Cyclepaths/Wild Cherries Racing

I stopped on my training ride near Clipper Gap to check out a tiny car that had become a roadside display when I heard a woman's voice behind me. "Do you know what kind of car that is?" "Uhh, I think it might be a Fiat or something," I replied. "No," she said, "It's a Subaru."

The day started of a bit weird, and this little incident didn't change that trend. Conrad was racing in Brisbane (he ended up 4th in the crit, 11th in the circuit, and 3rd in the Omnium, nice work!), and he and others tried to talk me into racing, but after getting clobbered at Copperopolis due to lack of fitness, I figured I'd benefit more from a training ride. And as the Bay Area was socked in with fog, and Janet and I were heading to Truckee, I figured I'd stop in Auburn and do a Cyclepaths/Wild Cherries Racing team favorite ride out to Iowa Hill. (Check out the previous post, Colfax - Iowa Hill - Auburn Loop).

But on my way to Auburn I got a call from Conrad, who was heading the opposite way down to the bay area

to the race. "You'd better change your plan," he said. "Why?" I asked curiously. "Because it's raining cats and dogs in Auburn." Great, I thought to myself. I dodged the fog in the bay area... and now it's raining in Auburn? So I started my ride in drizzle but it soon stopped, and the ride got interesting.

I explored some twisty back roads as alternatives to riding beside I-80, and that was fun, but when I came upon the little red car, I had to stop and check it out. Turns out it was a 1969 Subaru 360, with a 360cc two-stroke motor, and the owners of the car, and the little gas statio

n mini mart, were there to tell me about it! The car had a top speed of 55 mph and delivered 62 mpg.

After that I came up behind another cyclist and it turned out to be Paco Lindsay from Truckee, so we rode together for a few miles as he finished his ride in Colfax. The ride then plummets into the American River Canyon. At the bottom is an old historic bridge, which now serves pedestrians, while cars and bikes travel over a newer bridge.

The road then climbs out of the canyon "sharply" to the tune of 1200' in just 1.7 miles. You don't have to do the math, I'll do it for you. It's just a bit shy of 14% average grade for almost two miles. It's an amazingly difficult climb, but the beautiful wildflowers in bloom alongside the road made it more tolerable.

A few miles later one arrives in Iowa Hill, and the population is not listed on the sign, but it's probably somewhere between a dozen and 30. Not much there except for a few mean dogs. The jail is an historic land mark. Smallest jail I've ever seen. Hydraulic mining was the rage back in the day and the area still shows some scars.

The ride then climbs up a bit higher to Sugar Pine reservoir where it then connects over to Foresthill Rd. I took a little side detour to Yankee Jim Rd. and Spring Garden Road, before meeting Janet in Foresthill where she had done a shorter ride.

Riding in Northern California in the early Spring is truly spectacular. It's great when you can really enjoy your training, and there are some interesting sights along the way. The ride was 65 miles with 7500' of climbing. Hopefully this will do me some good so I can step it up at the next team race, Ward's Ferry on April 5th. We'll have a good turnout there, so I'm sure there will be many tales to tell. But I doubt there will be any Subaru 360's in the parking area.

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To see some more pictures of last weekends cycling, Conrads roadside repair shop, Mullet-Mustache-March, or the Paulsters 10 second tribute visit the link below:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24133829@N04/sets/72157604244482392/

Racing bikes is cool, but an epic ride with good friends is, extra cool. After the Copperopolis race, I, and teammates Conrad (Connie), Matt, (Matty), Forrest (Forresto), along with wives LT, Rie, The Janice, and relatives, Uncle Doug, and Deanna, headed to Murphys, CA for some good grub and an epic ride. But before we go there, a quick summary of my race is in order 'cause that's what this blog is supposed to be about...

My race, the Masters 45+ went something like this for me; Not in bike shape yet this season, I figured I'd try to hang with the "Autobus" or the last big group in the race so as to get to the finish line with minimal effort, and not get caught out there solo. It didn't go that way " at the first climb the pace heated up and I made the cut and hung with the front group. About 50 guys in the race, and half were shelled within the first 5 miles of the 42 mile, 2 lap event.

