ElJamoquio

Ross's Hill Climb: After four miles of flats and rollers, 3200' of vertical in seven miles. The last thing I thought was a roller actually ended up being the mountain; shifted under load, dropped a chain. Had to stop and fix. Got back on the bike, chased as much as I could. Result: 2nd.

Pescadero Road Race: Two-ish laps, one moderate hill, maybe ten minutes long. Made some dumb-ass decisions as far as positioning; I never thought I would get boxed in on a long hill, but this was on a narrow road. Couldn't actually unleash the inner anger until about halfway up the hill on the second lap. Passed a bunch of people towards the end; but some guy braked at the finish, I had to stop, and two other people pipped me at the line. Result: 10th.

California State TT: Didn't think I was actually going to do any TT's this year, until about a month ago, when I relented and started training in TT position. Ugly-ass pavement for the first four or five miles. Like Michigan bad. Couldn't get comfortable, lack of training really hurt me. Result: 2nd.

Mt. Diablo Hill Climb: 2000' of climbing, maybe 7 or 8 miles....? No big problems, though I was down 10 watts overall for no particular reason. Might've gone out slightly too hard. Thought I did pretty well; was thinking I at least podium'd, and maybe won it. Turns out I was delusional. Result: 7th.


Palmares as a Cat 4:

1st: 2 Times
2nd: 3 Times
3rd: 2 Times
4th: 1 Time
7th: 2 Times
8th: 2 Times
10th: 1 Time
Other Pack Finish: 4 Times
Dropped: Never

Upgrade Request: Denied

Not that I'm bitter or anything.

mollusk

Totally awesome!

ElJamoquio

Should I have labeled it 'Four Excuses for the price of one'?

mollusk

I'm sure that there are numerous folks in MI that would be deliriously happy with these results. Given all the conditions I am impressed. If you aren't happy then let it fuel you toward bigger and better things.

kensuf

TT's don't count.

kudude

are any of them 35+ 4/5 or anything? All E4?

mollusk

Not so for 3 to 2 or higher. Stage race results (which may include TT's) can collect points.

https://www.usacycling.org/news/user/story.php?id=580

ericm979

Mt Diablo is a TT (for those non-locals). So it does not count.
Ross' hillclimb is a RR but does not count, it's too short.

I fail to see a problem with doing well in your category and not yet having enough points to upgrade.

ElJamoquio

The major onus for me to upgrade is that my career, etc, was precluding me from committing to register more than a week or so in advance.

Since most of the races I would do well in (i.e., non-crits) fill up before then, I have to register super early, and eat the cost half the time when I can't race.

ElJamoquio

Nope, major problem is the TT's.

kensuf

Stage races are interesting beasts. I've seen a few guys use both their overall finish and their individual stage finishes (i.e. "2nd overall in the stage race, 3rd in this RR, 2nd in that crit") but the TT's in the stage race don't count individually.

BTW, we need to tell Eric to cat up. He's been owning the 3's again.

waterrockets 

I think it sounds like you went well. I can't quite follow though, without graphs.

Nice fight after the chain drop, and really nice work in the TT. I have no idea what it would be like to be good at TTs.

ridethecliche

If your results don't include TT's and all fit the required length for races, I'm pretty sure you should have been given your upgrade based on points.
Weird...

Congrats on a kickass job though!

Racer Ex 

The upgrade process seems to have tilted to quantity rather than quality.

Has your prostate recovered from the DIstrict TT yet?

mollusk

True.

He is in a bit of good form right now. I think that he wants to stay a 3 until after the State RR's in October. He might need to "lower his profile" for that to happen.

New 352 teammate Keith R is doing well, too.

ElJamoquio

I don't know if there's such a thing as too many graphs; but four sets of graphs... hmmm... in reality, I've just been too busy to look at them even for my own use.



...similar to me, not knowing what it would be like to sprint well. Sadly I suspect you're much better at TT's than I am at sprinting.



I'm not sure it will ever recover from that shock.

jrennie

Ha Ha, the expansion joints of sattley, taint killers.

Did you submit your request to Casey or back east? He is a stickler but fair. What were the field sizes in the ross/diablo/sattley cat4, under 10 guys? Kind of hard to lobby for mass start credit in those.

JohnKScott

Nice job! Too bad on the upgrade denial. But the way you are going you'll get there.