me on a bike

The long-delayed and reluctantly written race report for the Pilarcitos Stage Race
3/27-28/04
Category: elite 4
Field: 47

Stage 1 - Mountain TT
Conditions: mid 60s, slight tailwind
Teammates: Sebe, Bob, Mike H.
Distance: 19 miles
Result: 33rd

I found across this race online after a weekend when I had to get up at 3:30 to make it to a race in the central valley. I went looking for something close to home.

The race was really well organized. All riders met up a Pilarcitos HS near Half Moon Bay and rode a promenade out to the start ramp (yes, they had a ramp!) a few miles away. We went off at 30 second intervals. All ther turns were very well marked, and they even had signs on the climbs to let you know about how far along you were.

The course started with a few miles of rollers with a slight uphill trend until it hit the first climb. It was a 6-8 minute climb, and not too steep. I saw my 30 second man up ahead of me on the hill. I almost caught him by the top, but after we went over the top, he disappeared. But I caught him again on the flat

On the second hill I turned and saw 3-4 guys coming up behind me. This hill was again 6-8 minutes worth of climbing, but had a steep part that I had trouble with in my 39-23 (how many times do I have to write that before I get that changed?). One AV guy flew past me.

There were a few sketchy corners, including one hair pin near the end where there were like 5 marshalls very seriously encouraging you to SLOOOW DOWN. The turn was wet and muddy, and I went around it at about 5 mph and still skidded, but stayed upright. Teammate Mike H. (started two minutes back) caught me on the run into the finish. I yelled encouragement, and he also yelled encouragement to me, and I ended up finding something more in the tank and keeping up with him to the line.

I was reasonably pleased with the ride, even though my placing wasn't great, I felt I had gone ok. I could have used more of a warmup.

Stage 2 - ITT
Conditions: mid 60s, tailwind
Teammates: Sebe, Bob, Mike H.
Distance: 11k
Result: 43rd

Course was slightly up for 3 miles, then a quick up& over then slightly down for 3 miles.

I thought I would do well in this race, but I didn't. By the time I got into a rhthym, it was over. The finish seriously snuck up on me, cause I thought we had about 3 more miles. That was my stupid mistake, and I left way too much in the tank. I was caught by both my 30sec and 60 sec men.

Stage 3 - Crit
Conditions: low 70, slight wind
Teammates: Sebe, Bob, Mike H.
Distance: 45 mins
Result: off the back early and 38th

I got off to a bad start, not being able to click into my pedal at the starting line-- what a lameass. I was instantly on the back trying to hang on, and since the course was L-shaped with 7 turns (including a hairpin), I was getting the full accordion effect on the back. I couldn't find anywhere to move up, and soon enough I couldn't hack it anymore, got dropped & lapped, & dropped again. I stayed upright and finished.

Overall result: 39th of 47.
Teammates: Sebe 3rd, Mike 10th, Bob 18th.

I was watching Paris-Nice last week, and Bob Roll described off-season training as making a deposit into the "pain bank", so you could withdraw it later on in the season.

On Thursday, I visited the pain bank. I only had 90 minutes or so to spare, so I rode over to Bernal and did my first hill repeats of the year. I did 3 repeats of four minutes, which only got me a bit past the first stop sign. I was thinking of doing four repeats, but I went hard on my 3rd instead and cut it off there.

Saturday I visited the pain bank again on the SJBC group ride. We did our normal Uvas loop and I decided to really hit it on every hill. I was never first up the hill-- that honor will always belong to the skinny guys-- but I did a pretty good effort on every hill.

The problem with the pain bank is that it hurts when you withdraw as well as when you deposit. On second thought, maybe that's not so much different than a real bank, where you pay them to take your money and pay them to get it back.

with some of them, anyway. Since we didn't leave for snowboarding, I was able to do the group ride. I arrived late in Saratoga but took off up hwy 9 anyway and met up with Bob, Mike H., and about 7 others at Skyline. We proceeded along Skyline to Bear Creek Rd. down to Boulder creek, then up again through Big Basin and down Highway 9.

I felt pretty good. On the last climb, I was riding 2nd of the remaining 5 when Mike caught me. He asked how I was feeling, and I don't remember what I said except that it meant 'not great'. He said, "get on my wheel." He pulled me to the top, and I was able to hang on, barely! At one point he put in a surge and I said, "thanks for the pull!" He said, stay with me, we're almost there, so I did.

