Snelling road race, Snelling CA, February 23 2008

Woke up at the ungodly hour of 4:00am on this holiest of holy days, my birthday, and made the 2.5 hour drive in the dark to Snelling. 100 cat III's started the race at 8:00am, for a 67 mile race comprised of a neutral roll-out followed by 5 laps on a rough and windy 12-mile circuit. Full road closure, the winds, sporadic flooding, and turns covered with sand, mud, and potholes made for interesting conditions.

Once on the closed course, there were a few early surges, and I stayed up front to mark any breaks and avoid being pinched off in a long echelon. After about thirty minutes, I found myself IN a break of fifteen riders. I was surprised, because there wasn't any hard effort or sprint to get a gap. Rather, I suspect the winds tore up the field a bit behind us and once we separated the main field let us go. Our breakaway group had a solid representation of all the major teams in the race: Wells Fargo, Team Specialized, Team Swift, Squadra Ovest, Godspeed Courier, Webcor, Synergy-Taleo, Central Valley Cycling, and, of course, Above Category Racing. (I must say I was feeling pretty sharp in my new white vest and gloves that Dad gave me for my birthday, as well as my new shoes from Mom, even though they got rather marred by the flying mud! Thanks mom and dad! If anything I should have won best-dressed-rider award).

One lap in and our gap was 30 seconds. We worked well together, taking turns pulling a well-ordered echelon. Early on there were a couple squabbles ("what the fuck?! If you're not going to take your turn just sit in the back asshole!" "I AM taking my turn. YOU take your turn!" "hey hey, easy, let's be friends until we get to the end now!"), and actually a small wreck among the two Swift riders and the Specialized rider, but two of the three guys got back on our lead group. Second lap our gap had opened to about a minute, third lap we had a minute fifteen. The pace was pretty easy. I never felt like I was working hard at all, and there were enough of us sharing the work that our pulls were short and sweet. On the final lap, with about six miles to go and a minute fifty over the field, our group started to slow and realign for the inevitable sprint finish. The last leg of the course had the worst road conditions of the whole loop -- very bumpy asphalt with a sandy right-hand 90 degree turn into the last 200 meters, which concluded with an uphill and in-your-face headwind finish line. Charlie, the Team Specialized guy, put in a small attack but it was quickly pounced on by the Webcor guys. With 1.5k to go, I figured I had two options. 1) line up about three back before the right-hand turn and duke it out on the climbing sprint finish, or 2) make a break and avoid the chaos of that last turn and take it solo. The other riders looked pretty weary, so I chose option 2 and positioned myself back about five from the front and then made my jump, breaking clean. I looked back over my shoulder to see a half-hearted chase that quickly subsided, and then I tucked into the wind and cranked hard. The rest of the group either didn't think I'd hold it or figured I was gone and they would conserve for the sprint for 2nd. I passed the 1k sign, and thought "christ, this is way further than I thought!" but kept on trucking. Then round the corner, then up the short hill and I looked back again, seeing my big gap still holding, and I crossed in 1st place with a ten second lead on the breakaway group.

My THIRD upgrade request is now pending, after back-to-back wins yesterday and last sunday, so hopefully I will be reporting from the Cat II's next weekend!

Pine Flat Road Race, February 17th 2008

Davis and I are camped out at the start line which is at a campground on Pine Flat reservoir. I wake Davis up at 6:00am. He crawls out of his sleeping bag already dressed in full head-to-toe AMD kit, shivering. 7:35am start, with 56 cat III men. We’re off, and we snake around the reservoir, and two guys go off the front about 5 miles in. There’s a solid group of 6-10 guys at the head of the pack keeping tabs on things. I make my way up there and stay in the front 10 for the next 50 miles. Davis is right there too. We make the turn-around, pass the start again and descend into the flats. Upon reaching the orchards a hard-working half dozen reel in the two breakaways, and immediately two more go. I let the racers take me towards the finish line, and don’t do ANY work, though every so often I find myself in the front. Same goes for Davis. We make our way through the straight agricultural roads and get to the foothills. The road gets twisty and starts climbing. We get the last two breakaways and are all one group. There are a couple surges over some of the rollers, but it’s a pretty mellow pace. The climb gets steep. 7-10%. I am in front, and I get ready to attack, but don’t want to do it from the lead so I soft pedal, get about 5 guys ahead of me, then gas it hard. I break clean, expecting a few to come with me but nobody follows. Seeing the gap I commit. I’m about 800 meters from the top and pass some dropped 1/2s. I go over the crest and gun it for the entire down hill, riding like a banshee and thinking about the things you think about on a breakaway. Every time the hurt gets too great I just think “this is what I do. This is what I do. Of course it hurts, it’s bike racing!” I FINALLY get to the flats, look back, and the turns in the descent have masked me from the pack which has caused them to lose focus and let up a bit. I see them as one great bright blob coming for me but there’s a big gap and I face forward and keep grinding. 1km to go, then just like Chad described, the finish climb proper starts. I’m totally sapped. I’m panting and wheezing and my legs are wooden but I keep turning the cranks up and up and then there’s the top, nobody in sight behind me. I cross the line arms up to the cheers of all the finished cat 1/2s and the two officials. I think the rest of the bunch were between 1 to 3 minutes back, with Davis in 13th. It was a serious whalloping.