Blvd Cat 4 race report 2/2/08
 

Rolled out of G'dale at 5am made Campo by 7:20, 27 degrees and the wind was starting to pick up. I cut my warm up short as I was getting colder not warmer! It was about 31 degrees at roll out.


This was my first race in Cali and what a fun fun race Blvd is. I think I had more fun today than in any race I've ever done. It was cold and windy but the course was just awesome. It starts off on a slight downhill with a few rollers. Then it kicks into a full blown 40+mph decent for about 6-7 miles. Then we turn right into a 4 mile stair step climb then another right into the finish climb of about 4 miles.
We had a field of 87 guys and first lap pace was pretty easy until....we hit the finish climb. I was near the front for most of the first lap, maybe to much time. As we hit the finish climb a Helen's rider and I got on the front and put down a pretty good pace. This went on for about 1 mile when 3 guys came around us and really drilled it. This was about 5% harder than I could handle and I was barely hanging on to what was now a 40-50 man group. I started to lose contact but clawed my way back to the tail end of the group at the start finish line.
Second lap.
We really started to push the rollers and then the descent, about 2/3 way on the descent we caught the womens group. The marshal didn't neutralize them and we had to squeeze by on the right. This helps cull the field down a bit. I felt like I was starting to recover and downed a gel as we turned right to the stair step climb. About half way up I started to slip back, from third wheel to 10th then 15th then off the back. I wasn't alone there were about 8 of us who formed a grupetto as the leaders slowly pulled away. At this point I rode tempo and tried not to get dropped to far off the front. I pulled the group to the finish climb where we caught one of my teammates. My legs came back right about then and I was able to ride off from my gruppetto. I caught two more guys to finish 31st. My teammates finished 12th and 15th.

It's funny how in just a few minutes my race was really over, then a few minutes later I felt like I could have won. My power profile from the last ascent of the finish climb was 10% higher than the first lap. I ended up gaining back about 30-45sec on the leaders to finish about 45s behind. I really felt good afterwards with little fatigue in the legs and a pretty satisfied feeling with my overall performance. I feel like I'm right on track to be in top form for San Dimas.

Sounds like a great race Rojo. I'm jealous - its another month before I'll be racing.

judging from your report, i would suggest warming up more.

Hi EDR,

Glendale to Campo in 2 hrs 20 min! :eek: You must have been pretty excited about your first race in CA. ;)

Nice job. Looking forward to seeing you later in the season.

Yea it took me a little over 3 from pasadena, though we did stop and get gas.

Thanks but I know my body and I was fine.

I had this fear of getting there at like 9am and having to just get dressed and roll out. So we kinda broke the speed limit a bit ;)

I just started my build period last Monday so I'm pretty happy with my performance. This was a C priority race and I rode pretty well for the most part. I can't wait for San Dimas, that one looks like blast as well.

judging from the report he had fun, the most important part.;)

Hey Diablo,
I meant to look out for you before the race, but I was preoccupied thinking about how cold it was. I got taken down on the stair step climb on the first lap when some dude dropped his chain and swerved into me. I chased back on, and caught the group right before the final descent. I was just about DFL going into the long climb. I saw my teammate starting to make the move up the road, but couldn't get through the traffic. Teammate (Motor Tabs) ended up with 3rd, while one of the guys I carpooled with (T-Mob jersey) won it. I was supposed to stick to the teammate's wheel, but crashing derailed my plan. I pulled our group around for much of the second lap, until I rode away from them on the climb. Ended up with a disappointing 51st, but I was happy that the crash was harmless.

EDR, if you liked Boulevard you can do it again at San Diego Omnium in April. You'll also enjoy Devil's Punchbowl.

My race started at 6:50 AM. Just as the sun was coming out. For most of the race I couldn't feel my fingers, thats with full finger gloves, and my toes were numb for half an hour after the race. :eek: Thank God for a fireplace at that hotel. It was cold....
Todays crit was a complete crapshoot. Right before the start the rain really started to come down. I pulled out when I couldn't see anything in front of me, and my front wheel almost lost traction on a corner. Yes I am a wussy.

On a side note I saw TCR (I think), in Unatached Jersey. :)

:beer:
cherry broken for the year, now get ready for the next race monkey boy. ;)

This helps prove my point that recovery is damn important. Think most do intervals with too much rest between sets IMHO.

Boulevard was soooo cold. We had our team of about 20 people all huddling together to try and stay warm and we were still all shivering...

The course wasn't so bad, but the marking of the finish line was horrible. The flyer said the course was about 22 1/5 miles, so I thought I had at least a mile left when I saw the 100 meter marker. Even then I couldn't see the actual finish line, and missed overtaking a rider by an inch that I should have had. The Crit today (red trolley) was much more fun, even though it was raining.

yea the finish line was horrible. I made a note of it on the first lap and knew where to stop, but after I finished i saw at least 3 or 4 people keep on riding 100% about 40 yards past it and i had to yell at them that they were already done. Looks I got from them were kinda funny though.

We were in the same races, which school do you ride for? I'm one of the UCLA riders who was raising hell.

The crit was definitely miserable, though I actually thought the race was reasonably safe *for the conditions*. It took a few laps to get a feel for cornering in the rain but after a while I didn't think it was too bad. You're right though it was really hard to see.

I was racing for UCI. The finish line for Boulevard was very poorly marked.

I was actually suprised how well the crit went. As far as I know nobody went down in collegiate, even in the sketchy ass C's field. I could have sworn somebody was going to eat it at the manhole cover on the first turn, I almost died there on my practice lap.

Bad luck! So the T-Mob dude won it, I thought that was against USCF rules to wear a pro jersey if you aren't riding for that team...

What's your next event? I was going to skip Baker but my team wants me to do it. Baker is such an armpit.

Correct.

Great work. That fight to hang on over the climb builds so much confidence for next time. Diggin' deep :)

That guy rides for NOW-MS team, and has pretty much won everything he's entered. I don't think our officials enforce the pro jersey rule much.

I'm signed up for Baker, I'm usually better off on hillier courses, but it's long and it should be fun. I may do the CBR crits on 2/17. Come on, what do you against Baker, home of the worlds largest thermometer ;)

Ill be at Baker in the 4/5 race. Sounds like it's a hard race, should be fun.

170 mile drive. Ouch.

Thats not as bad as san diego was. Im sure ill have some that are more than that later in season. Sea Otter comes to mind if I do it.