This was a great race for me and I hope that my 2010 season will be filled with great results that I will be able to help out teammate to win many races as well.
Happy New Year and Thanks for reading,
-David Benkoski
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Favorite race of 09
Looking back at 09, I definitely have a new favorite race, Landpark Criterium. For those of you who don't know this race, it is a flat course with a couple very sharp turns. This year I started the jr. race in hopes of getting a good result. First few laps of the race started off as any junior race, many attacks, but most insignificant. I tried launching a few ones, but none succeeded in a break. Eventually Daniel Farinha (SJBC) Zach Wick (Davis Bike Club) and Miguel Henderson (Tieni Duro) were off the front with a significant gap. With about 10 laps to go in the race, I decided I would give it my all and bridge. I went about 600m before the Start/Finish and caught up to them about 3/4 of the way through the next lap. When I hooked on I caught my breath and decided to help rotate through as I saw that our advantage over the pack was increasing. With about 1 laps to go, I put my tired face on and skipped a turn. Henderson went with about 1/2 a lap to go and immediately got about 60m on us. This made Zach Wick try and give a chase, but both Daniel and I were still on his wheel. We eventually caught Henderson and Wick decided to keep drilling it in hopes of powering away, with 200m to go, Farinha came around and launched his sprint to my right, I decided to go to the left, but right as I jumped out of the saddle, Wick closed the narrow gap that I had chosen as my path and I was forced to back off giving Daniel Farinha the win without much challenge, but I still got a decent second place.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
2010
My name is Jack Maddux. I am very excited to be racing for Specialized in my 2010 season. I am 12 years old and I will be racing in the 13-14 age group in 2010. I have been enjoying the camps and get-togethers. My off season has had a little set back due to my broken wrist. I have been riding rollers thanks to Larry Nolan. I am looking forward to our next training camp at Marcus's. See you all at EB's.
~Jack
~Jack
Thursday, December 24, 2009
2009 Reflection
Going into the 2009 season, I was very excited for many reasons; the first being I was going to be at the top of my age group and also I would have five other teammates to race with, all of whom were very strong and smart riders. Two thousand and nine looked very bright and full of gold medals for Team Specialized Racing Juniors. Both the 15/16 and 17/18 teams would have the numbers and talent to control and dominate the local races. 2009 was also a year of learning many valuable lessons.
In September I had surgery to remove the plate and screws that were in my femur. As a result, my winter training started a bit later, however, my leg is now 100% healed and I was able to put that injury behind me.
Come February the race season was here! Like always, I started my racing season with the first NCNCA Junior Points Series race, Cherry Pie. This year they made a change to the course, they added a chicane at the bottom of the hill. Even before the race, many were not in favor of this addition to the course and some would be even more opposed after the race. With 56 competitors, this was a large field for a Northern California junior race, which meant crashes were bound to happen. James, Chris and I went down in a crash in the lovely chicane and Marcus was taken out with less than a lap to go. James, Chris and I were more fortunate than Marcus was, because the worst that happened to us was a DNF placing for a race, where as Marcus ended up with a broken arm. This did not stop the team from victory. A fine example of teamwork was demonstrated when Joel towed Peter up to a break and David was able to catch on. Peter was able to win the sprint and David was the only 15/16 in the break giving him the victory for the 15/16 race and a 4th place overall. Besides the crashes, Cherry Pie showed good signs for Team Specialized Racing Juniors. Lessons were learned, and probably the most obvious one for Cherry Pie was not to ride in the back of the pack.
Two weeks later it was time for the Merco criterium. Known as a fast race, it was also one of the earliest and coldest races of the year with a 7:30am start time. However, Peter, Joel, James and I were able to fire up our engines and show how a team works together. The race started with many attacks and every time there was a big white S in the break following the attack or attacking. Nothing was going to get away without at least one of us in it! About half way through the race, James and two other riders were able to get away and stay away. That left Joel, Peter and myself to control the pack, and boy we did. One of us followed every attack and not one single rider was able to bridge up to the break. As a result of our teamwork, the break was able to get a big enough gap to lap of the field with one lap to go! This lead to the positive result in that James one the race, but both Joel and I, both of which race often on the track, did not think about what happens when the field is lapped. No one in the field sprinted and the race was over. Lesson learned.
However, the true test of our strength and ability to work as a team had not been fully tested because our goals were to dominate national races and to win those races. In April, we had our first chance to dominate a national race, Sea Otter. Looked at by USA Cycling, Sea Otter has been an important junior race for many years. Not only are the courses challenging, but also many people from across the country come in for the race. The first of the two races was the circuit race. This year was the first time I have ever done this race. Previously something had always interfered with it, but this year the calendar was clear! One of the best things about the race is the Laguna Seca racecourse. Known for the corkscrew decent, the racecourse is very well known and I had raced it countless times on Gran Turismo for Playstation. I had also seen the course on my favourite (spelling dedicated to the nationality of the show) TV show Top Gear (http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/nsx-v-playstation.) However, racing a bike on this course was very different from driving an animated car or watching someone else driving a car around it. The first big difference was the hill. On the bike, the hill hurt like heck! However, every time up one of us Specialized boys put our nose in the wind and controlled the pace up to the top of the hill. However, in the sprint we were unable to dominate and bring home a win. This was disappointing but we fought hard. We would strike back with the wrath of the gods in the road race! The road race was longer, harder, and hot as he-double hockey sticks. However, this proved to be good for us. Early in the race, Yuma Koishi (San Jose Bicycle Club) and I broke away. My loyal teammates controlled the field and Allistar was able to bridge up to Yuma and me. However, Allistar kept the pace high on the main climb and I said so long farewell, auf weidersehen good-bye (wait this is not The Sound of Music) this left Yuma and Allistar in the lead, me about a minute and a half behind them and then the pack. Yuma had a wheel problem and I was able to pass him before neutral support reached him. After changing wheels Yuma was able to reel me in, but when we hit the hill, he was dead and I was able to ride away from him. Allistar finished first, me second and Yuma third. The teamwork definitely paid off!
My legs continued to operate correctly the next weekend at Wente road race and criterium. The race stayed together until the second time up the finishing climb when the field completely blew up! There was even a little mushroom cloud. I was dropped and went into chase mode. Allistar was the only one with the leaders. I was able to ride back up to the leader about three fifths away around the course. However, I did not sit up; I just rode right by them. They all got on my wheel so I sat up. There was a little bit of attacking, but nothing got away. We then formed a pace line and when we passed the start line and went under an overpass, I pulled through and I do not know how but I had a gap. This was not the first time this had happened (three years ago at the district road race, the same exact thing happened but I did not step on the gas and I ended up getting caught very easily) and I had learned my lesson from the first time, so I hit the gas hard and did not look back. I was able to get a good gap thanks to teammates controlling the pace in the pack, but not blocking. When I hit the finishing hill, it was as if I hit a wall. I lost quite a bit of speed and a group of strong and fast riders were reeling me in. I dug deep and went as hard as I could. Thankfully, I was able to cross the finish line first, but only about two seconds ahead of Bjorn Fox (Above Category Racing.) Teamwork was definitely a big factor in this race once again. The next day in the crit, we almost had a full team, and Specialized dominated, but we had some mistakes … okay I made a very big, über mistake at least I guess they consider working at the front when you have a teammate off the front a bad thing; who knew? (for those who do not get the sarcasm, I realize I was being a horrible teammate.) Moving on, Peter was off the front for ever and then some more, but was caught and with two laps to go, I became an eagle or bought a bagel, aka attacked and when I came around to the front stretch I heard Mr. Ruggy Holloway, the master himself, yelling at me to go faster or something along those lines (I guess oxygen deprivation makes it harder to remember what people said hehe) I shifted to a harder gear and really started to go into the pain cave. The last lap felt like one of the longest laps ever! However, I held my lead off until the finish line and was able to take the win. We went one, two, three in the 15/16 race and Mr. Peter, I’ll just ride a majority of the race off the front Taylor, sprinted in for first place in the 17/18 race.
May brought the team’s second chance to race at a national level at Edgar Soto Classic in Nashville Tennessee. Not only was this the world championship qualifiers for the 17/18 and the winner of the 15/16 would be guaranteed a spot on the Belgium team. Obviously, there was a lot at stake for this race. The race was divided up into two days and scored as an omnium. The first day was the time trial and the course felt good after the pre-ride. It was an out and back course with a steady uphill on the way up with two little descents. I rode to a fourth place, Marcus and David both placed in the top ten too. However, the road race was going to be a hard race. Not only was the course very difficult, but the competition was VERY fast, but we were too! The race was very hard with somebody always attacking when we hit a hill. The field ended up breaking up. David suffered a flat within the first five kilometers and was out of the race. Marcus and I were able to stay with the leaders until part of the last lap. I finished 6th and Marcus 7th. All of us were had a good fitness level, but needed to get faster if we wanted to do well at nationals.
In July, Track Nationals came and I was ready. Along with Joel, I traveled down to the Home Depot Center in Carson, Ca to the ADT Track for the second year in a row. This is the only wood track in the USA besides the track in Bolder, Colorado. I was registered for the team sprint, and 15/16 omnium, which consisted of a sprint tournament, scratch race, points race, and five hundred meter time trial. The main highlight was my points race. I rode away from the pack and was later joined by two other riders. We lapped the field and I won my first at national race! (video can be viewed here: part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ai7yY06CBo and part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9t7a9-uiO0&feature=related) Three weeks later was road nationals in Bend, Oregon. Unfortunately I did not have as much luck there. In the road race I had a flat and the wheel change took over a minute for a front wheel. I was unable to chase back to the field and my race was over. In the time trial I rode to an eleventh place.
After nationals I did a couple of Cal Cup races in an effort to earn upgrade points, this did not go as well as I had thought, but it could have been worse. However, in September I had the chance of a lifetime to go train in Colorado and stay in at the Olympic Training Center for part of the ten days. I was allowed to attend a national junior Madison camp! Another bonus was Larry was attending as one of the coaches. At the camp I learned a ton! The Madison is a very complicated race and a very popular one on the international level. The camp was also a blast! It was fun training and learning with people I usually only see once or twice a year. This was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Overall, 2009 was a good year, but it could have been better. Without the support of the team sponsors, many of the things that made the year would not have happened! Their support is priceless, to me at least. I am very thankful to all of them for their support and time. I am also very thankful for my excellent teammates. It gives me great pleasure to say I suit up in the same kit as all of you guys. Your support means a lot to me and I greatly appreciate your help at races and hope my support and help is beneficial to you too! I am very excited for 2010, and all of the opportunities that open up and look forward to an excellent season!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Thanks for reading,
--Andrew Lanier, II
In September I had surgery to remove the plate and screws that were in my femur. As a result, my winter training started a bit later, however, my leg is now 100% healed and I was able to put that injury behind me.
