Course de la Paix Junior, 2009

I ended the Peace Race in 2008 by hitting the pavement and consequently smashing into a house.

I ended the Peace Race in 2009 by laying on the pavement thoroughly exhausted after finishing the last stage in the lead group.

The Peace Race is often called the "Tour de France" of junior racing because it is long, hilly, and extremely fast. After my ordeal last year, I came in to the race with the mindset of holding on and finishing. This strategy did not work especially well and I ended up finishing in the main group every day, never giving myself the chance to move up on GC. Below is a stage-by-stage description of the race: I apologize in advance for the length, each stage was very interesting!

Stage 1: Litomerice-Litomerice; 90km, 1540m of climbing
After a short 20 minute ride in the morning, stage one started at 2:30 in the town centre of Litomerice, Czech Republic. The roads were wet and rain was threatening all race, but that did not stop the 120 rider field (comprised of 20 national teams, 6 riders per team) from drilling it at the gun. There were three KOM sprints on course, one per lap, the first coming 15km into the race. Going up the first climb (a 5k drag with some steep pitches), I felt terrible and was at one point terrified of being dropped. I concentrated on spinning the lightest gear possible and once over the climb, I made sure I ate and drank regularly to try and recover for climb number two. My conserving tactic worked and I felt better up the second climb and as we hit the third and final climb, it was gruppo compacto. I followed a move by an Italian at the bottom of the climb, but we didn't get anywhere because I was still in the conserve mindset and didn't want to work too hard. Attacks were flying from all teams, but the tempo was fast enough that no one got away. With 1km to go to the top of the climb, a Czech rider attacked and got a gap with 10 other riders. I jumped hard with 500m to go and bridged the gap with a Belgian rider and all of a sudden we had 15 guys off the front and a 30 second gap. The Russians and Portuguese drilled it at the front of our group, but with 10-15km to the finish, we were brought back. Soon after the peloton was back together, a group of six riders snuck off the front and finished 30 seconds up on our chasing peloton. I should have anticipated the counter and I had the legs to follow, but none of the USA riders were in position to follow the move and we were unable to bridge. It was a hard stage, but all 6 USA riders finished in the group and none of us blew fuses for day two.

Stage 2: Most-Most; 93km, 1405m of climbing
Wow, what a stage. After 18 flat and rolling kilometers, the road turned up and climbed close to 600m in 9km. There was an intense and sketchy battle for position on the run in to the climb. I was sitting in the back third of the pack throughout most of the 18k run in, which I knew was terrible position, but I managed to hop onto a sidewalk and jump up to the front just as the road turned up. A break went from the bottom of the climb with the polka-dot jersey and a Russian, so I sat in the top 5 riders and rode as steadily as possible. The climb just kept going and going, but I had good legs and managed to stay in the front group of 25 riders over the top of the climb. The rest of team USA was missing in action, however, and unfortunately my teammate Andrew Barker, who had been riding strongly, crashed 10k into the race (going 65k/h!) and was out of position going into the climb. Since I was alone, I sat in and did no work, until Ian Boswell managed to catch back on to our group which eventually ended up being 42 riders. I followed some moves in the rolling section of the course (the course rolled after the climb before dropping back down to the start city), but again kept holding back from overly exerting myself in the breaks. Looking back, I was too focused on feeling good rather than racing hard. I had much better legs than I thought and even after a hard stage and following a lot of attacks, I was relatively fresh. Like yesterday, a group rolled off the front with about 10km to go and USA missed it. Boz and I finished in the main field, moving up to 27th and 44th overall. A good time trial could put us in the top 20.

Stage 3a: TT; 12km
Unfortunately we did not put in great TT's. I went out too hard up the climb and finished 34th, 56 seconds down on the leader. My time was decent and last year I would have finished 13th with my time, but the field this year was much deeper than last year's. I moved into 29th overall though and was really happy with my improvement from last year at this time, when I was 79th, 19 minutes down! There were still opportunities to move up with three more road stages left.

