Island View Crit P/1/2/3

I'm pretty sure you cannot view the islands from Research Park, and I doubt you can even see the ocean... But you could definitely see a sea of Platinum jerseys in the P/1/2/3 race on Saturday afternoon. Now usually we're spread over many different age groups and categories, but this was a rare opportunity for a bunch of us to race together since there weren't any Masters or separate cat-3 races.

This wasn't exactly anybody's "A" race and nobody felt any real pressure, so we didn't make any complicated plans in our pre-race meeting. Instead we decided to just keep throwing people off the front with the rest keeping control of the main group behind. All the big hitters were up at MERCO so that plan should be pretty straight forward. Our field was only 50 riders, mostly all solo guys other than multiple LaGrangians and StumpGrinders.

...and basically things went according to plan. There was almost always a move off the front and it always had at least one Platinum rider represented.

Adrian was very active as usual.


Zach and I tried our hand. (I don't think he gets much draft from me!)


Cookie worked with CWalk in a number of moves.


Meanwhile, multiple Platinum riders always had control of the group.


Eventually Gary got clear with another rider, and soon Adrian bridged up with four more. Their lead built up to 20-25 seconds thanks to big pulls from Adrian and CWalk. In the end, the LaGrange rider uncorked a speedy sprint for the win and Gary took 2nd. Adrian dropped off and rolled in 7th after a hard day's work, and Cookie and I rounded out the top-10.


Results. Click to see larger version.


Chilly temps and spitting rain didn't stop a few hardcore Platinum fans from showing up to heckle... err, cheer us on. Thanks guys!


And finally, thanks again to the UCSB team for promoting a nice race. Those are some damn fine Gauchos... makes me proud to be an alum.

Poor College Kids RR & Mothballs Crit 2010

Normally, I'd twiddle away a few hours on a Monday writing a blog post about the weekend races and sneaking in a recovery ride before my weekly business meeting. (Not sure which should be higher priority among those three things...)

But, with much rain on the way later this week, I cannot sacrifice the time for carefully crafted scribbling, so you're gonna get a blast of brief bullets and a few random pictures.

Poor College Kids RR

* First off, congratulations to a great group of "kids" from UCSB for putting on such a nice race. I hope they realize how much their effort is appreciated, and what a good job they did.

* P/1/2: Platinum had the largest team and so we immediately went on the offensive with Ben "The Hammer" Haldeman taking off from the gun in this two-lap 67-mile race. We adequately annoyed the rest of the chasing field (about 40 riders) allowing Ben to reach a couple minute lead. After 20 miles or so, ex-Platinum C-Walk got clear with Chesta-san along in tow and they bridged up to Ben. A little oopsy in the turn around took out Chester, so a fatigued Ben spent most of the second lap alone with the fresher Vampy, who eventually got clear on the hills heading back to the finish. Congrats to a strong Chris for the win. Meanwhile Matt had gotten clear and made it up to Ben with several other riders, including an inspired Craig Nunes from SLO and always-aggressive Mark Shimahara. A km out from the finish, Craig surged and only Mark could match him and they finished 2nd and 3rd, with Matt and Ben close behind for 4th and 5th. Gary D'Velo came in 9th surround by pros and such, and the rest of us Cookie, Adrian, HeyRon, and me rolled in clustered around 20th.

* Masters races: KK won the 55+, solo, and Platinum had Kim Bleth and Jon Miller in the field. Dave Worthington won the 45+, solo, from a strong field. The 35+ looked like a real war, with the first 3-4 riders coming in solo after hand-to-hand combat (Rudy Napolitano won, DeMarchi 2nd; Mark Noble 3rd). Jamie Paolinetti won the field sprint, and that was the only decent picture I took:


* Women 3/4 -- Awesome race by Chicken Ranchers Susie Willett and Jane Faulkner for going 1st and 2nd!! This, even after Jane had to bridge back up to the front after the hill. So cool.

Mothballs crit

* Masters 45+: So fun to have a large group of teammates to race with. We were active early and often, and worked well together. I had hoped to be fresh near the end and help keep our sprinters up front, but when a nice move by Chris Black and Tom Anhalt got caught, I had to counter. (You've got to attack after a teammate gets caught!) So I shot my wad for a few laps and was no help in the finale. It turned out that HeyRon and Choo-choo stayed up front just fine and sprinted to 5th and 8th among some very fast and accomplished company (Glenon 1st; John Walsh 2nd; Dave Lettieri 3rd; Peter Sullivan 4th).

* Masters 35+: More powerful riding by Platinum with Cookie in almost every move of the race, and still he and Gary drove the final couple laps to keep Keith in nice position to sprint for 3rd. DeMarchi won a close one.