Come February the race season was here! Like always, I started my racing season with the first NCNCA Junior Points Series race, Cherry Pie. This year they made a change to the course, they added a chicane at the bottom of the hill. Even before the race, many were not in favor of this addition to the course and some would be even more opposed after the race. With 56 competitors, this was a large field for a Northern California junior race, which meant crashes were bound to happen. James, Chris and I went down in a crash in the lovely chicane and Marcus was taken out with less than a lap to go. James, Chris and I were more fortunate than Marcus was, because the worst that happened to us was a DNF placing for a race, where as Marcus ended up with a broken arm. This did not stop the team from victory. A fine example of teamwork was demonstrated when Joel towed Peter up to a break and David was able to catch on. Peter was able to win the sprint and David was the only 15/16 in the break giving him the victory for the 15/16 race and a 4th place overall. Besides the crashes, Cherry Pie showed good signs for Team Specialized Racing Juniors. Lessons were learned, and probably the most obvious one for Cherry Pie was not to ride in the back of the pack.
Two weeks later it was time for the Merco criterium. Known as a fast race, it was also one of the earliest and coldest races of the year with a 7:30am start time. However, Peter, Joel, James and I were able to fire up our engines and show how a team works together. The race started with many attacks and every time there was a big white S in the break following the attack or attacking. Nothing was going to get away without at least one of us in it! About half way through the race, James and two other riders were able to get away and stay away. That left Joel, Peter and myself to control the pack, and boy we did. One of us followed every attack and not one single rider was able to bridge up to the break. As a result of our teamwork, the break was able to get a big enough gap to lap of the field with one lap to go! This lead to the positive result in that James one the race, but both Joel and I, both of which race often on the track, did not think about what happens when the field is lapped. No one in the field sprinted and the race was over. Lesson learned.
However, the true test of our strength and ability to work as a team had not been fully tested because our goals were to dominate national races and to win those races. In April, we had our first chance to dominate a national race, Sea Otter. Looked at by USA Cycling, Sea Otter has been an important junior race for many years. Not only are the courses challenging, but also many people from across the country come in for the race. The first of the two races was the circuit race. This year was the first time I have ever done this race. Previously something had always interfered with it, but this year the calendar was clear! One of the best things about the race is the Laguna Seca racecourse. Known for the corkscrew decent, the racecourse is very well known and I had raced it countless times on Gran Turismo for Playstation. I had also seen the course on my favourite (spelling dedicated to the nationality of the show) TV show Top Gear (http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/nsx-v-playstation.) However, racing a bike on this course was very different from driving an animated car or watching someone else driving a car around it. The first big difference was the hill. On the bike, the hill hurt like heck! However, every time up one of us Specialized boys put our nose in the wind and controlled the pace up to the top of the hill. However, in the sprint we were unable to dominate and bring home a win. This was disappointing but we fought hard. We would strike back with the wrath of the gods in the road race! The road race was longer, harder, and hot as he-double hockey sticks. However, this proved to be good for us. Early in the race, Yuma Koishi (San Jose Bicycle Club) and I broke away. My loyal teammates controlled the field and Allistar was able to bridge up to Yuma and me. However, Allistar kept the pace high on the main climb and I said so long farewell, auf weidersehen good-bye (wait this is not The Sound of Music) this left Yuma and Allistar in the lead, me about a minute and a half behind them and then the pack. Yuma had a wheel problem and I was able to pass him before neutral support reached him. After changing wheels Yuma was able to reel me in, but when we hit the hill, he was dead and I was able to ride away from him. Allistar finished first, me second and Yuma third. The teamwork definitely paid off!
My legs continued to operate correctly the next weekend at Wente road race and criterium. The race stayed together until the second time up the finishing climb when the field completely blew up! There was even a little mushroom cloud. I was dropped and went into chase mode. Allistar was the only one with the leaders. I was able to ride back up to the leader about three fifths away around the course. However, I did not sit up; I just rode right by them. They all got on my wheel so I sat up. There was a little bit of attacking, but nothing got away. We then formed a pace line and when we passed the start line and went under an overpass, I pulled through and I do not know how but I had a gap. This was not the first time this had happened (three years ago at the district road race, the same exact thing happened but I did not step on the gas and I ended up getting caught very easily) and I had learned my lesson from the first time, so I hit the gas hard and did not look back. I was able to get a good gap thanks to teammates controlling the pace in the pack, but not blocking. When I hit the finishing hill, it was as if I hit a wall. I lost quite a bit of speed and a group of strong and fast riders were reeling me in. I dug deep and went as hard as I could. Thankfully, I was able to cross the finish line first, but only about two seconds ahead of Bjorn Fox (Above Category Racing.) Teamwork was definitely a big factor in this race once again. The next day in the crit, we almost had a full team, and Specialized dominated, but we had some mistakes … okay I made a very big, über mistake at least I guess they consider working at the front when you have a teammate off the front a bad thing; who knew? (for those who do not get the sarcasm, I realize I was being a horrible teammate.) Moving on, Peter was off the front for ever and then some more, but was caught and with two laps to go, I became an eagle or bought a bagel, aka attacked and when I came around to the front stretch I heard Mr. Ruggy Holloway, the master himself, yelling at me to go faster or something along those lines (I guess oxygen deprivation makes it harder to remember what people said hehe) I shifted to a harder gear and really started to go into the pain cave. The last lap felt like one of the longest laps ever! However, I held my lead off until the finish line and was able to take the win. We went one, two, three in the 15/16 race and Mr. Peter, I’ll just ride a majority of the race off the front Taylor, sprinted in for first place in the 17/18 race.
May brought the team’s second chance to race at a national level at Edgar Soto Classic in Nashville Tennessee. Not only was this the world championship qualifiers for the 17/18 and the winner of the 15/16 would be guaranteed a spot on the Belgium team. Obviously, there was a lot at stake for this race. The race was divided up into two days and scored as an omnium. The first day was the time trial and the course felt good after the pre-ride. It was an out and back course with a steady uphill on the way up with two little descents. I rode to a fourth place, Marcus and David both placed in the top ten too. However, the road race was going to be a hard race. Not only was the course very difficult, but the competition was VERY fast, but we were too! The race was very hard with somebody always attacking when we hit a hill. The field ended up breaking up. David suffered a flat within the first five kilometers and was out of the race. Marcus and I were able to stay with the leaders until part of the last lap. I finished 6th and Marcus 7th. All of us were had a good fitness level, but needed to get faster if we wanted to do well at nationals.
In July, Track Nationals came and I was ready. Along with Joel, I traveled down to the Home Depot Center in Carson, Ca to the ADT Track for the second year in a row. This is the only wood track in the USA besides the track in Bolder, Colorado. I was registered for the team sprint, and 15/16 omnium, which consisted of a sprint tournament, scratch race, points race, and five hundred meter time trial. The main highlight was my points race. I rode away from the pack and was later joined by two other riders. We lapped the field and I won my first at national race! (video can be viewed here: part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ai7yY06CBo and part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9t7a9-uiO0&feature=related) Three weeks later was road nationals in Bend, Oregon. Unfortunately I did not have as much luck there. In the road race I had a flat and the wheel change took over a minute for a front wheel. I was unable to chase back to the field and my race was over. In the time trial I rode to an eleventh place.
After nationals I did a couple of Cal Cup races in an effort to earn upgrade points, this did not go as well as I had thought, but it could have been worse. However, in September I had the chance of a lifetime to go train in Colorado and stay in at the Olympic Training Center for part of the ten days. I was allowed to attend a national junior Madison camp! Another bonus was Larry was attending as one of the coaches. At the camp I learned a ton! The Madison is a very complicated race and a very popular one on the international level. The camp was also a blast! It was fun training and learning with people I usually only see once or twice a year. This was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Overall, 2009 was a good year, but it could have been better. Without the support of the team sponsors, many of the things that made the year would not have happened! Their support is priceless, to me at least. I am very thankful to all of them for their support and time. I am also very thankful for my excellent teammates. It gives me great pleasure to say I suit up in the same kit as all of you guys. Your support means a lot to me and I greatly appreciate your help at races and hope my support and help is beneficial to you too! I am very excited for 2010, and all of the opportunities that open up and look forward to an excellent season!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Thanks for reading,
--Andrew Lanier, II
A Look Back
Before looking onwards to 2010 I want to look back at some highlights of my ’09 season.
Pinole Team Time Trial: This course is a forty minute loop designed to be as painful as possible; the road starts downhill and gets progressively more windy and hilly as the kilometers tick by. This year I did the race with Charlie Avis, soon to be National Time Trial Champion. This was a lesson in survival and I was so relived and pleased when we crossed the line shattering the junior course record and winning by a nearly three minute margin. The hard effort was good for me, and a turning point in how I viewed time trialing. I realized that if I wanted to be good at time trialing I would need to train more in the TT position and be willing to suffer more than everyone else, or at least as much as everyone else. Although my time trialing is still a work in progress I improved markedly since this event which earned me 2nd in the State Championship and 16th at the National Championships.
Santa Cruz Classic: This race came at a crucial time for me while I was still looking for those last few upgrade points. I tried to stay up front as much as possible to make sure that I didn’t miss out on a break. With five laps to go Joel told me to get back in the field and get a little rest from the wind; I had been second wheel almost the entire race, so this was a good suggestion. Thanks Joel. Fast-forward a few laps and I was 8th wheel coming out of the last corner, probably just a bit too far back. I waited and with about 200 meters to go jumped as hard as I could. I threw my bike at the line to take the win by a hair.
National Criterium Championship: After the Pinole Team Time Trial this was the hardest race I did all year. I tried to stay up front and out of trouble, but with about 8 laps to go I decided to take a risk and bridge to a break of three riders containing the National Road Champion. I attacked out of the group and was quickly joined by Juan Carmona and Anders Newbury. We worked together and nearly caught the break, but began to lose ground with four laps to go before finally being brought back into the fold with three to go. I drifted a little far back after being caught and I spent the remaining two and a half laps moving up to take 6th in the field sprint and 9th overall. The group that I was a few meters from bridging up to went on to win. This was my last race of the ’09 season and was a great way to finish the season.
