CalCup Round 6: University RR

Some of the hard-as-nails-climber-types from the team tackled the University Road Race this past Sunday. The course is relentlessly up and down and only the strongest survive. Below is Ted's report from the event.

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University RR
26 August 2007
Length: 20 laps
Place: 7th (Dominic and Christine finishing)
Teammates: Dominic Giampaolo, Greg Davis, and Christine Thorburn

First off, I made a poor decision letting my temper
get the best of me and for setting a poor example by
making a scene immediately after yesterday's race. I
broke the cardinal rule of "What happens in the race,
should stay in the race." Bike racing is half
psychological warfare, so if I let a rider get under
my skin, it's my own problem. It's better to let your
legs do the talking instead of your mouth (I used the
latter. A great example of what you should do is to
simply look at Karen Brems, who won her race against 3 or 4
TIBCO riders without any teammates. I'm fairly
certain she wasn't the strongest rider in her field
since there is no hiding at University. I never would
have expected her to pull out the win. But by never
showing a sign of weakness, she somehow pulled it off
yesterday. She has achieved "God-like" status in my
book.

Back to the report:
We had as good of a field as I've ever seen at this
race with solid riders from a variety of domestic pro
teams including Jittery Joe's (Neil Shirley, eventual
winner)Slipstream's(Webcor alum Lucas "bay face" Euser
and Steven Cozza-first race back- since his bad
accident), Navigators' (David Rodriguez), Rock
Racing's (Kevin Klein and Adam Switters), VMG's - Eric
Riggs, , and mtn bike hammer, Barry Wicks. Of course
we had the area's top local riders who like hilly
courses, including one up and comer who doesn't yet
know what he's good at(everything): "the real deal"
Jared of Metromint, who had just won San Ardo the day
before.

A former Webcor alum, Ben Haldeman, set the tone by
attacking right out of the gates putting everyone into
the pain cave. This was highly unnecessary as the
majority of Pro 1/2 riders do not warm up for races,
and seeing this rider on the side, back in street
clothes within the hour meant he clearly attacked for
effect.

The ensuing laps, were punctuated by a multitude of
attacks, with no one, unfortunately, able to stay off,
thus making the pace rather uncomfortable. Both
Christine and Dominic did a great job of maintaining
position near the front. However, the high pace took
its toll and our group whittled down to about a dozen.
On lap 10 or so, we voluntarily neutralized ourselves
when we caught the Master's 4/5 field finishing their
race.

On the following lap, after I then rolled off in my
'not particularly safe' aero tuck and was able to hold
a gap until the top of the climb. Unfortunately the
entire field bridged up rather than the couple of
riders I was hoping for. The counter to my move became
the break of the day as Steven Cozza of Slipstream
attacked from the base of the climb, with about 5 to
go. A flying Neil Shirley and Jesse Moore bridged
across shortly after, and it seemed clear that this
break had teeth.

By this time, we were down to about 7 or 8 riders left
in the chase group incl, and with no organized chase,
the gap grew. Wicks, Jared, BP, and Jonathan Eropkins
took some nice pulls, but the gap wasn't coming down
quickly.

With three to go, we catch Steven and Jesse but not
Neil, who had set off alone, and with two to go, Jared
rolls off on the descent, and nobody responded. He
put his head down and that was that. We're now racing
for
3rd. More attacks ensue on the last lap, and I end up
in the 2nd chase group behind Lucas, Adam Switters,
Jesse, with Neil and Jared up the road.

It's myself, Tyler (from Davis Bike Club), and Kevin
Klein arrears. With some hard efforts by Tyler and
myself, we get within 10 bike lengths of the chase
group at the bottom corner. We continue to push it
towards the line as Kevin jumps around us(he has
teammate Adam just ahead), latching onto the chase
group as they start their sprint. I roll
in 7th. Both Dominic (10 - 15ish?) and Christine
finished strongly as well.

Not a bad result. It would have been nice to have
Greg racing with us, but I found out later that he had
a major mechanical before the start of the race.

-Ted

CalCup Round 5: San Ardo RR

CalCup racing continues. This edition was a road race around San Ardo, a farming community down past King City. The Webcor/Alto Velo team put in a good team effort and ultimately put Big Tore in the break of the day, which barely stayed off to the finish. Below is Tore's report from the race.

==============================

Race: San Ardo RR - P/1/2 (08/25/07)
Course: 4 laps (84 mile) flat/rollers
Field: 50+
Team: Tore Nauta (6th), James Badia (10th-13th), Brad Goodson, Matt
Beebe, Rob MacNeill

Beside the usual strong guys from teams like BPG, CalGiant, Rock
Racing, some interesting riders from other teams showed up as well:
Slipstream, Navigators, BMC, Kodak, Jittery Joes. The plan was to keep
James, who has proven in Suisun to still have a deadly sprint at this
time of year, protected for the final part of the race. The others
would share the rest of the load during the race.

Very early in the first lap an Arete rider took off, soon to be joined
by a CalGiant. The pack didn't react and the pace dropped to an
unbearable low speed, giving the leaders a gap of more than 2 minutes.
Rob started riding tempo at the front, bringing the pace back to a
normal level. In the second lap things started to get a bit more
interesting. There were a lot of hard attacks from Lucas Euser
(Slipstream) in the hilly terrain. Brad and BB were covering and Brad
ended up in a break that lasted for a while. On the long stretch back
to the village, Jamiel Danesh (Kodak) stayed away for quite some time,
but eventually got back because of BPG, Metromint, Davis, and Rob
setting a decent pace.

Not completely clear about the exact moment, but around this time also
the Arete and CalGiant riders who had been off the front were back in
the pack. Going through the hills for the third time, there were
plenty of attacks. After the rollers, near the bridge, I got in a
break with David Rodriguez (Navigators), Mike Telega (CalGiant) and an
Arete rider. The latter had to give up after a couple of miles, but
the remaining three of us were working well together and things looked
pretty good until we were entering the fourth lap: something in
David's bike snapped - a broken spoke. He had to stop and Mike and I
continued but it soon became clear that we wouldn't be able to keep
the pace fast enough to stay away. At the start of the rollers, the
pack (or at least part of it) caught us.

At this same moment, Rob and BB got gapped of the back. Rob and BB
teamed up with Jamiel for a powerful TTT through the rollers, and
making it possible for Rob to rejoin the field near the bridge. During
this time there were a lot of attacks and at a certain point a couple
of guys were off the front without Webcor in it. We also missed the
next guy who jumped. That didn't look good and I jumped with the next
two guys who tried to bridge. We did some hard work and finally a
stable group of 7 was formed. This break was less organized compared
to the first one, because of its size and the differences in
capabilities. Joel Robertson (Kaiser Permanente) and Jonathan Eropkin
(CVC) were the big guys pulling very hard, which sometimes resulted in
some paceline gaps.

Anyway, approaching the San Ardo village we could see the pack getting
closer. Some guys got nervous and started doing more work. Webcor was
in a good postion, because Brad and James were still available for a
field sprint. On this last stretch, James was following attacks in the
pack, but unfortunately superman Jared Barrilleaux (Metromint) was
able to get away with one other rider and they bridged up to us in the
village. This made us a group of 9. That was with less than a mile to
go to the finish.

Crossing the bridge there were several unsuccessful attempts to get
away by Joel, Mike Telega (CalGiant), and Jared. I was in about third
wheel at the moment that we went under the overpass and Jared jumped
hard initiating the real sprint. Jared won the uphill sprint and I got
passed by a bit too many guys including Jonathan just on the finish
line. I was a bit disappointed by my sprinting capabilities, but it
felt good to be part of the right breaks.

At the end, the gap between the field and our group had diminished to
almost zero, and Brad and James were getting ready for the field
sprint. Crossing the bridge, Brad kept James out of the wind in 4th
position and dropped him off with about 100m before the turnoff to the
sprint. James finished 4th in the sprint.

Thanks to Amy for the feedzone support!

Tore

Suisun Harbor Criterium Men's Pro 1/2 WEBCOR/AV WINS!

Jamo scored his first P/1/2 victory this past weekend, and in a CalCup race no less! Below is his race report.

