Trip Of A Lifetime

Last Thursday, after school was out, five Assistant Scout Masters, one Scout, and I drove to Yosemite for the trip of a lifetime. We got into our campsite at about 9:30Pm. I guess you could say it was "dark out". We quickly set up our tents and went to sleep, because we knew what was awaiting us the following day. We woke up at 5:00am, so that we could get started on our 16+ mile journey. As soon as we parked and got out of the car we all took out our cameras, and took a picture of our goal. This is the shot I got:

We divided into two Groups. One that was going to the top and another that was going to the furthest point anyone can go without a permit. Two ASMs were going to the furthest point without a permit. The rest of us were going to the top. The group that was going to the top had a faster pace than the other group, because we knew just how far we had to go. As we hiked up the mist trail we stared in awe at the falls we were passing, along with the stairs that constantly beat up our legs, one step at a time. We got to the top of the falls, and took a few pictures, but we couldn't stay long. We had to keep moving. Once we found the trail we continued on to be confronted with another water fall. Like the previous one, we stopped to take pictures. We got to the top of the final water fall and had about a mile and a half of flat land to walk on. Then the fun would start. We got back to the climbing and back to the seemingly endless view of trees. Before we got to the line where we needed our permits, we stopped for some lunch. Yummy, a ham sandwich on a bagel. We grabbed our permits and headed up half dome. We got to the base of the ropes and got ready for a steep climb.

We found a few people that were staying behind from another group and asked if they could watch our packs as we climbed Half Dome. They generously accepted. We got our Carabiners, and ropes, strapped ourselves in, and headed up the 45 degree rock face. We got up to the top and breathed a sigh of relief. We took many pictures, and headed back down knowing that the hardest part was still ahead. We got down grabbed our packs and headed down the mountain. One of the scary parts about going downhill was twisting an ankle, or getting dehydrated. We safely got down to the first falls, having already changed our socks to try to prevent blisters. We approached the falls and met up with one of the other ASMs. We were quickly informed that the other ASMs had to go back because of fitness reasons. We were all tired and wanted to be back at the cars, so that we could get some victory pizza. We had 4 miles left, and a lot of switch backs. The other scout and I decided to have some fun by running. That joy lasted about a mile. So we had to walk, because we knew we would have to wait for the rest of the group. We walked very slowly, and the pain started to kick in. We waited for the rest of the group at 2.2 miles to go. When we got going again it was at a very slow pace, but it was faster than the rest of the group. As we got roughly 1 mile to the valley floor I noticed that I was pulling the map out every 3 minutes. Each time hoping there would be a "you are here" dot, but there wasn't. We finally got to the valley floor. We knew that the car was half a mile away. I got into my racing mindset. I ramped up the speed and when the car was 100 meters away I leaped from the huge pack of 2 and won the race back to the car. That win made the pizza 10 times better. I would then pay for that win for the next 4 days, with constant pain throughout my entire lower body. That really was the "Trip of a lifetime".

Great Way To End The Season

Folsom Cyclebration was the last race I had on the calendar for the 2011 road season. It has a time trial and criterium on day one and a circuit race on day two. It was a nice change driving only 20 minutes to get to the time trial compared to the 2-3 hours I spend in the car driving to other Nor Cal races. The course for the time trial was a slightly longer version of the course used in the local 10 mile Tuesday Night TT’s that I attend regularly so I was well prepared. Unfortunately there was way more wind than usually. For the first half of the race, the wind was at my back and I was doing everything I could to spin my 52x14 as fast as possible. When I went through the turn around and began to head back to the finish, the wind was now going straight into my face. The last two miles were the most miserable two miles of my life but I was able to set a fast enough time for 9^th (and after uploading it to Strava, I also set a new PR on the Tuesday Night Course!). Craig Roemer put up a really good time and took 2^nd behind Justin Rossi.

Later that afternoon, we headed over to the criterium and met up with Jack Maddux and Matt Valencia. It was Jack’s first ever Pro/1/2 race and he had no problem racing with the big boys. He even got into a couple breakaways! I felt really comfortable at the head of the peloton and got into a couple breaks but nothing stuck. With about 8 laps to go, I found myself in the winning break. We built up a decent gap over the field and with about 4 laps to go, I was getting nervous that we would get pulled back so I kept pulling on the front to keep our gap from coming down. With two laps to go, the attacks started going right and left up the road but nobody could get away. In the sprint to the finish, I got boxed in between a couple riders and a very muddy gutter and had to settle for 6^th, which is by far the best result I have ever gotten in a Pro/1/2 crit. I also went from 9^th overall all the way to 4^th overall behind Jonathan Teeter, Rand Miller, and Justin Rossi.

The next day, I headed down to the circuit race and met up with the rest of the team. The course was a 4-kilometer loop with some tight corners and a roundabout. The plan was to get me into a break or let a break with no GC threats go up the road. In the first 15 minutes of the race, three guys that were further down on GC broke away and built a pretty large gap over the field. Craig, Matt, and Jack did a great job controlling the field and covering moves. Halfway through the race, attacks began to come from Jonathan, Rand, and Justin but nothing was getting away. I tried to counterattack there moves but I was always chased down immediately. With one to go, Craig took a flyer off the front to keep the pace high. With a kilometer to go, I worked my way up to the front to set myself up for the sprint and ended up 9^th on the stage. I finished ahead of Justin though so that put me into 3^rd overall for the final general classification.