Pinole Team Time Trial: This course is a forty minute loop designed to be as painful as possible; the road starts downhill and gets progressively more windy and hilly as the kilometers tick by. This year I did the race with Charlie Avis, soon to be National Time Trial Champion. This was a lesson in survival and I was so relived and pleased when we crossed the line shattering the junior course record and winning by a nearly three minute margin. The hard effort was good for me, and a turning point in how I viewed time trialing. I realized that if I wanted to be good at time trialing I would need to train more in the TT position and be willing to suffer more than everyone else, or at least as much as everyone else. Although my time trialing is still a work in progress I improved markedly since this event which earned me 2nd in the State Championship and 16th at the National Championships.
Santa Cruz Classic: This race came at a crucial time for me while I was still looking for those last few upgrade points. I tried to stay up front as much as possible to make sure that I didn’t miss out on a break. With five laps to go Joel told me to get back in the field and get a little rest from the wind; I had been second wheel almost the entire race, so this was a good suggestion. Thanks Joel. Fast-forward a few laps and I was 8th wheel coming out of the last corner, probably just a bit too far back. I waited and with about 200 meters to go jumped as hard as I could. I threw my bike at the line to take the win by a hair.
National Criterium Championship: After the Pinole Team Time Trial this was the hardest race I did all year. I tried to stay up front and out of trouble, but with about 8 laps to go I decided to take a risk and bridge to a break of three riders containing the National Road Champion. I attacked out of the group and was quickly joined by Juan Carmona and Anders Newbury. We worked together and nearly caught the break, but began to lose ground with four laps to go before finally being brought back into the fold with three to go. I drifted a little far back after being caught and I spent the remaining two and a half laps moving up to take 6th in the field sprint and 9th overall. The group that I was a few meters from bridging up to went on to win. This was my last race of the ’09 season and was a great way to finish the season.
Racing for Specialized
Happy holidays everyone, my name is Matthew Valencia. I would like to thank Larry Nolan and Wyatt Weisel for inviting me on this team and for taking the time to help the juniors improve. Next year racing for this team, i will be looking forward to the support i get from the masters team and racing with some of the fastest teammates in the country. Our team has many goals and i think we will be able to achieve them in 2010
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Dream Come True
I have raced six full seasons now and I finally got to do the race I had always heard about. Since my beginnings on the bike I had always heard amazing things about the level of competition as well as the awesome experience that came along with the Tour de Le Abitibi. The world renowned 17-18 Junior race is held in
The selection process started months in advance; the first criterion was whether or not a rider was attending a regional camp. Historically there were only a few camps that sent teams, but with the new process a rider could attend any camp and if selected would race on regional team from a different area. I was invited to join
Now to the exciting part, the actual race; all of the racers and team support leave out of the school in
2009 was a fantastic year, a year during which I got to experience something that I will never forget. I hope to go back and race again at Abitibi and will hopefully improve upon my top ten results and climb up to that top step of the podium.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Countdown to 2010 Race Season
Hello everyone. I'm Torey Philipp and I live in El Dorado Hills, California. I am very excited to now be a part of the Specialized Junior Race Team and I'm looking forward to racing with my awesome, new teammates. I have had a great year of racing road and cyclocross and I am extremely motivated and have goals set for 2010!
2009 by Chris
2009 was full of wins losses and close calls. But mostly huge accomplishments. We had Larry, Peter, David, Daniel, Charlie, James, Dean, Billy, Kevin, Rob, Marco, Alistair, Andrew, Joel, Craig, Rob, and Dylan has won at least one race during 2009. and some are on national levels and others on international levels. and this next year we are trying to get more national and international wins throughout the entire masters, and Juniors teams. We have already held a pre 2010 team ride in Napa a few weeks ago. And we are about to have another team ride in pleasanton and a mentoring tutorial on the same day. lets make it a great year.
Eamon Lucas
Hello my name is Eamon Lucas. I live in Pacific Grove, Ca. I am so happy to be on Team Specialized and am very motivated for the 2010 racing season. My off-season training is going well and i am right on schedule. I had a good season last year and i cant wait to better my self and the team this year. I am very thankful for all the support i receive from Specialized and all the other sponsors and i know this is going to be great year.
I also have a personal blog that will be updated through out the year.http://big-es.blogspot.com/?spref=fb
I also have a personal blog that will be updated through out the year.http://big-es.blogspot.com/?spref=fb
James's 2009 Cycling Season
Well, I would say that my cycling season this year was a success overall, but there is always room for improvement. I won this year's State Road Race and Criterium (15/16's), and I won other races this year. I had a very fun time with this great team this year and I’m very excited and motivated for the upcoming season!
I remember back in June, it was ICCC Dash for cash and Marcus (Smith) and I were racing the category 3's race. We worked very well together during the whole race, and it came down to a field sprint (which is great for me). Marcus and I coordinated with each other so well and we were magnets stuck together the whole last lap. Marcus gave me the best lead out ever and propelled me forward like no other. Even though I finished 2nd, we had super coordination!
Another great memory that I have from this past season was at Nationals, in the Criterium. Again, it came down to Marcus (Smith) and I. The race was really fast the whole time, and no one got away safely. It was 1 lap to go, and I thought it was just me left, and all of a sudden Marcus flies by the side of the field and attacks! And nobody chases! I thought Marcus was going to get swallowed up right away, but instead, we waited until 200 meters until the line. I finished 4th, and Marcus finished 6th. I learned that I should have taken the risk there and went with Marcus because I would have had a much better chance at winning the National Criterium!
Overall, this year was a great leap year and I believe this upcoming year will even better! I couldn't have performed like I did these past 2 years on Specialized without my team bike, components, wheels, coaching, and of course my teammates!
Thanks for reading and happy holidays!
Monday, December 21, 2009
End/Start of The Year
Oh man cross is all over, but what a race. The course Brad Ross and the rest of the Cyclocross Crusaders set up was absolutely amazing; it threw a little bit of everything at you mud, ice, twisty off cambers, sharp drops and punchy hills.
My race started just as the course started to thaw, so we face a good amount of mud. Everything was working great up until the first corner of the race. Somebody shoved me into a course marker as I was taking the outside line trying to out fox everyone. I picked up my bike, wrenched someone's leg out of it, rode to the pit with crooked bars, and swapped to the spare bike. I really had to get moving, being in last place. Within the first lap I had caught about 7 people. The rest of the race I dug deeper into the pain cave, catching more people. I sprinted out of each corner and braked hard into the next, just barely grazing the course tape as I did. In every corner I could feel the tires start to roll off, or I could feel rocks hitting my rims
In the end I rode up to 7th place, just 5 seconds off of 5th place. It would have been great if I didn't crash and if I didn't have to catch people, but that's 'cross for ya.
Now I am excited to start racing on the road with Team Specialized. I am privileged to be invited to race with such a talented group of individuals. I want to use everything I learned from traveling and racing 'cross and apply it to road racing to make myself and our team better. This is going to be a great season, with the support of Specialized and all our sponsors, we will be unstoppable.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
2009 Reflection
Going into the 2009 season, I was very excited for many reasons; the first being I was going to be at the top of my age group and also I would have five other teammates to race with, all of whom were very strong and smart riders. Two thousand and nine looked very bright and full of gold medals for Team Specialized Racing Juniors. Both the 15/16 and 17/18 teams would have the numbers and talent to control and dominate the local races. 2009 was also a year of learning many valuable lessons.
In September I had surgery to remove the plate and screws that were in my femur. As a result, my winter training started a bit later, however, my leg is now 100% healed and I was able to put that injury behind me.
Come February the race season was here! Like always, I started my racing season with the first NCNCA Junior Points Series race, Cherry Pie. This year they made a change to the course, they added a chicane at the bottom of the hill. Even before the race, many were not in favor of this addition to the course and some would be even more opposed after the race. With 56 competitors, this was a large field for a Northern California junior race, which meant crashes were bound to happen. James, Chris and I went down in a crash in the lovely chicane and Marcus was taken out with less than a lap to go. James, Chris and I were more fortunate than Marcus was, because the worst that happened to us was a DNF placing for a race, where as Marcus ended up with a broken arm. This did not stop the team from victory. A fine example of teamwork was demonstrated when Joel towed Peter up to a break and David was able to catch on. Peter was able to win the sprint and David was the only 15/16 in the break giving him the victory for the 15/16 race and a 4th place overall. Besides the crashes, Cherry Pie showed good signs for Team Specialized Racing Juniors. Lessons were learned, and probably the most obvious one for Cherry Pie was not to ride in the back of the pack.
Two weeks later it was time for the Merco criterium. Known as a fast race, it was also one of the earliest and coldest races of the year with a 7:30am start time. However, Peter, Joel, James and I were able to fire up our engines and show how a team works together. The race started with many attacks and every time there was a big white S in the break following the attack or attacking. Nothing was going to get away without at least one of us in it! About half way through the race, James and two other riders were able to get away and stay away. That left Joel, Peter and myself to control the pack, and boy we did. One of us followed every attack and not one single rider was able to bridge up to the break. As a result of our teamwork, the break was able to get a big enough gap to lap of the field with one lap to go! This lead to the positive result in that James one the race, but both Joel and I, both of which race often on the track, did not think about what happens when the field is lapped. No one in the field sprinted and the race was over. Lesson learned.
However, the true test of our strength and ability to work as a team had not been fully tested because our goals were to dominate national races and to win those races. In April, we had our first chance to dominate a national race, Sea Otter. Looked at by USA Cycling, Sea Otter has been an important junior race for many years. Not only are the courses challenging, but also many people from across the country come in for the race. The first of the two races was the circuit race. This year was the first time I have ever done this race. Previously something had always interfered with it, but this year the calendar was clear! One of the best things about the race is the Laguna Seca racecourse. Known for the corkscrew decent, the racecourse is very well known and I had raced it countless times on Gran Turismo for Playstation. I had also seen the course on my favourite (spelling dedicated to the nationality of the show) TV show Top Gear (http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/nsx-v-playstation.) However, racing a bike on this course was very different from driving an animated car or watching someone else driving a car around it. The first big difference was the hill. On the bike, the hill hurt like heck! However, every time up one of us Specialized boys put our nose in the wind and controlled the pace up to the top of the hill. However, in the sprint we were unable to dominate and bring home a win. This was disappointing but we fought hard. We would strike back with the wrath of the gods in the road race! The road race was longer, harder, and hot as he-double hockey sticks. However, this proved to be good for us. Early in the race, Yuma Koishi (San Jose Bicycle Club) and I broke away. My loyal teammates controlled the field and Allistar was able to bridge up to Yuma and me. However, Allistar kept the pace high on the main climb and I said so long farewell, auf weidersehen good-bye (wait this is not The Sound of Music) this left Yuma and Allistar in the lead, me about a minute and a half behind them and then the pack. Yuma had a wheel problem and I was able to pass him before neutral support reached him. After changing wheels Yuma was able to reel me in, but when we hit the hill, he was dead and I was able to ride away from him. Allistar finished first, me second and Yuma third. The teamwork definitely paid off!