Brian leading a split in 35+:


Final sprint in 35+:
As always, click on the pics for a larger view.

* Junior 16-17: Are we seeing a juniors revival in bike racing? The fields are getting bigger and they are racing fast and smart. Local boy Taylor Clements got himself out there and looked great getting 2nd:

...in front of a quality field:

...Echelon junior Ben Barthel rode strong:


* Also notable, Taylor's brother Tosh got 3rd at Mothballs and 6th at PCKRR in the cat 5s in his first-ever weekend of racing. Nice start!!

* Mothballs p/1/2/3: For this one, I'm going to steal Adrian Gerrits race report to the team list. Hopefully his copyright lawyers won't come after me!
Team Platinum lined up for the 75 minute crit along side notable pros Rashaan Bahati, Hilton Clarke and Cody O'reilly. Our plan was to try to cover moves with two guys and make aggressive attacks to get a break going so we didn't end up trying to outsprint the aforementioned riders. The plan went very well. We had a couple of riders at the front at all times covering attacks and blocking for teammates. At one point or another I think most of the team was in a some sort of break. Dubberley covered some good moves and started a couple of breaks, Chester, Ben, Mark and Gary were always up there covering moves as well. The rest of the guys were doing a superb job of keeping the pack in control. With about 20 minutes left, I made an attack after the first corner and before I knew it, 4 other guys including Clarke were hammering away. I was pretty shot but managed to hang on and do my share in the break. We managed to get 30 seconds on the field and I got 5th out of 5...I'll work on not getting last next time. Good race guys. Thanks for the write-up, Adrian.

I was disappointed to flat with 5 or 6 laps left because I felt good and would have liked to help one of our sprinters get in good position. My second flat of the day on brand new tires! But until then, the race was a blast. I even had Hilton Clarke on my wheel once or twice ...obviously he feared my speed. Haha.


Dang, even that took too long. Now it's time to ride. Later I will add more pictures perhaps, or maybe they'll go on Facebook ...I'm a spaz at this 21st-century computer stuff.

Oh, I forgot... some links for other peoples race pictures (much better than mine):

From John Goodman

From Michael Krauchi

++++++++++

[add/edit]
OK, I'm sure soon enough that results will be on scnca and SoCalCycling, but since they're not posted yet, I'll put put these up temporarily. Click to enlarge for reading. Sorry I didn't get them all, but I had a camera fail (or brain fail more likely...)

PCK RR results (partial):








Mothballs results (partial):

Island View (from the back) Crit

Sometimes team boss Todd lifts verbiage from my blog's race reports and submits it to sponsors and media. This won't be one of those times.

I think I can speak for all of us Team Platinum riders in the P/1/2/3 Island View Crit when I say we collectively blew it today. We lined up in the back, and a break went from the gun including Cody O'Reilly and some other speedsters from Rock Racing and Team NOW/MS Society. By the time I noticed Cody's absence, they were out of sight. Ten minutes later they appeared from behind having lapped us in record time. Brilliant.

From that point forward, NOW/MS and Rock kept the speed sufficiently high that nobody seemed too interested in trying to to un-lap themselves. We took a couple of shots, including Seth soloing for a lap, but nothing materialized. Choo-choo pulled Cookie up to the front at the end, and Brian got 10th, which is a little bit of consolation.

Cody won so easily that he fell asleep on his bike five minutes after the finish. He was at the Bissell training camp during Mothballs, but other than that, Cody is three-for-three in winning the local crits this year and last. Can anyone challenge him?


And here are the USCF results for your viewing pleasure (since the race was in my backyard, it's only fair that I scoop those "real" news sites like SoCalCycling and SCNCA!)

P/1/2/3 Results. Cool to see some speedy juniors in there, like Sam Simmons from Ventura. No, he didn't take his hands off the bars.


35+ Results. We tried to get organized at the end but couldn't quite swing it. Then our sprinter Brian flatted. Mark Noble is looking really quick. If he can uncork a decent TT at San Dimas, I don't see him getting beat as he'll gather up RR and crit time bonuses like Easter eggs. And he'll have some strong teammates to help. Rock on.


Cat-4 Results. Derek continues to roll!! TnA and Bill Lupo up there too.


Cat-5 Results. Way to go C-Ranchers! And Echelon and UCSB too. But look at that name in 13th place... Aulden Diaz... Aulden Dais... Olden Days... That was Chris "Genghis" Hahn, taking out a one-day license and putting his toe into the water. Will he get hooked? Word on the street is he's notching up lots of vees at the BMX track, so clearly those competitive juices are flowing again. Bike racing -- the addiction that won't ever die.

