Dust off your old junk and let’s race!!!! I’ll be ready and steady at the starting line with my glorious Huffy. Let’s rock!
I made the drive up towards Bend from SoCal 6 days before race action started. It’s 808 miles one way so I broke the trip up into 3 segments. First we drove to Manteca on Saturday 12/5 for an overnighter at my dad’s house. Then on Sunday 12/6 we drove to Chico for a lunch break with Paul Chestnut and his wife Julie at the Sierra Nevada Brewery. We hung around and went on the tour and learned a little bit about the history of Sierra Nevada. We stayed with the in-laws until Tuesday 12/8 and then made the final push to Bend. We got up there around 4:00pm and it was cold. About 15 degs. F. Once the sun went down it dropped to -5 deg. F. Jeez! I’ve never felt cold like that. Our pre-trip clothing prep paid off. We were all warm!
I raced the 40+B Men on Thursday and finished 68th out of 160+. My goal was to finish in the top 50%. When it was done I was 42%. At the start I passed at least 30 racers instantly as a few piled it up in the left hander that narrowed quickly. Once I saw the pile up starting I stayed way over to the right and found a gap and shot through it. I was hit, bumped, rode into, and generally knocked around on the first lap. The frantic riding and snow and ice made it wild. A few times I went off the race line and hammered through bumpy snow to get ahead a few spots. Once I was out of traffic I started to catch a few people and get caught by others. On lap 3 or 4 I flatted! No!!! Fortunately I was just coming onto the pavement and made it to the pit to swap bikes. I lost a few spots while getting my SS going. The lack of space in the car prevented me from bringing my usual backup bike. The SS gearing couldn’t compete with the geared bikes so I started slipping back in the field. Then all hell broke loose. The sun was way down on the horizon and the course started to freeze up. Crashes were happening everywhere. Even on the straight snowy parts! I fell 6 times in several places around the course. I stayed focused and really tried to keep it going but the fatigue was kicking in and the lack of top speed was an issue and I got caught by the leader with one to go. All in all it was an excellent race for me. The technical aspect was awesome. I love technical courses over fitness courses. On a sad note my racing buddy Jeff “Gobes” Goble crashed and broke his leg really bad. He had to have surgery in Bend to repair the damage. Let’s hope he has a speedy recovery and gets back to riding soon.
I also raced the SS race on Friday and had similar results and only fell 3 times! 70th out of 120+. Huge SS field. Good times!
I scoured the web and found a ton of stuff from the event. Enjoy!
Huge gallery on Flickr from WongWongWay – Nationals – pix and video
Huge gallery on Flickr from DaveandDino – Nationals – hundreds of photos!
SingleSpeed Crashes!
Click for the carnage
Photo: Amanda Schaper via Facebook – The SoCal racers that raced at the nationals. Most are a here.
Photo: DaveandDino via Flickr
Photo: DaveandDino
Photo: Buy This Print! Used with permission -PDXCross.com
Photo: Buy This Print! Used with permission -PDXCross.com
Singlespeed 12/11/09
Singlespeed 12/11/09 CARNAGE!
Start – Men 40+ B 12/10/09
Lap 1 – Men 40+ B 12/10/09
Lap 2 – Men 40+ B 12/10/09
First Turn – start of Men 40+ B 12/10/09
National Cyclocross Championship 2009 Men 40+ B Start from Dale Riley on Vimeo.
Carnage – 40+ B race
Bend Boo-Boo – Crash in 40+ B race from Dale Riley on Vimeo.
