beatlebee 

Dang Fat Boy nice!

Thanks echappist.

Fat Boy

The schwag plays out like this:

Spinergy Xyclone wheelset $900 list
MiniNewt 350 USB headlight ~$110 on Jenson
Crank Bros. Multi-tool ~$60

They were doing the raffle and you had to be there to win. A lot of '6-hour race' people had already gone home. So if someone didn't claim the prize, they'd put the next item on the pile and do it again. I couldn't believe my luck.

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I didn't mention this before, but each lap had about 1375' of climbing, so I was pretty close to a 14,000' day of climbing.

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There was a lot of teams riding. One class is called the 'Salty Dog' class where the combined age of your team has to be at least 180 years. At the podium presentation one of the teams that went up was _reeking_ of smoke. They walked through the crowd next to me and a couple guys I was talking to. One of them was like, "Whoa...". I said, "Hey, we're racing mountain bikes, right?"

Those guys looked like they were having a blast.

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I was just looking at the lap times. I guess through the first few laps I was swapping the lead back and forth with the guy that came in second. After 4 hours I had regained the lead, but we were only separated by about a minute and a half. I started pulling my gap after that.

mattm

Nice work fb! Sounds like a helluva a race.

Nice work!

Tough race, and definitely crashy.. funny there was a restart in your race, same thing happened to me in 2010 in the 4/5's (when I won it).

echappist

would be hilarious if they got tested

personally, i'd smoke a joint after going up a mountain so many times, though i'd prefer it in a brownie form

mattm

Clean Air Crit in Salinas, CA - cat 2/3's.

Lapped the field in a break, ended up 2nd... mother****er!!!

It felt great to finally lap a field, even if it was a small field of 15 or so riders.. a low-key event to be sure. Gotta start somewhere I guess.

One guy took off about 10 minutes in while I was on the front, I jumped and chased. Another guy chased me. Eventually we caught the guy up front, and two of us worked our asses off making it stick. Guy that started the break wouldn't work at all, which was really annoying but whatevs. He kept saying he promised his team he wouldn't do any work if the break stuck.. not sure why you'd start a break and then try to axe it but ok let's go.

After about 30 minutes we caught the field, which was probably being blocked by the wheel-sucker's team that made up almost half of the field. Visions of that "tactics after lapping the field" thread were flying around in my head, especially after we caught them and wheel-sucker's team mates started trying to help him get away again.

I was glued to his wheel, there was no getting away, which he tried a few times. Fast-forward to the last lap, he got a nice little leadout from teammies and though I thought I had him beat in the field sprint, but we took 1-2 with him ahead by half a bike-length. DAMN.

climber7

purgatory RR, cat 3 - 5 laps/55 miles. got my ass kicked. legs were ok but my head wasn't really in it, and i didn't know the course, so i was a little nervous early in the race. on the first two laps, i was tailgunning and getting gapped on the long, fast descent, so i had to chase back both times after that. and then everyone hammered the short, steep climb at the end of the lap, so i had to chase back both times after that too. third and fourth laps were ok and my position was a little better. last lap, made it until the base of the climb (probably <1 mile from the finish) and legs were done. there were a couple of short-lived breakaways but it all came back together before the finish.

hope dnuzzomueller posts, though - didn't meet him but it looks like he got 3rd. awesome! that was a hard and fast race.

hack

I was lucky enough to race in the 5's before it got above 100'. The hills killed me and I fell off the back changing it into a "just finish" instead of a "race" for me. I couldn't imagine racing out there later in the day. Little to no wind and temps up as high as 112, no good at all.

Tavish

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks so here is the most depressing recap of racing ever. I cried over the capital and MoE loss!

Mutual of Enumclaw (MoE) Stage Race - Cat 3
TT - I did absolutely terrible, went out to fast on my road bike and was severely disappointed with the TT, so I had to make up ground if I wanted overall

Crit - They stopped the Crit midway through because of a bad crash.

RR- To begin MoE has a weird course for the first 5- 6 miles of each loop it is flat then you climb up mud mtn, a pretty easy climb then you descend into town (a 4 mile descent that is pretty gradual with a headwind).

On the 1st of 5 laps I accidentally road off the front hoping to establish a breakaway of 5 or so but no one held my wheel so I put in about 8 miles solo hoping someone would come along then I sat up and got back in the pack that as chasing me. On the second lap I dropped alot of food out of my pocket! 3rd lap I ATTACKED and went solo developing a 45sec gap on the climb and skipped the feed zone. 4th lap it grows to 1:30 and I am hurting. 5th lap I am dehydrated and bonking and am regretting missing the feed zone. Meanwile every descent I have to spin like mad with my compact crankset just so I don't get caught. I am spinning out and my eyes are crossing. I see them chasing hard and I hope I can hold on. 800m from the line after 32miles solo I get caught. I think if I would've grabbed food and had a double I would've won....

Capital Stage Race - Cat 3
TT - Went out way too fast and kinda blew up, with non aero jersey no shoe covers or disk taking 6th in the TT.... about 12 sec back
Crit - I launched a attack at the same time as another guy right as a teammate of mine had been caught. We were about 12 laps out from the finish. I manage to ride with the guy and ended up riding him off my wheel and rode 11 laps solo getting up to a 15 sec gap. Then right before the bell lap about 1.2k from the line I went into a corner to hot with some bad pavement and CRASH. I cant get up and going because my rear derailleur was bent into my wheel and I am bleeding profusely. If I wasn't so greedy for time I would've won the crit and overall.