I made it to near the end of the first lap with the front group and got gapped on the big climb before the finish line. Ed, a friendly racer, and I, hooked up and worked together to catch back on. We came within about 50 meters when we arrived at the base of the big climb on the second lap. Again, there were attacks and we couldn't get on. I stayed with Ed for about half the climb then he dropped me. Hats off to Ed, great guy, did about 65% of the work when we were together and never complained. I was alone out there for the rest of the race and decided to just ride tempo and see if I could hold off the others behind me. I did. I finished 19th out of about 50, and my man Ed was able to catch back up to 11th. I'm happy with my first effort of the season.

So on to Murphys...after the race we went the the Firewood Grill, and ordered burgers and beers. Somehow we ended up hanging out there for about 3+ hours. We had choice seats. The restaurant featured a huge roll up door that opened to the quaint, narrow, Main Street in Murphys. Our table was right on the sidewalk and we just hung out, ordering food and beer as more people showed up. Parked out front was a Candy Apple Red '57 Chevy, it's owner sitting at the next table. He and his woman outlasted us, they must have been there for 4+ hours as they were there when we arrived and still planted solid when we left!

In the morning we grabbed some breakfast at the Murphy's Hotel, an historic (est. 1846) hotel on the main drag across from the Firewood. We jumped on our bikes with our group of 7 riders and headed out of town on the narrow, steep, winding, Sheep Ranch Road. Before we got 50 meters out of town a 5 year old girl, walking with her father to an Easter celebration, commented loudly, in reference to us lycra clad warriors, "Daddy, why are they all wearing those funny suits?" Fortunately we haven't received our new kits yet or I'd have been bummed about the girl's comment!

After two steep climbs on beautiful, quiet, bumpy roads, we arrived in Shee

p Ranch, Population 32. Curiously enough, there was a herd of sheep blocking the road. For you kids out there looking to improve bike handling skills, I recommend herding sheep on the road bike in the pasture. Good clean fun. And our group stopped in the middle of the road to chat...no traffic in sight.

I found a neglected Real Estate sign leaning against a barn (office?) and dusted it off for a photo op. Note the ramp on the doorway. You never know, you may just want to roll a wheelbarrow full of cash into the Real Estate office to seal a deal. The

ramp makes this possible.

Heading out of Sheep Ranch we ran into the "Real" Easter Bunny and I couldn't resist asking for a photo. Some random kids were hanging out so we asked them to jump in the photo. We asked if they rode bikes and they said yes, so we invited them to join the Cyclepaths/Wild Cherries team in 2015 when we'll likely need some talent for the Pro Tour.

Later in the ride I whizzed by what I thought was a guy with a huge Parrot on his car door parked at the bottom of a drainage we descended into. I whipped a U'ey to check it out. I wasn't hallucinating. I asked if I could take a picture of his Parrot and the crusty 'ol sort said, "Sure, and you can take her home with you too." The Parrot would wave bye bye on command and also say 'bye bye' out loud. I was able to capture a video of the wave, but she wouldn't cooperate on saying bye bye when I had the camera on...but trust me, she did say bye bye to me.

It's rides like our Easter ride that make me smile. We went out for beer and Pizza after our epic ride. We asked our server how much we should order for our group. She said one XL pizza should do it. Maybe an XL and a Medium if we're really hungry. We ordered 3 XL Pizzas... and to-go boxes were not necessary.

Thanks team and friends for a great day on the bike. As I said, racing is cool but epic rides are hard to beat. Ya gotta train to race, so why not enjoy it with friends? Our ride was about 42 miles and featured nearly 6,000' of climbing.

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My favorite race of the year was finally here. Copperopolis is a tough race, perhaps talk of the rough roads is a little overblown but this is definitely a race of attrition. Sure you need to mark moves and cover attacks, but for the most part it should come down to relatively select group that remains after 3 hours of hard racing.

