Cyclepaths/Wild Cherries Racing

Starting this week, Cyclepaths/Wild Cherries Racing will now be hosting weekly group road rides from Truckee.

Wild Cherries Ride (every Thursday @ 6:30am)
Our morning hammer-fest road ride starts and ends at Wild Cherries coffee shop in Truckee. About an hour long, route varies each week - but expect some climbing. The group will not wait for dropped riders.

Cyclepaths Ride (every other Friday @ 5:00pm)
An evening social road ride that starts and ends at Cyclepaths bike shop in Truckee. About an hour long, with flat terrian and an easy pace.

Anyone and everyone is invited to join the team on these rides. They are scheduled to continue from now through the end of September.

RAMSEY:
TWO DAYS IN THE LIFE OF RAMSEY
Day 1, Truckee CA, Friday June 13:
4:45 am- wake up. eat some ice cream. go back to bed.
6:45 am- wake up. finish packing gear. eat cereal with lots of fruit and toast. wait to hear from matt.
8:20 am- matt arrives. load up the car. head to wild cherries. eat more breakfast. get jacked on coffee.
9:05 am- make like a banana and split. matt drives the whole way.
11:05 am- at a rest stop on hwy 80 over looking vallejo I see six flags and water world in the distance and tell my self to ride another roller coaster and swim with dolphins sometime before im too old.
1:00 pm- arrive at rich's house in redwood city. meet his 170 lb great danes. ask rich if i could ride one of them in the race. get smacked. get house tour. unpack. head to pescadero to pre ride race course.
1:45 pm- park at the finish line on haskin's hill. gear up. ride the course at tourist pace. note the turbulent beauty as it crashes upon me. note the descents.
5:00 pm- back at rich's. shower. meet rich's wife susan and son cal. play a few games of guitar hero. wonder what could have been.
6:30 pm- take in the sights of redwood city. eat fish tacos and burritos at sanchos. shop for breakfast.
8:10 pm- go to see the movie incredible hulk for cal's graduation from fourth grade. throw popcorn. read spanish subtitles. shoot spit balls. cause general chaos.
10:30 pm- last minute check of race gear. decide to share the guest room bed with matt instead of sleep on the floor. read magazine. lights out.
3:27 am- wake up when matt puts his head on my chest. am i dreaming? no! tell matt to stop snugglin and fall back asleep.

Rich, the guitar hero.

Day 2, Redwood City, Saturday June 14:
5:30 am- race day. wake up. try to recall a nightmare. some thing about a dude cuddle. try to forget a nightmare. eat breakie. abuse rich's espresso machine.
6:15 am- gear up. head out to race.
7:00 am- arrive in pescadero. stake out a warm up spot close to start line. register.
8:30 am- on the bike. line up at the start.
8:40 am- promenade. say my hellos. meet new people.
9:00 am- all neutrality is lost. 9:01 am- heart rate goes up.
10:50 am- heart rate goes down. finish in the back half of the pack.
11:30 am- finish cool down ride. drink carbs. put street clothes on. head to the beach with matt. get in the icy ocean up to my thighs. ponder buying a wool fisherman's sweater, moving to the ocean and starting a barnacle farm.
1:00 pm- meet up with rich back in redwood. eat house cured pastrami sandwich's at the refuge restaurant. yummy.
3:00 pm- head back to tahoe. matt drives the whole way.
8:00 pm- rent movie.
10:00 pm- fall asleep about 20 minutes into the movie.
The lineup

GLENN

Rich and I decided to throw in a couple of bonus miles and rode from our houses over to Pescadero, race, then ride home. My first goal was to get a long ride in and finally do Pescadero. The Pesky course is my backyard for weekend rides out to the coast. It's an absolutely beautfiul loop on good roads with a few challenging sections and the final Haskins Climb. In the Masters 123, we do 75miles and climb Haskins three times...big fun. We rolled out from the start at a leisurely pace which really continued through the entire first lap even up Haskins. A few attacks but no one really doing much in earnest--even so I felt a little off. The group was too big with all the climbers just sitting in. On the second lap, there were a few accelerations on the two short climbs coming across Stage Rd. I tailed off just towards the end of the second climb--and it was still a pretty large group 30-35 riders. Not good. My legs were crampy. I went to the front and took a few pulls coming up 84 hoping to find a something.

