Marc Pro - Strava

This is a public commitment to do the following wrt 2012 racing:

a. race smarter (leesville = suicide solo attack, sea otter rr and pescadero rr = lazy not being in right break, crashed in all mt bike races silly spots, ralt opened up downhill sprint at 1k, more). i know better, but have to connect the dots in the races

b. race gutsier (ralt didn't try at right time, nevada city didn't try hard enough at end, cascade crit didn't try hard enough at finish maybe costs podium, etc.)

I'll take +10-20 watts and minus 5 pounds, too, if that is just laying around.

Four races, fun for the whole family.

• October 15th - Hidden Valley Park (Reno, NV)
• October 29th - Bartley Rank Park (Reno, NV)
• October 30th - James Lee Park (Indian Hills, NV)
• November 20th - Clayton Middle School (Reno, NV)

For more information, download the PDF flyer or check renowheelmen.org.

What a dope course!  A long, flat, bumpy, windy out-and-back through farmland then a lap on the BMX track with jumps, table-tops and steep berms.  Rinse and repeat for an hour.

SINGLESPEED RACE

I was ungeared for this event, my 38x16 maxed out at about 24 mph on the flats.  And that was spinning at 160rpm, something I can't hold for an hour.  I ended up 5th after an untimely faceplant on the first lap as the leaders raced away.  I spent most of the race chasing.  I heard the winner ran a 42x16, much better for all the windy flats on the backside of the course.

Elite A Race

Keith Hiller (Marc Pro - Strava) showed up with a geared bike, and a whole summer of road racing in his legs.  The only problem is that we both flatted on the first lap.  Mine was a flat on the first turn, his was a lucky flat right near the pits.  Running the entire 1.5 mile course with my bike on my back had me thinking that it's time to upgrade to tubulars.

Keith lapped me just as I was getting a new wheel, so I got to watch him latch back on to the leaders, as well as ride behind their train for a while.  However, the 10 minutes of running, combined with my single gear killed my legs.  The race rode away and I kept riding at my pace just to finish the race for fitness.

ELITE A Results

1. Mitch Trux
2. Collin Samaan (The Bicycle Business)
3. Keith Hiller (Marc Pro - Strava)

After a summer plagued with injuries; my neck, back and hip issues are finally on the mend.  I was able to string together a couple solid weeks of training with the idea of salvaging my season via cyclocross.

The Folsom Cyclebration is weekend long event offering road, mountain and cyclocross racing.  The events sprawls across several places in Folsom and offers a carnival-type atmosphere with vendor tents and barbecues.  It's something anyone interested in bike racing should check out and support in the future.

The cyclocross race took place on the Folsom Rodeo and Zoo grounds.  Oddly right down the street from Folsom Prison.  Folsom must like to keep their caged animals and criminals in the same place.  However there were loose chickens running all over the course.  Not a good sign for keeping things "caged" in Folsom.

The course was mostly flat, with a great mix of grass, rodeo dirt, pavement and a very technical, downhill loose-loamy section.  There were two places with barriers.  The only thing missing was a run-up section.  I was doing the Single Speed race and ran a 38x17, but in hind-sight could have run a 38x16 or even harder.  However, the easy gear was nice for blasting out of the slow corners all-over course.

Since I haven't raced my cross bike in a couple years and hadn't raced my bike period in couple months, my plan was just to sit in and let the race unfold.  I marked the leaders early on and then just hung-out in 3rd position for most of the race, sorta re-acclimatizing with cyclocross racing.  I rested up on the final lap with a plan to attack on the pavement leading into the finish.  However bikes got tangled up with fellow racer Sage Bauers (Team Beer) in the dash for line.  Sage took 1st and I took 2nd.

I was happy with my form with only a few weeks under my belt, and I still had enough in the tank to race the P1/2 Crit in Folsom a few hours later.  Justin Rossi will follow up soon with all the gritty details on that race.

Two Scotsmen, Paul McKenzie and Gaston MacMillan have terrorized the foothills and high country of the Sierra Nevada on a recent rampage. The men lure riders of Campagnolo Record equipped Colnagos and the like, into a duel on the severe climbs of the region. Once the rider becomes anaerobic, the men “roll him” and strip the bike of the Campagnolo bits. The bandits leave the wheels, saddle and handlebars on the frame, kindly lower the saddle for the victim, and tell him to “paddle home” using his feet. No victims have been harmed to date.

