ThirstyBear Cycling Piers Barry celebrates his last cat 4 race finishing 2nd at Pescadero RR 35+ 4
Pescadero Road Race 2013
Cat 4 35+
Conditions: Cool fog at the start and warm sun at the finish
Results: 2nd place, prime.
No team mates in this race with me, and a very strong group from Team Oakland showed up with 5 riders. I was trying to figure out how to not have to chase down every break–but just decided to stay at or near the front the whole race to at least be aware of how might be up the road in the event of a break. After 3 wins in a row I could hardly go up to the front to pull through without inciting a little panic in the field that I might be trying to go off the front again. The first prime was at 4 miles or so from the start. I couldn’t tell if 2 riders were breaking away off the front or just going for the prime. I didn’t want to let anything go and then have to chase, so I popped off the front and chased them back down bringing Eddie Silva from One Way racing with me. I offered to lead him out for the prime as he’s always pulling through in every race. He jumped on and I yelled out “Go Eddie” as we came up to the line. He thought the line was another 100 yards up the road and didn’t come around–I accidentally got my first prime ever–20 dollars. Fortunately he got the timing down and grabbed the 2nd one on offer 28 miles later.
I had heavy feeling legs from Hamilton, Tuesday night and Col du Pantoll and I couldn’t get any type of rhythm or normal feeling going. At the feed zone I went to the front, then pushed the pace enough to shed the field down to 10 riders. Just Morgan Raines was able to stay up there comfortably and I should have paid more attention to this fact later. I eased up at the top, and went cautiously down the descent in first position as I’ve never done the descent before. The entire field was back together by the end of the descent although one rider crashed off into the bushes he was able to get back on and rejoin the field.
Last race in the ‘little league’.
The second lap was marked by a long, solid solo breakaway from a rider from San Jose–couldn’t figure out who this was. Berkeley Bicycle club kept sending riders up to bridge across, but I kept closing the gap, not wanting 2 riders off the front. We were closing the gap but then came across a bad looking crash in the women’s field where a number of rider were sprawled across the ground. We slowed, and then had to chase back again after passing through. At the feed zone I pushed the pace at the front again to see who was still around, but no big efforts yet. We started the final climb of Haskins towards the finish and kept it moderate until 2 K to go. Just after that I hit out hard. I could hear a few riders saying “go! this is it!” but no one followed. I kept going and looked back at 1 K to go with no one in sight and eased up. Same at 500m to go. No one in sight. At 200m to go I really eased off the pace and started to cruise in, looking up to see where Danielle was at the finish.
Surprise attack from Morgan Raines of Bike Trip. Even his number is a big secret. Photo: Brad Goodson Photography
I actually sat up at this point just a short way from the line, completely oblivious that Morgan Raines was closing the gap behind me. I was totally clueless and didn’t realize he was there until he nipped past me at the line! Oops! Classic mistake I’ve seen on TV, read about on cycling reports and didn’t think would happen to me. It did. Morgan did a great job hanging in there and pushing all the way in, and I completely screwed up the finish by sitting up.
There are some classic pictures on facebook. Lesson learned…. I already got my confirmation email from usa cycling for the Cat 3 upgrade–ready to race with the Eric Lagier and the big boys now.
Lots of action in the 45+123 Pescadero RR. Tom and Holger finish in top 10
Pescadero RR
45+123
75mi
Thirsty Bear Team: Alan Roberts (DNP), Holger Steinbach (9th), Gardie Jackson (35th), Max Thompson (DNP), Duane Coughlin (14th), Lance Haag (33rd) , and me (6th) (49 started the race).
We talked about the race a little in advance it seemed that Max, Holger, and I had aspirations to be active on the front while Duane, Lance, and Alan were hoping to stick with the pack over all the hills. Gardie was uncertain after being off the bike for a couple weeks, but we knew he’d be mixing it up. It was great to have so many teammates and a couple that I’ve raced with often (Max and Holger). The field was loaded. The list was impressive and deep. With that size field and all the strong riders, it was set up to be a hard race. And it was. One of the best race experiences I’ve been a part of in that there was a lot of action a lot of the time. Never a dull moment and the climbs were tough too.
After a number of attempts in the first lap, things calmed down and we went up Haskins Hill controlled but still pretty fast. We lost some guys but then they caught back on during the descent. Not before Holger (TB), Hunter Z (Hammer), Jay Klein (former TB), and Chris Courtney (SJBC) got away. We slowed to a crawl and I was fine with that as I thought we had the strongest guy in the break. On the Stage Road hills, things heated up again and by the time we hit Route 84, Cale Reeder (Hammer), Dirk Himley (Hammer), Chris Wire (Prime Time) were up the road. Our pack was down to about 8 other guys including Kevin Metcalfe (Specialized), John Hunt (Cal Giant), Kevin Susco (Strava), David Passmore (SJBC), Max Thompson (TB) and some other dudes.
