Marc Pro - Strava

After babying a head cold all week and watching the snow pile up, I had one thing on my mind, getting the hell out of the mountains to race bikes.  The plan was to hit up both Cantua Creek and Pine Flat, but weather and sickness prevented a full weekend.  Kris Lunning, Frank Spiteri, Nate Freed, Dustin Hahn and I all met up at Pine Flat Reservoir.  Other than the 7:30AM start (WHY?), 38 degree temp and only two shitters, the race was awesome.  The course is a  rolling, twisting, smooth pavement, mountain top finish dream.  It would be nice if they held this race later in the year for a better turnout.  One of the highlights of the day was watching the Velo Promo van roll over tire spikes, hit a rock and then reverse over the tire spikes in the wrong direction...OOOPS!

The race started off with a couple of attacks, and a break of 7 getting away.  Nate was luckily representing in the break.  The break quickly moved to about a 2 minute gap as the rest of the small field sat up and refused to push the pace.  Our tactics from here would be to attack and counter attack to try and bridge at least 2 more of us up to the break.  We found out quickly that the field was good at responding to attacks, but to gassed to do any work themselves.  After playing this game for a majority of the race, and having Nate up in the break crushing himself, Kris, John Bennet of Cal Giant and I were able to get a workable gap heading into the final climb.  I was able to hang on Bennet's wheel up the climb, but Kris after throwing down the whole race and doing a majority of work would be on a solo TT mission for the rest of the day.  Bennet and I quickly passed up the break...which was broken by this point.  Gaining on the last man standing in the break, Vince Owens, Bennet and I attacked just before the KOM and got a sizable gap on Owens.  Bennet pushed the pace on the climb, and I drilled it through the flats as we rolled to the final 1km marker.  I was torched and Bennet was able to pull away in the final 200meters... 2nd, we'll take it....Just behind us was Vince Owens and Lunning in 4th.  After having to sit and watch Kris and I ride up the road,  Frank and Dustin had a battle with Evan Huffman of Cal Giant...Just missing out on 5th they settled for 6th and 7th, with Nate just behind in 9th with the "salty face award."  Not bad for the first road race of the season...

Some more from Nate's perspective:

I had a different perspective on the race since I spent most of the day in the break. My goal was to help out Justin and Dustin (the two Cat.2s) as much as possible to get upgrade points, and still get a good team result. We started with a neutral start up a steep hill, and then right from the gun the attacks started. I managed to slide into a group of 6 guys, which quickly got a huge gap. We had a Cal Giant berry, Jelly Belly, ex-Yahoo Vinny, Colby from Suami’s, Jon from Taleo, and one other guy. We worked pretty well together and got the gap up to over two minutes, keeping the pace at 25-27 mph over the flats. I was a little worried that the gap would get too big, and that I obviously wasn’t the strongest guy in the break.... I’m usually not. So my plan was to allow the break to stay away for as long as possible to take some pressure off of the teammates, then sit out pulls and start attacking the guys to disrupt everything before the final two big climbs. That’s exactly how it played out. As we approached the climbs, Trafton from the Berries and I sat out pulls to set things out for our big guns who were back in the field. Vinny didn’t like this too much, and started attacking us. After a series of attacks, it was just Vinny, Trafton, and I. At this point my derailleur hanger decided to go shitty on me just as it did in the last race. My two companions heard me struggling with my shifting behind, and immediately turned up the pace. Since I was already in the red, this destroyed me and I was done. Luckily for me, my teammates are F’in strong. I looked back after a minute, and saw Justin and John Bennett from Cal Giant bridging across. I didn’t even consider trying to jump in with them, but I managed to give Justin a little time split and some encouragement. Then another couple minutes later here comes Kris Lunning solo. He looked just about as hurt as I was, but cruised by me about midway up the first of the two final climbs. Near the top of the first climb, I was caught by Frank, Dustin, and Evan Huffman from Cal Giant. We started attacking Huffman just a little too late, and he was a little too strong. Dustin and Frank got 6th/7th, and we got 5 of the top 9! Dustin and Justin both scored some upgrade points, and I think we all had an awesome time on the bike. I love bike racing, especially with such an awesome team! I’m really excited for when we race with 10 guys instead of just 5...

All photos courtesy of Peter Lanik.  More can be found at his website.  Thanks!!  http://peterlanik.smugmug.com/

Sunday mornings in the winter I typically get a window to skate @tdxc or hit the backcountry — either way just get alone in my head on skis in the mountains. This week presented more than the usual "woe is me time to whine" moments (like when you get a terrible hotel room and it pours rain on your trip to NYC) -- but also more inspirational/perspective moments than usual.  It all rattled around in my head this morning, here is the list of things that went down this week that kept rattling around in my head this morning while I skated and just made me stoked:

• Blind skiers out cross country skiing all weekend, and the army of blind skier guide/volunteers at the event.  Uh, what was your problem again?
• Wife and kids.  More 'I'm the luckiest guy in world' moments in last 48 hours, wow.  Yesterday family outing cross country skiing

• My teammates on http://www.marcprostarva.com racing team won a bunch of races this weekend at the Pro 1/2 level (see prior link for blogs/etc. on that).  The wins were not the inspiring part, the work that I know they put in and laying it on the line in competition is what fires me up.  Bike racing is such a life metaphor, love it.  Teammates throwing down and showing benefits of hard work. Justin:

• My bro (older) turned 42.  He's an inspiration for life.
  
