Jeez, this race was shocking: super fast, super technical, super hot ,and just plain hard. W/AV did very well with 2 in the top 10 and 3 of about only 15 that finished. It was a crazy race. Below is Rand's report.
----------------------------------------
2008 Napa Downtown Crit
6/21/08
Napa, CA
Weather: ~100 Degrees and really really windy
Teammates: James Badia, Aroussen Laflamme, Rob Macneill, Chris Crawford,
Jeff Williams
Finish: 3rd of ~60
First and foremost, this was the most insane (and most awesome) crit course I have ever seen. Set in downtown Napa, the course was less than a half-mile long, with lots of tight corners. From the start-finish line, the course dives onto a very small, narrow 4-corner block and then jumps back onto the split main straightaway. This long straight section of road then terminates in what can only be described as an extended hairpin turn, where the course goes around a triangular median and back onto the front straightaway--overall, we end up turning something like 270 degrees in that crazy turn. Throw some densely packed botts dots, oil-slick pavement, 20 mph wind and 100 degree heat, and you have the makings of some epic crit racing.
As The Crew and I prepped for the race, we discussed strategy...given the crazy conditions, we were thinking breakaway. The race started fast, and I spent some time getting aggro at the front, but breaks were not really sticking and I realized that the heat would make wasting energy a bad idea. The course rapidly began taking its toll on riders, since it required two full-on sprints each lap (onto the headwind section and out of the hairpin). By about halfway through the race, I would estimate that half the field had dropped out (or crashed).
Andy Mendonca from Lombardi attacked with a few other guys around halfway through, and proceeded to drop his breakaway partners by pushing a 53-11 or so the entire time. Several guys would attempt to bridge each lap, and fail. Mendonca dangled about 15 seconds up for a long time, but we played the odds and let other teams try and pull him back rather than expending our guys. Kevin Klein (Rock Racing) and a Healthnet rider stayed near the front and occasionally drove the pace, while BPG launched some fliers here and there, but Mendonca kept rolling. Aroussen put in a solid pull for a lap or two as well, but to no avail. With 3 laps to go, I felt confident in my legs and could sense that the now-15-man "field" was getting tired, so I attacked hard in the headwind section. I drove it as fast as I could for the final 3 laps with a Lombardi guy on my wheel and a BPG guy sitting on him...I just stayed on the front because the Lombardi guy definitely wasnt going to come through and the BPG guy wasnt either, and I felt pretty good about my sprint out of the hairpin. I think I waited a lap too long to attack, because I wasnt able to close the gap to Mendonca and I could see him posting up a victory salute about 5 seconds ahead as I started my sprint. The BPG guy (JD Bergman, who is riding quite strong these days)
came around and beat me by about half a bike length. I was bummed that I couldnt close to Andy, and that I got beat on the line, but I was happy with the race overall. James and Aroussen finished strong, with James coming in at 9th, in spite of being caught up in a crash with less than 15 minutes to go.
Not a particularly team-tactical event, but a really fun and technical race. I hope that they put the same course on next year, and I would encourage everyone to go try it!
Rand
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Bo Tackles (and wins) The Terrible Two
Everyone knows Bo is a hardman but he felt the need to go prove it again by riding and winning the Terrible Two double century. Not that any 200 mile ride is easy but this double is one of the hardest around. Nice work Bo! Below is his report from a LONG day in the chamois.
--------------------------------
Race (aka ride):Terrible Two
Location: Sebastopol, CA
Host: Santa Rosa Cycling Club
Date: 20th June 2008
Category: Tourist
Distance: 200 +1 mile
Elevation Gain: 16,000 ft
Temp: 65F to 107F
Field size: 250 riders
Webcor/AV: Bo 1st
For those of you not familiar with the Terrible Two Double Century Greg Drake provides a very entertaining description in his 2007 report:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/AltoVelo/message/14368
Although officially the TT isn't a race it certainly feels like one. I've done the 'TT' two times before in 2004 and 2006. In 2004 I got 2nd (11:07) and 2006 6th (11:55). The times are hugely heat dependent. Cool=fast, hot=slow. This year it was incredibly hot, well into the 100's. The 2008 TT was more about survival than records, and for me, it was all about the W-I-N.
For the past six years a local rider, Brian, has been putting the hurt on everyone. He was planning on doing a 'Lance' this year, by claiming his 7th edition. I was planning on putting an end to this. Only slight problem with this was that Brian is the real-deal and a force to be reckoned with.
My goals in this ride/race were:
1.Beat 'Lance' aka Brian
2.Finish fast enough that my behind wasn't too sore. Current rear end threshold is 12 hours so I had to be faster than that.
3. Not end up at Kaiser Perm where they let breast surgeons act as substitutes for jaw surgeons.
From the start I made sure no one was going to sneak away without me knowing it. This might sound a little hyper vigilant but I didn't want to suffer for 200 miles in vain. The pace was definitely more sedate than a P1/2 race but I felt quite at home when, at mile 15, there was a loud sound of bikes crashing behind.
No I did not cause it.
At about mile 25 we hit the first real climb, Trinity Grade, which climbs 1500' and dumps you out in to the Napa Valley. The descent was definitely not fun and unfortunately a few riders crashed on the way down.
