A big reason I decided to actually have a racing year this year was that the national championships, for the first time in many years, is being held on the west coast, a simple car drive up to Bend as oppposed to Pennsylvania or Kentucky as in the last several years.
For the past six weeks I've been tailoring my training program so that I will be in peak condition for Friday (crit) and Sunday (RR). To that extent the last three races before nationals were important for me to be competitive, but ultimately the purpose was to serve the interest of nationals prep.
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Tuesday Night Twilights #7, 23 August
This was the first TNT since the six week break for the county fair. As such, the sun was going down early, and for the last race of the night I ended up swapping out my sunglasses for regular ones so I could actually see while racing the last handful of laps.
Several espoirs (young pros) showed up for the race including a Fireman pro rider, Ryan Eastman (LiveStrong), a McGuire rider, Pistacchio's Taylor Bertrand-Barrett and John Piasta ('boy wonder'). Three Echelonistas, the Red Menace (Red Peloton), a strong and light Rob Dillion, Colavitas, a couple Bobas, Organic Athlete, NorCal's Dr. Todd as well as several others filled out the field.
It was the last ride of my black and yellow BMC RaceMaster, as I had procured a new RaceMaster to replace her as she had started corroding on her aluminum downtube near the water bottle cage, and I was losing confidence because of this.
I felt awesome. Like the race was my personal plaything. Early on I bridged to a group of three in solo fashion, super clean. Soon enough four other riders make the bridge and that was that, we were the train that left the station. We just kept the pressure on without totally drilling it, and we ended up finishing a long way ahead of the rest of the peloton, a minute, maybe two.
I could have tried to break up our break by attacking late but had confidence in my sprint and wanted to try it out. Well, in the final 300 meters Dr. Todd moved me off Teeter's wheel in the Mexican Village section of the course, almost taking me into the decorative pillar and I lost a little speed and as such finished 5th. Mike Charleton took a fine sprint with Alex Brookhouse second.
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Saturday 27 August was the Winters Road Race, a great, hard course west of Davis. I signed up with the 35+ masters 1-2-3 because my 45+ field was prematurely filled up. First time with the new bike. Red, white and black. (I need a whole new cycling wardrobe to match the bike!)
This one turned out to be Safeway vs. Specialized. Safeway had the numbers and great talent. Specialized had two strong riders and tenacity. Specialized routinely pulled the field up to each Safeway attack, and the first lap (of three) was so animated that our goup caught the 30+, Elite 3, and Women's fields that started ahead of us (27 mph first lap for a hilly road race!) When the climb came, it was in three sections which were tackled by the field basically in apeshit fashion--I was barely able to hold on! On the second lap on the long frontage road I bridged up to a group that had a Safeway rider in it that looked super-promising. We were all working well but once again Specialized brought the peloton back up to the break.
All this reactive riding from Specialized ended up being their downfall, as none of their riders cracked the top ten, having shelled themselves by working so hard, so early on. As for me, my legs more or less fell off my body on the second climb. At first I chased gamely with a few other peloton misfits, but when we all noticed that riding at 29 mph on the flats was holding us only steady at best, 1:30 down on the peloton, we all called it quits and headed into the pits. Personally I'm sticking to the excuse of my seat being set too high on my new bike. Safeway's Dan Martin won the race.
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Vacaville GP the next day (28 Aug) was pretty hot, as you might expect Vacaville in the summer to be. The course was really fun as it was a figure eight shaped course which featured a short but hard climb and a couple turns that really test how far you feel comfortable leaning your bike over. I try and visualize those MotoGP riders leaning their crotchrockets all the way over and that helps ease the dread.
Again racing 35s, as there was no 45 race on offer. I had solved my seat height issue and felt quite a bit more powerful, and was in a couple breakaways, but none stuck. Midway through I tried to stay with Larry Nolan (Specialized), world champ that he is, as he attacked up the hill. Oh, ouch. I stayed with him okay, but I swear I lopped about seven years off my life in doing so. That particular break fizzled a lap and a half later, due to natural causes however.
With just two to go another Safeway rider takes off and the move smells good so I jump too but the peloton is too aroused and is on us, all those calories spent for naught.
And on the last lap I manage to find Larry's wheel in the middle of the field. He's moving up in a suspicious manner and I get on, ready for another launch on the hill. We're about 20 guys from the front but are moving up on the inside on the curve at the base of the hill when three guys go down right in front of us. As they are yelling at each other one of the fallen hotheads takes a swing at the other. I think they were still sliding! Well I couldn't see around Larry and jammed on the brakes so as not to be the 4th rider down. This of course screwed me for moving up rapidly on the climb, so all I could do was try and ride hard the rest of the way in. For 16th. Meanwhile Nolan's teammate Dean LaBerge stormed it in for the win.
Turns out the Winters RR winner, Dan Martin, was one of the dudes to hit the deck. He tells me after the race that he dislocated his shoulder in that pileup. But, he tells me, he popped it back in to place while he was lying there, in the middle of the road, with a busted bike and a ripped up jersey. He showed me how he did it. He said it hurt. I guess you could say he's a tough guy.
---
So now I'm in Bend, with my criterium nationals race tomorrow. I really don't know how I'm feeling fitness-wise as the last time I pedalled hard was Sunday, in Vacaville. Coach Laurel Green, who looked over my six-week schedule, told me emphatically to just rest, so that I've done. Meanwhile riders from all over the country are here to throw it down. (in Vacaville, I ran into a group slowly making it up from San Diego in a motor home -- shiftless itinerant bike racers! What, you couldn't get tickets to Burning Man?)
