revchuck 

Damn, you 'fornia boys are killing it! Congrats to Fudgy, Aaron, and Matt, and kudos to hack for the excellent work!

TMonk

+1 great race, and great write-up.

beatlebee 

@Ygduf: awesome race!

mattm

I challenge anyone to top that race report...

I'm just glad I was there to witness this race and be a part of it. It was raining so f-ing hard at the start, you could hear the rain splashing on the standing water, and I couldn't see a damn thing. Also there was a weird salty taste from the road spray; whatever it was it at least didn't kill us!

Once The Move was established, it was obvious that it wasn't coming back.. 10 or so guys up there, all the weak ones left behind (including me). Eventually Puppy Doge attacked from the losers pack, me and two others were quick to follow. Damn that kid is fast!

I was not taking any pulls, no matter how many times they asked/demanded, given we were chasing my team mate. So was Puppy but I guess he was the strongest guy from his team so maybe it made more sense for him to try to catch up to his guys. Eventually the other two guys in our chase dropped out, so it was just me and Puppy.

I ended up taking a few pulls, which in hindsight was the wrong move, but by that time we were catching up to The Move, and the chasers were nowhere to be found. And I felt bad for not taking any pulls.. dumb. Should just taken a free ride, but it's easier in a crit when you feel like an ass for 10-15 minutes while getting that free ride, rather than 30+ minutes.

He dropped the **** out of me on the finish climb as we went through.. I hope there aren't any pics from that b/c I'm positive I looked like ass trying to hold his wheel.

I was shortly caught by the 10 or so chasers, who were barely chasing. I sat on the back, explaining to them I had a guy up there so I wasn't doing anything. One guy was the self-appointed coach of the chasers, wanting everyone to go harder and constantly trying to talk us in to really working. Poor guy.

Eventually he attacked the group, along with another, and I went with; not taking any pulls, much to their dismay. Other guy flatted out, leaving me and the talker. Holy **** that guy said something every 30 seconds I swear! Nice guy though, and we learned a lot about each other in the next 1.5 hours.. we eventually couldn't even see anyone behind us, and The Move was long gone.

So we pedaled and talked. He asked if he could have 7th, I said "we'll see." We agreed to at least put on a show by riding up to the 200m mark together and then sprinting from there; I beat him by a wheel or so. Was happy to hit a peak of 1100w after almost 4 hours, but it wasn't worth much.

Then was happy to see Fudgy basking in the glow of winning his first p1/2 race, something I've yet to do! Can't wait until he upgrades and we can race Nationals together in July.

hack

True. I think I could have played the cards differently and been more selective in my choosing of breaks to go after instead of going after every single one. Next time ...

Yup ... I was stuck between just going full out to get separation (but most likely get dragged back) and making shorter attacks to try to get someone to come along. I just get impatient and bored soft pedaling for 2-3 hours with a group of guys sporting their best "game faces" waiting for that big sprint. Wish I had the fudgy motor to roll off and just keep going.

hack

Cool story bro ... that's a serious win, congrats.

nokia8860

Saturday: Stanford Cycling Circuit in Seaside, CA Cat 5 came in 3rd

No "older dude" category so I raced with the young guys. Man they just have endless amount of energy. For the most part stayed near the front. At the last lap, a rider a few guys back shifted gears for the hill and 2 others smashed right into him. Somewhere in between, his helmet came off and he landed hard on the pavement. Had to be taken away by the EMT. Bunch of others were hurt as well but not as serious as this guy.

Sunday: RKO Pleasanton, CA M35+5 came in 4th

Rain wasn't as bad in Pleasanton but the wind was killer as you approach the finish. This time I learned not to be overly eager and ride off the front that I decided to sit off the back and tired to get a feel of the guys around me as well as the course.

By the 2nd lap 2 guys had dropped off and we started lapping the Cat 5 guys that left a few minutes before us. By the time we came back around I started thinking of where I would plan an attack and decided it would be at that last effort before the right hand up the bump.

So as we got closer I started to move towards the front but before I got there the guy off the front started his and by the time I reacted he had made it over. I still pressed on and ended up 4th.

Doge

I was disappointed no one said hi. Maybe I was frowning too much due to all 4 of our guys flatting, car stuck in mud, son hurting thumb due to pulling car out and not used to rain. We'll see you all in Chico. Say hi. I am about to post video in Race Video thread (wait 5 min).

globecanvas

@Ygduf epic. Come to Tulsa!

@Doge "all 4"? Didn't one of your kids get 2nd? Maybe not, big cast of characters in ygduf's tale.

Doge

@mattm and @Ygduf thank you for those reports and team and rider mentions.