The men then sell the components in the streets and Saloons of Gold Country towns, spending the money in taverns, hotels, and fine dining. They've also been known to slip nice components to needy junior cyclists at no charge.

The men are armed, but not considered dangerous. They order non-alcoholic drinks at the Saloons, claiming that whiskey is detrimental to training. They do not participate in games of chance. Bar girls note that the men treat them with utmost respect, always say please and thank you, and are never interested in anything more than a “sports massage.”

One of the hooligans, McKenzie, has uploaded the recent Sierra Bicycle Tour to Strava.com, demonstrating their good knowledge of some of the best cycling routes in California:

Day 1 of the tour took the men from Columbia, CA to Dardanelle, CA, traveling over Big Hill Rd. The men then left Hwy 108 at Long Barn to ride some remote mixed dirt/paved sections on an adventure route to Pinecrest where they returned to Hwy 108 and on to Dandanelle.



Day 2 of the tour went from Dardanelle to Grover Hot Springs near Markleeville, CA, traveling over the extremely difficult Sonora Pass and then Montitor Pass.



Day 3 was a “layover” day where a gorgeous out and back ride from Grover Hot Springs to Lake Alpine was executed. This route takes the rider over Ebbetts Pass, and Pacific Grade summit, two of the crown jewel climbs of the Sierra Nevada.



Day 4 followed a route from Grover Hot Springs to a remote hideout, Silver Fork Campground, on Silver Fork Road. Early in the day, men took a detour and did an out and back on Blue Lakes Rd. off of Hwy 88 near Picketts Junction, while later traveling over Packsaddle Pass to the camp ground.



Day 5 travelled from Silver Fork to the historic town of Volcano, CA, using another epic, remote route covering Cat Creek Rd., Panther Creek Rd., and Salt Springs Rd, the latter of which features more mixed dirt/pavement.



Day 6 went from Volcano, CA back to Columbia, again following a more adventurous route with dirt sections. The route headed first to Jackson, CA, then to Jesus Maria Rd., Whiskey Hill Rd., Old Gulch Rd., Dogtown Rd., San Domingo Rd., and Sheep Ranch Rd. to Murphys, CA. After Murphys, the tour followed the conventional route back to Columbia, CA.

The 24 Hours of Cool actually took place in Soda Springs out of the Royal Gorge Cross Country ski resort 20 minutes from Truckee, providing opportunity for new record Race Value Ratio (RRV). This is a simple calculation I make where you divide the time it takes to drive to/from a race by the time actually spent racing. So a crit in the Central Valley might be RRV = 10 hours driving / 1 hour racing = .1. Non-starter. Road races in the "1" range are good. The Cool race offered 8ish hours of racing / 1 hour commute = 8! (Of course the Boca Road Race Tuesday nights riding from the house are of incalculable value ;-) Anyway, August was about going long on the dirt (Leadville, 8 Hours Cool) . . . And I'd never done a solo 8 Hour so this was a great opportunity. My brother and some friends were planning on doing the 24 Hour relay division — but a couple guys pre-rode the course and reported high on moon dust and low on single track so they punted. They were right. But for me it was not about a killer course given the back yard location, it was about seeing what I could do so why not. I was self-supporting so put a small cooler and mechanical fixing doo-dads in the pit area and rolled out bright and early at noon on a 90 degree day. This was gonna be attrition. Lap one was about figuring out the course and how long laps would take so I could figure out pacing and refueling. There was one section of insane off camber downhill moondust — 8-12 inches of "fresh"! Oh wait, that is skiing. Turns out that was the right mental model for this section. After washing out on the first lap and dabbing on the 2nd and 3rd I finally figured out how to 'fall line drift' the bike through this section, and it made for great theatre on every lap. Pure carnage, people 'down walking', just nuts. The rest of the course was pretty fun.