I could not have asked for a better way to end my road season. It was great to have teammates out there riding in support of me at a somewhat hometown race and grab my best ever Pro/1/2 result. Awesome work by Craig, Matt, and Jack!

Up next: Cyclocross!

A picture is worth a thousand words, or in the case of my blog entries, several thousand

Giro Di San Francisco 2011 - Pro/1/2

Labor day weekend is usually a 3 days weekend for most family's where they go to the beach and have a good time. This isn't the case of myself and many other cyclists around the world. There is the annual Giro Di San Francisco on none of the the city itself. I personally raced the pro/1/2 race with Marcus Smith, David Benkowski, and Matt Valencia. It just so happened to be Matt's first pro/1/2 race and he was in for a good treat as his first race in the pro fields of Northern California.

Before you know it, the race is on! 40 miles of Criterium racing in downtown San Francisco. I didn't get much of a warm up due to personal problems with my car so I used the race itself to help warm me up and see if I can make anything happen towards the end. David was aggressive from the start, attacking and following many moves throughout the race. Marcus was up at the front the entire race too and followed some attacks. Matt was in there most of the race and I think he learned a lot from his first pro/1/2 race. Moving later into the race there was a crowd prime going around that was going to be called out at 6 laps to go and I was licking my chops for that one more than the finish because it was almost $250. The field let a random rider go out there and take it instead and now I'm starting to think about the finish. David and Marcus are also up here in the front of the pack but somewhere David lost the wheels sometime during this and finished in the pack. Marcus positioned himself well, in the top 10, but wasn't in contention for the win. Meanwhile all of this positioning is going on, Bernard Van Ulden (Jelly Belly) rode away from the pack and nobody reacted until 2 laps to go. We reeled him in to 10 seconds by the finish but he won solo. Smart move by the Professional. McGuire had the riders today, instead of Cal Giant, so I jumped into position behind their train and oddly enough, no one fought for the wheels with me so I took that wheel into the last turn and sprinted behind the McGuire sprinter and held onto 3rd with junior gearing! I felt relieved after the race to get a good result in a hard race. Marcus still held onto 14th, too, so it was a good day overall for the team.

Jack Maddux and Chris LaBerge also raced in the Elite 3's earlier in the day.

Thank you for reading.

--James LaBerge

FINDING SUCCESS IN EUROPE

Racing in Belgium is the hardest bike racing I've ever done. The Belgians are so aggressive. They are so fast. It's so hard and everyone is going for it. And that's exactly how I won the Heestert Kermesse and it was a great win for me! I broke away in the 63-kilometer kermesse with about three kilometers to go and won a race with 97 riders.

An American Coup in Belgium

As part of the 2011 USA Cycling 15/16 European Development Camp, six Americans travelled to Belgium to compete in four kermesses and a four-day stage race. The USA National team consisted of Logan Owen (WA), Miguel Byron (FL), Geoffrey Curran (CA), Stephen Bassett (TN), Will Barta (ID), and me, Diego Binatena (CA). In the West Flanders Cycling Tour I finished 40th out of 156 racers, but that doesn't tell the whole story...

In the first stage, Geoffrey won the prologue to claim the yellow jersey. Logan finished second, only 1 second behind, with the rest of the team all finishing in the top 20.

After stage two, Logan claimed the yellow jersey. I survived a crash and a flat but I worked my way back in the peloton to finish in the lead group. It was a brutal day!

The third stage of the Tour was extremely difficult. We had a huge target on our backs, and we did all we could to hold off the endless attacks from 25 European teams working together to rip the jersey from our backs. Sadly, at day's end, we lost the yellow jersey.

On the last day of the Tour, a determined and focused Team USA regained the yellow jersey for the victory, showing some American might on European soil! Logan attacked with 10k to go with some non GC contenders and captured the yellow and green jerseys, and Team USA claimed the overall team GC title at the West Flanders Cycling Tour Stage Race!

The Future...

I really enjoyed my three-week experience in Belgium. The racing is out of the world and so is the coffee! Surprisingly, I found out that we young Americans are pretty equal with the best in Belgium and that we are fast enough to win races there. This trip has given me the encouragement to believe I have a future in cycling and that I can succeed in Europe. Racing there has changed me forever!

Many thanks go to USA Cycling Race Director Michael Heitz, Team Mechanic Nicholas Salerno, Larry Nolan and Team Specialized Racing Juniors, and last but not least my teammates on the "European Dream Team" for all of their support.

Diego Binatena, Team Specialized Racing Juniors

My highlight from Masters Road Nationals

It’s been a great week of racing in Bend at Masters Road Nationals, which kicked off Wednesday with the time trial. Kevin handily won his age group, Rob and Craig were both on the podium finishing 4th, and I was fortunate enough to score my second stars & bars.

Standing atop the podium to receive the champion’s jersey would seem like the obvious highlight of my week. But that actually didn’t happen until Dean and I lined up for the crit together yesterday, and he rocket the sprint to win his ag criterium national championship.

The crit is pretty much the opposite of the time trial where success results from talent, timing, nerves, bike handling and other skills that I still don’t comprehend. Yet my understanding of how the win culminated from years of dedication, and what it meant to Dean, was as clear as the S (for Specialized) on our jerseys. It was an honor to be the on the same course with Dean and part of the tremendous accomplishment.

I came to cycling from the solitary sport of triathlon. Being part of a tight-nit squad like Team Specialized Racing is something that endears bike racing to me. Seeing teammates win is as meaningful as doing it myself. Fortunately this week I’ve been able to enjoy it from both perspectives with us winning three national championships and three additional podiums.