Team Mates

Last Friday I was riding up Happy Valley Road (I call it Angry Valley) towards Lafayette. I flatted and was having a hell of a time getting the rear tire off the DT Swiss rim. It was not pretty. All of the sudden a white car comes racing down the hill towards me and stops. I was waiting for some inappropriate language and was not disappointed, it was Ken giving me a bad time. He was a real savior; he ripped the tire off the rim with his bare hands and then put a new tube in and got the tire back on! I had been trying to use a skewer to do it! That was real teamwork and I really appreciate it. I will do the same when the time comes. Of course the tire flatted again about 4 miles later and I had to use two skewers to get it off the rim; my follow vehicle never showed up! Thanks again Ken!

Mentor Profile: Rob Anderson

1. Place in your first race?
[Rob Anderson] It was a long time ago so my memory may be suspect but I think it was 58th place at a NORBA National in Mammoth in the late 1980's.

2. Ride alone or with friends?
[Rob Anderson] Always with friends!

3. Favorite subject in school?
[Rob Anderson] In grade school through high school it was PE. At University it was a finance class with a professor who later mentored me in the business world.

4. First bike ever?
[Rob Anderson] I think it was something like a Schwinn cruiser when I was about 8 years old.

5. Favorite post race meal?
[Rob Anderson] One of my wife's superb pasta dishes. I usually crave protein so it will likely include some seasoned tofu product.

6. Race you are most proud of and why?
[Rob Anderson] Winning the World Mountain Biking Championship in 2006 and not for the reason that might seem most obvious. What made me most proud was that my whole family was there to cheer me on and celebrate it with me. My mother, brothers, nieces, nephews and in-laws were there, but more importantly, my wife and daughters were at the finish line when I was the first to cross it.

7. Boxers or briefs?
[Rob Anderson] Have never worn boxers so it's briefs

8. What sport would you do if you weren't a cyclist?
[Rob Anderson] The injuries in hockey forced me off the ice otherwise I probably would never have taken up the sport of cycling. So if it wasn't cycling, I would still be playing hockey.

9. Biggest accomplishment ever?
[Rob Anderson] This one is real easy. I have two daughters, ages 12 and 9. They are kind, caring, loving, healthy and happy. I assume my wife and I contributed at least in some part to these characteristics and is therefore my biggest accomplishment ever.

10. Real food or the other stuff on rides?
[Rob Anderson] I am perhaps an anomaly on this front as I don't eat on rides (although I do when I race) only drink water. During races I eat energy blocks and drink energy drinks as opposed to real food like fruit or juices.

11. Razor, waxing, or electric?
[Rob Anderson] Hey, I am a old mountain biker so never have and never will shave my legs.

12. Green, polka dots, or the stage 20 TT?
[Rob Anderson] Climbing seems to be what I do best so definitely polka dots.

13. Celebrity you resemble the most?
[Rob Anderson] I've been told I look a little like Baryshinikov.

14. First job ever?
[Rob Anderson] When I was 11 years old I had a paper route, I was a paper boy.

15. Single most important piece of advice you give to your kids?
[Rob Anderson] Be a good person and be honest.

Turkey Day Ride

Every year in Marin there is an annual Thanksgiving mountain bike ride. This ride is known as the Turkey Day ride. It starts at a coffee shop in Fairfax, where the riders immediately start ascending up a long hill, go around a loop full of more hills, single-track, rocky sections, and winding hills -- Basically everything you can ask from a mountain bike ride. Given that this isn’t an organized ride, every rider has their own idea of what the actual loop is. There gets to a point in the ride where people start heading in different directions based on their preference and where they need to finish. 
 
One would think that this ride is small, given that it isn’t organized nor is there a planned start time. There isn’t even a designated route. However, it’s really quite the opposite. Not hundreds, but thousands of people show up for the event and it seems as if every rider in Marin is out on the trail. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen a trail so full of bikes before. More amazing than the amount of riders that show up, is the variety of the riders. At any given time you might see a serious road racer that’s flying up a hill, or you might see a 70-year-old on a single speed that’s going even faster. On your left could be a soccer mom that only rides three times a year, and on your right could be a 10-year-old kid. Some people are on 29 inch wheels, while others are on cyclecross bikes. There was even a guy dressed in a turkey costume!
 
My favorite aspect of the ride is the comradeship that all the riders and volunteers share. No one dares to poach on this ride, and sheriffs help pass out food and water to the riders. There are also volunteers that stand at the top of the hills to cheer people on and pass out food. Since there are so many people that come out, there is almost a 100% chance that you will run into some one that you know. For the most part, everybody gets along. 
For me, the Turkey Day ride was more then I had hoped. I rode for half the day with Tyler Brandt, a cyclist I’ve known for years. After riding through Fairfax, we rode all the way to the top of Mt. Tam, then down to my house in Mill Valley where Thanksgiving dinner awaited me.

Davis Bentley

Nov. 4 Junior Ride

Today we had a junior ride at Joel's house. We did Old Lahonda then West on 84 to Alpine an back to Joel's house. After the ride we had a BBQ. We had a great time. All the juniors were there and some of the masters including Larry, Wyatt, Dylan, Fred, Steve. It was a great ride for meeting the new juniors on this year's roster.

Tour of Marin

All of us who went to the Tour of Marin on Sunday had a great time. Davis Phinny and Levi were there. The group of riders was enormous. Here are some pictures from the ride.

Welcome to Katoomba!!

Nice place they've got here! Down in Australia for Masters Track Worlds, I'm staying in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney doing my race prep, which involves riding, sleeping, riding again, eating, and sleeping. Not a quarter kilometer of flat roads here for easy rides. Met some local guys yesterday for the most extensive sprint session I've ever done, probably 10 hard hill sprints in an hour. Don't tell Harvey.

Elite Track Nationals, Day 2

or, "How Not to Ride Pursuit, Lesson 14"

1. Get really amped up during the interminable wait for your start.
--Also, be cranky and obnoxious, if at all possible. Coffee helps.
2. While amped up, ride the first kilo 2.5 seconds faster than last time.
3. Scream "I am superman", thinking you are on a winning pace.
4. Realize that bar of kryptonite is hiding in your skinsuit.
5. Drool on aero bars.
6. Ride your noodle-legs the last 3 kilos at a painfully slow pace.
7. Blame your coach and mechanic for your own error in judgment.

Try it. It worked for me! 13th place out of 41.

Elite Track Nationals, Day 1

Team Pursuit for Mick, with Tom Fahey, Brian Peterson & Roger Rilling. We have spent months practicing for this, including a weekend with Roger Young at the LA Velodrome. Today was the real thing, and we exceeded our own expectations, with a 5th place finish in 4:37 (which would have gotten us 3rd place last year, by the way). Our technique was pretty outstanding, until we made a final kilometer bobble. Brian pulled off a heroic effort to pull us back together, and Roger drilled it for the last 1 1/2 laps to bring it home. Fortunately the podium went five deep!

Individual pursuit tomorrow.

Peace Race Tales of the Czech Republic

12 Hour drive then when we got to Litomerice in the Czech Republic everything was closed so wehad a granola bar each for dinner. 

Tuesday:
Spin for about 90min through Litomerice in the rain.

Stage 1:

It was a 17k loop followed by 8 10k loops within the town. The larger loop was nothing big and nothing really got away I was just chillin at the front
of the group the entire time. There were two cobbled sections on the smaller loop and the first time through the second section was when my seatpost
busted and the saddle's nose went almost completely down. The small loop had about 10 corners, two downhills, a complete 180 degree turn, one flat
cobbled section and another cobbled climb. With 20k to go in the race the peloton got way to bunched up in one of the corners and the guy next to me
took me out. I got immediately back on my bike and started chasing, but somehow my rear tire was flat and the neutral support vehicle was across the
street where the entire caravan was driving. It took them about 45seconds to get to me and another 40seconds to change the wheel which my gears did not
work with. I spent the last 20k chasing off the back alone and in the rain.  Grant and Joey both went down on the flat cobbled section after it rained a little bit.  

Stage 2:

1800 feet of climbing over three KOMs. The first hill I stayed with the main group and we caught the leaders on the downhill. The second hill I was
gapped a little off the back of the main group and the third mountain was when I was shelled out of the back of the main group and could not chase
back on. After the third climb it was 25km to the finish which I did mainly alone, but caught one guy who I worked with to the finish. Grant crashed and
had to get a his bike replaced, but he eventually worked his way up.  Everyone else stayed up that day. 

