Cyclepaths/Wild Cherries Racing

After filling our stomachs with coffee and pastries from Wild Cherries, Nate, Ramsey and I drove down to Colfax to ride in the warm and dry weather. Nate had been skiing hard for the last two days, Ramsey hadn't been riding much, and I had done a really hard TT workout the day before - so we assumed we'd take a nice easy pace the entire route. However the sunshine probably brought our legs back to life, as we did the normal 5 hour, 8,000' elevation gain, 68 mile loop in 4.5 hours instead. Finishing the ride nice and tired, we made our obligatory Taco Bell feed stop on the way back to Truckee.

As a side note, when you install a new freehub body on your wheel - always make sure to ride it first before thinking it will hold up after 70 miles. I incorrectly aligned the pawls and springs inside my DT 240 hub, and had to ride on a rear wheel that slipped every 5 pedal strokes. I could avoid the slippage by pausing for a second every 4 pedal strokes to let the pawls re-align. Climbing 8000' was tons-of-fun having to re-force my momentum 20 times a minute.

Colfax - Iowa Hill - Auburn
Find more Bike Rides in Colfax, California

63 miles, 5 laps

Windy, flooded roads, Norcal cobbles and some flirtatious rain.

Racing in February? On a road bike? This must be Norcal, and I must be crazy. I have raced my bike this early in the season before, but not while living thousands of feet above the snowline. My training has been coming along really well, but most of it has been uninspired sessions indoors on my trainer. Its pretty hard to get a real ride in outside when there is 3 feet of snow in your driveway. So when Nate started pimping the idea of going down to race Snelling, I was game-on " but had no expectations to finish well.

We drove down on Friday night to a Motel 6 in Merced, about 20 miles away from the racecourse. After a surprisingly peaceful night of sleep in a highway motel, we woke up super early to grab some breakfast. Our in-car GPS unit informed us of an IHOP near our motel, which turned out to be still closed on a Saturday morning at 6am. Because people dont eat breakfast in Merced at 6am, right? The Starbucks across the street was open though, so we settled on their nasty frozen-microwaved egg sandwiches.

Fueled and rested, all we had left to do was pin-on our race numbers and get in a good warm-up. The last time I did Snelling, I sat-in and easily drafted the entire race, waiting out the final sprint finish. I assumed it would go the same way today. I assumed wrong. My final words of wisdom to Nate as the gun went off were something like, "Stay in the first 1/3rd of the pack for the best protection from the wind." I would soon eat those words.

The 100-man Cat 3 field rolled off the start line to a 3 mile neutralized start before we hit the actual race course. As soon as we made the left-hand uphill turn on to the 13 mile circuit, the attacks started. The first two laps were balls-to-the-wall mayhem fighting for position from the wind. The backside of the course began to blow the field apart with 20+ mph crosswinds. Not listening to my own advice, I found myself near the back of the field as we hit the major crosswinds (and flooded roads!). With no shelter from the howling breeze, I hit the heart-rate redline trying to keep up with the peleton. Running out of gas and still not making any headway back into the field, I was passed by Nate who glanced at me and said, "What a trainwreck"And that was it. The pack rode away, and I slowed down to recover.

After a quarter mile of rest to let some blood back into my legs, I decided to chase the field for another lap in case they slowed down. I was able to keep them within my sites for a whole lap, but finally had to stop charging when my legs cried out, "No more!" From there-on-out it was straggler city, passing or being passed by shelled groups and individual riders. I passed Christine from the Reno Wheelmen (now Reno Wheelwomen) on the 4th lap and slowed down to talk to her for 10 miles. Then it was one more final, brutal solo lap in the wind that made me regret not quitting earlier. But hey, I finished " placing somewhere in the top 100 out of 100.

After scaling back to only 2 days in 2007, the 2008 Tour de Nez ramps back up to a 5 stage event. Sponsorship through Northstar-at-Tahoe has promised to put the Tour de Nez back on the National Racing Calendar.

Tentative Schedule of Events
June 18: Downtown Reno Pro Criterium
June 19: 1 mile uphill time trial at Northstar, open to pros and amateurs
Downtown Truckee Pro Criterium
June 20: Truckee-Tahoe Pro Road Race,
June 21: Northstar Circuit Race, pros, masters, and women

On February 13th, the Amaury Sports Organization (ASO) barred Team Astana from competing in any race or event organized by the ASO in 2008. The ASO owns premiere cycling events like Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix, Paris-Tours, and the famed Tour de France. The ASO cited the doping scandals of last years Tour de France as justification.

A protest website has been formed, allowing visitors to sign a petition that will be sent directly to Christian Prudhomme, Director of the ASO, as well as to VS, the official US media partner of the Tour de France.

http://letleviride.com

You never know who might show up (Bobby J) so be sure that you do ...

Stay tuned for a season of articles and updates from the entire team as we take on the Norcal bike racing scene. 2008 CWCRacing roster:

• Richard Blanco
• Matt Chappell
• Ramsey Etchison
• Adam Feltz
• Nate Freed
• Forrest Huisman
• Gary Mandy
• Paul Mckenzie
• Glen Rawlinson
• Nick Schaffner
• Conrad Snover
• Justin Thomas