The course is 21 miles with mostly bumpy and rough roads with one 10min climb followed by a loop around the lake with multiple stretches into head or cross winds and finishing with a shallow climb, a few rollers and blazing, bumpy descent to the finish which is about 200 meter roller.

Lucky for me, Rick Sutton had a place for us to stay just 15minutes from the start--thanks to Grant for the accommodations!

After a decent warm-up and a few delays it was game time. I found a place at the front of the group and my plan was to lead the initial descent into the climb. It would be a good way to warm-up the legs for 10min and maintain position--but being conscious to not press the pace or work too hard. After 5min of cruising a few guys started coming through--pressing just a little through the feed and into the climb. Rob Anderson started the pace-making as we headed into the stair-step climb for the first of 3 laps. I maintained position towards the front and the pace was steady. No crazy accelerations but the pace did intensify towards the end of the climb dropping a good part of the group and bringing us down to 30 or so. Once up on the flats, a few attacks started. I went with a few of the efforts but everyone is fresh at this point and it's still a long race. Morgan Stanley and Specialized were both well represented along with a few from SJBC, Sierra & VOS. As we crested the second shorter climb, we caught the Cat5 group so we neutralized the descent. After that, we came by and prepared for the second lap.

No real fire works at this point, just natural attrition. I grabbed a bottle from Rick through the feed and headed into the second climb--this time with a bit more effort but I managed it well and come out the other end intact with about 15 guys remaining. Now the attacks were coming with more earnest and I went with a few--perhaps burning a few too many matches. In fact I went with 3-4 of them before Kevin Metcalfe finally slipped away solo. He gained 10 seconds or so on the group and everyone seemed content to let him stay out there by himself. I decided to save myself as I had overextended with those attacks and was feeling a few twinges. (Lesson 1: If you're riding solo/without a team--you can't go with each attack even if it's someone who could stay away...I ended up missing the right opportunity anyway with Kevin.) About half way up the second climb, Kevin was still off the front when Mark Noble accelerated with one other guy. I was towards the front and then two more guys accelerated on the descent. It seemed harmless at that point but no one was willing to chase and I was going fast enough on the descent.

So through the flats and rollers their gap grew and the chase was mellow as we started the 3rd lap.We were slow for a good 5-7 minutes through the long shallow descent starting lap 3 when Dan Martin attacked just as we were coming into the feed. Unprepared for this acceleration, I found myself slipping towards that back quickly and by the the top of the little feed climb I was last in our small group. I dug a little and latched on. Hmm--I'm still learning but accelerating through a feed didn't seem quite right. I worked my way back up towards the front but the attacks between Hutchinson and Martin and otheres were coming--one after the other. About half way up and just past the smooth paved section I was unhooked. I found the fastest steady pace I could maintain and worked with Mick Hellman who came of just as I did. I could see the group splintering in front of us so I knew this was the race being made.

5 off the front and 10 more of us attacking each other or just holding on as we dug deep to sort out the group one last time. By the end of the climb there where 2-2-2-4 and 5 off the front. The first 5 were gone. Now it was about bringing the next 10 back together. Mick and I worked well together taking :30 pulls and ensuring were weren't pulling too hard. Over the rollers we could pull the 2 in front of us back just a little. For a good 25 minutes Mick and I worked to cover the gap. Man it would have been great it they would have eased up just a little so the four of us could have integrated sooner and saved a little. With about 3-4miles to go before the last climb we had all finally come back together.

The group seemed to ease and recover a little until a few attacks and accelerations started again. I gave it a go and went just before the left-hander into the final climb. Oh boy, it's just a little riser and then a left turn but it felt like a mountain. I had a little gap but I was completely gassed and then quickly caught. (Lesson 2: If you don't have the legs, don't attack--rest and follow the accelerations rather than leading them especially when coming into a climb).