The 2009 SoCal District Championships were at the deluxe Home Deport Center Velodrome in Carson, CA. on June 13-14. I signed up for the 40-44 kilo and the 40-44 sprints. My focus for the event was the kilo. I trained for it and it worked out ok, not as good as I hoped but I did set a PR at 1:17:36. That was good for 6th out of 8. The winner rode a 1:10:00 – yeah, he was hauling. In the sprint qualifier I rode a 12.65 flying 200. I was a little off – that was the first time I rode a flying 200 on that track. I should have gotten a little more aggressive on the gearing. In any case, I got beat in the 1st round by a guy that was just as fast as I was. I stuck with my strategy of trying to ride from the back and do a sneak attack. As I readied for the launch I watch my opponent carefully. With 250 to go I was ready to attack. We went through 1 and exited 2. My plan was to launch as soon as he turned his head away from looking at me. Sure enough as soon as he turned his head I hit it and he did too! Crap stick! I went all out in an attempt to get around him and I got up next to him slightly by the finish line. Grrr. Next time things will be different.
Up next…CYCLOCROSS!!!
Two weeks ago I raced in the old man category in the Chuck Pontius Memorial Criterium in Santa Clarita. The 40+ 3/4 is the perfect category for me. No former world champions or ex-Olympians here, just regular guys that like to go fast(ish).
Before the race started I got signed up and said hello to a few people I knew. There was about 40 minutes til race time when I broke a spoke on my back wheel. Super Crap! I don’t have extra wheels for my road bike so I was in need of help. I found Bicycle John and asked if he had a space, no dice. He started looking for my fellow Bicycle John’s teammate Irene. I went the other way and found a few CX racer chicks and asked for a wheel. No goods there at that time. I went back to where my wife-n-kids were set up and Bicycle John was standing there with a wheel. YES! I was up and riding with about 10 minutes to go. I got in the best warm up I could and made to the starting line. There were at least 50 competitors ready to go. As we were waiting for the official to give his speech another official said to do another warmup lap. Cool with me! We came back around and I lined up in the back. The official gave us the usual deal and blew his whistle. Here we go.
The 1st lap was the usual deal, everyone settling in and getting up to speed. The 2nd lap was a little more exciting. Around turn 2 I was following two Major Motion guys. The one in front pulled his left foot out of his pedal and went way wide taking his teammate with him. Holey moley! I thought things were going to get spicy in a bad way for a second. No worries, everyone stayed up and kept going. There were numerous solo attacks – kinda funny if you ask me. How many cat 3/4’s can go solo into the wind up a slight incline with 49 people chasing them? The answer? None. This middle laps were good – fast and pretty uneventful. There was one guy out there that defined “fred” in a bad way. He was all over the place and he repeatedly put himself in a bad position. He was riding up too close to people, overlapping wheels, etc. I thought for sure he was going to stack a few times so I quickly decided to get as far away as possible. I moved out into the wind on the downhill stretch after turn 4 and moved up to mid-pack. Squirrly-Man couldn’t get me up here.
Once we got the 5 to go sign I started my deal. I moved up a few spots when things opened up after turn 2. This was a right hander into the wind so the front of the peloton was getting hit hard with the headwind and this allowed a few gaps to open so I took each one into the next 2 laps. Once the 2 to go sign was up I hammered (hahaa – comedy) down the side of the peloton and got a sweet spot near the front on the inside. Coming out of turn 3 towards 4 is a slight rise. Being on the inside here is a key position. This side of the peloton was sheltered from the crosswind. 1 to go! As we barreled down past the start/finish the final time I was actually feeling really good. I was about 4 rows back from the front on the inside and ready for the sprint. Coming around the 3 to 4 turns I turned it on and made it up even closer to the front. Once we hit the straight I started to go and the 3 guys in front of me sorta went and fizzled. The left side was blocked, crap, so was the right! I had to glass-pedal for a moment and go to my right and then get it on. I passed about 5 or 6 and ended up 13th. With a little luck I know for sure I can improve on that.
My wife commented afterwards,”That was like the old days, you were in the race!” Right! Just like the old days. I had such a good time I am now going to find a few more crits to race during the summer. The ultimate goal this year is a serious attempt at CX fitness. I am really going to focus and get after it and shoot for a top 10 finish overall in the 35+ 3/4 category. If anyone wants to send me a new cx bike let me know. I’ll fly any sponsors colors in a serious way!
