Thursday, April 19, 2007

Copperopolis Jr's 15-16

Joel, Davis and I attended the race and had two laps on the course, which equaled to about 45 miles with a good amount of climbing. Our plan was too push it up the hill testing peoples’ limits and to drop as many people as possible. Then we were to decide to wait for Joel if he fell off, or keep up the pace. Then I would attack on the last hill before the next lap and make whoever was with us work to catch me, or let me go. Then we would work it up the next climb hard, and Davis would attack on the last hill the next lap.
Here is how it went: We worked perfectly up the first hill. We kept it to the max effort up the hill, and got the group to 5 riders, with our three teammates in the top group. All of us then worked in a pace line for a few miles. Then one rider took a wrong turn, and we all decided to wait for him. That was when we started not working so well together. We stayed at a semi-slow pace for the rest of the lap before the last hill. Soon, two other riders caught us. Coming up to the next hill, I was expecting someone to attack, and failed to attack on the last hill. One rider then pulled the pace over the downhill at a very fast pace. Right after the downhill a rider attacked semi-weakly, and we let him stay just in front of the group while we were pace lining. We timed it so we caught him right before the hill. This is where we made our big mistake. All but one rider was falling off our group at times going up the hill, and we didn't bring the pace up to drop them. We stayed slow all the way over the hill. Then on one fairly steep roller, I drove the pace up, and got a gap with Joel, me, and another rider. We were working for just a little bit when the Pro 1/2 group came up behind us. I moved to the left to get out of their way, and I guess they moved to the right. When the pack passed through, I was gapped from Joel and the other ride. Here is another one of my mistakes. I think I might have been able to catch back on, but I went back to the other group. I ended up blocking and they got away. In the sprint, Joel won! Then I took fourth, and Davis took sixth.
-Daniel

Going into this race I wasn’t expecting too much. I knew that I had great endurance, but wasn’t sure how my climbing was compared to others. Onto the race - as planned we rode hard up the first big hill. I was feeling really good and took a pull or two at the front helping to set the pace. It was immediately evident that our fast pace was dropping a lot of the weaker riders. As we crested the hill we eased off the pace for a short time, but then this select group of 5 started a fast pace line. To my surprise we were caught not too long after by two riders and then we eased off the pace for almost the rest of the race. As Daniel mentioned we let a rider off the front for a little while, but we were in control of the race. After foolishly not pushing the pace up the hill on the second lap, I got off the front with Daniel’s help. He attacked, I waited and jumped on the wheel of a rider trying to bridge. No one else followed and we started cruising, but we lost Daniel in the Pro 1/2 field. My breakaway mate and I decided to ride hard until the 200m and to sprint it straight up from there. Perfect for me, as I felt that I could beat him in the uphill sprint. I ended up winning the sprint by a bike length or two. It feels awesome to have a win under my belt, and I know there will be many more to come for the team. Daniel and Davis, my two teammates in the race did an awesome job of keeping me off the front - thanks guys!
-Joel

Sprints/ Intervals- April 24th

details are posted in the comments of this post. Lar

Monday, April 16, 2007

Sprints/ Intervals- April 17th

details are posted in the comments of this post- Lar

Sea Otter Classic Jr 17-18 Circuit Race

Micah and I woke up pretty early the morning of the race to get a spin in (and good parking). We went out for roughly an hour and watched some of the guys finish the road race. Then just checked out the venues for a few hours and then it was warm up/race time. We arrived at the start finish and as always had to cram in as close as we could manage to the front of the race. We started and a national team member Grant Van Horn (going with me to europe) attacked straight from the gun. The main group of guys which after mile 1 was about half the size of the field caught him on the downhill and continued going hard. That first lap of the 2.1 mile circuit was completed in under 5 minutes and was by far the hardest lap of the entire race. Every lap afterward Grant attacked on the hill getting caught everytime on the downhill. Then with about 3 laps to go he launched another massive attack up the hill and widdled the field down to about 8 guys. Myself and two other racers tried to catch him back, and we got very close until Grant reached the hill when he launched ANOTHER attack. This time he was gone and took one of the major motion guys with him. For the last couple laps it was a mad chase to catch Grant, but we were unsuccessful. With one lap to go I told Micah to get to the front and empty his tank going over the hill and he surprised me by not only doing this but also by staying on the front until the hairpin before the finish. This is where things got nasty. During the race we had lapped one of the masters fields as well as the 15-16's and we were caught them again just before the finish. In the last sweeping turn before the finish I had about seven 15-16s infront of me, and when I saw a gap I launched and gained about 20 meters on the field and since they were not catching I just rolled into the finish infront of them. Three hours later at the podium I found out that I finished 4 seconds behind the leaders, but couldn't see them because of the 15-16s. It was a great race and I am glad that I didn't have to park out in the boonies.