The legs were no longer responding. So I gathered myself as the road starts turning back to the right and you can see up the climb. Just then, Hutchinson dropped his chain in front of me and Dan Martin promptly attacked. Chris Dalusio and Brian Bosch responded immediately. I had nothing for a response. I just put my head down and tried to minimize the damage. The group was shattered in a free for all. Hutchinson was flying again and came by me working his way through tryinjg to get back to Martin. By the top of the climb I had caught Chris Wire and one other guy... we worked together a little on the descent but for the most part I was carrying the load trying to bridge back up to Mick Hellman and 3 others. Coming around one of the faster left-handers, I noticed a couple of guys sitting on the ground but didn't really pay much attention.

Once off the descent I hammered the flats and over the first riser at the 1k mark. At this point, my chase was useless and I had used up too much without enough help. (Lesson 3 is obvious). Coming around the 200 meter mark for the finish, Chris Wire punched it passed me up the finish hill, I had nothing, using up too much in the chase, and just looked back to see if anyone else was coming. I rolled over the finish in 11th!! I was super pumped and grateful.

However there is a damper to my good race. The two guys we passed earlier on the descent were Brian Bosch and Dan Martin who had both crashed horribly behind Dalusio. Not sure of the circumstance. Regardless, it's always concerning-especially in a high speed descent. Brian rolled through the finish a little later but he looked pretty banged up--later I saw him at the ambulance. What a tough guy, he took a bad one on the chin and was pretty rashed but it appeared that nothing was broken. Unfortunately, I never saw Dan come down and still haven't heard any updates. Accidents are always an unfortunate possibility of riding and racing and I hope both have speedy recoveries. Best Wishes Dan and Brian....

It was hard.

I broke away with this guy for a few miles...

Forrest?

Anyone who does Velo Promo races knows that you don't mess with Rick. He will break your legs and you bike and put you in the back of his pickup truck.

Cat 3 race all strung out

Already a bit frustrated on my season, I came into this race focused on Copperopolis but hoping for a decent result. I knew it would be windy and relatively flat, conditions that should suit my skills pretty well. Goal: Stay towards the front, watch the moves and when the strong guys go, go with them. Only problem was that I didn't know what the fast guys looked like.

Sacramento = Wind. Remember that. Snelling was windy but the race dynamics where different and the winds didn't really blow until the 2nd lap. Zamora was blowing from the gun. So I warmed up for 45min on the road, riding the first stretch into the wind and then went back to the the last 2miles and short climb to see the finish. Perfect warm-up and ready for action. Keep in mind, I'm definitely one who needs a longer warm-up.

I'm sitting the front row waiting for the start and then the Starter tells us to push back behind the barn so we don't get cold. They were still waiting to clear the course which took another good 20minutes. So that's about 30min total of down time and nullified the warm-up. We rolled out and it was casual...down to the first corner which was 200 meters into the race. Then you could already feel the angst in the group. Take the right hander and were 3minutes into the race and the attacks began--not in earnest but just testing the group into the headwind. Take a right about 8minutes later and it was heavy crosswinds and slight climb. Now it was game time, a small group moved off the front. I was back 30 guys or so (1 lane/yellow line rule). I moved up and bridged the gap. Coming from 30 back I was pretty gassed so I sat on--a number of Specialized and Morgan Stanley/Spine guys were up there along with Dan Martin. This was a good group. I felt fine as a number of guys at the front started taking rotations. I just sat in--not easy at all but I felt ok considering the lack of warm-up and being 10min into the race.

I looked back and saw the group closing. They were 30m behind and had closed the gap so I decided to fall off and rest waiting for the next attack. Little did I know, the group behind was single file and splintering except for the 5 in an echelon at the front. And that was it. That was as close they got to the break--that I was in and misread. Note to self: Either commit to a break or don't waste your time. Don't half-ass it. What's the use!

