Ok, It's really over now

Now it's over. I prematurely called the road season done a week or so ago, but there was one more Eldo to go. I showed up for this last "race" hopeing to stay upright and collect my free Mexican dinner afterward courtesy of CBR. The race was its usual boring event, same as all the rest this season. There are just enough guys out there to chase, but those same guys are not strong enough to get in a break. Defensive racing sucks. So I stayed true to my word and didn't let the competitive juices over-power my brain, and I sat on the back in the safety zone. Also true to my word, which was to be on the back or off the front all night, I went to the front and tried my hand at a few attacks. Got some daylight on one of them, but the two Fred's with me were cooked from sitting on my wheel and couldn't pull threw. Thanks guys.

Once back in the group I found my way to the lantern rouge position, and readied myself for a nice easy spin to the finish. Tommy was in the running for 2nd place overall so he pulls up next to me and asks me if I have anything left. Do I have anything left? Let's see I have launched two boring attacks that went no where, and the rest of the time I was tacked on to the very back of the group, yeah I think there is some gas in the tank still, what do you need? Time for a lead-out. I moved my way up to about the 15th or so position and settled in for the last 2 laps. The front guys didn't understand how a last lap is supposed to work and started to slow and bunch. Some yelling from me got them sorted out and we were rolling again. I talked the front 4 or 5 through the last half lap, then with about 600m to go I took over. At that point we were at about 30mph...way to slow. I came through and picked it up. Not to quick to gap guys though. I gave a look and we were back to single file at about 32. Then I picked it up some more, then some more, then I hit the final turn at 35 and holding. Out of the turn, and out of the saddle for one last kick and then I pulled off. No one came through. They were in their drops and sprinting and still not coming around. Pathetic. Turns out the lead-out was a little to fast for some and guys opened huge gaps. Oh well. My boys were not in position (nice work a-holes), so they only managed to crack the top5 by sheer determination.

The season was over. Done. Time to relax, have a beer, and a burriot. Only thing is CBR "forgot their checkbook" and there would be no free food. That was the only reason I came up for the last one. Damn it. I had dinner with Drama, Bones and Pops anyway. Time to start thinking about next year. Lots of guys calling to get on the team, but not too many that I want. At this point there are only a few guys I would take on, and the rest I would pass on and ride with 6 next season.

I am looking forward to NOT riding my road bike for a while too. I have been out on the mountain bike a lot the last 2 weeks, and that has been fun. I am going to do a mountain bike race at the end of September in Santa Barbara, which should be a blast. I have never done one of these races before, so it should be interesting.

So what does winter hold in store for me, not a lot. Training, some Como St. rides, some travel, and maybe some time on the snow (Mammoth). I'll keep you posted.

I don't want to CRASH!!!

The season is over....except for a few mid-week crits. There is money for the overall points leaders, of which I am not one, but a few teammates are. The races are competative and can be pretty fast. There are always about 70 or so, and it is a 1-3 race. This time of year is when we get the 4's who have just upgraded and sometimes they get in a bit over their heads especially near the front, so I made sure they knew their place early on. Plus, as I stated earlier, I am not in the points race, as I use this race as a training tool, not a "real" race.
Most Tuesday's out there I do intervals basically by attacking over and over. This week was no different. I attacked and attacked. I used to think it was the older "masters" out there that caused the race to be so defensive, and they are certainly part of that racing strategy. They race so they can win, and for them that means a group sprint and defensive racing. But it's not JUST them as I used to think. It's the 3's. They don't have the engine to go in a break and hold it, but 6 of them can chase for a period of time and not let the break get away. Throw one or two of those 3s in the break of 6 and you have a recipe for a bunch sprint.
On my second attack I had two good cat.2 riders on my wheel. Yet when I pulled off at 33mph, they couldn't comne through. THEN WHY DID YOU GO IN THE FIRST PLACE!?!?!?!? DAMN IT!!! Same old story as the rest of the year out there, attack, get brought back, attack again.....field sprint.
So we get down to 1 to go, and for some reason things got really aggressive. Guys were slamming into each other like it was a NASCAR race. I saw one guy stuff himself into a tiny little hole 20 guys back. Why? It didn't help him at all, all he did was make a dangerous move. I crashed on Aug. 29, 2006 out there, really hard. We were at about 30mph and some idiot in front of me overlapped and went down, taking 20 or so others with him. I suffered a broken hand and some really gnarly road rash (but the bike was fine). It really put a dent in my winter training and I started the season way out of optimal shape. As we hit 1/2 a lap to go this week I was getting banged around something fierce, which wouldn't faze me usually, but then I remembered, there was no money and no points for me on the line, so I sat up and went to the back. If that was a weekend race for money, I am hitting right back and holding my spot, but out there on a Tuesday....No thanks. I have one more of these races to go, and then I am truley done racing road until Boulevard in Feb. 09.

I did get on the dirt yesterday for a mountain bike ride. That was a blast. Haven't ridden dirt in a long time (8 months or so). Climbing wise I was good, but coming down was not so good. I was all over the trails, and my cornering sucked something fierce. I will ride some more dirt over the next month or so, and the cornering will come back.

So, one more mid-week to go and lots of surfing and mountain bike riding over the next 6 weeks. Should be a fun break before winter training begins. Not looking forward to those training blocks of intervals at all.