My legs continued to operate correctly the next weekend at Wente road race and criterium. The race stayed together until the second time up the finishing climb when the field completely blew up! There was even a little mushroom cloud. I was dropped and went into chase mode. Allistar was the only one with the leaders. I was able to ride back up to the leader about three fifths away around the course. However, I did not sit up; I just rode right by them. They all got on my wheel so I sat up. There was a little bit of attacking, but nothing got away. We then formed a pace line and when we passed the start line and went under an overpass, I pulled through and I do not know how but I had a gap. This was not the first time this had happened (three years ago at the district road race, the same exact thing happened but I did not step on the gas and I ended up getting caught very easily) and I had learned my lesson from the first time, so I hit the gas hard and did not look back. I was able to get a good gap thanks to teammates controlling the pace in the pack, but not blocking. When I hit the finishing hill, it was as if I hit a wall. I lost quite a bit of speed and a group of strong and fast riders were reeling me in. I dug deep and went as hard as I could. Thankfully, I was able to cross the finish line first, but only about two seconds ahead of Bjorn Fox (Above Category Racing.) Teamwork was definitely a big factor in this race once again. The next day in the crit, we almost had a full team, and Specialized dominated, but we had some mistakes … okay I made a very big, über mistake at least I guess they consider working at the front when you have a teammate off the front a bad thing; who knew? (for those who do not get the sarcasm, I realize I was being a horrible teammate.) Moving on, Peter was off the front for ever and then some more, but was caught and with two laps to go, I became an eagle or bought a bagel, aka attacked and when I came around to the front stretch I heard Mr. Ruggy Holloway, the master himself, yelling at me to go faster or something along those lines (I guess oxygen deprivation makes it harder to remember what people said hehe) I shifted to a harder gear and really started to go into the pain cave. The last lap felt like one of the longest laps ever! However, I held my lead off until the finish line and was able to take the win. We went one, two, three in the 15/16 race and Mr. Peter, I’ll just ride a majority of the race off the front Taylor, sprinted in for first place in the 17/18 race.
May brought the team’s second chance to race at a national level at Edgar Soto Classic in Nashville Tennessee. Not only was this the world championship qualifiers for the 17/18 and the winner of the 15/16 would be guaranteed a spot on the Belgium team. Obviously, there was a lot at stake for this race. The race was divided up into two days and scored as an omnium. The first day was the time trial and the course felt good after the pre-ride. It was an out and back course with a steady uphill on the way up with two little descents. I rode to a fourth place, Marcus and David both placed in the top ten too. However, the road race was going to be a hard race. Not only was the course very difficult, but the competition was VERY fast, but we were too! The race was very hard with somebody always attacking when we hit a hill. The field ended up breaking up. David suffered a flat within the first five kilometers and was out of the race. Marcus and I were able to stay with the leaders until part of the last lap. I finished 6th and Marcus 7th. All of us were had a good fitness level, but needed to get faster if we wanted to do well at nationals.
In July, Track Nationals came and I was ready. Along with Joel, I traveled down to the Home Depot Center in Carson, Ca to the ADT Track for the second year in a row. This is the only wood track in the USA besides the track in Bolder, Colorado. I was registered for the team sprint, and 15/16 omnium, which consisted of a sprint tournament, scratch race, points race, and five hundred meter time trial. The main highlight was my points race. I rode away from the pack and was later joined by two other riders. We lapped the field and I won my first at national race! (video can be viewed here: part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ai7yY06CBo and part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9t7a9-uiO0&feature=related) Three weeks later was road nationals in Bend, Oregon. Unfortunately I did not have as much luck there. In the road race I had a flat and the wheel change took over a minute for a front wheel. I was unable to chase back to the field and my race was over. In the time trial I rode to an eleventh place.
After nationals I did a couple of Cal Cup races in an effort to earn upgrade points, this did not go as well as I had thought, but it could have been worse. However, in September I had the chance of a lifetime to go train in Colorado and stay in at the Olympic Training Center for part of the ten days. I was allowed to attend a national junior Madison camp! Another bonus was Larry was attending as one of the coaches. At the camp I learned a ton! The Madison is a very complicated race and a very popular one on the international level. The camp was also a blast! It was fun training and learning with people I usually only see once or twice a year. This was definitely a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Overall, 2009 was a good year, but it could have been better. Without the support of the team sponsors, many of the things that made the year would not have happened! Their support is priceless, to me at least. I am very thankful to all of them for their support and time. I am also very thankful for my excellent teammates. It gives me great pleasure to say I suit up in the same kit as all of you guys. Your support means a lot to me and I greatly appreciate your help at races and hope my support and help is beneficial to you too! I am very excited for 2010, and all of the opportunities that open up and look forward to an excellent season!
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Thanks for reading,
--Andrew Lanier, II
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Daniel's Trip to Kentucky
RRG 2009
I was lucky enough to be able to go down to Kentucky this year and race at the only international junior race in America. I had a lot of mixed feelings in this race. Going into it I was super excited, and really focused. I also had a great team with me going out, with a few extra riders from California thrown into our group. Going into this race, I knew the courses suited my style of riding. I also think I perform better in races that have a higher pace, compared to those races that are more of a ride to the last 10k. Because this had such a high number of top competitors, I knew the pace would be higher.
The first race was the prologue, which lasted about 2 min. I under paced the course, and ended up mid field somewhere. My teammate Charlie, however, had a good day, and won, taking the yellow jersey. Going into the second stage, I had to protect Charlie’s yellow jersey. He wanted me and a few of the other breakaway artists to go up ahead and take away the time bonus slots on the course. That way he would have a good chance of holding onto the lead until the time trial. I ended up breaking away early in a two man break with the soon to be road National Champion. He and I held a 1-3 min lead until a few miles after the first KOM point. That is when a group of about 6 other riders joined us. After being in a two man break for a while, I was tired, but I knew I had to hang on to try to get rid of some of the time bonuses. I managed to get in the top five in the sprint point, and again, knew I should hang on for the last KOM of the stage, and maybe even go for the final sprint. Right about now I ran out of the water I grabbed from Craig, and was calling for a car to bring up some. Unfortunately, the officials thought that the road was too narrow from then on to the finish to bring cars through. I was stuck with a sip or two for 20 more miles. Right around then, the group split up, and ended up weeding down the group to a total of six riders. I ended up dropping off at the last KOM, and within the last four miles loosing 3 min and being caught by the pack. This stage taught me to always bring extra water. I also realized how much better later breakaways are than going off from the beginning. Early breakaways = pain.
The next stage was my most unlucky stage ever. I started off the stage tied for third on the KOM classification. My goal was to get top placing on the first two KOM points. That never happened. I ended up getting a flat in the first 10 miles. Billy quickly changed it, and I caught back on soon enough. Before I could move to the front, I ended up crashing. I got up and going in a few seconds, and tried to chase back on again. This was harder than the last time, and I felt I couldn’t catch back up until we turned unto the next section of downhill. That did not happen though. I ended up crashing again, due to a rider with me freaking out when hitting a rock on the road. I took me a good minute to get up from that crash. I was in a lot of pain, and my top tube was broken. I still wanted to at least finish the stage so that I could help out in the crit the next day. I ended up riding for another 25 miles until I was sure I couldn’t make the time cut. It wasn’t all bad though. I got some good experience in the caravan, and learned to keep chasing. Unfortunately all my chasing that day ended up getting me nowhere. Sometime in the future it will help out though.
I was lucky enough to be able to go down to Kentucky this year and race at the only international junior race in America. I had a lot of mixed feelings in this race. Going into it I was super excited, and really focused. I also had a great team with me going out, with a few extra riders from California thrown into our group. Going into this race, I knew the courses suited my style of riding. I also think I perform better in races that have a higher pace, compared to those races that are more of a ride to the last 10k. Because this had such a high number of top competitors, I knew the pace would be higher.
The first race was the prologue, which lasted about 2 min. I under paced the course, and ended up mid field somewhere. My teammate Charlie, however, had a good day, and won, taking the yellow jersey. Going into the second stage, I had to protect Charlie’s yellow jersey. He wanted me and a few of the other breakaway artists to go up ahead and take away the time bonus slots on the course. That way he would have a good chance of holding onto the lead until the time trial. I ended up breaking away early in a two man break with the soon to be road National Champion. He and I held a 1-3 min lead until a few miles after the first KOM point. That is when a group of about 6 other riders joined us. After being in a two man break for a while, I was tired, but I knew I had to hang on to try to get rid of some of the time bonuses. I managed to get in the top five in the sprint point, and again, knew I should hang on for the last KOM of the stage, and maybe even go for the final sprint. Right about now I ran out of the water I grabbed from Craig, and was calling for a car to bring up some. Unfortunately, the officials thought that the road was too narrow from then on to the finish to bring cars through. I was stuck with a sip or two for 20 more miles. Right around then, the group split up, and ended up weeding down the group to a total of six riders. I ended up dropping off at the last KOM, and within the last four miles loosing 3 min and being caught by the pack. This stage taught me to always bring extra water. I also realized how much better later breakaways are than going off from the beginning. Early breakaways = pain.
The next stage was my most unlucky stage ever. I started off the stage tied for third on the KOM classification. My goal was to get top placing on the first two KOM points. That never happened. I ended up getting a flat in the first 10 miles. Billy quickly changed it, and I caught back on soon enough. Before I could move to the front, I ended up crashing. I got up and going in a few seconds, and tried to chase back on again. This was harder than the last time, and I felt I couldn’t catch back up until we turned unto the next section of downhill. That did not happen though. I ended up crashing again, due to a rider with me freaking out when hitting a rock on the road. I took me a good minute to get up from that crash. I was in a lot of pain, and my top tube was broken. I still wanted to at least finish the stage so that I could help out in the crit the next day. I ended up riding for another 25 miles until I was sure I couldn’t make the time cut. It wasn’t all bad though. I got some good experience in the caravan, and learned to keep chasing. Unfortunately all my chasing that day ended up getting me nowhere. Sometime in the future it will help out though.
