2013 Little City Stage Race - Pro 1/2

Little City Stage Race (actually an Omnium)

Pro1/2 field of 25 rolling solo for SquadraSF. While many teammates were up North at an Epic stage race in Oregon, I chose to do a pretty low key event Stage Race and visit my Aunt/Uncle who live about 10min from all 3 stages. Despite the weather forecast it was an awesome 2-day event just a few hours from the Bay Area.

Stage 1: 10mile TT

Out and back course at an elevation of 5,500ft with a gradual decent on the way out and slight headwind and false flat on way back. I went off at 11:30am and it was already in the 90s. I did my best not to overdue it on the way out and try to pick it up a bit on the way back. I ended up gaining on the two ahead of me which was promising, and feel I paced it pretty well considering the altitude and heat. Clocked a 20:52 good enough for 15th and 3 omnium points.

Stage 2: 60min Crit

Pretty fun 6 corner crit. Our start was at 3pm and it was well over 100degrees for this race. They started the race off with 3 hot laps for $100, $75, then $50. Unfortunately, due to the dry heat my contacts completely dried out waiting at the start line so I had to sit off the back due to lack of vision and blink repeatedly for these "hot laps." The omnium scoring makes for interesting tactics. I played it pretty conservative and just sat in the bunch waiting for dangerous moves to form. About half way through the race two Chris & Nate (Marc-Pro), Pete (Cliff Bar), and Vincent Owens are up the road. The pack was clearly unsure if they should chase. All those guys are motors and Chuck was happy to let them go since Chris was 2nd on GC and Carling had missed the move. I was pretty confident this move would stick.

The gap stayed at 10-15 seconds for a few laps then Brite-Sport puts a few guys on the front, I get on the wheel of their last rider. I knew as soon as he was done the pack would loose it's organization and motivation once again, so as soon as pulls off I jump hard from the front and go all in to bridge across. It took almost a full lap, but I just barely made it. WOW the heat makes it hard to recover, I was on the limit for a few laps, but slowly began to come around and helped my break-mates. The 5 of us stay away until the finish, Chris H-D attacks after I take a pull with 1.5laps to go. I could not immediately respond, Nate waits, I try to jump across, but fear of getting swarmed by my companions limits my commitment and I swing off about half way across to Chris. Pete takes over and does one hell of a leadout almost shutting down the gap. Chris just holds off our group, I open up the sprint out of the last corner but Nate beats me by a wheel. Considering the heat and bridge effort I am pretty happy with 3rd Place, netting a bunch of omnium points and moving up to 8th on GC. Of course now it is so easy to look back and ask "what if I fully committed to jump across to Chris" but should-a, could-a, would-a.

Stage 3: 66mile Road Race

11mile loop with two short power climbs and long false flat drag w/ crosswinds towards finish. Again heat was the biggest challenge. The course is hard, but I was more worried about the heat. I started with ice in my jersey pockets and grabbed partially frozen bottles each lap which were a life saver. Again omnium tactics would dictate the race. At the end of Lap 2 attacks were coming hard and fast. I marked several dangerous ones but everything was coming back. Then when I decide to mark a few less to save some matches sure enough one goes that includes, Chuck (Marc-Pro), Trafton (TMB), and Pete (Cliff). I still remember being near the front when the gap was still bridgable (much smaller gap than in yesterday's crit), but for some reason I didn't commit. This was probably my biggest mistake of the entire weekend. Since Brite-Sport and a few other teams missed the move I thought it would be coming back, but I was wrong after our slow decent they already had 3minutes, it was clear the break with motors like that was gone.

For some reason I was marked extremely close and any attempts over the final laps to get away with a few others were shut down. On the last lap, the field was now racing for 5th since Dave Mesa was allowed to slip away on the previous lap. The last time up the climbs my legs started to lock up, the pace was nothing crazy, but the heat had finally gotten to me. Instead of pushing them until they completely locked up (that could have been the smartest or 2nd worst decision of the day) I backed off the gas and had to finish the last 5miles solo crossing the line in 16th just behind the "field" which had really slowed down and seemed to be doing match sprints and track stands near the finish.

Results:

Overall I ended up 11th in Omnium, not exactly what I had hoped but glad I grabbed 3rd in the Crit. The road race built some character for sure and gives me a upper limit of what kind of temperatures I can handle. The omnium scoring does suit me much better than a normal stage race and the courses were great so if the weather is in the 80s next year I will be there for sure.