Race: Suisun Harbor Criterium Men's Pro 1/2
Aug. 19th, 2007
Teamates: Brad Goodson, Tore Nauta, Rob MacNeil
Placing 1st of 52

This was my first time racing the Suisun course and I definitely found it to my liking. A short, flat, four corner rectangular criterium in the downtown area of Suisun city. The race was 72 laps. This race is part of the Cal Cup Series put on by Velo Promo. Out of the 52 starters there was plenty of horsepower with people like Jared (Metromint), Eric Wohlberg, Kevin Klein (Rock Racing), Uthman Ray (BPG), JD Bergman (Squadra), Randd Miller (Club One), and many others.. After the Webcor/AV team missed out on top placings at Dunnigan Hills we were all hungry for a good result. With four of us there the plan was simple, share the load of covering attacks and if it comes down to a sprint someone on the team (other than me) will make sure it is strung out at the end.

The race remained fast from start to finish. For the first 20 laps I was near the front and chased down a number of attacks. Their were multiple attacks and breakaway attempts. After about 20 laps, Tore was showing himself near the front and covering multiple attacks. When he was finished Brad took his turn putting in some hard efforts. In one case a large gap opened and Brad did a good job keeping it from getting too big, allowing me to bridge across to the front group. This gap remained for about two laps only to be closed down. Rob found his legs about halfway through the race and started making his way up to the front and contributing to the coverage of breakaways.

With 20 laps to go a brekaway with Jared, Eric, a Davis rider and one other got a decent gap on the field. They stayed away for a while, Brad took some turns near the front to keep the breakaway in check. Finally, inside 4 laps to go Rob got on the front of our group and put in a Hercules type effort and pretty much single handedly brought the breakaway back with about 2 laps to go.

At this time I was sitting about 4th wheel, I maintained this position up to the point we heard the bell for the final lap. In turn one some rider attempted to come inside of me and take my line, I shut him down holding my position. In turn two whoever was on the front sat up and headed for the outside, the two guys in front of me followed. This is when I decided to jump, shooting the inside of turn two I was able to open a gap of about 30 meters in matter of seconds. I sprinted into the headwind on the back straigthaway and maintained the gap. I entered turn 3 at a high rate of speed and held a tight line through the corner. I came out of turn 4 with still about 40 meters gap, I put in another effort periodically looking back at the chasing pack. I held a sizeable gap all the way to the line and put up one arm to celebrate my win. I really wanted to post two arms in the air but my dizzy feeling prevented me from doing so.

Rob, Brad, and Tore all put in awesome work and we rode a very smart strong team race. I was happy to be able to deliver the favor back to the team by bringing home the first Pro 1/2 win for the Elite squad.

Thanks for reading,

James

Here is a link to a photo of the finish at Suisun.

http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?userid=khphotos&gallery_id=806326&image_id=2

CalCup Round 3: Dunnigan Hills RR Report

The Green Team hit up round 3 of the CalCup series on Saturday. Despite some really solid team racing, things didn't quite work to plan. They rarely do though and that's what makes racing exciting. Below is Dominic's report from the race.

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Dunnigan Hills, Pro/1/2
2 laps, 85 miles
August 18, 2007
Field: 60+
Teammates: me (12-15th or so), Rob MacNeil, Tore Natua, Matt Morenzoni, James Badia, Matt BeBe, Greg Davis and Brad Goodson

Dunnigan Hills is not my kind of course: mostly flat with some gentle rollers in the typically hot central valley. Yet I had a blast here last year and this year was pretty fun too (though it didn't work out for the team).

My job was to cover early attacks which I did. Of course you cover 3 or 4 of those in the space of 10 minutes and you start to get a little tired. Matt BeBe and Tore took over, then Rob, Matt M and I got back in the mix and we were on everything for the first 40 minutes. Then Matt BeBe got into a break that managed to get better separation and they hung out there for 20-25 minutes.

When that was brought back more counters ensued and this time Matt Morenzoni got into a break that even got out of sight on the twistier roads on the backside. They gained about 60-90 seconds and held out for about an hour. The semi-organized chase by CalGiant and Los Gatos brought it back on Road 99 as we headed back to start our second lap.

As expected, the story repeats itself here: more counter-attacks came with Tore, Brad, Matt, Rob and Greg doing a good job sticking on everything. I bided my time a bit knowing that once we got on to the backside of the course there was more of a chance that a break could stick and it would be important to have someone in it.

We neared the overpass of 505 and Vince from CVC attacked followed by an unattached rider and Greg Davis. They quickly got 20 seconds or so on the group. Michael Tymoff (Arete) started to roll off the front to bridge up to them so I hitched a free ride. Once Michael got us clear of the pack I worked with him to get up to Greg and company figuring Greg wouldn't mind some help and 2 AV out of 5 guys is good odds. The only flaw in the composition of the break was that we didn't have someone from CalGiant with us.

We quickly got together and started working to build our gap. After a short while Greg unfortunately started to suffer from cramps and the unattached rider (David) couldn't/wouldn't pull through. I offered water and food to Greg and he did drink some but it wasn't enough. Greg bravely soldiered on and did as much as he could until he popped. Now the odds were down to 1-in-4 but I figured I'd be able to beat at least one of them in a sprint, maybe two, so that's worth working for.

As we neared the point where the course crosses back over Hwy 5, the moto guy (Shawn Mehaffey) gave us some status: we had 40 seconds to a group of 15 and over a minute to the main pack. Then it went up to a minute to the pack of 15 but I knew we needed at least 2 minutes by the time we hit Road 99 to stay away so we probably were going to get caught.

Once on road 99 the group of 15 could see us and the gap quickly came down. We eased up knowing that we'd get caught and would have to react to counter-attacks. I just hoped that someone from AV was in that group of 15 so I could help them out at the end. Unfortunately Brad, Tore and James missed that split and so now I had rather unfavorable odds: me against 18 guys. Definitely not good. On the positive side I didn't have to do any work since it would be better if we got caught so I could work for James.

The pace stayed reasonably brisk with a few attacks here and there but it all was together with about 2 miles to go. We still had 30 seconds on the main pack so it was a sure bet we'd stay away. Now I was in a bit of a quandry. Sprinting against that many guys was probably not a good idea so I would have to attack. We passed the 1k to go sign and I was 3rd wheel or so. I jumped and went as hard as I could, getting Michael Tymoff for company. We took the right turn and I took a quick glance over my shoulder. The group was single file and in hot pursuit. I started up the overpass and made it about half-way before the group caught and passed me. I had one bullet and I had just spent it. I dug deep to hang on but there was no way. I rolled in just off the back of the group for whatever minor placing that left me with.

Although the result wasn't great, I did have a lot of fun in the race. I like being active, covering moves, getting in breaks that stick for more than 5 minutes and racing with good teammates. There were two mistakes we made that cost us a better finish. The first was that no one from the team was in that chase group of 15. Had someone else been in the group I could have worked for them to help setup the sprint. The second was that I took the gamble of playing Fabian Cancellara instead of sitting in until the last 200 meters. While I'm not a sprinter by any means, at the end of 85 miles most guys are pretty tired and I could have beaten a few of them which would have been better than what I did get.

--dominic

Watsonville Crit Report

Greg Davis is back from his racing hiatus, starting with Watsonville Crit, and has been immediately competetive. It took a while to get results posted, hence the delay in posting a report. Here's Greg's accounting of the events from the July 21st race:

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race: Watsonville Criterium

cat: Pro 1/2

course: 60 laps on a .6 mile circuit on twisty city streets with a short hill to the finish

result: 5th place

teamate: James Badia (9th plus massive prime)

Jackson Stewart (BMC pro) got away early with two riders (including one CalGiant). CalGiant had several riders back in the field who effectively shut down all attempts to chase. I was cornering like a chicken for the first half of the race. This created large gaps and I had to sprint to catch up three or four times a lap. This was very tiring. After I got some confidence and I figured out how to take the corners while holding the wheel in front of me I learned that our pace was actually quite tolerable. Then I understood why James had been yelling at the pack to pick up the pace (I think he called us a bunch of wimps).

Jackson and friends lapped the field about 3/4 through the race. Then with 10 laps to go James won a massive $100 prime.

With 5 laps to go I jumped into the headwind on the backside before the hill taking Eric Riggs of VMG on my wheel. Kevin King of Pegasus joined us with two laps to go.

Eric, I, and Kevin (in that order) finished just inches ahead of the charging pack led by Jackson. James came in near the front of the group.

James very generously split his prime with me thus quintupling my winnings for 5th place.

Greg

CalCup Round 2: Esparto TT Race Report

Race: Esparto TT - P/1/2 (08/12/07)
Course: 18 mile TT out and back with some rollers
Team: Tore Nauta (8th / 26), Matt Beebe (11th), Rob MacNeill (14th)

As the second event in the Cal Cup series we enjoyed an 18 mile TT -
flat with some risers near the turnaround point. The weather was nice
and, comparing this and last year's results, it was fast as well. The
cracks and potholes that were able to take a couple of guys out last
year were now properly marked by cones.Some of the strongest TT riders
showed up in the P12 field and propably it came not as a big surprise
that the man dressed in stars and stripes, Michael Hutchinson (Spine)
won. He finished in an impressive 38:49.

