After getting taken out from behind in a crash at Snelling the previous weekend, I decided to rethink my racing callender. Why am I doing flat road races with 100+ riders? They are very dangerous in the early season and often end in a field sprint.
Instead of heading down to Merco for the TTT, Crit, and RR, I decided to use that time to get in some good training. I spent the weekend doing a small group ride, a tough HOP workout and a nice tempo ride up Mt Diablo, a total of 11 hours. I came away with some good training, confidence, but unfortunately, also a minor cold/sore throat.
I was pretty stunned to see that a break got away at the Merco Road Race, and Ben Jacques Maynes won.
What a coincidence, last year, I was in an early break with Ben and his twin brother Andy...too bad that one didn't stick!
Next race will be Madera Stage Race this weekend...and San Dimas Stage Race the following weekend. So much pain to come!
I just booked a flight to my first non-west coast bike race! Im headed to Upstate New York /Vermont/Pennsylvania for 2 weeks of bike racing. Chris Johnson and I are doing a couple races in PA as well as the Tour of the Battenkill(April 10th)...steep climbs, rough roads and covered bridges! And a Cat 2 field that I am hoping to be competitive in. I hope this could yield a few points on my way to a Cat 1 upgrade.
Last year, the Pro race was won by one of my favorite riders Scott Nydam. Its such a tough race, with a stacked field, and to win it solo off the front is so impressive. Unfortunately he has had to take a break due to medical issues.
I had an awesome time up in Occidental for the Chileno Valley Grass Hopper "training ride" (race)
I hope to make it out to a couple others if they fit into my racing schedule. You cant tell from this photo, but over 200 people came out for this!
I spent the weekend out in the Central Valley doing some early season road races for training. I stayed with my old Safeway teammate Jonathan who lives in Fresno, a central location for both Cantua Creek and Pine Flat road races--My second and third road races of the season, and after a relatively tame Cherry Pie Crit last week, I was excited to test my fitness.
This year, training has been very different for me. I am doing much more endurance riding(4-6hrs) and less intervals like last year. I have noticed that my top end is not quite developed yet, but I feel super comfortable on my bike, and have a ton of base miles to build off of.
Cantua Creek is a mostly flat, out and back, road race in Coalinga. On the first of 3 laps, the Yahoo! guys took control of the race and launched consistant attacks until one stuck with 4 of their riders....and nobody else. Needless to say, they had the 100% of the strongest guys....and 12 riders (57% of the field)
It made for some pretty negative racing as they would block every attack, and at one point, stretched their remaining riders shoulder-to-shoulder across the road....With 4 guys up the road, they could have 2 attacking the field and still 6 sitting in....
On the small climb of the second lap, I decided that it would be more fun(and better training) to get off the front. Chico Corsa was setting a good tempo on the "climb" but I came over the top in a full sprint to get a gap. I drilled it as hard as I could to the turn around, and could see that a couple Yahoo riders were chasing, with the field stretched out chasing them. On the decent, It was 3 yahoos, and I. They would not pull through, so I stayed on the front and set a good tempo. At one point I had a nice gap, but slowly got reeled in. Im sure it looked pretty ridiculous, with me pulling 3 purple guys around.
The front 4 stayed away to win in TTT formation.
Pine Flat is more my kind of race. The same 12 Yahoo's were in the race, but they raced more positive. After the first out and back section(which was full of attacking) they put 6 guys pulling on the front until we got to the flat orchard area. Then the attacking resumed. After getting in some good moves, I missed the one that stuck, 2 Yahoos and Sean Rosenthal(Zteam). They never got a huge gap, which made for a lot of attacking in the field. As we got to the climb, we were going pretty steady, and brought back a cracked Zteam. Phil Mooney(Y!) took the opportunity to attack and I was right on his wheel. When he settled in again, I hit it over the top of him, but brought another 2 Yahoos with me. I kept the pace, but they attacked off my wheel, and I couldn't follow. At this point, I just laughed. There were just too many of them...
I ended up 9th, but it was an excellent weekend of training.
Last fall after hearing that Ballan, Hincapie and Evans had signed with the BMC team I was ecstatic! Partly because I knew they were good riders(Ballan being my favorite cyclist) and mostly, because I knew that they would each have personalized jerseys... Ex-world Champ, US Champ, and Current World Champ. I have the utmost respect for the designers at both ASSOS, and BMC. And I really admire their "Industrial" style...I had high expectations.
But then the ultra chic Swiss company ASSOS, was replaced by Hincapie clothing, my heart was broken, things were not going to be the same. I knew the team wouldn't be quite the same, but I didnt expect this.
Their bikes don't even really match the kits either!
After hearing my friends complaining as well, I decided to give the BMC kits the "Euro" treatment. I turned all the red into white.....I toned down the "digi" effect on the chest, but left everything else the same.
Maybe they will be able to change mid-season like Cervelo did when they went from all black to all white for the Tour de France....
Alas, nothing will beat the 2008 BMC/ASSOS kits.
