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
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
posted by Unknown at 2:19 AM
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