Doge

No - Adam was with @Ygduf alone when he flatted (there may have been 3 by that point) at around mile 75. Daniel was in the group behind - then he flatted within 2 miles of where Adam flatted. Bo and Mathew flatted the first lap. See video in video thread. We had Veloflex, Panaracer, Continental and Vittoria flats. Seems like I saw about 10 other flats, but 4 on one team/ the whole team is something new. We hope to have 6 strong kids in Chico and no flats.

I do think we will be up that way a bit more. A RR is a RR and the NorCal folks have a lot more of them.

mattm

we didn't know which dad you were, and also there was debate as how to pronounce "doge".. next time!

defontely bring your team back, they were fun to race.

caloso

Wow. Well done.

Doge

Driver of the black Benz that was going up and down trying to look like normal traffic so the officials didn't send me away.

https://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/...doge_meme.html

globecanvas

Downside to the groovy kit. A teammate was OTF at Battenkill a couple of years ago with team-issue neon green arm warmers and after a half hour or something, when screened by a hill, he peeled them off, figuring that being cold was better than being a brightly colored rabbit.

mattm

I still think "doggie" is better!

Ygduf

"dodge" or gtfo!

Red Kite Bump races today. m123 and 2/3.

I was working for teammates today and had my buddy sprinting uphill for 2nd place in the m123. He failed, 5th.

2/3 was working a guy on our team who's been killing it lately. Figured he could win, even with me at 75%. Race went hard from the start and culled the field from 25 to 10 or so. 4 dudes get away and on my 3rd race in 24 hours I just don't have it in me to close them down. ****. The 4 stay away. We work it in the pack and my teammate took 5th. Good, but we're better than that so it's disappointing.

I finished at the end of the selections somewhere ~8th-10th in both races.

furiousferret

Roger Millikan 4/5 40+
18th out of 53

Took it easy for the first 20 minutes of the crit, since my legs were super sore waking up. The course has a small 2-3% climb, I figured that if I just sat in the pack and closed gaps eventually I'd get to the front, since a lot of guys would blow up. Sat behind a tall guy for half the race. He took off with 5 laps to go, and I let him go because it was a fools errand (he got caught). Stayed in a few rows off the front for the rest of it and fought as hard as I could the final lap. Positioned about 8th wheel going into the final corner but I had no sprint at all, I couldn't even break 800 watts. HR was low, I was 'fresh' it just was not there. Happy because it was a pretty smart and gritty performance, I was probably the weakest rider (on that day) in the field but raced smart. It was more or less an anomaly, so I'm not going to beat myself up over it.

Its my first week of build and balancing racing and training is a tightrope act. This week I fell hard.

Oh, talked to one of the guys on the podium and he said it was his first ride of the year. I just wanted to hit him so hard.....

aaronmcd

The bump circuit race. 3+ laps, 25.5 miles, just long enough to count as a road race for cat 4.

No time for my usual long winded reports.

Cat 4:
Strong team showing with 6 in the 25 man field. Teammate got 1st and I got 3rd, giving us both enough points to upgrade.

Cat 3/4:
Very rainy and windy, I was shivering at the start and considered skipping, only one teammate stayed for the second race. But I went ahead anyway. 6 kids on a junior team in the 18 man field kept the attacks going the whole race. I worked a bit too hard, excited about the upgrade and just having fun. Gave it everything for the finish and came in 6th.


Upgrade request rushed through in the nick of time to switch categories for Valley of the Sun next weekend (deadline in an hour).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/teamfremont/15857952053/

revchuck 

Aaron - Congrats on the upgrade!

rideaz

I did 2 races this weekend:
McDowell Mountain circuit race: 1.6 mile loop out in the desert with a 1/2 mile climb each lap (not steep). I raced Masters and got away on the second lap for a solo effort the rest of the way. In the P12 race, we were combined with Collegiate A (I was old enough to be their mom) and I got away on the 3rd lap with 2 college girls. We stayed away and I won.

Sun Devil Crit: I didn't think I was going to enjoy this one, it was more technical, had some tight turns and road furniture. However, there are some pro teams in town for the stage race next week and I knew it would make it fun. We don't really get that level of competition here and it made the women's fields bigger. I raced Masters first, got out front with a lady wearing a world championship jersey (TT). Very fun! Came in second place to her. In the P12 race, I pretty much observed Pepper Palace and Monster Media do their thing while just being thankful I could hang on. It came down to a big group sprint. I left before the results were all sorted out but I think I was 9th.

So, 2 first place, a second and a group finish. Very happy with all that and had a great time with my friends and teammates!

beatlebee 

@rideaz: awesome!

revchuck 

+1!

Being able to hang on with the pro teams in your second race of the day...not too shabby.

shovelhd

+1. Well deserved.

shovelhd

No kidding. What a great start to the season.