PCC Sprint Clinic, Hellyer Park, 6/3/2016

By Dennis Pedersen

These match sprint events are a lot of fun and great practice. This is one of the events I'll probably enter at the Master Track National Championships in August, so I do want to get some good training in for these.

Unlike my recent sprints event we did get to do flying 200 meter runs for "seeding." I selected 50x14 teeth gears (96"). My 37.4 mph max during warmup was a sign of good things to come! My timed run felt superb too, and even before I knew the results I was tempted to go home on this high note. But of course I didn't. And when I set a new personal record it was worth it: 11.94 seconds (5.94/6.00 splits), at 38.8 mph max! My first run in the 11s, and a real milestone in a sport where we struggle to cut 1/10ths off.

I changed to a lower gearing for the actual racing: 49x14 teeth gears (94.6"). As we usually do here, for the first round I was matched against a rider of similar qualifying time. Just 2 laps, though, not the full 3 we sometimes get.

In the first round I raced against Brian Moore (who, coincidentally, will be my team sprint teammate at Nationals): I started from the back, stayed high on the banking throughout the first lap until turn 4, attacked, passed Brian,  backed off a bit, went fast again into turn 3, and won. (37.4 mph max.)

Second round against Chris Gaitos: Similar to above, I stayed high and passed Chris out of turn 4, but Chris was able to catch me in turn 4 and just pass me at the line for a close win. (37.6 mph max.)

Third round against Brian and Luis: I started in middle position, Luis took the pole, Brian jumped under me to follow him. I dropped down next to Brian and boxed him in, forcing him to back off and go around me out of turn 4. I followed Brian's attack over Luis, thus boxing Luis in, then I went around Brian and dropped into the sprinters lane in turn 3 for the win. (36.3 mph max.)

So, this event was truly a morale booster for me leading into the busy summer schedule of State (district) Elite, Masters, and National Championships. I look forward to it!

Masters National Road Race 60-64

By Bob Montague 

Arrived in Winston. Picked the bikes up at Ken's Bike Shop.

Everything made it, but one ding on the TT bike. Julie and I are staying at Downton Abby, I mean Graylyn Hotel and Conference Center. 55 acres of beautifully maintained grounds and a transformed former mansion.

Our first 2 1/2 days we filled with registration, checking out Winston, pre riding the road course and eating! We also hiked Pilot Mtn.

I lost a lot of weight in getting ready for this event, and my fitness has improved. That said, neither is where it should be for an event of this stature. My recovery from last year's crashes has, in reality, taken much longer than I anticipated. But, North Carolina is my home state. My father was born and raised in Winston. I am 60 this year. I had been targeting this year's nationals for probably 5 years. I didn't want to miss this.

Road race day was not too hot, but spring time in North Carolina is far warmer and more humid than Northern California. We were scheduled to go 55 miles over 3 18.3 mile laps on a rolling course. Attacks began, pretty much immediately, and continued throughout this race. The course pretty much alternated between rolling up and rolling down. Every time it rolled up there was a surge. Almost immediately, northern California rider, Rob Anderson, got a gap on the field. Though the pace of the pack continued to surge, it was inconsistent and he was able to extend his advantage. By the end of our first lap, he was mostly out of sight. The pack continued the chase at a harder pace. About halfway into the second lap, Anderson was brought back by the pack. Attacks continued, but no other breaks would be established. For my part, I began to have cramps in the second lap. Still, I managed to stay with the group into the third lap. The attacks continued and my legs had a definite jello feel to them. I finished the last of my water and energy gel and found myself gapped off the back from having done so. I had to chase hard for about 5 minutes to get back on, and from there, I couldn't recover. One of the harder sections actually ran through the feed zone, and our last time through it, I got dropped. I didn't have anything left to chase back on. I kept going as hard as I was able for the 5 - 6 miles that remained, and I ended up pulling 3 others to the finish. All 3 were able to sprint around me to the line. I finished 46th out of, I think, 54. Given my fitness going in, I wasn't unhappy at all with my result.

RockTape Friday Night Racing, 5/13/2016

By Dennis Pedersen

Most Friday Night races at Hellyer include only mass-start races, not my specialty, sprints. But Michael Hernandez made them happen this time! And for just $10 entry!

