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Body Concepts Race Team’s very own Steve Cooke and his Diamond Valley Race Report

Weather: Clear, sunny with a start temperature in the mid to upper 70’s

Course: 11 miles per lap, two 1/2 mile climbs of about 5 percent. Good pavement and scenic assuming you had time to notice such things.

Field Size: 40+/-

Race Statistics: 45.2 miles, avg speed of 23.5 mph and 1:55 hours of pedal time.

Todd, Randy Floyd and I all raced but in separate races, Todd in the 45-49yr group (55 miles), me in the 50-54 group (44 miles) and Randy F in the 55-59 group (44 miles).

Showed up a little before 7 AM, got my number, said hello to Randy and Todd and then warmed up on the trainer for 30 minutes. Filled water bottles, coordinated the water hand up with my wife and then went to the start line to get a good position. Lots of 2-3 person teams were there: VOS, Safeway, Symantics, Webcor, Paco’s, Bicycle Plus, Morgan Stanley and a few others. I felt a bit intimidated knowing that the majority of these guys were either Cat 2’s or 3’s. My game plan was to stay near the front and ride the wheels of the other teams when and if the attacks came.

Within the first mile of the start, a guy took a flyer down River Road and the group went nuts and worked quit hard to bring him back. Right then and there I wondered if this was going to be an indicator of things to come. During the first set of climbs on lap one everyone behaved themselves . A Paco guy touched the rear wheel of a VOS guy which in turn caused a VOS teammate to go off the pavement into the dirt. No one went down but some choice words of love were exchanged and then the focus on the race resumed. Best I could tell if anyone was dropped on the climbs, they quickly chased back on. On lap two the dynamics changed a bit. Safeway and VOS went to the front and started attacking right after the neutral feed. They opened up some small gaps and the other teams closed them. Every time the gap opened I waited for someone to chase it down and then followed their wheel. That worked ok however just before the beginning of the first climb on lap two I got boxed in and a gap opened off the front and the chasers were already covering it. I finally got around a few guys and had to hit it to chase back on. At that point I realized I had to get positioned well before the climbs otherwise my box of matches would soon be empty. At the beginning of the second climb of the second lap Safeway hit it and guys started falling off. Fortunately I was near the front and was able to hang on. The same attacks kept coming every so often and each time the “attackers” would look back to see how many “attackies” we still alive.  Lap three was pretty mellow to the base of the first climb. Four guys went off the front and opened up a 30 m gap. A group of about 10 guys including myself chased them down and had just enough time to recover for the second hill. Once again the pace quickened and folks were struggling to hang on. I was maybe 2-3 guys from the end but held on. As we headed back to start lap 4, I looked back and the road was naked of any riders for as far as I could see. I looked at our group and noted that most of Paco’s, Webcor and all of Morgan Stanley and Bicycle Plus were gone. We were a group of about 12.

Apparently during the flurry of attacks 2 guys got off the front and had a 30 second lead. Some folks were trying to get a pace line going but no one wanted to participate. More attacks ensued but nothing came of it. The pace dropped off  and I guess we either caught the guys off the front or we as a group gave up. It’s hard to see these things from the caboose. Life was good once again up until the last climb. VOS and Safeway went to the front and hit it. Two more  guys fell off and then the pace slowed as everyone reloaded for the finish line sprint. By now my legs were almost jello. The sprint started about 300 m out and I did my best to hold the wheel in front of me but it speed away. As the finish line approached I sat up and right at the line another guy nipped me. The race was done and so was I.

Afterwords I hooked up with Randy to discuss his race and then Todd showed up looking rather fresh. I told him he looked more like he sat under a tree reading a book for a couple of hours than he did racing. Todd responded that he felt great and could have raced another couple of laps. Boy I wish we could all be so lucky!

Results haven’t been posted. I think I finished 10th overall or perhaps 12th if we didn’t pull back the two who escaped off the front.

Lessons learned:

Pay attention and anticipate changes along the course. Set yourself up for whatever the course throws at you. Racing is hard enough so no need to make it any tougher than you have to.

Don’t be intimated by others. Believe in yourself, don’t give up and hang on. Everyone is suffering. The ones who prevail know how to suffer just a little bit longer than the rest.

The race isn’t over until you cross the finish line; don’t let up until then.