Mothballs Race Report and Apology

I've been carrying some guilt and unease since the 45+ crit at Mothballs last Sunday, so perhaps a brief race-report blog post will serve as therapy. The competition was typical for Mothballs: a field of around fifty with the usual speedsters (e.g., CBlackRide, Steve Gregorios, Carlos Soto, and Dave Lettieri) and a good collection of all-around fit riders (e.g., Mike Gourley, David Larsen, Kim Bleth, Bill Lupo). Our Platinum squad was the same as last year: Mark BeLukie, TnA, Choo-Choo Brown, and me. Oh yeah, almost forgot... and C-Walker.

We rolled out and within a lap C-Walk suggested we start throwing guys off the front. My thoughts exactly ...you go first! So he does. Naturally everyone reacted, and he didn't get much leash and he was brought back within a lap. Thus began 30 minutes of textbook team attack/cover/counter-attack in which we all play a role. I was proud of our team. Unfortunately, none of our moves ever got more than 10-15 seconds. With 6 laps to go, I made one final attempt with Kim Bleth, but my legs were screaming in agony just trying to roll 27 mph. Back in the field with 3-to-go.

Now here is where I blew it. You see, our field had one other noteworthy rider, a guy by the name of Bert Glennon. I had never heard of him but he was wearing a rainbow-striped jersey signifying a world championship title. Turns out he's the 45+ Scratch Race champion on the track. In other words, he's very fast. I have a closet full of 2nds, 3rds, and 4ths from Mothballs, all "earned" by surfing the wakes of fast guys like him on the final lap. I figured, why not follow that recipe one more time.

What a selfish bastard!

My legs were toast, and I knew that two of my teammates (TnA and Choo-Choo) had good speed. And yet still, with three laps to go, I told C-Walk I was going to hunt for Bert's back wheel and go for the sprint. I found it with 2-to-go... or should I say, I found Dave L. occupying it. Hmmm.... should I try to barge in? Would Dave hold his ground? Best not to find out... not only would that not be cool to do to a friend, worldly ol' Dave could flick me with ease if he so desired. So I settled in on Dave's wheel. Bell lap, and I looked up to see my two teammates Choo-Choo and TnA on the front, driving this train fast. Last lap chaos --as per normal-- and I lost Dave (and thus Bert) in traffic, so I called an audible and tried to squeeze through up the gutter. Sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn't. This time it didn't. Around the final corner and Choo-Choo lost his steam, TnA was bogging, and I'm sprinting from 30 guys back. What a dork. 19th, our top placing.

So, what was wrong with that picture? I'll tell you. C-Walk, Mark L., and I should have been on the front grunting out every last ounce of speed going into that final lap. TnA and Choo-Choo should have had support up there. They could have closed the deal with a just little help from their friends. Perhaps not a Vee, but a podium for sure. I know this, yet I failed to execute on Sunday. At a minimum I should have gotten C-Walk up there. He knows how to race, but he's new to our team and was probably a bit baffled at my selfish attempt to sprint.

So, let me close by saying, "I'm sorry" ...and let's do it right next chance we get.

Good Old Poor College Kids Firestone Santa Ynez RR

Off and on road race over the years, has gone by a lot of names, today's edition used some subset of those words in the title. What a venue. You wonder why Pro teams come here for training camps? Nearly pristine roads and typically awesome weather. Like today. Those of you waiting until Blvd RR to start 2009, hey, check the weather forecast!

But seriously, the UCSB Cycling Team did a terrific job promoting this race and hopefully they raised some good money for their season. Judging by the (mostly) large fields, I'd say they banked a few grand. Nice.

I will start with my own race, because, well, this is my blog. More categories and pictures will follow below, including a stacked pro/1/2 race, but you need to read every word of my race report or else my blog will take control of your computer and then send non-stop love letters from your email account to Britney Spears. [Note to self: don't blog after drinking wine on empty stomach]

You know you're not focused for the race when you: forget your race license, forget your race wheels, and forget to arrange a feed. Fortunately, I remedied the first two before the start. The feed issue didn't dawn on me until my bottles were empty. Doh!