Stage 3a:

12km with one medium sized hill climb. My legs were starting to feel better that day and I felt like I could put down a good TT. They started us at 1min intervals and I was third to go. With about 4km to go in the TT I caught my
one minute man and by the finish I was about 400m away from my two minute
man. I got 67th and the best placed guy on the team got 8th.  

Stage 3b: 

My legs still felt really good from the morning TT and I was looking forward
to the RR. I was waiting around the roll out about 20min from the start
waiting for them to do roll out and with about 10min to go everyone made a
mad dash to the start line and there was no roll out. I got stuck in the
back of the pack at the start and starting moving up the pack immediately
when at about 2km into the race there was a big crash that I went down in. I
got back up immediately and yanked the bike free from the pile up and
started to chase back on. The crash happened because the police did not
completely pull a semi off the road and the road went from two lanes plus to
3/4 of a lane instantly. Needless to say there definitely was not enough
room for everyone on the road and the guy two ahead of me went down and I
just kind of rolled over the top of him and hit the ground with no damage. I
spent the rest of the race chasing back on and eventually caught a group of
about 30 guys that had two of my teammates in it. When I caught the group Grant had just attacked on one
of the smaller climbs and gotten away. Then with about 10km to the finish my
team mate Zach and I rolled away on one of the climbs and just went with it.
We took one other guy with us and we worked nicely together until about 1km
to go when Zach and I attacked the dude we were with. The group of thirty
finished a little ways behind us.  

Stage 4:

This was one the decisive day. It was one 20km climb followed immediately by
a 4km climb with the course crossing into Germany at about 50km in. I got
shelled with 2km to go in the big climb and couldn't really rail the
downhill since it was pouring rain. I caught a group of 8 guys who were
intent on just pedalling easily to the finish. I attacked this group on the
second climb and got really far away from them. When on a flat section they
all pulled up along side me drafting off one of the follow cars which
needless to say made me very angry. I hopped on the back of this group which
had one of my teammates in it. I was on the back of the line when the guy in
the middle of the line couldn't take the pace anymore and just popped
leaving Joey (my teammate) and I screwed over behind him. I jumped around
but couldn't close the gap down to the car. I was so pissed at the guy that
I attacked him and did a solo 60km TT to the finish. BTW the course profile
says flat but it was not even close to flat. Near the finish I keep getting offers to stop and drink some
beer with those watching the race which put me into a much lighter mood and
I  laughed about it after the finish. We ate lunch in Germany and it was
really gorgeous out. One guy Polish guy broke his leg on the downhill. 

Stage 5:

101km long with with four 300m climbs and four 200m climbs to make a total
of 6000feet of vertical. My legs were dead from the day before and I lost
contact with the group over the third climb. Before the race the Team
Director told us if we weren't with the main group at 50km to go then we
should find Alex (sogneiur) and pull out of the race to get ready for the 12
car ride home. I pulled out at the fourth climb where Alex was and got to
laugh at those who came up the climb. I rode with one of the guys on the
German track worlds team and just enjoyed the beautiful day. I also snapped
some photos of the concentration camp in Terenice. Overall, two guys
finished and the top place guy was in 24th. (The ride home is a story onto
itself.)

2007 Jr Road Nationals

Junior Road Nationals 2007

Ben Barsi-Rhyne 17-18

Time Trial: The equipment I was using was a 2006 Trek TT bike with a Zipp rear disc and Hed-3 tri-spoke front wheel. My time was 27.29. The time trial started with the usual hour long warm up which was pretty uneventful I talked with some of the guys I spent time with in Europe. I was excited for the time trial because it would be the first time I would be riding my new TT bike and a disc not to mention the front tri-spoke. I was chasing Danny Summerhill which was good for me and ended up in 34^th place. I think I could have gone much faster because my cranks locked up trying to accelerate out the first turn around. My pedals also locked up a few more times throughout the race causing a loss of about a minute (would have put me in the top 10). Overall it made me excited to do time trials and wanting to work on that in the off season.

Road Race: The equipment I was using was a 2007 Trek 5.5 Madone with Cane Creek Aros 58 carbon wheels. The race was a very hilly course and was either up or down. There was a large crash supposedly involving upwards of 70 people including Justin Williams (deep lacerations to leg), David Talbot (broken collar bone), Alex Wick (broken collar bone), as well Andy Goessling (lacerations to face and danger of losing an eye). I was dropped on the last climb of the final circuit before the group reached the final stretch. I finished 67^th place soft pedaling the last 12 or so miles to save my legs for the upcoming week long stage race in Quebec. Still feeling kind of burnt from my stint in Europe.

SoCal Elite Track Champs: Read It & Weep. Really.

Sometimes the margin between victory and ..... , well whatever 2nd place is, is so small. Yet it has such a profound effect on one's psyche. Roger is an outstanding pursuit rider, and certainly deserved his win. He was 4th at Elite Nats last year, and it is great just to be this close to him. However, both of us need to do a lot better at 2007 Elite Nats in 2 weeks!

Photo credits go to Rob Evans. And congrats to Shelley Olds!

Out Witted and Out Gunned in Benicia

For various reasons I showed up in Benicia to race in the 45+ race only. With only one race for the day I was ready to cause some damage. Or so I thought.

The first hiccup was that Don Langley of Morgan Stanley showed up. The problem is that he's strong enough to at least follow most all attacks and then he'll smoke you in the sprint. The second hiccup was that after only a few laps the group split and I found myself in the front group of about 12. You'd think that was good and it might have been except that I was outnumbered 4 to 1 by Morgan Stanley.

Next (and this is the outwitted part) Dan Smith took off with over half of our 45 minutes still to go. Solo. On a windy course. Everybody knows that isn't going to stick. Which is of course exactly what happened. With our small group everybody wanted to attack and bridge across (myself included), but there weren't enough of us to attack repeatedly which would bring Dan back. So, I'd go and get caught a half lap later. Then after a lap of going slow, somebody else would go and get caught. Then slow. Then attack. You get the idea. Morgan Stanley was in the catbird seat. They had a guy up the road and they were thinking. "Sure. Go ahead and chase him down, then Don will win the sprint." I made a number of attacks but none of them were strong enough to open up a gap. One or two guys would always get on and we'd get caught in a half of a lap. (The out gunned part.)

At around 5 to go Mac Thompson of Team Spine attacked. I decided to let him go. I'll show those MS riders by letting somebody else beat me! :-) Seriously, I had to gamble. Chasing Mac wasn't going to help my placing. I could only hope that somebody else would take charge. But that didn't happen. Finally, on the last lap Chris Black of Morgan Stanley attacked on the hill and once again we flinched as nobody wanted to kill themselves right before the sprint. So we sprinted for 4th and guess who won the field sprint. Don of course. I was able to salvage something by placing 5th behind Don.

All in all though it was a fun race. It was a good, new course and it's nice to do a race that is only 20 minutes from my house.

I miss Larry too!

More track

P.S. I miss Larry

Schooled!!

District Elite Track Championships this last weekend.

I thought I knew what fast was. Look like I will have to repeat kindergarten. In individual pursuit (4k) I rode a decent time of 4:57. Not spectacular, but solid. Then Roman Kilun rolled up a very nice 4:53. While Roman and I rolled around the infield, Ben Jacques-Maynes put down a blistering 4:41. This dude belongs in Beijing Velodrome, August 2008. No kidding, he's the real thing. If you see him, be sure to remind him of that.

In team pursuit, the "Dangerous Camels" (Brian Peterson, Tom Fahey, Michael Hutchinson and me) rolled up a nice 4:51, with a few bobbles here and there, and came second to Ben's team.

I love track. SoCal next weekend.

Masters Track Nats: Parting Comments

1. Watching Rich Meeker and Larry Nolan tactically pick apart the 45+ points race was incredible. Rich gets in a 5-man break with Shawn Wallace, plays it conservatively in the chase for early points. Larry bridges across to the break. Rich attacks the break, while Larry goes to the front to block. Rich rides between the break and the back of the field, rolling up sprint points. Then Rich closes down the gap with the field, getting 20 more points and securing his win. Amazing.
2. Larry, with a dislocated shoulder, mounting his bike for the Team Pursuit start with Rich and others and riding the mandatory 1/2 lap so that the team is not DQ'ed. Courage defined.
   