Stage 3b: Roudnice-Roudnice; 100km, 1100m of climbing
Not a hard stage, but it was the afternoon of the TT and I was tired. I tailgunned most of the race because I knew it would not split up and, as I said, I was tired and with this field it was always a struggle to be at the front. I finished in the main field, but unfortunately a gap opened up in the field and I lost 5 seconds; I thought nothing of it at the time, but now I'm kicking myself for losing focus and not being at the front! Keep reading and you'll see... Another important part of the day was that I cramped really badly in the last 500m, which made my legs really sore for the rest of the trip. It was my only cramp of the whole race, however, which I see as an accomplishment!

Stage 4: Decin-Teplice; 91km, 1800m of climbing!
I would not hesitate to say that this was the hardest 2.5 hours of my cycling career. Copperopolis was hard and getting dropped on a similar stage last year was hard, but this stage crushes all of those. The stage started in Decin, a city in a ravine, and within 1km we were climbing out of the ravine. 5km in to the race there was a KOM sprint (3km of that 5km averaged 12%!), but after the sprint the road kept climbing and gaining elevation for 25 more kilometers. Also after the KOM, the road turned westward and we were plummeted with a brutal crosswind. Uphill+crosswind=suffering in the gutter. I was completely red-lined for that first 30km, hanging on for dear life. At 30km into the race, we dropped back down into the ravine; the decent was crazy: smoke flew up from brakes on carbon wheels, guys crashed everywhere, and we hit a max speed of 90km/h! At the bottom of the 5k decent, we looped back around and climbed back up 400 vertical meters back to the top of the ridge. I was hanging on to the back of the 40 man group by the top of this second climb and was definitely suffering after three days of racing and a cramp. Similarly to the first climb, after this second KOM, the road kept climbing and the crosswind picked up intensity for 25 more km. Finally, with 20km to go, we descended back down to the valley. The descent was again completely insane. The road was dry and a break of 12 was up the road, so we bombed down the descent, reaching a top speed of 93.4km/h! Once at the bottom of the descent, there was an unmarked climb that split the field. I made the front split of 10 guys and my heartrate went through the roof as I hung on for dear life. With 4km to go, some riders caught back on and the group was 40-50 strong. I attacked with 4km to go, but I saw 3km to go while I was solo off the front and I knew I couldn't hold it. I slowed slightly and the pack caught me. The group had 4 USA riders, so we covered as many moves as we could and Jake finished 6th in the sprint and I finished 34th. Really tough day, but I moved up to 25th overall. Considering I was "on the rivet" from kilometer zero, I was very happy to have survived and it gave me new confidence going in to the last stage that I could do more than just finish in the pack.

