Saturday, January 28, 2006

Good road bike...Nice road bike...Fast road bike!

The San Lorenzo

Well, not to to much going on this week (rest week). I opted not to do the Early Bird RR and the last official CX race is tomorrow down in Santa Cruz, which I'm not going to do. I've hung up the 700C knobbies till Oct. The ("05" B) CX season went pretty good and is now past tense. I'm moving up again and have my new CX"2" designation and will race Elite(Pro) men later this year. It will probley be the hardest endeavor I have ever taken on. I will be thinking about this all road season when the going gets tough. I like racing in general but my heart in really in cross.

I am now focused on the road bike which has been treating me well in the last few weeks. I have made some small but important changes and things have been good. I've got some work to do before McLane Pacific but things seem to be going to plan. I'm trying to up-grade on the road and chasing points.....

This morning looked like rain but was dry so I rolled up to the bridge @ 8am. I met up with the Sat. ride guys and rode out over Camino Alto but broke off to do the Paridise loop. Already drizzling, a couple other guys (Justin and Robbie) decided to roll with me so we had a sweet trio and rode a good paceline all the way around Paridise..... Good ride.

For my B-day I'm planning to ride Alpine Dam for the first time in at least 3 months tomorrow. I hope the rain chills out..... We'll see.....

Out you go!

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Ronde Van Tam



What a great day for a bike ride. An EPIC singlespeed MTB ride of course! I was planning to ride with Dan but he was called into work at the last minute so I loaded up the moto mojo and took off solo.....

The ride: Out to Mill Valley (stop for espresso), up to four corners then onwards on Panoram to Railroad Grade. I stopped at the parking lot before Railroad and stripped off some gear, while climbing I was heating up a bit, the temp. @ the lot was 61 Deg. nice...... I had to take a pic before heading on.


Took off up Railroad and climbed at a steady pace of just under 20 Kph. The climb took me 33 min. 1 minute quicker and 3 beats lower avg then 6 weeks ago. Once at the top I peeled off some layers, soaked up the sun for a bit and ate a snack. I saw only a couple people on the way up....

I love Nor-Cal

After enjoying the view, I geared up and decided to go back down Eldridge Grade to Phoenix Lake and pop out at Ross. The run down the first half of Eldridge was SUPER rocky. All the top soil was washed away and all that was left were baseball and larger sized rocks strewn about eveywhere. I was taking a beating for a while there. I didn't want to air down the tires for a better ride and risk flatting. The second half, dropping into Phoenix Lake was really smooth/ fast and hooked up fine indeed.....

Leaving Ross, a little over 3 hrs into the ride. I stopped in Larkspur for a coffee/muffin reload. I felt pretty good still and decided to come back up Marincello via Tennessee Valley, then up Coastal and back down to the bridge. My legs were feeling worked but I was up for it.

Well.......I felt ruined about half way up Marencillo. My legs were feeling pretty heavy and just made it over the top. I barreled down Bobcat, crossed over to Coastal and about half way up the lights came back on and I pushed a solid tempo for the rest of the trail. I guess the coffee finally kicked in.

Time/ 4:20, Total Km/ 86, 5 solid climbs, Avg HR 141, Max 176. Good stuff...............

Chillin at the top.


Well I'm off to the Fusion Team Happy hour. Gotta get those carbs!

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Board Blogging....


With all the rain outside I decided to clean up my computer files and came across a lot of random pictures. This one is from 2002. I was out motocrossing with friends at Carnige O.H.V. in Livermore not to far from the Wente RR course. I sure miss the truck and the bike. I Sold the bike when I moved over 2 years ago, and the truck a little more than a year ago. Nissan trucks....good stuff.

Time to crank up the tunes and hit the rollers..... Posted by Picasa

Monday, January 09, 2006

This is what the race felt like
















Race Report: CCCX Cyclocross #6 Final Round

Date: 1/8/06
Course: 80/20 pavement/ dirt setup with 2 barrier sections (logs), one barrier section and 1 run up.
Category: “B” Class
Field: 15 people
Teammate: None
Place: 3rd/ 16 mph avg speed
Results http://www.cccx.org/2005/race6/catBprelim.htm


After doing the Saturday fast group ride (4 hrs out to Pt. Reys). I wasn’t sure how the race might turn out. I felt o.k. but you never know until you turn the pedals in anger. I got a ride down to the race with Brian Rogers (Sycip), we got there around 8:30 and the weather was quite sunny. I was just happy to get to a CCCX race. I heard that they have some good courses and a cool vibe. Well after reg. and a few laps around, I was impressed. The course was really one that played on my strengths. Fast technical single track with a few hard up-hills, a very fast-paved decent (40 mph top speed!) 2 log dismounts and a final 3-barrier section just before the finish line.