3. Rich and teammates riding to silver in Team Pursuit with only 3 riders. Tenacity and heart. Photo above is Rich et al.
   

No Longer a Stars & Stripes Virgin!

Larry's positive thoughts flowed through the aether, and helped me overcome some wicked jet lag and race burnout to win the 45+ 3k Pursuit today at Masters Track Nationals, and to set fast time for all the 40+ 3k riders (30+ ride tomorrow). Thanks, Larry, and everyone else who was thinking positive thoughts!

Two false starts ramped the tension and anxiety before we even got underway (my opponent pulled a wheel, and I struggled with my bike holder). We finally got a clean start, and I rode my usual slow start lap, then ramped my pace up to a nice steady 23.5-23.8 seconds per lap. My recent 2nd place at Masters Worlds TT by 6 seconds was very much on my mind. By 5 laps to go I was literally cross-eyed with oxygen-debt, but held the pace to the end. Time was 3:41.1, which is not my fastest at 3k, but everyone said it was a slow day. Then I sat to wait for 9 more heats to see if I could hang on to 1st. My pulse was probably about 125 bpm just sitting on a bench watching the final heat!

So my 1st Stars & Bars!! Thanks are owed to so many, but Harvey Nitz got me started in this timed event stuff and has brought me a long way. Rob Spear has been such a reliable wrench, gluing tires at midnight, humping all the equipment into the infield at the crack of dawn. Sabrina puts up with more of this racing stuff than is reasonable, always has a kind thing to say when I don't make the podium, and cheers loudest of all when I'm on my game. And Rob Anderson, my reliable training partner, whose dedication is inspirational.

Next up: Team Pursuit on Friday in the 30+ division.

Worlds TT or The Gravel Patch, St. Johan Style

We came, we saw, we didn't win... Cutting to the chase.

45-49
Mick was 2nd in 25:14 I believe. I was 6th in 25:40. The winner rode 25:08. Mick was faster than Thurlow's winning time from last year, but unfortunately not quite fast enough. I was happy with my ride, but not quite as happy with the placing. I think I gave everything I could have and didn't make any mistakes, but just didn't have as much to give as the five guys in front of me. I knew that since I started 10th that I needed to take the lead when I finished if I was to have any chance of a medal, but was only 2nd at that time. At that point I knew I most likely would get bumped out of the medals and that's what happened. What can you do. You ride hard and either you win or you don't. It was a fabulous experience and the TT course is spectacular.

Mick was the highest placing 45 year old from last year so he started last. Mick looked good coming in and based on the clock we though he was going to win, but alas it was not to be. Still, it was a hell of a ride and from talking to him, he didn't leave anything out there on the road.

Podium shot.




50-54
Rob rode a low 26 minute time for 12th place after finishing 3rd in the World Master's MTB championships last week in France. (Despite a couple of crashes!)

Tomorrow Rob will do his road race while Mick and I will road race on Saturday.

It looks like Michael Hutchinson from Team Spine placed 3rd in the 40 plus group. They must have some really strong guys as Mike is riding really well right now.

BTW, Austria is SPECTACULAR!

Patterson Pass

Patterson Pass is one of the coolest road races I've done. The climb is really hard and very windy. It has a mix of steep pitches and flatter gradients, but it's a long enough climb to get rid of the bigger guys. The interesting thing about it is it's super windy, so it almost neutralizes the race going up it.
I raced it in the cat 3's and we crawled up that thing the first 2 laps. The finish of the climb on the steep part was fast and guys would attack, but everything came back together going down the other side. The first time up I was too far back, so on the down hill I was at the back. Super scary. I'm used to big crowds after Nats and l'Abitibi, but still, that descent is really fast. Not very technical but fast, and with 3's not very fun. So the next 2 laps I was at the front for the climb and therefore at the front for the descending.
With 2 to go I didn't grab a bottle and I think that's what cooked me for the finish. By the 3rd lap I was really thirsty with no water. I got another bottle from dad, but I think I was screwed at that point.
Going up Patterson the last time I felt really strong. It was weird cause the first part of the race I was not in good shape but as the race progressed I seemed to come alive. The last lap was pretty chill till half way up, then a guy from AC put in some fierce attacks which split things up to about 8 in the leading group. It came back cause no one pulled through and kept the pace high. There was still a good 10 minutes left till the really steep section at the top so everybody calmed out.
Same thing happened at the top. AC man went and 2 guys grabbed his wheel. I was the 4th dude and only one to stick with him. Counter attacks came after he sat down and I was with those. Only three made it over the top in the lead, but with 5 seconds, so back to square 1 all over again.
The climb up the Wente decent was the one that really hurt. No wind and only slight gradient. Right at the bottom I was second wheel when here comes Ace again with another killer move. I was there but he didn't stop the pressure. All the way to the top he drilled it and popped dudes right and left.
I actually got dropped myself right when you hit the last steep part before the top. I just couldn't climb all of a sudden. The same thing happened at Nationals RR going up the last climb to the finish. There were still at least 25 guys left and I had to ride my own pace. I ended up catching dropped riders and passing them to end up in the lead chase group at the top where you make the left hander. That's what happened all over again. I couldn't ride that fast and had to slow down. I passed 3 guys and ended up getting on the group with only one of the 3 on my wheel.
So going down to the finish with that horrible tail wind there where 10 riders in the lead group, 3 of them juniors. Spin, spin, spin your gears gently down the road! Ya, it sucked. I normally have really good recovery time on descents and am ready to rock on the next climb, but I was hurting all the way till our last uno k climb right before the finish. When we hit it an attack was in store for us from Ace. ICCCCCCC was on his wheel and everybody else except the juniors and one guy from Easton. A slow crawl over the top and down to the finish. I out sprinted the boys I was with for 7th. Not bad, but I was getting 7th at Coperopolis, and Wente back in April so I should be winning 3's races right now. I guess time will tell.
micah

Tilting at Windmills - Patterson Pass Road Race

Using the theory that what does not kill you makes you stronger, I once again stepped into the deep end of the pool and rode the pro/1/2 race at Patterson Pass. With worlds just eleven days away (who's counting...) this seemed like a sensible thing to do. Nothing like a good hard road race to finish off my overload and then taper. I came prepared, with a 36x26 low gear and a 50x11 top end. I would use both. A lot.

At the start line there were many Giant Strawberries including pro triathlete Chris Lieto. Also on the line was one of my old Sacramento team mates Mike Sayers and two of his BMC guys. And the usual crowd of mutants bent on making me suffer.

The first time of the climb was actually pretty easy due to the hefty headwind coming from Livermore. Those windmills really are there for a reason I guess... With the twists and turns in the road though there was some joking about the need to form echelons at 10mph on the climb. Down towards Livermore, up over Flynn road and then to the fun section on Altamont Pass. Top speed on Altamont this lap was 50.6, max cadence 142. Just so you know, this is not some steep descent, this is a shallow pedaling descent with a serious tail wind.

Lap two, same story. The wind was my friend as it kept the climbers from causing as much pain as they might otherwise. Still, there were some digs and going over the top kind of hurt. Over Flynn, back on Altamont and things got interesting. Lieto made the unfortunate choice of bringing a 11x23 freewheel which left him over geared on the climb. Since he knew his days were numbered he thought that he'd have a little fun over Altamont Pass. Max speed 52.9!!!, max cadence 147. That was actually worse than the climb up Patterson.

Lap three, and life in general was harder. Again, the wind was my friend on Patterson Pass. But this one wasn't too pretty. "Tourette's Kevin" was lurking just underneath the happy go lucky Kevin veneer. Not quite getting close to the edge yet, but I know it is out there lurking. And of course now things are starting to happen. Sayers was out on a grand aventure with one of the Straberries I think and the natives were restless. Flynn was also getting to be much less fun but at least Altamont Pass was a bit more civilized. Max speed 48.7, max cadence 137.

One thing I haven't mentioned is the cross and head wind section leading back to the start finish. Because Patterson Pass, Flynn Road, and Altamont Pass aren't hard enough I guess? Of course it was always just a bit of a cross wind and we were always riding in the gutter looking for protection. After one particularly ugly stretch I found myself at the back as we turned into a cross wind and somebody attacked. Bad time to lose situational awareness! I got gapped and didn't have the gas to chase back on.

Now came the dilemma. Do I really want to go another lap? Can we catch back on? Is this really helping me? I've got a TT tomorrow... What would Kent Bostick Do? (WWKD) We'll he'd probably ride at 30mph until he got back on so I guess I better think of something else. A few of us grouped up and chased through the start finish where one of my friends who had just finished the 45+ race yelled some encouragement. Tourette's Kevin had a choice reply, but luckily he wasn't in control yet.