Regarding my own race, unfortunately, my 30 sec man didn't show up,
but the 1 minute man was a good target for a while. Yet, when crossing
the 5 to go sign, I noticed that I had started a bit too conservative.
I finished in 40:02 - still some work to do to get competitive with
the big boys. The photos of our TT position might give some clues what
to work on :) http://hcphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/3304525

Matt, who had just improved his setup, finished close behind in 40:29.
Rob tried to apply his notorious power sprint in the last 50 yards to
the finish line. However a TT-bike is no track bike and chain skipped
resulting in a crashing Rob. Yikes! After getting back on the bike he
still got 14th with 41:07 though.

Tore

CalCup Round 1: Patterson Pass RR

The Webcor/Alto Velo team put in another strong showing by getting on the podium at a NorCal epic RR. Below is Dominic's Report

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Patterson Pass, Pro/1/2
4 laps, 90(+) miles
August 11, 2007
Field: 60+
Teammates: Ted Huang (3rd), me (13th), Tore Natua, Greg Davis, Matt Morenzoni

Normally the best finisher on the team writes the report but Ted
wanted someone else to share the load since he gets all the results in
road races and thus always has to write the reports :-) So for today
I'm stepping in for Ted...

A good field lined up at the start for the P/1/2 race: we had the
pleasure of a strong CalGiant team, two BMC riders (Mike Sayers and
Scott Nydham), Jared Barrilleaux (MetroMint), Brian Buchholz (BPG) and
the usual collection of guys who like hilly road races.

Just before the start, Matt asks me if I have a spare brake pad. A
spare what? Turns out Greg's rear brake pad broke - it was made of
cork and it cracked in half. We searched around in vain for an extra
brake pad and I looked at Greg with some concern. The course at
Patterson doesn't require a lot of intensive braking but riding the
descent in a big pack with no rear brake seemed like an unwise thing
to do. So that helped decide team tactics: Greg would get into an
early break and see how it went on the descent. Greg agreed to it
and that was our initial plan along with the usual cover other moves
and see how things play out later in the race.

As expected with the wind howling down the pass and 4 laps ahead of us
we set out at a slow pace. Greg wasted no time in going up the road
in the company of Patrick Briggs (Cal Giant). Part way up the climb
Tore rolled up next to me and said "he took his job seriously!". We
could see Greg and Patrick already probably a minute ahead of the
field.

Greg and Patrick stayed off for the rest of the lap but were pulled
back in part way up the climb the second time. As we were closing in
on Greg and Patrick we were entertained by loud complaints from a
CalGiant rider who felt compelled to tell everyone (repeatedly) how
Greg was punching it on the hills and so Patrick wasn't working with
him any more, etc. You see one of the nice things about riding in the
P/1/2 category is that well, everyone considers themselves a "pro" and
is thus quite confident in their abilities and opinions. And they're
frequently more than happy to share them with you even if you aren't
interested. For what it's worth Greg didn't feel like he punched it
at all on the hills so perhaps the commentator was mistaken.

After we caught Greg and Patrick, Mike Sayers and Jared counter
attacked on the main climb. That was a move that had some legs and
unfortunately no AV in it. It's a long race though so there was hope
they would fade.

On the second climb on lap 2, Ted decided to stretch his legs and took
off. This elicited more commentary about how he's never going to make
it alone, etc. Anyway, Ted didn't get any company and was duly reeled
in. Going over the 580 overpass some counter moves went including one
with me, James Mattis, Kevin Klein and someone from BPG. I figured
this move might have the right composition to get away but sadly we
didn't get to work quickly enough and it fell apart.

We rode pretty slowly the rest of the lap and the gap to Sayers and
Jared ballooned to 3 minutes. This produced a bit of concern and some
folks started putting in some efforts to up the pace. Once again
though the pace slackened and we were going up the main climb the
third time at an absolutely anemic pace. Again we were treated to
commentary from members of CalGiant about how we ought to chase down
that break, etc. I wound up on the front leading the pack up the
climb but going so slowly that it was pathetic (seriously, I was
putting out < 250w going uphill which is about as slow as you can go
without falling over). I got a bit tired of it and upped the pace on
the higher reaches of the climb but it wasn't much and although we
were at least now pedaling for real, it was hardly a spirited chase.
This effort too received yet more commentary about how I had
"attacked" into a head wind from the front of the group. Sheesh, some
days you just can't do anything right.

On the backside tailwind section we rocketed along - hitting 52 mph
according to my bike computer. This section alone makes the race
worth doing (IMHO).

As we hit Midway road (about 1-2 miles before the start/finish), the
pace got really hard and echelons formed. I made a feeble attempt at
staying to the right of the centerline but it was impossible. I
looked over at the moto official guy and said "hey I'm trying" and he
kindly replied "don't worry about it". Sadly I still got gapped off
along with about 5-7 other guys at this point. Ted made the split
with the main group. The rest of us groveled and managed to catch
back on by the feed zone.

At this point the break was only maybe a minute or so up the road.
James Mattis and a few others were leading the chase. I worked my way
up through the group and got up to Ted. I started to recover a bit
and felt like I could hang. Here though I made a critical judgement
error. Ted asked me if I could help pull. I could have but knew that
if I did I'd never make it through when the counter-attacks came. I
really wanted to make it in the lead group so I sat in. Instead I
should have gone right to the front and pulled back the break.

Ted took the initiative that I lacked and went to the front and set a
steady hard tempo, reducing the gap to the break even further. At
this point I was somewhere around 3rd or 4th wheel in the very single
file and very tired group of maybe 20 guys.

With maybe 25 meters to the top of the climb I thought to myself, gee,
this would be a good time to attack. No sooner had the thought formed
in my head when BOOM! Scott Nydham hit the gas. It was like a bomb
exploded - Adam Switters was yelling at his teammate Kevin Klein "get
out of the way I gotta get on that", guys were scrambling and
groveling to get on wheels (remember the wind up there was still
absolutely ferocious) and it was in general total chaos. Scott gapped
everyone followed by Ted and Andres Gil. In total it was a matter of
maybe 5 extra hard pedal strokes to get on Ted but I didn't quite make
it. In the space of the next 30 seconds, Scott was just gone, Ted and
Andres opened a gap of 300 meters, chased by one or two others and
then the rest of us grouped up. Amazingly I got yelled at again by a
member of the Rock Racing team to pull and I was like "dude are you
stupid? Ted is up the road, why would I pull?". Apparently some
people forget that you're not supposed to chase down your teammates.

Ted managed to catch Mike Sayers at the base of the second climb.
Jared was still up ahead and Nydham even further ahead of him. Ted
pulled up next to Sayers and said "That Jares is the real deal, eh?".
Sayers didn't respond so Ted decided that if he was going to ride in
silence he'd do it alone and dropped Sayers (and Andres). Ted then
solo'ed in for a very well earned third place from there.

Behind, all I had to do was sit on and get a free ride. I was now
actually feeling almost perky and decided that even if I was racing
for some irrelevant minor placing I would put in a good showing. We
turned on to Midway and hit the crosswinds. We slowed and guys
started to chit-chat. This made it the perfect time to attack. I
took off which incited Chris D'Alusio, Kevin Klein and another rider
to chase. They caught me a bit before the top and I hung but then
couldn't quite match one of Chris' accelerations and got gapped. I
did manage to hold off the rest of the group which netted me 13th
(woohoo).

Hats off to Ted for yet another good finish. Mucho thanks to Tore,
Greg and Matt who all helped out in the feedzone after they dropped
out.

thanks for reading,
--dominic

Postcard from Jono

Jono Returned to Australia in June but he's still representing Webcor/Alto Velo. Here's a report from his latest escapade.

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Queensland State Road Championships
Mt Alford 149kms
7th from 40

Hey Boys wish this coulda been a better placing i was racing for 3rd with 5 kms to go and then was in the sprint for 4th and was really dissapointed to get 7th which i got last year but i really did ride well and my go greens got stronger in the last 25kms so all bodes well for the 8 day 14 stage tour of the murray river NRS race next week...

