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

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 Sprint


Sunday, July 12, 2009

Bouncing back 101

Three weeks ago I broke my collarbone at Nevada City. Dylan was 1st and Kevin was 3rd in the M35 race and I was in position to win the M45 race (we started together) when I took turn two too fast and dumped it.

Since then I've been doing Tour de France commercial intervals on my turbo trainer. Last weekend I felt so good I started to think about the State Championships that were coming up this weekend. Yes, I'm a goal driven person! How bad could it be to race a 2km time trial?

I won my 101st State Championship yesterday. I'm sorry, but its an occupational hazard to count these things. My first State Championship back in 1991 was a good memory (12 months after getting clobbered by a triple trailer truck) and so is this one! My collarbone is not fully recovered but I'm bouncing back faster than I thought I might. I'm ready to sign up for Track Nationals in Colorado (5 weeks) and give it another go at Track Worlds in Australia (14 weeks).

Political view: I'm in favor of "master" being redefined as a 40+ year old -and- track championships move to 10 year age groups. There were only five of us in the M50-54 2km event yesterday and that was a relatively large field!

Thursday, July 2, 2009

The victory!!!

Winning the 2009 Masters National Road Racing Championships (40-44 years).