It was a good group but then John Cavanaugh (Prime Time) bridged up and a few of us got it together to bring that back quickly. Once together, we saw the break up the road. We kept them in front of us but right before the feed zone, a group of 20 caught us including Duane and Gardie. We hit the climb, we popped some guys, and we caught the break. Over the top with a lap to go there were about a dozen guys. Only two more caught on and as we came toward town, I got in a few attempts with Alex Osborne and Courtney but things came together with our pack of about 14 heading into the sprint prime. That is when Hunter Z decided to ride his bike right into Max and Hunter’s pedals caught Max’s spokes which ended Max’s race and ruined his expensive race wheel. Hunter didn’t look back in his sprint for the prime. Later, he shrugged it off as if it was all part of the race.
We went up the first Stage climb strong and then down the hill in a long line. I hate that descent and got behind the one other guy who hated it more. When we hit the bottom, the leaders were 100 yards up the hill and going. I had to push hard to get around the destruction going on behind them and then cresting the top closed to within about 10 secs of the 5-man break forming.
This is where I had to make a decision. Try to catch them down the hill or ride in with whoever came up behind me and give up a chance to be in the final selection. I went for it and caught them at the bottom (in 2011, I lost contact with the 3-man break here so I was eager to do it right this time!). I couldn’t believe it. Especially since there were cars and trucks and bikes all over that road. It probably helped to slow those guys down a bit but it was also a pain for me. We rotated well all the way along Hwy 84 and hit the climb together well ahead of anyone else in our race.
I was feeling great to be in this group and if I had a pen would have tried for a few autographs. I went as hard as I could and fortunately was able to watch the race unfold with Metcalfe leading Cale, Dirk and Susco duking it out, Hunt dangling off them and just out of reach of me. Cale came around Metcalfe for the win; Dirk closed to a bike length on Metcalfe while Susco was easily 4th. I followed John Hunt in by about 15 secs and then turned to see Holger come in a minute or two later with the next couple guys.
It was real fun today. I was impressed with all of our guys on the team. How fun is it to have 7 guys in the front pack after one lap? I think we did well as a team and each of us had good opportunities to race how we wanted. We always had at least one or two guys right up there at the front (or off the front). I felt like Max was riding fantastic and have absolutely no doubt that he would have been in our 6-man final selection if it weren’t for a very unsafe maneuver that knocked him out of the race with a lap to go.
Thanks.
Tom Lyons
Official results: http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2013-516
ThirstyBear Cycling Ken Gallardo takes 4th and Alan Nevin 7th at Pescadero RR 35+ 123
Date: June 2, 2013
Event: Pescadero Road Race
Category: 35+ 1/2/3
Field: Approx 40
Racer: Ken Gallardo
Result: 4th
Teammates: Brenon Daly (DNP), Eric Lagier (18th), Greg McQuaid (15th), Alan Nevin (7th)
After 35 minutes of serial suffering in 95 degree heat, why not spend 3 hrs 20 minutes alternating between cold misty descents and warm sunny full throttle climbs? That’s what I thought – a ThirstyBear’s idea of a fun weekend! With last year’s winner, Mr Phipps, taking a leisurely Sunday off of racing, I volunteered to step up and lead the ThirstyBear 35+ team at Pescadero. While my power-to-weight ratio isn’t quite at Phipps’ level, it’s rapidly increasing (though it would increase faster if I didn’t know how to bake cookie bars and could eat a small cup of ice cream instead of the entire pint…) and I felt like I had a good shot at grabbing the win. After my usual lack of warm-up (mostly consisting of shivering at the start line!) we were off to the races.
Eric Lagier’s first cat 3 race. Was great to experience.
No neutral start this year, and the sprint line back in it’s usual spot further up Stage road (last year it was a mere 1 km out of Pescadero!) so the field stayed together for the first couple of miles. And then, the ever-attacking Dan Martin from Safeway…attacked! The first lap, literally, every attack was Dan. Well, he finally got a little ways off the front and we let him dangle for a while. Eric came to the front and pulled him back as we approached the feed zone and then he and I cruised up Haskins at the front for the first time.
Ken, Brenon, Greg, Alan and Eric made it a strong ThirstyBear Cycling presence in the field.
The group stayed pretty much together until we got down into the flatter section when…Dan attacked again! We let him go and let others chase until he got out of sight and then Greg went to the front to set a strong tempo.
Greg setting the chasing pace up the hill
Greg making the field stretch out.