Race was on a ripper of a circuit including a hilly 34km parade lap, then nice and lumpy with 4 walls in succession and then an undulating windy section for 25 kms per lap after. Smallest state titles ive been involved in in 8 years, but the racing has been dominated by two teams in Queensland lately, with Ord Minnett and Wilson HTM (two national investment banking companies)putting the big bucks in to race the NRS and then poaching riders from the 8 or so "elite" level teams we have in the area so the other squads only have 3 or 4 good riders who then become demoralised cos they keep getting whacked every weekend and then dont bother showing up to a state titles if there is no nrs race on the same day... so its all teams of 1-3 riders v 10 each from the two big teams...

Doesnt bother me i love pinning on the number on the Go Greens and showing the race face, rubbins racing!!!!

Felt a little crook for the first two hours of the race so looked after meself thru all the attacks and single file, then after 90kms of racing and various awesome combinations going up the road then coming back Cam Hughes (Ord Minett- ex Subway Pro) and Greg Campbell (Wilson HTM - ex France espoir) drift off the front and the 10 riders from their respective teams left in the race from a total of 17riders that havent succumbed to attrition let the gap balloon to 4 minutes within 25 kms..

game over but the rest of us get to cut sick in the final 25kms, i had 3 efforts where i was away with one or two others going for the bronze medal but at 5k to go one of those breaks came back and we were countered by Grant Irwin (Ord Minett) and he dangled 25 seconds in front of us till the run in to the sprint. I had another go at 2kms to go, got caught with 1km to go and sat on the back of the 8 riders left to finally get 4th in the kick and 7th in the titles...

Really wanted a top 5 but on the other hand it was by far the best ive raced in a few years cos everyone in the top 10 has raced in europe in the last 5 years so theyre all pretty savvy and i felt that everytime we regrouped after id gone down the road in the last 45 minutes of the race the bunch was halved so i felt like I/ Me/ plain ol jono was creating a lil bit of havoc looks like the time spent climbing up to skyline/ racing cal giant/ doing director bruces tuesday sesh is starting to pay off...

Stay tuned for more adventures and keep me updated on yours fellas!!!

Sweet!
Jono

Timpani Crit, P/1/2 Report

Timpani Crit, Pro 1/2 (65 minutes)
Date: 5 August 2007
Teammates: Rob MacNeil, Greg Davis, Bob Parker
Result: 11th of ~75

This was my first time racing the Timpani crit. The course was definitely to my liking with the flat profile, long straightaways and corners that you can pedal through. There was large representation from BPG, Cal Giant, Metromint, and others. The team plan for the day was simple, save James for the finish.

The 65 min. race started out fast and stayed that way throughout with multiple attacks happening frequently. After the 1st lap the prime bell rang. I slid into a good position and took the prime with moderate effort. After the prime I was off the front for a lap with Brian Bucholz who was encouraging me to try and open up the gap. I wasn't feeling the 62 minute breakaway so I sat up and we were absorbed by the field. From then on the attacks kept coming and the chases shortly followed not letting anyone get away. I covered more attacks than I should have during the first half of the race, the only reason being I didn't see any green jerseys near the front for the first 30 minutes.

After about 30 minutes Greg, Bob and Rob all started putting some time in near the front of the race and helped with covering attacks. At some point I dropped my water bottle and was out of fluids, luckily Bob had an extra bottle and gave it to me. It is great having teamates in the race!

Bob put in some good efforts chasing down some attacks and sitting on. With 5 laps to go there was one guy off the front so Rob went to the front of the pack and drilled it for a lap (he told me after the race he knew the guy OTF was a TT specialist and didn't want to let him get away, good judgement call on Rob's part). I was in decent position with 3 to go when Greg attacked and got a sizeable gap, he was caught after about one lap and the field started to swarm a little. This is when Rob came along side of me and told me to get on his wheel. Rob started getting me through the pack and closer to the front. On the bell lap going into the second to last corner two guys did the squeeze play on Rob causing his front wheel to slam into someone's skewer cleaning out a few of Rob's spokes from his William's wheel. Unfortunately this left me boxed in with nowhere to go. I hit the brakes, went around Rob, avoided Brian Bucholz locking up his rear wheel and sliding sideways in front of me and started my sprint into the last turn, I passed a few people but at the line it was only good for 11th place.

Rob, Greg, and Bob did an awesome job during the second half of the race. We definitely could have communicated more at our pre race meeting about early attacks. Hats off to Rob for having some great bike handling skills and keeping the bike upright during the squeeze play. Greg rode aggressively and I was impressed with his ability to recover after doing the full 104 miles at Ft. Ord.

Thanks for reading

James

Timpani Crit Report, Geezer Category

Timpani Crit, 35+ 1/2/3 (55 minutes)
Date: 5 August 2007
Teammates: Brian Peterson, Ted Burns, Brad Goodson, Bill Dunham, Paul DeBacker
Result: 3rd of ~50?

Timpani Crit is held on a 1 mile, 4-corner, clockwise, business park type course. It's pancake flat and requires little to no braking or shifting. Speeds are usually high and consistent and one can generally pedal through all the corners. The speed of the course makes it somehow more fun than most of the other 4-corner crits on the schedule.

After the whistle, I slotted into a good position near the front of the pack. For the first 15 or 20 minutes, along with the other guys, I was active in following moves but it seemed a pack sprint was inevitable so I sat in for the remainder while my teammates shared the load at the head of the pack. All the guys were effective at initiating and chasing moves and helping me stay in good position. High winds were a factor in keeping things together. That and the 27+ mph average speed--it was tough to get away and stay away.

So, into the closing laps, Brian took a big pull on the front, which helped line things out. Brad took a turn as well and Bill took a flier that had the same effect. Paul helped bring me toward the front with a couple laps to go. At that point, I looked to find a good wheel into the finish. Brian Bosch (CVC) looked like he was gearing up for the finish so I bumped the guy following him off the wheel and inserted myself. Things were looking good with about half a lap to go--the race was lined out, I was tucked in about 3rd position and the pace was fast enough to hold off any surges. That is, until Steve Palaez (Lombardi) wound up his legs and blew by us on the inside before the last turn. His momentum and fast finish easily took him to the line for the win. A few guys trying to get on his wheel sent me wide through the corner so that I lost Bosch's wheel. Riding the left gutter, I re-passed those 3-4 riders by the line but couldn't catch Bosch, so 3rd place for me.

All in all, a really solid race for the team. Thanks to my teammates for the support. Everyone contributed to the result.

I did the P/1/2 race later in the day with Bob Parker, Greg Davis, James Badia. James will follow up with the team report for that one.

-Rob

Elite District Road Race Championships: Fort Ord

The Webcor/Alto Velo Men's Elite Team raced the NorCal district championship road race this past weekend. The team put in a really solid effort in defense of Ted's title. Ted rode strong, as usual, and nearly 3-peated. Former Webcor rider, James Mattis, took the win. Below is Ted's Report.

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District RR Pro 1/2
10 laps - 105 miles
Place: 2nd (due to inspiration from teammates), Dominic and Greg finishing as well
Teammates: Maria(impeccable feeds), Dominic, Rob, Greg Davis, Matt Beebe, Matt Morenzoni, Tore, James (Bruce Wilford for filling in for me as my lovely wife's escort at my company picnic)

Though I haven't raced much this year, today, I think we raced the most cohesively I've seen all year (in a road race). Thanks to Rob for bringing radios. They most certainly helped as I was able to much more easily communicate to teammates.

Today Cal Giant clearly had the best team, in both strength and numbers. Other teams to watch were Metromint, BPG, Delta Velo, and Spine. Our plan was fairly simple: three to cover the early moves, and the rest of us covering the middle to end. Rob, James and Matt B. did a great job marking early moves. At the beginning of lap 2, a break of two scurried up the road. We weren't represented, but I wasn't too worried as we still had 90 or so miles to ride. However, by lap 3 the gap was over 3 minutes. Team Spine, led by Michael Hutchinson, drove a spirited chase which brought us to within one minute. The pack sat up. Then a flurry of attacks ensued, with multiple little grouplets rolling off the front. Our own Matt Morenzoni cleverly rolled off in pursuit, and eventually formed a front group of five that was quickly out sight.

However, by lap 6 or 7, Cal Giant got worried with only one guy in the front, who had been out in the wind all day. They proceeded to send some of their guys to the front including Steve Reaney (2nd last year), Max Jenkins (U23 Nat'l Champ), Keith Miller, and perennial hard-men - Patrick Briggs and John Hunt. Being saved were James Mattis and Jesse Moore along with everyone else in the pack, who were being towed along at a brisk pace.

