bostongarden

There's Beast of the East, Best in the West. What are monsters called in the Midwest? Heart of the Land?

SalsaPodio

The IA RR and TT champ from last year was behind me, and some other strong guys, but no pros. Considering I started racing two years ago, I'm happy with me progress.

tombailey

Black Hills Circuit Race - 4/5
10 x 1.3 mile laps with a 45-60s hill each lap.
Wasn't sure I'd hold on for 10 reps of the hill but the pace was manageable. BNot much happened during the race. The end was chaotic and I went from about 20th to near the fron the last time up the hill as people blew up. Didn't know where I'd ended up but knew it was top-10. Officials messed-up the finish and did there best guess work. Gave me 7th which seemed reasonable. Post-race video shows I was 6th. So I missed out on 1 upgrade point. Boo-hoo.

saratoga

Race of the West- M30/40... finished just behind what was left of the field. Fought cramps on every little roller after making the left turn at the top of the hill on Dewey Robbins after the second feed.



Was this you? I saw the tandem and thought about stopping by to say hello, but no one was around when I was packing up to get the hell outta there.

merlinextraligh

yep, that's us. We road the Horrible hundred route Saturday on the Tandem.

kensuf

My friend Phil won some race out in California.

echappist

yeah, i saw that. Monster performance beating out that ex-cheater Mancebo

MDcatV

he didnt come back to defend his prestigious Black Hills Circuit Race title from 2011. that's bush league man. we missed him.

MDcatV

salsa, respect. that's really awesome.

MDcatV

that's a tough little race. i got 8th in the 35+, then in the 123 i got caught behind a crash on the 4th time up the hill. i had to stop, put my foot down, and restart on 10% grade, the field was going angry fast at that point, i couldnt catch back on.

tombailey

Yep. Last year I dropped my chain first time up the hill. Chased for 4 laps killing myself and couldn't get back on. The back side seems so easy in the group, but it's hard work by yourself.

PedroH

RE: Lennar Homes Cycling Cup -- I think you jumped on my wheel after I initiated an attack near the half-way point of the race. Were you wearing an orange kit and riding a Cervelo S1? I was in a green/black kit. I think my move was a little foolhardy. I was feeling pretty good, so I decided to try and make things interesting; however, I'm not sure I should have jumped when I did. It seemed a little too early in the race and into a decent headwind, which wore me down a bit. I limped in to the finish, OTB, after that. Oh well, I still had a great time at the race! I'm fairly new at racing and am learning a lot with every event I attend.

Were you in town for Spring break/vacation?

kleinboogie

I like both of the courses below. Every race and event is a learning experience. The fog, not so much. Water was rolling off my helmet onto my glasses which along with the fog almost made the road disappear. Picture links below.

Sat. Rosena Ranch Circuit Race Cat 5A (3.7 mile course, out and back) - Fog moved in on the 3rd lap which was interesting (pics at link below). Pretty uneventful for most of the race except one rider slid on the gravel on the 2nd turn which they eventually cleaned up. I was 3rd on the final turn then tried a move way too far out. The final uphill is deceptively long. Finished 19th. Promised myself I'd be more patient on Sunday. I saw or heard of 4 crashes that day, mostly on the straight finish. The road was huge so that was just people not paying attention.

Sun. Redlands Classic Cat 5 - Somewhat technical course. First turn is a doozie. Crash on lap 11 about 50m from the start/finish, yup on the straightaway. I had skidded to almost stop (4mph) and of course the front group sprinted away. I passed a lot of guys while I was trying to catch back on which I did 2 laps later. The officials neutralized the race until they could get the riders off the course. 0.65 mile course made for quick laps. Then they did something weird with the lap count and we went from ~5 to go to 9 laps left. I'm still not sure what happened but I eventually ended up 12th (PB so happy about that).

https://picasaweb.google.com/116369284658389121688 (look for 2012 Redlands and 2012 Rosena).


Congrats.

sdgrannygear

Klein, can you please upgrade to 4? we need a (consistent) race photographer for the 4s, your significant other would have the title all to her self.

agoodale

Nice pics in there. I wish you had stayed around for cat 3.

Rosena Ranch Circuit Race - Cat 3

I very much enjoyed this new course. Hard enough to make it a challenge but not a course where the climbers could get away. Our team road well and got a man in an early 2 man break. They dangled in front of us for a lap until several riders attempted to bridge. We covered a few of the moves but eventually 2 men were able to make it up there to join them. I had a chance to go with them but choose not to thinking that the break needed at least 4 to stay away but if 2 of 5 were from the same team the field may chase it down. Discussing it with teammates afterwards they gave me the green light to go for it next time. Good to know.

Felt surprisingly strong the rest of the race to the point that I was actively resting waiting for a big effort that never came. For the field sprint we had been given good advice to be patient because the final big ring climb is deceptively long. I waited & waited & then ended up waiting too long from too far back. I passed so many riders that had blown up I had to pause at least twice to find a safe way around them. Came across the line with another 50m in the tank and 4 slowing riders just a bike length ahead. Result 14th. 10th in the field sprint which is my best result this season. Next time on this course I'll start my sprint much earlier (or make the break).

Cleave

Hi kleinboogie,

Thanks for the link to the photos. There is one particularly awkward looking photo of me and a couple of shots of our field sprint that is very informative for me.

