last CX race report

I went down to Aptos High yesterday and raced (if you want to call it that) the last race of the Peak Season CX series. My previous race, #1 of the series at Harbor High, was the one where I had my Brian Lopes spotting and really-lame-fan conversation. I actually felt pretty good at that previous race, and faired reasonably well, getting in the top-half at least with 10/24. It wasn't in the cards for me yesterday though. The course was fun, with a mix of singletrack and asphault through the school - and seemed to be about the same as the course that they ran there for my very first cyclocross race, which I did about 4-5 years ago (in the original Surf City series) - Kat was there for that one, and I had been on my old DeKerf softail mountain bike. Seemed like the weather forecasts had wittled the field down to a hardcore group of 16 (down from 24 at the Harbor High race) in the Mens B 35+ group. As to be predicted though, the weather "prediction" was not to be predicted very accurately - even just the night before they were calling for showers from 4am-through the afternoon.

It turned out that it was actually reasonably nice most of the morning/early afternoon, with partial sun most of the time, mixed with bits with some strong, cold winds. It made it hard to decide what to wear in terms of layers, etc., but really the weather was good, and the ground was perfect - moist by with no sloppy mud anywhere. I just didn't have much steam. I realized this in my first lap, as I watched the leaders just take off. Then, to make matters worse, in the middle of lap#2, something (I still have no idea what) caused my front deraileur to become completely missaligned - spinning on the frame's seattube so that it was loudly pushing on the chain no matter what gear combo I was in. I pulled over and tried to twist it back, but could only move it a tiny bit. I repeated this another two times at various points, each time I gave up another one or two places. In the end, I had to settle with only use of my smaller front ring (which was fine), and with the chain rubbing on the cage whenever I was in any of my lower 3-4 rear gears (annoying). My other bumble was a tumble - a minor crash in the gravel-to-asphault sharp right-hand corner two turns before the finish line. Just a quick crash that didn't really do any damage to me, my clothes, or my bike. Though I discovered later, at the end of the day that I actually had a scab from it on the inside of my left bicept - how does that happen? I finished 11th/16 this time, just barely making the cut-off to complete 6 laps - but I had fun. I stuck around long enough to eat a seriously good $2 Chicken-chile Verde burrito served out of the back of a car, drink a Samual Smiths Nut Brown Ale, and cheer on the kids race, before hightailing it out. My buddy Matt Dunston (from our Weds rides) suffered similarly in B 45+, but Blake Von Knopka absolutely killed it in my catagory - taking 2nd in the race, and 2nd in the series (nice job Blake!).

Schlachter

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Last of the roadie race reports (long)

Last of the road race reports (until track fights in the fall?) and
Series Summary

Sunday was the 12th and final race for the San Jose Bike Club winter
training series. Thanks to the track fights last fall, I decided to
dabble in more road racing. The series is made up of a prologue
(short time trial), 3 Road Races, 2 Crits, 2 Individual TT, 2 Team
TTs, a hill climb race, and a points race. As I learned, these races
are a lot mellower than real races. Similar to track fights, but
with 50 to 100 participants instead of 10-20. A lot of other teams
participate in the series besides SJBC, so I represented the TWW kit.

After the prologue I was placed in the Cat4s (typically 1 to 2 cats
lower than real categories). I didn't do too well in the time trials
(no TT bike, no Rudy Project aero helmet), but learned I was pretty
decent in the sprinting. For the crits and points race, the 4s and
5s went together with the 5s getting a head start. I've watched my
share of TdF sprints, and was able to pick the right guys to draft
and go at the right times to win both crits. One was pretty easy as
2 of us went very early, and the other guy just ran out of gas; and
the other, I barely won by about a wheel. I ended up winning the
points race as well, but definitely not in dominant fashion (1 sprint
win, 2 seconds, a 3rd, out of 6 possible sprints).