Steve Cooke

Check out the video that Nike Vision put together to feature their products and our team.

http://www.eyefinityofficemateblog.com

Happy 4^th to everyone!!

Body Concepts Road Race 45+ Cat 4’s Team

Current leaders of both the BAR and BAT points for Northern California-Nevada Cycling Association!

Thanks to our sponsors:

Nike Vision, Western Health Advantage, Bicycles Plus, Eagle Vision Eye Care, Premier Access, Voler

Leesville Gap RR (Paris – Roubaix of Northern California) Report

Stats:

~61-miles (11-miles of major potholes and gravel roads)

2,664 ft elevation gain

Main climb ~15-miles into the race ~3-miles long, at average 6% grade, 1,500 ft elevation gain

Temp: 80’s

Wind: from the north east 10-15mph with gusts (25mph?) that were blowing me at nearly 200-lbs sideways

45+ Cat 4 field of ~50-riders

Body Concepts had 7-riders starting

35+ Cat 5 field of 4 riders

Body Concepts had 1-rider starting (John Depew just back from Team Will event…850 miles in 10-days…check out http://team-will.org/)

So we were very lucky and had great weather today for Leesville!  Our plan starting out was to put Rick and Todd in the lead group up the first climb to try to slow the overall pace while the rest of us attempted to chase back on with Randy F. as our designated sprinter for the day. If we were not able to chase back on, Rick and Todd were to win the race for us )

Davis attacked almost from the start into a head wind, but never got away. This resulted in us catching the 35+ 4’s category before the rough pavement began. The moto refs neutralized the 35’s and we went around them which was great because we now had a clean shot through the rough section less than ½ a mile ahead. Unfortunately, the moto ref’s did not keep the groups apart and 100-riders hit the dirt/potholes section at the same time with both groups vying for position as tires popped and water bottles flew out of cages as is typical of this section. Our team had at least 4-5 riders in the top 15 at all times…myself included. I did not want to be back in the melee that was behind. Randy V had a mechanical issue and his rear wheel stopped rotating causing the rider behind him to crash into him…both hit the ground, race over (bummer!! We didn’t find out until after the race was over)

We made the bottom of the climb with Rick and Todd perfectly positioned. Both groups were still mixed together and it was impossible to tell how many people from our category were ahead as things stretched out. I rode the climb with our designated rider for the day Randy F and came over the top of the climb with about 6 other riders (Randy put in a great effort with me to chase back on in the last 500 meters of the climb). We had been looking behind as we climbed the switchbacks checking for Carlos and Randy V, but they were nowhere to be seen. Randy and I decided to immediately push the pace and shortly caught up with Matt who had gone ahead on the climb. We now had about 10-riders in our little chase group…but only 3-4 of us were doing any work…the next time I rotated off the back I “asked” the guys sitting on the back to either take a pull or “get lost”. We finally started getting some cooperation and settled into a semi-functional rotation chasing riders ahead.

Going through the feedzone one of the stronger riders took off. We grabbed water bottles from Linda (my wife…she successfully gave me two bottles at once as I rode by and got one each to Matt and Randy F right behind me as well, a pretty amazing feat)…nothing like cold beverage 35-miles into the race! On the downhill (47+mph) I kept wondering if my bars/fork/wheels were still intact after all the pounding from the miles of crap we had just ridden through…they apparently were because I stayed upright. (NOTE: my Nike Vision glasses successfully deflected all bugs in this agricultural region with deft aplomb even at close to 50-mph…thank you Nike Vision)

We had no idea at this time how far the lead group was away by, but after the end of the race, Linda said that Todd was so far ahead she thought he was another team member from an earlier group. We put our heads down and started reeling in the rider who attacked in the feed zone. With Matt and Randy F pulling on the downhill sections. I would take pulls though the flats and we soon caught our bait. Now we were after the lead group again…the wind was at our backs and we were cruising 26-30mph. On a turn we ended up in a quartering head wind and just like we planned, went into a 3-person echelon putting the group in the gutter…~3-miles later at 21+ mph there where only 5–riders left in our group as we turned into another down wind section. My lateral Hamstring was now starting to cramp on both legs so I put it into a really big gear and kept saying to myself Glutes and Quads…Glutes and Quads…the Hamstring cramps dissipated. We caught two more riders in this section then turned into the quartering head wind again heading for the little blue tent in the distance and finish line. We went into our echelon again Rob-Matt-Randy and ~3.5-miles later had not dropped anyone but were at the 200-meter sign and I was toast.