15min into the race, the Group was completely broken apart and there wasn't an easy place to be. There was no place to hide in the crosswind. End of the first lap (10miles) and there were guys all over the road--small groups of 8-10 and 1-2s and guys everywhere and I sat there watching the first break maintain a good 20 second lead. When we turned into the headwind to start lap2, there where three groups and I was in the second group, up to 20 guys by now. We didn't want the third group to catch us with another 15 guys--everyone else was gone. In 25min from the gun, the race went from 70 guys to 45.

I worked hard at the front of the group but no one had a lot of interest to keep the 2nd group from catching us so at the beginning of Lap 3, group 2&3 integrated. I had worked too hard so I went to the back to recover. I moved around in the group and stayed towards the front in the crosswinds and on the climbs for the next 1 1/2 laps. By then the group was down to 25 or so and as we approached the crosswind section on lap 4 I found myself hanging on the back. Not a smart place to be--I think I had just fallen asleep at the wheel. I was fighting for every inch on the shoulder and got bumped into the gravel losing a few bikes lengths. I didn't panic as I fell off the back but my legs didn't respond either. So the gap slowly inched open and that was it. I chased and passed different guys who fell off after I did. Coming into the climb to finish Lap 4 I had pulled the group back to within 30m. I was almost there as we crested the climb but then you turn left into a cross-wind and that was it. That was as close as I got.

From there I just kept my head down and TT'd solo for the next 2 laps to the finish passing a few guys along the way and picking one guy for the last lap who helped a little but then fell off on the final climb. I just held it steady and only gave up 2min or so to the group over the last 90minutes of racing. When I crossed the line someone shouted out "17th"--not too bad until I checked online and it read "25th"--more air getting punched out. Another lesson learned. If you go with a break--commit to it--don't worry about counter attacks, don't worry about the group behind you--just commit to whatever you're doing.

Season Recap: Bad racing tactics. In three races I've been in the winning break 2x (Merc, 23rd & Zamora, 25th) and made decisions that cost me good results. Hopefully I'll learn from my mistakes and have the legs to get there one day. Berkeley TTT was a great day, as we improved our time by 1:43 (40:47 from 42:34) from last year good for 5th overall.
Next Stop: Copperopolis

When my teammate Gary asked me how I did in the bike race on Sunday, my first reply was, "It wasn't a bike race, it was a ski race... and I did OK." The Gold Rush, at Royal Gorge in the Lake Tahoe area is a brutal 42 Km cross country ski race with a ton of climbing. It was my last ski race of the season, so I figured I should post it, 'cause there won't be anything else on this blog about ski racing for a while.

The weather was unseasonably cold, about 21 degrees Fahrenheit at race start with a howling wind. Nobody wanted to go out in the icy winds and warm up, I hung out in the lodge with my buddy Mark until just before the race.

The race starts with a long gradual downhill. It's like a bike race, skiers going top speed down the course shoulder to shoulder hoping no one crashes. That wasn't the case as during the first 50 meters one guy went down, and I hopped safely around him. Then about 1K into the race during a high speed descent with two abreast, another guy went down, and again I slipped through unscathed.

The race features two 21 Km laps with all the killer climbs toward the end of each lap. One particular climb was about a Kilometer long and so steep you could hardly get any glide at all. I took it as easy as I could, skiing tempo the first lap.

My big idea of using a Camelbak to feed, rather than stopping at the feed stations, backfired big time. It was so cold the hose froze, and consequently I carried an extra 3 lbs. on my back but could never use it. And I couldn't get rid of the Camelbak because it was under my race bib. I had to stop to drink at the feed stations. Oh well.

Halfway through the last lap there was no one in sight behind me, and 4 guys working together about a hundred meters ahead. It was windy and drafting came into play for sure. I made it a goal to catch as many of those four as I could. Toward the end of the lap, just before the big climb, it all split up - every man for himself. One by one I picked off 3 of the 4 guys but knew the last guy was going to put up a fight. Up the steep climb we went with me about 30 meters behind. Slowly but surely I reeled him in and caught and passed him on the downhill approach to the finish.

