Tardy Race report, Training Update, and the general happs

A little late, but then so have all of my other race reports this year.



For what would be my last race week of the season Seth and I headed up north, for yet another 600 mile road trip to tow the line with NorCals finest in two more velo promo events.

First off, I gotta say that what VeloPromo does is incredible. I got a chance to talk to The Main Man, at University RR and Asked him how it all started. He was amiable and seemed to jump at the opportunity to explain VeloPromo's roots. Those guys promote some 30 odd races a year. Primarily Road Races, most of them in Northern California. They do it for the love of the sport, and man oh man do we appreciate it!




San Ardo:

A mostly flat fast course and read more like a gigantic circuit race then a RR. There was a small little hill, that saw maybe two to three hundred feet gained a lap, but nothing substantial. About 23 or so miles a lap and we were to ride three laps. There was a slight breeze but the winds never got above 11 mph. We were informed that a break hadn't worked in the last 10 years or so in the Cat 3's and that it was all about positioning coming under the bridge right before the turn that marked about 200 meters to the line... Hmmm positioning into the last turn? Sounds a lot the SoCal crit scene. About half way through the second lap things started to shake up and there was an attack followed by a counter, followed by another counter... A good group of guys started gaining time on the field... I was sitting near the front and was thinking that mix looked tempting but not sure that I wanted to bridge just yet..Then BAM, Seth jumped, I was on his wheel like white on rice- We broke clean from the pack and laid down a pretty big 32- 34 mph bridge effort for what felt like 5 minutes to reach the break. We immediately started rotating through and badda bing badda boom- started moving. There was some confusion when we started to overtake other fields that didn't really neutralize, and then tried to sneak into our pace line... several riders bridged and in the confusion I was sure we had been caught. The break slowed to an agonizing crawl. After about 5 minutes, we realized that we hadn't been caught by our field- Several riders had bridged and our break was double the size but the pack lingering behind us belonged to another category. We got organized again and kept it smooth. The deal was sealed in my mind. We were working very smoothly. This break was going to work. I decided since I was the only one with a team mate in the break I should stop pulling, rest my legs, and put the big The break was doing fine with out me, I would rest and then sprint to victory... However, fate had other plans... About 3 miles before the finish line PSSSSSSHSHSHSSSSS. I fell victim to the rough road condittions and flatted.... Oh well, that's racing. Seth managed a second place finish. He lead it out and was passed by only one rider... No doubt I would've had his wheel.



The next day was University Road Race. Which is a 3 mile circuit around UC Santa Cruz. Basically you go straight up and then straight down. The race was hard and the field was full of strong riders. There was a constant barrage of attacks. It wasn't the hill that was necessarily hard or the average speed that made the race hard. It was responding to all the attacks. Every time I passed start finish I thought the next lap would be my last. But I hung in there despite myself. I was second coming around the corner at the base of the decent and responded to an early surge which shot my legs to heck. Many riders came past, I dug deep and pased many of them again to finish strong in tenth place. Seth picked a bad wheel at the end and ended up getting gaped, he didn't quite make it to the front and finished 4th (Good enough to secure his cat 2 upgrade- WAY TO GO MAN!!) The Docta, aka Smitty, aka Docta Professa Smitty, got popped with three to go and lost contact with the lead group that was whittled down from 65 at the beginning to about 22 at the end. He fought the good fight and settled into his rhythm and finished 25th. All in all Platinum's Cat three team had good representation and rep'd hard, showing once again that we are a force to be reckoned with in NorCal as well as SoCal...




Earlier in the season I had been toying around with racing everest challenge... I have decided against this notion. My "off season" has officially begun. I will do a couple mountain bike races for the team this month and have been running 5 times this week. Man I love trail running! Its nice to be able to spare the legs for something other then road-cycling specific training and then there is also the wedding to plan. I also started picking up some catering shifts to help with the savings account so life is still plenty busy.



Happy riding ;)

A blast from the past

This is a photo of my sister and I when we were just wee little ones.







Gonna keep it short and sweet as I am prepping for a trip with the fiance to Arizona to make use of some four season comp nights... Just one of the many perks.

This week has been all about the miles.
T: first half of lunch ride + 4x Farren Road repeats; Osm
W: Hope Ranch Suffervals (skipped Sea Ranch); then OSM Painted Cave ECC Stage coach, paradise road stage coach 154 home with Spins and Hammer.
Th: 4 hour 50 minute ride: Rocco Ride (Hammer fest this morning), torro, ladera, mountain, OSM, 1/2 painted cave, OSM again, Bicycle Bobs, Work.

I just got news that Caitlin through her Concierge connections was able to secure a road bike for me to borrow while were on vacation so I'll continue to slug away.

The late season is bringing a lot of Road Races up north and then Ill end it with Everest Challenge. So I will be training accordingly.

Big Ups.

Making it tough to work...

I got into the office today around 6:30 in the Am to find no phone and no internet. Apparently our system suffered a "fatal crash". A frustrating situation to find yourself in when attempting to meet ever approaching deadlines. Then, around 11 the whole building lost power...
Well I'm no psychic but I can take a hint. Enough was enough. Time to ride. CO was closed to Ron Keith and I headed up through Hope Ranch. We did the traditional Wed Interval type ride( Sea Ranch Road included), Then I headed to Elings park and did 4 repeats up the drive way, then took the steep way down town and headed out around the Torro 192 area and back up mountain and home.

When life hands you lemons... Get out and ride!

Woke up Saturday at 6:30. Just enough time to make a bowl of my scrumptions Cinnamon platinum granular oatmeal. Grabbed the bag I packed the night before, threw on my kit hoped on the bike and pedaled down to 154 and CO. Marco Rolled up in his van and a couple of us piled in. 5 passengers- 5 bikes- no problem. We drove up to Solvang where Benko had organized a nice little valley ride. There was a pretty big turn out and despite some of the heavy hitters showing up the pace stayed pretty tame the whole the ride. I got some pretty weak pictures of some of the riders after the ride on my camera phone.




Me and Captn Smitty

Today I went out for Worlds. It was a good ride but I had to put the hammer down after the polo fields in order to make it home in time for work. I was two minutes late... Gotta work on that FTP.

Now Im cleaning and then in an hour more work.

Peace.

Where Im at

OK so I participated in my first time trial. I felt as though it went ok. 26.14 or maybe 26.16.14 lets just say slightly under 26.20 to be on the safe side. The first stretch was agony. I don't know what it was but my legs were in complete rebellion. They were hurting so bad that first stretch up to Glen Annie. I almost turned off and called it quits. I'm glad I didn't because as soon as I turned the corner down Glen Annie (and got out of the head wind) life got better. I regained Focused and started to feel stronger: Mentally and Physically. The turn arounds were a bit of a killer and I think I lost a lot of time at all 4 of the turn arounds. The second and third ones in particular due to a ups truck and two cars taking up the ENTIRE lane right up to the curb. Goal for next week: try to knock off 40 seconds. It know I can do it. Its fun to get involved in they cycling community and Echelon in particular. I'm meeting a lot of great people and learning so much from everyone every time I ride.

On other notes my best time up old San Marcos is 16:40. The last two times I climbed before that were 17:04; and then 18's. It would be nice to break 16 but I just don't know if I'm there yet. so for now I'll set a goal of 16:20. When I break that then we'll talk about the 15's

Happy Riding