Vinokurtov

I had a pretty cool weekend.

Did two races at Cat's. First up was the Elite 4, against the kids. 100 of them. Had moved up well until the last lap when some guys blew up in front of me and I had to bridge a gap to the lead group. Took a bit out of my legs that I was saving, knocked off a few people in the sprint and ended up 5th.

Next up was the 35+ 4/5, against the kids again (hey, I can say that at my age...not sure if that's a good thing) but only 75 of them this time.

Buddy from the hometown goes off solo a couple of laps in. One guy trys to bridge and blows. Five to go a strong guy I had been watching in the E4 pops off the front, I nail it to jump on him and we proceed to run down my buddy. We've got 14 seconds to the field at the bell lap, and it's pandamonium when we hit the hill. People yelling and screaming "GO GO GO!!!". Cow bells ringing, the whole bit. I'm the lightest guy in the group so I figure I'll put some hurt on the legs and really go hard. Get to the top of the hill and a guy I've never seen before pulls up next me. Arrrrgggggg.

He tries to run off and I chase him down, as soon as I do so one of the guys from Pizza's team shows up and tries to run off. Turns out the two did a big bridge. I chase HIM down, pull up next to him and drive the pace high down the hill and into the last corner. Slide in behind, wait a few seconds, catch the draft, then bury myself into the sprint. Win by a wheel or so. First win of the year, at the coolest race I've done so far. Wow. Am I stoked? Heck yeah. It only took me 28 tries this year.

Podium pics and head north for the Berkeley road race, 45+ open (see Pizza's description). I'm there to support my Nat'l champ team mate against the other Cat 1 ubberstuds.

As expected, there's lots of scorched earth on the first climbs to thin the herd. Legs feel less than perfect from 24 runs up Cat's Hill the day before. Four guys go off the front midway through lap one. Second lap I get my attacking instructions and hit it a bunch of times to close the gap and send the leader off to the break. Close, but no cigar. I'm so blown from multiple efforts that I almost lose the group several times but grit it out to get back on. Last lap the boss blows a spoke out, waves us on, but I look back and see him chasing with a new wheel he's borrowed from a bystander. I drop back and help him a little bit getting back on.

Herd is thinning some more when just before the finishing climbs, he goes off the front with another rider and they make the bridge to the group of four. I'm cemented into the chase group now unless someone else tries to bridge and I hop on. This doesn't happen so we'll be picking up the bottom half of the top ten.

Second to last climb we're at 8 riders, at the top it's four. We hit the finishing hill and the pace keeps ratcheting up. Now we're three. Super small ubber climber tries to bury us but we're not dying and he blows. Now it's mano a mano. Pace keeps lifting. Finally it's time and I do my best sprint climb and start to get a little lead. 10 yards to go and he finds some little blast, now he's a half wheel ahead, we're going the same speed, and that's how it ended, I got 8th.

Like Pizza I was really happy with my rides. I just mailed off my upgrade, it should finish me out for my Cat 3 so I can chase Pizza around again. It really is a different world with the Cat 1 guys, cleaner but horrifically fast at times. Long stretches at 30+. Mouth gaping climbs.

Pizza gets big kudos on a 5th in that group. The 35+ 1/2/3 is stupid fast and talent enriched, top five is awesome. Pizza, was it the bag boys that were hitting it or my folks?