SDSR Hillclimb

I planned this race to be one of my biggest goal races of the year. All my preparations were the same. Huge expectations, lots of pressure. I thought I was going fast, maybe too fast at the start, but the last five minutes of the race I felt I was going slow and couldn't go any faster. My eyes were cross-eyed and blurred, half-squinting through the rain, eagerly looking for the finish line. It just didn't feel like usual, where I climb with confidence and I pound out a rhythm. My time wasn't as fast as I was looking for. Lots of disappointment.

Sam ROLLED the course, setting one of the fastest times of the day at 14:48. He won our category, earning him the yellow jersey to wear in the road race. I got 8th place (still good), but almost 50 seconds back, which is substantial on such a short course.

However, Sam's good performance left Claremont Cycling in an awesome position. We would have to defend the yellow at all costs: marking attacks, pushing the pace, bringing back breaks. And, as we discussed earlier, we had plans to go get the King of the Mountain jersey while we were at it. Our plan: control and dominate. I would be the domestique.

A Visit from the Sponsors

This week, several of our biggest sponsors were visiting the area: Polly DuBois, Lloyd DuBois, and Fred Starr (our parents!). It was great to have them come by and see the action first hand.

Last Tuesday, as one of the last hard efforts before San Dimas Stage Race, we went on a 4 hour mountain ride. We toured our favorite areas: Highway 39, East Fork, Glendora Mountain Road all the way to Baldy Village. When you think about your training, you somehow forget all those hours in the rain or on the trainer. Instead, you remember days like this, with no cloud in the sky, smooth roads, no traffic, snow on both sides of the road. It was truly epic. On days like this, you know why you bike a lot, because you look over at Sam and think, "This is so badass."

Mom and Dad tagged along in the car with water and food in the trunk. Professional cyclists often do motor-pacing sessions to build strength: they ride just behind a car's back bumper to get the draft, and then slip out into the wind for a bit (which is much harder), and then get back into the car's slipstream to recover. The driver's job is hard because every tiny acceleration feels like a substantial acceleration when you're on a bicycle. Lloyd DuBois, who apparently once dreamed of racing motorcycles, took to the challenge and got the hang of it quickly. (It took him a few tries to realize we don't go 20 mph uphill until he saw Sam and I sprinting to stay on the back of the car!). Needless to say, we could see Mom was quite nervous with us riding just inches from the back bumper, but she was happy that it gave some good camera shots.

So this was one of the best bike rides I have ever had, hands down. Wasn't too hard, wasn't too easy. We stayed at about 280-310W on each of the three climbs, which felt like a reasonable tempo. My form felt good, like I was constantly holding back, purposely not switching on the real speed. But it's difficult to know whether or not that will translate into a fast race weekend.

Racing Close to Home

It's been a long time since I posted anything, but here goes. The Saturday race this past weekend was a hill climb time trial up one of my favorite climbs. This means they time you from point A to point B, and start each person individually; winner is the person with the fastest time.

Here are some ways to make this type of race more interesting: make it rain at the bottom of the course, have the first section aimed into the wind, have a small blizzard in the middle of the race, have small rivers flowing across the road, and get some hail into the action by the end of the steep 3 mile course.

That's what the conditions were like, and it felt pretty badass hammering into the blizzard. At first. Then the lungs start to burn and every time you stand up you have to sit back down because your arms are too cold to support your body weight. And then you're breathing so hard and your legs are so stiff that the engine room says you're at full speed ahead even though you're eyes can see that you're not going very fast. I was disappointed at how slow I went, at how many excuses I came up with for going slower, etc. Pain is temporary, defeat lasts forever.

Sam did great. He rolled it. Didn't wear gloves, though, and was shivering for 10 minutes while we sat in a friend's car to try and warm up.

The next day went better for me. It was a parking lot crit - the Nascar of bicycle racing: two 180 degree corners and two straightaways. After 10 minutes, however, some rain began to fall and one corner began to accumulate the perfect mixture of dust, oil and water to become the equivalent of an ice skating rink. So every lap for four laps there was a crash on that corner, and each time I somehow was able to slow down enough or weasel my way through the falling racers. Often times the best method was to just follow Sam!

So people were somewhat tentative after those laps, and I decided the best strategy for me would be to get on the front and hammer the straightaways as hard as I wanted, and slow down as much as I wanted for the corners. That way nobody would crash in front of me. So things got pretty spread out, but eventually people caught back on and it was a race again.

With 15 laps to go, everybody was getting kinda tired. Sam and I had discussed hitting it hard with 2 laps to go, but as I came around the group Sam and I weren't able to get together in time before the corner. So I was off the front with one other guy going really fast and the rest of the group got caught in the confusion of the lapped riders. The group never caught back on and I was able to hold out for second.

I should have been more aware of where the peloton was because I might have been able to get Sam into better position and I might have been able to win it. Next time.

Tour of Cali, Success at UCSB

Well we're a little behind in our posting, but I'll start with the tour of California. Chris and I left Thursday night and stayed at a friends house to see the pack as they came into Santa Barbara over the climb up 157. It was an awesome expereince. We were inches from all the big Euro guys and Chris even can be seeing running behind each group as it comes by on the ESPN footage. After the race came by Chris and I embarked on an epic training ride around Solvang which basically brought me to my knees by the end, as I bonked severely. But our wattages were impressive- we sustained about a 220 average over 5 1/2 hours! The next day was also good, as we saw them come into a final circuit in Thousand Oaks. We talked to brainchild Allen Lim, the powertap go-to man for guys like Landis and the TIAA-Cref team. Speaking of them, we shmoozed a bit with Lucas, a former (well, technically still current) student at Cal Poly Pomona who raced the tour and ended up above 60th place. Plus, the added bonus of this weekend: about 30 lbs of free clif bars.

Next, UCSB weekend went really well for me. Chris and I decided to skip out on the criterium (which was a good choice considering there were three seperate crashes, one of which has taken our dear pal Will from Cal Tech out of commission for the rest of the collegiate season), and instead stayed on campus and left super early to be at the road race by 8. Chris had an 'interesting' night (seeing as it was the biggest party of the year) and got about 3 hours of sleep, but miraculously was still down by my door ready and waiting by 5 am. The race was pretty flate with a strong headwind section and one 1km gradual climb. There were 8 laps, totaling 88 miles for the race distance. Within just one lap after the start, I managed to get in a break with 4 other guys and we stayed off for the whole thing. In fact, we ended up putting in about 20 minutes to the rest of the field! I guess that's what happens when you have the whole Davis team controlling things back there and a guy in the break. Unfortunately, the Davis guy who was in the break drifted off the front last lap, which we thought nothing of, since there was still a strong head wind to come. But the #4 man in the break ended up touching wheels with the #3 guy and crashed. We made the mistake of waiting for him, which let the Davis guy get too far ahead to catch. So it was just me and Cal Poly man at the finish and I outsmarted him in a fast sprint to claim second. Chris's legs didn't feel as hot as they did the night beofre on the dance floor so he just took it easy in the pack, doing a bit of defense work here and there. But I shudder to think how quickly he'll catch me this Saturday on the hill climb trime trial up East Fork Road for the CAL POLY race. It will be a good prep for San Dimas, though. Unitl then.......adios