Fast forward to lap 8, there were only two left up front, up-and-coming talent Jared (Metromint) and an EMC rider. The scary thing was that the gap wasn't really coming down despite Cal Giant's solid chase. I'll have to ask Jared what he had for breakfast as I evidently didn't have enough, and was making the rounds mooching food from teammates as it had been awhile since I'd done a 100 mile ride without either bakery or rest stops involved, and had underestimated my caloric needs(a scone or Little Debbie packs like 2-3x more calories than a Powerbar). Oops, back to racing...Poor Matt Morenzoni, who had been riding extremely well, succumbed to a mechanical and came out of the break. Who knows what would have happened if Matt didn't have the mechanical.

With a pack of about 25 - 30 still left, the gap only came down to 2 minutes. AV, having Greg and Dominic in addition to myself left, I made the decision to put them into the chase. Both did a good job contributing to Max Jenkins' superhuman efforts along with Patrick Briggs' "I'm not dead yet" chase backs directly to the head of affairs. Actually I would say every Cal Giant rider involved in the chase was impressive.

As Dominic took a pull into the tailwind section immediately preceding the feedzone on lap 10, I surged past him, initially to get him off the front. However, instinct took over when it 'seemed' to be a good place to apply some pressure to the pedals. Although the feedzone was now upon us, I didn't feel to bad for going hard because a) I did take a feed and b) we had gone through the darn thing 8 times already plus I've seen it done at Worlds on the last lap:)

As luck would have it, this worked perfectly because James Mattis with Andres Gil (Delta Velo) attached, bridged up and immediately started working creating a gap. As we entered, the tailwind stretch after the turnaround, Andres started struggling a bit so James and I did the bulk of the work before the long descent. Into the climb, we saw the break of two about 75 meters directly in front of us. We caught them in short order. Amazingly Jared was able to accelerate when we reached them. I was forced to step on it in order to shed him, and kept the pressure on over the top to ensure we had a decent gap to the resurgent Jared.

James and I worked well together, and didn't dare shirk any pulls as the Metromint rider lurking arrears wasn't allowing for any cat and mouse games. Coming into 1 km to go, I maneuvered James in front of me. We slowed to a crawl. Seeing Jared steaming up from behind, I attacked at 800 meters. Unfortunately this was into a block headwind slightly uphill and James was able to come back to me with about 300 to go. Now that he was in the favorable position, he jumped around me with about 100 long meters to go and was held me off to the line, taking a deserved victory. Hats off to Cal Giant for a great team effort, and to James who has been riding well all year,culminating with a 3rd at Elite Nats and winning his first District Jersey today.

Thank you to Maria for helping to feed, as well as all of the team who stuck around to either give time gaps (Rob) or to help feed.

Ted

San Rafael Crit Report

James rode Solo at the Carrera de San Rafael and scored another top ten against a very competitive field. Below is his report.

==========================
Race: Carrera de San Rafael

Date: 7 July 2007

Placing: 9th of 92

This was my first year racing the Carerra. The race is promoted by Pilarcitos and I am starting to learn that Pilarcitos promotes some of the best races in the area. It was also a twilight criterium with an 8 p.m. and 90 minutes of racing to be had.

The course was in downtown San Rafael, a short 4 corner criterium with the start/finish on a slight uphill straightaway leading into a right hander where the road pitches up a little more for one block into a right hander where the road starts to go slightly downhill for a long straightaway leading into the 3rd right hander where the downhill got steeper into the last corner which was really fast.

The lap times were just over a minute each. There were plenty of strong teams represented like Priority Health, Nerac, HealthNet, BMC, Cal Giant, BPG, Lombardi, Kovarus, and Metromint. The field was more stacked than any other field I have ever raced in. 92 riders started the race and only 50 finished.

The race stared out and continued to be insanely fast. For roughly 80 of the 90 minutes of racing it was single file and difficult to move up through the pack. This was definitely the fasted crit I have done all year. Again for the first half of the race I was not feeling very strong, I was not able to respond to any of the many attacks and accelerations up the steeper section of the hill. Right at the midpoint of the race I my legs started coming around and started feeling much stronger. I started working my way up through the pack and spent the second half of the race in the top 20. I didn't go for any of the large cash primes opting to save my legs for the finish. A BMC rider was off the front with 3 laps to go the pack started chasing and everyone was strung out single file. The BMC rider was caught right around the time we heard the bell for the last lap, at this time I was sitting about 20th wheel. I put in a hard acceleration up the last steep section of the course and gained a few spots. I went into the last corner in about 13th or 14th place and started my sprint right out of the corner. During the sprint I passed some riders all the while gaining on the leaders. I ran out of road to the finish line and ended up 9th place.

I was more than pleased to be inside the top 10 in such a stacked field. My finishing speed was as fast or faster than everyone out there. Some day soon I hope to put it all together and have the right positioning going into the sprint where I can bring the Green Team a win.

For a list of results check out http://www.ncncaracing.com/reports/2007/carrera_results.htm

Thanks for reading.

James

Vacaville GP Race Report

Jamo, Rob and BB rode the Elite District Crit Championships last week and got another top ten by winning the field sprint. Below is James' report.

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Race: Vacaville GP
Date: 1 July 2007

Teamates: Matt Beebe, Rob MacNeill

Placing 6th of ~100

This was my first year racing in Vacaville. The course is in the downtown area of Vacaville with lots of right and left hand corners into off camber exits, one short climb (similar to the one at Santa Cruz). After a few warm up laps on the course I was apprehensive about the short climb and how I would be able to handle the repeated accelerations up the climbs.

Rob designated this as an A-race so the plan was for Matt and I to cover the breaks in the later part of the race. Since there were only three of us and plenty of representation from the other teams we decided to let the early attacks go unless there was good representation from each team.

For the first half of the 90 min. race I was not feeling very well. After about 25 min. Matt dropped out of the race leaving it to Rob and I to represent the Green team.

It was around that time that I decided to go for a prime (after my 3 week no-prime diet). I came in 2nd place in the 2 place prime which I found out later was for a polar water bottle.

After about 45 min. into the race I started feeling stronger on the hill and made my way up through the pack toward the front. I rode in the top 25 or so for the remainder of the race with Rob in that area as well. there were multiple attacks from riders like Eric Wohlberg and others, all to be brought back by some of the larger teams. I decided it best to save the matches I had left to give Rob a leadout in the end.

With about 5 laps there was a small breakaway with about a 10 second advantage. For some reason the pack wasn't very motivated to chase. Rob started getting a little frustrated with this and made his way to the front to try and chase. He spent about a lap at the front and put in some hard efforts which caused him to spend all his matches.

Rob started going backwards and I heard the radio call from Matt that Rob was done and the only thing left was for me to give it my best in the pack sprint.

On the last lap the breakaway was caught. I was sitting in about 20th place going into the final pass up the hill. I put in a hard acceleration up the hill gaining a few spots.

Going into the corner at the bottom of the hill for the last time we were definitely going faster than all of the other passes. Some one's rear wheel started sliding and caused a few riders to crash, 5 guys were in front of this crash and broke free. Kevin Klein and I made it through the crash and kept going. I launched my sprint just after the final corner about 200 meters out and won the field sprint for 6th place.

In the end I was disappointed in myself that I wasn't able to help Rob out in some other way. He rode a very strong race and I could tell his training was paying off.

I will be back again next year for the Vacaville race. it was very well organized and a great course.

Thanks for reading

--
James

Burlingame Crit Report

The Webcor/Alto Velo Elite Team finished off the weekend with a local classic: The Burlingame Criterium. The team rode well together, helping to net James 4th place. That's especially good considering he finished behind a soon to be pro (Holloway), a recent pro (Vigus), and current pro (Danesh) and at such a prestigious race. Below is James' report.

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Race: Burlingame Downtown Criterium
Date: 24 June 2007

Category: Men's Pro 1/2

Team: James Badia, Dominic Giampaolo, Matt Beebe, Rob MacNeill, Peter Dinolfo

Placing: 4th of 90ish

This was my 2nd year racing the Burlingame Crit in the P1/2. Last year I won a prime and was sitting in a good spot with one to go when a crash occurred right at the start finish line where someone fell onto my rear wheel taking a few spokes out of Ksyrium SL. I really enjoyed the Burlingame course from last year and was excited to race it again. In addition, I try my best not to miss a race that is in anyway associated with Tom from Pilarcitos Sports, Tom and his team are a class act and put on some of the best run races around.

A few weeks ago I declared to my teamates that Burlingame was an A-race for me, meaning a race I wanted to peak for and be the finisher. Director Bruce (while on injury reserve, can't wait to race with you again Bruce) showed up with radios for some of the guys, with Rob and myself already wired this gave all but one person a radio. Bruce was making calls from the sidelines over the radio which helped out a bunch.