After that first climb we were down to a pack of 40. We cruised up the Silverado highway to the first rest stop in Calistoga (mile 55). I filled my two bottles shoved some food in my pockets (repeat at each rest stop) and took off with three other riders. Our group of 4 was soon joined by another 13. We made it intact the next major ascent (mile 75), 3500' Geysers Road.
I knew that Geyser's Road would split up the field and sure enough by the rest stop at the top there was only me, myself and I. It is pretty nice to have your own personal rest stop. I hung out for a few minutes hoping some company would arrive. When it didn't I made the decision to bust a move and keep things rolling for the descents/flats to the lunch stop.
After lunch-on-the-run came the most brutal climb of the day: Skaggs Spring Road. I rode the climb alone but at the top was somewhat excited to see someone coming up the hill behind me. It turned out to be Brian. After he had filled his bottles we started off.
Now, although I was stoked to have some company I also wanted to demolish my competition (or at the very least win). I decided to pull out some very special tactics I've learned from racing on the road. These tactics are in fact so special that I cannot tell you about them in case my competition gets informed!
Brian was a decent climber and could keep up with me on the next climb. He also, as it turned out, was a mean descender. There were moments on the highly sketchy descent where I was having vivid flashbacks of my annual vacation to the 'Kaiser Penthouse'. I pondered if, were I to return, would I again end up with the breast enlargement surgeon working on my broken bones. Because of these uplifting thoughts I took it very conservatively and had to chase back to Brian after the descent.
I conserved energy on the next 700 foot climb (mile 142) by keeping my heart rate a little lower. Brian went over the top, in the process alerting/activating a very hot and very pissed off dog. By the time I reached snarling dog he was ready for a late lunch of Bo's ankles. Hungry dog didn't get fed and probably doesn't realize how lucky he was that I missed his hot head by about 1 inch. Meanwhile, Brian was already hauling ass down the hill towards the Highway 1 unaware of the performance a little way behind.
I counted my blessings that I wouldn't be visiting my old friends at Kaiser and headed down the descent. After a few corners there was Brian on the side of the road taking his wheel off. I asked if he needed anything. He said "no" so I kept going. I felt kind of bad but not really.
I started down highway 1 (mile 155) at a moderate pace. When I arrived at the Fort Ross rest stop (mile 162) one of the support motorcycles told me that Brian was 5 minutes back. The last major climb of the day is Fort Ross Road 1500' and it is steep (next time someone please remind me not to ride a straight block). At the top of the climb the motorcycle told me Brian was 8 minutes back. This finally gave me the confidence that it would not go down to a sprint finish which might just be the lamest thing anyone had ever seen. It was downhill with some big rollers to the next rest stop in (mile 184).
I got my water and took off for the final 17 mile trek to the finish.
I rolled into the finish to the sound of cheering and clapping. I guess there had been radio reports through out the day about the "Webcor guy" off the front. Regardless, people were still shocked to see someone other than Brian after 6 years.
Brian came in 12 minutes later. He told me after he flatted he tried to put more air in his tire at Fort Ross and tore his valve stem off. Then he said he flatted again on Fort Ross road. If he did not flat it definitely would have been more interesting. I guess we will never know what the out come may have been.
His parting words were "I will see you next year". To that I said "looking forward to it—next year I'll beat you by 30 minutes".
Just kidding.
My finishing time was 11:15:23. Not my personal best due to the heat.
To be honest, I don't know if I want to go back next year. At this point my backside is still hurting and I'm not feeling the love for the double century. Add to this a suspicion that now Brian knows he's not 'Lance' he will do a little more training for next year and that might mean hurt. Or, hurt more than this year at least.
--------------------------------
Race (aka ride):Terrible Two
Location: Sebastopol, CA
Host: Santa Rosa Cycling Club
Date: 20th June 2008
Category: Tourist
Distance: 200 +1 mile
Elevation Gain: 16,000 ft
Temp: 65F to 107F
Field size: 250 riders
Webcor/AV: Bo 1st
For those of you not familiar with the Terrible Two Double Century Greg Drake provides a very entertaining description in his 2007 report:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com
Although officially the TT isn't a race it certainly feels like one. I've done the 'TT' two times before in 2004 and 2006. In 2004 I got 2nd (11:07) and 2006 6th (11:55). The times are hugely heat dependent. Cool=fast, hot=slow. This year it was incredibly hot, well into the 100's. The 2008 TT was more about survival than records, and for me, it was all about the W-I-N.
For the past six years a local rider, Brian, has been putting the hurt on everyone. He was planning on doing a 'Lance' this year, by claiming his 7th edition. I was planning on putting an end to this. Only slight problem with this was that Brian is the real-deal and a force to be reckoned with.
My goals in this ride/race were:
1.Beat 'Lance' aka Brian
2.Finish fast enough that my behind wasn't too sore. Current rear end threshold is 12 hours so I had to be faster than that.
3. Not end up at Kaiser Perm where they let breast surgeons act as substitutes for jaw surgeons.
From the start I made sure no one was going to sneak away without me knowing it. This might sound a little hyper vigilant but I didn't want to suffer for 200 miles in vain. The pace was definitely more sedate than a P1/2 race but I felt quite at home when, at mile 15, there was a loud sound of bikes crashing behind.