This inspired a couple other teams to join in until Dan was back in view as we approached the first Stage Road climb. We went a bit faster this time around but didn’t lose too many guys so the 2nd Stage climb was a little faster. Dan managed to stay off the front for a while longer and after he got pulled in his teammate Kyle Glerum attacked. He was joined by a Divine Electric rider and together they built a 40 second lead. That evaporated on the climb as the pace cut the field to about 15 guys but swelled to about 25 on the long descent. Stage road the final time was hard but manageable and Kyle attacked again and held a gap until we got to 84 again. There were a flurry of attacks but by now everyone could sense the impending finishing climb and nothing got very far. Greg helped pull back several attacks and even ended up in one break but the field was all together as we entered the feed zone for the final time. The pace picked up on the downhill stretch but with Greg, Alan and Eric still in the mix, I was able to come into the bottom of the hill about 5th wheel and then followed Eric around the outside of the corner to sit 5th wheel as the road kicked up.
Nick Theobald of Safeway opened the aggression almost immediately but that only strung out the group. When we hit the 2k to go sign, Josh Dapice (Audi, 2nd behind Phipps last year) went to the front and turned up the heat. I was still 5th wheel behind Nate Parks (Folsom Bike) and as we approached 1k to go, things got a little dicey. Nick started drifting back on the left, just off the centerline and Nate was sandwiched between Nick and a rider from R4R. I think Nick hit a Botts Dot and bounced to the right which pushed Nate into the R4R rider’s rear wheel. This popped the R4R guy’s rear skewer but fortunately everyone stayed upright. I’m now 3rd wheel for what seems like the longest 1k finish… Josh is still leading it out and I’m feeling surprisingly good. I can sense there are still a few guys in the hunt even behind me so I’m antsy but trying to bide my time. I figure I can’t let it come down to the last 100 meters as I know my finishing kick is still lacking so as the road sweeps right and then left with about 250 m to go, I accelerate to the inside. This doesn’t take anyone by surprise though and with 100 m to go, three guys go by me…Parks, Birky (Wells Fargo) and Matt Adams (Mike’s Bikes). It looks like Parks is going to take the win but Adams got by him in the last 50 m. I cross the finish line wondering if I had a little more kick at the end and think my mental game needs a step up in the suffering department (though I certainly suffered a lot on Saturday…) And of course, my Garmin had beeped Low Battery on Stage Road and shut off almost immediately after I crossed the finish line (perfect timing!).
Alan coming in for the finish and takes 7th.
My fitness definitely feels like it’s on track and with a little more self control and a couple good weeks of training, I’ll be ready to inflict some real pain at Mt Hood. Next potential race will be Nevada City (my debut ride there, should be interesting!) and the next couple weeks of training will revolve around sprinting and time trialing with some hill climbs thrown in for fun!
Cheers,
Ken G
All race results: http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?permit=2013-516
ThirstyBear Cycling take individual and team victory at Steve Dunlap NCNCA Championships.
TT race reports, I know it doesn’t get much more exciting than this!
Dunlap TT & TTT by Chris Phipps
In years past, the individual TT was the main event at the Steve Dunlap Memorial Time Trial, but this year with the Team Time Trial being part of the Premier Series and serving as the NCNCA Championships meant the ITT would just be a hard warm-up for those who felt the need to do both.
The ThirstyBear Cycling team of Ken Gallardo, Phil Hynes, Alan Nevin and myself were going for the TTT championship in the 35+ 1/2/3 group against strong teams from Folsom Bike, Safeway and Mike’s Bikes.
I was the only one of us to do a “warm-up” ITT and decided to enter the P/1/2 rather than masters to give me a little more recovery before the TTT. The course had been shortened to 27K from last year’s 30K and I didn’t really know what to expect for a time, but was aiming for 35:00 based on my 27K split from 2012. The wind was from the north this year though, so it would be easy heading out and the last 10K would be real hard into the wind. I started 6th out of the 9 in our group and it went very well for me catching my 30, 60 and 90 second men and crossing the line in 35:00.3. I felt I had paced my effort right and held my position, so I just had to wait for race favorite Jonathan Teeter (Marc Pro Strava) to finish to see if my time would hold up and when he came in at 35:33 I was sure I had it. Jonathan told me he didn’t know they had shortened the course, so he had left a bit in the tank.
