Epic ThirstyBear Cycling Team ride and BBQ celebrating Amgen Tour of California
- ThirstyBear Cycling plus friends.
Pictures of the race thanks to Ken Gallardo.
A HUGE hanks to Aaron for hosting and organizing an amazing ride and great fun BBQ party with friends and family!! Lets make it a ToC tradition…
Organic Brew from ThirstyBear – Cold beer after a long ride makes for the best sponsors a team can have.
View the entire photo stream from this epic ride and BBQ:
Quick video of today’s Stage of the ATOC at Muir Beach Overlook. Strong support local hero Nate English.
Sprint Superstar Joe Amon is back! Winning at Modesto RR 45+ 123
Modesto Road Race
Masters 45+ 1/2/3
About 50 guys. Hot and windy. Six laps, 60 or so miles. No teammates.
This was my first race back after a yoga-injury earlier this year that had me off the bike for almost three months. Fucking yoga.
Hunter Ziesing told me before the race that he and Chris Courtney were going to try and split the field any chance they got, given the many crosswind sections. And sure enough, from the gun, Hunter and a few others attack. I pause and wait for wheels to jump on, knowing that my fitness is not so good, and this happens several times in the first three laps.
I’m starting to feel all the surges and I let the next break go. Sure enough it’s got most teams represented, and I just don’t feel strong enough to bridge up to it. There’s 10 guys in the break, and they just start pulling away and no one is responding. It probably takes us a lap to get organized and figure out who doesn’t have someone in the break. It turns out Kouvaris and Cortex don’t, so 2 Cortex, 2 Kouvaris, 1 other guy (can’t remember his team) and I start working well together.
The break is 45 seconds up the road and we just hold that. It goes up and down, 35 to 45 seconds for two laps. I’m skipping pulls every third or fourth time ‘cause my back’s cramping. I’m telling one of the Cortex guys, I’m not going to be able to keep this up much longer. And then in the confusion of passing other fields and dropped riders, suddenly we’re right on them. They were surprised to see us again. Hunter did say after the race that some of the guys were talking about how everyone was represented, so no one would be chasing.
With only one lap left I start to think oh, I can totally hang on for another lap. Shut up, back.
The whole last lap I’m just hanging on to the surges and hoping I can hang on for a sprint. Every acceleration I’m getting gapped and then I just decide that if I let this gap get any bigger, it’s just over, so I manage to close them down. Once I get to a couple K to go, I realize that this is going to come down to a sprint, and I’m going to be able to hang on and do whatever it takes.
From the previous laps, I knew that it needed to be a patient sprint given the headwind. I wouldn’t want to be too close to the front in the final 90-degree left-hand turn, which leaves you with 800 meters dead-straight to the finish.
So going into that final left, I slid back a few spots into about 10th position and just waited patiently while guys were drilling it on the front, into the wind. After the first few guys burned out, I was about 5thwheel when we got inside 100 meters, and I just pulled out into the wind and gave it everything I had. To my surprise I was pulling around all the guys, expecting guys to come shooting around me because it didn’t feel like the best sprint, but I got it by about half a bike-length.
Results page: http://www.usacycling.org/results/?permit=2013-1423
30 miles solo break victory to ThirstyBear Cycling Piers Barry. Eric Lagier wins the hill climb sprint and finish 2nd.
Piers Barry taking great victory after 30 miles solo break.
Race: Berkeley Hills Road Race 2013
Cat 4 35+ Racers: Piers Barry and Eric Lagier
Weather: Cool start, hot finish with 72 degree average and some wind
Finish: Classic ThirstyBear domination with 1-2 Finish
This is one of the best courses I’ve seen for racing and–it doesn’t involve driving 3.5 hours East into sweltering heat. Registration was a mess. Cat 4 35/45/55 Masters were all stuck in one group. It filled up weeks in advance, then it took 45 minutes just to get a number as riders tried to switch around. This killed any chance of warm up. After nearly a week of minimal riding with Achilles tendonitis I really needed that first lap to go easy. We lined up for the start and 14 people missed the gun. Fortunately they were able to join us before any racing started in the neutral section and it was all one gruppo as we hit the start.