40+, 2 laps for 67 miles, ~45 starters
From the gun, Greg Leibert from Cynergy rolled pretty hard and, shockingly, there was no reaction from the field. Obviously many of these guys are not SoCal regulars. I wasn't about to let him TT away so I scooted on up with two others attached. Couple rotations and we already had a thirty second gap. Hmmm... 67 miles rotating with four guys? Why not? Over the little bump of a hill and we looked back to see Todd Darley (Cynergy), Joe Wenninger (Cynergy), and Dave Gonyer (CA Pools) motoring up. Greeeat, now Leibert had two teammates. Our gap stayed at about one minute for the entire lap. At both turn-arounds, we could see the field was still motivated (with dudes like Mike Hecker and David Larsen pulling hard) so we never let off the gas. Going into lap #2 we were seven, but we dropped two quickly, the numbers really favored Cynergy (3 out of 5). At the far turn-around, with 16 miles left to race, we saw that the field finally cracked and that our gap was safe. On the return leg, Greg was strong and one of his surges popped his two teammates plus Gonyer. Lucky for me, so I started pulling hard and within a few minutes we were totally clear. I was dying of thirst and totally fixated on Greg's half-full bottles. Refreshing water sloshing around... I almost conceded the race in exchange for a swig! (Then I thought about C-Walk and his 90-mile training rides on a single bottle.) Final time up the little bump and I pushed hard enough so Greg didn't try any funny business. If he got a gap on me over the top, with 5 miles of false-flat descending, it would be all over. Fortunately he didn't, and we rotated together until about the final KM, upon which he jumped me after my pull. It was all I could do to pull him back, and then I locked on and he was stuck in front. I jumped at ~200 M and came by to win by half a bike.

30+, 67 miles, only about 25 starters
Small field but stacked. The rumors about Jamie Paolinetti's return are true. He won. We will probably be saying that a lot this year.

Sorry, no pictures of this race other than a hard-to-read list of hand-written results.


Cat 5, one lap 34 miles, 50 riders (full)
I arrived at the hill in time to see the final surge up the hill, led by Chicken Ranch and Team Platinum Performance.


A group reassembled over the other side, but big bad Derek Johnson easily won the gallop to the lime. Congrats Derek!

Photo courtesy of Goodman Graphic.



Here are the rest of the results from that race. Lots of SB locals high up in the placings!


Cat 4, one lap 34 miles, 100 starters (full)
A burner of a race. My Platinum mates rode strong as a team and snagged the silver (Tom Anhalt) and bronze (Doug Urbach). Key work done by Steve Weixel to make it fast into the finale. Crucial for a narrow, one-lane finish.

Photo courtesy of Goodman Graphic.



More SB'ers in the top-10: Ray Turon (Chicken Ranch) and Bill Lupo (Echelon)


Cat 3, two laps 67 miles, big field (not sure of number)
World's strongest Cat 3 --Chesta-san Gillmore-- pounding the hill toward the end of the first lap.


...with Matt "Chicken-Ranch" Benko nipping at his heals. A group of 10-15 formed down the other side and that was that.


A long sprint, with Matt as the highest SB finisher in 4th. HeyRon in 9th and Chesta in 11th. See him smiling back there? [Actually, I forgot to mention that a VERY STRONG rider soloed away from the break and won by a comfortable margin. Not sure who he is, but he was a horse out there! So the picture here is the sprint for 2nd.]

Photo courtesy of Goodman Graphic.



Read for yourself.


OK, until earlier this week, I had planned to do the Pro/1/2 race. Some things happened, including getting a bit of intel that the entire Team Type 1 pro squad would be racing. I wasn't in the mood for that kind of suffering. Throw in a few more random pros, like Aaron Olson and Ted King, and you could pretty much guarantee it would be fast.

The biggest shock of the day was to see M-Dubb lined up to race. No I did not photoshop in a picture of him. He really did it. Hairy legs and out-dated McGuire kit and everything! Very cool to see actually. He should be racing --for fun now-- because he is absurdly strong.


Great to see C-Walk in the new kit and rocking the Specialized bike! Nice to see AO do the local race too.


The boys from SLO (L-R): hardman Ozzie Olmos, wiley old vet Craig Nunes, and Pro Tour rider (!!) Brian Vanborg of Liquigas.


As expected, Team Type 1 dictated the race, and after lots of attacks, they established a select front group which they drove all the way to the line. C-Walk bridged up and rising star Vinny Owens got in there too. I think they were the only amateurs. In the final few km's, TT1 tried to keep the speed high but Aaron attacked them and messed up their plan. Well, not completely, since they still took first and second. Gritty ol' C-Walk hung on for 4th, a damn fine result in that crowd!

Photo courtesy of Goodman Graphic.



Cool to see Cookie rip off a good sprint in the next group. Any sprint in which you nip speedster Aram is a good sprint! Seth was right up there too, an awesome result for his first ever pro/1/2 race.

Photo courtesy of Goodman Graphic.



Yoza... that's a good field for January 31st!


The women's 3/4 race had a great turn-out and Susie Willett popped off a nice 2nd place. Sorry no pic, but here are the results. Cool to see lots of SB riders in there. Good job!


...and Women 1/2/3.

I don't mean to short-change the women's races but I didn't gather any stories or pictures. Hopefully some of our awesome-local-women-bike-racer-bloggers will scribble down some notes for us to read!



For more of John Goodman's incredible pictures, visit his gallery. Thanks for being there, John!

'til after Mothballs.