See the race from two different perspectives. Below are Rick and Steve’s Race Reports
Rick Kile’s Race Report
Patterson Pass: I received the profile and course description below from teammates Steve Cooke and Randy Floyd. I was not feeling confident as the diet and training intensity took a planned break, that along with work accelerating with a couple deadlines, my head was not in the right space. We lined up a good Body Concepts contingent with Steve Cooke, Randy Volkmar, Matt Conidaris, Todd Peterson and myself in a full field of 50 riders. I decided to take a ‘masters pit stop’ just before the start, about 7 minutes to post time. Coming out of the facilities, I just happened to notice a skid spot on the rear tubular where the casing was showing, not good, that could spell disaster. I scurried back to the truck, grabbed the spare wheel, installed and pumped it up in reasonable time, locked up the truck and I’m rolling; I’m only about ¼ mile from the start. Well so much for printed post times, crap – the field left without me. I start to chase, I could not see them until I went around 2 or 3 corners, luckily since the race started on a long steep climb into the wind they did not have the gas on, so in short – I got an extra hard warm up. The first climb was long with several steep sections as well as some steady grades and a couple flat spots, then a small valley before part two which looks like a wall from down below, best not to look up that far and psych yourself out. I was able to stay toward the front, getting some shelter behind the mountain goats over this beast. The second climb was a different story, this was a down hill section of the Wente RR and I knew what was in store, a pretty healthy climb with a strong tail wind, no where to hide. I was able to summit just behind the lead group and caught on by the first corner of the decent watching the strong tall Webcor guy go off the road on the sharp 15mph corner but luckily no crash or meeting with the barbed wire. The remainder of the lap was mostly down hill with a tail wind and a couple small climbs before the last flat 1 KM to the finish, but wait we had another lap to go and thought to myself, I should be feeling like this going into the end of the race not the half way point.
We lost over half the field on lap 1 and I was able to stick with the lead group on the big headwind climb, hats off to Todd, Steve, Webcor guy, Rich and his teammate from Giant Berry, they were pulling who was left up this monster. I got toward the front at the bottom of the 2nd tailwind climb, my teammate Todd was at the front pushing the pace, about halfway up my legs and lungs were burning and I faded back in the company of 3 other guys. We crested the summit about 30-40 seconds back. One of the Taleo guys started a mean chase, it took me most of the first down hill section to catch him and one other guy, I had a guy on my wheel as well. We had a little headwind riser to cross over 580 at the summit of Altamont Pass, but the lead pack of ~10 was within sight and maybe striking distance. The four of us worked well together and my legs were coming around, after a steep down hill we then made a right into a long shallow down hill section with a tailwind. The four of us took turns gaining on the group then I made a big push to catch on and bridged up with legs burning but not fried. We had about 6-7 miles to go at this point with a couple more climbs and change of wind direction before the finish. We were motoring along pretty well 35+ mph then as we approached a CHP directed intersection, I heard a big POP!, it turned out to be Mike Nissen, flat rear tire, luckily he stayed upright. Going into the final section the first smaller rise went fine, the second shallow but longer climb was going good also, until I got up out of the saddle and the legs locked up, I realized I was still in the big ring, some quick shifting, spinning and Jens Voight ‘shut up legs’ self talk barely got me over the top in good position. On the run for the final 1 KM Todd took off about 200 meters before the two sharp right hand corners that led up to the final 250 . I was 3rd spot behind the Webcor guy. At about 200 meters I jumped by the Webcor guy then reeled in and passed Todd who had about a 10 meter gap. I kept my head down until the finish and the legs cramped up again just as I crossed the line, the most satisfying win I can remember. Steve Cooke nabbed 3rd and Todd 7th; they had to call back riders 2nd-7th for video review since it was such a tight group.
Lessons Learned:
- A break from training can be good
- Always check the bike thoroughly two days before race day
- Never give up, bridging up to a group can refresh the legs and spirit
Sponsor Note: I really noticed how well the Nike Vision glasses worked since I lost mine, both pairs from the back up bin do not measure up.