-Daniel Tisdell
Monday, December 14, 2009
Alistair's year in cycling
2009 was my first year on Team Specialized Racing Jrs. I really wanted to be part of this team and when my dream came through I was overjoyed. I learned a lot this year and I really enjoyed being part of such a great team.
The highlights of my season were the Sea Otter Road Race, where I was able to break away from the pack and finish first. This would not have been possible without the help of my teammates, and of course the superlight Specialized SL.
I also had a great time in the Gold Nugget Stage Race. Unfortunately they did not post the results of this race on the web, but it was very hard. I won a stage and finished second in the others. But most of all was the unforgettable experience of riding a stage race. Every day you have to be there and work hard or all is lost. That was very clear to me before the last stage, when I was leading by only a few seconds. I not only had to race hard, I also had to race smart and it was a great lesson for me.
Unfortunately, I had a serious mishap at Nationals and was unable to finish the road race even though the course suited me well. A few days later I still had a sore hip and that affected my time trialing quite a bit. And then on the very last day, in the crit, I got stuck in a major crash right in the very first turn.
A real highlight of my season was the chance to race in Belgium, where I quickly found out how tough it can get. The roads were narrow and bumpy and the pack was large and agitated. During my second race, I crashed again and was left with new wounds on top of the old ones. My beautiful Specialized helmet cracked when I hit the pavement and the glasses that Billy gave me got lost. Fortunately, a bystander brought them back. Despite the bandages, I stuck to my guns and finished a third race one week later.
Overall I look forward to racing with Team Specialized in 2010. We had a fantastic camp in Napa and I learned a lot while there. It is so much fun to hang out with teammates and friends. Happy Holidays everyone.
Marcus 2009 Recap
2009 was a good year for me. I learned and grew (figuratively & literally) a lot.
My season started out on a bad note with a crash in the final turn at Cherry Pie and a broken arm. I was stuck on the trainer for 6 weeks after. I learned to keep motivated through the hard training when all my teammates were racing.
It took a while to get up to race pace with all the other juniors who had been racing all spring. But I was up to speed by Edgar Soto. Time Trials aren't my strength, but on the TT I kept my mind focused and finished 10th which I was very happy with. The next day in the road race I felt great and finished 7th. Overall I end up 8th, but 2nd out of the 15 year olds.
At Nationals Charlie Avis won the 17-18 TT. I saw how hard he went and knew I could make my body go that hard, but maybe not as fast. I remembered this in the crit when with one lap to go 8 riders got a 10m gap off the front. I closed the gap and decided to keep going. I lasted until 50m and was passed by the sprinters (I think I was pedaling squares). I ended up 6th and the 1st 15 year old.
After Nationals I raced in the Cal Cup as a 3. In the past years I had only been able to stay with them, but this year was different. I was stronger and had peaked later because of my crash. I got a few top 10 finishes and some of my upgrade points so hopefully I can upgrade in 2010 to a 2.
This year I learned to keep motivated through hard and boring trainer time. I did well for my age in big races. I also grew 4 inches during the year. SO WATCH OUT next year
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Cheating Death
Today was the Altamont Team Time Trial which was also the District TTT Championship. It was the same course that Larry, Rob, Mick and I raced on in the spring, with a few miles added on to make it 40km. This time around our team was Rob, Craig, myself and Mark Volkman who stepped in for Mick when he got sick this week. We raced in the 35+ group.
We knew it would be windy today. It was windy in the spring and well, they put the windmills here for a reason! But hey, it wasn't THAT bad in the spring.
What followed was probably the most frightening 59:50 I've ever spent on my bike! Every thing was fine until we made it over Altamont Pass on the way out. As expected we got going pretty fast on the back side. What I didn't expect was the HUGE side wind gusts. Let's just say that getting moved across the center line at 50mph is NOT fun. My max speed was 52.5mph. I spent one mile where I averaged 45mph!!! I certainly wasn't in the aero bars and I likely wasn't pedaling much either! All told I probably spent less than 15 minutes in the aero bars and on some of those fast sections I wasn't even trying to go fast, I was just trying to control my bike and not go down. There were a number of occasions where we'd get blow over, get a speed wobble and fight like hell to get back in control so we could go again.
Poor Rob at 135 lbs was getting blown all over the place. We finally had to leave him as it was just too hard to stay in the pace line for him while he was getting blown all over. It was bad enough at 165 lbs...
We hit the turn around in 21:35 for an average speed of 34.7mph! On the way back there were sections where we were riding three abreast because the side wind was so bad. Where even in the "draft" I was putting out over huge watts just to stay on. This was the cross wind section. When we turned back into the teeth of the wind and started climbing back over Altamont Pass it was at least safe. But it was SLOW. I looked down during one of my pulls and saw that I was putting out 400W in my aero bars and going 13mph in my 39x21. Our return trip took 38:15 at 19.1mph.
We were the only team to break 1 hour. I have only once gone this slow in an individual 40km TT. Afterward, everybody I spoke to was in agreement that this was the scariest thing we had ever done on our bike. We all agreed that we spent far more energy on not crashing than riding fast on the way out. In retrospect a road bike with clip on bars and something like Zipp 404's front and rear would probably have been faster than our TT bikes today!
Happily as far as I know all the teams made it through and kept the rubber side down.
We knew it would be windy today. It was windy in the spring and well, they put the windmills here for a reason! But hey, it wasn't THAT bad in the spring.
What followed was probably the most frightening 59:50 I've ever spent on my bike! Every thing was fine until we made it over Altamont Pass on the way out. As expected we got going pretty fast on the back side. What I didn't expect was the HUGE side wind gusts. Let's just say that getting moved across the center line at 50mph is NOT fun. My max speed was 52.5mph. I spent one mile where I averaged 45mph!!! I certainly wasn't in the aero bars and I likely wasn't pedaling much either! All told I probably spent less than 15 minutes in the aero bars and on some of those fast sections I wasn't even trying to go fast, I was just trying to control my bike and not go down. There were a number of occasions where we'd get blow over, get a speed wobble and fight like hell to get back in control so we could go again.
Poor Rob at 135 lbs was getting blown all over the place. We finally had to leave him as it was just too hard to stay in the pace line for him while he was getting blown all over. It was bad enough at 165 lbs...
We hit the turn around in 21:35 for an average speed of 34.7mph! On the way back there were sections where we were riding three abreast because the side wind was so bad. Where even in the "draft" I was putting out over huge watts just to stay on. This was the cross wind section. When we turned back into the teeth of the wind and started climbing back over Altamont Pass it was at least safe. But it was SLOW. I looked down during one of my pulls and saw that I was putting out 400W in my aero bars and going 13mph in my 39x21. Our return trip took 38:15 at 19.1mph.
We were the only team to break 1 hour. I have only once gone this slow in an individual 40km TT. Afterward, everybody I spoke to was in agreement that this was the scariest thing we had ever done on our bike. We all agreed that we spent far more energy on not crashing than riding fast on the way out. In retrospect a road bike with clip on bars and something like Zipp 404's front and rear would probably have been faster than our TT bikes today!
Happily as far as I know all the teams made it through and kept the rubber side down.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Vacaville GP
I showed up to the Vacaville GP not really sure of what I was getting myself into. I had overheard on local group rides that there was a hill in the course. When I got there my dad and I walked around the course once. The course itself is over a mile long! When I saw the hill I wasn't too worried at first as I knew that it was a straight up power hill. After walking around the course and doing the usual warm up/goofing around with teammates, we lined up at the start. I was already not feeling to well, I had a stomach ache and was tired and nauseous all over. At first I thought it was the usual stress you get at the start of any race ( I later realized that it was because I was sick). When the race started, the first lap was pretty contained with almost no attacks or surges. A few laps in a break of 4 including local junior Sam Bolster. I had watched the previous race and saw that the winning break went very early on. I decided to make my move and bridge up with 13 laps to go (out of 15). Within 1/2 a lap we got brought back. I stayed middle/front of the pack for most of the race until 5 laps to go when on the back side my bottle came lose and I had to slow down to fix it, this brought me to the back of the pack. With 1 lap to go I managed to move up to top 2o on the hill, but unfortunately I was pinched between two riders in the last turn who just could not hold their line. That meant that coming out of the last turn I had fallen back to about 30th. Realizing that sprinting for 25th would be stupid and dangerous, I just shut it off right there and drifted back to about 40th. Hopefully next week at the Giro di San Francisco I can do better and get some upgrade points!Thanks for reading,
-David
Sunday, August 9, 2009
First race in Belgium
Lovendegem, Belgium. The course was a 5KM loop with narrow roads and a 700 meter stretch of nasty cobble stones. The finish was near the end of the cobble section. We did a total of 12 laps, 60KM and I think 114 riders started. We went out really fast with everyone fighting for position on a road that could only fit about 3 cars; then we had a narrow right hand turn where you could barely fit 1 car. Right away a big crash happened right there and I was forced to go off road to get around them. I then had to stay in a group of riders trying to catch back up to the pack. When we got to the cobble stone section, it was the roughest and bumpiest road I had ever ridden on. I followed rider's wheels to save energy and eventually we caught the peloton. More crashes happened -there was a crash on every lap. I eventually cramped up after trying catch back on again and lost the peloton half way into the race. A small group of riders caught up to me and for the next 3 laps I stayed in that group as we caught rider after rider that had been dropped. At 9 laps done our group was pulled from the race because we had lost too much time on the peloton. Hopefully next week I will have a better race with no cobbles (thank God) and several climbs (in Ooike).
Alistair
Alistair
Friday, August 7, 2009
15-16 National RR
The road race was a long, hard, but also annoying road race. We started our 75 km road race. It was 14 laps around this 5 km loop, including a roundabout , that we had to take the long way around (I have no clue why they made us do that). 2 km into the race, Allistair unfortunately crashed, and we were hoping it would be a good day for him. Chris also got in the thick of this crash, so his race was over too. Then, 3 laps into our race, Andrew got a flat, and the neutral support guys took over a minute to change a front wheel! it was surprising for a national event! He tried to chase back on, but couldn't. then, it was Marcus, David, and I. 4 laps into the race, Paul Lynch attack out of the group and I followed him. Right after me, it was Yannick Eckmann, and David Kessler( both 5280 squad) followed me. We got into a break, and 3 km later, we got a 40+ second gap! We were flying! After about those 3 km, I could hold on. I popped off and went back to the field. Eventually, that was the winning break, with Kessler winning the road race.Then, about 5 laps later, there was a crash on the back stretch, and David got in that crash, so his day was done then too! After that group of 3 were up the road and gone, nobody wanted to do any work. with about 5 laps to go, somehow a group of 4 formed up the road, and so, I tried to catch them by attacking out of the group, but couldn't catch them, and nobody would help me catch them at all! It got really annoying! So, it came down to a sprint for 8th place, and I finished up there in 12th, and Marcus finished 21st. It was an okay day for the team, but there was some bad luck with 4 of our guys crashing, or flating, and with me not being able to hold on to the wheel in the breakaway.