The conditions could not have been any better. The rain had packed down what would have been a lot more loose sand and the traction was hooking up so good I was able to 2 wheel drift quite a bit in this race w/o having to dab a foot although there were a few in there….

I lined up and got a 2nd row start just behind Brian. I was really focused on the start. I was concerned about bottlenecking into the first single track and I wanted to get there 1st or in the top 3. I nailed the start and flew into the lead before the single track. Feeling good I wound it up, attacked the pavement and continued pushing the pace into the second dirt section. Over the first big log, around some muddy switchbacks and bunny hopping the second (2) log section, I was feeling like I might be able to run in the front. I looked back wondering if I was holding a gap and it seemed I was. I felt good, so I kept the pace high resting on a few of the decent portions of the course. I managed to stay off the front in the lead until about 1.5 laps into it. After the fast pavement decent, jumping back into the dirt, I looked back to see Tim Granshaw (Lap-Ritchey) trying to bridge. He had won the last event (off the front) and is a Cat1 on the road. I though better to recover for a second and prepare for a battle than to try to run away. The 2 of us swapped the lead for about 2 laps with it apparent Tim was launching numerous attacks and I managed to stick on his wheel. Then Jesse Mayberry (Lap-Ritchey) who normally races the A’s and Tim’s teammate, bridged to us from out of nowhere and I was now outgunned 2-1. I looked back to see the 3 of us had a sizable gap to 4th on down and now prepared for the onslaught of the Ritchey boys.

I had expected them to launch attacks forcing me to chase while the other sat on me, but instead they took turns at the front keeping the pace high but steady. I stayed with them past the bell lap. On the steepest portion of the course trying to ignore the back and leg pain now fairing up, I lost about 10-15 sec after the false flat on the top before the single track. I recovered a bit but I couldn’t attack any more. I set a solid tempo and focused on cutting the time gap to the leaders and 3rd was mine as long I didn’t flat or crash. So I brought it home in 3rd somewhere around 20 +/- few seconds on the lead duo then a solid gap to 4th on down.

This has to be one of, if not the finest race I have had. My handling skills felt razor sharp and I was never really out of breath. I was able to hang with the pace being set by the Ritchey boys and never felt stressed about being out numbered. I had a few plans ready to implement on the final lap but my race fitness (while loads better) is still not quite 100%. Sans the aching back and legs on the last lap I felt I would have been able to challenge for a higher position.

After making all the selections over the climbs in the top 5~, then chopping it up with the Lombardi’s guys (all Cat 1 or 2’s) for the Nacisao town sprint on Sat. (getting 2nd) then Sunday off the front and mixing it up solid, with Tim (Cat1) and Jesse (Iron man Tri-guy). I think I’m on the right track training wise and will continue with what I have planned.

Big thanks to Brian Rogers for the ride down, who finished well and wound up 2nd in the overall. Dave P for the awesome cross porn (bummer about the log incident), Ritchey duo of Tim and Jesse who helped me to see what I’m made of and look forward to next year, last but not least CCCX and the crew for a great event complete with ice cold beer at the finish and a nice shiny medal for 3rd. What a fantastic weekend….Big Up!

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Wet Willy

I had planned to race the last CCCX race on Sunday but my ride bailed and I figured I would post a ride request on the Bay Area Cyclocross Yahoo groups and see if I might procure a ride.

Well last time I checked on Fri night, no reply, so I figured what the heck might as well go do the Sat. fast ride out to PT.. Reys instead. I got up at 6 am double checked my email (still no replys) so Pt. Reys it was.

The ride was great. It was the first ride out on my road bike in 4? weeks and I was feeling pretty good. All the climbing on the single speed and CX bike is paying off. The weather started out cool but by the time we were out past Nacisao the clouds looked dark and there was a bit more water on the ground. I decided to cut it a little short and roll back. On the way home Robbie and I got dumped on, thank goodness it wasn't too cold. I managed to not post any time in the red zone and felt pretty good after eating some grub and a nice hot shower.

I checked my email and low and behold, Brian Rogers came through with a ride to the race. So.... I will rest up, hydrate (does Bud Light count?) and pack my stuff up for the early 6:45am departure! Darn I was going to go out for beers, ah I guess it will only be a few ;)

Race report to follow, stay tuned........