Ben

Monday, April 9, 2007

Copperopolis Report by Micah

So my first really hard road race of the year went down the other day when I threw aside all common sense and decided to race Copperopolis in the Cat 3's instead of the Juniors.
I didn't know that Ben was going to be there, or I would have done the junior race so we could work together. But, alas, I knew not and so it was 4 laps of brutal Copperopolis roads, which equals out to about 87 miles of racing.

We started fairly quick going through the feed zone and up the climb, so we shedded some guys but for the most part everybody stayed together for the better of three laps. There were close to 60 starters so it wasn't a problem staying out of the wind and conserving energy, which was very important for a race close to 90 miles.

On the fourth lap though, things really got hot. There were probably 40 dudes going into the feed zone with about 20 coming over the summit of the climb. The amount of pain it took getting over that hill was enough to make me wish I HAD done the junior race. I had done great eating and drinking during the race but the last lap was so miserable that I didn't eat anything. I knew I had to, so as to have some kick at the end but my head was in such a state that eating was beyond me. Drinking was also hard. I just sat at the back and prayed it would end soon.

The funny thing is, the whole lap after the big climb I felt like I was coming out of a coma but when we got to the base of the last short steep climb before the finish, I started to feel halfway decent. I almost considered attacking the small group of 15 or so guys with me but reconsidered and thought to wait for the sprint. Everybody else must have thought the same thing because there were no real painful moves going up it.

The usual crazy descent down to the finish, which I prayed the WHOLE way down...every lap!
Seriously though, I was pretty scared doing 48 mph. down that thing with so many guys around me but it seemed to get easier with each lap.

I actually got a little behind coming down the climb but managed to get back on with 2K to go. I was so tired...all I wanted was my mommy and teddy bear but I knew I had to move up for the sprint. I made it to 4th wheel at 500 meters and was in the perfect position for the finish, when all of a sudden, in a flash...I died!

The guy on the front started his sprint about 250 before the corner and 2nd and 3rd were bumping a little bit. They untangled and 3rd started to fade so I came 'round the outside, dropped it down two gears and started to go for third. Almost instantly my legs bogged down and I was pushing a HUGE gear with my tiny legs after 87 mile s of racing. Not cool.

Third place went out of my grasp and I was passed so gracefully by 4th, 5th and 6th. I, on the other hand, looked and sounded like I was giving birth. The end result was 7th for my longest race so far. I was very pleased though not knowing what to expect from a Cat3 field on that type of course.

What can I say? It was good weather, good racing and good fun.

Micah

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Copperopolis Master's 35+ race

Copperopolis is one of my favorite Nor-Cal road races. It's got climbing, but it's not a pure climbers race. It's got rough roads and cross winds, but it's not a race for a pure power rider either. The course basically just beats you down over time and rarely does the strongest rider not win.

We had a strong group of guys with Craig, Jeff, Rob, Mick, Dean and myself. Safeway had the always dangerous Dan Martin and Mike Hernandez and a strong, well drilled team. The first lap was relatively uneventful. The pace was high and riders went out the back in dribs and drabs. On the second lap after a series of attacks and counter attacks I got up the road with Mike Hernandez and two others. Mike's been riding crazy strong this year so I was hoping for some reinforcements. Jeff almost made it across in a small group but they got reabsorbed. We quickly lost one rider and then on the second climb of the second lap (of three laps) we lost the other guy. And I was getting close to the edge myself. Coming by the start area I passed on the message that I really needed "some help up here!"

Starting the final lap Mike put the pressure on and I got gapped through the feed zone. The gap wasn't huge so I kept chasing hoping to either catch back on or at least make it over the climb before the pack so that I could help the other guys bring Mike back. Over the steep section Dan Martin escaped the main pack and caught up to me. I stayed on his wheel for a little while but finally got gapped. He joined up with Mike and the group caught me. We had Jeff, Rob and Mick still in the group so we worked hard together with some of the other teams to bring Mike and Dan back. It didn't go so well. They weren't riding away, but we weren't closing either.

Finally on the last climb we splintered our group down to about eight guys including me, Mike and Jeff. Dan Martin had been dropped by Mike Hernandez and we were able to bring him back after the descent. But the gap was too big and we couldn't catch Mike. I did what I could and brought our group with Jeff to the final kilometer and that was about all I had left. Safeway's Chris Wire won the field sprint for second and Jeff finished fourth. This is AFTER he had to chase back on after minor crashes on each of the first two laps. I rolled in with Dan Martin for 11th.