The road races were pretty challenging, as everyone raced together
but with staggered start times, so basically the 1's started about 6
to 8 minutes after us (road races were 28 to 48 miles long). The
first one, I was dropped from a 28 mph peloton and finished way back
(I'm blaming this on inexperienced pack riding). The second race, a
breakaway of the strong 3s got away early, and I was the only cat4 to
join them. We held off the peloton until the finish line (well the
other 3s did) where a couple of the ones caught me, but no other 4s
were with them.

The final road race yesterday, and I was leading the cat4s, and in
3rd for the overall. We started with the handicapped head start, but
all the groups joined together about ½ way through the 48 mile race.
Again, the group was moving about 26 to 28 mph, but I hung in there
until we all broke up on the second hill climb. Unfortunately two of
the guys right behind me in the overall race were Cat1s and were with
the lead pack. No 4s were able to hang with the lead pack on the
climb, so three of us stuck together with a small group of 3s, while
the rest of the 4s were dropped behind us. We were all together
until the last hill climb where our group split up and I opened a gap
on the other 4s (one was due to a front derailleur not shifting). I
formed a group with some 3s after the climb and finished off the last
5 rolling miles. So I took the category 4 win. That makes 5 wins
out of the 9 category races. I'll take it!

Overall, it was a fun series to participate in. Highly recommended
for anyone that wants to taste road racing. Also had a lot of people
asking about my WrongWay kit throughout the year. Next year I hope
to do the races that don't conflict with CX.

http://www.teamsanjose.org/ws/2008/category.php#c4

Rafael

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Skinny Tire (warning) race report

First, as the new member, apologies for the skinny-tire, spandex
reports. I promise this is not a usually thing for me, and I enjoy
riding the dirt more than pavement. I wasn't planning to do this
report, but the race was more interesting than expected, and maybe I
need to think twice about this and stick to the dirt.

I entered the inexperienced Cat 5s (less than 5 starts) at the
Fremont Early Bird Criterium yesterday since it was only 2 miles from
my home. Lets just say it was nothing like the wednesday night track
fights. It was about 15 laps around a 1.35 mile course. There were
probably around 30 or so of us that started in our group. Most were
plenty strong, but there were 2 or 3 that stuck out like sore thumbs
with their bad turns and not holding their lines. Somewhere around
lap 5, I was mid-pack, and we were going about 25-27 mph on a long
straight away, and bam, a pileup happens right in front of me. I had
been cautiously staying on the outside thus far, and I gently drift
to my left, being the first person behind the wreck to safely ride
around them. The sound of the bikes hitting the pavement was
probably scarier than the crash itself. On the next lap, it was good
to see everyone off the road and in one piece with no major damage.


As a group, I think we all rode the next couple laps more cautiously,
but slowly picked up the pace again. With 5 laps to go, we were
going down the same stretch and bam, another wreck happens about 5
bikes up from me. This time there is a rider right on my left and I
gently bumped elbows with him as I drifted, but I held my line and
had an OH S#!T moment. Again, that same horrible sound, and this
time with a bike bouncing right toward me. The handlebar hits me
square on my right leg. Somehow, I made it through the crash and
keep rolling. If I had been 2 inches to the right, it would have
taken my bike out and I would have gone down too. The guy on my left
thanked me for holding my line, so I guess I did something right.

So, after a couple of cautions laps, I was just glad to hear the bell
ring for the last lap. I stayed in the front 10 after the second
crash, and with the last ½ lap to go, the racing started. About 7 or
8 of us pulled away from the rest of the field, and I stuck behind a
roaring mouse guy, but as the line approached, I had already been
going my max I had nothing left to sprint. I finished somewhere 6 or
7th. The finish was pretty uneventful after the crashes. I probably
need to re-think this road racing thing, but I may try to do the rest
of these races since I just paid for an annual license. If anyone
else is interested in this, they are happening each of the next 4 or
5 sundays.

-Rafael

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