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.
Yesterday at the Encino Velodrome was a low key time trial event. Various distances were presented. I signed up for the 500 meter and 1000 meter events. My warm up was great and I felt good for the 500. At the starting line I took forever to get my shoes into my pedals. The cleat kept hanging up on one of the straps. Once I got it going I was ready. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, GO! I went as hard as possible to get the bike moving. Once I settled into the pace I just kept the hammer down. I finished in 40.17 seconds. Since I have never tried a 500 I didn’t know what my time could possibly be. 40.17 isn’t too bad for this early in the season. I used a 50×15 gear which was a tad short for the event but good for this part of the season. My friend Jack ran a low 39 with wheels so I think I can go sub-40 soon.
In the 1000 meter (kilometer) race I knew I had to hold off a bit. My fitness is coming around but hammering 4 laps isn’t in the plan yet. I got off to a good start and then felt my right shoe moving a little bit in the pedal. GRRRR! I thought for sure it was in right. I just kept on going and it didn’t seem to bug me. I am not sure exactly what was wrong but it didn’t feel right. I crushed the first lap pretty hard and then eased off just a hair to save a little juice. On the 3rd lap I gave it a little more and on the 4th lap I crushed it pretty hard for the last 2 turns. 1:27.31 was my finishing time. I had hoped for a 1:25 so that isn’t far away. My aero position needs some tuning plus some aero wheels would help. And my helmet didn’t arrive yet so hopefully later in the season I can get down into the teens with more training and aero equipment.
The Tour of California is coming. To make things even better than last year (had to drive to see the race) I will be able to ride up to the Mill Creek Summit and watch the peloton cruise on by. A few members of the HDC are planning on riding up to watch the race. Count me in. The best part? I can ride from my house to the summit! Sweet!
I hauled the clan down to the ADT Event Center for the UCI World Cup. Dude, these racers can haul, period.
I made the long ass drive to Palos Verdes Estates for race #5 early Sunday morning. Since the bad weather was not letting up I left about 30 minutes earlier than usual for the 85 mile tour. There was virtually no rain on the drive down there! Amazing since we’d been getting dumped on since Friday. As I drove up the course I saw a female racer warming up, well, not really warming up, she was on the course stopped with a stick in her hand. She was poking mud off of her bike. I said to myself,”this is going to be tough!” With massive storms battering SoCal the course was slick and muddy in many different areas.
I got signed up easily – no lines – and talked to a few of my fellow racers on the way back to my car. I ran into a cx’er named Geoff that grew up in Fremont and went to a rival high school. Turns out he graduated in 85, me in 86! We even know mutual people. Ha! We are about the same fitness level so we battle it out in middle of the field regularly. For the Urban Series I am only racing singlespeed. I have raced twice in one day several times this year and it really kicks my ass bad. My strategy for the race was to start the race on my Bianchi San Jose and to go as long as I could, maybe even finish the race with one bike. I am 100% happy to report that I made the right choice bringing my Bianchi BUSS along too!
The climb up along Via Coronel was nasty. The bottom 1/3rd of the climb was sticky cement like mud that quickly clogged brakes and forks. I rode with a flat bladed screwdriver in my jersey pocket. As the mud gunked up my wheels, which seemed to happen instantly, I would buzz the screwdriver along the front tire as I rode quickly flinging off as much mud as possible. Fortunately the soil changes up the climb to a hardpacked single track so you can start moving again. At the top was a slick section and the ride back down the hill was slicker that snot at the bottom for the big left turn back towards the baseball fields. At some point on the course everyone had to stop and clear out the gunk with a stick (or a screwdriver in my case). My San Jose was geared down for the race to a 38×18 but that was too much when the mud glopped up everything. On lap 2 I dove into the pit and grabbed my trusty Bianchi singlespeed MTB which is geared to a climbing friendly 34×17. That was the trick! I got back on the course and didn’t lose any positions. I managed to catch and pass 3 other guys that were getting flogged by the mud in the next 2 laps. As the course wound around towards the west side of the baseball fields the going became a nasty sticky slog. On each lap this area got worse and worse. It took a full 100% effort just to pedal thru this area and it is nearly flat! Just a slight rise. I bet I was doing a max of 7 mph thru here. It sucked. At the end of the flogging I was 6th of 11. Only one more SoCal cx race to go! I am ready for a break. That was my 19th race since Sept 30th.
The 2007-08 Cyclocross season is wrapping up here in SoCal on 1/19/08. This weekend’s event in Palos Verdes should be an epic battle. The course has a long climb which is going to be a challenge on my singlespeed Bianchi San Jose. I am pondering using a smaller gear than the already smallish 38×18 (57 gear inches) set up I am running. For this event I am going to bring my SS Bianchi B.U.S.S. as back up. It has a 32×17 (48.9 gear inches) set up. Late in the race if I am fading I will switch to this bike for the benefit of the lower gear on the climb. If the mud is bad I will definitely switch sooner.
This has been my best season so far in regards to finishes. in 2005 I was consistently in the back of the field, 2006 was a slightly better. This year I am firmly in the middle! Here is a race by race recap so far with notes!
Prestige Series – Muckenthaler race #1 – Men’s 35+ 3/4 – 36th of 46 – lapped
Prestige Series – Muckenthaler race #1 – Singlespeed Open – 18th of 18 – lapped
Prestige Series – Redline Cup race#2 – Men’s 4 – 11th of 31
Urban CX Series – race #1 – Men’s 4 – 8th of 21
Urban CX Series – race #1 – Singlespeed B – 7th of 10
Prestige Series – Cicle Cross – Men’s 35+ 3/4 – 11th of 14
Prestige Series – Dam Cross – Men’s 3/4 – 23rd of 24 (not my normal cat.)