I spun 2 laps and stopped for fresh/large bottles, and went for 3 more, making a longer stop at 4 hours, dousing myself w/ water and feeling ok if a quite dusty and spanked half-way through. 2 more laps pushing the pace, no idea where I stood in the field, but staying in the 48ish minutes/lap pace. At 7 laps down I was at 6:20 or so, no way I was gonna get 10. So I settled in to a dazed 2 final laps and finished the 9th at about 7:30 — again no idea where I stood just racing myself and the course. Turns out 9 laps in 7:30 was not only good enough to win my division but take top honors for the whole thing. At least as much mental triumph as physical. Cool scene at the end with cold beer and food before awards, and the 24 hour teams heading out into the night. I was glad to be taking a short drive home. Overall the effort was harder than Leadville, because I made it that way, not racing as conservatively. And because the course offered no respite or recovery or drafting/pacelining/long smooth descents. Psyched to have these kind of races under my belt, and to do more in the future.

The final weekend of the Cal Cup had arrived. Since University Road Race, I had been on form and in a position to fight for Podium positions in every race. It was a three man race between Evan Huffman (Cal Giant), Yuri Yurchanka (McGuire Cycling) and myself. I had some serious ground to make up due to a crash at Patterson, poor tactics at Dunnigan and missing San Ardo.

Challenge Challenge Road Race P12

This one was gonna hurt. I haven't raced Challenge before, but was warned that it was continually up, down and rough. Art, Keith, Andy (Baller from masters team racing P12's) and myself met up in the middle of nowhere to thrash our bodies. We rolled out neutral through the roughest section of road I've encoutnered so far this year. At the bottom of the hill we regrouped and started the race. Immediately Keith was off the front, this was great because Huffman, for the first time this year, was without a million teammates. He was forced to bring back any move that was threatening. The first lap was pretty mellow otherwise, since everyone had fresh legs and the temp hadn't reached its boiling point.

To start the second lap Yuri (McGuire Cycling) attacked uphill going into the rough section... I was able to hang, but this caused carnage to the field. Not only did it split the field, but it sent us ripping downhill into the rough section. I thought I was going to die, carbon snapping, flats left and right, water bottles flying, rocks kicking up, and deer running across the road. Once the dust settled and we regrouped at the bottom (Pointless Attack!!!), Art and Keith had flatted. The dwindling field headed into the Oregon Hill Rd climb, when Yuri hit the gas again...My eyes crossed at the pace he was setting as I peaked at what I already knew, 500+ watts... Hang on and sit on wheels. The group of 15 split, but regrouped in the long downhill section. Andy soon rejoined the main group and soon after I saw Keith working his way back. Nice, numbers are good. The attacks continued, but nothing was going to stick...It was a race of attrition, and I was in no mood to attack. My fat ass was going sit on wheels, hang on untill the finish and try my chances there.

The third lap started a little easier down the rough section, but Andy still flatted. The survivors were down to about 8 guys. Huffman tried a solo attack that didn't work, but we let him sit out there for awhile and slowly pulled him back. Keith was worked by this point, but went to the front to set tempo up the climbs in order to discourage attacks. I think the entire field was completely exhausted. We rolled up to the final 1K all together. Keith attacked to set me up, and when he was brought back I was in a tight spot unable to counter. Yuri lead out the sprint with 300 meters to go...I was practicing patience and was waiting for Huffman to respond, he responded but didn't have the legs to bridge... Damn it...Too late. Yes I was 2nd again. Keith 5th and strongman Andy soloed the final lap for a top 10 finish.

Esparto Time Trial P12

My final race of the Cal Cup Series...I was skipping the Giro S.F because the standings were pretty much final. Not gonna lie, I wanted a win bad. Not much to say except I gave it everything. The course seemed to have a light cross-head wind the entire time. I was about to blow up half way through, when I took a few minutes and dropped my watts... I was not feeling it. I hit the turnaround like a true amatuer and started on my way back. I got a second wind... this never happens, but I did. I gave it everything I had. 402 watts for 38:53, this must have been enough for the win... Nope Huffman got me by 17 seconds.



Keith and I finished 4th and 3rd respectively in the Cal Cup Overall. Not bad considering the bad start of the series. The series was a blast, and a great way to wrap up the season. A big thanks to all the teammates that came out to race and help me take a stab at winning the series. Luckily my efforts for the Cal Cup moved me up in the overall standings for NCNCA and Premier Series competitions to 1st... We'll see if I can hang on to those leads.

