Freddie who?

The Ronde van Brisbeen circuit race was my first Pro 1/2 race and words cannot describe how nervous I was. So nervous that I forgot to bring a water bottle to the start line and forgot to roll-out my junior gears. Joel came to my aid with the bottle and the officials brought me to the front at the start after a last minute roll-out, but I was still shaking on the start line. The reason I was so nervous: BMC, Healthnet, and Freddie Rodriguez. Pretty intimidating for a 17 year old, especially since I had been traveling and not training all week. The first 15 minutes of the race scared the living daylights out of me because I felt sluggish and I wasted some energy trying to follow a breakaway on the hill. I was pretty sure after three laps that I would not finish the race in the pack. I learned very quickly that it is a terrible attitude to have because it just made me feel worse. The race went on, though, and I started to feel better. The pack split into two with all the pros up front and just about everyone else in the second group (including me). I thought for sure that the front group would stay away, but apparently two BMC guys went off the front of the front group, so BMC stopped pushing the pace. This allowed my group to catch back up and all was back together about halfway into the race. The two BMC riders, Nathan Miller and Brent Bookwalter, built a gap of a minute and held it all the way to the finish. I was feeling much stronger at the halfway point into the race, so I stayed toward the front and followed wheels. Next thing I knew, with four laps to go I was in a chase group of 15 riders with Fast Freddie, and a bunch of other pros. I hung on for dear life and put myself through a whole lot of pain to stay with the group. Freddie and two other riders went off the front, so there was 7 of us in the group with one lap to go. At this point, I was suffering pretty badly. The descent was brutal with junior gears, so the group gapped me, but I fought back on at the bottom of the climb. After my effort to catch back on, I had nothing left and dropped off the back of the chasers. The front end of the main group caught me at the finish line, so I finished 20-25th. All in all, it was a hard day of closing gaps and staying out of the wind. I surpassed my expectations for the race and surprised myself at how competitive I could be. It was a successful first pro 1/2 race and thanks to Dylan, Mike, Larry, and Craig for giving me pre-race advice!!

-Charlie Avis

Grass Valley with Ben Sharp

Last week end  we had a junior camp up in Grass Valley. The team flew out Ben Sharp (who is the national coach and picks which junior go to Belgium). We had two very different days of riding. The first day it snowed and hailed on us while we were riding. After the ride we had a snowball fight. The next day we had great warm weather. We had a great time talking and riding with Ben Sharp.

One time at this race in Belgium, I mean Zamora...

Billy kicked the day off by saying, “You think this is cold? There was this one race in Belgium…”. Zamora, California isn’t Belgium, but the cold air and wind resembled a nice day on the Flemish Coast. With sewing machine legs, goose bumps, and chattering teeth I began to wonder why are we doing this. Because it’s fun?
Homework for this road race was on our team website: http://www.teamspecializedracing.com/index.php?page=cross-wind-racing-2.
JUNIORS READ THIS TIP.
Huddled behind a barn waiting of the 8 o’clock start, our team meeting was quick and concise: "go to the front and hammer at the first cross wind section...". This predetermined point was about 3 miles into the 60 mile race. As soon as we got to this section the pace heated up, and Kevin and I found ourselves in an early break. At mile 8, we had about 30 seconds on the chasing field when Billy came across with notorious spring terrorists (Dan Martin, Nathan Parks, and Chris Phipps). This was the last time I saw the main field.

The race started off windy and only got windier as the day progressed. The conditions separated the riders who had fitness from the pretenders. Unfortunately some of our riders, with great fitness, got caught up with those who couldn't hack or didn’t want to stick their noses out into the wind. Frustrating?

Going into the final lap, on the 10 mile course, the breakaway was Kevin Metcalfe, Billy Innes, Dan Martin, Nathan Parks, Chris Phipps, Dave Nelson, Rich Del Valle, Steve McCaw, and me. With less than 8 miles to go, Kevin made the leap of faith and attacked the group. Ironically, it was almost the same place where the break originated. This put the burden on Parks, Martin, and Phipps to chase while Billy and I rode the slot. Kevin dangled just off the front, but none of the chasers could close the gap. At 2 miles to go, this random sheep appeared on the left side of the road. As the chasing group passed, the critter spooked and began running along the road just in front of us. About 100 feet down the road, the poor bugger was almost shorn as it crossed right in front of the chasers. Parks avoided disaster as he popped out of a pedal. The sheep then paced us down the road on the right side before piling itself into a fence. Sheep aside, the terrorists regrouped and began chasing again. Whew! Around 1 mile to go, going over a small hill, aka the KOM, Kevin’s effort seemed futile, but the hardest section, a brutally windy and exposed 300 meter stretch, was between us and the finish. At this point the chase had whittled down to Dan, Nathan, Chris, Billy, and me. Kevin gave no indication of surrender as Nathan and Dan continued their pursuit. The pace proved to be too much for Chris and me as we popped off the back. Kevin's supernatural abilities took hold as he continued to fight for and finish with a very respectable solo win. Billy swiftly and cleanly won the sprint for 2nd. I rolled in solo for 5th.

That was fun!
The post race stories blame the sheep for Kevin’s success. A sheepish excuse?

Photos complements of Pete Whitbeck http://www.peterwhitbeck.com/

BBC TTT

Who will drink from the poisoned chalice and blog the Berkeley Bicycle Club Team Time Trial? Okay, I'll do it!

Hey, I got this really great photo of Rob and me winning the 90+ race. Not shabby. Very artistic, plus I look like a revolutionary hero in front. A lot of me, and just enough of Rob to show he was there. Hopefully the beer gut will shrink soon. Photo credit to AbbiOrca Photography (www.abbiorca.com).

Without putting too fine a point on it, the word of the day was "punctuality". Or not. An 8:00am start, an hour forward on the clock, registration open late with long lines: those may not have been a few of our favorite things. Am I wrong? Didn't every one of our 4-man teams go off with 3?

Still, it was truly a beautiful day for riding. We took out 1st and 2nd in the 90+ category, and Steve and Wyatt had an outstanding ride in the 70+, which got them 2nd place. No attempts to coat the asphalt with lycra and epidermis by any team members. Levi L. laid waste to us all, of course.

Thanks to BBC for making this special event happen every year.