And again, the wind was my friend as the lead group rode at a civilized pace and we caught up just after the feed zone. John Hunt saved my life by giving me a bottle when the neutral guys had run out. Thanks John! Of course my joy was short lived as things were really starting to happen on this lap. I was spending more time with my new BFF, the 36x26, but the natives were restless and the attacks started. A couple of guys got away over the top and I was in the second half of the main group. We caught back on the descent, but on Flynn Ted Huang decided he wanted to go at a speed that most of us couldn't and he rode away with another guy.

Over Altamont another rider got away on the descent which I guess makes sense as we were "only" going 49 mph, max cadence 137. Tourette's Kevin made a grand appearance. Something to do with morons and riding in the "F'ing gutter" I think. But I digress. On the head and cross wind leading to the finish Dominic from AV attacked and Chris Dilusio countered with Kevin Klein. That was the end for me and I rolled in alone, pretty much wrecked, for 14th.

88 miles
4:19:00
8600' of climbing says my Garmin
4189 Kilojoules burned. Time for a "crack bar".

Fun

Final Race in Belgium

On saturday, eight USA team riders road out to our final race. The race was a criterium in the town of Ruislede with 1.7km laps. There were seven turns on the course and one really cool funnel where the road went from being a wide two-laned road to a bike path. The field was very small (maybe 40 riders) so the funnel was never really a problem. The entire team was tired going into this race after nationals and three weeks of hard racing, so our goal was to mostly just try and have a good time. Since the race was so short (37km) I decided to try something early and maybe rack up a couple of primes. I attacked on the first back stretch into the wind and got away solo with a 30 second gap. I held it for five laps before the pack caught me so I had already won 50 euros before the real racing even started. I must admit I was a little tired after that effort so I relaxed in the pack and tried to stay towards the front. I was in high spirits until Joel came up next to me and told me that my USA teammate had been at the front reeling me in those first five laps. I was wearing different clothes (I was in AMD and he in USA), but I still thought that we would be working as one team. AJ Meyer went up the road a couple of laps later and I jumped onto the wheel of a rider trying to bridge. A.J. had really helped me in my win last week so I wanted to help him out. I went to the front and hammered to try and open up a big enough gap for him to stay away. The course was twisty enough that if a break got 45 seconds, they would be out of sight and out of mind. We worked hard for two laps or so and then I looked back to see the same teammate who chased me down on the front bringing the entire race up to AJ and I. After the race we talked about it and he said he was trying to bridge but accidentally brought the field with him too. Maybe that was the case, but it happened not once, but twice. I was fried after those two efforts in front of the pack and there were still eight or so laps left. The peloton split into two and I was in the second half so that was even more energy to get back up to the front pack. With four laps to go I could see Cody out front, but little did I know that Jacob was even farther up the road with a lock on the top step of the podium. I thought I would just try and lead out or sprinters for fourth place, but some crazy instinct in me urged me to attack so I did and built up a lead with four other riders. With two laps to go I was dying and the riders I was with wouldn't pull through and just attacked me so I went to the front and set tempo just to try and stop the attacks. I thought I was crazy for pulling for so long but going into the last corner I was found the third wheel and was in perfect position for the sprint. I was pipped at the line as one rider swerved into me with 50 meters to go and ended up 5th on the day. Jake won and Cody was 2nd so it was yet another successful day for the USA. Supposedly the Belgians were getting sick of our domination so I think we left at just the right time. It was an amazing trip and hopefully something I will be able to repeat in the future.

Riding in the Strawberry Patch (Elite district RR)

Even as we age, the dreams of glory will not fade. 20 years ago, in 1987 I won * this race and here I was again wondering if lightning could strike again after all these years. The short answer was, NO!. For the long answer read on...

Racing with the Pro/1/2 guys is much different than racing with masters. With the races being so much longer you must be VERY patient. I told myself that I would do nothing but sit in for the first half (5 laps) of the race. After that I would look for "the break away". "The break away" tends to go not much after half way at this race, so generally it's not like you and sit in until 10 miles to go. Generally... This can make the race somewhat boring, but you must be VERY careful that you don't get lulled into not paying attention. Master's racing on the other hand tends to be more ballistic early on since the races are so short. But the suffering at the end of a long pro/1/2 road race more than makes up for the early "easy" part!

Anyway, an early break went and there was a Giant Strawberry (Salvador Borrego Crum) and a BPC rider in it. The The BPC and GS riders (and there were many of them) sat up and left it to everybody else. Spine chased for a while, but mostly it was status quo. Then not much after half way Jared from Metro Mint and fellow Geezer Nathan Parks of EMC went up the road. They quickly joined the break and after a lap or so dropped the other guys. This put a wrench into the GS plans and on about the 8th lap they started a team chase. I liked that. Steady, hard is something I can do. And steady hard meant that nobody would go ballistic on the Hennekens Ranch climb. So far it hadn't been any trouble, but I was waiting for one of the GS guys (like Mattis, 3rd at elite nationals or Max Jenkins, looking cool in his U-23 national champion jersey) to cause a great deal of suffering on that climb. But instead if was "steady hard" for the last couple of laps. (Steady hard still meant 400+ Watts for 3 minutes on Hennekens though, but at least it wasn't 500 for 2:30!) Life was good.

The pressure of the GS chase sent a lot of riders out the back until at the bell there were 20 or less of us in the main pack with two guys up the road. Going through the feed zone Ted Huang of Webcor attacked. I was in okay position, but probably not as close as I should have been. But I knew that was "the move" so I went after him. Mattis and Andres Gill (Delta Velo) went also. Unfortunately my acceleration was not strong enough and they went by and linked up while I dangled oh so close. I could not close the gap. For this I have much regret... I dangled for a while in no mans land, but I wasn't closing and ended up back in the pack. Thank you, have a nice day, but the race has left the station with out you.

On the last half lap a couple of guys went off alone and stayed away. At the end Mattis and Huang caught and dropped Jared and Nathan on Hennekens Ranch with Mattis nipping Ted in the sprint. We went hard and I had to dig pretty deep on the last climb but made it over and we were sprinting for 8th I think. I had good position and when the time came, I stood up to start sprinting. At that point my legs said "What the HELL do you think you are doing?!?! SIT YOUR ASS BACK DOWN OR WE'RE GOING ON STRIKE!" So I hobbled across the line for 14th place.

Vital stats.
110 miles in 4:58:00
9,100' of climbing according to my Garmin.
4400 Kilo Joules burned so it was a festive day of eating afterwards!


* Okay, I actually got 2nd but the winner got DQ'd for an illegal feed. Oh yeah, and he was my team mate!

Putah Creek Smack Down (PCSD) #4

Smackee's: Craig Roemer and Kevin Metcalfe

Smackee in absentia: Mick Hellman who called in sick

Smacker: Dave "Peg Boy" Bailey



Last weekend in Woodfords and Minden the team came away with four district championship jersey’s. Two in the road race and two in the crit. But who really cares about that when it’s time for the Putah Creek Smack Down? Who cares if you are or aren’t district champion. How did you do at the PCSD? Now that’s an important question…

When I got there, I only saw one car. Dave’s. He was out doing a recon ride. He got back as Craig and I went out to warm up and he informed us that the wind, though light, was the opposite of the usual. The return trip would be the headwind stretch.

I started right before Craig and Dave went about 10 minutes after that. With worlds coming up I wanted to go out full gas to see what I could get away with. I hit the turn around in about 10:10 while averaging 15 watts more than my usual. Unfortunately on the return trip I would pay for it. No matter though, I learned something and my time was still pretty good at 21:21. Craig came in just after me with a 21:27 and we settled in to wait for Dave.

It is tomato season in the farm lands west of Davis. On the way back, about 1 mile from the finish both Craig and I went through a cloud of dust thrown up by a tomato truck coming onto the road. Craig actually had to slow down a bit because of a car that pulled out after. While watching for Dave we saw two tomato trucks heading out. With the riders milling around at the start/finish the trucks took the middle of the road. Dave was forced to slow down in the last 200 meters because he was catching somebody and there wasn’t room to pass with the trucks in the road. I felt kind of bad for him. Until he told me his time. 20:17!!! He took about 27 seconds out of the course record that Mick set a couple of months ago and reclaimed it for his own.