Results:
1. 1. Chris Phipps – ThirstyBear Cycling 35:00.3
2. 2. Jonathan Teeter – Marc Pro Strava 35:33.9
3. 3. Ariel Herman – Metromint Cycling 35:53.9
Onto the TTT. This would be tough since the 4 of us hadn’t practiced together and I knew that whoever was on my wheel wouldn’t get much draft benefit. We decided to go with the order of: Phipps, Hynes, Gallardo, Nevin. We would try to keep all 4 of us together as long as possible, hopefully for the whole first half, but knew that we needed to finish with at least 3. We also planned to take longer pulls, of at least 20-30 seconds with me pulling a little longer rather than a constant rotation. We started with a short cross wind section and all took a pull to get into the correct order. In the long 10K tailwind section we were flying at 55+ kph and taking nice smooth turns, but then turned right into a tough crosswind from the right. We were really getting blown and I was leaning heavily into the wind. Unfortunately after a few turns we lost Phil and were down to just 3 so now we had to be extra careful not to have one of us blow up.
I took a lot of long pulls into the headwind section with Ken riding 2nd and not getting much shelter from me. Ken & Alan pulled through when they could to give me a breather and that really helped. The wind had picked up and we really had to push to keep it at 37-38 kph. We crossed the line and had to play the waiting game to find out how we did, but we knew it would be close. Then the results were posted and we had won by 9 seconds over Folsom Bike with Safeway coming in 3rd! This was really great to have a district championship to share with teammates, awesome work guys!
Chris
ThirstyBears Aaron & Scot score 1st and 4th at the Mt Hamilton Road Race
2013 Mt Hamilton Road Race Report – by Aaron Long
Cat: Masters 45+ 3/4
Field: 40+ strong – including Scot McLean, Lance Haag & Aaron Long on the line for the Bears
Weather: 60′s , wet roads early, thankfully no rain & dry roads for the descent and run in!
Plan: Scot n’ Aaron to take turns attacking and work for Lance in the sprint when it came back together.
The whistle sounded and with strong headwinds it was a rather smooth start up to Grant Park (1/3) – With mainly Angus Murray (Privateer), Craig Lindburg (Cushman & Wakefield) & Alexander Komlik (SJBC) driving the pace…that is, until our Scot McLean turned the screw, stringing out the peleton and getting a gap. With Scot off the front and the 3 above chasing, Lance and I settled nicely into 7th and 8th position.
On the wet descent past the Grant Park entrance it came back together and I rolled through and pushed to pace up the next climb getting a small gap. As they chased me down Scot rolled past us and hit them again…making it look super easy into the headwind! Again, he had a nice gap with the 3 above doing the majority of the chase work. By now the 40+ peleton was strung out & down to 20. At some stage here I think Lance was caught out by one of the many gaps forming in the heavy winds…
As we approached Smith Creek (2/3) Scot had attacked a few more times and had them all on the ropes -but each time they would claw their way back to him. I’d say about half way up from the Creek I was still hovering in about 7th (on the rivot no less) of just 10 riders left. Mr Mclean was certainly the best climber on the day but that headwind wouldn’t allow his solo break to stick. As we approached the 5km and 1km markers to the summit Angus countered one of Scots many attacks and got a gap going for the KOM which he won…Komlik was 2nd and I may have been 3rd just in front of the group of 7.
With an essentially “free ride” up the mountain due to Scots aggression I saw Angus sit up- So, put my head down and drove it across the summit doing my best “Falco” (Salvodelli) impersonation down the backside (not pretty). At the bottom I was solo with no one in sight until about the neutral feed zone when 2 riders bridged up…Justin Eatinger (Penn Velo) & Roysei (Real) Kaneko (Sho-Air/SERT).
We quickly agreed to go for it and did well together sharing the work. We had a good combination as Justin and myself at about the same size and “Real” was built to climb at about 30lbs lighter. We’d drag him across the flats n descents and he’d keep the pressure on going up the rollers – occasionally having to ease for us both. At mile marker 40 we passed the 2nd feed zone – topped up the fluids and got our fist glimpse of the chase group. It looked like 7+ but afterwards we learned just 4. With them looming we continued to press as I’ve often heard stories of breaks getting caught in the final km.
The final 21 miles took seemingly forever with the unrelenting headwinds but we did it. The 5km marker came (so happy), then at the 1km we kinda stalled and I pulled through joking I’d be the lead out man. As we approached the 200m sign I thought it would read 500m and Justin blew by me – I thought it was over but I put my head down and thankfully, on the little riser his legs locked up and I had an easy roll in.
We later learned that the 4 man chase group had split into a couple of pairs and that Scot caught them all and put it to them in the finally – securing a well earned podium for 4th! Lance also managed to do well in one of his first Cat 3 events- with a field of 40+ riders; a respectable top half 18th place showing.
Great break-mates and racing Lance & Scot !!