Cushman Wakefield and Integrity Roofing were heavily represented with huge numbers along with 5 riders from Folsom. Cushman alone had at least 8 riders in our group. We were missing CJ, Jim, and Peter who were obediently doing Mother’s day duty. Cushman’s strategy was simple and played out on the first lap. One rider each from Cushman and Integrity took off and their two teams blocked the entire road and soft pedaled. Not too subtle. Another 4 riders went off the front for a spread out lead of 6.
Eric and I were trying to stay out of the wind and not show ourselves too early with a race strategy to go with any threatening breaks or to wait for the last climb and blast out of the pack to the top as had worked perfectly at Wente. With 75 riders it was hard to see if we had caught all of the riders off the front and this made for nervous racing.
Cushman kept trying to block the front so we knew there was still one of their riders off the front. We finally reeled in the last of the break at the end of lap one. When the road narrowed again at the north end of the reservoir Cushman/Integrity tried the exact same tactic of sending riders up front and slowing down. I saw what was happening and scraped just along our side of the double yellow line and bridged up to the two man breakaway when they had about 200 yards–hoping Cushman wouldn’t chase down their own rider. I didn’t really want to go in a break that early but more than that I didn’t want Cushman or Integrity Roofing to play their large team tactics against us.
Piers forcing the break to explode going up Papa Bear.
As Eric and I have gotten “Cat 4 famous”, the Thirstybear jersey at the front drew out 4 more riders from the group for a total of 6 in the break. Cesar Guillen (2nd at Copperopolis) and a Davis rider were riding pretty strong. I coerced and cajoled them into taking 30 second hard pulls and we got out of sight in the sinuous roads before the first climb. The Cushman rider was skipping and taking weak pulls. I told him: “Your whole team is behind working for you blocking the front–you have to do some work!” A couple guys wanted to know if it was a serious break or if we were just testing the waters and wasting energy. I didn’t actually want to be away that early and doubt was creeping in. There was a slight slowing in the break and at the bottom of the Baby Bear first climb only Cesar Guillen was still looking strong. I started to pull steadily but turned around and could see the pack approaching. I dropped the rest of the break by the top. My advantage had dropped down to 15 or 20 seconds with a straight line visibility up the hill.
After 1:15. its time for Piers to turn up the volume on his pacemaker to set of on a solo break.
Eric was doing some awesome discouraging and blocking behind with more team tactical advantage than Cushman’s whole troupe of 8. I hadn’t really committed yet and was trying to figure out if I should go back in the pack and stop wasting energy. At this point the chase must have slowed and I had a little bit bigger gap in the feed zone.
At the top of Papa Bear I had my fiancee, and my Mom and Dad cheering. I was sitting up, thinking about where to pull over and pee and wait for the group but I had to get a little gap and show off a bit for the family. I had about 30 seconds at the top, looked back, decided: “What the hell–this will be fun to try” and instead of sitting up I stripped off vest, and arm warmers and tossed them with my flat kit to Danielle at the top and fully committed. I pushed the descents, and put my elbows on the bars and tried to keep my heart rate under 175 as I knew 30 miles alone off the front was a big gamble. I kept hammering away and the time gaps kept increasing.
The moto came up and fed me 30, 50, 55 seconds, then 1minute, 1 minute 20, 1 minute 50, 1 minute 55 then I broke the 2 minute gap with only a couple miles to go. Team Oakland was chasing hard behind and I knew I was cooked if they caught site of me.
Eric controlling the peleton an chasing down any attacks.
Fortunately they didn’t! Eric was behind me the whole way saying–”Look–it’s Thirstybear up there, you’re never going to catch him–why are you wasting your energy?” and discouraging the 45 plus riders from chasing a 35+ rider as well as subtly disrupting the rhythm of the chase. He then came to the finish and unleashed the Lagier super sprint from 100 meters out and crushed the field sprint for 2nd for the 1-2 finish!