I had been talking with Matt who let Randy F know that I was going to pull to the 200-meter sign and then it was up to them. At the sign I pulled off and they went for the “win” in our little group. Randy took 3^rd in our 7-rider group sprint.

Data (Rob)

Average HR from climb to finish 173 (zone 4 for me is 167-178)

Overall race zone 4 = 62% zone 5 = 5%

Average bike speed entire event 19.1, Max of 47.2

Total time of race 3 hours 10 minutes

Final 3.6 miles average HR 182, Max of 190 (pulling into head wind section)

Final 3.6 miles average bike speed 21.8, max 24.7 at 200 meter sign

Results

45+   Todd 2^nd, Rick 11^th, Randy F 15^th, Matt 17^th, Rob 18^th, Carlos 28^th (coming back from long illness), Randy V dnf-mechanical

35+   John dnf-flatted twice after the really nasty sections

Lessons

1. NEVER forget you chamois lube…I’ve got the outline of my saddle tattooed on my buttocks and will not be on the bike again for a week while it heals

2. It is good to have two plans…options are great ) Awesome job Rick and Todd!!

3. Check all your bolts, screws and any other fastening devices on your bike before doing an event…ask Randy V for details )

4. You feel really good when you’ve ridden your best and laid it all out for your team mates.

5. Like I’ve noted before, you can do more than you think you can…all you have to do is be willing to risk defeat to find out what you are really capable of. If you are defeated, you get to learn something for the next time. Playing it safe teaches you less…you don’t find your limits to know what you need to work on for next time.

Next Race: Lodi Crit…next weekend

Have a great week!!!

Rob

Body Concepts Team Report

Pescadero RR 6-19-10

Category:

45+ 4/5 (50 riders) and 55+ open (25 riders) field of 75 riders

Route:

~50 miles total, 2-laps of 25 miles

2×1-mile climbs, 1×2-mile climb to finish line

Plan:

Randy V, Randy F, Rob, Carlos and Matt attack the field and wear out the competition…

Todd, Steve and Rick to sit in and clean every ones clock on the final climb, 3 in top 10

Weather:

High fog/low clouds 55-degrees, light breeze

Race:

Never having raced this event before, I was a bit nervous getting started…what were the climbs going to be like?

Carlos covered the first break of the day that was going after a sprint prime before the first climb. Randy F and I were covering the front on the first two climbs which ended up being hard efforts but manageable. Steve was bombing the downhills “having fun”. Once over the first two climbs we did several attacks…I think at least 6 prior to the third climb…I know I did three. Morgan Stanley’s 55+ team kept chasing us back down but it stretched the group out and made a few people hurt ). I got a bottle from Linda, my wife, in the feed zone with a perfect hand off and got rid of my vest. Going up the third climb things started  s t r e t c h i n g  out with Todd, Rick and Steve doing well in the lead group, Randy V and myself followed by Randy F, Matt and Carlos strung out behind. Randy V and I went over the top together and had a great time bombing the downhill getting back on the lead group after about 10-minutes of hard work with 4 other guys. We immediately went up to the front, rested about 5-minutes and then decided to take another stab at going off the front. We got a good gap this time with a chase group of about 10-riders catching us after a while but not willing to work to stay off the front…we were all back together before town and settled into a tempo effort.

Starting the second lap, I thought about going for the second prime but decided to save the energy for later (good thing I did). Getting over the first two climbs was harder this time with the accumulated fatigue building in the legs but the team was present on the front all the way through. In the ~10-miles of rolling terrain before the feedzone/final climb I worked with 3-4 other guys on the front setting a good tempo…there were two 55+ guys supposedly off the front but I wasn’t sure they were not 45+, so I put in the remaining energy that I had left chasing them down. At the feed zone, I pretty much sat up and was done for the day, watching the lead group, which was down to ~30-35 riders, go up the road into the final turn heading up the last climb…Todd, Rick, Steve, Randy F, Randy V and Matt were still in the lead group…not bad for a days work. I kept rolling up the last climb at about 85% effort just to keep in front of anyone coming up from behind and enjoying some of the scenery of the amazing Redwoods. As I came across the finish line I got to wave at Linda and Todd’s wife Janine who were video taping the finish…they were not sure who won. I had a more relaxed descent back down and caught up with both Randy’s and Matt, they didn’t know who had won either. We got back to the school (start line) and met up with Todd, Steve and Rick. Todd thought he had won and Steve/Rick thought they had placed in the top 5 but were not sure since the 55+ guys were in the group as well. 2.5 hours later we finally got the official results:

Todd 1^st, Steve 3^rd, Rick 4^th, Matt 18^th, Randy V 19^th, Randy F 20^th, Rob 23^rd, Carlos 34^th

Note: I used my Nike Vision Glasses with Max Speed lenses which were awesome in their ability to adapt to changing light of open rolling hills to dense redwood forest shade…I was a little concerned going into the race with these lenses and almost switched to my MaxVisability lenses but they were great!

Lessons:

I love it when a plan comes together!

We can all contribute to a successful team result J

Rob

Rob’s recap of his Dunlap Time Trial:

Dunlap TT

35+ 4/5’s

30-k

Light wind from the SW

94-degrees

Dead flat course with ~6-turns

30-second intervals between riders

Goal was to finish around 45-min

Caught 8-riders in front of me

Finished 46’03”

10^th place out of 40 registered

Winning time: a little over 42 minutes (would have placed top 10 in the pros) next fastest rider was over 43 min and was the rider off just in front of me

Interesting…they had a start ramp set up, never used one before…I liked it.

Promised myself not to do this again at the end…my hip rotators are not used to going hard in the TT position and were VERY painful and stiff after the ride…could hardly walk over to registration and just about fell over getting my clothes changed…hip rotators not really cramping…just extremely painful and not wanting to work anymore.

Feeling better now…still stiff and sore but will live to play another day.

Thanks for loaning your TT helmet Brad…it helped!

Lessons:

Practice longer TT efforts for at least 6-weeks leading into an event like this…those 1-min power intervals Matt and I have been doing are not enough )

You can dig deeper than you think…

Ice in a camel back bladder stuffed down your skin suit lasts about 15k on a day this hot….hot water is better than no water on your first 90+ ride of the year )

They had a TTT this year that we definitely need to do as a team next year!!

Kenny Bailey’s Golden State Crit Race Report

John Depew and I thought we would “represent” at Saturday’s Golden State Crit, participating in the Masters 35+ Cat 4/5 group (photos courtesy of Zach Hamm).  The race didn’t start until 3:50 which makes for an unusual start time.  I think we both agree mornings would be a better time to race.  The good news about local crits is you take a total of 2 hours out of your day to travel, prep, race, then head home.

It was a nice day to race, sunny with some wind but really didn’t feel it during the race.  Since this was sponsored by Rio Strada, they were well represented.  Throughout the race, they kept throwing guys out for breakaways where a couple of other teams like SN/Bike Plus would hunt them down.   I think they got 1^st/2^nd overall,  so the tactic worked.
Overall, a straightforward crit with no real danger as everyone kept their line.  There were a couple of times where a rider would try to sneak past the group by hugging the curb and running over the grates but were quickly “reprimanded” by the peloton as they didn’t need a hot-dogger to take out ½ the group.  My the f-bombs were thrown at that guy!

For some unknown reason, we hit the back part of the lap about 13 minutes in and seemed everyone pulled up considerably.  I figured I had good inertia heading out the corner and proceeded to take the pull at the front.  We will mark that at as my “young bull” move as I burned a couple of matches doing that which proceeded to hurt me at the end.

Last two laps heated up and John was right in the mix with overall placement of 24^th.  He did fantastic as it was his first crit!  I ended up in 40^th because of said previous pull move and I sat up.  Dumb idea as at least 5 people passed me, including the only girl in the race!
KEY LESSONS:

1. Don’t take a pull unless we have 6 riders in the peloton, we want to push the pace,  and Rob tells me to.
2. Don’t sit up at the end, no matter what place you’re at.
3. John and I should have worked together more.  I think I should have shielded him the whole race until the last lap then let him go nuts.  Need to get educated on that more.