No I did not cause it.
At about mile 25 we hit the first real climb, Trinity Grade, which climbs 1500' and dumps you out in to the Napa Valley. The descent was definitely not fun and unfortunately a few riders crashed on the way down.
After that first climb we were down to a pack of 40. We cruised up the Silverado highway to the first rest stop in Calistoga (mile 55). I filled my two bottles shoved some food in my pockets (repeat at each rest stop) and took off with three other riders. Our group of 4 was soon joined by another 13. We made it intact the next major ascent (mile 75), 3500' Geysers Road.
I knew that Geyser's Road would split up the field and sure enough by the rest stop at the top there was only me, myself and I. It is pretty nice to have your own personal rest stop. I hung out for a few minutes hoping some company would arrive. When it didn't I made the decision to bust a move and keep things rolling for the descents/flats to the lunch stop.
After lunch-on-the-run came the most brutal climb of the day: Skaggs Spring Road. I rode the climb alone but at the top was somewhat excited to see someone coming up the hill behind me. It turned out to be Brian. After he had filled his bottles we started off.
Now, although I was stoked to have some company I also wanted to demolish my competition (or at the very least win). I decided to pull out some very special tactics I've learned from racing on the road. These tactics are in fact so special that I cannot tell you about them in case my competition gets informed!
Brian was a decent climber and could keep up with me on the next climb. He also, as it turned out, was a mean descender. There were moments on the highly sketchy descent where I was having vivid flashbacks of my annual vacation to the 'Kaiser Penthouse'. I pondered if, were I to return, would I again end up with the breast enlargement surgeon working on my broken bones. Because of these uplifting thoughts I took it very conservatively and had to chase back to Brian after the descent.
I conserved energy on the next 700 foot climb (mile 142) by keeping my heart rate a little lower. Brian went over the top, in the process alerting/activating a very hot and very pissed off dog. By the time I reached snarling dog he was ready for a late lunch of Bo's ankles. Hungry dog didn't get fed and probably doesn't realize how lucky he was that I missed his hot head by about 1 inch. Meanwhile, Brian was already hauling ass down the hill towards the Highway 1 unaware of the performance a little way behind.
I counted my blessings that I wouldn't be visiting my old friends at Kaiser and headed down the descent. After a few corners there was Brian on the side of the road taking his wheel off. I asked if he needed anything. He said "no" so I kept going. I felt kind of bad but not really.
I started down highway 1 (mile 155) at a moderate pace. When I arrived at the Fort Ross rest stop (mile 162) one of the support motorcycles told me that Brian was 5 minutes back. The last major climb of the day is Fort Ross Road 1500' and it is steep (next time someone please remind me not to ride a straight block). At the top of the climb the motorcycle told me Brian was 8 minutes back. This finally gave me the confidence that it would not go down to a sprint finish which might just be the lamest thing anyone had ever seen. It was downhill with some big rollers to the next rest stop in (mile 184).
I got my water and took off for the final 17 mile trek to the finish.
I rolled into the finish to the sound of cheering and clapping. I guess there had been radio reports through out the day about the "Webcor guy" off the front. Regardless, people were still shocked to see someone other than Brian after 6 years.
Brian came in 12 minutes later. He told me after he flatted he tried to put more air in his tire at Fort Ross and tore his valve stem off. Then he said he flatted again on Fort Ross road. If he did not flat it definitely would have been more interesting. I guess we will never know what the out come may have been.
His parting words were "I will see you next year". To that I said "looking forward to it—next year I'll beat you by 30 minutes".
Just kidding.
My finishing time was 11:15:23. Not my personal best due to the heat.
To be honest, I don't know if I want to go back next year. At this point my backside is still hurting and I'm not feeling the love for the double century. Add to this a suspicion that now Brian knows he's not 'Lance' he will do a little more training for next year and that might mean hurt. Or, hurt more than this year at least.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Pescadero Road Race Report
Pescadero Road Race is a NorCal classic and it's Alto Velo's annual race. As such, most of the guys were working to help pull it off instead racing. Bo and our latest addition to the team, Fabrice Dubost, were out there to represent W/AV. Fabrice is recently relocated from the Normandy region of France. He's an accomplished road racer and we're glad to have him on the squad. Below is Bo's accounting of the events.
Official Results
Photos courtesy of Kieren Sherlock
----------------------------------
Pescadero RR
14 June 2008
P 1/2
103 miles
7600 elevation gain
Start List 84 riders
Webcor AV: Fabrice 12th, Bo Hebenstreit 20th
Course: Too Long. Too fast.
Due to most to the team being involved in volunteer work (Amy and I did pre-race volunteer tasks) Fabrice and I were the only two 1/2 Webcor/Alto Velo's in the 80? person field.
I remember when I was a CAT 3 we quite often used to pass the P 1/2's as they gently rolled along with barely a hint of exertion. I was looking forward to this 'perk' when I upgraded. Unfortunately, what I didn't fully appreciate as a CAT 3's was that the 'kicking back' I had observed was balanced out by short, extremely painful, bouts of ridiculously fast racing. Saturday's 'taking it easy' was 103 miles, 8,000 feet of climbing and an average speed of 22.8 miles an hour.