Stage 5: Terezin - Litomerice - Terezin; 101km, 1850m of climbing
If Stage 4 was my hardest 2.5 hours on a bike, then Stage 5 was certainly close behind, but the course had more short climbs rather than the long crosswind "rollers", which offered more rest after the hard efforts. We did four laps of a circuit consisting of a 2k climb at 10% and a 5k climb at 5-6%. Like yesterday, I felt like crud for the first lap and a half, but my legs started to come around as the laps got harder. On the third lap, with three climbs to go, I took the right hand turn onto the 5k climb in third position and then punched it. Since that turn went from a larger two-lane road to a super narrow, steep, and gravel-covered section of road, the pack had to come through two at a time, stringing out the peloton. My attack out of the turn was followed by a Dutch rider, but the rest of the peloton had no reaction. Noticing our gap, I finally got over my fear of expending myself and stomped out the fastest tempo that I could. A Pole, Italian, and Portuguese rider bridged up to our group and, with 1km to go to the top of the climb, those three riders attacked and built up a 15 second gap. I was just riding my tempo as fast as I could and was unable to lift the pace and follow their attack. Little did I know that the Polish rider was 3rd on GC, so the pack was now hard on our heels. I made up time on the descent and had 45 seconds on the field (putting me top 10 on GC on the road), so I chased hard on the penultimate climb to catch the leaders. My little group still did not make contact with the leaders after cresting the climb, so we kept chasing. The Russian who was 2nd overall at the beginning of the stage then came roaring by us, screaming in Russian for us to help him get to the lead group. I did not do any work and let him pull me up, but the field was hard on our heels. Right at the moment I though we had been caught, the Russian and the Dutch rider jumped our group and managed to bridge to the leaders. I was pissed at myself for missing that move, especially since their group finished 51 seconds ahead of the peloton. However, I don't know if I could have made it over the final climb with the leaders. The last climb in the peloton was a struggle; a battle with my bicycle. I dug really deep and was very pleased to stay with the peloton even after my 15km breakaway attempt. I ended up finishing in the pack, but a crash split the group into three pieces. I was in the middle portion and lost 3 seconds to the front of the peloton. I ended up dropping to 26th on GC, missing out of top 25 and the prize money by 2 seconds! That's why I'm kicking myself for missing that 5 seconds on stage 3! USA finished 26th, 30th, 47th, and 55th on GC with 2 DNF's. Not terrible for such a hard race.

That's the main moral of the story: every second counts. I lost focus for awhile and looking back it's really easy to second guess and wish I had done things differently. Overall, though, I am excited about my form and learned a ton about stage racing and about my own limits. Stay tuned for a race report on 3-Etappen Rundfahrt this weekend! Thanks to Specialized for supplying my bike, helmet, TT helmet, shoes and sunglasses and SRAM for the components. I did not have even a trace of a mechanical!

Joseph Mendez Crit Race Report (3's and Jr's)

The junior race started off pretty fast. I believe that I was one of the first ones to attack within the first 3 laps. I did so to try to see if either Daniel Farinha or Zack Wick had an eye out for me, which I believe they did. I eventually got back in the pack. Right after I got back, Peter went. Immediately Adam Hodes got on his wheel, and I got on Adam's. In order to get ready for Nationals and maybe Belgium for the next 25-30 min I tried chasing EVERYTHING down, pretending that all attacks were a big threat. Finally when Daniel Tisdell went I decided to sit in and rest a bit. (Iwas dead), and with 2 laps to go I moved up and on the last lap I saw Andrew leading Peter out, so I got on Peter's wheel and managed to hold it to the line. I got 4th overall and 2nd in the 15-16's!

The 3's race was a different story. Being completely out of energy from the Jr's earlier that day I sat in the whole race try to just hold my position near the front. With about 5 laps to go I started to move up. On the last lap I had 6th wheel with James Laberge on my wheel, perfect position! Unfortunately, on the first 90 degree right turn, some guy managed to "pinch" my out of my position. Luckily, James managed to come around me to get 3rd overall, but I was out of it. I had 25th wheel, so I decieded to just sit up and finish with all my skin.-Moral of the story , HOLD YOUR POSITION- If I had I might just have podiumed in the 3's!
Thanks for reading!

Berkeley Hills RR 15-16

The Jr. 15-16 Berkeley Hills RR covered 1.7 laps of the Briones loop, for a total of 33 miles. We started out with a promenade onto San Pablo Dam road before the race began. I stayed on Bjorn Fox's wheel on San Pablo Dam road as he attacked over and over again. The pack stayed together until the first hill where I went to the front to avoid slower riders. On all of the hills I put out between 250-350 watts.

When we went through the finish line the first time, there were only six other riders and me in the front group. After the descent onto San Pablo Dam Rd., we all started playing games and following wheels, barely hitting 20 mph. There were several attacks throughout the rest of the race but we basically stayed together until the last hill.

We caught the women's field at the feed zone near the bottom of the last hill. Just then Bjorn Fox attacked and Torrey and I followed his wheel, but we were having a hard time getting around the pack as some riders were grabbing bottles and others went wide.