--James LaBerge
--James LaBerge
James's 15-16 National Crit
After a little misunderstanding between James and I we each wrote entries about the National Crit. As you all know, two people never see the same race the same way. So here is James's view of the Crit.
After the race, this race was definitely the hardest, but the most fun race to watch throughout the whole day! Even USA Cycling said that our race was the most exciting race of the day! We had a field of about 70 guys, ans part of the course goes through a brewery, so the road was really small. The race started, and as I guessed, there was a huge pile up going around the first turn. This probably took out about a quarter of the field including 3 of my teammates( David, Chris, and Allistair)! Right after the crash, Yannick Eckmann(5280) attacked and had a gap. He had the field strung out for 9 out of the 25 laps on our 1km course. Our lap times were a speedy 1:30 about every time we went through those first 9 laps! Eventually, we caught Yannick, then Andrew put in some good attacks and brought back a lot of guys that would try to break away. While Andrew was doing all the work, Marcus and I were sitting in the pack waiting for the sprint or the right time to attack. The race settled down, and with one lap to go, there was either a split in the field, or a crash, but I do know that all the sprinters were up in the lead group , including me. Marcus then bridged up to my group of about 10, and went straight by us and attacked out of the group, and surprisingly, nobody jumped onto his wheel! Then, two 5280 guys were on the front, just keeping Marcus in striking distance with me right behind them and Cory Williams behind me. With about 300 meters to go, Marcus was still right in front of us, and I started my sprint! Unfortunately, as I started my sprint one of the 5280 guys started moving over, moving me into the sidewalk. So, I had to slow down. As I shad to slow down Cory Williams started his sprint, and there was nothing that I could do. I had to take the last bend on the very outside. Cory Williams eventually won the sprint. I ended up finishing in 4th, and Marcus 6th; best for 15 year olds! Congrats Marcus! As I look back now, I should have followed Marcus when he attacked because I could have started my sprint in front of everybody else and not have to worry about trying to get around anybody to start my sprint. In Conclusion, it was a great team effort, and this 15-16 squad received a medal at nationals!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Nationals Crit 17-18
On the day of the Nationals 17-18 Criterium things were going very well for the team. Charlie had won the 17-18 Time Trial and Marcus and James both got close to the win in the 15-16s Criterium, not to mention that we had achieved a season long goal of shaving everyones head. Joel and I were the only two racing in the final junior event at Nationals and I hoped to continue the team’s success. The start was faster than I expected, but I soon found a comfortable place in the field. Joel moved me up on a couple occasions when I moved too far back in the field. This type of teamwork is rare at Nationals where everyone wants a good result for themselves. With twelve laps to go a break of three riders that would end up staying away was about 15 seconds up the road. And 10 seconds up the road was another chase group of three. I bridged up to this group, but our group was caught by the field with 5 laps to go. I recovered for the sprint and finished 9th to cap off a successful Nationals.
15-16 National Crit
On Saturday we had our 15-16 crit. The course was short with a small hill on the back side. I was called up to the line because of last year's results. David Benkoski lined up next to me. In the first turn there was a crash and David almost went down, but kept both of us up. We had to unclip and get around the crash before sprinting up to the pack again. For the rest of the race small attacks went up the road with Andrew and James, while sat in and followed the wheels. With two laps to go, Andrew and I were set up well about 10 back, but a crash pushed both of us in 20th. James was in front of the crash and I worked my way up to him. On the last lap a 9 man break with all the sprinters (including James) got a small gap on the climb. I jumped across the gap and caught the sprinters who were looking at each other to work. I attacked them and got a gap through some turns. James got in 3rd spot and waited for the sprint. I don't remember much more then with 50m have 5 riders pass me. I finished 6th and James finished 4th. It was great teamwork because Andrew and James early attacks set up my attack and James's sprint.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Tour of the Red River Gorge
Like most days when we have a local juniors race, we had an early wake up call, however this time it was to get to the airport for our early flight to Louisville, Kentucky. Upon arrival at the airport, the four of us who would be travelling together (me, Peter, and our two guest riders – Daniel Farinha from SJBC and Cody Tapley from Davis Bike Club) checked in our bikes and bags and began the trek though security. With time to kill, we found seats near our terminal and pulled out our various cycling magazines and breakfast foods. We hopped on the plane, found our seats (happily I got an exit row seat without a seat in front of me), and relaxed until we landed in Chicago. After an hour and a half lay over in Chicago, we were on our way to our final destination.
"Howdy y'all" greeted us over the PA system in the Louisville. All the luggage made it with the exception of Cody’s bag of clothes. Picking it up the next day was not a problem as another trip to the airport was required to pick up Daniel Tisdell. Billy and Craig, who supported us on the trip, picked us up and took us to our hotel in Lexington. In an effort to get us accustomed to the time zone, Billy and Craig gave us a strict 6 a.m. wakeup call, and boy was that tough. Little did they know that after a 6:30 breakfast we all went back to sleep for two hours. We spent the next day and a half riding the TT course a couple of times, driving the two road race courses, and taking in all the glory that Kentucky had to offer. Tuesday was our first day of racing, a double day – a 1 mile prologue in the morning and a 100km road race in the afternoon. Cody was first off and his TT bike did not pass the newest UCI rule which had apparently become effective only two days before the race. So he, like many others, were on their road bikes. One by one we went off and came back, none of us knowing exactly what our times were or how we stacked up against the current leader. Finally it was Charlie’s turn. He headed out and came back with the winning time! (at least that is what we gathered from the excitement in the announcer’s voice). Charlie’s time held through the few remaining riders.
Team Specialized was in the yellow jersey and it was time to defend it. As many of us expected, stage two began fairly fast. The riding was sketchy further back in the pack, so the team tried to stay near the front without putting our noses into the wind. After a few weak attacks from the pack, our very own Daniel T was able to get into a small breakaway that stuck for almost the entire race. The other five of us had our own jobs and team goals for the race, but it relieved some pressure by having a teammate in the early break. Going through the feed zone the pace began to pick up and continued hard into and through town to the intermediate sprint point. As we made our way out of town a group of about 12 riders went off the front and got a gap on thepack – but no Specialized riders were in the group. We spent the next portion of the race getting to the front and pulling back as much time on the group as we could. However, with so many teams represented in the break it was hard getting enough riders to work and the group ahead began to gain time. Charlie tried to follow wheels up to the break but was unsuccessful. Daniel F tried the same later in the race but was also unsuccessful. It was a very hot day and we were in desperate need for more water. I made one successful trip back to the team car for water but when I went back again, my bars turned into the car door, I bounced off the car and went flying across and off the road. I stayed upright but every single muscle in my legs cramped. Eventually I got back on my bike and had a mechanic give me a push, but it was too late to catch back on to the pack. I rode the last 15 km with one other rider who was dropped from the group. We finished the day with five of our six in the main group about one minute back from the new leader. And so we began our recovery for the next day.
Wednesday was the longer time trial, a 23 km out and back course with a few big rollers. Both Cody and took it easy today as there was no time cut and neither of us were in contention for the leader's jersey. Once I was done with my recovery ride/TT, the bigger namesstarted their rides. We were unsure how our guys would stack up and it became a waiting game. We waited and waited and were still unsure of the results as we packed up and headed out, but we did know we did not reclaim the leader's jersey.
Thursday was the much anticipated, very hilly, final road race stage of the tour. It was 115 km long with supposedly 8000 feet of climbing. The race started out at the bottom of the Red River Gorge – this was actually the first time that we saw the Red River. The pace was fast from the gun and continued fast over the top of the first climb, but then settled in to an easier pace over the next 20 km of rollers. As we made our first descent Daniel T. had a flat tire and had to drop pretty far back to get a new wheel. Just as he was catching the pack on the same descent there was a big crash, caused by the stupidity of a few riders. Daniel ended up going down, while the rest of us were comfortably ahead of it. A few kilometers after the feed zone we turned up the second of the four major climbs. The most steady of the four, this climb had a tunnel at the top for the riders to negotiate before making a descent into yet another section of rollers. While there was very little separation in the field on the climb, once the group got to the tunnel everything split. Unable to see more than 3 feet in front of ourselves, we were forced to ride at a very slow rate, while the front of the group cruised right through. After making it safely out of the tunnel we began the descent. Trying to chase back to the lead group there were a number of riders who completely missed turns. Watching riders go shooting of the road I began to descend more cautiously. With the help of about 5 other riders we made it back to the group just in time. After making it back up to the front third of the group there was yet another crash at the back of the field. This time it was Peter who had the unfortunate luck to be caught in the crash. A little cut up and completely covered in mud he began his chase, but was unable to catch the group. With about 45 km left we began our ascent up the third climb. At the base of the climb an HPC/Garmin rider attacked and Daniel F attempted to follow. After getting swallowed back up by the group, both he and I started to drift further and further back. Just as Charlie and Billy had predicted, the split was occurring on the third and hardest climb. Cresting the steepest section of the climb Daniel and I formed up with a group that quickly began to grow. As team cars came around our group, I knew that the selection was going to stick, and that Charlie was the only Specialized rider to have made the split. The next hour and a half of racing was quite uneventful in our group. As we came into the finish line Daniel F. was able to get 2nd in our group sprint, finishing around 20th overall on the stage. We later heard that from the lead group of about twenty, five riders broke off, then dropped one, and came to the line together. Both Cody and Peter rolled in more or less by themselves, with Peter coming in just minutes before the time cut. We would be starting the crit the next day with five of our six riders, as Daniel was unable to finish the stage.
Friday night was our final race, a downtown crit in Lexington. A six corner course with strong
winds on both the uphill and flatter sections was going to make for a very hard race. With nothing to lose our plan was to be aggressive and try and get in an early breakaway. When we got the whistle to start the race there seemed to be plenty of guys willing to make it a hard race, which meant it was tough to even get to the front. Both Charlie and I were fairly active for the first half of the race, but were unable to get in a break. With about 30 minutes left in the race a few riders got off and were joined later by another two. That break stuck for the remainder of the race and took the podium. Charlie attempted to take a flyer with two laps to go, but as was the case for the entire race, he was a marked rider and the pack did not let him escape. Riding on the leadout train of Hot Tubes I was able to go into the field sprint with great positioning and finished 5th in the field sprint and 9th overall.