Today got exciting as soon as soon as we went out of town and an eight person break escaped up the road. I decided not to be part of the action as I calculated any break this early in the race wouldn't last the hundred+ miles to the finish. I was somewhat right when 1 mile later we caught a flatted escapee, and on the descent from Haskins, another rider was off the road removing large chunks of grass from his wheels.
Well, to cut a long story short this race hurt like I couldn't have possibly imagined. Every time up Haskins I fantasized about downgrading to the CAT 5's or jumping out of the race and into my car. But, fortunately, or unfortunately, the descent down to the town was long enough for me to forget the pain and I kept rolling along. Also, Jesse/Andy doing a wild leg shaking episode as his crank fell off his bike was helpful in keeping my spirits up.
In a true Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin moment the remaining six in the break were caught with 3K to go. I would love to tell you that I launched myself from the pack and blasted up Haskins to take the win. Sadly not. I gave it all I had and got 20th. Z team won, James M. 2nd and Adam Rock Racing 3rd. Fabrice looked like he was doing an easy paced B-ride and ended up 12th.
Bo
Official Results
Photos courtesy of Kieren Sherlock
----------------------------------
Pescadero RR
14 June 2008
P 1/2
103 miles
7600 elevation gain
Start List 84 riders
Webcor AV: Fabrice 12th, Bo Hebenstreit 20th
Course: Too Long. Too fast.
Due to most to the team being involved in volunteer work (Amy and I did pre-race volunteer tasks) Fabrice and I were the only two 1/2 Webcor/Alto Velo's in the 80? person field.
I remember when I was a CAT 3 we quite often used to pass the P 1/2's as they gently rolled along with barely a hint of exertion. I was looking forward to this 'perk' when I upgraded. Unfortunately, what I didn't fully appreciate as a CAT 3's was that the 'kicking back' I had observed was balanced out by short, extremely painful, bouts of ridiculously fast racing. Saturday's 'taking it easy' was 103 miles, 8,000 feet of climbing and an average speed of 22.8 miles an hour.
Today got exciting as soon as soon as we went out of town and an eight person break escaped up the road. I decided not to be part of the action as I calculated any break this early in the race wouldn't last the hundred+ miles to the finish. I was somewhat right when 1 mile later we caught a flatted escapee, and on the descent from Haskins, another rider was off the road removing large chunks of grass from his wheels.
Well, to cut a long story short this race hurt like I couldn't have possibly imagined. Every time up Haskins I fantasized about downgrading to the CAT 5's or jumping out of the race and into my car. But, fortunately, or unfortunately, the descent down to the town was long enough for me to forget the pain and I kept rolling along. Also, Jesse/Andy doing a wild leg shaking episode as his crank fell off his bike was helpful in keeping my spirits up.
In a true Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin moment the remaining six in the break were caught with 3K to go. I would love to tell you that I launched myself from the pack and blasted up Haskins to take the win. Sadly not. I gave it all I had and got 20th. Z team won, James M. 2nd and Adam Rock Racing 3rd. Fabrice looked like he was doing an easy paced B-ride and ended up 12th.
Bo
Sunday, June 15, 2008
The MTB Files: Aroussen Scores a W
Aroussen couldn't resist a local MTB race. He went down to Fort Ord and scored 1st place in the PRO category. Right on!
-----------------------------------------------
Date: 6/15/08
CCCX Mountain Bike series
Fort Ord (Monterey), California USA, June 15, 2008
Rider: Aroussen Laflamme
Cat: Pro
Finishing Position: 1st
Course: 5 laps of a 6 miles
Weather: Windy as usual near the coast, mix of clouds and sun
Fort Ord is well known for its infinite miles of dirt trails which are hard packed and at the same time slippery. It's also a great venue for cyclocross racing. But today it host the 8th race of the
Central coast series on a course that I can say will suited me very well. No long climb, 5 to 6 short moderately steep uphill, twisty and challenging course is on the menu today.
After my relatively successful strategy adopted during my last mountain bike race, I thought it would be a good idea to stick to it: start slowly and be patient. I succeed in the former but not the later strategy.
My expectation we're not so high considering the amount of training I've done lately, especially on Saturday after the Pesky race. A bad start (difficulties clipping) allowed me to gage my competitors and to start slowly indeed. The pack just rolled quite easily during the first minutes of the start loop. I stayed in the back, protected from the wind. When things have started to move a bit, I progressively made my way to the front. I had to sprint a bit to enter the single-
track first and decided to stretch the group. I pulled hard until the first climb. Two guys passed me and I took their wheels. At this time, we were three of us in the front; the stretching had been more of a break.
So we decided to work together to increase or advantage. That was a good idea considering the stiff head wind on the first half of the course. One of us would never takes pulls and did create many gaps. By the end of the first lap, two guys catched us while the guy in front of me was fading progressively. Feeling good, not patient enough and not willing to bring fading or not working racers with me, I attacked in the first third of the second lap. My goal was to bring
some other guys with me but nobody did follow. I kind of wait to see if my move would stick and it did. My gap was of 30 second after the second lap and of 45 second after the third, so I was in control.
My main concern was that the group was still working together behind me, which was a big advantage considering the wind. So I decided to ease up during the fourth lap to get ready to answer any potential attack from behind. But any would come. At the end of this lap, my gap was of more than a minute. This is when the group has decided to attacked each others, riding the final lap solo instead of working together to bring me back.
