Summary

Monday April 27th through Sunday May 3rd, 2009.

Monday

Day off.

Tuesday

Planned 2hr ride then team meeting. Homework got in the way of both.

Wednesday

Track racing.

Thursday

1.5hr recovery/hills ride around Lake Merced and up Twin Peaks.

Friday

No commute :(

Saturday

Cat’s Hill

Sunday

No ride :(

Summary

Excellent first half of the race, but lost my edge when the race slowed down and the cornerswarm from the back of the pack became unmanageable.

Course

Same as last year.

Goals

Control the race, top ten.

Approximate minute by minute

0-20: Sat on the front, pulling through for about 10-20 seconds once per lap (short enough to stay fresh), usually timing it to pull through on the backside out of the headwinds. Helped control the race with three or four other riders who were willing to work, worked hard enough to keep it strung out, stayed top 5-10

20-27: Three back to back primes I decide to let others duke it out for, still on the front as a few riders sprint for Belgium Budder. Mike sets a good pace chasing down a prime flyer, however the few early workers and the mid-race Metromint contingent died quickly as I tried to stay up front.

27-32: Lap cards come out, initial surge and I get back up on the front. Lots of tentative pulls and people not pulling through, race slows WAAAY down. I try pulling through faster to set the pace, but very few people willing to work. I find myself getting swallowed as the cornerswarm really ramps up. Starting to mentally check out – lots of crashes, I’m far up enough to avoid them but still starting to lose my nerve.

32-38: Looking for good wheels to ride back up to the front as the pace picks up again. Latched onto Robert Orcutt twice, but both times we fell victim to failing drafts and cornerswarm from both sides. Paul takes a massive pull up front at two to go, tough feat to endure though and eventually the pack blobs up again. My last ditch effort to move up after the penultimate corner came too late and didn’t bother contesting the sprint.

For next time

Never give up the front. Watching several races throughout the day showed that this could be a tailgunners race. Even though it can be a fast course the laps are long enough that riders can come from the back to place well if it slows down at any point. However this race, like most, is still won from the front.

Disappointed with my result, but raced fairly well. My late race attempts to re-establish my position just didn’t quite pan out.

Ashley got 4th in her race though!

For sale: track/fixed gear wheelset with tires/tubes. Handbuilt by Louis at Avenue Cyclery. $250.

As seen on this bike:

• White Velocity Deep V rims (machined front, non-machined rear). Good braking surface on the machined front.
• Silver Surly “New” Track hubs. Double fixed rear.
• 32x DT Swiss Spokes, 2x/3x rear, radial front, good spoke tension, true
• Continental Gatorskin front tire, GP4000 rear tire, both with some life left
• Brand new 15 tooth cog and lockring

Summary

Excellent weather and not having to rush around before put me in a good attitude. Nice hilly ride the day before meant my legs felt good.

Snowball (12 laps)

After a couple of laps Russ White and Eddie Zhang got away. I attacked just after 5 to go when it looked like they might die and rode over them to pick up lap 8 and 9. They got a second wind and rode over me just as I was about to take lap 10. Had I sat up and sat in for that lap I could have probably taken the bell lap too and the assured win. As it was my final lap off the front had me pretty tired and I just hung on to a three way tie with 17 points, but only third because I finished behind the other two. 3rd.

Scratch (15 laps)

Tentative first few laps until a SJBC junior got fiesty. Few short lived attacks until 5 to go when Ray Gilden took a two lap flyer. I followed Josh Schwartz under the catch and we latched onto Russ’ and Andreas’ attack. I got slightly gapped in the initial jump and just narrowly missed beating Josh to the line. 4th.

Tempo (12 laps)

Resolved to not go for the first sprint and instead rode over Josh Schwartz after he took it. I got away for the lap picking up two points but got caught just before the next sprint. Russ and Eddie splintered the field at that point and I stuck it out in no man’s land between a couple chasers and the remnants of the pack until the bell. 4th.

Miss & Out (14 riders)

Smaller pack meant shorter, but faster race. Few attacks, but consistent high pace made playing the devil hard. Did too much work up high in the wind early on and some questionable lines about half way in had me mentally check out. Sat up for 8th.

Overall

Felt very good about my consistent performance. Placed in 3/4 races. A close 5th in the omnium and 1 more upgrade point. 4/15 toward my upgrade.

Summary

Monday April 20th through Sunday April 26th, 2009.

Monday

Day off.

Tuesday

2 hour San Bruno Mountain ride.