Overall, the race was a great learning experience for everyone. We got in some good hard racing just in time for nationals. It was also a really fun trip and I look forward to returning next year and putting in a strong team performance.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Watsonville 3's
Watsonville for me was supposed to be more of a "training race", something not too important, but once I smelled the finish line and thought about winning, in my head I had to give it all. The race started as usual, the whistle blew and we were up the hill. The course at watsonville has a hill that resembles the one from Cherry pie. It also has 2 near 180 degree turns and three 90 degree turns. Since I had already won at Cherry Pie on a similar hill, I knew I would have an advantage in the sprint. That idea was soon gone when a 2 man break went only 4 miles into the 24 mile race. My dad was yelling the time gap (in french) and it soon got to almost 30 seconds. A few guys brought the gap down to around 15 seconds, and I decided to jump across. It took almost 3 laps for me to catch them. We held off the front with about a 20 second gap until about 4 laps to go ( a little over 4 miles). Our lead was wipped out in less than 1 lap. With about 3 laps to go I knew it would come down to a sprint. I sat in and recovered as best I can knowing I would try to contest the sprint. With 1 to go I was 3rd wheel. A rider from SJBC (who happened to be about 6'5" tall-best draft) decided to lead it out for all of us. I very aggressively fought to get on his wheel. Coming around the last turn I was 2nd and with about 300m to go I went. I started my sprint with the best pop I think I ever had, slowed down a bit, and then had a second kick of acceleration with about 75m to go which gave me a clear lead over everyone. I went across the line first. I was so happy. I know that having a pair of Zipp 404's and my Tarmac SL2 frame definitely helped with both aerodynamics and stiffness.
Hopefully I will pull the same result at nationals!
Thanks for reading.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Track Nationals
Sprints
15/16 overall omnium
Points Race Final
Team Sprint
One of my weakest events of all the four events in my omnium, the sprints are actually two events but count as one. The first event is a flying 200 meter time trial. In my warm up I was able to do a 13.2 sec
ond 200. Although that sounds slow, for me that was a personal best and I did it even with a lot of other people on the track. This was good news to me. I was hoping with no people on the track and the legs fully warmed up, I would be able to go even faster. Once I was on the track for the real deal, I had three laps to wind up and do the 200 meters. I felt that I had a g
ood wind up, but when I stood to jump, I had the jitterbugs,I tensed up and sat down too early. I was not able to get up to max speed and did a 13.7. The flying 200 is used to seed people for the match sprints (a two or three lap (depends on the track) race between two people) but only the top eight from the flying 200 were chosen to move on to the match sprints. So I did not make it onto the match sprints, which was a bummer but I still had three more races: the scratch race, points race, and 500 meter time-trial.
Scratch Race
My next race was a 32 lap scratch race, but before that I had to place in the top eight of my heat that morning. I was able to make it into the final and decided that I wanted to try and break away to get some omnium points. In the race I tried attacking repeated times, but was unsuccessful. One group of about four riders was able to get a gap and get away, but they were pulled back in. By now I knew it was probably come down to a sprint and I also knew that I could not out sprint the top guys, but I could hang onto their wheels and still get some omnium points. With a little over two to go, the pace started to pick up and lucky
for me I was toward the front with the top guys. When we hit the back side of the track with one and a half laps to go, the sprint started. My legs were now feeling my attacks from earlier in the race, a
nd I was not able to stay with the leaders and was floating towards the back of the group. I ended up finishing 12th place with no omnium points.
Points Race
See video.
500 Meter Time Trail
My last event for my omnium, was a 500 meter time trial. Not one of my strongest events because of the standing start, but I was hoping that I would be able to at least hold onto my podium position for the omnium. I had been working on my start for most of the year, I was just hoping all the work would pay off. When I got to starting block, I was informed that the other rider that was starting on the other side of the track was warned for delaying the start, and the official also told me to just relax. I was not even clipped in and the 20 second count down went off. I guess the starter thought both myself and the other rider were ready. Lucky for me though, I was able to get clipped in and all set before the last ten seconds of the count down. My form was okay in my start, but I just could not get as fast as the top guys. I ended up doing a 39.668 second 500, which was a personal best for me, but Corey Williams won it with a time of 36.025! This meant he had 10 omnium points and I only had 7. Thankfully I was able to hold onto 5th place and still make it on the podium.
Team Sprint
Just for fun, and hopefully another medal, Joel and myself decided to try and find another person and do the team sprint. We did the event last year, with Daniel Farinha (SJBC) This year Daniel was doing it with two of his teammates (Eddie Zhang, and Vincent Juarez both on SJBC) We were able to convince the 3rd place rider in the Kilo, Danny Hiller (5280 Magazine) to be our 3rd rider. We decided to have Joel first, myself second, and Danny third. We qualified 2nd place with a time of 54.947 seconds. This meant that we moved onto the gold round in the final and could possibly win a gold medal. We just needed to go four seconds faster to match the first place team’s qualifying time. In the final we improved our time by a 1/2 of a second to a 54.443, but the first place team did a 49.724! So we got a silver medal, but we were not complaining, it was much shinier than the bronze medals!
15/16 overall omnium
Points Race Final Team SprintThursday, July 2, 2009
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Gold Nugget Stage Race
Stage 1: Mass start hillclimb
The hillclimb started at 5pm and was 9 miles long with 6 miles of rolling hills and a steep 3 mile climb. At the start, I sat in the group to not waste any energy, then when the hill started, I began to ride at a fast pace and when we only had less than halfway up the climb to go, it was only Chris Flanagan (Team Swift) and me. I attacked him several times, but he matched all of them. I didn't know where the finish line was and when I saw an official near the top I started sprinting. Unfortunately, my sprint was too early and Chris won by 5 seconds plus a 3 sec bonus time, so I was 8 seconds off Chris.
Stage 2: Greeley Hill RR
It was a 5 mile loop with only one climb at the end and we had to do nine laps for a total of 45 miles.
The first half of the race I sat in and followed attacks. With 5 laps to go there was a breakaway
of two riders: Bjorn Fox and Alex Freund. I attacked and only Tyler Hanson could follow. We worked together to catch the breakaway and when we did we all started working together. With 2 laps to go Alex and Tyler were dropped. With one lap to go Bjorn broke away and I couldn't catch him. He went over the top first. I knew he was 1:02 behind me from the day before and when I crossed the finish line to take 2nd place, he was 19 seconds behind me in the GC. Chris caught Tyler and Alex and got 3rd in the stage, and he was now 33 seconds behind me in the GC, making me the leader.
Stage 3: Toll Road TT
Stage 3 was in the afternoon after stage 2. I started out with a steady pace, but was tired because of the RR I had done in the morning. I got 2nd in the stage and Chris won by 23 seconds over me, leaving me with only a 10 second lead. That was a problem because the time bonuses for the last stage were 20s for 1st, 10s for 2nd, and 5s for 3rd, which means I could not let him win the final stage because that would tie us and then he would win because of the stage wins.
Stage 4: Bootjack RR
A 12 mile loop with 1,300 ft of climbing and we did 3 laps for a total of 36 miles and 3,900 ft of climbing. I decided to stay behind Chris for the whole race and watch him. Best would be to have a field sprint so he couldn't take the time bonus but the chances of that happening were slim because of the climbing.
Many people attacked and Chris chased them down, while I sat on his wheel saving energy. With one lap to go more attacks followed from Bjorn Fox who now was over minute behind me on GC. Chris chased them down again and I still stayed on his wheel. I attacked once when Chris was in the back, and got away from the field. I let Chris chase me down.
The last attack came from a SoCal rider on one of the climbs. Chris climbed at his max speed and flew right past him, dropping everyone in the field except me. He asked me to work with him to get away from the others but I didn't lift a finger. He then pulled me all up the last hill, where there was a right turn with about 200m to go, all of it uphill. Just before the right turn, I came around him and took the turn as narrow as I could go. I sprinted to the line and won by 2 seconds and got a 10 second time bonus over him, increasing my lead to 22 seconds to win the GC and a stage win.
Next time we should get the rest of the team to come,
Great race for team work.
Monday, June 15, 2009
The Bogus Basin Bird Incident
I went to Boise, ID with my wife so that she could race in the Ironman 70.3 triathlon this weekend. Yes, it's a mixed marriage, but somehow we make it work. :-) That meant that I would miss the District TT championship, but on the plus side I was in town for the Idaho State Road Race championship.
But first we had a couple of days to play around in Boise. One day I rode up to the Bogus Basin ski area outside of town. How cool is it that there is a nice ski area 20 miles from down town?! It is a great climb from Boise (2500') to the ski area at 6100' in 16 miles. We found a road that went up to some condo's at 6600' and while we were up there I got off to take a few pictures. While I was taking pictures a bird approached me and I snapped a few photos of it. But then it snapped at my hand and I decided that was enough. As I walked away it chased after me and started nipping at my heels! I had to move quickly and put my bike between myself and this bird that was second in viciousness only to the Rabbit of Caerbannog!
Turns out it was a Blue Grouse and they are known for this type of behavior.
Here is a picture of the foul creature.
Harlan risking his life to get a better look.
Finally, the brazen bird inspecting my power numbers for the climb. Not very approvingly, I might add...
The triathlon was fun. Harlan and I had a good time watching the various methods of exiting T1. Kitty had a good race even though it rained for most of the bike and all of the run. Local triathlete and some time bike racer Chris Lieto had a 5+ minute lead off the bike but got run down and caught by Ironman world champion Craig Alexander in the last TWENTY METERS! Here's a good photo sequence of the finish.
Finally on Sunday was the road race. It rained all night, but with a 10:50am start (yeah!) it was mostly clear and dry for my race. I raced in the Pro/1/2 race. I was the last pre-reg rider (literally 30 minutes before the deadline) and I was number 11... I hoped that like Nor-Cal we'd get a bunch of guys registering the day of, but no cigar. And one guy didn't show up so 10 of us started our 80 mile race. Half of the field was made up of riders from the Bob's Bicycles team. That and the fact that a couple of them did well in the pro race at Mount Hood made them the team to watch.