Driving to San Jose after work in Watsonville I felt drowsy, and perhaps still a bit sore from my Tuesday weights workout. It was a little windy at Hellyer Park, and cool, maybe 67 degrees dropping to 57 degrees or so after sunset.

22 riders contested the sprint tournament; an impressive turnout! That resulted in most heats being 3-rider races, for just 2 laps instead of the usual 3 laps. Also, to save time, we didn't do the usual seeding through flying 200 m time trials, instead we just used our most recent 200 m times. Since several really fast guys showed up, I was pushed down to Heat 5 (out of 7 heats) in the first round, after the fast guys raced. I rode in 96" gearing for all sprints (50x14 teeth).

First Round
I lined up on the rail behind Mark Koenig and Devin Armstrong, as we all had similar 200 m times (in a strict tournament slowest and fastest are matched, then second-slowest and second-fastest, etc.). I stayed up high on the banking, by the rail, while Mark dropped low, and Devin stayed in the middle. After just a few yards Devin went for it, pushing a pretty hard pace. I followed him, pushing hard, drafting fairly closely at first. Mark was surprised and never caught us. I tried to maintain a gap to Devin as I followed, but allowed it to shrink, which makes passing harder as I lose the option of making a running start when passing him. It's a bit tricky to know when to follow closely and when to drop back a bit. But I managed to barely pass Devin with half lap to go and take the win, hitting 35.3 mph max.

Leading Devin and Mark, mouth agape.

Second Round
These were 2-up races, since we'd bumped the other guys out of the tournament. I was matched up against Tyler Marchesano, as he had won his heat just as I had won mine, advancing us both to this round. I followed him, staying high on the rail, while he positioned himself low on the track at first. At 1-1/2 lap to go he decided to move higher, next to me, but I turned left, below him, to avoid being pinned against the rail, then shot ahead of him up to the rail again and slowed, half-wheeling him just below and partly behind me. Out of turn 4 I dropped down the banking past him completely and into a solid lead for the last lap, which I held for the win, hitting 36.5 mph max.

Leading Tyler.

Third Round (Semi-Finals)
Now I was matched against Zach McClendon and George Miranda who had also advanced from both rounds. We were back to 3-up races, to save time. Zach took the low line, in the sprinter's lane, with George following him. Starting from the back I rode on the rail, and pushed the pace, forcing Zach to speed up to avoid giving me a dominant pass opportunity. George came uptrack to pin me in turn 3, almost bumping me, but I pushed back and dropped out of 4 and passed George... but Zach caught me on the back straight for the win. We hit 36.3 max. (The results showed me as 3rd, but that's in error.)

Me on the rail, George in the middle, Zach goes low.

Fourth Round (Minor Final)
Chris Gaitos, George Miranda and I, all fighting for the bronze as we'd all lost our previous rounds and were no longer in contention for gold or silver. I started from the middle and stayed on the rail while they rode down in the sprinters lane. Almost just like in the third round, George rode uptrack to me, but I again dropped out of turn 4, past them both. But Chris caught me on back straight, and George passed me at finish as my legs caught on fire. I had to lie down right afterward. I had only hit 34.6 mph max, the most I could, but 2 mph slower than before. Ugh!

Ethan Boyles ended up winning the overall sprint tournament, with Zach 2nd, and Chris 3rd. I think I ended up 4th overall, unofficially. Alex Chiu posted photos here.

All in all, it was a great workout. But I think maybe racing in 94" gears would have been better that day, given the wind, coolness, and my tired legs.

Went Vineyards RR 55+ 1,2,3

Mark Edwards 5th place 

Well… it seems like forever since I’ve done a big competitive road race. That changed last Sunday as we rolled out at 8:15 from Wente Vineyards for the Wente Road Race.

While I’ve done a few competitive events as a 55+, I haven’t lined up with the best of the best in years. Initially I didn’t think Wente was going to be so competitive, but by Sunday morning that had changed. Many of my old advesaries/friends were there, along with several names new to me. 

