Sunday, June 29, 2008

6 mile canyon TT- uscf

Why would someone who hates climbing sign up for an uphill TT?
Well, still not sure. Maybe it is for the love of suffering, maybe because there was nothing better to do and it was a uscf sanctioned race in our own backyard. Whatever the reason I drug my butt out the door at 7 ready to suffer, massivly suffer.

The climb was just a bit under 6 miles with an average of 6% which sounds placid enough until you ride it and it is a nice rolling 3ish percent grade for the first 4.5 miles and then the climbing starts. 1 and a quarter miles with a gain of 880ft or over 12%. Ouch. Total time of 26:19 almost 3 minutes down from the winner and 5th in the elite open.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Boca RR Twilight#5

Exercising the demons from the Rue I finally finished a race without crashing on it.

Due to the Nor-Cal fires blowing smoke eastward(yeah, like California doesn't flush enough crap our way already) it was like racing in downtown Mexico city. Smoke be damned all the local hitters showed to preserve there standings in the points series or just to dish out a little pain. Team Clover lined up with there 4 super riders as usual. I didn't want to have another bunch sprint and risk going down again so I decided I was either going off the front out out the back trying. about a mile into it Jason Walker and a couple others attacked and I bridged up to him. a group of about 10 was rolling and everyone seemed to want to work hard to stay away. I kept the pace high on the flats and suffered in the hills. After each hill I would chase back on, recover and repeat.

The break was established and going to stick so the last couple miles were attack after attack trying to get something to stick. Chad Timmerman jumped and got a good gap taking Milad in tow but Milad wouldn't work with him so they just dangled 10 seconds in front of us. I decided I would try one last effort front about 200m out and caught the pair but got passed by Jason at the line. It was a ferocious 970w sprint where I have done over 1300 previously. Oh feel the power. :D

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Napa Gran Prix: holy lot-o-turns Batman

5 90 degree turns and 1 crazy sharp P turn set on just a couple block in down town Napa it was super tight and fast. I got there at about 7:15 for my 1pm race since it was being hosted in part by Zteam I got volunteered to course marshall. Nothing like standing around for 4 hours in the 100 degree heat prior to your race. The benefit to this was watching many races and seeing how the course played out.

The race started and I got clogged up in some riders when one guy couldn't clip in. Shuffled to the back it was a giant surge out of each corner to keep contact. A teammate(super strong sprinter) made it into the first break so I decided to just tail gun it and move up as needed and wait to see if the break came back. Guys kept dropping off and making gaps so I felt it was time to move toward the front. The break came back and just as it did I jumped with an attack. There were still 10 laps to go and I opened up about 15 seconds. Got down as low as possible and gutted it out. I managed to hold my gap and rolled across the line solo for the win. My teammate took the field sprint for a 1-2 finish. Good Times

Monday, June 16, 2008

Nevada City Classic

Feeling even less confident after yesterdays outing I lined up for the Nevada city classic with a giant pipe wrench twisting away my insides. I had heard so much of this course and the relentless suffering to be had if you didn't miscalculate the turn and end you day even faster.

The Course:
Downtown Nevada city. The start/finish line sits about 200m from the infamous downhill 90 degree corners. The course is billed as one of the hardest races in california and in a pain/minute ratio I think it is. All the suffering of an all out time trial with the puckering of a 40-50mph off camber series of 90s. When your not going down hill at 40+ your climbing. It's not the steepest or longest but you start climbing it in the big ring no problem for most of the race but as it wears you down(or atleast me) I became increasingly more dependant on the small ring for all but the downhill and flater sections.

