Summary

February 25th through March 2nd, 2008.

Monday

Commute and half an hour on the rollers.

Tuesday

Commute and an hour on the rollers.

Wednesday

Spin class and a little core, then an hour spin in the park.

Thursday

Commute, a few minutes on the rollers.

Friday

A few minutes on the trainer to keep loose.

Saturday

Merco Credit Union Downtown Grand Prix

Sunday

Merco Credit Union Foothills Road Race

I’ve been laid up with the Plague since Friday of last week. So far that’s nearly a week off the bike, though I’ll try to get on the rollers today and tomorrow. Still, I’m in no shape for Snelling or Merced and I won’t be able to bring my A game to Merced. Skipping this big weekend of racing has me majorly bummed.

If I’m totally recovered by Monday then I predict being fine at Merco and I should be in good enough shape for Menlo Park and Zamora to put in decent finishes.

Summary

February 18th through February 24th, 2008. Sick all week. Ended up missing Snelling and Merced which makes me very sad. Came back from Snelling (Ashley raced) on Saturday and hit the rollers for 30 minutes which felt nice. Spent another hour on the rollers on Sunday.

Summary

February 11th through February 17th, 2008. Just getting back from four days out of town.

Monday

Commuted to school and came right home after class. Did a two hour spin out through the Headlands (all three climbs) and felt pretty good. Pushed pretty hard on the first climb but didn’t post a spectacular time (10:57) but could easily be shaved.

Tuesday

Commute.

Wednesday

Slept through my first class by mistake, just a commute.

Thursday

Commute.

Friday

Commuted to work but ended up coming home sick.

Saturday

Sick!

Sunday

The plague.

Summary

February 4th through February 10th, 2008. Have to get as much workouts done before Thursday this week because Ashley and I are gone through the weekend after that. Hard to do because the homework has started and I’m already late with my work project.

Monday

Rest day. Just an easy commute.

Tuesday

Trying to get in the miles today. Spent an hour at the Polo Fields with Ben, DP, Hank, Josh, and Ryan. Afterward went to meet up with the Freewheel crew but no one showed so I did a solo Barber Shop loop with the lower Conzelman climb and Rabbit Hole on the way back, 3.5 hours, ~60 miles.

Wednesday

Skipped Twin Peaks Dawn Patrol, up too late. Still got in a spin class and a little lifting (upper-body, core) as well as a short spin after getting home.

Thursday – Sunday

Out of town.

The Weather

Coming from the rain, cold, and wind after the previous day in San Jose I wasn’t optimistic about the weather in Fremont. A few sprinkles on the way down, but we warmed up and lined up without getting wet at all so it looked somewhat promising. The only thing that worried me was the headwind on the front stretch, it was the strongest I’d seen yet on that course and it is totally exposed.

The Racers

Our semi-regular Early Bird crit crew was in attendance, though no one was feeling particularly fresh since many were either working the cold out of their joints or were tired from the previous day’s ride: Andrew, Nole, Josh, Timmay!, James, and Myself. This appeared to be the largest field yet as well, about 60.

As DP mentioned, many racers had come out for the real thing that were not here for the earlier races. I recognized many racers from the Park Ride (Godspeed), so I anticipated a slightly hotter pace this week if not more attacks and breakaway attempts.

The Accordian

As expected the race started out at a good clip after the first corner and the field was relatively strung out, but it wasn’t fast enough to be uncomfortable. At one point I was on the tail end of about 15 riders that were drifting off the front. However, after a couple of laps of hitting the headwind on the front side the pace slowed considerably and it got a little bunched up.

The Leadout

The Mouse crew stuck together pretty well throughout the entire race. Even after both Timmay! and Nole flatted they got back in and we were all within sight or a wheel of each other. At one point before the lap cards went up Andrew and I had drifted a little bit further back and really started to feel the affect of people braking through the turns, so on the back stretch we rode up and kept up in the first 20 riders or so for the rest of the race.

With three or four to go Nole asked us all how we were feeling and told us to move up with two to go and sit up front.

The Finish

Two to go and we started getting organized after the first corner, and on the back side we were all pretty much together save for Timmay! who was up front but on the right side and James who I couldn’t find. At the bell the pack got excited and surged briefly but we were all where we needed to be, together and mostly out of the wind with a small group just ahead of us. That group surged slightly after the first corner on the bell lap and Josh and Andrew jumped up the outside right before turn two.

Nole and I followed. Both Josh and Andrew took huge fast pulls. Trying to keep us from blowing up too early I dialed it down a little bit telling Josh to drop back and take a longer rest. I didn’t realize that they had worked so hard until I felt what it was like to be up front at that pace, so it was only Nole left on my wheel. I took a pull up to the last corner after pulling off to let who I thought was Andrew pull through. Unfortunately the hard jump only left Nole and I going through the last corner.

Nole pulled through and told me to jump on to get a short rest in order to lead him out. We took the corner and Nole just barely avoid bailing after skipping hard off a Bott Dot. I jumped back on for a split second but didn’t have enough left to hold on. The pack was coming and Nole took off in one of the longest sprints I’ve seen. I sat up on the inside with the finish line in sight after he was away and rolled in mid pack after watching the sprinters go by.

I couldn’t see the finish but it seems like the pack caught Nole close to the line, he jumped back in to get a rest, and then jumped again to finish top 15 or so.

The Reflection

Our attack, though it failed, was fairly well coordinated. We got together and ready very easily, and when Josh jumped we took off in a well coordinated Mouse train. Obviously we jumped too early and too hard because we couldn’t pull it back together after one full rotation. Another mistake that I tried to correct quickly was dialing it down without yelling for Andrew to do the same which created a slight gap where Josh tried to jump back in before I told him to drift back. Not as smooth as it could have been, perhaps some wasted effort there.

Either our pulls should have been slower and longer or we should have coordinated getting back on with Nole staying rested at the back. Nole did a good job trying to keep it together by offering me his wheel before we wound it up for the final stretch.

As we described this to our cheering section afterward Ben was glad that we tried something, that it was somewhat well coordinated, and particularly that it failed. DP commented that it sounds more like we tried to make a breakaway than just setting up for the sprint, which is true because we got off the front way early and blew up a little. It was definitely a great learning experience. Had we done the same effort around the second corner rather than the first we might have pulled it off. We all agreed that it came down to timing and smoothness, something we can expect to practice.