  
  

• The earthquake.  Well, I don't have a seminal moment of observed heroism that really inspired me here, although I'm sure there were many.  So I guess this was more about perspective than anything else but it was jumbled into this mix anyway
• People in New York.  Not every business meeting or interaction was sweet.  But on the whole always energizing.  And in particular at least 4 specific business meetings with a mix of candidates to join  my company http://www.140proof.com and prospective partners and clients that remind me why I love building Internet/Digital Media businesses.
• Split Mountain.  This years top of list 14'er to climb/ski.  Got some dates and crew and route roughed out this week.  It is such a privilege to even have the chance to make something like ski alpinism a part of my life.  I love this quote from Reinhold Messner and love noodling introspectively on why: "Mountains are not fair or unfair, they are just dangerous".  Couple shots from the http://tetonat.com crew:

Full TR from these cats is here, nice one: http://www.tetonat.com/2010/04/28/eastern-sierra-at-split-mountain/

On Saturday, Nate Freed and I made the trip down to Folsom.   We were pleasantly surprised as around 60 riders showed up on a 65 degree day.  Nate and I discussed our 2 man game plan as Nate did his usual 30 to 40 minute ritual of God knows what getting ready.  As we rolled off the line Nate and I alternated going with attacks.  We were in some promising situations, but it was a little early for any thing to stick.

Finally 3 Webcor, 2 cal giants,  and some other fast dudes got clear.  Nate tried to bridge solo and almost got there but it was not to be.  I waited in the group helping to keep the break managable.  When there was an accelleration I tried to get across.  Made it, then when I knew we were going to stay away I tried to figure out how to get a result.  Nobody was attacking, and I didn’t want to be the one to stir the pot then get dropped.

I’m stupid and impatient so I opened it up with about a K to go, finished 7th or 8th.  Nate  for the second week in a row had a mechanical, and was not given a free lap, so he just  ate the lap.  Race 2 of the year is in the books and I’m exited for more.

Thanks for reading

It's true what they say; the early bird does get the worm. This past Saturday I opened up a couple cans of the suckers.

Can No. 1: 30+ 3/4

Can Size: 86 red wigglers. Thats a lot of worms for my first can of the year.

Place: 15th

Recap: Great way to start the season. Sunny. 70 degrees. Non tech course. Followed the game plan which entailed ridding with in the first 15 worms, work as little as possible and win.... which I didn't. Raced well, but boxed myself going into the last turn and that was that.

Can No. 2: E3

Can Size: 52 night crawlers

Place: 12th

Recap: First race of the year and already I'm racing my second race of the year? This isn't a worm eating contest. My pre race thoughts were to just roll around in the grass warming myself in the sun and nap the race away. But,,, I got the bike out again, warmed up and decided to follow race ones' game plan. After all, it's just a workout with a win at the end... not. I felt surprisingly well in the legs going into the final turn top 15 but should have been more like top 6 or had a better sprint. BETTER SPRINT! Interval time.

So it's the middle of February and my crit legs feel great. I need to work on my finishing legs, but that will come as the season does. In a couple of weeks I'm looking to test my flat to rolling road race legs at Snelling.

PS. Before leaving the races to drive home I watched a few laps of the P12. I saw Dustin in a break with Rand Miller and Nate just off the front on the wheel of a bridge attempt. Awesome to see my new team mates doing what they do. Getting after the worm!

Genious.

http://drunkcyclist.com/2007/06/17/the-system/

I've long suspected high OCD index to bike racers and endurance athletes in general.  The structured training, control, attempts to bring order and predictability to the magic and mystery of the body machine.  Does OCD take you there, to the racing . . . Or does it develop as a result of experience in the system (and getting your ass handed to you in the local race).  Anyway, a deeper dive for another day. Below, I present to you a post (which I've made anonymous) from a bike racing/training forum which I troll.  Just one example of the lengths to which people will go — we are talking amateur racers!! Arm and Hammer, get some. Here is the excerpt from the post -- to be clear I didn't write this oi!!! In the past couple weeks I've been experimenting with sodium
bicarbonate (baking soda) to help buffer acid for longer intervals and
I've had some good numbers lately, possibly from the bicarbonate or it
could be a number of other variables, I'm not really sure. I've used
sodium bicarbonate once before for a 1 minute interval to see if my
stomach could handle it, and I ended up setting a new power record, so
I think it works for anaerobic efforts, just like it's supposed to.
But after reading about how it improves LT efforts when loading long
term, I decided to give it a try. The chronic load calls for 3-5 days
of use before the event, or you can do a chronic load for training to
increase training wattage. This calls for 3-4 doses a week (every
week). Both these loads call for 0.4g sodium bicarbonate/kg body
weight. Has anyone heard of this before? Are my good intervals just
coincidental or is there any proven research or field-tested results
from using baking soda for LT efforts? Also, are the long term health
concerns not worth it? (7200 mg of sodium every other day). Thanks --

Andy Scott | 140 Proof | http://140proof.com | mobile: 415-509-5915 | @andyscott999

My first race of 2011 is in the books. It's always nice to get the first one out of the way. I had been questioning my level of fitness, just hoping that I wasn't going to be dropped before the halfway point.  I was joined at this one by new teammates Keith Hillier and Chris Turner, who helped calm my pre-race nerves. We had a nice warm-up together and were all on the same page regarding race strategy.