Dynamic Duo celebrating 1st and 2nd place at Berkeley Hills 35+ 4.
–
Piers Barry
Piers Barry
A happy but tired winner!
A winning smile.
When sponsoring ThirstyBear Cycling – its better to be on the back than on the front – Piers Barry never looked back while 75 other riders constantly looked at his back. What better way to show off our great sponsors.
Hans Gouwens leads the way to victory with Aaron Long taking 3rd at Berkeley Hills RR 45+123
Hands in the air! Victory. Hans also won the unofficial combativity award.
Team mates: Max Thompson, Tom Lyons, Aaron Long, Holger Steinbach, Duane Coughlan
Field: close to 70 riders with lots of big hitters (at least 5 stars & bars, 3 rainbows)
Weather: perfect
Fueled by some left over Gila frustration, I was determined to race my bike hard, really hard. As a team, we all agreed to put the pressure on others from the gun to thin the large field as quickly as possible. Needless to say, I went 200 meters after the neutral section came to an end. Got away solo a few times, but the field never let me go too far. During one of my attempts Duane came across and the two of us made the chasers work. Shortly after that Holger went clear with Susco (MarcPro Strava) through the residential area, but got caught after a few miles.
The next move seemed to be the move that probably would have been the winning break with Passmore and Courtney (SJBC), Roemer (Specialized), Hunt (Giant Strawberry), Osborne (Fast Freddie) John Cavanaugh (PrimeTime), Blake Reed (Arts Cyclery), Cale Reeder (Hammer Nutrition), and myself. Nevertheless, Reeder did not use his wits but his watts instead and drilled it up Papa Bear which caused the break to break, leaving 6 to chase 4 and riding two important teams out of the break.
At the end of one lap we regrouped with about 20 guys and reeled in Reeder et al and I immediately countered. Aaron came across after a mile or so and gave me the breather I desperately needed. Dirk Himley (Hammer Nutrition) rode across solo and joined us just before the 90 degree right turn into the residential area. We hit the gas full throttle for a lap and a half and built a three minute lead as we approached the three Bears for the last time. Unfortunately we lost Aaron going up Mama Bear, but Dirk and I pressed on because we knew that field would put in a late charge. Dirk reminded me that he owed me a huge favor after I lead him out for the last 3 miles at Copperopolis so he could take the win there. When we approached the 100 meters to go I came around him and he didn’t put in a real deep dirk dig – what a good sport!
Dirk, Hans and Aaron toward the finish line. Kudos to Dirk for great sportsmanship.
I was great to see Aaron hang on for 3rd with Reeder breathing down his neck. Holger was good for 9th, Max for 11th while Tom and Duane finished top 20 on a stacked field
Great team racing and superb results for all of us. Some of the other teams with 5 or 6 riders never saw the front of the race due to our aggressive approach. We came to race and we won!
Hans & Aaron celebrating their podium wins. – still waiting for the keys to the car…
The boys way to celebrate Mothers day!
ThirstyBear Cycling Powerhouse Chris Phipps stays away in the break and take 2nd at Cat’s Hill Classic Crit 2013
World-class bicycle racing again makes its way to Los Gatos on May 4, 2013 for the 40th Annual Cat’s Hill Classic Bicycle Races presented by Mike’s Bikes and the Los Gatos Bicycle Racing Club. Staged among the historic Victorian homes at Tait and Nicholson Avenues just two blocks off North Santa Cruz Avenue in beautiful Los Gatos, CA, the Cat’s Hill Classic Bicycle Race is renowned as one of the most difficult closed circuit cycling races in the United States! Racers repeatedly climb up the challenging 23% grade of “Cat’s Hill” on Nicholson Avenue and complete the mile-long neighborhood loop with a 50+mph hair-raising descent onto the crowd-lined finishing stretch.
