Summary

March 31st to April 6th 2008. Week following a big race weekend with no race at the end. Time to get some good midweek riding and track racing in with no pressure.

Monday

Commute, day off. Hurting from the weekend.

Tuesday

Still stiff. Rode up to Sutro Tower to take sunrise pictures. Not a very good sunrise, but a fun 30 minutes of climbing. Commuted. Track racing at night.

Wednesday

Commute, then a few sprint drills. Felt pretty worked from Tuesday so we only did some spin-ups and two real sprints.

Thursday

Commute, got picked up from work after getting my suit.

Friday

Commute.

Saturday & Sunday

Got married!

Summary

Felt a little stiff and tired going in. I planned a longer warm-up but still only got 30 minutes on the rollers. However, once we started I felt great. The Mouse rocketed off the front on the descent and stayed in charge the whole race. Ryan, DP, Nole, and Isaias put the hurt on when in counted and I helped to push the pace in the first few laps.

Did fine until two to go when my general strategy played against me and I ended up coming in at the end of the main pack.

Ben led DP out, DP went too early, blew up with 50 meters to go for 10th, Nole had something left to come around and take 6th.

Climbing

I took as many laps as I could starting in the front third at the beginning of the climb in case I neede d to lose a few spots by the top of the climb. Then I used the descent to make up those spots by drilling it on the steep part and taking the first corner hot inside and hiding from the wind.

The Finish

My strategy played against me in the finish as I didn’t have enough left after advancing on the descent and flat to move up much further than the rest of the stragglers once the pack split on the final climb. I should have played it safer and just hung on enough to really drill it on the second portion of the climb because the entire race was pretty mild until then.

My strategy hedged against the possibility of the pack splitting earlier on, but since the climb was very slow that never really happened (or all we did was shed the weaker riders).

I came up the second pitch of the climb just as the pack split and I didn’t have much left to try to hang on. I just caught up as the main sprint finished and the rest of the riders were sitting up.

Result, more mid pack fodder, 46th of 75. At least it was tons of fun, I learned from my mistakes, and it wasn’t another DNF. I could see myself coming back into this race a little stronger and doing much better.

I won my first heat. It wasn’t even close. Got second in my second heat. It wasn’t even close (lost to the guy who got third overall). Tons of fun! Beer, bikes, craziness. Gio won the overall (of course) and auctioned off the Soma Rush he won for the Matt and Kristy Memorial Fund. Seth bought the backpack that was auctioned off by the guy who got second overall for the same cause. Very good idea. Got some great pictures.

More pictures!

The Course

Windy, technical, fun but hard. Start/finish on a long straightaway with a crosswind that goes into a right hand into the wind turn then another with some tree cover. Another brief straightaway before swooping gradually to a straightaway in the wind but shielded by trees. This dives into a tight 180 back down a straightaway and into a narrow chicane. Another wide exposed right and back to the Start/finish in the wind.

The Race

Got there kind of late, stalled in some weird traffic and took too long setting up. Got a minimal rushed warm-up and felt kind of stiff at the start line. Pace was hot from the start but the pack was pretty cohesive. I stuck in the top third for the first twenty minutes and finally felt like I was warm after strong doubts about being able to hang on any more.

The pack started to string out as attacks went of the front, but the pace wasn’t too bad even with a lot of huge jumps around the corners and the 180. I didn’t have the jump around the corners that the big guys had and I had to work a lot more to not get gapped even though I took all the corners tight and fast. The 180 is pretty tricky though. I tried to time it so I could pedal through it as much as possible but I clipped a pedal a few times coming out of it – threw me off.

About 30 minutes in I was struggling to stay on the back of a pack that had clearly started to shatter. I jumped around the first group that started to flag and barely got onto the tail end of the largest group behind the few attackers. I couldn’t hold it very long and got gapped pretty quickly when I couldn’t catch a break from the wind on the S/F straightaway.

I worked with a Third Pillar guy for a lap before he dropped back, then James and I traded a few pulls before I pulled off ahead and eventually got whistled off. I was placed 39th of 75 starters. Lasted about 38 minutes. Another big fat DNF even if there is a number attached to it.

Reflection

This was a very hard race. The course suited me well but I felt like I raced it like crap because I spent too much time worrying about the wind versus my strength. I should have let the legs do the worrying and just raced more smoothly the whole time. The few laps where I did that I made few mistakes and gained ground. The laps where I lost focus and started to worry about being dropped is where I wasted the most energy.

Ben got 5th.

Summary

Monday March 24th through Sunday March 30th, 2008. Spring break. Thought I’d get some great riding in but added pressure at work turned this week into a forced rest week.

Monday

Commute to work only. Still sore from the track.

Tuesday

Commute. Park ride. Team meeting.

Wednesday

No commute, bussed because I needed to buy a suit.

Thursday

Commute.

Friday

Commute, 30 minutes on the rollers.

Saturday

Brisbane Sierra Point Criterium. B.A.R.R. Goldsprints at night. Good times. Legs hurt.