Typically if I'm not feeling well when I'm sitting in, I can go "stretch my legs" a little and feel better. I just wasn't going to happen today. After hitting the front 3-4 times for some pacing, we turned onto Pescadero leading into Haskins. No one was working--so I led into the hill and just pulled the plug once the group started passing me. I just wasn't in the mood to kill myself for another lap to finish 30th knowing I had to ride home afterwards. Even so, I was barely unhooked and re-integrated on the descent without much work. But as soon as the lumps came again on Stage I was easily popped off again. I just settled in immediately, found a few others and rode a good pace up 84 until Chris Wire, who had flatted earlier, came by with a few tag-alongs. I jumped on but Chris was by far the Caballo in this group. I pulled through a few times to help but my day was done so I wasn't going to kill myself. I hit the right hander on Pescadero Rd heading back to the final Haskins climbs and there were four of us--actually three now--Chris was immediately gone as soon as the road went up. The other two guys started the climb with me but easily put me to shame. The last climb was ugly--thank goodness I "saved" myself. I gave up a another couple of minutes to Chris on the the last 8min climb alone. I came across the finish, turned around and descended back to Rich who was waiting at the bottom. I grabbed my backpack, ate a little something, then sloughed it straight to the birthday party in Los Altos. A good 122 mile day for the log book with 75 racing miles. Not a bad day in the saddle. Wish my legs were better but come September Cross season, I need to be fresh so it's ok to be a little sub-par...at least I'll say it is so I feel better.

Upon my arrival, I immediately jumped in the pool only to be mauled by a bunch of 6 year olds who were ready to play....turning myself from cyclist to dad--I grabbed my daughter and gave her a toss into the deep end and began playing Marko-Polo. I slept very well Saturday night...

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MATT

Driving down to race a road race has never excited me this much. The usual things passed through my mind...how much food, how are the descents, how many racers, air temp, and so on. Then it dawned on me, who cares? At this stage, although I still earn "rookie" status, I get annoyed by the little nuances of race worry. I know it's a difficult matter. The whole "dear in headlights thing" that we all go through at the start of every race. Well, for me, Pescadero was going to be different. I'm not going to lie. I've been injured for 11 weeks now and riding injured for 4 weeks. I've had 1 speed workout, a couple longer, well longish rides since March, and when people ask me how my knee feels I always try to say "great" because that makes it and me feel waaaay better. So heading down to Pescadero was a test of mentality for me. Racing out of peak shape is mental and I was convinced that I can shift my mentality to peak shape in a matter of 40 or so meaningless miles of coastal spinning bliss. We arrived to the race way too early which is my absolute favorite thing to do. You get fresh porto's, premiere parking, and you get to do trailer park yoga on the side walk before your warm-up. Soon enough I could see the nervousness of my surrounding riders setting in as start time approached. I told myself not to get nervous and I did not. Nervousness is something I have adorned since I tried out for the majors in little league at the age of 10. I was fat little pike who liked whole milk and cookies but I had a throwing arm and a work ethic which lead to many more fun years of bat swinging and arm icing. Nervousness was out, I was in, so I lined up with Ramsey at the front of the pack, sized up everyone around me, and smiled. I thought of our teamate Glenn and how he might look at all these monkeys in the peleton or better yet, how I can out smart them to victory and fool fitness. The race went off and we pedaled for a bit, surprised, don't be, I sat, and sat, and sat...trying to stay between 7 and 15 riders from the front of 50 or so. I liked sitting at number 7. Then, on a sharp corner a crash occurred and while I rubber necked the event I got spat off the back where I spent my legs sessioning back to the pack. Thanks to Mr. Blanco and a chase squad that he put together for getting me back on. Riding alone with a dangling carrot in front of you makes for interesting self conversation. Is it over? Not yet. We get back on and continue to race, my legs start reflecting on the recent chase effort, my mind tells them to "Shut up!" and we climb to the finish. With a little more than 1 kilometer to go all the monkey's start to pull away and I begin fighting and fighting for my top ten finish crossing the line 30 riders later at number 31 in the field. Lessons learned: descend in the front, don't cramp, and when you cramp so is everyone else, so keep trying, and you can ride in good form with an injured knee and sub par fitness if you want to ride.