Cliff notes version of the race:

118 guys start and not much happens for 2 laps.  Just past the Archie Briggs climb Chris Phipps "innocently" rolls off the front.  Kyle G from Safeway decides to follow and I get on his wheel.  Suddenly we have 7 guys and 10 seconds on the field, so we start rolling.  Feed zone climb was uneventful, then I attack, and attack again.  We settle in for AB climb the third time.  Phipps punches is a couple times but I'm right there.  It's down to 5 of us with 2K to go.  Paul Borcier puts in a big effort with 1K to go and I'm on his wheel, Kyle is on my wheel, other 2 are gapped but just so.  We come around last corner, I wait for about 25m then launch my sprint.  As I near the line I don't hear/sense anyone, give a peek or 2 and then throw my hands up.

Everything I've done on the bike this year was tailored for that race and that exact situation.  I'm very happy.

Support crew perspective on the day:

It goes w/o saying that behind every athlete there is a support crew of some sort.  It just so happens my support crew for this race was about 12 strong.  Kerri was head of logistics for the day, which starts as soon as Louden wakes up, normally 7am.  I sleep at a friend's house in Bend during these big races (they say sleep is important) and when I arrived at our house it was already abuzz.

To make things a bit more interesting for Kerri and team, I happened to wake up with a horrible pain in my back and neck.  This meant time in the hot tub, Kerri giving me a massage, my sister Heather giving me more massage, 2 advil at 10am and 2 tylenol at 2pm.

The plan for the crew was to hang out at the top of AB climb (great place to see some seriously pained faces) for 2 laps, then to the high school for the finish.  I found out that they may not have neutral support for the feed zone so I asked Kerri if she could feed me.  So, now she has to drop the entire fam off at the top of AB, drive to the feed zone for a lap 2 feed, follow behind us on AB and pick up the fam, then off to the HS.  She pulled it off and even managed to feed some other parched racer. 

Of course her other concern was Louden who naps at noon and was back with Grandma Sandy at the house.  Can she get him and Gram to the finish line before we come in?  Nope, too tight.  Here's part of the crew at the finish:

Finally I roll in and they go berzerk.   I get kisses and hugs from everyone and feel like I'm going to puke.  Kerri, head of logistics, takes my bike, brings me water and goes back to make sure Lander is still sleeping in his car chair.

At this point I get a new escort - USADA.  I've always wanted to have to pee in "the" cup.  It usually means you've won a big race, at least at the masters level.  I really do need to throw up and find out that doping control is on the other side of the high school, so i go get my bike and mention to Kerri that I'm going to go throw up somewhere and head out with the USADA.

A lot is going on and this wasn't communicated very well.  Before you know it I've been gone over an hour (still haven't peed) and Kerri is worried.  She's imagining I'm in a ditch somewhere by myself, passed out and not smelling that good.  She finally finds the doping control area (HS boys locker room), rolls in a bit frazzeled but we get it worked out.  It takes me an hour and a half to pee to the full amount (a combination of three attempts).

Awards are being held on the other side of Bend so Kerri now needs to get the crew home, get Louden and Grandma and shuttle everyone to the Old Mill district for the podium.  We get there on time, do the awards, take more photos, some of which are with Kerri breast-feeding Lander.  She wasn't that fond of these.

It is now 8:15pm, well past Louden's bedtime (7pm usually) and Kerri decides to let the Grandmas drive the boys home, put them to bed and make sure Lander gets his heart medication.  The only problem is it's actually a bit complicated to get out of the Old Mill district; Kerri gives them directions and we head off to the pub for a celebratory meal and some beer. 

She decides to check in about 30 min later and they still haven't made it home.  The maze of round-abouts has gotten the better of the grandmas and they are all turned around.  Kerri sets them straight.  With all her boys accounted for (did anyone feed Reese's??) Kerri, head of logistics, is finally able to enjoy her Luv burger and some beer.