Sunday

Stayed up too late on Saturday. Brisbane Highlands Circuit Race.

Excellent atmosphere. The promoters and volunteers were a huge help. Gio offered excellent advice that I tried but often failed to follow. Though I can see exactly how it would have worked if I did follow it. Thanks Gio.

Keirin

Five laps total each, with the moto pulling off on the back stretch and sprinting at 1.5 to go.

• 1st heat, 3rd – barely got third after jumping from fourth wheel a few meters from the line.
• Repechage, 2nd – followed Sean from Morgan-Stanley all the way in, lost by less than half a wheel at the line.
• Final, 4th – jumped a little late and could only pass one more racer.

Scratch

15 laps total. Blew up trying to bridge to Jay and Godspeed after they took off at the line, couldn’t get back on. I thought Jay did the smart thing by following the Godspeed guy since they stayed away for almost the entire race. Instead of trying to bridge the gap I should have worked on blocking for Jay and gone for third.

Miss and Out

Easy race, mostly about positioning, not a very hard effort seventh to last rider pulled because I didn’t follow Gio’s advice well enough. Should have stuck to the front. If not on the front I should have drifted back faster and hopped back up front and sat. We weren’t going fast enough that I would have gotten tired in the wind.

Points

15 laps with three sprints.Didn’t contest the first sprint, too far back, didn’t want to blow up early. Contested second sprint after one guy took a flyer, but got edged out for fifth at the line. Pace cooled down but I was cooked and couldn’t pass enough people.

The Infineon Raceway Twilight race series kicks off the second week of April: April 8, 15, 22, 29 & May 6, 20, 27

Summary

Monday March 17th through Sunday March 23rd, 2008. Hurting mentally and physically after Zamora. No road race at the end of the week, just some track racing so less pressure this week.

Monday

Commute. Hour on the rollers. 50 Hindu squats, 30 push ups, 30 curls, 50 sit ups, 10 pull ups.

Tuesday

Park ride – sucked hard this week. Pulled too hard in the first two laps. Did a solo lap. Jumped back in with Tim, got dropped. Jumped back in with a few other guys, dropped them at the finish. Did one more solo lap.

Wednesday

No ride leader for sprints. Did pyramid intervals with Ryan, Bergen, Daniella, Ashley, Jessica: after a warm-up one lap hard, two easy, two laps hard, four easy, two laps hard, four easy, one lap hard, one easy.

Thursday

Commute to work and Casa de Bates. Followed DP on an Urban Loop: Ferry Building, Presidio, Laguna Honda. Spun like a madman down O’Shaughnessy.

Friday

Commute.

Saturday

Track, Get Ready for Summer #1.

Sunday

Easter, no ride.

My second road race. This one was nothing like the first.

Lap 1

Felt good, wind was nasty but kept myself in the first portion of the group.

Lap 2

Started to hurt in the wind as it got stretched out, just barely got gapped between the two groups as the pack shattered. Couldn’t latch onto Tim as he rode by. Spent the rest of the lap in a 6 man echelon watching Tim’s group up the road.

Lap 3

My group fell apart, spent the first half of the lap solo in the wind. Jake caught up in another group. 10 man echelon that lasted until just before the KOM when I started to cramp up a little and sat up. Jake and I soft pedaled the rest of the lap.

Lap 4

Cramps subsided, went out for one more lap. I was in no man’s land and hurting in the wind but more than half the race had dropped out and there were a few riders still behind me. Jumped in a small echelon line until some of then turned around and I was solo in the wind again through the rest of the lap.

Bailed at the feed zone after Lap 4. Should have finished. I way underestimated this race, should have gone in better mentally prepared though I’m not sure I would have had the strength to not DFL anyway. DFL > DNF, still kicking myself for giving up and not taking one more lap.

Big fat DNF, first of the year. Lame.

Summary

Monday March 10th through Sunday March 16th, 2008. Tough week to get back on the bike, but doing so certainly helped.

Monday

Nothing

Tuesday

First park ride of the year. More mice than ever, 30+ mice in jerseys and kits did a solemn warm up lap at the front before the real riding began. I hung for two racing laps before being dropped and finishing up the ride with smaller groups here and there. Good hard ride, needed it.

Wednesday

Skipped school again. Went out on a Paradise ride with Ashley, Ben, Julie, and Julie’s friend Cecilia. Beautiful day in Marin though a little chilly in the city. Great leisurely ride with a little hammering on the backside of paradise taking turns attacking with and against Ben and a ZTeam guy we met in Corte Madera. Ben rode his fixed gear but we still put the hurt on a tri-geek on the way back up the Sausalito Lateral.

Thursday

Matt’s memorial. Bussed to school. Rode with Isaias, Mo, Ammon to the memorial. Rode with Nole, Isaias, Mo back home.

Friday

Commute.

Saturday

Matt’s memorial ride in the afternoon.

Sunday

Bariani (Zamora) road race.