Looking Forward to more soon,
Aaron
ThirstyBear Cycling Tanya Fredricks & Leila Cavanaugh push hard up to finish 2nd and 3rd at Mt. Hamilton NCNCA Championship
Mt. Hamilton Road Race – NCNCA Championship, Masters women 45-49
Field: 14 combined 45-65 age groups
Awesome teammate: Leila Cavanaugh
As we lined up, I immediately noticed Jane Despas (Leopard-Sapporo Team, Cat 1). She and I battled it out last year at Patterson Pass Districts, with her out sprinting me at the finish from 300m out. She was now going to be my wheel to follow.
At the whistle, Jane took the front and set a strong tempo the minute the road tilted upward. I was second wheel, and stayed there until we reached the Meadow. Leila was also in close contact, keeping tucked in and staying comfortable. At the meadow, I realized we were now down to about 10 (or less) riders. As Jane willingly took up the pacing again, I closely followed. Leila kept reminding me to be patient and just stay on Jane’s wheel, but I had ants in my pants. I knew my strength (climbing) and my weakness (descending), so I decided it would be best for me to climb at my tempo and try to get a gap so I could roll over the top, free of competitors, and take the descent at my own snail’s pace. With 9 miles of climbing to to go, I attacked. After 15 seconds or so, I turned around to see Jane midway, and driving to catch me. I settled into a tempo pace, with Jane eventually joining me for the next 5 miles. Leila was smart enough to call out to me, as she was just a few meters away, so I slowed a bit so she could catch on. Unfortunately, whenever this happened, Jane would pick up the pace, and I had to respond. I asked Jane on two occasions if she would like to work together to stay away, only to be ignored or told, “I don’t really care”. Stunned, I wasn’t sure what to do, so I attacked again 3 miles from the top. It worked! I rode hard the last 3 miles and could not see anyone as I looked back down the switchbacks. I took the QOM and continued to ride hard until the first turn into the descent.
Assuming Jane and Leila would easily catch me at the bottom, I just maintained a comfortable pace. Having two to work with sounded like a good plan for the final 40 miles. To my surprise, I could see no one behind me. I kept a comfortable effort and kept checking back. About 15 miles later, I finally saw a lone figure coming, with intention. Jane reached me just in time for the final 2 hills. Each hill, Jane dropped, but would claw her way back despite my effort to keep her away. With the final 17 miles to go, I tried once again to see if she wanted to work together. No response. If I tried to follow her wheel, she would stop pedaling and move back and forth across the road. To be fair, she never tried to draft behind me either. We rode side by side (3 feet apart) for the next 16 miles, in silence.
On the final decent to the finish, Jane dropped behind me and seemed to be fine letting me cruise ahead. I had noticed all day that she had been a bit timid on the descents (only to find out later she is still spooked by a bad crash she obtained at Winters RR last year). As we neared the bottom, I saw the bridge where I was intending to make my final “move”. Just as my brain woke up, Jane was already flying by me at lightspeed, gapping me by 150m in no time. The only thing I could do was laugh out loud at my lameness. I was a deer in headlights. I guess that’s what 9 years of racing will teach you…how to set yourself up perfectly for the win. That’s why she’s a Cat 1 and I’m still a 3 ; )
Leila was an outstanding teammate, offering to help at any point. Huge thanks to her for her team spirit! She battled on solo, caught between groups but pushing forward in hopes of helping out. She took the third podium spot and certainly deserved it.
Lots of take home lessons to be learned from this race, and good fun.
Tanya Fredricks
Leila did an outstanding job trying to offer help. Huge thanks to her for her team spirit! She took the third podium spot and certainly deserved it.
Thanks for reading.
Finishing 3rd, 4th and 6th ThirstyBear Cycling dominates the Mt. Hamilton District Championship 45+123
Except for the wet roads going to the top, it was a perfect day to race the Biggest Hill in the Bay Area.
Holger, Max (now better known as Mount McKinley), and myself were set to do battle with the best climbers in our age group. They threw is in the same group of a bunch of youngster who could have been my sons. No, not really but it was a bit frustrating at the end to race for the podium with the 45-49 field. We left San Jose in a drizzle at 8:40 sharp with a pack of 54 guys.
The race plan was pretty simple – hang on to the fast wheels for the first 20 miles to the top and make adjustments along the way as neeeded for the finale.
Hammerhead Ziesing made the first move around mile 4, but nobody really cared. John Hancock (Sierra Nevada) made an effort to get across a mile later, but didn’t get very far. I tested my legs at mile 7 with a surge to see what kind of reaction it would create in the peloton. Sure enough, Kevin Metcalfe (Specialized) pulled the field to catch me and soon it was Nick Theobald (Safeway) setting a fast and steady pace to the meadow (mile 9) which popped half the field. From there on it was Theobald, Metcalfe, and Todd Allington (Victory Velo) setting a tempo all the way to the top to do some serious damage.