With our trip to worlds, my next shot at the Putah Creek Smack Down will be Sept. 5th. Though the PCSD seems ever elusive, perhaps I can claim a consolation prize at worlds? Hey, Dave’s not going, so at least I’ve got a chance right?

Track Race/Hooglede Kermesse

Track racing in Oostende is quiet different from racing in the US. Racing on road bikes on a track with less than 20% banking in the corners compared to fixed gears and an 86 inch gear. We had 3 races: a 10 lap scratch race, a 5 lap win and out and a 16 lap points. As I waited in the cold weather for the commissaires to call up our group I looked around and saw a small field and was very hopeful. When we started our race I put in a few efforts and didn't get much of a gap. Coming into the final sprint I didn't quiet have the legs and came in at third. My next race was the win and out, which I also got third in. Having just missed the win I knew I wasn't going to be able to hold on for second, so I conserved and settled for third. Going into my last race I wasn't so confident, but I was hoping for a second place. With about three laps to go I got a gap. I soloed off the front and got the last sprint. I ended up with third in the omnium.
-Joel S.

On Saturday, those who did not race at the track went to the nearby town of Hooglede to do a 12 x 5km kermesse. The course was dead flat, half on big wide open roads and half on super narrow and twisty farm roads. The four USA national team members who raced were A.J. Meyer, Ian Boswell, Cody Foster, and me. Expectations were high going into the race because the four of us were expected to extend our winning streak to four races. The plan was to try and form a break with as many USA guys as possible and try to keep that break away until the finish. The first break to get a significant gap (usually 20-30 seconds) tends to stay away for the remainder of the race because teams are not allowed to organize a chase. Cody basically attacked from the start and after he was caught, I attacked, and then Ian attacked, and so on for the first couple laps. Four laps into the race, AJ went for a prime and his acceleration created a gap in the field. AJ and Cody rolled off the front together and the pack hesitated. That hesitation is always a sign that the break might stick because no one is really willing to chase. I let their gap open to about 20 seconds and I punched it into a corner and bridged up to them. The three of us worked well together and half a lap later, Ian Boswell pulled himself and two other riders up to us. One of the riders who bridged up with Ian was dropped immediately as Ian went to the front and opened the gap to the field to 40 seconds. We were out of sight from the peloton and started to work well together. We took most of the primes, but we did let the other rider in our break kill himself to sprint for one or two. With the two laps to go, the four USA riders were still working smoothly, but our opponent had stopped taking pulls, as one should if he is up against four national team members. Somehow, we convinced him to keep pulling. With a lap and a half left in the race, we decided to do the textbook attack and sit-on tactic. I attacked first and held about a five second gap while my three teammates sat on the other rider. The other rider started to fade and Cody attacked and bridged up to me. Cody and I hammered to get away at went through the finishing area with one to go and a 10 second lead. Ian and AJ tried hard to attack and bridge up to Cody and I, but the opponent would have nothing of it and found new legs to stick to them. Cody and I pushed very hard for the rest of the lap and turned onto the finishing straight with no one behind us. I wanted to roll across the line together but Cody was more fond of a mano-a-mano sprint. So we sprinted and I pipped him at the line for the win. AJ and Ian beat the other rider in the sprint and the USA national team went 1, 2, 3, 4, a feat never before done by Americans in Europe (or so we like to think). Any one of the four of us was strong enough to win, but it just so turned out that I was in the right place at the right time. The team made 240 euros in the race and the four of us split it evenly. It was a great day of racing and I look forward to watching the other half of my team race tomorrow in our hometown of Izegem.

-Charlie Avis

Yesterday, the US national team drove to the town of Orroir to race in the "Mont d'Enclus" kermesse. "Mont d'Enclus" is French for the "Kluisberg", which is one of the paved climbs in the Ronde van Vlaanderen. The course was 9 laps of a short (3.7km) loop and then 4 laps of the longer loop (6.6 km), which included the Kluisberg. The Kluisberg is about 1.5k at 10% grade, similar to the climb on the lollipop course at nationals.
The team's strategy going into the race was to send the non-climbers up the road early and have the good climbers sit-in until the hill. Since I was considered a "climber", I just relaxed in the front third of the peloton for the 9 flat laps. My teammate, Cody Foster, rolled off the front one lap into the race and caught up with a rider already up the road. Joel Shaffer put in a huge effort to bridge up to Cody, but was reeled in as the peloton significantly increased their speed. With a brutal cross wind on two sections of the flat course, the peloton was shattering before we even reached the climb. Four laps into the race, two more of my teammates, Ian Boswell and Jacob Rathe, attacked and bridged up to Cody. The peloton sat up and the four riders up the road built up a two and a half minute lead by the time the pack hit the first climb. Since there is technically no "teamwork" in junior kermesses, no one was chasing the break so for the third time in three races, the peloton was racing for a top five position. I set a tempo up the first climb that only one guy could follow and the two of us sat up after the descent and joined a group of maybe ten riders. We rolled around the rest of the flat loop and were eventually caught by another group of ten. The second time up the climb was a lot easier, but we still had just fifteen guys at the top. We pacelined around the flatter loop and then on a small rise in the crosswind section, I attacked and took two guys with me. The pack did not chase and so I quickly built up a lead. We hit the climb with a 30 second advantage and kept a smooth tempo to the top and then worked well together on the flat part of the course. There was no one in sight behind us but we still worked hard just in case. The last time up the climb, the Flemish rider attacked. The French rider sat on my wheel and made me chase. I kept the tempo and caught him before the top of the climb. At the bottom of the descent, the French rider attacked and the Flemish rider sat on my wheel. I guess the Belgians really wanted to beat the Americans because these two riders were definitely teaming up against me. The Flemish rider attacked one more time and I had a struggled to bring him back. I caught at 500 meters to go and just didn't stop and attacked the two of them. The French rider almost came around me at the end, but I held him off for a 5th place finish. My teammates up the road finished 1,2,3. The US national team had another dominant performance with four riders in teh top five. Joel's hard effort unfortunately came right before the peloton split and Joel was in the second group on the road. He gets another chance today, however, because all of those who ride the track get to do a track race this afternoon. I will have fun watching Joel and the US national team tear up the track.

l'Abitibi update

Today's race was in the evening, so we got to sleep in today. I did some shopping early on then got ready and we rode the race course. It was an 8k course that we did 10 times with a finishing hill that definately would split things up. There were two other hills as well, one was the feed hill and the other was the climb leading up to the finish.
We started the race, and the first 8 laps I was on the back. I don't know what it was but I just didn't have my head in the game. I just didn't feel like getting up there, which is stupid because you spend way more energy at the back with sprinting out of the corners and such than you do at the front with the consistency.
The race just might have been the easiest one of the tour because everyone was trashed from the crit the day before. We were going fast, but it wasn't crazy. There were 3 crashes on the first lap because the pace was pretty slow and everybody was riding stupid. After that though it was cool.
I finally decided to move up with two laps to go. I was chilling with Grant and Carter from US National who were keeping everything in check and the breaks close.
With 3 k to go Taylor attacked and bridged up to a Japan kid who was chilling out there by himself. I was third in line and we slowed way down. I was secretly hoping that they would stay away because I knew taylor could out sprint the japan man. But trains started coming up on either side and it got harder and harder to stay at the front. With 1 k to go I was probably 20 riders back and we hit the hill. It wasn't steep enough to really break up. We were going up it in our 52x21 at the steepest part. At the top we turned right and it kicks up a little more and it's 200 meters to go. All the sprinters took of and I tryed to hang on for a good finish.
I ended up getting 18th, so far my best result of the tour. My other goal is to get top 50 overall but I sitting in 63rd and with 2 mostly flat days left not likely. But you never know.