2013 Foothill College Circuit Race - pro 1/2

Race: Foothill College Circuit Race P12

Course: 60min and description per promoters webpage, "Course is a clock-wise 1.09 mi. loop around Foothill College campus, on good, clean pavement. 60 feet of climbing per lap. Start/Finish on top of hill at the pedestrian bridge."this will be relevant later ;)

Teammates: Tim L., Sean S., Carmi, Matt A., Lee P, Jesse C., Pablo E. and myself. Awesome crew!

Results: http://instagram.com/p/bxbFOxlRAp/#

2nd - James, 7th - Lee,  top 15 for Matt (forgot to get a photo of the results)

How it went down: Over 40 riders showed up at the start line, Lots of solo heavy hitters, and several squads such as Leopard-Sapporo & Lombardi having a handful of riders. Our plan was to be active, we better be we had a lot of guys in this race! Pretty open ended plan of marking moves and making sure we have someone in every move, with Matt & myself (if my legs had any snap in them today) being our sprinters if it came down to a field sprint.

Early: Riders took a lap or two to get the lay of the land and then it was pretty much attack after attack. SquadraSF was simply in every move that mattered. If we somehow missed it which was race someone would either bridge to it or tighten the screws at the front and let the pack real them in. This was a great display of our strength, Natalie (my wife) was on the sidelines watching and said the announcer was always mentioning SquadraSF and that we ALWAYS had someone in the move! Having so many teammates being active was great, I could follow an attack that made sense based on my location in the pack relative to my teammates and how gassed I was at the time. I honestly can say every single rider on our crew was up the road at some point. Made my racing less nervous and tactics much easier.

All the early moves were brought back quickly since the race was pretty much full gas, but after the mid-point you could tell that people were getting tired the pace would let up more often, This couldn't have happened at a better time because all of my early moves were brought back pretty quick and I would be immediately sent to the back of the pack to lick my wounds. A little demoralized I decided to continue simply marking moves and told Matt he is our guy for the Sprint.

Final Break: With about 7 to go, Rob S. (Fremont Bank) and another rider are given a bit of a leash on the first hill, I move up knowing they have some firepower and bridge across over the finish hill. Next time up the hill the other rider gets popped and I give some encouraging words to Rob saying we got a pretty big gap lets go for it. After a lap or two the gap is about the same but Rob Evans (BearDev) bridged solo. The three of us work together pretty well, we can hear time checks over the loudspeaker, ranging from 10-20seconds, about one turn ahead of the pack. My teammates did a amazing job patrolling the front, Natalie recalls seeing Lee & Carmi on the front clearly holding thier ground up there but riding a false tempo. Word on the street is Pat Briggs brought it back almost within reach on the final lap then handed it over to anyone else and everyone just looked at each-other for that split second.

Finale: About that same time, I had just done a final hard pull up the main climb and try to get Rob or Rob to take the final decent. They hesitate, I give some more encouragement that they are right on our tail and gonna catch us if we mess around. So Rob takes the decent and I jump on his wheel, Evans on mine. I jump hard at the bottom of the decent and start the long sprint to the "start/finish on top of hill at the pedestrian bridge", I have the inside line and legs have some pop left in them and am able to spin it up pretty good... fly under the pedestrian bridge where the finish was in 2011 & 2012 with Evans still behind me, I stop pedaling after passing the pedestrian bridge thinking the race is over, sit straight up, and throw an arm up. Announcer even calls it that I won, then I realize Evans is still going full gas and his front wheel just passes mine at the 2nd tent which happened to be the one with the finish line and camera 50m past the initial tent and pedestrian bridge. OHH NO I DID NOT JUST DO THAT.....YES I DID, luckily it wasn't much farther than the old finish line so my momentum carried me fast enough to still only miss the win by less than one wheel, but SHIT that is one hard lesson. Happy with 2nd Place for sure but it definitely not a WIN that was almost in my pocket. Don't assume anything and pay attention to important details such as where the finish line tape it.

Anyways the pack was literally on our heels, Tim was leading out Matt and got boxed in. Lee freelanced his way to 4th in the field good enough for 7th Place with Matt just a little farther back somewhere in the top 10 or so in the field sprint. Again SquadraSF was by far the most active team and was mentioned more than any other team during the race. Despite my finish line location F-up I think it was a victory for the team as a whole. Natalie watched the whole thing and was really impressed by the entire SquadraSF crew!