The team had a pre-race meeting at my tent and we discussed the plan; I was to conserve as much as possible and only go after breakaways that looked to be threatening. The other guys were going to try to ride more aggressive than we have been so far, not only covering attacks but initiating some as well and trying to create breakaways. A general rule was for everyone to try and stay in the top 30% of the race for safety and tactical reasons. I was still on the no prime diet, so I had to do my best to ignore the ringing bells. Sometimes I just can't help myself and that is what gets me into trouble.

The usual suspects showed up with Cal Giant fielding a huge squad along with Lomardi, BPG, and many others.

The race started out fast and stayed fast throughout. During the early parts of the race there were a few lulls and Dominic was quick to jump on the front and blast into the wind picking up the pace. For a little guy he has some good crit speed. Rob, Peter and Dominc all did their fair share of covering attacks and staying near the front. Peter was returning from a month away from the bike so I know he had to be feeling some pain at the speeds he was going near the front of the race. Both Dominic and Peter were involved in crashes mid race. Peter got some pretty bad road rash and his front wheel was destroyed. He crashed because someone pushed him causing his front wheel to run into someone else's rear derailleur. Dominic got a bump on his head and destroyed his rear Ksyrium SL. These crashes took these guys out of the race. Beebe was still trying to find some speed in his legs and when he does I hope I am there to help him out. He was caught behind a crash at some point and ended up dropping out after much chasing.

As the race started winding down it was just Rob and I left, we communicated some and I told him I was feeling good. With about 10 laps to go there was a breakaway of about 4 guys with a small gap. Bruce radioed that there was not a Cal Giant rider in the break which was useful information because based on my previous race day experience the Cal Giant team wasn't about to let a breakaway get away. The break was reeled in and a solo rider attacked off the front only to be caught with 2 to go. At 2 to go the Cal Giant team formed a massive leadout train. No one was willing to contest the leadout train even though they weren't completely drilling it.

The pack started getting very antsy and Rob and I were not able to stay together. When I heard the bell there were 7 Cal Giant riders at the front, Daniel Holloway, Jamiel Danesh, a few Lombardi and BPG guys and then me in about 12th. The pace increased on the last lap. I entered the final sweeper turn on the inside in about 10th place, passed a few guys in the corner and then started my sprint coming out of the the sweeper. My sprint speed surprised me as I started picking people off one by one up to 4th place. I felt like I was gaining on the 3 guys ahead of me but ran out of road to the finish line.

On the podium were Daniel Holloway 1st (VMG), Devon Vigus 2nd (Cal Giant), Jamiel Danesh 3rd (Sierra Nevada), Me 4th, and a Lombardi rider 5th.

I was super excited about my finish and am looking forward to the upcoming races with the guys on the Elite team. I can't wait to support some of the other guys at their designated A-races.

Thanks to Bruce for coming out and being director for the day.

Thanks for reading

James

Stockton GP Race Report

A couple of the guys started the weekend off with a crit in Stockton. Highlights included James making the best break of the day with ProTour rider, Aaron Olsen of T-Mobile, among others. It was brought back with a couple laps to go but James found the strength to hang in there for a solid top 10 finish against a bunch of big-money seeking sprinters, which was good since Rob got caught up in a crash toward the end of the race. Below is James' report.

====================================================
Race: Pacific State Grand Prix

Date: 23 Jun 2007
Category: Pro 1/2

Team: James Badia (9th) & Rob MacNeill (17th)

This was my first time racing the Stockton Grand Prix put on by the Delta Velo club. A .8 mile L shaped course made for some solid efforts throughout the day. The course had some rough spots with the usual dots on the road and some potholes here and there, but in all a good course. The $10,000 Pro 1/2 purse paying 20 deep brought out some serious talent including the a large showing from Cal Giant, Delta Velo, BPG, Lombardi, and other fast teams.

With only two of us there the plan for the day was to share the covering of attacks and try to get one of us in a breakaway. Also we were going to try and be more selective about which attacks we would cover. The race started out plenty fast and maintained a high pace throughout the 90 minutes. There were three primes for the day, but I told Rob I am on a no prime diet for the rest of June, based on what has happened the last two races.

Rob and I both covered attacks and kept near the front in the top 25 riders for the majority of the race. With 10 laps to go I got into a breakaway with Aaron Olson (T-Mobile, yes the Pro Tour team), Daniel Holloway (VMG), and Tim Granshaw (Morgan Stanley). We established a gap of about 10 seconds after being away 2 laps, this is when Tim dropped out of the break which left Aaron, Daniel, and myself. Aaron was doing a huge amount of work taking some awesome pulls. I was doing everything I could to stay in the break telling myself that I was not going to get ridden out of the break. With 4 laps to go we had about a 12 second gap which seemed significant at the time. This is when Aaron decided to stop taking pulls for some reason which cannot figure out. Anyways, Daniel and I continued to rotate through with Aaron staying at the back of our group. With seven to go a crash must have happened because when I came by the start/finish line I saw Rob and a bunch of other riders lining up to get back in the race. Sadly our breakaway was caught with 2 laps to go due to a concerted chase from Cal Giant. I was absorbed by the pack but did my best (with what I had left in the tank) to stay near the front. On the bell lap the Cal Giant team organized a 7 man leadout train that I tried to get into with little success. The last lap speed was crazy fast, I pedaled to the point my legs felt like they were going to start locking up from my breakaway attempt. A small crash happened in the last corner, luckily neither Rob or I were near it. A mass sprint to the finish with Cal Giant taking a few of the top spots, me in 9th, and Rob in 17th.

Webcor got a good amount if mic time while I was in the breakaway, and the announcer (John Elgart) called me up for a brief interview to ask me what it was like to be in breakaway with a pro tour rider.

In summary I think Rob and I raced an awesome race for only having 2 guys to represent our team. We were smart about the attacks we covered and both rode strong.

James

Greg Drake at Terrible Two

Greg is remaking himself into quite the double century rider. He recently did the dreaded Terrible Two. Below is his report.

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Race I mean Ride: Terrible Two Double Century, June 16, 2007
Course: 200 Miles with 16,000 feet of climbing
Field: 285 starters, 229 finishers (212 before the 10:00 pm cutoff)
Weather: 50s and overcast at 5:30 am start to low 90s at mid day
Result: Finished in one piece (But 5th for inquiring minds:)(11:41)

The Terrible Two is hosted by the Santa Rosa Cycling Club and has
been flying under the mainstream velo radar since 1976. It's one of
those events that is as much a badge of one's badassness as anything
else. No teams, no road closures, no prizes and no easy way out.
There are few good reasons to sign up and plenty of reasons to sleep
in on ride day.

Still warmed by the glow of finishing the Davis Double, I received
several replies to my report from Alto Velo club members essentially
baiting me to do the Terrible Two. Craig Boyle, Bernard Cushing, and
Peter Kellner were the main culprits who gently delivered the news
that the Davis Double was more of a beginner's double and that a true
test would be the TT.

With my arm and pride twisted behind my back I sent in my
registration and immediately wished I had missed the deadline to
capitalize on one of the many good reasons not to do the ride. I was
a bit anxious the week beforehand as I had ridden many of the roads
and climbs before, but only over the course of several years. Most of
those rides were still burned deeply into my psyche and my
recollection is that they were quite painful and seemingly never
ending. Covering all that ground in one day would surely lay down
some major new neural pathways in my holyshitthathurts cortex.

For you sadists out there, the course really is a terrific study in
pain delivery. They basically took the toughest climbs in the region
and patched them together in a counter clockwise loop. The course
starts out in Sebastopol and heads east through Santa Rosa to Glen
Ellen and then up the Bennet Valley Road, Trinity Grade and Oakville
Grade climbs. These are decent climbs in their own right but just a
taste of what lies ahead. Next, the route heads north through St.
Helena, Calistoga and then heads up the Geysers, the longest climb of
the day. A long descent is follwed by some rollers in the hinterlands
then the road winds east to Cloverdale.

The real pain begins after passing through the south end of Lake
Sonoma as the course heads due west on Skaggs Springs Road, which is
always the hottest place on the course and hosts steep, exposed
double-summit climb. A whippingly fast descent into the coastal
redwoods leads to Camp Gualala and the dreaded Rancheria "wall" climb
which leads out to Stewart's Point at Highway 1.

With postcard views of the rugged Pacific shoreline, the course heads
south along Hwy 1 for 20 miles to Fort Ross where the home stretch
starts on a steep eastward eastward climb over the hill through
Cazadero, and Monte Rio. One small big ring climb over Graton road
leads to Occidental and finally back to the start.