Out of a field of 32, there were two World Champions that I know of, 4 National Champions I was aware of, and also a few District Champions. Specialized had their powerful duo of Larry Nolan and Rob Anderson. Rob would hit us on the climbs, while Larry would counter on the flats. Team Hammer showed up with the dangerous trio of Dan Shores, Jon Ornstil, and Hunter Ziesing. These guy’s trademark is rotating non-stop attacks, they didn’t disappoint. Thirsty Bear came with ambitions for the win, and had the horse power to back them up. Hans Gouwens, Max Thompson, and Brian McAndrews work well together, any one of them is capable of winning. Thirsty Bear stayed active, never missing an opportunity to soften up the field.

In addition Steve Archer (current National Champ), Mark Caldwell (former USA Pro Champ), Quentin Sims (So Cal strongman), and cagey effective Jan Elsbach, all had designs on a high placing.

In a testament to the strength of the field, many of the guys that weren’t familiar to me hung with the guys above and placed well. 

It’s also worth noting that with the Masters National Road Race next month, the group was in exceptional April form. This wasn’t a training ride, they came to RACE. This would turn out to be a perfect tuneup for North Carolina.

Along with Spokesman teammate, Jim Langley, we had our work cut out for us. My lack of race miles the past several years, and Jim’s rehab of his dodgy knees may not have been ideal, but we were determined to do our best.

A neutral promenade was friendly and conversational, but as we entered the course, it was GAME ON!

We’d be doing four 14 mile laps with about 5,000’ of climbing in the notoriously windy Altamont region. The single biggest climb, a little over a mile and 344’ elevation gain, seems to concern most riders. But, I think it’s all the short stair steps that follow the big climb that really inflict the trauma. A change this year was moving the finish from the top of the big climb to a 1/4 mile wall straight into the sky. With a strong tailwind, this would promise a surreal fast uphill sprint.

Every incline became a punch in the gut. There were a host of climbing specialist, and it was clear they had no intentions of coming into the finish with any powerhouse sprinter types. Any one of these guys could ride the series of climbs freakish fast, but rotate a new climber once or twice every incline? The speeds were punishing.

There was a big thinning the first two laps, not that I noticed in the moment, I was too busy trying to keep from being dropped. Subjectively, the third lap was my most difficult. I’d slipped out of the lead group of 8 on the stair steps just as we’d crested a climb into a super fast downhill. It seemed like 10, but may have ‘only’ been 5 minutes that I chased like mad to reattach. Once back I could sense that the last 5-10 minutes may have taken more out of some of the lead group than chasing took from me.

I felt my best on the fourth lap, but could see that there were still several guys that looked strong. The pace was high once again over the stair steps, and the downhill crazy fast. Hans had attacked the downhill with me 5 meters back, and the chasers 10 meters behind me. There’s a little chicane that Hans took at probably 35 mph, you’ve got to pick a good line, be smooth, and have faith you’ll come out with the rubber side down, I stayed with him and the gap widened. But, once the descent straightened out, we were all back together.

As we came off the descent, the Cat and Mouse started. This didn’t last long though, as the lulls were punctuated with crazy accelerations. One of these registered at 963 watts on my power meter!

I was near the front as we made the right hander approaching the finish ‘Wall”. I’m not sure how many had got back on, but I’d venture to guess there were maybe a dozen of us.

We’d all ridden the Wall 3 times so far, so we were familiar. You can’t see the finish from the bottom, riding it always felt longer than expected, and we had a punishing 60 miles already in our legs. When do we jump?

Dan Shores answered the question launching first and never looking back. A deserving winner, he was never challenged. Steve, Brian, Quentin, myself, and I’m sure several behind me, reacted to Dan’s move and jumped. It seemed too early, and I may have held back just slightly, but the tailwind was deceiving, shrinking the hill and distance to the finish.

All in all, one of the best races I’ve done. No negative racing, just a good hard fought battle. Fun!

I have news and its not a crash or competitive accomplishment....

Friends and Teammates,

I realized today I have not done a good job keeping a group of people I care about informed.

Here goes...

Earlier this year I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Melanoma (Cancer).  This had been progressing since late last summer.  Stage 3 means it has spread to a lymph node(s).  This is not Stage 4 which means it is throughout the body.  My stage is not as dire as that, but I do have cancer and it's serious..

I have had three surgeries since September.  The last was on March 4th and was quite invasive.  Essentially they took out my lymph-system and nodes in my left check and neck.  It took 7.5 hours.  I am still recovering from that and all of the secondary issues and indignities that go with it.