Amateur Tip: Primes are a great way to open up the legs, test the final sprint, and practice your line for the final sprint. Going for a prime earlier would have been a perfect place to make my mistake.

Data Geek Info: Strava File - http://app.strava.com/activities/67179655
Time: ~60min
Distance: ~26mi
Elevation Gain: 1840ft
Power: 285w NP w/ 235w Ave.

Final Break was ~15min w/ 308w NP & 296w Ave

2013 Watsonville Crit - Pro 1/2

Race: Watsonville Crit P12

Course: 58 lap = 35miles on Technical course! Almost always setting up for a turn, the one long straight was into a headwind. Discription per VeloPromo, "0.75 mile loop of smooth pavement, with many turns, dips at the corners and a small hill to the finish line."

Teammates: Tim & Sean.

Results: http://instagram.com/p/bwjY2zFROZ/

2nd - James, 8th - Sean, 10th - Tim

NOTE these guys sacrificed their result to ensure I was guaranteed 2nd and I could focus on going for the W.

How it went down: About 20 riders showed up at the start line, Cal Giant had Tobin & Eamon, Brandon Trafton was solo for TMB, Zipz had three but were on the 2nd race of the day. So it was clear Cal Giant and SquadraSF would be dictating the race.

Early: Sean and Tim were active early marking moves as I got the hang of the course. I had heard how technical it was so kinda eased my way into the course to dial it in. Brandon, Tobin, and Jan (Zipz) and a few other riders were anxious to get things started off fast so the first few laps were pretty damn hard and actually dropped a few riders. After things settled down a bit I moved my way up and it was clear that Brandon was either going to be in a break or he would be the first to bring it back. After many different combinations, finally I the pack letting Jan, Tobin, Brandon, Chris (Don Chapin), & myself get a gap. So with Cal Giant, Zipz, & Squadra represented I was pretty confident we could stay away if we wanted. Everyone worked hard to establish a gap, but we never got into a really good rhythm, one guy would attack, someone skip a pull due to the attack, or then someone would be upset about how much work others we doing.

Break: After dealing with the dysfunctional break for sometime, Chris was gone, Tobin hits it hard, I jump hard out of one of the corners to close it and Jan and Brandon look at each other. Jan was riding like a machine and just won the 35+ race a few hours earlier, and Brandon, I guess wanted to take Jan out of the break and jump back across. So I give Tobin and I just ride our limit and soon the two behind disappear. With about 10 to go we catch the pack, Tobin had attacked me when the pack was in a bridgeable distance. I was not about to let the race get away from me so I dug as hard as I could to get the the field. Eamon went to the front to try to make that junction a little tougher and Sean and Tim drop back a bit motivation and make sure I make contact and get out of that wind!

I anticipated this race being about 70min, but we were 70min in and still had 10 laps to go! I had been on the verge of cramping in my left calf. Tim & Sean keep me protected and let me recover a bit as Tobin and Eamon go off the front again! Tim and Sean rotate hitting the front to keep the Cal Giants in check and make sure Brandon & Jan don't catch onto the field.

Finale: Eamon takes it from 3 laps to go, Tobin 2nd me 3rd wheel. Unfortunately my legs were on their limit and anytime we really punched it my legs would start to seize. Tim and Sean on my wheel keeping others from swarming making the finale of the race the least stressful part of the whole event. The sprint opens up exiting the final corner and up the hill, all I could do was sit in Tobin's slipstream and cross 3rd or 4th in the field good enough for 2nd Place. Sean gets 3rd or 4th in the field after taking care of me all day which is good enough for 8th, Tim just behind in 10th.

I gotta say having strong, savvy teammates, really makes tactics and racing less stressful. When I needed a breather early, they would be marking the moves, when I was up the road, they were on the front patrolling, then in the finale the shepherded me to Tobin's wheel, hoping I would have the legs to jump him in the corner and take the Win, kinda bummed I couldn't finish it off for them, but really happy with the result. When I crossed the line and got off the bike my back seized up. So I think it is safe to say I left it all out there.

Sorry for the long report, but wanted to share how great it was having a small yet organized team out there kicking ass.

Data Geek Info: Strava File - http://app.strava.com/activities/66914779
Time: ~90min
Distance: ~38mi
Elevation Gain: 750ft
Power: 273w NP w/ 247w Ave.....OUCH which set a new power PR for 60-90min