RR - nothing stuck and everyone rode like girls that had never ridden 90 miles, whenever something mightve worked no one would pull through or they would goto th front of a group of 3 and try with all their might but slow it ****in down. I was a leadout guy and sprinted from 350m out and managed to finagle a 6th place.

Tuesday - PR - 1/2/3 - I raced this for the first time ever and It was WET. Only 15-20 ppl showed for the race I was in. However 8 guys were from HSP and I just switched from HSP to Audi... I responded to Todd herriott's attack, steven wilsenns, and aaron shaws. Then TH comes at me again and before I know it I am in a 5 man break with 4 guys from HSP (all 1/2's) so they continually attack me and I decide to pull through (Unexperienced racer move) then David richter comes by me and I hit 1050 watts trying to respond but couldn't get on. I then chase all by myself for 3 laps and get within 50 m of getting back on, but never did I take 6th to wilsenns who sat in after the breakaway........

Ballard Crit - Made a move or two nothing stuck and my legs felt fine. I was about to attack on the last 5 laps but then as we went through the finish line and it had reached 5 laps to go, I FLATTED.....

So many uneventful weekends in a row. Hopefully with all my bad luck recently I will start a streak of goodluck.

mattm

Damn Tavish! Sorry to hear about the bad luck.. hopefully that means it's over!

forrest_m

Nice racing, Matt! I love the way you seem to go into every race thinking about how to win, not just get to the end.

Tavish - I enjoyed the reports, it sounds like you are right there and on the brink of a great result. But FFS, can't we retire the phrase "rode like a girl" already? It's the 21st century.

dnuzzomueller

THanks, Race Report incoming later.

Lets just say it was one of those days where you feel like crap starting, think about pulling out, none of your attacks work, and then things just decide to fall into place.

rkwaki

Nice work everyone. Keep it up guys, you're making an old, retired ****** proud...

echappist

+1
well done

and climber7, good job hanging in there

waterrockets 

+1 good reading everyone, and a good week.

island rider

First 4 Cat 4 races.

Saturday:
New Britain 4 19/22
New Britain 4/5 13/29

Sunday:
White Plains Cat 4 21/56
White Plains Cat 3/4 22/72 (Sixth Cat 4 finisher)

There is a message in there somewhere. Saturday's races left me wondering why I am in this sport. Sunday's reminded me. Now I need to find a way to convince myself that I can win.

Also... I either need to get a bike fit, or release my death grip on the bars. Spend 90-95% of each race in the drops and had my hands go completely numb about 3/4 of the way through each (like couldn't shift at times because I wasn't sure I was touching the lever). I usually don't have an issue in the drops, but I also usually don't spend an hour there.

ttusomeone

Johnson City, TN Omnium - Cat 4

Road race - it was short (30 miles) but ended with a 7.5 mile climb (which was really about 12 miles long and ascended about 3,500 feet according to a team mate). Stayed with main group at start of climb, made decision to stay within my self and let the leaders go. I was able to then start catching and passing the people that dropped off the lead group. Ended with 5 up the road and I was in a group of 5 - took 3rd in the sprint to finish 8th. Had no idea how to pace myself since I haven't practiced those long of climbs, so I may have been able to go harder at the beginning.

TT - it was short (3.5 miles) but had a mile climb in it. Stayed within myself on the climb but blew myself up trying to catch my 30 second guy. Should have stayed more consistent - still finished 4th but lost 3rd by 1 second.

Crit - it was a fast, tight course. Tried to make some moves early but everything stayed together. Wasn't in exactly the position I wanted on the last lap but was still able to manage a 6th in the sprint. Finished 5th in the omnium.

Bummer was I finished one place out of the money on both the TT and Crit, and one place out of the upgrade points for the RR and the Crit. Oh well, did gain valuable race experience (plus these can count in my top 10 finishes for an upgrade that way).

TheKillerPenguin

Ohhhh Wilmington Whiteface, you blackened-hearted bastard, with your new mechanical causing insane dirt road section.

Hit a big as **** rock 20mi into this race, so hard that it shifted my hood down and pinched my front brake against the rim. So, had to hop off, and adjusted all of the things, lost a minute. Spent 5 miles chasing back on, burnt my matchbook. There until the finishing climb, but no matches left for acceleration at the bottom. 14th. Nothing like an ITT in the middle of a bike race. First race back since breaking the wrist at Battenkill, so if nothing else the dirt was a hell of a way to face down the crash demons.

thechemist

That is a nasty climb! Congrats on the placement that is pretty good! I was tossing around driving up to that one myself but didn't

valygrl

+2, thanks forrest_m, at least one girl here

Racer Ex 

What doesn't kill you makes you arthritic as you age.

As far as the "riding like a girl" comment...maybe Tavish means like this...

gsteinb

no kidding. where's the dirt section?

Jandro 

Nice job on Sunday. Keep at it.

gsteinb

nice.

should've said hello though

TheKillerPenguin

Where the course used to take a hard left down a steep descent, instead you go straight onto dirt, and about 200ft later take a hard right. It rolls and climbs a bit, then shoots you out onto the normal fast descent on the road with the double yellow.

JohnKScott

Good job guys & gals. Enjoyed the reports.