He jumped behind me, and I then sprinted to try to drop him...no luck. I eased up and he started stepping on my tails. I waved him through and sat behind him ready to pounce. With 500 meters to go he launched a massive attack. I matched him stroke for stroke, and after the last left hand turn into the downhill finish with 100 meters to go it was time to go around. I sprinted like crazy, but alas, he was quicker. We crossed the line side by side, me about a meter or two behind.

At the finish line we high fived and he said, "Thanks for making the finish interesting, I was alone out there for a while."

OK, now let's go bike racing!

Land Park Crit - 50 mins. - Cat. 3

Crits are not exactly my strong suit, as I am not the best technical rider, and always seem to have trouble forcing myself into good position for the final sprint. Land Park is a golf course, with smooth pavement throughout, and a nasty double harpin turn about a quarter mile before the finish. I was pleased to see the Cat. 4 results before my race, and that Conrad got 6th.... he suggested that I take a flyer with 1/2 lap to go, since the harpins were so sketchy the group wouldn't be able to reel me back in in time. I managed to get myself completely boxed in for the final lap, and narrowly avoided a crash. I was stuck in around 25th position going into the final turns, so I didn't have a prayer in the sprint. I passed a few guys and ended up in 22nd.


Zamora Road Race - 5 laps, 50 miles - Cat. 3

I hate the wind. I don't mind rain, snow, sleet, hail, or much of anything else. Last year it was 65 degrees and sunny, with no wind. I figured this race would be a nice warmup for the start of the season. This year it was cold with a consistent 20-25 mph gale force wind. Somehow it was blowing at the perfect angle, so it always felt like a headwind or an awkward cross wind.

Our field of 100 was strung out like this from the very beginning...

The Zamora course is a 10 mile loop with a few rolling hills, and one "KOM" hill, which you can ride in the big ring. If it's not breezy, it's really an easy course, especially if you are only racing 50 miles. Today was not easy. For those of you that have ridden the Iowa Hill loop... it felt like doing two of those. After just the first lap, Nick estimated that we had already dropped over half of the field. We almost dropped me too.... I decided that I needed to be in the top 10-20 guys to play it safe... which I managed to do for the next 3 laps. Over that time, we dropped another large portion of the remaining field. End of the 4th lap things pretty much just exploded... The entire front of the race broke apart, and I stupidly allowed myself to drop just far enough back that I couldn't grab a wheel when things started to come back together. So, I spent the final lap chasing either by myself or with a few other geniuses that couldn't figure out how to form echelons in a cross wind, even when I was telling them how to do so. At one point, I can remember grinding into a nasty headwind on a slight incline, and I'm thinking to myself, "this is the hardest I have worked so far this season, by far", then I look down at my computer, and I'm going 13mph..... TTed the end of the race by myself, and came in 26th. Next weekend is sufferfest part 2- Copperopolis, so this should have prepared me a little bit for that one......

With the racing season creeping closer and closer, Conrad, Gary, Ramsey, Nate and I headed down the mountain for a harder ride on dry roads. We met up at Wild Cherries for some breakfast and drove to the Baxter exit along I-80. However it was still 39 degrees off the highway, so we drove another few miles down the road to the Gold Run exit. Somehow it jumped up 10 degrees in temperature within those few miles.

The route began with a 20 mile descent past Colfax, and I couldn't help thinking about the brutality of climbing back to the car at the end of the ride. We hammered away at the roads for 40 miles and then stopped at a quaint little coffee shop in downtown Grass Valley. From then on it was rolling terrain and a final 16 miles of uphill back to Gold Run.

Conrad, Gary, Nate and Ramsey were riding really strong the whole 70 miles, with form that is sure to grow even stronger as the season kicks in. My excuses for being slow were a busted rear derailleur and that I am sick.

The official road bike of the Cyclepaths/Wild Cherries Racing team. Stiff and stealthy carbon frame, sub-15 pound race machine, powered by SRAM. Coming soon to many, many podiums this summer.