"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Challenge RR? (NoCal)

Anyone planning on going? Any nuggets of wisdom? It looks like it might be a rough one. This particular promotor seems to specialize in sh**ty road surfaces.

http://www.velopromo.com/chal-ent.htm

6000+ in 66 miles.

On the fence but leaning towards yes. I know RacerEx will be there, its his cup-o-tea

6640' in 63 miles if you're doing two laps. The downhill is really bad, enough so that they neutralized our first lap. Water bottles everywhere, so if you lose bottles out of your bling cages, get something that will hold them. Got quite hot, so bring two if not three bottles. Uphill finish. Long downhills, one of which has a nasty left hander at the bottom.

I'm running a 53/40 and 11-26, old school tubular rims and 24c tires.

I'll be there. I'm driving up to Marysville on Friday night to stay in a cheap motel there.

I still can't decide on wheels, Racer Ex, help me out.

light, aero, expensive & fragile Zipp 303's.

or

heavy, non aero, cheap, strong aluminum clinchers.

Harlan says go with the 303's since many guys bigger than me did last year and were fine.
VP says - bring strong wheels.

My experience with Zipps and potholes hasn't been good, I've got two broken rims sitting here waiting for replacement. Last year I did the race on my Copperopolis wheels, semi aero alu clinchers at around 1500g. I had the wheels I'm using this weekend made up special, pretty light and close to pinch flat proof.

If you make it through the minefield downhill without hitting anything, you'll be fine, the rest of the course was pretty OK as I recall. If you do hit something, there's a likelihood of exploded water buffalo bits all over the place. The upside is you can walk what's left back up the hill, you're pretty close to the start.

My carbons are staying home for this one.

I'm pretty sure I'm going. Going to make the final decision tomorrow, when I can still get credit for another race. Also going to book a cheap motel room, as the race is pretty far away.

Still bummed about University. Did well, but they screwed up the results, and scored me some twenty places from where I ought to be.

I would go with the good, strong wheels. I've seen people have success with lightweight carbons on bad courses, but I've also seen people have major problems. Better safe than sorry.

I just google earth'd the route, and it looks pretty interesting. I also took a look at the "full fields" list. There are only 4 of us 5s signed up and only 20 some 4s. Combined field?

Here's another link with the elevation changes:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1271948

I just google earth'd the route, and it looks pretty interesting. I also took a look at the "full fields" list. There are only 4 of us 5s signed up and only 20 some 4s. Combined field?

Pretty good shot for a podium!

Though I be a climber, I just can't muster the energy to travel to this race - too far.

Better to start/continue my prep for Everest Challenge.

Have fun. :)

Though I be a climber, I just can't muster the energy to travel to this race - too far.

Better to start/continue my prep for Everest Challenge.

Have fun. :)

Fun? Fun?!!!

Yeah, in that sado masochistic pour salt in my wounds sort of way.

What doesn't kill you sure does hurt a lot.

Fun? Fun?!!!

Yeah, in that sado masochistic pour salt in my wounds sort of way.

What doesn't kill you sure does hurt a lot.

I see you're still bitter about them doubling your race distance. :)

That profile doesn't look too bad. Here are my crude estimates on elevation change based on the crude map:

0-1.2: Flat
1.2-1.8: Climb 200 ft (6%)
1.8-5.2: Descend 800 ft
5.2-5.8: Climb 250 ft (8%)
5.8-6.8: flat
6.8-7.4: Climb 350 ft (11%)
7.4-8.4: flat
8.4-9.4: climb 250 ft. (5% Ave)
9.4 - 10.2: Descend 250 ft.
10.4-13.2: Rolling
13.2-15.5: Descend 900 ft.
15.5 - 16.2: Climb 250 ft. (7% Ave)
16.2 - 22: Descend 550 ft.
22-23.8: flat
23.8 - 25.2: Climb 600 ft. (8% Ave - Some parts over 10%)
25.2 - 26.8: Rolling
26.8 - 29.0: Climb 600 ft. (5% Ave)
29.0 - 29.8: Flat
29.8 - 30.5: Descend 300 ft.
30.5 - 31.5: Climb 300 ft. (6% Ave)

REPEAT!


Grebletie - If you like climbing and can get out of work early on Tuesday's I'd suggest trying the Infineon Tuesday night series. That course has a nice steep 250 ft climb on each lap that really breaks things up.
http://www.infineonracewaycycling.com/
Sonoma may be a long drive for you though.

Here's what came off the Ergomo last year.

So Pizza, you going to give the University report? If you want to grab dinner together tonight drop me a note. I'm going down with one or two guys from town.

Here's what came off the Ergomo last year.


Since there aren't any units, I could make my rides here in dallas look like that too :)

Since there aren't any units, I could make my rides here in dallas look like that too :)

Good point. Reloaded a new jpg with units...

Ex-Vino,

Thanks for the profile. Funny it doesn't match up too well with my description from the google map.

I'd like to grab dinner with you, but the guys I'm driving up with want to leave later to avoid traffic, so we all plan to eat before we leave. We're staying at "America's Best Value Inn" in Marysville. Where are you?

Here's my brief and bland Uni report with names deleted to protect identities:

35+ 1/2/3

As the defending champion, I had a lot of confidence going into this race, but I also knew that last year's runner up from EMC2 has been in excellent form lately and would be tough to beat.

The race plan was to do nothing as long as possible and just stay near the front and let other guys set the pace until we were down to a small group. Over the first few laps several attacks were attempted, but each one was chased down. After a few strong attacks, I got impatient and threw in one of my own and pushed it for nearly the whole length of the hill and by the top only EMC2 and a former US Postal guy were still with me.

The 3 of us built our lead to about a minute and as the laps counted down, I was confident that we would not be caught. With 5 laps to go I was thinking about attacking when Postal got a flat. Now it was just EMC2 and me. We traded pulls for about 3 more laps, then started attacking each other for most of the final 2 laps. Neither one of us could drop the other and we approached the finish line slowly side by side. I was going to wait for Nate to start his sprint first, and he did. Unfortunately, I just couldn't get around him and finished a few bike lengths back.

Rematch tomorrow at Challenge.

Eagerly awaiting race reports. Souls crushed? Bike and bone torn asunder?

My own report. I slept in, ate some french toast, and went for a nice easy ride. Stopped for a Slurpee.

I can only imagine Challenge was nothing like that.

I got the preview and it sure dosen't sound like much fun. I just didn't feel fresh enough to try and haul my girth up the hills so I'll be saving it for benicia next weekend and my first effort at a p/1/2/3 race.