Rick Kile’s Race Report

Golden State Race Series presented by Rio Strada

Saturday Criterium:  Boy it’s nice not to have to travel 3 hours to a race venue, a 30 minute drive had us located in a nice venue off Hwy 50.  It was a modern business park setting with wide roads and oddly shaped turns, temperatures a chilly ~50 degrees at 9am but perfect once racing started.  We rolled out right on schedule with 45, 45+ racers.  A pretty standard Criterium, with a couple of primes to keep the pace up; Paul Diaz from Colavita (3^rd at Livermore) took both the primes and looked to be my primary antagonist.   We had a couple of minor flyers, but nothing was going to stick on this wide open course.  I positioned my self well on the back stretch opting for an inside final corner position since the road pinched down on the outside; better to have control of my own line, or so I thought.  I rolled through the corner clean about 4^th wheel, and started my sprint, where I then proceeded to pull my foot out of my pedal.  I did not panic, re-clipped started my sprint again, over geared and off balance, I then pulled a wheelie.  I finally got it together and made a run for the line;  I salvaged a 5^th place.  There is something to be said for being near the front on that final corner.  I was pretty frustrated and felt I had a better placing in my legs.  I was really bummed that I more than likely let the nice custom signed overall winners jersey slip away.  I promptly went to Bicycles Plus and bought a new pair of pedals; blame it on the equipment. :-0

Sunday for the Circuit Race, it was the same venue, stretched into a good course with quite a few more turns and a pretty strong wind in spots.  The field was smaller, only about 30 guys in the field.  We had two primes, I took one mainly to match Paul’s hard earned chase for a prime earlier, there were a couple other flyers that kept the pace reasonable; we did 6 or 7 laps in all.  Going into the last lap we had two guys go off the front, we reeled them in a bit a couple times but backed off and ultimately waited too long.  We were ripping down the back stretch getting closer to the break when Paul made the right move going into the final ‘chicane’ before the finish.  That created an opening and I got on his wheel to thread the final two corners single file.  We both started our sprint and caught the 2nd guy in the break and I nipped Paul at the line for 2nd. A guy from Truckee took the well deserved solo win.   Since yesterday’s winner did not race, Paul and I ended up tied for first with 7 ‘points’ (the sum of both race places, him 4-3, me 5-2).  Since I placed better in the second race, that was the tie breaker, and I won the overall and the cool jersey signed by George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer.  A pretty good outing given my mishap in the finish yesterday.

I hope to have good races next weekend for Folsom and Auburn, did I mention it’s nice to only drive 30 minutes to races?

Rick Kile

Hey all…

Modesto RR…6-laps of a 9-mile course…elevation change of ~3-feet )

Racing Masters 35+ 4/5 ‘b’  50-riders, no centerline rule

Dave B and I pre-road about ¾ of the course as a warm up at a nice easy pace discussing strategy (1. keep upright, 2. have some fun, 3. stay near the front and out of trouble, 4. go into the last corner in 3&4^th place…win the race).

Lap 1

In spectacular fashion, the guy leading the pack sits up at the 1k sign and looks back over his shoulder and dumps his bike on the ground causing other riders to crash and the front half of the peloton to head for the dirt on the sides of the road. I was riding about 10^th at the time and managed to get through the gravel/dirt shoulder and back on the road with what was now the lead riders. I was looking back to see if Dave was still upright and he also successfully managed the detour and yelled for me to keep going.

Lap 2

Group of 4-5 riders gets off the front

Lap 3

Dave and I participate in a chase with about 15-other guys on the front and bring the breakaway back from a >1-min lead to <9-seconds…at that point one of the breakaway riders sits up and drifts back into the group, everyone stops chasing and the breakaway starts opening up a gap again. Two riders from the pack attack and bridge up to the break and the gap opens up to >1-min again. I tell Dave not to participate in any chase and that I will help chase if anything organized gets going.

Lap 4

No one wants to chase and for some reason… the Talaeo team (the largest in our group with 5-riders) has apparently decided to practice their blocking drills for the day and are executing a perfect example on how to shut down any and all attempts to chase the break…No, they don’t have a rider in the break, their just Yahoos.

Lap 5

More of the same…

Lap 6

More disorganized “chasing” at 20-mph…give me a break, getting frustrated…

At the 2.5 mile to go point, a group of 8-Masters 1-3’s go by. A guy riding for Rio Strada in our race that I have been marking through the race…very strong… takes off and I immediately go with him

(David Hassleman who lives right behind Steve Baker). I look back and we have a gap and go by the Masters 1-3 group. I pull past and tell him we have a break and do my pull. As I rotate off and Dave H takes a pull, I see that Dave B has bridged up to us…three off the front of the pack trying to bridge up to the 4-riders off the front.