ThirstyBears: Greg McQuaid & Chris Phipps
The day started off as planned with Greg Picking me up at 11AM, which would give us plenty of time to reg & warm-up for our race at 2:15. After we loaded up his car I ran across the street to buy a vitamin water & then hopped back in the car and we were off. Unfortunately, about the time we were at the end of 19th Ave entering Daly City I realized my wallet was missing, so Greg drove us back to my place and had a look around, but no luck. So we were now headed back down about an hour later than planned & I was calling my bank & credit card companies canceling my cards.
After arriving, finding parking, getting numbers & pinning them on we had about 40 minutes before the race. After cruising around a bit and going up a steep climb in the neighborhood I noticed that my shifting wasn’t working very well and I couldn’t get into my 23 or 26 cogs, which would be vital in this race if I wanted to stay in the big ring on the climb. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong, so I went to the Mike’s Bikes (15 min before race!) & they immediately figured out that the stop that holds the cable housing near the rear derailleur had cracked, so the cable housing had been pulled into the frame. They were able to fix it and I was off to the start with 5 min to warm up.
The race was off & I started in the back with Greg around mid pack. Since this was a combined field, we had around 65 starters & I was worried that it would be tough to move up, but I was patient and wanted to move up slow to get warmed up. I moved up around 10-15 riders per lap for the first 4 laps, then was close enough to the front that when Jeromy Cottell (Specialized) attacked at the top of the course I was able to jump across to his wheel. It was a good move because his teammate Kevin Metcalfe was at the front of the pack with everyone on his left & Jeromy attacked up the right side.
We quickly had a few seconds and worked pretty evenly and within a few laps had 20 seconds, then a few laps later had 45 seconds. By this time we were able to throttle back a bit. I wanted to attack to try to solo it in, & gave it a couple tries at the top of the climb, but just didn’t have the pop for that kind of effort. I let Jeromy lead the last half lap hoping to come around him in the sprint, but that didn’t work out too well.
- Chris Phipps at the front of the break. Photo thanks to David Cheung.
I was happy with 2nd though & glad to see Jeromy get a win since he’s been so aggressive in the races lately. Greg said the pack essentially gave up chasing after a few laps (I was expecting Cale or Dirk to try to bridge across), but was still fast enough to drop about 1/3 of the field. In the sprint, Greg ended up 14th, just a couple places out of the Premier Series points.
Next week it’s onto Berkeley HILLS!
Yes, HILLS & not the Dunnigan “hills”.
Against all odds the ThirstyBears pulls a podium spot for Holger Steinbach at Wente 45+ 123
Thirsty Bear Team: Hans, Gardie, Scott, Holger.
I hung out with friends a bit long last night and went to bed late. The result, I overslept big time. My plan was to leave the house at 5:50am to be in Livermore by 6:45 to have enough time for the usual preparation including a half hour warm up.
When I stared at the clock still half asleep and saw it was already 6:50 I was very close to throwing the towel and turn around to get another hour of sleep. But something drove me out of the bed that said you got to at least try. Luckily my stuff was all packed, the coffee was already in the coffeemaker, I just needed to jump into my bibs and in the car and off I went.
After 10 minutes of driving I noticed that the “low gas” light had come on. Stopping to get gas was not an option if I wanted to still make it. If the light had just come on when I first saw it, I had a decent change to make it, but it was going to be close. When I filled my tank with 19.3 Gallon after the race I realized how lucky I was to not run out of gas.
By the time I had registered, had visited the porta-potty, put the TWO number on, it was about 8:10. I made it, the race would have to take care of the warm up. When the race started Scott and I rode off the front, but no sign of Hans and Gardie. Seems like my team members had “late issues” too today.
Scott and I kept the pace low at the front in the first half mile hoping Hans and Gardie would still catch on. It only took a few minutes and rocket man Dirk Himley engaged his thrusters to take off. Still being cold I could not chase after him, but 4 riders managed to slip into his draft (Hancock, Eatinger, +2). Shortly after Chris Courtney made an effort to bridge across, but didn’t quite make it.