Urban CX Series – race #2 – Men’s 4 – 15th of 17 (mechanical – flat tire at start, used back up bike and flatted again)
Prestige Series – Convert Cross – Men’s 35+ 3/4 – 12th of 13
Prestige Series – Mid-Season Cross – Men’s 35+ 3/4 – 13th of 18
Bay Area Super Prestige Series – race #4 – Men’s 35+ B – 61st of 64 (Thanksgiving blew this one!)
SoCal CX Championship – Men’s 40-44 – 4th of 6
Prestige Series – Hart Park Cross – Men’s 35+ 3/4 – 5th of 8
Prestige Series – Hart Park Cross – Singlespeed Open – 3rd of 7
Urban CX Series – race #4 – Singlespeed B – 5th of 9
Urban CX Series – race #4 – Men’s 3/4 – 22nd of 23 (training race)
Prestige Series – Santa Cross – Men’s 35+ 3/4 – DNF of 26 (complete lack of energy – no spunk!)
Prestige Series – Santa Cross – Singlespeed Open – 12th of 14 (overgeared – lapped)
Urban CX Series – race #5 – TBD
Urban CX Series – race #6 – TBD
In looking back I see that I didn’t get lapped recently until the 12/23/07 Santa Cross race. I just had nothing that day. I ate right, did my usual pre-race prep and still had nothing in the tank. I had a little sinus activity that may have zapped me. In any case I am highly satisfied with my finishes this year. I can feel and see the improvement. My goal for the Prestige Series was to be in the top 10 in the Men’s 35+ 3/4 category. I came up short and finished in 15th place. I missed two races and raced out of my category once which didn’t help at all. My goal in the Urban Series is to get top 5 in the Singlespeed B category. I am just 3 points from the 5th spot. I missed two races of this series so I need to get after it and have some strong finishes tomorrow and in two weeks. It’s still raining here in SoCal with more rain forecast for tomorrow. The muddy course is going to be the first full-on wet weather CX race in SoCal in over 3 years! We’ve been spoiled with dry warm weather for most of the races the last 3 seasons!
I am sitting hear listening to the rain batter our house. So, what better time that ever to ponder 2007’s mileage. I didn’t even come close to my lofty goal of 5,000 miles. I noted almost 2k which isn’t too bad. In reality the total was a bit more than 2k but my CX bike didn’t have a speedo for most of the season. In any flavor, I will be setting the goal for 2008 at 3,000 miles. This should be very achievable since I will be concentrating on serious track racing this year plus even more focused workouts than in 2007. My ultimate goal for 2008 is the make it to San Jose for the Masters Track Nationals. My event will be the kilo. For the unknowing the kilo is a 1 kilometer timed event started from a standing start. Just for kicks I will get in a mass start race also. It will be awesome to get back to the velodrome that used to be my “home” track back in the 90’s.
I got down and dirty this past weekend in Sylamr, CA. I am writing a recap that will be posted tomorrow. Here is a teaser pic!
The morning was clear and the wind was relatively calm as the third race of the SoCalCross Prestige Series got underway at the Hansen Dam Recreation Center On Saturday, October 20.
I volunteered to help set up the course on Saturday. I highly recommend helping out if you can. Seeing the race course set up in action gives you a new appreciation for the hard work and dedication that is involved in setting up and running a race. There were many people helping which was a good thing. At one point we pounded a stake too close to a hornet nest and I got stung in the head and ankle at the same time. A Bear Claw team member got stung in the chest. We immediately left the area and let the hornets alone.
The course was set up and ready for race action on time. We set up cones, tape, stakes, and delineators all over the park. It was a great team effort that pulled off the set up. I will definitely help again!
Onto the race action! I signed myself up for the Mens 35+ 3/4 race. I managed to get pretty warmed up during the set up of the course as predicted by Dorothy!
We lined up and got instructions from the UCI commissar. An interesting item he mentioned was no water or feed hand ups. I thought this was a normal deal. Since I had no supporters at the race I carried a water bottle in my jersey pocket with my usual recipe. At the sound of the whistle we were underway. I jumped off the line hard, but not too hard. I gauged the effort of the field and a few guys were pressing the issue. I shifted up a gear and hammered it. I could hear the announcer say that there was no clear holeshot going down as we sped towards the grassy climb. I stayed on the gas and held my line. At that instant I was in the lead and I maintained the position until the very top of the climb as we bumped towards the grassy descent. As usual I got passed by one, then two riders. As we made our way through the course I was feeling ok until we hit the flat grass area near the hornet zone. The course did not traverse the hornet area but it did go over very bumpy grass. I got passed again by a couple guys. At this point I settled into my rhythm and felt ok. One highlight was the short steep run-up after the long paved section. This run-up was steep, really steep. Feeling inspired by elite racers I saw last year I went for it every lap 100% determined to ride up the climb. The first 2 laps failed. And on the 3rd lap I made it, I actually climbed the run-up! Every other lap after that failed near the top and I had to dismount. Feeling a little fried I kept flogging and eventually got passed by Tak and another racer. I dug down deep and couldn’t quite catch Tak but I did catch and pass the guy chasing him at the finish. I ended up 11th out of 14. My goal was achieved, I did not get lapped.
I encourage everyone to get involved and help out. Even if it’s just a little bit of time it really does go a long way towards the success of cyclocross in SoCal! See you all at the races!