Dirk Himley (Hammer) disappeared with 5 miles left to the top, while Holger and John Cavanagh (Prime Time) got unhitched with 3 miles to go. I got gapped myself with a mile to go, while McKinley was the strongest Bear and stayed with the front all the way to the top. I lost sight of the front on the down hill but caught back on just past the neutral feed.
Only 11 guys left at this point – John Hunt (California Giant), Bryan Hoadley (R4R), Todd Allington (Victory Velo), Robert Pasco (Safeway), Nick Theobald (Safeway), Craig Nunes (ArtsCyclery), and Cale Reeder (Hammer) for the 45-49 field and David Passmore (SJBC), Kevin Metcalfe (Specialized), McKinley and myself for the 50-54. A pretty strong group to keep the pace high, but nobody wanted to do any serious work with 35 miles left to race. With the pace dropping, Dirk Himley (Hammer), Holger, and John Cavanaugh (Prime Time) were able to catch back on and as soon as we hit the flat section of the valley the attacks were developing quickly. McKinley and myself got busy trying to get away, but it quickly became apparent that we were racing two different races in which neither age group would let anything get away. Eventually, McKinley got away with Pasco after Del Puerto Canyon which provided a perfect set up for me once they were caught. After several hard attacks the elastic finally snapped in the group and Dirk and I got away, almost in similar fashion when Tom Lyons and I rode away three years ago. Dirk and I were trading pulls equally and it looked like we had a 15-20 second jump. It all looked very good until I couldn’t hold his wheel in the final uphill, headwind section when it was his turn to take a pull. The 3 second gap was enough to put me in the red and I had to sit up and wait for Metcalfe et al. At this point, we still had 12 miles to race and with 9 guys left we still had a decent chance to catch Dirk. Well, this is where things went wrong for the 50+ guys, because none of the 45+ guys had any interest to chase because there race was still intact. We totally lost momentum and it took a lengthy discussion trying to convince the 45+ guys not to get in our way. The good thing was that Holger was able to catch back on, but in the meantime Dirk had 45 seconds. To make a long story short, eventually Metcalfe, Passmore, and myself started rotating and drilled it to get it down to 30 seconds with 6 miles to go. Holger jumped in as well to drive the pace, but unfortunately we never saw Dirk again.
In the meantime, the 45+ guys are getting a nice draft to rest up for the sprint which became quite a mess. With 200 meters to go Nunes chopped from left to right and almost took out a few guys, but got the out-of-district win. Pasco was the first NCNCA, followed by Brian Hoadley and Reeder for 1-2-3 in the 45-49 group. I was able to beat Reeder, but Metcalfe took me by a bike length to take 2nd in the 50-54. Holger 4th and McKinley 6th. Needless to say, some weird dynamics at the end.
Time to take some time off from racing now, but back for more later in June.
ThirstyBear Cycling Piers Barry strikes for the 3rd time to take 1st at Mt. Hamilton RR District Championship 35+4
Who: Piers Barry, Richard Bolt, CJ Wolf
What/When/Where: 2013 Mount Hamilton Road Race on May 26th in San Jose, Cat 4 35+
Conditions: Light drizzle on the way up, sunny and warm by the top and on
Placings: Piers Barry 1st and KOM, CJ Wolf 9th
Without superstar sprinter/climber Eric Lagier (in deep training in Bend, OR and now a Cat 3) and no steep finishing climb we wanted to keep this race together. Richard is in awesome running shape (he just ran 5:42 miles in a 10K on Monday) and is working on converting that over to cycling legs. Meanwhile CJ packs a really good sprint for this finish. On the car ride over with Danielle and CJ we were reviewing the starting line up and the best of the Cat 4 field (minus Eric) had assembled together–including mountain bike pro Kenny Burt who demolished the field at Sea Otter by himself. I was ready for a little revenge and some careful Kenny Burt wheel watching.
We started out at 9AM sharp with a very light fog drizzle. Enough moisture to wet the roads on the way up but nothing falling down. The plan remained to try to stay hidden in the pack on the way up the hill as Hans had correctly warned up not to go to soon as 43 miles of head and cross winds were sure to be on offer after the climb.
Several riders decided to try to shred the field and get rid of the sprinters right off the bat. In particular Jeff Braunstein from Red Peloton decided to make that his personal mission. The pace was way higher than usual right from the gun.