I take the next pull before going through the last right hander ~1k before the 1-k sign…I see the breakaway group ahead and bury myself chasing (~27mph) knowing that Dave is on behind me. I get about 50-feet off the break and am not closing anymore so look back at Dave B and tell him to close the gap if he can. Dave B rockets up behind the break, leaving Dave H and me still riding about 50-feet off the break.

At this point we are now at the 1-k to go sign and pass the Masters 35+ 4/5 ‘a’ group. Dave H jumps out of the saddle and closes to Dave B and the break…at some point one of the break riders has attacked the break and I am still creeeeeping my way onto the back of the break. We go through the last corner and I’m on the back of the break (6-riders in the last turn ~350-meters to finish line, one rider off the front). 2^nd place finisher jumps immediately after the corner, Dave H jumps with 300-meters to go and I yell at Dave B to gogogogogogo! Both of them are now chasing 2 of the original break down the last 200-meters. I’m trying to figure out if the funny little lights in my vision are real or not and what will happen if I try to get out of the saddle. With 100-meters to go I pass the last 2-riders in the original break and about fall off my bike crossing the line.

Dave finished 4th, I finished 5th

Last 1.5 miles: avg 24.9mph, max 30.5mph, 27.6mph at finish line

Lessons:

1. Plans change…heard that one before )
2. Never give up…be ready and take the opportunity if it presents itself, you never know
3. Communicate with your teammate if your tapped out…let them go for it
4. Riding a race with multiple team mates opens a lot of doors
5. Dave is a savvy, smart rider who has some gas in that tank!! Great job of racing!!!
6. Don’t expect the biggest team to do any work and to actively block for no one ) …it just happened

Rob

Hey Team…this one was a complete team effort!

The course was an 8-mile loop, we did 6-laps, which had a lot of patched pavement and was much more hilly than advertised on the website with a 10-12% WALL approximately half way through the lap and a 1k climbing finish…centerline in effect…~25 riders in the pack starting out, we have the largest team represented.

Our plan starting out was to get Todd into a winning break…plans change )

Lap 1

The start was on the uphill finish and as we rolled onto the course BC was on the front with myself, Matt and Rick 3-across and Todd/Brad right behind us…I wanted to start pretty easy because we had no idea what was ahead of us so I was climbing about 8-12mph…Rick was setting a faster pace and I told Matt to let him go and see if anyone went after him…no one did/could because BC was blocking across the road…very interesting no one from behind us said anything and I was “well lets see how big a gap Rick can get”…in another ¼ mile he was gone out of sight-out of mind. New plan: see if Rick can solo for the win from 47.5 miles to go. Matt, Brad and I kept riding “easy” letting the gap grow for the entire first lap. Just before the SF line, Brad’s crank cracks…see photo and he is out.

Lap 2

As we came across the SF line, a couple of people behind us started asking if there was anyone off the front….according to Matt no one was ). We kept rolling now watching for any attacks and I’m talking to Todd about being vigilant about anyone going off the front and that he should go with anyone that does.

Lap 3

A couple of guys go off the front after the SF line and are about 100 yards off the front when Todd jumps and bridges up and flys on past…so now we have 2 BC guys off the front and we absorb one of the other guys (I thought we had gotten both of them). The WALL is really starting to bite and we are now loosing guys off the back, Matt and I are hurting staying with the front 2-3 riders on all laps.

Lap 4

A Davis guy goes off the front after the SF line and I’m thinking let him go we still have 2:1 ratio assuming he can bridge up to Rick and Todd and 3 have a better chance of staying away than 2 do…I’m still expecting the main group to put in a serious chase. The WALL is really hurting now…but everyone sits up and goes easy at the top each time allowing me to recover…nice of them )

Lap 5

Brad tells us there is a good gap and that BC has a good lead ahead…Matt and I stay in the top 4riders around the course…shutting down all break attempts…not that there are any serious one left, we are all suffering. The moto ref tells us there is a 3-min gap to the next rider ahead of us…not sure which rider it is though so we don’t chase…not that we were feeling like chasing anyway.

