jrennie

Well, no race report, I'm going to try my hardest to block this race out of my head with the exception of not doing it next year unless its on a bike with suspension. I've riden motocross tracks that were smoother

Yossarian12

Too bad. I had a great time at this race. I guess the Michelin Pro Race 2s worked out for me. My kidneys do seem to be sore from all the jarring, though. My report...

I raced today. The course was rough and challenging. The weather was hot. I attacked on the climb. I got outsprinted in the final 200.
I won $5 and a T-Shirt.

jrennie

double flat on the climb and 40 miles solo() is bound to put a damper on my spirits, oh well, there is vacaville tomorrow.


What cat did you ride?

SteveE

My race report is essentially the same as jrennie's double flat, slow leak, turned around to pick up tools that fell out of seat bag.

First flat was on the bad pavement before the real climb began. The tire blew off the rim. Pumped up the tire and valve core came out. There two other guys in a different race that flatted in the same area with one guy flatting front and rear. We patched one of his tubes and decided to ride the course at tempo. After about 50 miles I developed a slow leak; pumped it up again and headed off. On the final stretch of unpaved surface, the read tire went flat. Kirk from SGW, who I was riding with, pedaled up to a straggler we were in the process of catching, borrowed a tube from him, and tossed it to me. Pumped up tire and finished the race.

I should of had a camera to take pictures of all the riders standing by the side of the road, either repairing their bikes or just waiting for the sweep to pick them up.

My butt hurt. My back hurt. I was cramping and my stomach wasn't feeling all that good.

On the good side of things, the club got 1st & 2nd in the 50-54, 1st in the 55-59 (my race), and 1st in the 60+

P.S. I forgot to mention that my feet hurt, too.

Snicklefritz

and my head hurts just reading the posts about the bad roads...I guess it was good I went to Fremont instead.

Yossarian12

Rode the 4s (group 1). If I had two flats (or even lost a bidon), that would have given me a negative feeling as well.

Good luck at Vacaville. Pretty technical course, as well as some sort of district championship. Lots of my teammates are concentrating on doing well. I am doing yardwork.

Nacho Speedee

Shoulders, back, triceps, hips, feet are all sore. Totally beat up by the time we reached the first climb. Ugh. I really wanted it to be done at 33 miles, but I still had 30 more to go. Total suffer-fest. Adding insult, I flatted at 56 miles and my relatively new Vittoria Open Pro's look like they had been cut with a knife. That's a nice waste of $120. I've never seen that many people walking their bikes in at the end of a race. WOW!

Pizza Man

I enjoyed this race, but did end up a bit sore.
Those roads are rough, but my Vredestein tricomps came through without a scratch.

I had a teammate take off solo as soon as the neutral start was over and he built a big lead, then a few miles later when a couple guys finally chased my teammate Nacho Speedee and another teammate went after him and sat on their wheels.

At this point, I'm just sitting in with another teammate about 3rd or 4th wheel and lovin' it since I've got 3 teammates out of 5 riders up ahead and 2 of them have no obligation to work. When we got to the big hill, the stronger riders started pushing it and I just sat on as we caught and passed the 4 man break, then eventually caught my first teammate about 1 mile before the top of the climb, then I attacked and got to the top of the climb with about a 15 second lead. I decided to try and solo TT the last 40 miles to the finish, but after about 4 miles it was obvious that I was going to be caught by the 2 guys behind me, so I sat up and decided to work with them. The 3 of us took even pulls all the way to the 1K mark, and because I still can't figure out when to start my sprint (or if I even have a sprint) I went first with about 400M to go and ended up 3rd.

A few minutes after I finished I was ecstatic to see my teammate who had broken away in the 1st mile came through solo in 4th!

So my only complaint about this course is that the last 20 miles are flat!

bodaciousguy

Why would anyone subject themselves to such pain and misery to go to Leesville? Why!?

kudude

who's excited? How were the wheel trucks two years ago? I assume that's where jrennie got his double-flat fix

il professore

why am I doing this race??? drive 2 hours, ride ****ty roads, drive 2 hours back. fun

Val23708

leesville sucks. bring a cross bike.

Yossarian12

^ or ride strong tires and wheels. I will be on my race bike, but will ride my Open Pros and Michelin Krylions (just like I did at Copperopolis).

I missed this race last year due to my fractured scaphoid, but I am back in this year for the P12 field. I remember the run up to the climb, and maybe the climb itself being bumpy, but I thought the rest of the race was typicarl NorCal.

jrennie

Ouch thanks for reviving this bad memory. I did it again in 08 only to flat at the base of the climb again. This race is MUCH worse than cooperopolis. The roads are bad for 55 miles instead of just the downhill and it is always hotter(although this year is looks to be better than previous).

Good luck everyone, thankfully I'll be working.

kudude

hmm. My choices are 500 mile old GP4000s or brand new conti ultra sports, or pretty beat-up kenda kwiks.. Or 38c cross nobbies

I may just ride my race everything and if it breaks, then I am done and that's fine

mcarr

I just put on my old aluminum rims for this race. Sounds like such a good time- I just can't wait until tomorrow (read sarcasm)

rydaddy

I'm going with my 25mm GP4000's. They have about 800 miles on em. Still look new to me. I'm inflating to 120 and wishing for a little luck.

Aside from the concerns of flatting... I'm excited!

Yossarian12

Think again about the tire pressure. You do want to avoid pinch flats, but you also don't want to overinflate which results in lessened handling, and a rougher ride which tires the body and may be the deciding factor at the end of the race. I run my tires at 105 (of course I weight 150). I do remember the 2K dirt section in the last 15-20K of the races was more sand than packed dirt, which may inform your decision as well.

This race comes down to small group and even field sprints oftentimes.

kudude

If I'm with anyone to care about handling in the sand I'll consider it a victory.

I'll be the DB in the last year's BBC club jersey with black PI bibs racing E4 if anyone wants to say hi. Turns out joining a team mid year means that you have a hard time finding a full, new kit.

rydaddy

I will consider that. I weigh 190 lbs, fwiw. I usually run 100 psi on my 25mm tires, 110 when I ride 23's. Maybe 110 would be better? Something else for me to think about, I guess.

The 5's will not be a field sprint, that's for sure. I just hope to be there in the end....

kudude

if you don't flat, it's up to you about being there at the end. i'm bringing a knife to slash my tires if the climb starts to go poorly

Val23708

its not a good race for light people.

if you weigh 190, id go with at least 120 psi. tires with good sidewalls are also good.

il professore

hmm..weekend at the MotoGp races in Laguna Seca or battering myself silly on 'roads'.

kudude

there's just about no road race on the planet (norcal) that I'll enjoy. I might as well do one that scares off the competition

rydaddy

The reputation for rough roads is what attracted me to this. I'm a mountain biker deep down inside.