I finally, after many years of trying, won a race. Yes, it has happened. At the Encino Velodrome this past Saturday I took on 5 other racers. In the 200m tt I ran a 12.8 on 36 spoke anchor-weight wheels. Still waiting for my Cane Creek Sprint 85’s to come in. Next up was a 5 up sprint. This was an odd race but we did it. I worked a 2nd place finish in that event. Next up was the keirin – I drew the 2nd spot on the rail and chose to stay back there a bit for the motor pacing. The guy on the motor was hanging back to far and not maximizing the draft which was bad for him and good for everyone else. Once the motor swung off we quickly got into a 2 lap all out sprint. Todd took charge and went for it with Igor and myself chasing. As we rounded the last turn I came around Igor while he came around Todd and we finished in that order. Here is a pic from Todd’s girlfriend Jen. That was a close finish. In the final battle which was the 4 up sprint final we started off with an easy 3/4 lap cruise when suddenly Igor broke it up and took off. I immediately cranked it up and caught Igor. He looked back at me a couple times and I checked for Todd over my shoulder and he was there. With 1 turn to go I let it go and hammered to victory. It was nice to finally get there first. My last victory in a real competitive event (not a low-key race) was back in 1998. Wow, that was a long time ago.
Alberto Contador has won the 2008 Giro d’Italia. What makes this truly an amazing feat is the Astana team was invited to the race only a week before the start! Can you imagine the last minute prep and chaos and prep that needed to take place. Amazing! It’s a fact – Johan Bruyneel knows exactly what it takes to win the big races. Talent and determination can take you to great places. However, to achieve greatness with consistency is very special and we’re seeing some of the greatest coaching and guiding in the history of cycling. Congratulations to the Astana team – truly a legend in the making.
Ah, the concrete bowl. The racing this past Saturday at the track was brutal. The event was themed around longer endurance races. My first race was a 10 km points event – or 40 laps with sprints every 10. 8 racers showed up to battle the cat 5 race. We got the first race going at a good pace. Around lap 8 the pace was too slow so I took a half lap flyer to break things up a bit and get the race started. A couple guys came around me and it was on. My buddy Igor and I along with another guy dragged it out for the points. I got 3rd in the sprint and faded away in the ensuing laps. Mr. Lap The Field took off and proceeded to catch us all and put us down a lap. Cat 5 huh? I ended up 6th.
Next up was a race more to my liking – 4 km scratch. At only 16 laps I knew I could get my old legs around the track and keep in touch with the younger faster riders. The pace was going up and down until 2 to go and the hammer went down. I was in 3rd and chasing 2 guys. We were nearing top speed when Igor came around me with 1/2 a lap to go just as I was passing 2nd place guy. Now I was in 4th, Igor was rapidly gaining on 1st place, and 3rd place guy wasn’t backing off. I stayed on the gas and kept it even with 3rd place guy until we hit the straight and his legs gave out and I held onto 3rd while Igor just caught the leader and took his first ever track victory. I ended up 5th in the omnium points. We were supposed to have a miss-n-out but the endurance races ran too long. Next up is a TT at the same track this weekend. I am looking to better my 200 and 500 times significantly.
Where are my new wheels???
I got in a full weekend of race action. ADT Event Center Velodrome on Saturday – 3rd in the cat5 omnium. Not too bad. There were only 6 racers which was kinda weak but it was fun. One of my old teammates from NorCal, John Simmons, made it down. It was great to see him still doing it.
On Sunday I went down to Santa Clarita for the Chuck Pontius Memorial Criterium. The cat3/4 40+ field was huge – in fact all of the races had big numbers. I checked the peloton before hand and I saw numbers in the 690’s. Dang!!! Almost 100 showed up. I managed a 20th place finish. I tried to stay on the wheel of a fast sprinter but he accelerated and I couldn’t go with him between turns 3 and 4 and a slower rider jumped into the gap and couldn’t keep the wheel. Next time I will try to get closer to the head of the peloton as we get closer to the finale.