The Fat Lady Has Sung

It's over. My season has finally ended, and not a race too soon. My right leg is screwed up, not to mention I am just plain tired. The season started with Boulevard on Feb. 3 and has not stopped. All told more than 50 race days in the legs, and for a guy with a job, that is a lot. Riding my bike is not my job, just fun, so to get that many race days in the legs is really good. Some good results this season too. I got on 4 podiums and won a great road race in NorCal. To win a road race was a major goal of mine this season. I can check that one off. I did lay a giant terd at SDSR, and that annoys me, but you can't be good at every race.

There are still a few El Dorado crits left I will do, but that is a pretty brainless activity. I don't plan on getting hurt at this point in the season because some Fred who is new to our ranks decides he is the biggest and baddest, and crashes half of the field out at 30+mph. It happened to me a few years ago, and it isn't going to happen again.

Yesterday was Nationals. I am no expert, but I am pretty sure I should have trained for that. The last time I did a 100 mile race was the beginning of June. So the legs were not quite prepared for a race that fast and that long (120 miles). The Strawberries brought about 37 guys to the race including about 4 of the top 5 picks to win it all. We went really fast and I got popped at the half way mark. Not too surprising really. I hung out in the feed and watched some racing. It was really fun to actually watch racing again. The break went but it was too big, and the attacks from that group started on lap 4. Two Strawberries and Thurlow finally got away, and the berries played Thurlow pretty well and took first and second. Well done to them. They had a great day and rode the race perfectly. Congratulations to them, now go back to NorCal and leave us to our Industrial Park Crits.

So here are some random things that happened this season that made it really interesting:

- Saw a guy crash in a feedzone, by himself, no one around him for a 10m diameter. Tried to put a bottle away and hit a bottle on the ground and crashed. Lift your head up in the feedzone pal.

- Missed the winning break at SDSR. Thought I had a man in the break. I suck.

- Got dropped badly at Redlands. That was a bad day.

- Saw a guy slide out next to me in the last turn at Manhattan, almost in slow motion, but I stayed up and got 6th.

- Upgraded to a cat.1 (nice)

- Finished Boulevard and I wasn't dead last.

- There are WAY TOO MANY pros living in SoCal now. They all need to move back to Boulder.

- There are a lot of really gorgeous female bike racers now. Both pro and amateur. It's a good thing.

- Speaking of women, saw a woman crash in a sprint, by herself, by simply throwing her bike side to side too hard.

It's time to get in the ocean and surf a little more, and hit the mountain bike a little more too.

It's almost over, yet....

(Tommy on the ground with me riding up to him as Nick runs to help)

The season is almost over, only one BIG race left for me, and many other racers, yet we still find a ways to crash. For the most part this season has been pretty safe, and I think that is due to some really fast racing. The faster we go the safer it is, usually. At some point you just can't go any faster through conrners and be safe (ask Fast Freddy about Elk Grove and the Kelly Benefites team). So this past Sunday we lined up for the last CBR Bar Series event. CBR really took it on the chin this season, so no money for the day's placings was not a big deal, and they only gave out money for the CBR BAR Series finale. Chris and Vera are great and I was really happy to hear they will be back for another year in 2009.

We started off with about 60 guys (and a few ladies) and I am sure only 30 or less finished. We shed people from the start, until finally, with about 5 or 6 laps to go, the split happened. About 14 or 15 guys scampered off the front and esentially it made for two groups of about 15 or so on the road. Tommy was in the lead group trying to protect his 2nd place overall. All he had to do was finish in the top 18, which meant just cruise across the line in the group he was in. But sprinters will be sprinters. Meanwhile back in my group, I was having a talk with some friends about the season and this coming weekend. I came out of tunr 4 (the last turn) and noticed one guy laying the gutter from another team. Then I noticed another guy in the middle of the road about 150m from the finish. Upon closer inspection it was Tommy. That's right, for those of you who are a little slow on the math, let me help you crunch these numbers. There were two crashes in the last 400m in one of the last races of the season, and there were only 15 guys in the group. Even less by the time Tommy cased it.
So the smart thing to do would be to sit up and keep yourself safe (no one was going to beat that Italian Olympic track sprinter anyway (yes there were two Italian National Track guys out there preparing for the Olympics)) and maintain your 2nd, and he couldn't jump over the current 1st place rider. Nope he decides to sprint. Details of what happened are sketchy but it appears he may have tangled wheels with an SDBC rider in front of him. As much as it pains me to say it, it is most likely his fault (Tommy's) that he fell. It is the responsabililty of the rider to watch the guy in front of him. If the SDBC guy came off his line that is a different story, but from the series of pictures it doesn't look like he did. Just one of those sprinting screw-ups that happen some times. Not unlike that of our good friend Eric Barlevev's crash AFTER the line in Harlem.

Tommy was OK, just lost a lot of skin. I encouraged him to end his season right then and there, but he insists of racing this Satruday. I won't be racing with him. Instead I will be going on a warm-up ride and getting ready for Sunday. Sunday will be the 189K National Elite RR Championships. As luck would have it the race is about 10 miles from my house this year, so I will be racing. Not sure if I will be finishing, but I will line up. It may not be the most ideal course for Nationals, but I can tell you right now, it will not be easy. The climb up Jamboree is going to be rough, and the race will blow apart on Portola in the wind. It's going to be a tough one for sure. That will most likely be the end of my season....on the road. I plan on racing a few mountain bike races for shits and giggles. The Club is close with another team in the points title, so if I can jump in a race or two and get them some points I will.

Hopefully the next time I write something on here I am the new National RR Champ, or at least I can say I finished.