I nearly hit a volunteer's arm when they handed a bottle to a rider. That caused me to lose some ground on Torrey and Bjorn. I chased to make up lost ground, but Torrey attacked just before I could catch them. I chased and caught Bjorn and then started chasing Torrey but I ran out of hill before the finish. Torrey won by five bike lengths. I was second and Bjorn third.

Picture:
Even near the finish we had to go around the women. The picture shows us very near the finish line and I am on the right with Bjorn on my wheel. Torrey is about five bike lengths ahead of me here, but you can't see him on the picture. The lead women are on the left. We had to be careful not cross the center line so close to the finish.

Pro 1/2 Berkeley Hills Road Race

Today I rode my first pro 1/2 field at the Berkeley Hills Road Race. Crazy or brave I don't know. At 95 miles with lots of climbing I would be happy just to finish, considering I haven’t ridden over 85 miles yet this year. For the first three laps I cruised in the field. It was great having Kevin in the race reminding me to get near the front before the climbs, at which point I would gradually drift back to stay in contact with the field. At 65 miles, I was finally popped. I kept working hard over the next couple of hills and was surprised to find that I didn’t lose anymore time to the lead group. I worked with a group of about 10 riders for the next 15 miles, before we fragmented again on the climbs at which point I rode the last fifteen miles solo. Although I don’t expect to contend in races like this for a couple of years, I can't wait to race my next one, because races like these will get me ready for Nationals.

Sea Otter Road Race 15-16

  The SRAM Road race took place on the property of Fort Ord. We started out with a neutral section of 4.5 miles to enter on the 8.5 mile loop. The loop had a 300 ft climb at the start, then rolling hills for about 7 miles and ended with a descent. We had to complete 5 laps and then ride 2 miles uphill to the finish.

  When we got to the climb on the first loop, one guy attacked and set a hard pace to the top of the hill. The field stayed together and on the rolling hills section, more attacks came. I stayed behind David and Marcus who chased down the attacks.

When we had finished one lap, more people began to attack on the climb. I attacked too, and got away but I was caught at the top of the climb. However when the field caught me there were only 8-10 guys left.

 We started riding really fast on the rolling hills and Yuma from San Jose Bike Club and Andrew Lanier got away on one of the hills and started working together. Meantime, in the pack the only Team Swift was chasing while I sat behind their wheel resting. 

With a little less than four laps to go, I broke away on the feed hill. I did not need any water so I moved to the opposite side of the feed and kept going at a fast pace. When I got to the top I was about seven bike lengths ahead of the pack.

  I decided to leave them behind and try to get to Andrew and Yuma. I caught them before we had to descend down the hill. We started working together and we were gaining on the field and on some sections the field couldn't see us at all and I remembered what Marcus said to me at the start of the race, ''Out of sight, out of mind.''   

 

On the next climb Yuma went hard and I followed him and we dropped Andrew. Then I worked with Yuma for the rest of the lap. With two laps to go, Yuma made a mistake on the descent and went too wide and ended up in the dirt. I passed him and broke away. I rode the last two laps by myself and won the race. 

Three things were very important in the race: my team mates helped me and blocked for me, I attacked at the right moment, and my super light and stiff Specialized Tarmac SL made the climbing very easy.

 

15-16 Copperopolis

We did 2 laps and had 6 of us from Specialized. We planned for Alistair to attack on the first climb. He did but didn't get away and continued trying. This was great because it split the group and after the climb, we had a 7 man break. In the break was: Alistair, Andrew, me, Torrey (davis), a Whole Athlete rider, Yuma (San Jose), Bjorn (AC). We worked well together through the end of the lap. On the next climb Torrey and Whole Athlete attacked on the climb. Andrew and Yuma were dropped. I almost was dropped and had to work hard to stay with them over the top. We worked well together through the flats. On the last two rollers Alistair didn't attack but went hard up them wearing them out which told me who was still strong. On the last climb Whole Athlete attacked. Bjorn and I worked hard to stay with them but couldn't. They looked around at the top and I caught back up. We went down the hill and near the bottom looked around again. I was looking back and saw Bjorn speeding down the hill and pass us but we were 1.5km from the finish and I wasn't worried but everyone else got scared and chased. We caught him with 1km to go. I got on Torrey's wheel and waited for 150 m. He went with 250 m and I followed him. He beat me and I finished 2nd.