So I'll have no idea if I'll be competitive. I guess I'll know tomorrow.
For the past six weeks I've been tailoring my training program so that I will be in peak condition for Friday (crit) and Sunday (RR). To that extent the last three races before nationals were important for me to be competitive, but ultimately the purpose was to serve the interest of nationals prep.
---
Tuesday Night Twilights #7, 23 August
This was the first TNT since the six week break for the county fair. As such, the sun was going down early, and for the last race of the night I ended up swapping out my sunglasses for regular ones so I could actually see while racing the last handful of laps.
Several espoirs (young pros) showed up for the race including a Fireman pro rider, Ryan Eastman (LiveStrong), a McGuire rider, Pistacchio's Taylor Bertrand-Barrett and John Piasta ('boy wonder'). Three Echelonistas, the Red Menace (Red Peloton), a strong and light Rob Dillion, Colavitas, a couple Bobas, Organic Athlete, NorCal's Dr. Todd as well as several others filled out the field.
It was the last ride of my black and yellow BMC RaceMaster, as I had procured a new RaceMaster to replace her as she had started corroding on her aluminum downtube near the water bottle cage, and I was losing confidence because of this.
I felt awesome. Like the race was my personal plaything. Early on I bridged to a group of three in solo fashion, super clean. Soon enough four other riders make the bridge and that was that, we were the train that left the station. We just kept the pressure on without totally drilling it, and we ended up finishing a long way ahead of the rest of the peloton, a minute, maybe two.
I could have tried to break up our break by attacking late but had confidence in my sprint and wanted to try it out. Well, in the final 300 meters Dr. Todd moved me off Teeter's wheel in the Mexican Village section of the course, almost taking me into the decorative pillar and I lost a little speed and as such finished 5th. Mike Charleton took a fine sprint with Alex Brookhouse second.
---
Saturday 27 August was the Winters Road Race, a great, hard course west of Davis. I signed up with the 35+ masters 1-2-3 because my 45+ field was prematurely filled up. First time with the new bike. Red, white and black. (I need a whole new cycling wardrobe to match the bike!)
This one turned out to be Safeway vs. Specialized. Safeway had the numbers and great talent. Specialized had two strong riders and tenacity. Specialized routinely pulled the field up to each Safeway attack, and the first lap (of three) was so animated that our goup caught the 30+, Elite 3, and Women's fields that started ahead of us (27 mph first lap for a hilly road race!) When the climb came, it was in three sections which were tackled by the field basically in apeshit fashion--I was barely able to hold on! On the second lap on the long frontage road I bridged up to a group that had a Safeway rider in it that looked super-promising. We were all working well but once again Specialized brought the peloton back up to the break.
All this reactive riding from Specialized ended up being their downfall, as none of their riders cracked the top ten, having shelled themselves by working so hard, so early on. As for me, my legs more or less fell off my body on the second climb. At first I chased gamely with a few other peloton misfits, but when we all noticed that riding at 29 mph on the flats was holding us only steady at best, 1:30 down on the peloton, we all called it quits and headed into the pits. Personally I'm sticking to the excuse of my seat being set too high on my new bike. Safeway's Dan Martin won the race.
---
Vacaville GP the next day (28 Aug) was pretty hot, as you might expect Vacaville in the summer to be. The course was really fun as it was a figure eight shaped course which featured a short but hard climb and a couple turns that really test how far you feel comfortable leaning your bike over. I try and visualize those MotoGP riders leaning their crotchrockets all the way over and that helps ease the dread.
Again racing 35s, as there was no 45 race on offer. I had solved my seat height issue and felt quite a bit more powerful, and was in a couple breakaways, but none stuck. Midway through I tried to stay with Larry Nolan (Specialized), world champ that he is, as he attacked up the hill. Oh, ouch. I stayed with him okay, but I swear I lopped about seven years off my life in doing so. That particular break fizzled a lap and a half later, due to natural causes however.
With just two to go another Safeway rider takes off and the move smells good so I jump too but the peloton is too aroused and is on us, all those calories spent for naught.
And on the last lap I manage to find Larry's wheel in the middle of the field. He's moving up in a suspicious manner and I get on, ready for another launch on the hill. We're about 20 guys from the front but are moving up on the inside on the curve at the base of the hill when three guys go down right in front of us. As they are yelling at each other one of the fallen hotheads takes a swing at the other. I think they were still sliding! Well I couldn't see around Larry and jammed on the brakes so as not to be the 4th rider down. This of course screwed me for moving up rapidly on the climb, so all I could do was try and ride hard the rest of the way in. For 16th. Meanwhile Nolan's teammate Dean LaBerge stormed it in for the win.
Turns out the Winters RR winner, Dan Martin, was one of the dudes to hit the deck. He tells me after the race that he dislocated his shoulder in that pileup. But, he tells me, he popped it back in to place while he was lying there, in the middle of the road, with a busted bike and a ripped up jersey. He showed me how he did it. He said it hurt. I guess you could say he's a tough guy.
---
So now I'm in Bend, with my criterium nationals race tomorrow. I really don't know how I'm feeling fitness-wise as the last time I pedalled hard was Sunday, in Vacaville. Coach Laurel Green, who looked over my six-week schedule, told me emphatically to just rest, so that I've done. Meanwhile riders from all over the country are here to throw it down. (in Vacaville, I ran into a group slowly making it up from San Diego in a motor home -- shiftless itinerant bike racers! What, you couldn't get tickets to Burning Man?)
So I'll have no idea if I'll be competitive. I guess I'll know tomorrow.
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