First Weekend in Belgium

After four days of anticipation, we had our first race yesterday (saturday) in the town of Bury. The course was a 5.3km loop done 12 times with two "hills" that were really just highway overpasses. The pre-race routine is very different from the US because sign-in, or inscription, is in a bar full of old men smoking and drinking wine. We never had to fill out a form or anything, all we had to do was sign our name and write down the number we received. Our team of 8 rolled around for awhile and then 20 minutes before the start, the commissaires call us up to the line. No junior roll-out or anything. From the start, the US national team controlled the race. We attacked and attacked like it was a crit, which every single one of us regretted in the end. The difference betweeen a 40 minute crit and a 40 mile kermesse is amazing. After a couple of laps, a break of four with two US national guys rolled away. In junior kermesses, it is illegal to use "team tactics", which basically means don't bunch up as a team (organized chases, blocking, etc.). This rule makes it very hard to chase down breaks so the four guys up the road just rolled away. Riders kept attacking and attempting to bridge but nothing would stick. I attempted to get into a chase group but the field was not letting anything go. With one lap to go the national team tried to get a couple guys into a break but once again the field brought it back. With about 3k to go, my teammate, Adam, rolled away with another group and he finished 7th while the other five of us finished in the pack. Jacob and Cody, who were in the break finished second and fourth respectively. I rolled in at 23rd. It was a good day but not quite as good as today.
After Bury the team talked about what we learned and it obviously paid off. The course was dead flat with a little hill after the finish. The wind was blowing hard too. We did not attack from the gun like yesterday but just conserved energy for the first of nine laps. AJ sprinted for the prime on the first lap (each 6.3k lap has a prime) and ended up launching Adam up the road with one other guy. Adam and the other racer quickly built a lead and no one in the pack wanted to chase. Adam was soon out of sight and so the attacks started to come again. I got into a chase group of the front of the peloton and we worked together for 2km but then the pack caught up and my teammate Jacob attacked with one guy on his wheel. Jacob ended up catching Adam, but we never saw them again. Three more of my teammates went up the road in chase groups and I soon found myself at the back of a 30 rider peloton. The top 20 riders win money so I decided that I needed to get out of this pack and chase down one of the groups up the road. I attacked and quickly built up a lead and just my head down and hammered. At this point there were 3 laps to go and I was worried that I would not last that long by myself. luckily a teammate of mine had also attacked and was yelling at me to wait for him so we joined up and worked together to catch the group in front of us. On long straight aways we could see a group of 8-10 riders dangling up ahead and Cody and I slowly started to gain on them. With one lap to go they were maybe 45 seconds ahead and so Cody and I worked harder and harder and then with 3k to go, the group sat up so we gained on them quickly. We caught them with maybe 1.5k to go and I knew I wouldn't be able to match their sprints so Cody and I just didn't stop and attacked them right away. My teammates in that group said that they were too tired so there was no response to our attack and we held it all the way to the finish. Unfortunately Cody dropped his chain going around the last corner and was caught by one guy at the line. AJ and Ian Moir finished in the group that Cody and I passed and Ian Boswell was solo for the last 2 laps to take 4th. Jacob and Adam went 1-2 with Adam winning the race. I finished 7th while Cody finished 9th and AJ 10th. Ian Moir finished 13th and Joel came in with the peloton at 20th. The USA national team put 6 guys in the top 10, much to the dismay of the commissaires, who got mad at us for "using hand signals to communicate". Whatever. Anyways I am learning so much over here and just after two races I feel accustomed to the style of racing, which tends to be just balls to the walls for an hour and a half. These kermesses are basically criteriums, just 40 miles instead of 40 minutes. It's a blast.

-Charlie

l'Abitibi Time Trial

This was by far the craziest race I have ever done in my life. And it was a TT.
So we load up on the bus in the morning to head over to our start with all our stuff except our bike, which had been sent down the night before. It's nice and sunny out and the day is beautiful. We show up to this...cave, and that's the only way I can think to describe it. It's the entrence to the mine, where we have to sit on the rocks for about 15 min while the riders come out. Then they do a roll call and make sure we're all there. There are six guys they select to go first who have to put their shoes on and be prepaired to warm up. We all pile into this tractor and have to put on our TT helmets.
So, a rundown POS that qualifies as an automoble going down a hole in the ground, with 30 kids in tight colorful clothing with weird looking helmets all bunched together is what the scene looked like.We start down the tunnel, and again the only thing I can compair this to is a slow motion rollercoaster ride. It gets really dark and the road drops away into the abiss, while you have to keep your arms inside and have your head ducked because there are rocks and pipes and those stallag-tight-mights or whatever about 5 inches above you. It goes for probably 300 meters then you get to the bottom. It's just about pitch black in there and the lights they do have are like 15 watt bulbs and separated by probablly 50 feet.
I hit my head on a pipe or something at the bottom which scared the crap out of me, then we all had to stay crouched over while we got out of the truck. You walk for 40 meters and all your bikes are lined against a wall with 6 trainers there. The guys who were selected to get their shoes on got on the trainers for 10 miutes, while the rest of us walked another 2 dozen meters on little rubber strips they had set up so your shoes wouldn't get dirty up to a heated room with some food and another six trainers set up. These trainers were the ones you see in dusty basements that haven't been used in 10 years. The ones from the 80's. So I get called up and jump on the crappiest one for 5 minutes while they have a guy time you. They try to make it even with everyone getting the same amount of warm-up. I didn't know though that when you finish your warm-up in the room, that you put your shoes and helmet on and go straight to your bike which is now on the trainer. So, of course, I get off and start streching and talking to guys, when Scotty from Major Motion informs me of what I'm supposed to do. So I get ready, take my legs and long sleeved jersey off, put on my stuff and get a huge blanket put over me for the walk over to my bike.
You're supposed to only have 5 min per bike, so on my TT bike I only got about 2 and a half. When they told me to stop, I got ready for roll-out, and noticed that my front tire was at about 40 to 50 psi. I'm in a cave underground and my 1:00 man is 10 seconds away from going off. I looked around for a pump but didn't see any, so I figured I would just get a wheel change at the top.
I get clipped in and she counts me down from 30. I start and It's fairly good with the lighting not as bad as it seemed coming down, but then I start going up. The lights start getting farther and farther apart and the hill keeps getting steeper. It wouldn't have been so bad, except my front tire is bottoming out, and I'm getting rained on by the cave...stuff. Then the real crap happens.
The road starts turning to the right and there is a light up there, so I'm prepaired to go to the right. But I get up there and there are ropes blocking off the road. So I'm kinda like "Uh, where do I go?" I start to lose my speed when I see that the road turns left and there is a light about 100 feet up the 17% road ahead. Normally that's a good thing, but my tire was totally killing me and I COULD NOT SEE a thing! It was really scary and my disk was starting to slip out.
I finally got out to the top, and it was horrible. It went from super dark to blasting sun in your face, and 40 degrees to 75 all in the space of 3 seconds. After coming out it's maybe half a mile on a bike path then you come onto the road and you get your lead moto and your follow car. I went for a ways trying to decide where a good place to do a wheel change was. We were in a neighbrhood so going through the corners was pretty sketch with my low front.
On a long straight I looked back at Tim and Aaron in the car so they knew somwthing was up, then put my left hand in the air and hit the brakes. Before I came to a stop I loosend my front brake, then I took the wheel off. Aaron was there by then and he took care of the rest. I was on my way by then and tried to get back into a rhythm.
The course took me out of town and up a short hill then over and back into a neighborhood. I had caught and passed the rider in front of me before the houses, and at that point it got kind of technical. The crappy thing is though, when I passed the japan kid my moto didn't pass him, so I had no lead. I kept expecting to have a turn-around because all the riders were coming back the way I was going. The result was 5 to 6 corners where I lost seconds not being in the aero bars because I didn't know where the heck I was going. I should have road the course before, but we had another race later on that evening so I didn't really have time.
I finally got my motorcycle back in front of me and then I could go faster through the turns. Another lame thing was coming into a left hander my motorcyle almost came to a complete stop because the oncoming rider took the corner wide, and there was a car trying to come on the course so I had no where to go, nothing to do but hit the brakes and lose more time.
With about 2k to go There was another big...traffic jam I guess you could say at one of the last right turns. More people trying to drive on the road. So there went more time down the tubes. At 1k to go I really started to nail it which sucked because I should have started that way before that, but couldn't because the problems, but that's racing.
I came across the line and got some water from the cute girls giving them out, and Tim came and talked to me about the race. On the way back to the school we are staying I was asked for my autograph and picture taken, so that made me feel pretty good about myself.