Thanks for all the support Kerri,

Love,

Jason

The criterium course was situated right in the heart of downtown Bend. It was as basic as it could possibly get: four 90 degree right turns over a 1.2 km rectangular circuit. I'm not a big fan of courses like these. They typically favor the bigger, more powerful guys. I prefer something more technical with more turns. Hills are nice, too. Since there were only two Marc Pro - Strava representatives in the race (Kris Lunning and myself), we decided to try to play it conservative in the early stages. Of course, that strategy was thrown out the window  when the entire field began attacking right from the gun.

Lunner and I managed to slide into each breakaway that looked decisive, but nothing stuck early. With about 30 laps to go, the field started to blow apart. By the time came back together, a group of 6 had formed off the front and neither of us was in it. Shit. We both destroyed ourselves to try to bridge the gap, but were chased down by the entire rest of the field every time... race over.

During one of our many bridge attempts, Lunner rolled his tubular and somehow miraculously managed to keep his bike upright. That effectively ended his night though. I did my best to save face, and sprinted for 13th. In hindsight, we should have marked certain guys a little closer. But that's tough when you don't have a clue who anyone is. Next year we will return and race the same category with more guys. Things will be different.

Congratulations Jason for an incredible race. Jason will post his report soon, but according to the blogosphere, he won in a bunch sprint - is there anything this guy can't do?!? Marc Pro - Strava now has TWO national champions!

My racing number for the day is 666. Time to make some legs hurt. 4 times up Cantelow and 99 miles with what felt like 99 degree heat.

Attacks went and got brought back. Nate English drilling it crazy hard up Cantelow hill made everyone chase to stay in the race.

A small group was off the front and attacks to try and bridge across were not working. The pace slowed to a casual group ride. Our field was neutralized as the masters passed us.

Marc Pro and then Fremont Bank went to the front to bring back the breakaway. We passed the masters field back and a couple of other fields. Caught the break and attacks were flying.

A good breakaway of 6 was formed that I was lucky to be part of and I had a teammate! We worked hard to create a growing gap. I suffered up the last time up Cantelow and stay connected with the breakaway. Chris Stastny from Cal Giant flatted after the hill and we all new they would start chasing hard.

The breakaways gap started shrinking. We are almost to the finish and could feel the peloton breathing down our necks. We must keep going. Rossi jumps first as I’m sitting on Yury’s wheel. And the sprint is on. I sit in Yury’s draft for a few seconds then pull around digging deep then put the afterburners on for the last few meters to the line.

I won!!!!… I can’t believe it.

Okay, the TT was fine.  My time was okay.  I finished one step off the podium in 6th, but c'mon, podiums come in 3s as far as I'm concerned so I'm not that disappointed.  I think if I rode the race differently I maybe could have taken 5th (the 5th place guy is probably saying the same thing about 4th place), but who cares?  The funny/weird/interesting thing about TTing once you start getting into it is you can pretty much predict where you are going to end up.  I thought I would be about 5th before coming into the race.  I was sixth.

But on to the fun stuff - the CRIT.  Line up 110 dudes, nobody with more than 2 teammates in the field and you got yourself a full on shoot out.  I watched a couple of the other races before mine and breaks were going and sticking, which is different than we see at Cascade.  But again, this crit was much longer (2x as long to be exact at 70 min) and w/o big team numbers, folks would have to suffer if they wanted stars and bars.  I thought before coming to Bend I could win the crit, or the RR, but certain things had to happen.  Well, for about 65 min of our 70 min race all those things were happening for me.  I was sure I was going to win.

After attacking several times at the beginning of the race, mainly to stay near the front and be around if anything "dangerous" went up the road, something dangerous finally went up the road - Chris Dimarchi.  Uh, big, tough guy who has won national titles.  I figured it was a bit early but I needed to bridge up to him, so I did and we started working.  That all came back eventually, and somebody else went up the road but that wasn't going anywhere either.

Eventually I attacked hard again, had some guy with me, flicked him through and told him to drill it and then we were joined by Scott Fonseca and some other guy wearing a Kelly Benefits kit.  I again thought this maybe not the right mix of guys but I'd sit it out for a bit to see what happened, or to see if other people would come up to us.  Nobody did, and before we knew it our gap was at 15 seconds.  Then 18.  Then 20.  Somebody told me it got up to 28.  I don't know.  But when I was hearing over 20 seconds, even though I didn't think we were going hard enough, I thought we might stay away.  Well, we weren't going hard enough.  