I wanted to hit the corner at least once before the start of the race but no chance. There was very little time inbetween races. The race promoter ran such a tight ship. It was a fantastic race to attend or participate in. Well the race started and I'm still scared by the turn so I figure the best thing I can do is go to the front and hit it clean with no riders in front of me to get a better look at it. The first time through feels very scetchey so I decided to look for a clean line again on the second lap by drilling it up the hill. I stayed away for a couple laps and took a prime that I didn't even hear rung. Turns out to be a $100 cash prime. Nice. The damage was done to both myself and the pack as it was now only 15 remaining and I dangled off the back of it. Fighting the whole time I couldn't recover and ended up 13th. Spencer from The RenoWheelmen solo'd off the front to a well earned win.


Sierra Nevada Crit

Great weather, great pavement but about as boring as they get in crit courses. Flat, 2 corner(d shaped) meant a bunch spring was almost eminent. Still trying to shake the heebie geebies from my recent string of bad luck I really didn't feel like riding around for 50 minutes just to try and sprint at the end. This is bullshit racing, your not Boonen or Benatti grow some stones and take a risk to animate the race. That being said I decided to try a couple breaks but nothing stuck. Won a prime and the most aggressive rider award.

The SierraNevada/Specialized crew put on a great race though. Its the little things like free drinks on a hot day and music playing that make a race fun to go to. Although, who gives away extra large t-shirts as primes. Were freakin bike racers, none of us wear and extra large. Whats up Betonte.

Monday, June 9, 2008

District TT and the HealthNet rocket

Goal for the race sub 55 minutes.

Yesterday was the District time trial for the Northern Califonia/Nevada area in Sattley Ca which is about 25 miles north-west of truckee. Driving to the start I was already writing this off after looking at the start list containing a plethora of Cat1's and a Pro. The temp on the dash read 30 degrees on the drive there adding to my less than enthusiastic start to the day. I was racing the elite mens's open since there wasn't a E3 catagory. Arrive, setup, get number and get ready. The Temp warmed to a tropical 50 degrees(those crack pot scientists and there global warming claims can suck it) and up to a tollerable 57 by my start.

I tried to pace off my power meter and not go out to hard which I am notorius for doing. It was a slight head wind on the way out and tailwind comming back. Just before the turn around the guy starting a minute and a half back of me Roman Kluin caught me and passed. Damn pros. He would eventually put the stick beating to the whole field and 3 minutes on me in route to setting a new course record.

My steed was an uber slick borrowed P3C that I had been riding for about a week and did the cold springs TT on so I though I had it dialed in. Turns out I didn't. Around mile 19 my inner thighs were blazing and my calves cramped. Pedaled through but it hurt really bad. Final time was 52:26 for 6th. It was 5 minutes faster than my time from last year and 13 minutes faster than the year before but I still wanted to atleast get in the top 5 so I'm not exactly stoked about the result.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Golden state crit & Cold Springs TT

Ok so its been a bit but here is the recap:
Golden State crit:
It was snowing over the I-80 summit and a guy pulling a trailer was forced with the option of smashing into the back of a semi or running me into the concrete barrier. He choose the later and my car got quickly redecorated. Bastard. Well it still drove straight so we continued on to the race. We get into Sacramento and its raining. I walk over to reg and see plenty of riders with that "oh my hip hurts" look on their faces and black marks on their bibs. It was a super slick course and guy crashing alot early on. About 10 minutes before the start I decided to tempt the karma gods once again and go ahead and race. Not more than 3 turns into our race was the first crash. I chose to sit at the back and just ride it out from a safe watching distance and keep it upright. On the last two laps there was a lull and the racer in me decided I couldn't just ride it home. I started moving up and hesitated just a moment to long on the last lap missing chance to move up far enough and settled for 10th.


Cold Springs TT 14m:
As usual for Cold Springs it was a windy suffer fest. I have a P3c on loan from a friend for the district TT and wanted to get one last form check on it before the weekend. I went out way to hard and popped after the first lap(of 2).
NP total 322w
NP for lap 1 was 336w 14:32
NP for lap 2 was 310w 15:37

Hopefully I can pace it a little better for this weekend. No delusions of grandeur just hoping to go under 56 minutes.