3 of the riders Dirk pulled cracked on the first hill and got gobbled up by the field shortly thereafter. After we passed the finish area Scott and I went to the front and drove the tempo to try to stay close to the break. After a while Gardie came to the front. It was good seeing that he had caught on. The tempo work got interrupted a few times resulting in a 1:30 minutes lead by Himley and Hancock when we got the first time check. Knowing how strong Dirk rides it was unlikely we’d bring him back unless the field would mount a serious chase effort. But that didn’t happen. Gardie Scott and I stayed close to the front of the race in laps 1 and 2, while Hans, per his plan, rode conservatively further back. Towards the end of the 2nd lap on the approach to the climb as Scott was at the front I used the opportunity to break away. At the start of the climb I had about a 15-20s gap so I decided that I’ll try to go solo. I managed to maintain a consistent effort and my lead kept growing. When I didn’t see the field anymore going up the penultimate Wente climb, I knew I had a good chance to stay away. I pushed on as strong and consistent as I could and before I knew it another lap had gone by.
Shortly before I got to the last climb I approached a group of 7 or 8 riders with 900 number. As I passed the group on the left, without any warning the two riders to my right crashed and almost took me down with them. I couldn’t believe it. After I had passed this unexpected hurdle I went up the hill one last time. I probably could have taken it easy since I had a comfortable lead, but did not want to risk being caught. So I rode as hard as I still could until I crossed the finish. Haven’t had a podium place in a while and was very happy to have managed to go solo for 2+ laps to 3rd place.
About a couple minutes later the chasers arrived. Gardie sprinted into 5th place, Hans got 8th and Scott 15th.
ThirstyBear Cycling 35+ 4 team on rocket fuel dominate Wente Vineyards Classics
Race: Wente Road Race 3 laps 50 miles
Riders: Jim Grant, Peter Badertscher, Eric Lagier, Piers Barry
Conditions: Sunny, moderate winds, hot.
Great race today with incredible work on the front by Jim Grant and Peter Badertscher and an awesome final launching pad from Eric Lagier.
Race started with all the top finishers from Copperopolis, and 60 riders had registered (not sure how many actually started).
The field was pretty content to just follow a few guys at the front the whole time. The first lap was fairly tame, and the most excitement came on the steep downhill right turn where a rider decided to take a Lance Armstrong style side trip off the road, through some 4 foot high fields of grass and managed to stay upright and rejoin.
The pace picked up after that with Jim Grant going to the front for large portions of the race and keeping a great tempo going. Peter put in some excellent time there as well. All in all the 4 ThirstyBear riders were at the front about 50% of the time.
I decided to lead from the finish of the climb through the descent the last two laps to stay out of any potential crashes.
Peter put in a great push through the penultimate last climb at 42 miles, and managed to fatigue some of the competition with his pacemaking up the hill.
5 miles from the finish the pace really heated up. Jim, Peter and Eric were sitting near the front on the right while I was stuck in 20th on the left trying to get over behind them.
I managed to get nearly get repositioned 1000 meters before the final steep right hand turn. Then the Roaring Mouse rider (Kirkbride) started cramping. The Thirsty trio in front went the the middle of the road.
Eric launched out the group like he was shot out of a cannon! I was able to thread through about 12 riders and went on a tear after him and the one rider able to follow his wheel. The other rider blew up, and I caught up to Eric and went again off his wheel. I looked back to a huge gap, kept going and was able to sit up and celebrate across the line with about 150 meters over second place. Eric was just pipped on the line for second and ended up third. Great Race out there with a very satisfying win on brand new Trek from City Cycles and a huge debt of gratitude to my teammates.
–
Piers Barry
ThirstyBears Chris Phipps powers through to the top at Wente 35+ 1/2/3
Tough race today!