Steve Cooke’s Race Report
Team BC rolled up to the start about 5 minutes before the gun was to go off. Rick indicated he had to go for a bladder break and about a minute after he took off, the race official said the race starts in 1 minute; a minute later we were gone and Rick was not only finishing up business but he was also changing out a bad tire. As a result, he ended up having to chase back on probably 2 miles or so. Fortunately for him the initial pace was reasonable as no one appeared to be interested in animating things just yet.
Once the road pitched up, a big Webor (Holger) dude went to the front to lead the group up the first climb. As soon as that happened Todd gassed it to follow and several others chased after Todd (the cats out of the bag and Todd now has the dubious honor of being a marked rider). We cleared the first climb with a few less riders and descended toward the second climb. At the second climb, Todd and a few guys pushed the pace and put the hurt on many. At this point a few others fell off. Just after the top there was a downhill section combined with a hard left turn. Randy V had warned me to watch out for it as it was easy to carry too much speed into the corner and ultimately good off the road. Sure enough my friend Holger was leading the pack down the road not realizing that the left turn was quickly approaching . As we all approached Holger locked his rear break and started fish tailing. At that point I cut inside through the turn smiling and mentally thanking Randy for the hint and hoping Holger the Webcor warrior didn’t crash.
As we were nearing completion of the first lap, a race official mentioned there was a guy 59 seconds off the front. This guy had casually rolled off the front near the beginning of the race and much to his credit had built up a pretty good lead. Two Giant Strawberry guys and Todd went to the front and picked up the pace and half way up one of the climbs we caught the wanna be winner. Todd added insult to injury and just rode the dudes wheel before the worn out racer caved in and fell back into the lead group. By now the lead group was probably scaled down to about 20. We didn’t hit it hard enough early on to trim the pack down to a more “manageable” size and consequently it looked like the race would ultimately come down to a sprint finish. We cleared the last climb and headed back toward the the start/finish. We had a strong tailwind and Todd and I traded pulls for a short time hoping we could shed a few more riders. About 2-3 miles from the finish, Holger went to the front and I rode slightly left of his wheel to get out of the wind. He stayed at the front much to everyone’s delight. About a mile out Todd came up on my left with Rick on his wheel and then I grabbed Rick’s wheel. It looked like we had the makings of a lead out. I rode as close as possible to the center yellow line to prevent others from trying to jump in our train. So there we were Holger at the front, Todd, Rick and me of his left and two Giant Strawberry guys on Holger’s right. We had the perfect set up. About 1/4 mile from the final two sharp right turns leading up to the finish-line, Todd picked up the pace. Coming out of the final corner it was Todd, Holger, Rick, Strawberry and me. Rick picked up the pace, I grabbed Holger’s wheel thinking he was the strongest and followed, however, about 200 meters out he started wilting. Rick was pulling away. Todd was behind him and then Strawberry. I started to try and come around the Strawberry guy but got box in. I then started around Holger’s right side and I could hear a bunch of riders coming up from behind. I punched it, but ran out of real estate at the finish-line. Rick won by 15 feet, Strawberry beat me by 1/2 bike length and then the next 4 places were decided in the 6-8 feet behind me. It was a close tight sprint.
So, all in all, Rick was 1st, me 3rd and Todd 7th. Randy V finished about 15th and I didn’t get a chance to talk to Matt to see how he finished. It was a good day. The team picked up more “BAT” points and Rick once again showed everyone why he is leading the individual racer points. Todd took many a monster pulls and both he and Rick from time to time kept me out of the wind. Without their efforts, I most likely would have finished further back in the pack.
Lessons learned:
Don’t monkey with your bike a day or two before a race. I changed out my small chain-ring only to find out that it caused my chain to drop off the large ring during shifting. I had a few bad shifts during the race which only acted to detract from my focus.
Use your opponent to your benefit. Holger was a hell of a wind block and by riding off his wheel numerous times I saved lots of energy.
Never give up. Rick had to chase on at the beginning of the race, got dropped on one of the climbs, chased back on and then ended up winning the race. Congratulations Rick to a well deserved win.