Lap 6

I’m now thinking about the finish and how we can set it up for either Matt or myself…there are 5 of us that are still riding “strong” and another 4-5 riders bouncing off and on the group depending on climbs vs. descents. At the bottom of the WALL one of the riders yells and almost falls over as his calf cramps out…Matt starts cramping at about the ¾ mark on the WALL…I’m just trying not to think about cramping and how to just fall over without getting run over. A guy gets off the front on the wall and Matt, myself and two Funsport guys, one of which has been riding strong on the front the whole time, start chasing. I take my first pull of the day going down a hill trying to keep the other 4-5 guys off our tails and trying not to let the other guy off the front get too big a gap on us (I’m pretty sure he has gone too early)…Matt takes a pull and then it’s the Funsport team pulling going into the bottom of the last 1-k climb. The guy off the front is 200-meters ahead and keeps looking back. The remaining Funsport guy makes up about 100-meters on the guy ahead but then gets blown just before a small kicker…I decide now or never and bridge up to the guy on the front with about 250-meters to go…he is pretty much blown by the time I get there and I get out of the saddle for the last 200-meters, look back and have a good gap by 100-meters to go mark and sit back down and go easy to the line….owwwww!

Lessons:

1. be flexible with your race plan
2. Have strong riders on your team that can ride off the front for miles by themselves )
3. like last week, keep digging when you think you are done

Next week: Berkeley Hills RR   Go Team!!

Rob

Wente Race Report

Weather was perfect in Livermore…sunny, little wind, 60’s at start 70’s at finish…3-laps and 50-miles of racing with ~? Feet of climbing per lap (a lot)

My personal goal was to stay upright throughout the race and with the lead pack on the first lap going into this race. I had a very good recovery week going into this race…only road 45-min., not planned, just worked out that way.

My team goal was to contribute in anyway I could to helping a teammate improve their finish.

Lap 1:

The team had good position at the start and I was about 7^th rider starting the climb and settled into what I felt was a sustainable level of effort up the climb and watched the pack of 75 riders gradually stream by up the climb to the bridge. I was about ¾ of the way back in the pack by the time I crossed the bridge over 580 and stayed pretty much there to the top of the next climb (178bpm, 14.4mph, 2.5miles). On the descent (38.8mph) I picked my way through to about the front ½ and then lost ground again up the final climb section. On the final descent I again worked my way back up to about 15^th place by the bottom rejoining Todd, Steve, and Rick near the front as we worked our way back to the start….I was feeling pretty happy at achieving goal one.

Lap 2:

On the next lap I pulled Steve/Todd up to the base of the climb and said “I’ll see you guys later” not expecting to be able to stay on the lead group with them. This time up the climb (178bpm, 14.1mph, 2.5miles) I ended up at the back of the very elongated/strung out group with Brad near me on the second part of the climb and I apparently was in a fair amount of oxygen debt as I thought he was Randy Volkmar and kept telling him “nice job Randy”. Once the group compressed again it was a repeat of the first.

Lap 3:

I was definitely figuring I was going to be off the group this time up the climb (180bpm, 13.9mph, 2.5miles), but kept saying to myself “ its just like Penryn Hill on the Coffee ride…hang on”. Randy and I were in a third group at the bridge and he did an amazing amount of work with a couple of other guys to bring us (about 7 riders) back onto the lead group by the time we were going up the second climb…I was just hanging onto the back of this group hoping it would all be over soon.

Finish:

I again moved up the group going down the last decent and talked with Rick, Steve, and Todd about who we were going to be working for on the last climb…Todd felt the best so I worked for him (179, 20mph, 1.6 miles) going into the base of the last climb to the finish line…I think we went into the last corner in 3^rd place and Todd finished in 5^th or 6^th…a great job!!! Having a team mate finish this very challenging race in the top 10-riders )….meanwhile I was trying to get my big ass up that last climb (179bpm, 13.3mph, .8miles) without blacking out…of the riders who passed me up the climb, I was able to re-pass an amazing 1-rider at the finish line ) just for pride…

Looking forwards to Sonora RR next Sunday

Lessons:

1. A good recovery week can help a rider ride above his/her expectations on race day
2. Teammates working for each other can help motivate each other to ride better than they expect
3. Keep working regardless if you think you are toast…surprise yourself )