CJ and I hung out 7-10 spots from the lead following wheels at a steady but hard pace with Richard Bolt just behind us. A few hard accelerations on the front from Red Peloton and Peninsula Velo shelled some more riders down to a group of 15 solid climbers. And so it went with no chit-chat (insufficient air for words) for the first 16 miles. I noticed Kenny Burt repeatedly slipped back in the group and I shifted over to the left in case he tried to come flying by–which he did exactly at the 5KM to the KOM/QOM sign. This was clearly the race defining move. He put in a huge acceleration followed by 4 more trying to break completely free for another solo win. This cracked peloton splintering the group into 3 different echelons. I was able to stay glued on Kenny’s rear wheel fairly comfortably as he went all out for about 2 kilometers. We created a gap and then started cajoling me to help out. I didn’t want to push the pace until I was sure CJ and Richard weren’t coming back. There was no one within sight several switchbacks down the road. At that point I agreed I was being a worthless wheel-sucking dead-weight and I went to the front and started cranking up the pace. I ended up gapping Kenny, and waited for him a couple times. He was still recovering from his initial acceleration. I figured I at least should try to get the KOM since I have minimal sprint power. I kept going solo and took the KOM by about 200 yards and sat up and waited at the top until he joined me. According to Strava we had about 2 minutes on the first chase group by the top.
Waiting at the top was unnecessary as Kenny proceeded to put on a descending clinic as only a pro mountain biker can. I have a lot to learn. We started down together and it was all I could do to keep close enough to see glimpses of his back on the straighter stretches as we went screaming down the back side of Hamilton. Fortunately it was completely dry and the road was in good condition.
I passed by the fallen rider, strapped to a back board and covered in a blanket and slowed even more. The helicopter was already coming in, so I slowed down and asked if they needed help, but they waved me on and I didn’t stop.
At the bottom Kenny was cruising at a moderate pace and I quickly caught up and went right to the front to start drilling it. We cooperated completely and shared the work equally, pushing along as hard as we could. There was a strong head and cross wind which slowed us down, but we kept passing other groups of men and the women’s field and never saw the chase group which built up to 10 riders. I started to get cramps for the first time in any race in my calf and quads with 15 miles to go. We kept working equally until the 5km to go sign. I led the whole descent, soft pedaling and trying to keep my legs ready to chase. At 1km to go we played a little cat and mouse, barely cruising in. I knew there was an up hill slight rise at the finish and I just waited as long as I could. At 250 meters to go I figured I just had to go for it and led out the sprint trying to increase my acceleration the whole time. I poured it on at the cramp limit and Kenny tried to come up along my left side but I managed to hold him off for a photo finish by less than half a wheel length. Never won a sprint before! CJ came in with the 2nd large group and was setting up for a good sprint but ended up rubbing wheels with another rider, slowed down to avoid crashing and came across 9th. Richard completed the climb and headed back down to get ready for his 10K running race the next morning. I’m catting up after Pescadero–a final race then onto the big leagues….
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Piers Barry
The usual suspects: 1st Piers Barry, ThirstyBear Cycling, 2nd Morgan raines, Team Bicycle Trip, 3rd Jeff Braunstein, Red Peloton, 4th Paul Berger, Topsport, 5th Dennis Van Hoof
Chris Phipps leads the way to the podium for ThirstyBear Cycling at Mt. Hamilton Road Race NCNCA Championship, Masters 40-44
Mt. Hamilton Road Race – NCNCA Championship, Masters 40-44
By: Chris Phipps (ThirstyBear Cycling)
Field: 31
ThirstyBear Teammates: Ken Gallardo, Greg McQuaid, Alan Nevin
Before this race I put a lot of thought into which wheelset to use. My lightest wheels (Zipp 303s) would be best on the climb, my Bontrager RXL tubeless would be best for the steep descent and my Bontrager Aeolus 5 d3 were my most aero and would be best for the final 40 miles into the headwind and since that’s where the race is won or lost, I went with those. When we arrived and it was drizzling, I kind of wished I had my tubeless, but thankfully the descent ended up being dry.
The race plan was for me to attack on the last 5K of the main climb and hopefully after the descent, we would have 3 or 4 of us in the selection, then from there would try attacking & counter attacking to get one of us away solo or with one other rider from Folsom since they were the big team with 6 riders.
The race started off with Greg feeling good and setting a hard tempo for the whole 1st 25 min of the main climb. This probably wasn’t the best thing to help his chances later in the day, but it was great for us to keep anyone from attacking and tire some guys out before the last part of the climb. On the short middle section of the climb, Nathan Parks (Folsom Bike) put in a hard attack, that really strung out the field and popped a few guys, but all the key guys were still there.