Smell the flowers and kick some ass

It's just a picture, but the newspaper article is well written, and gives a pretty good feel for the atmosphere of the race: http://www.theunion.com/article/20080616/SPORTS/68341646

It's probably obligatory to include the following quote when reporting on this race, "The Nevada City Classic is considered one of the most technically and physically challenging 1-day courses in America." While I have no idea who originally said that, I can personally attest to the truth of the statement. And to up the ante, add a bunch of top-tier domestic pros, 90 degree heat and thousands of spectators lining the route. While my knees werent shaking as I rolled to the start line, they may as well have been.

I didn't plan on doing well at Nevada City. In preparation for the Cascade Classic stage race in July, I have been intentionally stacking long, hard hours in the saddle. This took all the pressure off my mind in terms of performance expectations. All I really wanted to do was finish.

Nate and I were warned to get to the start line as early as possible to secure a good position. The start/finish line is at the end of a long downhill, which takes a sharp 110 degree left turn directly into sharp climbing with 120 feet of elevation gain. Since the pace gets strung out from the first lap, it becomes very difficult to move up and close gaps if you start at the back. So of course by the time we show up the start, there are already 50 guys parked in front of us, and we get shuffled to the end of the line.

Right from the gun the pack was strung out, gaps were starting to open, and Nate and I were in panic mode to crawl to the front. My chain dropped several times while climbing in the first few laps, effectively nullifying any progress I had made moving up. By the 3rd or 4th lap, I had yo-yoed beyond the red-zone for too long and the pack rode away. So now I was off the back, with another 30 laps to go. Shortly thereafter I caught up to Nate who was in the same predicament and we proceeded to time trial for the next hour. My heart rate never dropped below 180, and I basically rode as hard as I possibly could for the duration of the race. In the final 30 minutes we had coagulated with a few other stragglers, but it was still essentially Nate and I taking all the pulls.

During our 90 minutes of losing, the field lapped us twice. Each time the lead motorcycle roared passed us, I assumed we would get pulled from the race " but they let us stay in. I remember wishing that something would happen; a crash, flat tire, broken spoke, etc " just to have an excuse to end the suffering. There were only a few things that kept me from jerking my wheel into a hay-bail and calling it quits. The announcer was yelling out our team name every time we rode past the finish line. The crowds were screaming out "Wild Cherries!" on every corner. Speckled around the course were several people I knew and they would shower us with encouragement every lap. And finally, I didnt want to abandon Nate, and I knew he wouldnt abandon me.

The final results put us in 29th and 30th overall, 7th and 8th in the Cat 2s. Although I think they screwed up some placings, as they omitted some riders who I know finished with us, and they placed some guys ahead of us " who I know were behind. According to the results, about 30% of the field dropped out, so I am fairly proud to say I finished.

Many first timer singlespeeders convert old bikes, and I was no different. My original singlespeed bike was a Scott Team Racing Steel hardtail (circa 1996), which my wife now rides and sometimes races (3rd place at Sea Otter in 2007). Its an awesome bike, made from Ritchey Logic tubing, and is incredibly light for a steel frame; I think it has a 165lb rider weight limit! It does have its short comings: It has v-brake bosses, and I dont even know what travel fork it was built to accommodate, maybe 63mm?

Frames have come a long way since then, but Im still on a Scott. Three of us on the team are riding converted Scott Scale 15s this year. Greg Forsyth, the owner of Cyclepaths bike shop in Truckee, now tells everyone about our fleet of $4000 singlespeeds, but hey, were serious about this! The bike is CRAZY LIGHT, which makes it manageable to get up ridiculous climbs, and truly reduces fatigue, especially over long distances.

There are two keys to fast singlespeeding: 1) momentum and 2) power transfer. Momentum is simple: have a good fork (Reba World Cup) and dont brake. Power Transfer is all about being efficient, and having every ounce of effort transferred into the pedals. The Sparks stiff carbon frame, coupled with the remote lockout on the Reba for standing and hammering up hills are the answer.