Even with some braking problem during the last descent (maybe no more brake is good after all), I managed to conserve quite a good gap to win this race somewhat easily, at least undisputed. The gold medal is a good father's day gift!
Thanks to my sponsors Webcor-Alto Velo and Kona endurance.
Thanks to my family, Jérémy and Madeleine for their support.
Thanks for reading,
Aroussen
-----------------------------------------------
Date: 6/15/08
CCCX Mountain Bike series
Fort Ord (Monterey), California USA, June 15, 2008
Rider: Aroussen Laflamme
Cat: Pro
Finishing Position: 1st
Course: 5 laps of a 6 miles
Weather: Windy as usual near the coast, mix of clouds and sun
Fort Ord is well known for its infinite miles of dirt trails which are hard packed and at the same time slippery. It's also a great venue for cyclocross racing. But today it host the 8th race of the
Central coast series on a course that I can say will suited me very well. No long climb, 5 to 6 short moderately steep uphill, twisty and challenging course is on the menu today.
After my relatively successful strategy adopted during my last mountain bike race, I thought it would be a good idea to stick to it: start slowly and be patient. I succeed in the former but not the later strategy.
My expectation we're not so high considering the amount of training I've done lately, especially on Saturday after the Pesky race. A bad start (difficulties clipping) allowed me to gage my competitors and to start slowly indeed. The pack just rolled quite easily during the first minutes of the start loop. I stayed in the back, protected from the wind. When things have started to move a bit, I progressively made my way to the front. I had to sprint a bit to enter the single-
track first and decided to stretch the group. I pulled hard until the first climb. Two guys passed me and I took their wheels. At this time, we were three of us in the front; the stretching had been more of a break.
So we decided to work together to increase or advantage. That was a good idea considering the stiff head wind on the first half of the course. One of us would never takes pulls and did create many gaps. By the end of the first lap, two guys catched us while the guy in front of me was fading progressively. Feeling good, not patient enough and not willing to bring fading or not working racers with me, I attacked in the first third of the second lap. My goal was to bring
some other guys with me but nobody did follow. I kind of wait to see if my move would stick and it did. My gap was of 30 second after the second lap and of 45 second after the third, so I was in control.
My main concern was that the group was still working together behind me, which was a big advantage considering the wind. So I decided to ease up during the fourth lap to get ready to answer any potential attack from behind. But any would come. At the end of this lap, my gap was of more than a minute. This is when the group has decided to attacked each others, riding the final lap solo instead of working together to bring me back.
Even with some braking problem during the last descent (maybe no more brake is good after all), I managed to conserve quite a good gap to win this race somewhat easily, at least undisputed. The gold medal is a good father's day gift!
Thanks to my sponsors Webcor-Alto Velo and Kona endurance.
Thanks to my family, Jérémy and Madeleine for their support.
Thanks for reading,
Aroussen
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Sattley District Time Trial Championships
Below is Rand's report from the District Championship TT, which is held up near Truckee at altitude. Rand and Jeff both scored top 10's in the Open class, on what was a record settingly fast day. In the Masters categories, Matt Beebe scored 2nd place in the 30-39 open class and Peter Cazalet scored 7th place in the 35-39 open class.
-------------------------------------------------
District Championship ITT
Sattley, CA 6/8/08
Conditions: Cool, very slight headwind on outbound leg
Category: Elite Men Open
Teammates: Jeff Williams
Finish: 7th
After last weekend's Dunlap ITT (31k), I felt pretty good all week andfelt prepared for the 40k District Championship. Showed up at thecourse at 7:00am, and it was beautiful. Very little wind, not too cold, and very clear. Started my warmup, and to my dismay my legs felt pretty dead at the high end. Not really sure why. Headed to the start line for 25 miles of pain, hoping for a time in the 52 minute mark or so.
For those who have never done the Sattley ITT course, it is one of the most featureless time-trial courses I have ever seen--somehow they managed to find a completely straight piece of road way out in the mountains near Tahoe. It is somewhat surreal, because the only memorable part of the course is a gentle left-right bend before the turnaround. There is nothing to distract the mind, no corners to take at speed...just straight road.
Unfortunately, there was nothing to distract me from the fact that my legs were pretty dead. I was able to push a big gear and keep my speed up, but I couldnt get my HR to adequate levels and I felt no quickness in my legs whatsoever. That was a bit sad for me, as I really wanted
to run a good time.
The outbound leg is slightly uphill, and I think my average speed over that half of the race was about 27mph. Coming back from the turnaround, I spent most of my time at 31 or 32 mph. A while after the turnaround, Roman (the race winner) came by me at probably 34mph. He started something like 2.5 minutes behind me.
I managed to struggle to the line with a 52:53. By comparison, Roman set the new course record at 49:29. I came in 7th, as a few other guys also had some really fast times. Jeff rode solidly in his first 40k, and ran a 54:12 for 10th place.
After the TT, I spun down for about 10 minutes, switched pedals, brake pads and wheels over to my road bike, and drove like a maniac to Santa Rosa for the 3:45pm start of the 2-Wheel Crit that afternoon. Overall, it was a fun day, and I had a couple decent races. No more time trials
for a while...