As we started the last 10K of the climb, the steepest part, Ken was setting a hard pace along with Todd Bell from Morgan Stanley, then as it started to kick up I launched an attack. Parks quickly got to my wheel and I could see the rest of the field was coming back, so I put in another hard dig & broke free. After about 30 seconds I looked back & had a gap & was able to ride my own pace the rest of the way and take the KOM. I had about 45 seconds on the chase at the top and I think the descent went well since only Jason Boynton (Folsom Bike) caught me on the way down and we were joined by Andres Gil (Michael David Winery) and Scott Bromstead (Barclay’s Racing) as we crossed Isabel Creek. The 4 of us had about 30 seconds on a chase group of 6 which included Ken, 2 Folsom Bike (Parks & Bryant) and defending national champ Matt Carinio (Art’s Cyclery. The 4 of us worked together and our advantage grew to over a minute by the feedzone climb (thanks to Alan’s wife Tracy for the feed!) where we lost Bromstead & were down to 3. With a headwind all the way to the finish, there was really no good place for an attack and the race came down to a sprint. I was actually in the ideal position heading into the final 200M 3rd wheel behind Boynton & Gil, but I got impatient and jumped 1st with 200M to go. I got a small gap and for a few seconds thought I might take it, but reality set in with 100M to go as Gil went by me for the win and Boynton for 2nd.
In the chase group, Dan Bryant attacked out of it for 4th with Carinio winning the sprint for 5th. Ken finished 9th, Alan 15th and Greg in 27th. Throw in the 40 mile “cooldown” back to the car and we were all ready for an IPA (thanks Greg!)
CP
ThirstyBear Cycling Alan Roberts takes 3rd at Mt. Hamilton District Championship 55+123
Race 55+ Cat 123 60+ & 65+ scored separately for districts
Start: 9:30
Field: 45
Conditions: Damp but not raining about 63 degrees.
Mt Hamilton seems almost like two races, the big climb and then the valley. I don’t seem to be doing so well on early in race climbs lately, so when the likes of Kevin Susco, Steve Archer and Rob Anderson set a strong pace up the hill, I fell back and tried to keep a reasonable gap. This didn’t seem to be happening and even though I was in a small chase group that worked somewhat together, we were losing time on the lead group all the way up. I figured I’d be racing for maybe 10th place, but kept pushing the pace hoping to pull some guys back on the other side.
Alan Roberts turns on the ‘diesel’ engine and crushes the field one by one to finish 3rd.
Guys started blowing up near the top and so the decent was myself and a SJBC guy who knew the road like the back of his hand. A Victory Velo rider joined us at the bottom, so now there were 3 of us working up the hill to the feed zone and off toward the valley. I put my head down and pushed on and both of those guys blew up, but I picked up a Victory Velo guy falling back from the front group. Unfortunately he couldn’t do more than sit on my wheel for probably 15 miles, so I was essentially on my own. (turns out he won the 65+ race, so he owes me a beer)
Reached the other end of the valley and started up the hills. This was made more fun by the fact that my front derailleur had slipped out of adjustment (again) so I only had big ring gears.
I was catching more guys from my field along the way and then caught up to Rob Anderson and a fella named Joe Lemire on the Hammer team. Always nice to pull up behind a guy wearing rainbow stripes, so I paused for a second behind Rob and then rode around him. He reacted by saying “who was that?” as I went by and grabbed onto my wheel along with Joe. I pretty much pulled them up the rest of the climb. Once it started rolling Rob started rotating with me, but Joe was not able to contribute, so he hung on the back. (Joe ended up first in the 60+ field, so I think he owes me a beer too)
At about 5k to go we spotted a Strava rider and a Victory Velo rider ahead. I wasn’t sure where they were in the field, but we were gaining on them quickly.
I gotta say, Rob Anderson is one of the nicest guys I’ve ridden with in a race. When he saw the riders ahead he said “let’s not catch them too soon, Alan. They don’t know were back here and surprise is on our side”. “Let’s pull up behind them and hit them at 1k”. Now, having a world champion coaching you in a race is pretty cool, so I paid attention. We caught up to them at about 2k and sat on their wheel for a bit but they looked pretty beat, so Rob waved me up and said “attack now!” and I did. Came around them fast with Rob on my wheel. He took one turn and then started yelling “go Alan go!” I mean seriously, a WC cheering you on from behind, how awesome is that?
I looked back at 200m to see them coming hard, so I put my head down and pushed harder. Next time I looked back I’d put 50m on them and was clear going across the line. Not having been at the front of the race, I didn’t know how many were ahead of me, so I had to ask around a bit to see where I finished. Turns out Susco and Archer had been off the front, finishing 1st and 2nd and I ended up 3rd place.
Took forever to get the awards, but thankfully Lance stuck around to ride the 45 miles back to the cars with me with a little burrito stop along the way. Nice 109 mile day!