Yesterday was the first day without legwarmers since September! A strange feeling, the wind in my hair on my skin, and the sun's rays beating down. This year I have hopes of rivaling the tan lines of Lindsay Myers, but it will take some hard work. Tan Lines are very important to cyclists, earning rule number 5 on OREC: The Official Rules of the Euro Cyclist.
5. A prominent line where one’s kit ends and where one’s deep tan begins is essential to one's image. Artificial tanning is BANNED. The tan shall reflect the level of training commitment.
It was a strangely warm(almost sunny) day here in the East Bay, that has been fraught with rain for the last couple weeks. Consecutive days of rain are always frustrating. A "State of Emergency" if your trying to become a pro cyclist. I rode a couple days on the trainer, took a couple days off, and braved the slick roads and cool temps a few days.
Had a really fun/long ride last week with my teammates last week. We started near Golden Gate Park and rode south to Half Moon Bay, then up my favorite climb, Tunitas Creek. Then back through the bike paths at Crystal Springs....really fun ride with great climbing and INCREDIBLE views along the coast.
My friend at Specialized showed me photos of a new project bike....a Tandem Time Trial bike...
most ridiculous bike I have ever seen, but I totally dig prototype projects like this....
- shaft drive between driver and stoker
- Magura hydraulic disc brakes F+R (how is this even possible?)
- 75+cm front reach?!?
I have always been in awe of the BMC team (c'mon, they're sponsored by Assos!) and was a bit shocked that Jeff Louder showed up to our training ride in Marin. I had a chance to talk with him a bit, and he is excited to be riding the Giro this year. Look out for him and Cadel! Photo by Chad on bike path parallel Sir Frances Drake.
First ride with the Above Category crew out of Mill Valley-a perspective team for me in 2010.
We did one of the most relaxed, beautiful rides out along the Headlands. Video and recap by Chris Johnson
Benicia + Vallejo Bridges This is a ride I've done before, but instead of riding through Benicia, Greg showed us how to get to Mt. Herman road, which once you get to, is much more scenic. It passes a reservoir and rolls along towards Vallejo. To change up the ride a bit more, we climbed Crockett blvd up to Cummings Skyway, a nice steep short climb that often gets overlooked. We also hit Bear Creek Rd, which I somehow haven't ridden since the Berkeley Hills road race.
Every year, carbon road bikes evolve....sometimes dramatically, sometimes fueled solely by marketing. The goal of building racing bikes has always been weight, down to every gram! Eddy Merckx even drilled out his chainrings back in the 60's. However, in the last 20 years of carbon fiber development, bikes have changed a lot. Ride quality, shape, and performance can be 'tuned'. Nobody would have ever thought that we could have frames as low as 747g(Guru Photon). But recently things have changed. The manufacturers race to have the lightest frames has calmed, the UCI has not budged in lowered the weight limit, (of 6.8 kg) and racers end up having to strap weights to their bikes to make the limit.
So if they cant get lighter, then they will make them faster in other ways, like stiffness or aerodynamics. Well, it turns out aerodynamics has much more to do with the riders position than minor frame shape tweaks.
So they turned to stiffness. Integrated seat posts were the hot item of 2007. They were supposed to reduce any movement causef by the rider rocking on the saddle, and keep the pedal stroke more efficient. But they turned out to be better to look at, than ride. The the ISP bikes are notorious for the harsh ride, severe inconvenience in fitting, re-sale, and shipping.
The trend of BB30 (oversize thread-less bottom bracket standard) is really nothing new...kids have been hammering bearings directly into their BMX frames for years, and Cannondale and Klein have been using the concept for a while as well. But in the last couple years, manufactures have really grasped the full potential, making super sized downtubes to bond with the bottom bracket, as well as beefed up chainstays. The wider 30mm crank spindle, lack of threaded interface, and oversized frame tubes have improved stiffness significantly.
Somewhat related to the BB30 convention is the oversized/tapered headtube. A larger downtube makes a better connection with the larger headtube. The larger headtube requires a larger fork, and bearings--up to 1.5 inches. All increasing stiffness.
So the industry has been driven by stiffness to obtain maximum power transfer, so what is the next step?
This got me thinking.....
Mountain bikes have benefited from through axle forks (over 9mm quick release) like this FOX 15mm version. The front wheel transfers loads in many different directions. The through axle is amazingly stiff interface compared to the QR. So much so, that I wonder how it would perform for a road bike???
Wednesday mornings we have been doing small group rides out of the East Bay. But today we expanded our horizons, to the peninsula. We started in San Bruno and headed south, doing Old La Honda, Haskins, Stage and Tunitas climbs, totaling 95 miles...but thats not really what made it epic...exploring roads and jumping fences(Andy ripping his shorts wide open) railing descents(like skyline) beautiful coastal views, and even an enormous chicken sandwich (from the Pescadero Market). We always are having fun exploring, and our EPIC rides will never loose their luster.
Andy with his ass hanging out during a flat fix.
Greg and I waiting for Andy to fix his flat at Crystal Springs Reservoir
I have been racing since 2006 and am currently a cat 2. I enjoy all aspects of being a "Racer"....racing, training, traveling, eating, recovery, research, bike maintenance, and meeting other racers
.....Besides bicycles i enjoy cooking, photography and tuning my '88 M3.