Wednesday

Track racing!

Thursday

Stuck finishing up school project – no recovery ride.

Friday

Trouble breathing – no commute :(

Saturday

Strike three – we never got out the door :|

Sunday

Wente Criterium

This bike has been sold, however the wheelset is still available.

Just add pedals and you are set for the track. Comes with a good beginner track gearing (47×15), fantastic crankset/BB combo, and very strong/stiff wheels. I used this as double duty, fixed gear commuter and track racing.

• 53cm black IRO Mark V frameset
• Sugino 75 165mm track crankset and Sugino 75 Superlap BB
• Brand new 47t FSA Chainring
• White Deep V to Surly double fixed hubs, new 15t cog
• Brand new Selle San Marco Ponza saddle

I have a front 105 brake and crosstop lever I can throw on and/or bullhorns instead of the drops for a little extra if you want to use this around town.

More photos on Flickr and Velospace.

Summary

First Wednesday of the year, strong turnout both from the Mice and in general. Ashley, myself, Jay, Nole, CLM, MAO, and Liam in attendance.

After trying some new things at the first GRFS I decided to race more conservatively tonight but I think I still work harder than I should have.

Points 3×4

Contested the first sprint following Jay for 1 point. With sprints every 3 laps it’s very hard to recover quickly so I hung on to see if I could contest the final sprint but came in just out of the points on the bell lap.

Scratch (12)

Very slow start with a French (?) Zteam guy sitting in the pole going just fast enough that no one stuck their nose too far out in the wind long enough to pass until I decided to get things going a couple laps in. Got into the pole and set a higher tempo for a lap, pulled up and then immediately covered Ritchie (TO) when he attacked, groupo compacto pretty quick. No significant attacks until 3 to go and I followed Jay in a faster group coming in 6th just behind Hanan.

Miss & Out (21)

Until 9 to go I sat mostly just above the stairs in whatever I draft I could poach through turn three and came up to the rail to box any riders out in turn 4. Got kind of lazy and just let myself roll off the back with 8 to go. Got to be very attentive once the pack thins.

B/C Points (2×10)

With only 2 sprints this was much like a scratch race and so many non-placing Bs meant this was essentially a B race with whatever remaining Cs tacked on. There was one lame attack by the ZTeam guy that I covered with Joe Schadle. We should have just let him go because he died just as we caught him and I didn’t have much more to ride over him. The Tieni Duro dad attacked us at that point before the bell and it took me a second to recover and react, after finally jumping I grabbed a few points with a distant second. Rode over him and set a decent tempo. Recovered in the pack and then jumped on the final sprint group with Mateo with 3 to go. Poor position and a couple dying riders at the bell left me a couple spots out of the final sprint. Enough for 4th place.

Placed 9th of 21 riders overall on the B omnium.

Summary

Monday April 13th through Sunday April 19th, 2008

Monday

New bike day!

Tuesday

No ride, no excuses. Spent too long putting together the track bike for Wednesday.

Wednesday

Track racing!

Thursday

1.5hr urban recovery ride, feeling pretty thrashed hard efforts Wednesday night.

Friday

Commute.

Saturday

GRFS #2

Sunday

Nothing. Sat around all day :|

Hoooray!

A generous Anniversary present from the in-laws, an awesome tax refund, and a very lovely, considerate wife means I get my highly anticipated track bike early!

I worked from home Monday to make sure I was around to receive the shipment, and I spent that night and the next day putting it together and getting every set up for testing it out Wednesday night at Hellyer.

2009 Fuji Track Pro

First impressions: awesome! After racing it Wednesday night: even more awesome! Compared with the IRO Mark V I had been racing for a year this bike is significantly lighter, more aggressive, and stiffer…all amounting to a much faster feeling bike. Feels very responsive to standing efforts and despite having somewhat heavy stock wheels it spins up very fast.

Summary

Monday April 6th through Sunday April 12th, 2008.

Monday

Rest day

Tuesday

After 30 minutes of warmup/tempo at the polo fields I did my first GGP of the year, got dropped after the first real lap per usual but hopped back in a got some solid efforts in. Did some more tempo and cool down after for ~2hrs of good riding.

Wednesday

Recovery via commute.

Thursday

Planned M2, changed plans to longer mellow outdoors base type ride, slept in so nothing happened. Bogus.

Friday

Recovery via commute.

Saturday & Sunday

Originally planned on racing at Hellyer on Saturday, but with Easter Sunday Ashley and I had too much work/HW to do. Bummer.