Thirsty Bears: Daly, Gallardo, Hynes, McQuaid & Phipps.
Race started off fast & didn’t slow down much. We caught the Cat 3 field who had started 5 min in front of us after just 20 min of racing. Strava shows I rode faster laps this year than in P/1/2 last year and 35+ in years past.
Unfortunately, Ken flatted out on the 1st lap, so we were down to 4. 
Jeromy Cottel (Specialized) attacked early & was joined by Nick Theobald (Safeway) & Dan Bryant (Folsom Bike).
The 3 of them built their lead up to 2 min as the Studio Velo guys rode tempo at the front before Brenon & a couple Mike’s Bikes guys (Appel & Hobbs) put in some monster pulls to bring it to under a minute. After the penultimate climb our chase group was down to around 12 guys when Metcalfe attacked as the descent started & bridged to the break.
I was trying to do as much as I could to bring it back & try to set up Greg, but we weren’t getting much help, so Greg came up to lend a hand too & with help from a couple others pulled the break to within about 10 sec.
Then with about 10K to go Sayers (Specialized) attacked & bridged to the break, so now Specialized had 3 of 5! Sayers & Cottell worked it to set it up for Metcalfe while we tried to bring it back or at least not let it get any further ahead.
As we were doing this, another group of around 12 who had been dropped caught back on about 1k before the final climb started. Sayers gave his last pull & pulled off at 2K to go, then Cottell led it to the final turn where Metcalfe launched. We got there about 15 sec later & I thought we were racing for 5th, and the way I felt with dead legs & 15 guys who had been sitting in, I was thinking it would be tough to hang on for a top 10.
But as I led up the climb, the guys who had been in the break all day were just crawling so we flew by Cottell, Theobald & Bryant. Only Metcalfe remained, still around 10 sec ahead. With 500M to go & Nate Parks (Folsom Bike) was pulling up next to me to go by, so I put in a final burst & got away solo and to my surprise was quickly catching Metcalfe. I caught & went by him with 200M to go & just kept sprinting to the line for the win!
More importantly though, I got the Strava KOM on the finishing climb!
Greg had a strong final sprint to finish 6th with Phil in 21st! They gave Brenon a DNP, but he did finish. Thanks for the help guys!
ThirstyBear Cycling dominate Sea Otter Classic 2013
Ken Gallardo, Greg McQuaid & I headed down to the Sea Otter Classic to test ourselves against the best masters racers in the state and in many cases, the US. There were 3 current national champions in our circuit and road races, Rudolph Napolitano (35-39 RR), Matt Carinio (40-44 RR), and Mike Easter (35-39 Criterium). There were also at least a dozen former national champions in addition to Nor Cal strongmen Dan Martin & Andres Gil and many others. With 7 guys in the race, we knew that Monster Media/MRI would be the team to watch though.
Things started off with the 75 minute circuit race on the Laguna Seca raceway & Dan Martin (Safeway) didn’t wait 2 seconds before he launched an attack up the first climb, which sent Monster Media & Time to the front to string out the field. The first few laps were full of attacks & counters, but by about 4 laps in there was a dangerous move of about 7 riders that Ken was in with Carinio (Arts), 2 Time guys and 3 MRI. I decided to bridge up to this group on the climb & Ken fell back to the main field. The 7 of us didn’t really work together, but were just attacking & counter attacking until we got down to 5 riders, me, Carinio, Napolitano & Easter (Time) and Philip Tinstman (Monster Media). With 2 to go, I attacked & got away solo, but got caught by Napolitano with 1 to go. I couldn’t shake him on the final climb & he came around me for the sprint in the final 200M for the win. I crossed in second and Mike Easter nipped Tinstman for 3rd. Ken held on to finish 11th, but Greg wasn’t having his best day & dnf’d.