For 100 mile endurance races, I run a gear ratio of 32:20 (aka 1.6:1, with a 32t front ring, and a 20t rear cog), and for fast/flat races Ill run 32:16 (2:1). However, for riding in Truckee and the Lake Tahoe area, where the trails are technical with tons of climbing, I run a 32:18 (or 1.78:1) gear ratio. This is truly the perfect gear, so its what I use 99% of the time. Many online resources will recommend starting with 2:1, but I find that if you live anywhere near hills, and thats what mountain biking typically is all about, then thats too difficult a gear.

We use custom wheels, with a White Industries Eccentric ENO rear hub, where the axle is off center of the hub. The eccentric hub rotation allows the rider to rotate the hub to the position where the chain is tensioned, then tighten down the wheel fixing bolts. Hopefully Scott releases a singlespeed model with horizontal dropouts, or another chain-tensioning option next year, of course then Ill have to buy a new bike...

2008 CWC Racing Team Singlespeed Results

Sea Otter Pro/Expert Singlespeed XC, 38 miles
2nd: Conrad Snover
9th: Glenn Rawlinson
15th: Rich Blanco
25th: Justin Thomas (mechanical)

Peavine Challenge Pro/Expert Singlespeed XC, 26 miles
1st: Conrad Snover
3rd: Gary Mandy

2008 CWC Racing Team Singlespeed Schedule

Downieville XC, 30 miles Singlespeed
Gary Mandy
Justin Thomas
Matt Chappell
Conrad Snover

Singlespeed World Championships
Gary Mandy
Rich Blanco
Conrad Snover

Tahoe-Sierra 100 mile Endurance Race, Singlespeed
Rich Blanco
Matt Chappell

A big group got together on Saturday for Forrest's birthday ride in Truckee. Forrest was out on the inaugural ride on his new Scott Spark singlespeed. He had worked hard the night before converting it from a geared bike to a 1-speed, and was super excited to try it out.Apparently the puny little front chainring were no match for his gargantuan quads. It snapped in half at the first real uphill, forcing the birthday boy to walk back to the car. We met him at Blue Coyote for beers, where we showered him with praise for being so diesel. Happy Birthday Forrest!

My jump from Cat.3s to Cat.2s has been the most significant change in abilities that I have noticed in my competition by far. In the Cat.3 races, I could comfortably sit on or near the front for the majority of the race. I could also launch one or many attacks during the course of that race, and still have enough left in the tank when it came down to the final sprint. No longer!!! I have raced three Pro/1/2 crits thus far, and have been on the ropes from start to finish in all of them.

The Santa Rosa Two Wheel Crit is a 0.7 mile lap with three 90 degree right turns, and a curvy backstretch. I was determined at the start to get more involved in the race this time instead of watching everything happen in front of me. I lined up next to Scott Nydam from BMC at the start. Kevin Klein from Rock Racing was also there, as were many members of the Cal Giant Strawberries team. It's somewhat intimidating racing against the guys you see in the photos and read about in VeloNews and CyclingNews. Any way... the race went like this: It started fast, then got faster, and finished really really fast. 75 minutes of pain... A break got away and stayed away for most of the race, but we caught them by the end. No thanks to me. I was near the back for the majority of the race, and just tried not to get dropped. I would say that about half of the starting field either dropped out or got pulled, so I guess in that respect I did pretty well. I hung in to "contest" the final sprint, but got smoked. Our average speed was 27mph, which is super fast considering how short the lap was, and all the turns we took. My average HR was 181, which is 3 beats above my threshold!!! 75 minutes of all-out torture. I tried to monitor my HR during the course of the race, but it was worthless. I swear, every time I looked down, it was over 190. If I would have backed off slightly, I would have been dropped in a second.

I have a funny feeling that upgrading to Cat.1 will be a little harder than I suspected. Next week is Nevada City, where many more big names are sure to show up... It's a good thing that Conrad will be a Cat.2 soon, so he can keep Nick and I company.

