Race Reports: Group A | Group B | Group C | Results

The weekend started with an early morning TT out on Canada Rd. Conditions were ideal with cool temperatures and a still, clear day. I had my Cervelo P3 all decked out with zipps on the front and back and spent a good half hour on the trainer before the start. In retrospect, my warmup should have been longer and harder. I started 22nd with CW starting 30sec behind me. I thought for sure he would catch me by the turn around. Down the first hill and then back up, I was having trouble putting out a maximum effort. I was wearing a HR monitor and it was showing I was only at 95%. I struggled along to the turn around and saw that Chris had only made up a couple of seconds. Maybe the knowledge revitalized my ride or maybe I finally warmed up, but I started going really well on the first climb on the way back. The second climb was more of a struggle, but my wife and father-in-law were at the top cheering. It's always nice to get that sort of support from your loved ones. The final pitch to the finish always seems a bit cruel, but I managed to sprint all the way to the line for 17:23 which was good for 3rd place and a new PR. Big Al beat me by 8 seconds. Maybe I need shoe covers? He said his computer showed 335W average which was a bit lower than he expected. Mike only one week off of an ironman took us all to school with a 16:51. Chris finished 4th at 17:34 and Earle rounded out the top 5th in 17:55.

The next event was the Saturday evening crit. The course is about as easy as you can get though it was quite windy which made it tough to be on the front. I had three other people helping me and our strategy was to prevent Mike or Daryl from getting any time bonuses. At the half way point, Greg B went to the front for the whole lap with me right on his wheel. At the final corner, I ducked to the inside and went for the bonus. A little too soon for me, but I managed to hold off Daryl at the line and took the bonus. The effort however was too much to recover from and I told Chris that he would need to go for the finish bonus. Shortly after, a trio composed of Daryl, Phil, and someone else took off and got a 15sec or so lead. The three were a dangerous combination and after a few laps, I and a couple others started chasing. We managed to eventually bring them back and started getting ready for the finish. Craig went first and pulled off on corner three. Too soon! I took the long, into the wind straight and started to falter right before the final turn. Ideally, I would have liked to have made it around the corner, sprinting full speed. As soon as I slowed, someone jumped and Chris covered. Bob knew which wheel he wanted and stayed right behind Chris until he sprinted by at the finish for the win. Daryl took an impressive 3rd which was pretty good considering how many laps he stayed off the front.

The plan for Sunday's road race was for Greg to try for the hill bonuses and to drop Mike on Sycamore the second time around. Then the overall victory would be decided between the three of us based on the finish line bonusus. So much for planning. Right at the start, two people rolled off the front, nobody chased them down, and one of them took the first 10sec bonus. Even though there was no bonus, Chris decided to attack the first time up the wall, but then negated his advantage by sitting up on the downhill. The second lap was uneventful and after Sycamore hill I somehow rolled off the front. Daryl and Bob were sitting on my wheel and once I finally looked back, we seemed to have at least a 30sec gap. Bob had an unfortunate flat and I ended up pulling Daryl along for a few miles until Phil and Todd bridged across. Little did I know that there was some motor-pacing involved in the bridge. The four of us rode along, not all that fast, but enough to stay away. By the time we got to the wall I was pretty much cooked. Daryl built up a 15sec gap as he sprinted for the bonus. Luckily neither Todd nor Phil went up the wall any faster than me. If they had, I have to imagine they could have helped Daryl stay away and win the overall. After the wall, I chased all the way to Uvas Rd where I finally caught Daryl. We then moseyed on to the finish and were suprised by Chris bridging up right at the base of the dam. Maybe we shouldn't have been suprised because of our slow pace. He was completely gassed, couldn't sprint up the dam, and ended up taking 4th. I managed 3rd with Daryl taking the win and Todd taking 2nd. Still, I had enough of a buffer over Daryl from the TT that I ended up with the overall victory.

Thanks to Gary and everyone else for putting on a great weekend. Also a special thanks to Howie and others for all their hard work getting sponsors for the club.

~~sebe

no report.

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Nothing to say about the TT since it's an individual thingy.

Criterium - The plan was for the group to ride 10 laps with a 10 second prem at lap #5. The group included all levels of racers, some even first time crit racers. Daryl mentored the group for the first 5 laps and with his guidance everyone was able to stay off the deck. The headwind on the backside kept most of the attacks in check except for the prem and the finish. The prem was contested by 3 people, with Scott Lewis taking it by a wheel. On the final lap, Benson Ng did a great backside in-to-the-wind pull. As we headed towards the last curve, a vicious attack appeared from the inside. Both Benson and Scott followed with Paul Lopez and Kim Taylor close behind. That generated a good gap, which help limit the number of riders vying for the win. The leadout slowed just before the final turn, with Benson and I now in the final sprint. It was titanium over carbon as Benson nipped me by a bike length. Benson's a very strong sprinter, one who I've yet to beat and as I saw his shadow slowly gain ground on me as we approached the finish, today would be no different.

Uvas RR - Paul Lopez had the points lead but couldn't make the RR so we begin the ride with Benson 6 seconds up on me. The C group started 1 minute behind the Bs but we closed that gap within 2 minutes. The Bs seem to be soft pedaling and the Cs were riding the trailing cars bumper all the way to Edmondson. The Bs picked it up at that point and gave the Cs some room to race. Just prior to the S curve, another strong attack hit many by surprise but by the end of the S curve, we had nuetralized the move. Everyone knew we were approaching "the wall" so it was my plan to pick up the pace early, get momentum into the wall, and try to power my way up until I burned out. Hopefully, burn out would occur after the top! I was leading till midway up the hill, all the while hearing continual gear changes right behind me. He was close, real close. I tried pushing harder on the pedals and it was a good feeling to actually feel by legs responding to my mental orders. Three quarters of the way up things were quieter so with a quick look back I could see I was 30 meters or so ahead of the second place rider. (I heard afterwards that Anthony Spano was the third fastest C up the wall -- way to go Anthony!) Just prior to the top, I relaxed for about 2 seconds then realized that I'd generated a nice, big gap so it was heads down, into the drops for the descent, trying to increase my gap as much as possible. I didn't look back until half way down Watsonville road and couldn't see anyone in site. From there, it was a solo to the finish. For me, pushing hard up the wall, taking the lead, and then soloing to a victory was a real thrill, something I have seen multiple time on OLN (Giro, TdF, Vuelta) but never experienced, that is, until Sunday!

Scott

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