Rand
-------------------------------------------------
District Championship ITT
Sattley, CA 6/8/08
Conditions: Cool, very slight headwind on outbound leg
Category: Elite Men Open
Teammates: Jeff Williams
Finish: 7th
After last weekend's Dunlap ITT (31k), I felt pretty good all week andfelt prepared for the 40k District Championship. Showed up at thecourse at 7:00am, and it was beautiful. Very little wind, not too cold, and very clear. Started my warmup, and to my dismay my legs felt pretty dead at the high end. Not really sure why. Headed to the start line for 25 miles of pain, hoping for a time in the 52 minute mark or so.
For those who have never done the Sattley ITT course, it is one of the most featureless time-trial courses I have ever seen--somehow they managed to find a completely straight piece of road way out in the mountains near Tahoe. It is somewhat surreal, because the only memorable part of the course is a gentle left-right bend before the turnaround. There is nothing to distract the mind, no corners to take at speed...just straight road.
Unfortunately, there was nothing to distract me from the fact that my legs were pretty dead. I was able to push a big gear and keep my speed up, but I couldnt get my HR to adequate levels and I felt no quickness in my legs whatsoever. That was a bit sad for me, as I really wanted
to run a good time.
The outbound leg is slightly uphill, and I think my average speed over that half of the race was about 27mph. Coming back from the turnaround, I spent most of my time at 31 or 32 mph. A while after the turnaround, Roman (the race winner) came by me at probably 34mph. He started something like 2.5 minutes behind me.
I managed to struggle to the line with a 52:53. By comparison, Roman set the new course record at 49:29. I came in 7th, as a few other guys also had some really fast times. Jeff rode solidly in his first 40k, and ran a 54:12 for 10th place.
After the TT, I spun down for about 10 minutes, switched pedals, brake pads and wheels over to my road bike, and drove like a maniac to Santa Rosa for the 3:45pm start of the 2-Wheel Crit that afternoon. Overall, it was a fun day, and I had a couple decent races. No more time trials
for a while...
Rand
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
2-Wheel Crit (Santa Rosa) Race Report
James and the team scored a great result up in Santa Rosa. Below is James' report.
---------------------------------------
Race: 2 Wheel Criterium (aka Santa Rosa Corporate Crit)
Category: Men's Pro 1/2
Teammates: Rand Miller, Tore Nauta, Chris Crawford, Scott Rodamaker
Placing: 3rd of 60
This is the same course as always, a corporate business park, wide turns, lots of bot dots and plenty of wind. Some of the teams were better represented than AV on this day, Lombardi, BPG, McGuire, & Cliff Bar all had decent teams there.
The race started out fast and stayed fast for the entire duration. There were lots of attacks. About mid way through the race Tore got into a break of about 8 riders. The break was motoring along and increasing the gap by a few seconds per lap when we came upon a few riders who had crashed out of the break. I never saw Tore among the carnage but from what was left of the break ahead I could visibly see it did not include Tore. At that point I assumed he had crashed. Without Tore and Joel Robertson (who had also crashed out of the break) the break came back in a short amount of time.
Rand did a great job attacking and following attacks, pretty amazing given he did the Sattley TT that same morning, drove all the way to SR in time for the 3:45pm start and still had some legs left to put the hurt on people. I maintained a position of mid to top 1/3 of the pack the entire race. There were 11 primes for beer, wine, flaming toilet seats, and a stereo system. I didn't go for any of them. When I saw 10 laps to go on the lap cards I started slowly moving toward the front. With 2 laps to go I was about 8th wheel when Rand attacked, perfect move, this allowed me to slot into a great position as people were chasing, Rand was caught just before we got to the bell lap. I was 5th wheel behind 3 Cal Giant riders and Kevin Klein (Rock Racing). Pat Briggs(Cal Giant) attacked into the last corner and got a small gap. I tried to go inside of Kevin Klein on the last straight but he took me to the curb, I slowed a little and tried to come around him on the other side when he proceeded to move from the curb toward the middle of the road. I arrived at the line just behind Kevin for 3rd place.
This was a great race for me as my top end finishing speed is starting to improve again. Rand rode a great tactical race. After the race I found that Tore did indeed crash because his tubular tire rolled in a corner. He was OK, suffering only scrapes and bruises.
--
James
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Dash for Cash and Dunlap TT
The guys raced at Dash for Cash and Dunlap ITT last weekend.
The Dash for Cash sounded totally nuts as usual. The team did well to grab several primes and be active the entire race. Despite solid teamwork, the end was insanity and the team didn't luck out with all the reshuffling. Below is Rand's Report.
At Dunlap, one of the strongest groups of local TT'ers in recent memory assembled to test themselves against the clock. Rand scored a top ten for W/AV while Health Net Pro Roman Kilun ripped off fastest time of the day on a fixed gear TT rig. Insane. Following the crit report is a TT report from Beebe.