Its a funny thing because I feel ok and I am fairly active, even going for rides.  I just don't have my full energy.  It also a funny thing because my life is better.  I am off-work and keeping quite busy with family and some projects.

I don't have to tell this group how important being able to ride is.  I am blessed with loving family, awesome doctors and nurses, a supportive company, and incredible people in general.  But to have a ride to look forward to is....(I don't know how to describe it).  I am grateful for every turn of the wheel..every crunch of gravel...every bump in the trail...all of it.

Next step for me is what is called immunotherapy (not chemo).  These drugs are given through infusions and basically boost your immune system to fight certain types of cells (cancer).  They are still quite strong and can have serious side-effects, but not like chemo.  My doctors tells me I am young and strong.  Who knew!  This all starts next week and goes on through June every three-weeks.

Really just wanted you all to know.  I am not particularly courageous, people go through much worse than this.  And the prognosis is quite good as I see it.

I will say this.  Wear sunscreen!  This cancer is a direct result of trauma to my skin from the sun.  And get your skin checked regularly! Once you get to a later stage in life any new or growing moles are suspect.  Mine just looked like big freckles.

Take care and hope to see you out on the bike.

Chris Baker

NCNCA Masters State (District) Criterium Championships, 9/6/2015

My lower back spasmed while I was cleaning up after breakfast. That's not what I wanted for the morning of my big race, so I quickly used my foam roller to massage the spasm out. Strangely, my back was fine during the race and it was my feet that were sore. 

My preparation for this race was very brief to say the least. The last two years I have prioritized track sprinting, where my longest race is no more than about 1 minute. So my coach, Jeff Solt, had a tough job trying to prepare me in just 4 weeks for this 50-minute race. It was the same course as last year, about 1-mile laps in a Pleasanton business area, The end of the race would tell how successful this training was.

I warned up on my trainer, after borrowing an appropriate quick release skewer from Mike (thanks Mike!). I also used the foam roller again, to be sure. There were 34 racers this year, similar to last year. The course was also the same, with a 1-mile four-corner course on smooth pavement in Pleasanton.

The first several laps were pretty easy, but soon after that there were continuous attacks by solo riders and two or three man groups. I tried very hard to heed my coach's advice to stay protected and not try to go with breakaways, but sometimes that's easier said than done. Because I also try to stay near the front of the field I sometimes ended up being the point of the peloton and thus was in the wind. In those cases I always tried hard to soft-pedal, and even stopped pedaling and took a drink, so as to force those behind me to pick up the pace instead of me. Sometimes this worked, sometimes I ended up perhaps working a little harder than I intended without really wanting to. But in general I felt great and only occasionally was I anywhere near my limit, so I was looking forward to the final sprint. 

With three laps to go the pace definitely picked up and people were trying to get into position. This is tricky because everybody wants to be in the same spot at once. I was near the front and had a perfect view of Daniel Shore (last year's winner) attacking us off the front, with another guy. But again, I had to hold back and just watch them extend their lead as I waited for the others to pick up the chase. Directly behind me was Eric Saltzman, who yelled at me to close the gap to them. As much as I wanted to I could only take a very short pull before I had to pull aside and let him or somebody else take up the chase. 

After their lead was big enough, sure enough, others started to leap ahead to catch them. Then to Eric's credit, with about one and a half laps to go, he took a huge dig to bridge up to the break. I was right behind him but again could not afford to try to go with him. I just had to hope we would catch them both or else I'd risk completely blowing up (as happened to Eric, who finished last). I sat up and waited for the others to chase. 

Once the rest of the field took up the chase I was able to slot in behind some of them and maintain a decent position from which I could hopefully sprint. But I was getting tired and the very fast pace made it hard for me to be fresh for the finish. It is always difficult for me to position myself yet not blow up. I was probably a bit too far back going into the last two turns, but we did catch the break, and Eric's teammate Jerome Nadel was able to leap ahead and win the race, while I sprinted hard just to get 14th. I felt Jerome deserved it as he had been working hard throughout the race. Congratulations! 