Afterwards Mick, Rob, Craig and I rode another lap to take advantage of the nice day and watched as Discovery pro rider Levi Leipheimer dropped Andy Jaques-Maynes and Kevin Klein to solo the final lap. Dressed in all black like a bike racing Johnny Cash of all things...

Friday, April 6, 2007

2007 Tuesday Night sprint and interval workout April 3rd recap… and April 10 intent

20 riders showed up the sprint and interval workout last Tuesday. I thought that I would use our team blog to communicate some of the good that has been going on as well as pass along my intentions with this regular series of workouts. I hope to post the upcoming workout on the blog before Monday morning each week. Our website will be updated soon and these posts will then be moved over to a “training tips” area so that they will be easier to find. Comments are always welcome. Questions are best saved for the Tuesday night workouts as I just don’t seem to have enough time to answer individual queries. Then again, if the questions come into the comments side of the blog maybe my teammates can chime in and reply. Please also note that Fremont has a large deaf population so it also makes sense to put some of this into writing.

Let’s start off with some Tuesday Night ground rules:
1) This is not a USCF sanctioned event. You come out there and ride at your own risk. Accidents happen, and accidents can be prevented. First and foremost, let’s be safe out there.
2) I would like to see riders of all types (track sprinters, road sprinters, new racers and recreational cyclists) come on out to these workouts.
3) We like to start at 6:30pm. If you arrive early, please warm-up. If you arrive late, please take the first few efforts at less than 100%
4) We like to start off with at least 2 warm-up sprints. The intent is to practice good technique before you give it 100%. Your muscles usually appreciate that too.
5) We can usually get a hurt in your legs going in less than an hour
6) As we lose sunlight we encourage riders to draft less, to take off their sunglasses and to keep their focus on safety and the workout.
7) Consistent training pays off in the long run… we hope that you consider coming out.

Directions: The old FFBC Crit course. Stevenson and Eureka in Fremont. Less than 1 mile west of 880 (Stevenson exit) or take BART to Fremont, go south to Stevenson and ride 4.5 miles to the course.

March 27
2 warm-up/ technique sprints
10 full home stretch (250m) sprints into a 20+ mph wind teaching us long headwind sprinting, drafting, patience, and the timing of coming off a wheel
cool-down

April 32 warm-up/ technique sprints,2 sets of closing a 5 and then a 10 sec gap- solo efforts (with a modifier to go longer or shorter), 4 x jumping out of the 180 degree turn, 2 x alone and 2 x partnering up and trying to come around the first rider through the corner, then 2 more sets of closing a 5 and then a 10 sec gap (modifiers: drafting allowed, go longer or go shorter)cool-down

April 10 plans
2 warm-up/ technique sprints, 4 x 150m sprints in 2 laps (1 on the back stretch, 1 on the home stretch, repeat)- encouraging solo efforts
Australian pursuit in 10 second intervals. Attempt to catch the rider in front of you. If caught you can work together to catch the next rider or group up the road. The effort is over when the last rider or group is caught. The “winner” is the first rider to catch the last person in the lead group. You can also bridge from one group to another. This exercise teaches us to hold pace, to work together cooperatively (as you would in a breakaway or chase group), to attack a group and bridge, and to not work too much so that you have something to sprint up to the lead group. Please note speed differentials and hold your line when being caught.
4 x 150m sprints in 2 laps (1 on the back stretch, 1 on the home stretch, repeat)- drafting allowed!

Larry Nolan- AMD-Discovery Channel Cycling Team

Pinole Two Person Time Trial- March 25th

This is a great event for all cyclists, not just time trialists. The 16 mile course offered a great challenge for 2 riders to stay together mostly due to the 415m of climbing over the rolling course, but also because it’s not easy to communicate with each other when you are breathing so damn hard. Teammates Wyatt Weisel and Steve Cassani had done this event last year and were quite excited to be aboard their time trial machines vs. the road bikes w/ clip-ons that they raced with last year. Teammate Kevin Metcalfe and I had raced together on the old Pinole course twice before, plus numerous team pursuits at the track, but it had been a few years, so we were psyched to be back at it. All 4 of us met early in the morning to register and ride the course once as a warm up. Fortunately Kevin and I started 30 minutes behind Wyatt and Steve which allowed for us to scope out the course, talk about the efforts to come and still have time to change into dry clothes. Wyatt and Steve were a bit more jammed for time, which explains why we bested their time.

Results-
Wyatt and Steve- 2nd M35+ team, 5th fastest time of the day
Kevin and Larry- 1st M45+ team, 1st fastest time of the day
http://berkeleybike.org/events/bbcttt_2007-results.html

Larry Nolan- AMD-Discovery Channel Cycling Team