------------------------------------------------------------
2008 ICCC Dash for Cash
May 31, 2008
P/1/2/3
Teammates: Lots. Aroussen, James, Tore, Neil, Bo, Chris, Graham, Elliot, Bob
Finish: 14th out of 130 riders (Official Results)
This was a well-played race by our whole squad, with everyone working well and keeping the pace fast. The race played out as it has pretty much every year I have done it: fast, with the crosswind and crazy cones/medians on the backstretch leading to a gutterfest every lap. For the first 20 minutes or so I was on the attack trying to stay out of trouble. There were 8 $40 primes available, so I thought it would be a good idea to get some of those as well, while still keeping some in the gas tank for the finish. Aroussen did a great job of nabbing two primes, while I made a solo move to nab another. Throughout the race, we had a solid presence at the front of the race, and all our riders were quite active. Crawford hit 90% of the cones on the backstretch and kept it upright. Aroussen went for a break with about 5 laps to go and got a decent gap, but was reeled in. Heading into the last few laps, we tried to get something of a leadout going, but the front of the race was chaotic. James got caught up on some bad wheels, and was boxed out of position. In the meantime, Tore was on the front drilling it for an entire lap. It was epic. After I couldnt find James with 1 lap to go, I tried to get into position for the sprint, got knocked around a bit with one corner to go, and sprinted for a mediocre 14th. The end of this race was really really nutso, with no order whatsoever and a lot of yelling and pushing and shoving. Awesome.
Overall, we had a great race, and everyone did what they needed to do. It was a really hard race to control, and unfortunately the cards did not fall in our favor. However, with a little luck in our next race I think we can execute.
Rand
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Race: Dunlap Memorial Individual Time Trial
Date: June 1, 2008
Course: 31K, loop with several turns
Category: P/1/2
Top Placing: Rand Miller in 7th of 31 (Official Results: Still waiting...)
The Elite Team made a showing at the Dunlap TT in Davis on Sunday. Rand Miller, Peter Cazalet, Jeff Williams and myself (Matthew Beebe) made the trip to see how we would measure up against a very strong NorCal TT field. Following on last week's Beat The Clock, this would be the last test before the District TT in Sattley this coming weekend.
The short and sweet version from Rand our top finisher on the day:
2 hours on trainer, 41:18 minutes on course, hurt really bad, didnt go fast enough to win, but didnt go too slow. Finished 7th out of 31 guys. Jeff made the solid observation that Disc Wheels sound really cool unless they are passing you. Jeff, Peter and Matt rode solid, looked sexy, and we all posed for the cameras. I think we looked good enough for the next GQ issue.
Extended remix from Beebe's perspective:
We all arrived in plenty of time to register, set-up the trainers and pin the numbers to the skinsuits and get a solid warm-up in. The sun was warm, but heat wasn't an issue so early in the morning. There was wind, but I for one found the direction somewhat difficult to determine and felt it wasn't so strong a wind that it would be a real deciding factor. Additionally, the course had several turns which would complicate things when trying to gauge efforts by predicting headwind sections. I did spend several minutes staring at the course map hoping to internalize it in order to use the turns to gauge my effort from a distance perspective.
I was happy to have a rabbit - someone starting before me (which often I don't get when they do alphabetical start lists). I arrived at the line with 5 minutes to spare. With several known very strong TT riders starting not far behind me, I focused on keeping my head focused on my ride and not worrying about the big guns behind me.
I started hard, but not too hard. I slowly ramped up the effort over the first 5-10 minutes. I came up out of the aero bars in the turns - with no chance to pre-ride the course I took the cautious route with the thinking that wiping out in some gravel would hurt my time (and hurt me!) much more than the aero dynamics hit of coming out of the bars for a couple seconds.
About 20 minutes into the ride my 30 second man caught me. I wasn't gaining on my rabbit, but he wasn't gaining too much on me either. For the rest of the ride my rate of perceived exertion remained steady, although I definitely struggled in one section of headwind (maybe I could have predicted that better?). While my RPE was steady and very hard, I didn't quite have the speed in my legs that I have had on my best TTs. I was fighting too big of a gear most of the ride for some reason I can' t really explain. I was caught by one more rider with maybe 5 minutes to go.
After the last turn I was able to ramp it up significantly. I knew from the course map that there wasn't much left so I really tried to throw down. Signs indicated how far I had COVERED, but not how much REMAINED... This was frustrating because 1) I'm not good at math even under the best of conditions and 2) I wasn't sure if this was a 30K TT or a 31K TT... I guess I didn't study the map that well after all!
I crossed the line cross-eyed and slobbering (always a good sign) and promptly forgot to stop my clock. I cooled down as my team mates rolled in. Everyone was asking each other why we continue to do TTs!
The results were posted after a short while and Rand was the team's highest place. I think Rand placed 7th. We all got served by Roman Kilun who supposedly raced with his fixed gear track disk. He had a sub 40min time. Jeff Williams was next for the Green Team with a time at 42:09 - good enough for 14th. I didn't get my own time (place 21) or Peter's (not sure what his place was either...).
Next up for the TT guys - District Championships! Here's hoping other people hear our disc wheels and we don't hear anyone else's!!!
The Dash for Cash sounded totally nuts as usual. The team did well to grab several primes and be active the entire race. Despite solid teamwork, the end was insanity and the team didn't luck out with all the reshuffling. Below is Rand's Report.
At Dunlap, one of the strongest groups of local TT'ers in recent memory assembled to test themselves against the clock. Rand scored a top ten for W/AV while Health Net Pro Roman Kilun ripped off fastest time of the day on a fixed gear TT rig. Insane. Following the crit report is a TT report from Beebe.