What helped:

I got tested at Standford 2 weeks ago and knew my T2. I made sure I was under my threshold during the flats.

The bike was stiff through all the bumps and I could pedal through them.

I want to try something a little different in my blog entry today, not the usual review of the weekends’ races, although my musing will likely touch on those somewhere along the line, but a bit of explanation for those that sometimes wonder why we get so much pleasure from so much pain. I’ll apologize in advance for Larry’s sake that this entry is longer than he prefers, but I will also take heed of his comment to me a while back that no approval is really necessary to post to our blog. I’ll also take advantage of the suggestion that it is sometimes better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

As I was driving home from the Madera Stage Race today, missing my old pal Mick, who for the past couple of years has always been with me on this trek home where we tend to bask in the joy of team victory and review in somewhat intricate detail, the weekend’s races, I began to ponder why. Why I decided so late in my athletic life to ride a bike again after not having ridden one since I was fifteen, and then never for anything but youthful travel until a car was allowed? Why, even though I started today in 29th place, I was so excited to race? Why, after suffering the pain that goes into bike racing when you put your heart into it, I felt so good about the day’s race and those of the weekend too? Why do I do this and why will I do it for as long as my body allows?

The drive home was about three hours and, unless someone had snuck some psychedelic substance into my Cytomax bottle, I was tripping naturally on these questions and I came up with an answer, perhaps one of many, but one that may explain to those who don’t understand why we do it.

My main competitive endeavor as a youth and early adulthood was ice hockey. I played for several very good teams, maybe even a great team or two that won several prestigious championships. I loved hockey. It was a team game. I loved my teammates, we always had each other’s backs. We won together and of course, lost together. We couldn’t have done it without each other. There is something that feels really good when you win as a team, much better than just winning by yourself, at least for me.

Hockey, like cycling, is a game with injuries. Mine eventually caught up with me and made it so I couldn’t play the game anymore. I missed it, I missed my teammates.

Today I remembered why I started cycling. I couldn’t play hockey anymore and my friend convinced me to buy a mountain bike when I was about 35 years old and we went riding together, just for fun. Pretty soon there were three or four more guys who would come for our Saturday morning rides, rain or shine. We’d stop somewhere down in the woods and play hacky sack for a while, jump back on our bikes and ride home. We were like kids playing ball hockey on the street every day after school until it was too dark or our Moms’ yelled at us to get in the house for dinner. Who needs dinner when you’re having so much fun! I was having fun with my friends but this time it was on bikes, the connection was starting to take hold.

Fast forward to today. It hurt out there. We tried really hard to steal the race and the weekend from the Stanley boys. Larry would go. Steve would go. Kevin would go. Billy would go. Heck, I even gave it a go. And then we’d do it again and again. Not quite the way we wanted it to go, but in the end, Billy finished it off and made us all feel really good. We won as a team. The same thing happened on Saturday in the crit. We have our own pocket rocket (for those of you old time hockey fans, you’ll catch the double entendre), his name is Deano and he finished it off for the team and made us all feel really good.

For me, bike racing, like hockey satisfies a craving I have for being part of a team. Our team has fantastic bike racers but they’re also great guys and are willing to give up something from themselves for the good of the team. But unlike hockey, only one guy crosses the finish line first. On our team, Billy crossed the line first today, but it felt like I was right there with him. We make each other feel that way and I love it. Someday my body will probably take this away from me again, but until it does, like one of my old hockey teammates used to say, play it like a man, love it like a boy.