Sure enough after about two miles the Bob's guys started attacking. I didn't want any part of that and tried to just follow wheels until a small group got away and it looked like the Bob's guys would be happy to let it go, then I would try to bridge across. I made one bridge but they sat up. About 6 miles in I made a second bridge to a group of four (two Bob's) and that was the break of the day. One more Bob's guy bridged up and we were off to the races.
At first, the last Bob's guy to bridge didn't pull. He did this long enough that one of the other "non Bob's" stopped pulling. That was good enough for me so I stopped. Finally one of them asked us to work and I gave the "we'd love to work, but with half of the break all of your guys need to pull through" speech. It worked and we spent the next 1.5 hours rotating through at about 25mph average.
We lost one guy (non Bob) on the feed hill and with THIRTY MILES TO GO the Bob's riders started attacking! After a few attacks I asked them "do you really want to start the fun and games with 30 miles to go?" It turns out that the other non Bob's rider is the defending champion and any time he got with one of the Bob's riders they would shut it down. In retrospect it looked like the only combination that they would let go was a Bob's only break or me and one or more Bob's. Since I was out of state I couldn't be the state champion so win or lose Bob's would get the jersey. I countered one of the attacks and got a Bob's rider as escort. I pulled for a long time and then up the feed hill to establish the gap and then got him to start working with me.
So, 25 miles to go and it's safe to say we were not going to get caught. Which in a sense is kind of what happened... But first a quick bit of info. The course was a really nice course on good country roads, but it was a confusing one! See this map. Maybe 5 miles into our break away we came to an intersection. A group of 3's was up ahead and their lead moto had them turn left. It was confusing whether the moto was our or theirs. When we got to the intersection, the moto was pointing left, but the painted markings had the p/1/2's going straight. I asked my companion (remember, he's a local guy!) and he said straight. The wheel car followed us so I figured we were okay. After what was at least a half mile the motorcycle came up and told us that all of the groups needed to turn left back there! I guess the markings were for one of our previous loops and I made a big mistake in accepting the "local knowledge". We turned around and ran into another Bob's rider who was also off course. I kept riding urgently and those two sat up or something because I never saw them again.
After a a few miles I caught sight of a couple of guys up ahead and was able to clock them at a bit over 1 minute. I was slowly gaining on them, but didn't have much hope of catching them before the end and in fact was at least as concerned about getting caught from behind.
Into the last 10 miles or so I almost got hit head on by one of the riders I was chasing as he made a right turn in my direction and used the whole road. He actually passed on my right! I saw a rider behind him and thought "holy crap! They're going the wrong way too! I'm back in the lead!" About .5 miles later though I realized that they had just been finishing a lower case 'q' shaped loop as I made the same turn.
Coming up the last hill I saw a couple of riders who told me that there were two pro/1/2 guys ahead and one of them was only about 10 seconds ahead. Just a bit later I caught this rider who it turns out was the defending champion, Brandon Akers (non-Bob). Bob's rider, Chris Stuart was about 30 seconds ahead with about 4 miles to go. We did not catch Chris and Brandon and I came to the sprint together.
I had scouted the sprint out before hand and knew the finish. I ended up on the front with 500m to go and tried to use the "razor". I noticed that the wind was from the right so I stayed close to the center line. After slowly building I jumped with 200m to go, just as Brandon was jumping. He was trying to come up on my left and could have easily (and legally) shut the door on him, but I just couldn't make myself do it and he was able to come around just at the end for 2nd. You know what they say about nice guys... :-)
All in all, it was a great trip. Boise was fun and the race, even with our mis-adventure was a fun and well run race.
But first we had a couple of days to play around in Boise. One day I rode up to the Bogus Basin ski area outside of town. How cool is it that there is a nice ski area 20 miles from down town?! It is a great climb from Boise (2500') to the ski area at 6100' in 16 miles. We found a road that went up to some condo's at 6600' and while we were up there I got off to take a few pictures. While I was taking pictures a bird approached me and I snapped a few photos of it. But then it snapped at my hand and I decided that was enough. As I walked away it chased after me and started nipping at my heels! I had to move quickly and put my bike between myself and this bird that was second in viciousness only to the Rabbit of Caerbannog!
Turns out it was a Blue Grouse and they are known for this type of behavior.
Here is a picture of the foul creature.
Harlan risking his life to get a better look.
Finally, the brazen bird inspecting my power numbers for the climb. Not very approvingly, I might add...
The triathlon was fun. Harlan and I had a good time watching the various methods of exiting T1. Kitty had a good race even though it rained for most of the bike and all of the run. Local triathlete and some time bike racer Chris Lieto had a 5+ minute lead off the bike but got run down and caught by Ironman world champion Craig Alexander in the last TWENTY METERS! Here's a good photo sequence of the finish.
Finally on Sunday was the road race. It rained all night, but with a 10:50am start (yeah!) it was mostly clear and dry for my race. I raced in the Pro/1/2 race. I was the last pre-reg rider (literally 30 minutes before the deadline) and I was number 11... I hoped that like Nor-Cal we'd get a bunch of guys registering the day of, but no cigar. And one guy didn't show up so 10 of us started our 80 mile race. Half of the field was made up of riders from the Bob's Bicycles team. That and the fact that a couple of them did well in the pro race at Mount Hood made them the team to watch.
Sure enough after about two miles the Bob's guys started attacking. I didn't want any part of that and tried to just follow wheels until a small group got away and it looked like the Bob's guys would be happy to let it go, then I would try to bridge across. I made one bridge but they sat up. About 6 miles in I made a second bridge to a group of four (two Bob's) and that was the break of the day. One more Bob's guy bridged up and we were off to the races.
At first, the last Bob's guy to bridge didn't pull. He did this long enough that one of the other "non Bob's" stopped pulling. That was good enough for me so I stopped. Finally one of them asked us to work and I gave the "we'd love to work, but with half of the break all of your guys need to pull through" speech. It worked and we spent the next 1.5 hours rotating through at about 25mph average.
We lost one guy (non Bob) on the feed hill and with THIRTY MILES TO GO the Bob's riders started attacking! After a few attacks I asked them "do you really want to start the fun and games with 30 miles to go?" It turns out that the other non Bob's rider is the defending champion and any time he got with one of the Bob's riders they would shut it down. In retrospect it looked like the only combination that they would let go was a Bob's only break or me and one or more Bob's. Since I was out of state I couldn't be the state champion so win or lose Bob's would get the jersey. I countered one of the attacks and got a Bob's rider as escort. I pulled for a long time and then up the feed hill to establish the gap and then got him to start working with me.
So, 25 miles to go and it's safe to say we were not going to get caught. Which in a sense is kind of what happened... But first a quick bit of info. The course was a really nice course on good country roads, but it was a confusing one! See this map. Maybe 5 miles into our break away we came to an intersection. A group of 3's was up ahead and their lead moto had them turn left. It was confusing whether the moto was our or theirs. When we got to the intersection, the moto was pointing left, but the painted markings had the p/1/2's going straight. I asked my companion (remember, he's a local guy!) and he said straight. The wheel car followed us so I figured we were okay. After what was at least a half mile the motorcycle came up and told us that all of the groups needed to turn left back there! I guess the markings were for one of our previous loops and I made a big mistake in accepting the "local knowledge". We turned around and ran into another Bob's rider who was also off course. I kept riding urgently and those two sat up or something because I never saw them again.
After a a few miles I caught sight of a couple of guys up ahead and was able to clock them at a bit over 1 minute. I was slowly gaining on them, but didn't have much hope of catching them before the end and in fact was at least as concerned about getting caught from behind.
Into the last 10 miles or so I almost got hit head on by one of the riders I was chasing as he made a right turn in my direction and used the whole road. He actually passed on my right! I saw a rider behind him and thought "holy crap! They're going the wrong way too! I'm back in the lead!" About .5 miles later though I realized that they had just been finishing a lower case 'q' shaped loop as I made the same turn.
Coming up the last hill I saw a couple of riders who told me that there were two pro/1/2 guys ahead and one of them was only about 10 seconds ahead. Just a bit later I caught this rider who it turns out was the defending champion, Brandon Akers (non-Bob). Bob's rider, Chris Stuart was about 30 seconds ahead with about 4 miles to go. We did not catch Chris and Brandon and I came to the sprint together.
I had scouted the sprint out before hand and knew the finish. I ended up on the front with 500m to go and tried to use the "razor". I noticed that the wind was from the right so I stayed close to the center line. After slowly building I jumped with 200m to go, just as Brandon was jumping. He was trying to come up on my left and could have easily (and legally) shut the door on him, but I just couldn't make myself do it and he was able to come around just at the end for 2nd. You know what they say about nice guys... :-)
All in all, it was a great trip. Boise was fun and the race, even with our mis-adventure was a fun and well run race.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Dunlap ITT (State Championships)
Today was the district TT for juniors. All of us were there except for Joel, and all of us did 20k. For the 15/16s one of our biggest threats was the German quad-turbo diesel Alexander Freund. While I was getting ready I noticed that I forgot the spacer to make my SRM mount fit onto my handle bars, but Craig was there like he said he would be and had a smaller SRM mount that I could use. He also had wheels for us to use too! Thankfully these wheels came in handy because as I was warming up on the rollers, I heard the horrible sound of air seeping out of a tire and sure enough I had a flat on my front wheel, but Craig saved the day and let my use his über fast 808. Once that problem was fixed I hopped back on the rollers and my dad and I decided that it would be best to split the race into 3 intervals at 9 minutes each. For the first interval I would aim to hold 315 watts, then for the next 9 minutes I would aim for 350 watts and for the last 9 minutes I would push as many watts I could hold until the finish line. The first 9 minutes went well, but in the next 9 minutes I was not able to push as many watts as I had hopped. Thankfully it was a tail wind on the way back and my speed was able to stay at about 30-28 mph. This made the way back seem extremely short. I ended up crossing the line with a time of 27:40.5 but according to the parent's early calculations the German beast had beat me by about 30s. Lucky for me their calculations were incorrect and Alexander had a time of 27:47.96. James was third with a fast time of 28:29.09, and David was 6th with Alistair 7th (David = 29:14.17 & Alistair = 29:32.61) Chris and Marcus felt the effect of hard racing the day before and placed 14th (Chris) and 16th (Marcus.) For the 17/18s Charlie won with a crazy fast time of 25:54.67, Peter was 2nd (27:40.02), and Daniel was 5th (28:19.0) Below are all the podium photos, as you can see from the 17/18s photo, the race took everything out of Charlie and left only his jersey ;).
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