------------------------------------------------------------
2008 ICCC Dash for Cash
May 31, 2008
P/1/2/3
Teammates: Lots. Aroussen, James, Tore, Neil, Bo, Chris, Graham, Elliot, Bob
Finish: 14th out of 130 riders (Official Results)
This was a well-played race by our whole squad, with everyone working well and keeping the pace fast. The race played out as it has pretty much every year I have done it: fast, with the crosswind and crazy cones/medians on the backstretch leading to a gutterfest every lap. For the first 20 minutes or so I was on the attack trying to stay out of trouble. There were 8 $40 primes available, so I thought it would be a good idea to get some of those as well, while still keeping some in the gas tank for the finish. Aroussen did a great job of nabbing two primes, while I made a solo move to nab another. Throughout the race, we had a solid presence at the front of the race, and all our riders were quite active. Crawford hit 90% of the cones on the backstretch and kept it upright. Aroussen went for a break with about 5 laps to go and got a decent gap, but was reeled in. Heading into the last few laps, we tried to get something of a leadout going, but the front of the race was chaotic. James got caught up on some bad wheels, and was boxed out of position. In the meantime, Tore was on the front drilling it for an entire lap. It was epic. After I couldnt find James with 1 lap to go, I tried to get into position for the sprint, got knocked around a bit with one corner to go, and sprinted for a mediocre 14th. The end of this race was really really nutso, with no order whatsoever and a lot of yelling and pushing and shoving. Awesome.
Overall, we had a great race, and everyone did what they needed to do. It was a really hard race to control, and unfortunately the cards did not fall in our favor. However, with a little luck in our next race I think we can execute.
Rand
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Race: Dunlap Memorial Individual Time Trial
Date: June 1, 2008
Course: 31K, loop with several turns
Category: P/1/2
Top Placing: Rand Miller in 7th of 31 (Official Results: Still waiting...)
The Elite Team made a showing at the Dunlap TT in Davis on Sunday. Rand Miller, Peter Cazalet, Jeff Williams and myself (Matthew Beebe) made the trip to see how we would measure up against a very strong NorCal TT field. Following on last week's Beat The Clock, this would be the last test before the District TT in Sattley this coming weekend.
The short and sweet version from Rand our top finisher on the day:
2 hours on trainer, 41:18 minutes on course, hurt really bad, didnt go fast enough to win, but didnt go too slow. Finished 7th out of 31 guys. Jeff made the solid observation that Disc Wheels sound really cool unless they are passing you. Jeff, Peter and Matt rode solid, looked sexy, and we all posed for the cameras. I think we looked good enough for the next GQ issue.
Extended remix from Beebe's perspective:
We all arrived in plenty of time to register, set-up the trainers and pin the numbers to the skinsuits and get a solid warm-up in. The sun was warm, but heat wasn't an issue so early in the morning. There was wind, but I for one found the direction somewhat difficult to determine and felt it wasn't so strong a wind that it would be a real deciding factor. Additionally, the course had several turns which would complicate things when trying to gauge efforts by predicting headwind sections. I did spend several minutes staring at the course map hoping to internalize it in order to use the turns to gauge my effort from a distance perspective.
I was happy to have a rabbit - someone starting before me (which often I don't get when they do alphabetical start lists). I arrived at the line with 5 minutes to spare. With several known very strong TT riders starting not far behind me, I focused on keeping my head focused on my ride and not worrying about the big guns behind me.
I started hard, but not too hard. I slowly ramped up the effort over the first 5-10 minutes. I came up out of the aero bars in the turns - with no chance to pre-ride the course I took the cautious route with the thinking that wiping out in some gravel would hurt my time (and hurt me!) much more than the aero dynamics hit of coming out of the bars for a couple seconds.
About 20 minutes into the ride my 30 second man caught me. I wasn't gaining on my rabbit, but he wasn't gaining too much on me either. For the rest of the ride my rate of perceived exertion remained steady, although I definitely struggled in one section of headwind (maybe I could have predicted that better?). While my RPE was steady and very hard, I didn't quite have the speed in my legs that I have had on my best TTs. I was fighting too big of a gear most of the ride for some reason I can' t really explain. I was caught by one more rider with maybe 5 minutes to go.
After the last turn I was able to ramp it up significantly. I knew from the course map that there wasn't much left so I really tried to throw down. Signs indicated how far I had COVERED, but not how much REMAINED... This was frustrating because 1) I'm not good at math even under the best of conditions and 2) I wasn't sure if this was a 30K TT or a 31K TT... I guess I didn't study the map that well after all!
I crossed the line cross-eyed and slobbering (always a good sign) and promptly forgot to stop my clock. I cooled down as my team mates rolled in. Everyone was asking each other why we continue to do TTs!
The results were posted after a short while and Rand was the team's highest place. I think Rand placed 7th. We all got served by Roman Kilun who supposedly raced with his fixed gear track disk. He had a sub 40min time. Jeff Williams was next for the Green Team with a time at 42:09 - good enough for 14th. I didn't get my own time (place 21) or Peter's (not sure what his place was either...).
Next up for the TT guys - District Championships! Here's hoping other people hear our disc wheels and we don't hear anyone else's!!!
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