At 5:30 am we left the parking lot under the cover of a gray
twilight, with a lead car in place to move ahead and trip the traffic
signals for the run through Santa Rosa. For the first couple minutes
it was quite a pleasant spin down the road and I was able to chat
with Gary Gellin and a clearly deranged guy named Ken Eichstadt who
was doing the whole ride a fixed-gear bike. Wow.

After a couple miles a few guys came to the front and started
pressuring the lead car. The field immediatly split and the front
group went single file. The pace was suddenly up around 25-28mph and
we still had about 195 miles ahead of us. And oh yeah, we had
completed exactly zero of the sixteen thousand feet of climbing. I
suddenly realized this thing was a race! As such I tucked myself in
and went along for the ride.

Now, that said, my plan for the day was to simply finish the ride in
one piece. This meant no bonking, cracking, or crashing. My
overarching rule was to stop at every rest stop to eat drink and be
merry - No matter what the other riders were doing. No matter.

This plan held together perfectly until the first rest stop in
Calistoga at mile 60. Earlier, I had pushed the pace on the Bennett
Valley, Trinity and Oakville Grade climbs to stretch my legs. This
helped sort out a front group of about 10-12 but unfortunately by
mile 45 or so my bladder was stretching as well so I had to let them
go up the road.

After being picked up by the next group led strongly by Kevin Keenan
(in a really solid aero position) we came up to the rest stop just as
the front group was leaving. I really needed to fill up bottles and I
really needed to eat something and I really really needed to use the
porta john - But the racer in me couldn't justify passing up a free
ride so I skipped the stop and jumped on the train.

I was pretty low on water but figured I would be able to fill up in
another 20 miles at the next oasis. But I was shortly informed that
the only hitch in this plan was that the bulk of miles were uphill -
And the rest stop was at the summit after some 2500 feet of climbing.
The pace in the front group was still quite high on the flats,
averaging about 25 mph so I hung on as long as I could until the
physics of bladder elasticity were against my favor. After answering
nature's call yet again I was well, yet again alone on the road.

Fortunately for me the overcast skies had kept the temperatures
pretty cool up until this point thus limiting my need for hydration.
The sun finally baked through halfway up the climb and the
temperatures jumped significantly. I was getting pretty thirsty after
having burned through the last of my bottle on the early slopes -
which is never a good sign. I vowed to stick to my original plan as I
spun up the Geysers and to stop, eat, drink and be merry. By the
summit I had reeled in all but two guys and filled up my bottles
while browsing the vast selection of cookies, fruit, sandwiches, etc.
You name it they had it. The friendly folks also insisted on filling
up my bottles for me while I grazed politely at the buffet.

While I was sampling the food stocks, a few other riders rolled in
and were in a hurry to get back on the road. I stuffed one last
banana into my mouth and latched onto them for the descent.
Everything was going according to plan until very near the bottom
when I overcooked a decreasing radius turn littered with gravel in
the apex. I stayed upright and tried to keep the train in sight but
it got twisty near the bottom and I lost them for a minute, only to
miss a critical left hand turn. As I continued my descent I began to
get a sinking feeling when the canyon began closing in on me yielding
no sign of a road ahead. I ended up descending an extra mile or so
down to a dead end.

After climbing back out I got back on course and was picked up by a
group of three who were making short shrift of the rolling terrain.
Everything was great until one of the guys dropped a water bottle in
the middle of the road with three of us on his wheel. That would have
been find but he slammed on the brakes to retrieve it. I again
avoided going down but hammered away content with eating some wind
and taking solace in the fact that the only thing that would take me
down were the gaping potholes or gravel washouts peppering the road.

Some time later I was picked up by a large rotating paceline of 12 in
the last few miles before the lunch stop around mile 110. Kevin
Keenan was again riding strongly and was kind enough to give me some
good information on the course ahead. At the Lake Sonoma rest/lunch
stop, most of the guys were in and out of there after a couple
minutes. I decided that I'd fuel up for the next 90 miles and take
advantage of the fantastic buffet.

After enjoying a made-to-order sandwich, a couple prized (non-thirst
quenching) V8 drinks and assorted goodies I hopped back on my bike
for what is called the toughest part of the course. It had taken me 6
hours to make it to the lunch stop and they say that the second half
generally takes an hour or two longer.

At this point the officials told me I was in 20th place. I was
actually feeling pretty fresh from saving most of my energy all day,
never having gone into the red, even on the climbs.

The climb on Skaggs Springs Rd begins immediately and gets fairly
steep in places, but that's not the worst it has to offer. It's claim
to fame is that it is completely exposed to the sun which bakes down
directly on the slope. But apparently this year we were introduced to
a kinder, gentler Skaggs as it wasn't too bad. What was bad was that
I was bogging down a bit in my 27, but still able to turn it over in
the saddle for the most part. I started reeling in riders pretty
quickly and started a countdown from 20th place to keep my mind off
the ridiculousness of the difficulty.

Twenty five miles later I rolled into some place tucked in the
redwoods called Camp Gualala. I was starting to feel the effects of
the day, not necessarily in my riding but cognitively. I was having
trouble counting backwards from 20 and figured loosely that I was
somewhere around 15th place, after passing several guys on the way
who were shattered, cross-eyed and just generally pedalling very
slowly.

The kind volunteer at the rest stop informed me that I was actually
in 8th position on the road. He then handed me a napkin and I thanked
him, having no no idea why I was now in possession of it. Partially
looking away in disgust while pointing his finger at me, he indicated
that I had just totally overdone the sunblock reapplication to my
face and that it was literally in my mouth. I again thanked him and
was off after stuffing my face and topping off the bottles.

The next bit of road turned out to be the toughest for me, the
Rancheria climb. It wasn't very long (1 mile?) but it had a steady 12-
15%(?) gradient that never gave any respite. I was standing on my 27
going 6-8mph. I literally couldn't go any slower or faster. To give
you an idea, there were several sections that had been painted some
time ago designating certain spots as "crying points". typically on
the steepest part of an unrelenting switchback that opened up to
yield a view of more of the same.

It was really difficult both mentally and physically. The only thing
that helped was that I passed two guys. I blurted an expletive at a
steep pitch and one of them muttered, "You look good!". Blurting my
words, I assured him I was crying inside. The other guy remarked that
he was amazed we could muster enough energy to speak. It was the
slowest speed pass in bicycling history. I'm positive about that.

I finally crested and figured I had better get some fuel into my
body. I know I was feeling significant fatigue because I noticed
throughout the day that my ability to open a simple energy bar
wrapper was diminishing with alarming rapidity. After biting off
several small slivers of the foil wrapper I tried to use both hands
but it wouldn't budge. Flustered, I finally had to stop my bike and
muscle the thing apart at which point it launched into the air,
landing with a thud on the soft-shoulder of the road.

It was at this point I began to devise a fatigue scale based on a
rider's ability to penetrate an energy bar wrapper. It's increments
are based loosely on outward manifestations of frustration as
measured in successively vocalized expletives. Email me for more
detailed data (and refer to the 'Drake Dammit Scale':). And yeah, I
ate it anyway.

Anyway, the cool Coastal Redwoods finally gave way to the Pacific
after a long descent behind a painfully slow driving sports car. Once
on Highway 1 I breathed a sigh of relief as the weather was perfectly
suited: 75 degrees, sunny with a stiff tailwind. Nice.

I spun my 53/12 as fast as I could hitting 30mph and quickly reeled
in another rider who then yo-yoed on and off my wheel until we hit
Fort Ross. Another rider was sitting down and taking an extended
break after apparently hitting some sort of limit. The SAG driver
told me I only had 4 guys in front of me. While it was fun chasing
down rabbits over the previous few hours I was really starting to
feel the miles and was just happy to be getting nearer and nearer to
my car back at the start / finish.

Wasting little time with the usual chit-chat, I attacked the buffet
table with all the manners of a feudal serf, my speech trailing off
as I stuffed my mouth. I was still honoring the spirit of the eat,
drink and be merry theme, just with a medieval twist. I needed to
load up to make it through the last 40 miles. and after showing
restraint all day I finally succumbed and indulged in the massive
bowl Peanut M&Ms, eating handfuls at a time. But after heading off I
immediately began to feel ill from all the ingested candy, then
figuring it would be processed and assimilated in a matter of
minutes. Which is luckily what happened.