Micah

Tour de l'Abitibi update

Tour de l'Abitibi-Stage 3-Senneterre to Val-d'Or
Today's race was the second longest stage of the tour for us at 94k of racing. Yesterday's stage was the longest at 118k, followed by the Team Time Trial latter on that day. We drove out of Val-d'Or over to the neighboring town of Senneterre which is about an hour away in a car. The road signs here are all in French so that kinda adds to the whole different country effect. It rained almost the whole way over and only cleared out a little bit for the start. The streets were almost completelly dry at the start but it was still overcast and looked like it was raining everywhere else than where we were.
We did roll-out and then signed-in on a great big almost canvas like piece of paper that has all the teams on it and all the riders under that. It's just like the big leages with the news guys and the french press all getting it on film and taking pictures while you bend over in tight little clothes to write your name.
Warmed up for a little bit, then hit the start line with about 20 minuets till the start. In a race with 155 riders that all want to be at the front, you have to get to the start line really early so as not to be at the back. They finally got going and the mayor of Senneterre got on the stage and said some stuff in French, then called the leader to the line followed by the porteurs des maillots, the jerseys wearers. The bleu, orange, and brun. The best young rider (blue), the best sprinter (orange), and the leader (brown). They then called up the whole US National team because they were leading the "classement cumulatif des e'quipes" best overall team. Then we got to go up.
A coulple more things in french, then they counted us down from 3:00. When we got the gunshot it was complete madness. 3 crashes happened just trying to clip in and get on our bikes. The speed when it startes is just crazy fast. It futs anything else I've ever done to shame, except nationals.
The race was a road race, but we did 5 circuits in town on a course that was about the same as a crit, 1 1/2k. The finish was also like than in Val-d'Or with a 3k course that we did 3 times. Now I know why they have us do those. They are super intense and very fast. Plus there are more crashes so that's really cool too if you're a spectator.
I stayed in the top 20 to 40 for the circuits cause it was stupid to be farther back than that, and then for the first part of the trek back to Val-d'Or. The fan base is mind blowing. People stop work to come out and see us come by. We have a police escort that gets all the traffic off the road and gets people out to see us come by. They scream at you, people honk their horns, ther's megga phones. It's like Nevada City for 100k.
Anyways, when we got out of town it started to sprinkle a little, and the attacks came. There was one that had like 40 guys in it that had about 20 seconds and none of the US national guys, so they were forced to chase. We caught it after a long period of time and alot of argueing with the french and canada guys who wouldn't work, then there was another break that went, this time with like 15 dudes. Again, no US national team bros in there which is really weird so they had to chase. They were getting really pissy at everyone who was at the front who wasn't working, and were really getting mad at the quebec and french kids who were blocking for the canadian national champian (who was in the break) so it was madness.
It started raining after the break had been established and that kind of discouraged any serious chasing. The rain only lasted 20 min or so then it changed to a drizzle, so we picked it up a little bit. The roads dried up and we had a left hand turn followed by a large hill about 5 miles down the road. I knew there were KOM somewhere on the course, but I didn't know where so I wanted to be at the front when it came. I was on Ben King's wheel going up the most agressive climb of the day, which was big chain ring and probablly 21 in the back, so not that hard, but I didn't see any KOM sign. It wouldn't have mattered anyways but it felt good to be up there.
coming into town just got faster and faster as the gap came from about 2:00 down to 1:00 into the circuits of Val-d'Or. I was in the top 15 to 20 trying to get Trent (our team sprinter) into good position. There is a steep little hill for 150 meters at 5 to 6% that really strung things out single file. I moved positions on the first 2 laps with trent on my wheel trying to keep him up there, but on the last one I was dead, so he was on his own. I driffed back to about 50th to 60th coming through the last few corners before the finish. Trent was top 20 I think but the break hung on for the win, so it didn't really count for much.
I was happy I stayed with the lead group, about 100, cause 50 or so dudes didn't. The group was about 2 1/2 blocks long because there were 100 riders streched single file. We averaged 27 mph, so not as fast as the first stage's 29 but still friking hauling.
Today is the TT that starts in a mine shaft and then comes out, so it should be interesting.
micah

Back to the gravel patch - Putah Creek Smackdown # 3

With nationals over it was time to make my TT bike conform to UCI rules to get ready for worlds. That meant a new shorter saddle so I can meet the “no less than 5cm behind the BB rule” without actually changing my position. It also meant a new set of aero bars to meet the “no more than 75cm in front of the BB rule”. Other than fact that I now have my hands hanging out past the end of my aero bars and only grip them by looping my pinky around the shifters it seemed to work out pretty well.

(Notice that I subtly put my excuse right up front so that hardly anybody will notice…)

Out on Putah Creek Road it was on the windy side. It was windy the last time I was here when Mick broke the course record with a 20:40, but I felt that it was a bit windier this time. On the line the starter asked me what kind of time I wanted to do. I said that I’d like to do 21:00 or better, but thought that would be too much to ask considering the wind. The way out was slow, but not totally unexpected with the wind. I hit the turn around in 11:20 which pretty much sucked, but I wrote it off to the wind. On the way back though, life was good. I was holding 32mph for long stretches and ripped back in 10:00 for a 21:20 total.

So there I was standing in the gravel patch feeling pretty damn good about myself, waiting to see how my time stacked up. Not unlike last time where I had come within 6 seconds of the course record. Until Mick told me that he had broke the record… No records today, but Dave crushed my soul in much the same way. 20:53. WTF! So that was that, in the gravel patch, where it mattered, Dave had shown that he was a man. Turns out I was a 16 year old teenager who thought he was a man, but had no clue.

So, in two weeks we’ll be back. Hopefully Mick will come too and we can have a full on AMD smackdown.

Until then, did I mention that I neglected to tape over the valve holes on my wheels? I’m just sayin’…

l'Abitibi Prologue

The very first event for le tour de l'Abitibi was the 400 meter prologue through downtown Val-d'Or. It was pretty intense with the fans about 3 to 4 people deep and everybody gets really into it. The whole stretch is fenced off and they bang on it with their hands, so it gets pretty loud as you come closer to the finish.
They set you up at the old church (2 blocks from City Hall where the finish is) with one rider who you get to sprint against, so it's kinda weird warming up for an hour just for a 20 second effort, but the experience was worth it. The guy I went up against was an American from the Mid-South Development Team. The dude was huge. We got up on the start house and got count down from 1:00. There were lasers at the bottom of the ramp that started the clock, so you could get away with going at 1 instead of zero. I beat Goliath for the start and down the ramp, but he really started hammering for the home stretch and pretty much blew by me. It was like trying to cover a freaking horse. I was like 4 bike lengths behind him at the finish and felt pretty lame as I'm not much of a sprinter.I got beaten pretty bad so that was crappy, but looking at the results later on that night I saw that Sasquatch got top 15 so it made me feel a little bit better.
Our team did OK I guess, only two of our guys beat the competing sprinters while everyone else got beaten. I ended up second to last out of the team so I was the water boy the next day seeing as our last place rider wasn't really experienced and didn't feel comfortable going back to the car to get water and trying to move through the field looking for team-mates. It's pretty funny too because I finished the best overall out of our team after the race was done.
micah

Junior Nationals and Belgium

The whole AMD junior squad flew to Pittsburgh this past week for the highly anticipated Junior nationals. Dean Laberge was nice enough to host six of us (Micah, Ben, Marcus, James, Chris, and Myself) with the other three staying nearby. The TT was our first race and, unfortunately for Dean, our start times ranged from 9:15 all the way until 1:45. The course, as previously described in the Masters' reports, was a 5k stretch of freeway done four times (out-back-out-back). Each stretch had two "climbs" which were maybe 3% for 1k. At the end of the day, James Laberge finished 10th in the 13-14, Davis finished 12th and I finished 5th in the 15-16, and Ben and Micah finished.
The next day was the road race. Ben and Micah started at 7:30 and the 15-16 were to set off ten minutes later. 1 minute before the 15-16 start the officials delayed the race due to the 30 man pileup in the 17-18 race. Luckily Ben and Micah made it threw and Micah finished an amazing 11th. The 15-16 race finally started at 9:00 and Davis, Daniel, and I all finished in the top 25 with 24th, 19th, and 16th respectively. Joel used a lot of energy early on to help Davis back into the race after a broken spoke.
The final day was the Crit. The rain was coming down very hard on the way to the venue, which was mediocre at best, but stopped right before we started to warm up. As the 15-16 toed the line, it started to drizzle again and over the course of the 40 minute race, the rain started to come harder and harder. No breaks stuck and the race was undoubtedly going to finish in a sprint. With two and a half laps left, it started to dump rain. An inch of water covered the road and no one could see the rider in front of them. It was an exhilarating experience. I ended up fourth in the sprint while the rest of the rain soaked field trickled in afterward.
All in all, the AMD juniors were on the podium twice with four top ten finishes. We had a lot of fun racing and spending time together. Thanks Dean for cooking, chauffeuring, and supervising us rowdy juniors!