As soon as we lined up, the nerves were gone. Although the field was relatively small, I think all three of us missed clipping into our pedals and ended up at the back of the field to start the race (I really need to get me some Speedplays). Unfortunately, the split happened early while we were all still out of position.

All of the big teams were well represented in the break and had teammates to help disrupt the peloton's chase efforts. Keith tried to bridge for a few laps but was chased down. Finally around 15 minutes into the hour-long race, I had a go at bridging up to the break. I went hard for a solid few laps, cutting the 15 second gap down to about 6 seconds at one point. I noticed a Metromint rider bridging up to me, so I decided to wait for him; two heads are better than one, right? Another few laps later I noticed Keith trying to bridge up to us, but unfortunately, he never made it. Metromint and I spent the remainder of the race stuck between the chasing peloton and the break (who eventually lapped the field, but not us).

I heard the announcer yelling to us that we were going for 8th and 9th (prizes went 8 places deep), so I had started to plan my finish. I sprinted out of the hair-pin, opening a soild gap, and held it through the chicane and to the line.

Aside from Keith, Turner and myself (and soon-to-be Cat 1 Spencer), Marc Pro-Strava was well represented thanks to the solid fan base; fan-to-athlete ratio was at least 3-to-1!

After team camp, I was absolutely stoked on the guys I'll be riding with this season; after the Ronde and reading our other teammates at Cherry Pie, I haven't second guessed the thought. Now I just can't wait to do a race with the full squad.

Check out my race data on Strava.

For the first race of the year, the weather couldn't have been better. As the four of us (Jesse Miller-Smith, Nate Freed, Dustin Hahn and I) rolled down the hill we noticed the temp gauge climbing, 80's in February!!!  Kris Lunning, our new powerhouse from the bay, met up with us prior to warmup.  It felt great to warmup in a group of 5, and I can't wait for the full team to role out at a race.

We lined up at the top of the cherry pie hill awaiting the start. I looked over at lunner and asked if we were getting a warmup up lap... He chuckled and said no buddy, this is the start.  As we rolled out, I had my typical cat 5 esq clip in issues.... To the back of the field and wondering what turn is coming next, seeing how I hadn't ridden the course before.

Immediately seeing my new teammate, Lunner, off the front I needed to move up and help.  Remembering what the wise Nate Freed said, always be looking for the easy spot to move up. After moving around a bit, I found it. Towards the front now and feeling strong I was able to get in a break including Dustin, 2 Webcor's, 2 Cal-Giant's and one Nate English. The break had a good chance, but was not working too well together. We were reeled in within 2 laps.

Throughtout the race I would look up the field towards what break was happening, and without fail, everytime we had at least 1 guy in it.  Today the break was not going to stay away.  With 2 laps to go Nate pulled me towards the front and attacked.  I am still learning, and let off a little too much causing me to float back to about 15-20th.  I found Lunners wheel and negotiated the final sharp left turn outside, as he moved inside.  I found myself on the outside of the single file group drilling it towards the finish.  No chance to move up.  Kris and I settled for 12th and 16th.   Botched what could have been a good sprint finish opportunity, but gained experience, got a good workout, watched the team work our game plan... And got that itch immediately after the race that I want to do that again.... Next time boys... Next time.

First race of the year for Marc Pro - Strava. It just so happens that its in my hometown. To bad its a foggy and misty wet day. I was able to warm up on the roads that I learned how to ride a bike on. Nice to have a low pressure race thats right around the corner from my parents house. It was like the first day back at school.

Race started off with me missing my clip in and wishing I had double sided pedals. A large breakaway went from the gun. I patiently worked my way up through the field into a proper postion. The initial breakaway got pulled back around lap 3. I counterattacked with no hope of staying away and noticed I had two followers on my wheel (Rand Miller from Webcor and Evan Huffman from Cal Giant). Adam Switters bridged the gap to the breakaway. Now we were four riders strong. Still not guaranteed that we were staying away. Half way through the race there was a small crash in the main field at the hairpin turn. Friends and family on the side lines cheering. Roads starting to get more wet. Evan Huffman staring at his power meter and leading the us out for the finish. I was second wheel with Adam and Rand behind me coming out of the final corner. Waiting for them to come around and hoping that I could respond quick enough. Rand seems to have gone first with Adam on his wheel. Adam squeaks by Rand to take the win with me coming in third and Even coming in fourth.

Thank you Jen, family, and friends for coming out and cheering. It really means a lot.

Link to Michael Hernandez blog of the race. NorCal Cycling News