anyway, they were up there, and I was back here and Cal Giant was definitely not letting anyone bridge. I tried to sneak away around the hairpin and up the climb but all moves by anyone were pegged by a Cal Giant racer. A little frustrated I waited for the bunch sprint, the break was gone for good. On the bell lap I was in the first handful of racers going into the hairpin. World Champion Larry Nolan took a big pull coming out of it and through the soft chicanes toward the hill. Steve Reaney took off on the hill, everyone followed, I jostled then started sprinting.  Halfway through my sprint I thought: wow these Reynolds Forty Six wheels are fast!  They just kept spinning faster and faster (it was my first time using carbon wheels).  I kept sprinting, got held up by a fading racer, but slide by a few more. Kept sprinting. Managed to hold everyone but the breakaway of four and the National Elite Criterium Champ, Steve Reaney. 6th Place.

-Rainier

Turlock RR 2011 E4 Report

While many of the Central Valley destinations offered up by the long NorCal road bike racing season are, perhaps, less than picturesque, the same cannot be said for this weekend’s inaugural Turlock Road Race. The race course was situated as a clockwise circuit of the Turlock Lake, lapped twice for the Cat 4 field for a distance near 55 miles. From the start finish area, we were treated to a beautiful view of the lake and the brutally rolling course offered a wonderful change of pace from office park crits that are so easy to get to, but really leave a little something to be desired.

I arrived for my noon start in Turlock looking to shake things up a bit. My training has been going well, but a few spells of bad luck have left me

a little short on results. I hadn’t seen the course before, but I got a bit of a course recon report from fellow Mike’s Bikes racer, Paul Ngo, who had raced the 3s race early in the morning. Paul’s report of a lot of fast short rollers turned out to be an accurate picture.

The 4s race rolled out with around 75 riders with some fairly well staffed teams in attendance. Davis, Rio Strada, and San Jose had all brought at least 5 guys a piece, and, being alone, I had found a few friends in the staging area who were also short on teammates for the day. Immediately from the gate, the course has a fair bit of false flat descending, with a few mild rollers. Upon turning onto Los Cerritos, the real rollers start to show themselves and as the circumnavigation of the lake continues, the rollers from Snelling RR, and a very difficult set unique to Turlock combine forces to make for a very difficult lap of racing.

After rolling along near the front of the group with a few attempts to get a group to go up the road (one particularly vicious attack on a roller familiar to those who have raced Snelling punched a pretty big hole in the pack’s moral, if not the pack itself), I settled into the pack for the last half lap before putting myself out in the wind a bit to move back to front of the group in the closing 5k. With about 1.5k to go, the pace picked up a bit and the jostling for position began. With 1k to go a line began to form on the left side of the road, which a thought was odd given that the last bend was a very slight right hander. I stayed to the right and positioned myself behind a Daniel Stevens (a friend of the team) and when Oliver W. from Rio Strada let loose with about 200 to go and Daniel didn’t respond I screamed at him to jump and then went around him in an attempt to chase Oliver down. Unfortunately I ran out of road, but rolled across for 2^nd place.

Check out the video below for the final few kilometers. I’m the enormous guy in the Mike’s kit on the beautiful Cannondale SuperSix, Daniel is also on a SuperSix in a green/white SB kit and Oliver is in the dark kit with the white compression socks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWitLKKgOQY

All in all, I’m pumped about my first podium of the year. I can’t wait to unleash the full force of the Team Mike’s Bikes 4s (all 2 of us) on Copperopolis in 2 weeks!! MBFY!!

(Sorry about being so tall....it looks pretty silly doesn't it?)

-John

Apple Pit Criterium

I was finally able to sneak out for a bike race this Sunday and figured the Apple Pit Criterium in Santa Rosa would be a great low key event.  Well, it was great, but with 125 riders in the field it wasn't exactly low key.  It was a P/1/2/3 race and at 90 minutes long, the wind picking up and a motivated field, the race was sure to be fun. From the gun, riders were attacking like crazy, but nothing was really sticking.  Webcore  Alto Velo had the largest team in the race and they were racing very aggressively.  Moves would go and dangle, but nothing would get more than 10 seconds before coming back quickly.  I went with several moves and even attacked at what felt like the right time, got the right combination of riders (Cal Giant, Webcore, Clif. . . everyone with a teammate that would be happy to let us go) but nothing stuck.

However, at about the 50 minute mark, it was clear that the field was getting tired.  The front of the race was a long line of single file riders, all fighting hard for position.  Moves would lob of the front, stringing the field out more and more.  Shortly thereafter, I went with a move that contained several Webcore riders, a Cal Giant rider and a few others.  We worked and got a gap, with riders stickling onto the back from the field.

All of the sudden, our "breakaway" has 30 guys in it and the field sat up.  Hmm. . . awkward.  The race is almost over.  There are all of the strong riders and teams represented.  What now?  If we continue to race aggressively, something might stick out of this group. But there are a lot of guys with team mates sitting in waiting for a sprint, making a sprint likely. After some deliberation, I decided just to sit and wait.  Cal Giant soon made it clear they were working for a sprint (though they were yelling at everyone else who was waiting for the sprint).  Webcore was trying desperately for a break to stick from that group, but after being the most active team all day they didn't seem to have the juice left to make it work.

Going into the last few laps, I got good position on the wheel of Steve Reaney (Cal Giant) and waited.  Patrick Briggs (Yahoo!) jumped early and got a gap, but Jared (Cal Giant) hit it before the last corner with Steve and me on his wheel. I launched my sprint with ~200 meters to go, almost plowing into the back of Jared as he came backwards.  Reaney dusted me, but I still managed to get Briggs and Jared for second place.

It was a great race and tons of fun, just the kind of race to make you realize how lucky you are to be able to race your bike.

Unfortunately, Apple Pie's only went to the winner. . . got to work on that for next year.