Mike is now on my cool person list.

Other highlights include bombing down Bear Creek Rd. trying to catch Bob on his new Madone, and bombing down Hwy 9 into Saratoga, trying to catch Bob on his new Madone.

Chris and I finally managed to meet up for a morning ride. The last one I flaked because I was up too late with Naomi watching the Fast and the Furious. The time before that he flaked because he had gotten back too late from a Bob Marley tribute show. Both times our flakage was communicated by text message. Chris: "can not ride must sleep call you later". Me: "zzzzzzzz".

This time, neither of us flaked! We met at the Summit school and rode a nice loop Soquel-San Jose Rd. -> Soquel -> Freedom -> Eureka Canyon -> Highland Way -> Summit. First time on Eureka Cyn for me, and it was great, not too steep, hardly any traffic, and tremendous views! It helped that it was also the de-facto first day of spring. I showed up ready to ride in arm and leg warmers, but soon ended up ditching them as it got warm pretty quickly.

I think the ride came out to about 43 miles, done in 2:22, with 3000' of climbing. And I got my first farmer tan of the year.

2/29/04
Club Category: 3
Conditions: mid 50s, no wind
Field: 45 overall; 12 in cat 3.
Distance: 50 miles
Result: 7th overall; 1st in cat 3

Sunday was the last event in the SJBC winter series, a 50-mile road race (3 laps around the course).

The course is mostly rolling, with one short-but steep hill known as "The Wall" (sing it! "We don't need no triple chain-ring").


All categories race the same course at the same time, with a handicap start. The Cat 6's got like 24 minutes. The 5's got about 15. The 4's got 9 or 10. The 3's, my group, got 5:30. The 2's got about 2 minutes.

We rolled out and I guess I was expecting a leisurely start to the race, since that's usually how things start. But I hadn't taken into account the handicap factor. The fact that we had all the top riders trying to catch us made it essentially like we were in a breakaway trying to stay away for 50 miles!

So, we were off at a brisk pace, working pretty darn well, since pace-line about 12 guys. I took really quick pulls-- just on the front for 10-15 seconds then off, planning to save something for the last lap.

We caught the 4's after about 1 lap. It wrecked the orderly pace line we had going, so after a couple miles of that, Gary B. and I discussed, and then executed, an attack intended to draw some of the hangers on. It worked, and we were down to a more manageable group that started working together again.

Halfway through lap two, we heard we had about 3 minutes on the 1-2 group. That meant we still had a chance, so I kept exhorting the others to work together and pull through, but guys were getting tired, and our good rotation was gone.

Finishing up the second lap, it was clear that some guys were really starting to hurt. We'd heard we had about 1 min back, so I decided the game was up, and stopped doing any work to stay away. Surprisingly, though, we weren't caught until there were about 6 miles left, and that's when the racing really started for us.

When I saw a Bob and Mike M. catch us, I immediately got on their wheel so I wouldn't get left behind. The race got faster when they joined us, but I managed to stay in a good position near the front but out of the wind. I think Allen S. got away then.

Approaching the wall, I wanted to move up to the front. I often do this so that if I'm passed on the hill, I can afford to go at my own pace and not bury myself and still catch onto the back of the group at the top.

This time, I was near the top, and I started grinding up the hill in my too-big 39x23. But surprisingly, I was in the top 5 or 6 over the top, and we chased hard down the little descent, and, well, Wax up yer bald head, Sally, I'm in a breakaway! We were about 9 guys away with 2.5 miles left. I think we had a few hundred yards.

With about 2 miles left, I launched a pseudo attack. I was feeling out to see how my legs were, and how the bunch would react... whether they'd argue over who would chase or what. I really didn't think I'd get away, and I didn't.

This is the first time I've ever been in a real, contested finish like this, where guys attack, get reeled back, someone else goes, etc. It was thrilling! And really, really hard!

We hit the final hill and I didn't have much left, but I managed to stay close to the front group and crossed the line for 7th. I haven't seen the results yet, but I'm pretty sure I was the top cat3 rider. Felt great to be in a breakaway with the top guys, to contest a finish and to get a good result.