Joel and I are now in Belgium and will have race reports for you in the near future.

Masters Nationals

My impressions from Masters Nats. I hope other AMD'ers will add their perspectives (and photos).

Masters Nats were amazing: intense preparation, nervous anxiety, emerging confidence, joyous exhilaration, exhaustion, and then pride and relief. Getting to know some of our far-flung teammates was terrific, and the camaraderie and mutual support amongst this group of accomplished athletes was exceptional.

The support from the team was appreciated deeply. While old injuries prevented him from attending and receiving our thanks in person, Wyatt's arrangements worked flawlessly in spite of our attempts to screw them up. I know everyone will join me in thanking Wyatt not only for arranging the accommodations and transportation, but even more for bringing together such a wonderful group of riders and encouraging us to work as a team.

Our equipment was exceptional (and our team kit way more stylish than the rest)! In particular I would single out my Trek Madone road bike for its superb handling, light weight, and ability to absorb hits from large potholes. The Bontrager stuff worked great, too.

As for results, we had 19 top-10 placings in huge fields (including a 1st and a 3rd for Best All-around Rider), which I believe is far more than any other team. We hauled in three 1sts, two 2nds and three 3rds. Seeing Kent win the 50-54 crit in a huge bridge and sprint effort was just beyond belief. And witnessing Wayne overcoming Lindsay Blount and Malcolm Hill for Stars & Stripes in the finishing climb in the road race was inspirational and instructive.

My own highpoint was the road race, which I have selfishly summarized in this clipping from USA Cycling:

"With over 100 riders, the men’s 45-49 race got moving quickly and held a pace of over 23 miles per hour throughout. With that pace and more than 6,000 feet of climbing over the entire course, several riders were forced to drop back in the early going. After the long nine-percent climb on the third loop, 11 riders were able to go off the front leaving a strung out field behind. Approaching the last lap, Marco Hellman (Larkspur, Calif./AMD-Discovery Channel), William Thompson, Jr. (West Hartford, Conn./CCC-Keltic Construction-Zanes Cycles) and Jeff Braumberger (Mansfield, Ohio/Texas Roadhouse) went off the front of the lead group. After a couple of riders unsuccessfully attempted to bridge up, Thurlow Rogers (Newbury Park, Calif./Sonance-Specialized) finally joined the leaders. Building a 30-second gap, going into the 10-kilometer finishing stretch up to Seven Springs Resort, the four leaders were working hard. During that 1,402 feet of climbing, Thompson slipped back from the group and eventually the three leaders were separated by around 15 seconds each. Rogers, the reigning road race world champion in this age group, pushed strong through the finish, completing the 91-kilometer course in 2:25:59.08 and winning the national championship. Hellman also finished hard, winning the silver at 2:27:00. The other two leaders were swallowed up by the chase group in an exciting finishing stretch."

Thanks are due as well to Kevin, who worked the defense when I escaped on Lap 3 of the RR, and who put up with my snoring and mindless chatter for 7 days. And special thanks to Larry for his positive thinking and adult supervision.

Best of luck to our AMD-Discovery Juniors, who race soon; and to Wayne, who will join the Elite Road Race on Monday.

MickH

Anticipation...

I am looking forward to the National RR championship on Tuesday. For us in the 45-49 group we will do just under 60 miles and more than 6,000 feet of climbing. I think that this race will completely detonate on the 2nd or third time (out of four) up the "big hill". It is almost one km of 14 percent grade. For you geeks out there we did a "test run" at just about race pace. 2:35 at 500 watts. Here are a couple of pictures to whet your appetite.

BTW, I can think of a couple of Nor-Cal riders that will wish they were here when they hear about this course. Harlan....

Carrera de San Rafael - Masters 123

2006 Pro 1,2, Finish

If there's one master's crit you win all year, let it be San Rafael. The crowds, equipped with Swiss Miss cowbells, made such a ruckus you thought you maybe were somebody. They didn't care that we were just a bunch of has-beens/wanna-bes, they yelled and screamed and shook those cowbells every lap like we were champs.

And the racing was up to snuff too. Lots of team-on-team gangbang action with EMC/Vellum, Slaveway (sorely lacking that kooky blogmeister who begged out of the battle to just "have fun and drink" but was he just... afraid?), CVC, Sierra Nevada, etc. AMD had a colorful cast of characters with Billy "The Kid" Innes looking spry, Wyatt "Earp" Weisel coming out of recovery from a gunshot wound to the 5th vertebrate, and Kenny "G" Carpenter riding caboose but always a closer.

It was hot and heavy from the gun. The teams that were in the game were going blow for blow... a tactical warfare extravaganza. Well-constructed 1-2 punches, hooks, and jabs from all the teams, lots of setups and explosions and double-bounces. Billy and I were raining tag team blows on the pack, deadening its senses and weakening its will. And when we missed something Wyatt was there to pick up the slack. Ken was our hedge bet. It was everything I love about teamwork in bike racing. And the crowd was going wild, thanks to Casey doing a damn fine job on the mike.

About halfway through a group of 5 got an 8 second gap and did a good job holding it. It was Alex "Chippendale" Holtz from EMC/Vellum, a couple other guys I don't know, and our very own Billy the Kid. That was just fine with us and the race had been hard enough until then to discourage any stupid glory moves to try to close up the gap. So we sat and let it roll. Then a funny thing happened. Safeway, a beast without a head in this race, missed the break and kept throwing guys one at a time on the front. First it was Pasco the Crab, then Yo Yo Ma, except they didn't actually organize and chase. They whittled it down, which meant that they basically burnt all their matches ineffectually. I felt bad for them but whatcha gonna do? With the help of a couple other leave-behinds they did bring it closer and I was attentive for the counters but then unexpectedly Billy, Holtz and 1 of the others.... just kept it rolling. And nobody sealed the deal. They instantly recaptured their 10 sec advantage and that was pretty much it. The will of the mob was broken.

At this point I started to think about the composition of the break and I started to worry. Alex Holtz is a frickin' beefcake and when he's on, he's on. He tends to hide out so nobody knows quite how good he is, but goddamn if this might just be his breakout ride. I had a quick chat with my old pal from the Sacto crew, Chris "eBay" Baker, who was suspiciously confident in having his teammate Alex up the road, and the more I thought about it, the more worried I got. I seriously thought about having one of us pull out of the race so we could warn Billy about Alex. That's how concerned I was.

Well, that didn't happen because none of us are quitters, especially with legions of adoring females watching, waiting to bestow love and admiration and wet panties upon us, and thus on the last lap Alex stormed up 4th Street like a top fuel dragster to take an overdue and well-deserved win for his team. And if it wasn't to be Billy, I'm glad it was Alex.

1. Alex "Chippendale" Holtz, EMC Vellum
2. Billy "The Kid" Innes, AMD
3. Other breakaway guy (sorry)

Juniores
The promoter paid me the compliment of asking me to call the combined junior race with Casey and it was great. Our boys rode well. Lots of aggression, good awareness of team dynamics. They finished 2nd, and I heard some nonsense about "winning my age group" but guess what kids? There's only one winner and you're either it, or you sincerely congratulate the guy who beat you and get him next time. No consolation prizes or caveats. Overall, I liked what I saw and I'm proud of these guys and their dedication and professionalism.

National TT Championship - Seven Springs, PA

There was a lot of talk about the changed TT course before we got to Seven Springs. Mick and I pre-drove it in the rain the day before. It was going to be interesting as there would be four "lanes" of bike traffic (out and back twice) on two lanes plus a shoulder worth of road. As it turned out though it was no big deal and the course was a good test.

What was somewhat of a surprise was just how hard those "little" rollers were. There wasn't much flat on this course. Anyway, long story short. It hurt. A lot. The last km was a never ending grind of shifting lower and lower while the finish line seemed to taunt me and move further away. Finally it was over and the hard truth was learned.

We were Thurlow'd. Thurlow won by 28 seconds with Mick and I were 4th and 5th at 45 and 49 seconds behind in the 45's. Kent Bostick was 2nd in the 50's.

As a note of interest I think that Tom's bike was "Team GC" as he finished 3rd in the 55's. Jeff rode it to 7th in the 35's and Larry rode it to 7th in the 45's. Jeff's TT bike got smashed in transit and Larry was just to lazy to bring his out with him!