Our race was pretty clean, and I was very happy about that especially after last year's erratic team tactics. One guy did go down, but it was supposedly self-inflicted by his own tendency to overlap his front wheel with other people's rear wheels. This same guy, incidentally seems to have gotten away with getting two free laps before rejoining us; the rules only allow one.

So, what does this all mean? For me it was amazing that such a short preparation could yield a result so similar to what I would have likely achieved in past years where I did many months of workouts geared toward such races. It also reminded me that even flat crits at this high level of competition are very challenging for me. I had a lot of fun, the race was clean, and I am looking forward to next season! 

Two Weekends of Crit Racing by Matthew Sloan

Saturday, June 20th RedKite Pleasanton 35+ 1/2/3s

This was to be a leg opener for Sunday's Nevada City's Classic Criterium. I was thinking of just sitting in and practicing my sprint but just sitting in is boring. I did a couple of moves that ended in breaks that didn't stick. My third effort got me into the six man break (including me) that stuck.

I worked hard doing more than my fair share on the front because top 5 would be a great result at this level of racing. I got a little boxed in at the finish but came in a strong 4th! It felt good to top 5, really good.

Sunday, June 21st Nevada City Classic 45+ 1/2/3s

Regardless of what position you come in, this is a great race. One of the best supported and organized on the calendar. Just riding it for the atmosphere alone is enough. I highly recommend it!

The course stair steps up for a half mile, has a flat section of about 200 yards, then a swooping decent to the finish. There is a big left hand off camber turn at the bottom of the hill, into a sweeping slightly uphill turn to take you into the climb again.

I started off well but basically lost my nerve on the descents in the group pushing me farther and farther toward the back of the main group. I had to work to hard on the climb to stay in contention and finally got dropped about a third in. I maintained a good rhythm and stole some places back but never got back to the group.

I ended up top ten, 9th, which isn't too shabby for 45+ 1/2/3s. I'm gutted to have to wait a whole year before I can contest it again. My legs felt so good on Monday, I wanted to do it all again.

Better luck next year. That descent won't get the better of me and I won't get dropped from the main group.

Sunday, June 28th Burlingame Crit

35+ 3/4s

I am sure most of you have watched the A Team. Well, "I love it when a plan comes together!"

Yesterday, on a mountain bike ride my friend, David Allen, said Burlingame is the sort of course that you can win off the front. It has a 180 hairpin turn, two turns after the start, this coupled with the many turns make it easy to get out of sight. The old adage, "Out of sight, out of mind!" is perfect for this course.

We were thinking of about 8 laps to go. Most racers start thinking of the finish at this point and not making an attack. As I pondered the race. I thought it would be a good idea to use the last prime lap as my excuse to attack. During the race, a guy was off the front on the second to last prime lap. The group kind of just sat up and were going to let him have it. I thought, this is the perfect time to go. I will make it look like I'm going for the prime and just carry on.

Well, I bridged up to him, got the prime, and then really put the hammer down! I got a really good jump on everyone, using the hairpin to my advantage. Then it was head down. With ten laps to go, they called another prime. No way anyone was going to get that one! I went harder still knowing that after the final prime lap racers wouldn't have as much incentive to push hard as a group.

The teams couldn't sort themselves out into a chase. It was me against the peloton with me winning out this time!

I had one interesting thing happen with five laps to go. I caught my pedal on the u-turn and with my mtb skills managed to bunny hop and keep my self upright. My back wheel kept making this sound that felt like a flat was coming on. I had to take it easy into the corners because I was worried I might have to change wheels. What had happened was the tire had partially come off the rim. I was so lucky it held for the final five laps. Phew!!! I waited around for the podium but ended up missing it when I went to warm-up for the 45+ 1/2/3s race.

Big thank you to Mike Andalora and his friend for their support during the race!

45+ 1/2/3s

I was a little bit blown for this but still felt good. I made a couple of efforts and nearly beat the crit national champion for a prime lap. I was pleased with the fact I was able to hold on and move up when I needed to. I missed the break that stuck in the last five laps; however, I came through strong in the final couple of laps and came 6th in the 45+1/2/3s.

Two weekends of fun crit racing! I will likely race Davis next weekend, we'll see. Time for a Brit to get their own back on July 4th! (This is tongue in cheek, I'm actually a citizen now. I even spelt citizien, correctly!)