The next-to-last climb on Fort Ross Rd was also pretty steep (10-
12%?), requiring me to stand on my 27, but just didn't hurt as much
as that previous, shorter Rancheria beast. Or maybe my senses were so
dulled that it just didn't register. Regardless, I picked my way back
through the Redwood forest and descended into the small towns of
Cazadero and then Monte Rio where I came upon the final rest stop.

Somewhere along the way I had regained my ability to form coherent
sentences and enjoyed a chat with the friendly folks who were
thrilled that I didn't 'fill and flee'. After more face-stuffing and
a little get-to-know-ya I set off again and found the finish line
calling my name, prompting me to big-ring the final shallow climb on
Graton Road.

I rolled across the line and immediately went back to my car without
getting the prized "I did it" t-shirt or any food or anything to
drink. All I wanted was my couch. It was really calling my name.

For those interested in my ride stats:
Elapsed time: 11 hours, 41 minutes
Miles: 201.9 (Includes the Geysers detour:)
Average Speed: 18.3mph (computer only calculates based on ride time,
not time while bike was parked as I stuffed my face:)

I have to say it was quite an experience and I'd recommend it to
anyone who wants to delve into an intrapersonal depth-potential
testing program. You're sure to learn something about yourself and it
will most likely surprise you - in a good way! So I'll see you all
next June...

Thanks for reading,
-Greg Drake

Pescadero RR Report

Photos courtesy of Ken Conley

Our Club, Alto Velo, puts on the Pescadero Coastal Classic every year. A lot of the team was busy helping run the event so a relatively small crew actually raced. Still, Ted, Greg, and Dom are the right guys to field for this hilly road race. Below is Ted Huang's Report

============================
9 Jun 2007
Team: Ted Huang (5th), Greg Drake, and Dominic Giampaolo

Huge kudos to Bruce Wilford and all of our club volunteers that made this race the smoothest run yet. I heard nothing but accolades from fellow riders.

June 9th, a beautiful day for a Cal Giant group ride with 50 or so other tag-alongs like myself. As usual, the main reason to drive out to Pescadero, besides dropping off the prizes, racing in one of the best run races on an epic course, was the stop afterwards at Duarte's Tavern to buy one of their world famous Olallieberry pies. (What is an Olallieberry you ask?(top secret gov't project that crossed a loganberry w/ youngberry) Our race commenced in sedate fashion, with Cal Giant being nice enough to allow the rest of us a 2km warmup before leading out Patrick Briggs for the 1st prime on Stage Rd. I think that was the start of a break of two (Briggs + BPG). Our own Greg D. being used to double centuries as of late, strung out our field on both the Stage Rd and Haskins climbs as well as the flats (I was too far back to see). Near the end of lap one, a combination of Greg's early pacemaking along with few attacks, caused the pace to quicken and the gap to the two ahead dropped to spitting distance. In the interim, Dominic was able to close gaps to a few moves that we had missed.

Lap 2-Roll the dice
We caught the break and things various small breaks going up the road. In the confusion, I pulled a rookie maneuver and lost my bottle and thus had to obtain two wonderful neutral bottles in the feedzone while Barry Wicks decided to stretch his legs (maybe one). He and a group of 5 held a gap through the climb, forcing me to push the pace in order to keep the gap reasonable by the top. We all came together on the backside.

Lap 3-Excuse Time/This one sticks
A couple groups of 3 - 4 were scattered up the road at this point, and I decided I needed get across and bridged up. We were now a group of 7 or so (w/ 2 Cal Giant sitting on) chasing a group of two. We were altogether at the base of Haskins, but with only a 10 second gap. I surged at the bottom, staying near the front of our break and continued sharing tempo along with a couple of others. At this point, my rear shifting started deteriorating, and I had trouble staying in a gear. 3/4 of the way up, Barry blew by with Chris Lieto of Cal Giant in tow, looking as if he was out for a Sunday spin. I was in the perfect position to accelerate up to them, but it would have required going into the red. I wasn't quite prepared to do that, which proved to be my fatal mistake. When two of the strongest riders in the field go by, you have to follow. Instead, I waited, thinking that we'd catch them on the backside, as they had about 15 seconds on the rest of us at the top.

Lap 3.7 Smothered by Strawberries
Cal Giant effectively smothered any attempts at establishing a bridge move as variety of us including Roman Kilun tried our hand at countering each other's attacks. But to no avail. There were just too many of them and the pack resigned itself to settling for going for third. Meanwhile, with my shifting taking a turn for the worse, I almost crashed out someone behind me when my gears slipped. John Hunt promptly advised me to "go to the back" so I wouldn't crash anyone out. I contemplated turning around at that point (being a couple of clicks from Duartes), but realized that in order to eat an entire pie, would have to ride another lap.

So with visions of deep purple olallieberries percolating through golden crust, I had visions of taking a long death pull once we reached 84. But more gear issues snuffed that stupid idea.

I then attacked on the feedzone hill, trying to achieve a gap before Haskins so I would have more time to select a gear that would stay put. Evan Pickett (Stanford) and another rider joined me. This gave us about a 5 second gap at the base of the hill. Soon after Roman came rolling by with a Cal Giant rider (Max Jenkins). I attached myself to the back of this train, and thankfully, my 39/21 was worked. Roman set this wonderfully uncomfortable tempo up the rest of the climb, and once the 500m sign came into view, I tried shifting up. Bad idea. I promptly went backward as Roman started ramping it up. I watched Max polish off Roman in the distance, and I rolled in for fifth.

All in all, a wonderful day in the saddle, despite the mechanical, which ended up being my own fault.

Lesson learned: replace your cables/housing on DA 10 speed shifters every 4-6 months no matter what. I took my right shifter apart that evening and the cable was down to two strands at the lever, chewed almost all the way through, not allowing the cable to release(due to frayed cable ends). Most Impt: Duarte's freshly bakes pies on Saturdays at midday. Mine was hot!

Ross' Epic Hillclimb Report

Ross' Epic Hillclimb is a charity event held for Ross Dillon, who was severely injured when hit by a vehicle while out riding. Ted and a few of the high VO2max boys went to support Ross and to test their engines a week before Pescadero RR. Below is race winner Ted Huang's report.

Learn more about Ross Dillon here

==============================

Team: Petro Hizalev, Greg Drake, Brian Peterson
Placing: 1st in Pro 1/2; Petro 1st in Cat. 3s

Course: 18 miles total (6 miles flat, small rollers-> 4 miles rolling uphill-->3 miles at 5-6 percent w/ flat section and a short downhill-->approx 2 miles at 5-6% w/ some rollers--> 1.5 miles of 15+% to the finish) 'Epic' indeed describes the day. I have to thank Brian Peterson for suggesting that I participate in this race/charity event. What John Peckham's mother, Mary Ann, did on behalf of Alto Velo was both magnanimous and truly inspiring. Brian's eloquence brought tears to more than a few people's eyes. I wasn't the only one teary eyed.

Back to the ride.

After putting the finishing touches on arm twisting Greg Drake into coming this morning, we both met at Brian's house and hit the road at 5:40am. We arrived with plenty of time to do a decent warmup and even enjoy some freshly brewed Peets at reg. Along with the ten porta-johns replete with wash stations, this clearly was going to be a special day.

Because of the small field numbers, Cat 1,2,3, 4 all started together. This meant that Brian, me, Greg, and Petro were all racing together. Brian had told us from the get-go that he'd set tempo in order to keep things strung out until the bottom of the climb. Luckily a 2nd, Rocknasium rider also had the same thing in mind and the pack was strung out single file until the climbing began. Brian kept pulling strongly until the road finally kicked up in earnest. Next, after a few small attacks by random riders, it was Greg's turn to set a vicious tempo which kept the pace high. Almost three miles later, the road kicked up more and Petro launched one of his high cadence flying attacks. I stayed on David Galvin's (BMC) wheel as he was forced to keep Petro in check. After a mile or so, we caught Petro and I countered. There was no response and I kept pressure on the pedals. With no one to chase, I was feeling a bit isolated out there, but knew I was giving Greg and Petro a free ride, which would also keep the bunch of independent riders from forming a cohesive chase over the flatter sections. I figured that if I had a decent gap by the steep section, the speed differential wouldn't be so great, and I could probably stay off depending on whether I imploded or not. I was a bit taken aback by how steep the steep section was, and found myself groveling badly in my 27, wishing for the first time that I had a compact crankset, as I nearly succumbed to the paperboy. Luckily the finish came into view, and I was able to happily tell my teammates that all had ended well for us. Today was neat because all of us contributed equally to the end result.

Most difficult moment all day: Greg "double-century" Drake tearing my legs off on the flats, on the way back to the start. Go figure.

-Ted