We had 1 guy in our group not pulling hard enough - he didn't have the gas and I knew we'd eventually have to dump him, I just wasn't sure when to do it.  That's always the delicate balance when you are off the front.  It's probable that Scott, KB guy and I could have rolled faster w/o him.  But if we are maintaining 20 seconds why take the risk and have to work hard.  Why?  Because all 110 guys want a jersey like Lunner now has that's why.  In about 1.5 laps our precious 20 seconds was 8 seconds and I was getting nervous.

So I attacked our group, mainly hoping to only dump the one guy and spark up the other 2.  It didn't work as I had planned and I thought just a little surge would get rid of him but it didn't.  Before you knew it there were four laps left, 3 other guys had joined us (I was still okay with that, for the record) but the field was very, very close.

I kept pressing very hard but the field finally swarmed us with about 3 to go.  Game over, sort of.  I stayed right at the front and even chased down Kevin Kline and some other guy who tried to slip away, but this was going to end in a field sprint.

I've been working on my sprint a lot this year but I wasn't about to win this field sprint after pegging it for 65 min, or even if I hadn't.  Dimarchi, Tubbs and Laberge all have some serious watts and I was just hoping to roll through for a decent place.   After Tubbs and Laberge passed me on their duel to the line I still didn't have anyone around me and was laughing to myself because I had zero left in the tank and was wondering if I was just going to limp in for 3rd?  Naw.  In the next instant 13 guys went by me.  I got 16th but it felt like a first place effort.

Bend OR, a modern efficient town sitting on the threshold of an arid tumbleweed desert, and the base of the Cascade Mt range. The perfect place to host Masters Nationals, Bend is burgeoning with Ponderosa pine, the Descutes river, and cool looking rocks.   One of them is named the Monkey Face and I hear its a pretty sweet rock climb.  I'm not sure what kind of rocks they are but maybe we can get the famous Phil Mooney to chime in with a little geology lesson when he gets a break from racing as a Pro.  Phil?  At any rate moving away from the rocks, where else can you find the roundabout?  You may not believe it but these simple creations completely eliminate the need to sit at a stop sign or stop light.  They send motorist and bikers alike on a daily journey of smooth flowing traffic ensuring peace, safety, and enjoyment for all.  Marin soccer moms, if there is one thing you deserve, its the roundabout.

OK, I'll get down to it.  The TT course is one that I've done many times only on this occasion its shortened from about 35 km down to 25 km.  From the start it snakes out of the High School and heads up an innocent looking climb.  The innocence is lost pretty quickly as the road soon pitches up and becomes steeper the farther you travel.  After about 8km you turn around and head straight back down the hill reaching speeds of over 50 mph.  Then at the 16km mark, you make a sharp turn right and head up over a rolling bluff with with a few power climbs, roundabouts, medians, winding descents, tumbleweed, and some pine forest.  There is a golf course in there at some point but between the sweat in my eyes and the snotty drool splattered all over myself I couldn't see a thing.  I set the fastest time of the day as I crossed the finish line and then anxiously listened to Dave Towle announce the time of the riders that follow.  In the end I won by about 35 seconds.  Its a great feeling.

Now some people may call me a sand-bagger, and that's pretty much what I'm secretly calling myself.  However I didn't call Lance a sand-bagger  when he showed up at the Tour of the Gila and I was 47th place 1:47 behind the TDF champion.  I felt privileged and stoked that I made it to a level that allowed me to even line up against him.  In respect to my competitors I'm obviously not Lance Armstrong and have no grounds to compare my performance with his, but you hopefully get the picture.

As a 31 year old amateur racer, I fit into many different categories.  I may race as a Masters 30-34, a Category 1, some races pit me against the domestic pro teams, and occasionally I'm lucky enough to line up against a big name UCI Pro rider from the TDF.  I am the in between rider without a true home.

The way my season has gone I'm just happy to be riding my bike. But I'm obviously elated to walk away with a national championships jersey and super fat gold medal.  Even if it was masters category 30-34.  I know some riders that would pay a large some of money for the chance to wear one of these and I won it fare and square.