On to Saturday’s 62 mile, make that 54 mile road race, shortened a lap due to a late start. After a good 10-15 minute delay we were off down the hill for the neutral first 4 miles. The first time up the climb, everyone was content to sit in and ride at the tempo set by Monster Media to get warmed up. But sure enough, as soon as the road flattened out Dan Martin started the attacking that would continue on and on with Ken and a Monster Media guy getting in just about every move until about halfway through the race we were down to just about 15 guys in the lead group with Greg, Ken & me still in there.
Surprisingly though, all the Monster Media guys were gone. Greg went to the front to ride tempo to keep anyone who had been dropped from getting back on. On the next climb and over the next couple laps, Ken went to the front to ride tempo and told me to just sit behind him & be patient. It was really great having Ken and Greg there in the selection. I think it was with 2 laps to go that Carinio launched an attack and I found myself with just him, Andres Gil and Chris Walker (Time). It looked like this would be the final 4, but Walker’s teammate Napolitano had been delayed with a mechanical and was able to bridge up to us. Walker set tempo for a while, but then Napolitano attacked & Carinio & I would chase & counter with Walker & Gil just content to chase back on. Napolitano was though able to get away on the rollers about 2 miles before the final climb began. On the early part of the final climb, Carinio, Gil & I tried to work together to bring back Napolitano, but it quickly became apparent that we were racing for 2nd. When we hit the steeper parts of the climb I just went to the front and was able to ride away for 2nd with Gil not too far back in 3rd and Carinio 4th & Walker 5th.
Greg was looking very strong leading in the chase bunch sprint for 6th with Ken right there in 8th. Great race working with Ken and Greg who are both very fit right now and I think will be posting some great results in the weeks ahead.
Chris
Piers powers through Sea Otter Classic RR 35+ 4 to take 2nd.
Piers continue his rise in the cat 4s taking 2nd after solo chase for the finish.
Race: Sea Otter Classic Road Race 35+ Cat 4
Conditions: 68 F, Sunny, perfect riding conditions
Riders: CJ Wolf, Eric Lagier, Piers Barry
Places: Piers Barry 2nd, CJ Wolf 7th, Eric Lagier 15th
Finally the entire ThirstyBear Cycling Cat 4 team was set to race together for the 1st time (and CJ’s first race of the season). We were pretty excited about this race, especially as Eric’s brother Christian has won here before. We drove down together in CJ’s tiny Saab and planned out possibilities of places to attack in the feed zone, or at the final climb up Barloy. We wanted to wait until the final lap.
At the race we had perfect weather conditions and after a neutral start on the Laguna Seca Race way we got down to business on the first lap. No one seemed very interested in attacking or racing at the start. After completing the first lap with just a few probing attacks from other teams one rider managed to get away solo midway through the second lap. He dangled off the front, wasting a bit of energy and we were happy to let him. He was soon joined by another rider but it didn’t seem too threatening. We started to close the gap of 30 seconds or so, but a few riders refused to work and kept going near the front, slowing down and breaking up the chase. (No these were not actually breakaway riders’ teammates but they were doing a good job acting the part).
The same pattern continued. CJ and Eric and I represented Thirstybear doing the majority of the work with only a few other riders from the pack. Mid-way through the third lap we caught one of the riders just leaving a solo rider up front. The race motor cycle kept bringing back the gap time which went from 30 to 40 seconds to over a minute but few riders would help chase. At the top of every climb the pack slowed to almost a stand still. Finally on the final lap I went to front, led up the last big climb, pulled almost all the way to the feed zone with Eddie Silva from One Way Cycling. No one else would work and just sat in our slip stream. I attacked out of the feed zone and quickly opened up 30 seconds on the field. I kept trying to close the gap to the leader, and pulled up within sight of the lead car and rider. I managed to put 1:10 on the field and closed the 1:40 down to 49 seconds but ran out of road. The break away rider turned out to be Kenny Burt a pro mountain bike rider from Auburn who seriously deserved the win after being out front all day. A really great day of racing out there and can’t wait to do more races with the full Cat 4 squad triple threat.