I generally liked the course, especially the uphill finish. I was feeling pretty good throughout and did something like agoodale (starting my sprint from too far back) but I timed my effort a bit better and managed 5th in the field sprint (for 55+) and 7th overall.

merlinextraligh

Some people have been know to fall over into the pile in this situation. just sayin.

kleinboogie

sdgrannygear - I thought about sticking around for the Redlands Cat 4 as I had a few teammates in it but the family and I were pretty much done. If you meant Rosena, I have a lot of video from that race.

agoodale. Sorry for bailing, same reason above. I'll plan better. My ez-up, a hat and a chair for starters. I have pics of the line-up if you want that. Quick look at the video, which was running all day, I got the first 2 or 3 laps so I'll put that together and get it on youtube.

Cleave. yw.

Guys, since I probably don't recognize you send me your team and/or bib #s (or pic number and which rider you are) and I'll see if we have more of you. We took over 2,000 photos and 4+ hours of video. Many of the photos I posted have 6-10 other pics as a sequence and I just posted what I thought was the most interesting, but not necessarily most informative.

For the record, when I'm riding my wife runs camera. It's not until afterwards that I get the video going and if she's tired I'll get photographs to but that's rare.

Cheers.

zitter

Can you see if she has any coverage of the 4's? I had had a lot of time off the front.

kleinboogie

Guess we should do private messages so we don't clog up the thread. zitter, PM sent.

carpediemracing 

Cat 3-4 race at Bethel. I wasn't feeling it, tiny group (44 racers), it was wet but not raining, and I felt it'd be best to work for my teammate that won the first week. Bridged to a break. Apparently everyone thought I read a winning move because I think I brought up 35 riders to the 7 or so rider break. I almost came off when the group came back together and my teammate scolded me for doing anything, told me to sit and wait for the finish.

Then my teammate broke away 2x, trying to bridge to the race winning breaks. One attempt had a yellow jersey teammate sitting on (which was expected, and the other guy didn't pull at all, which is correct). One attempt he went solo.

Another teammate went with an attacker but got caught just before the sprint.

I had a good sprint but it only netted me 7th. But I finally sprinted well, first time in two years.

I sat out the P123 race. No desire. I had a wake to go to after the race, the funeral today. I did walk around with the family, it was nice. A teammate won the Cat 4 race solo (and no gifts either) while the family was out on the course. We stopped at the site and talked and reminisced and such. Other teammates were there too, they just stopped there after the Cat 4 race. It was really good.

seejohnbike

Collegiate mens C racing in Jersey this weekend:
Saturday: Road race (basically a circuit) - as previously mentioned, a 4.4ish mile loop, with ~300 ft climb early on - the rest of the C's did 5 laps, I did 4.1 ish... at the beginning of the last lap, just before the hill, there was a lull in the pace as everyone expected attacks going up the hill. In doing so, everyone started to get antsy/tried to jockey for position. I think someone just in front of me got sandwiched between two other guys - there was a bump, a wobble, and another bump, and before I knew it, they went down, taking others with them. I was in the middle of the pack, just behind the guy who went down on the right. A total of 6 guys went down, myself included. For nothing but general C field squirrelyness.... At the time I stayed very calm about it, went and got checked out by the EMTs, etc etc. However, the more I think about it, the less enthused I am with the situation... (also related to sunday's racing, though). Anyway, between last season and this one, this is my first crash while racing. So, good that I got that out of the way...

EDIT: also, bike was pretty much OK! Whee! Just scuffed my shifter levers a bit, and ripped my bar tape a little. Considering how badly that could have ended for the bike (or me), I'm very relieved that I only got what I got...

Sunday:
TT - 4.6 or so mile uphill TT. No fun. I'm not much of a TTer, nor a climber, and especially not an uphill TTer. I don't think I paced myself well enough nor went hard enough - started out a bit to hard, requiring too much recovery mid course, but didn't feel like dieing when crossing the finish. Lucky, my power meter (Quarq! so excited!) gets in this week, so I'll have hard data for TTs and the like...

'Circuit race' (basically a crit) - 1.5 mi course, 2 real corners, one sort of chicane (sweeping left into a sweeping right) one small bump (50ish foot rise) just before finish. At race pace, it was a totally fun course - fast, and with enough room to maneuver. In a big pack, less so. Things went well until the final lap - until then, I was just sitting in, straight chillin, hoping for a decent finish. On the final lap, there was a crash at the first turn, which seemed to make the pack a bit nervous. (real low speed, looked like two people got tangled, and one of them high-sided over his bike. When he landed on the ground he was like 'Oh COME ON!' or something like that, and smacked the ground. A bummer for him, but a little comical to watch considering he was ok.) Then, the pace lulled on the back stretch (into a headwind), as everyone expected attacks/sprints over the hill to the finish. In doing so, like the day before, everyone got super tight together, and antsy/tried to advance at once. There were at least 3 near misses amongst other people - bumps, wobbles, clanks of parts tapping other parts (I definitely heard a pedal clip a frame or spokes or something. A kid from UVM took a pedal to the shin or something, and was limping afterward. Stuff like that) super f**king sketchy. Each time, the pack would sit up a bit and let things calm down, but as soon as the situation settled, everyone would go right back to trying to move up at the same time, into the same spaces, etc. I sat up and didn't really try to advance, not wanting to repeat the events from the day before. Once the pace kicked up over the last hill, things spread out as was expected, and I got around 30th. :/

Yeah, yeah... It's all a part of bike racing in the lower categories. But, now I am SUPER driven to get faster faster, and get the hell out of the Cs. Also, I've been developing my list of riders to watch, and already have a good idea of who to steer clear of in the meantime.

allawayr

After that crit, I wouldn't be surprised if I was on that list...

mattm

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nice

Racer Ex 

Bittersweet chocolate. I've no doubt the family appreciated what you did there.