Through a string of solid results, plus two wins I have begrudgingly upgraded back to Category 2. A few years ago I pursued a dream of racing my bike for money, as a professional if you will. Moving from the bleak beginnings of the snowy Midwest to the sunny shores of Californayea armed with a Cat 2 license " I was determined to live the glamorous life of a pro bike stud. My eagerness and impatience led me to over-train myself into the ground, literally. After dropping out of my 4th consecutive race due my insane level of fatigue, I quit the sport entirely. Pissed and depressed, I then spent the next 6 weeks in bed recovering from my follies. I didnt race again for over 2 years, and when I returned I asked for my Cat 4 license back. Now armed with the knowledge and hindsight of how-to-train-without-burnout, I have elevated my fitness higher than it has ever been. So back to Cat 2 I am, with the temptation of overachievement dangling as a tasty morsel once again. All aboard the over-train! Choo choo!

Gary Mandy and I made the nice short drive to Reno to represent CWC Racing at a fun local NORBA mountain bike race on Peavine Mountain. This race has a great, grassroots community feel since its hosted by the Reno Wheelmen, and feels like everyone knows everyone. Fortunately, the morning delivered beautiful clear blue skies, and a gentle cool breeze; the weather just doesnt get any better than this.

Gary and I lined up in the singlespeed class with a grand total of 5 racers including us. Last year we started together with the Pro/Expert field, but this year they sent us off 2 minutes behind. The advantage of this was we were able to have clear riding for a while; the disadvantage was that passing the slower riders of that field slowed us down a bit, and awards were only given to the top 5 overall.

Last year I got second place, 3 minutes behind the winner (Jason Walker, Team Clover). I have better fitness this year, and went into the race planning to win. I took off hard from the start, opening up a small gap on the group. Jason was not far behind me, and Gary was riding strongly in third. We rode a new trail over to Keystone canyon, where Jason passed me on the fire-road, then slowed down right after we entered the singletrack. It was actually nice that he slowed down, since I had been riding hard and welcomed the chance to recover. I stayed on his wheel as we rode at a manageable tempo all the way around the first lap.

At the beginning of the second lap, I passed Jason and laid down the fastest pace I could manage for the 6 mile climb. I was psyched when I looked back and saw him getting further and further behind. Near the top I almost exploded, and didnt know if I could even turn the pedals, much less keep up my pace. When I turned around and looked way down the canyon, I could see that nobody was in sight, and allowed myself to relax a bit on the descent and the through the rolling rocky section to the finish.

To win races like this you must have the right equipment: light bike, appropriate gear, and the right tires. The bike is obviously taken care of with the Scott Spark 15 with Rockshox Reba World Cup fork. Ive raced steel and aluminum singlespeeds, and none are anywhere near as fast. I was able to break away at the beginning of the second lap partly because of my lightweight setup. As I always discuss, gear choice is absolutely crucial; I found that my standard 32:18 (front ring:rear cog) was perfect for the terrain. I swapped out my tubeless Michelin XCR Dry2 tires for the lighter, non-tubeless XC Dry versions and set them up with Stans sealant. I was a little nervous since each lap involved a very sharp/rocky technical section, but everything held up fine.

I finished first singlespeed (5th overall) and Gary finished third.

By Gary Mandy:
this was my first SS race EVER. I was excited but not excited that I had not ridden my SCOTT SCALE converted SS for some time. Riding my full suspension SCOTT SPARK15 has taken priority as it ROCKS! Nevertheless I was excited to be racing with team-mate and friend
SNOVEMAN a.k.a. CONNIE! I decided to take the first lap cautiously as I was not sure how my system was going to feel after having not riding SS much and also the first MTB race in a long time. I was working hard on the climbs and I could feel the difference between a geared bike
and the SS. SS is way harder and I can tell you that strength training helps. SS definitely makes you a better rider overall as you are acutely aware of carrying energy wherever you can......
CONNIE hit the race head on and pretty much controlled the lead from start to finish and his experience in this discipline stood out. I pretty much held my pace throughout and rode even splits for both laps and so I was happy with the overall result. It was good to have two of
our team-mates in the TOP3 and again our team is showing it's continued presence in the local race scene...