Golden State Crit

The 30% chance of showers came true today. Riding over to Sacramento with Jeff and Ashley this morning, it started sprinkling around Fairfield and was out and out raining by the time we hit Davis. It was on again off again at the course, getting the asphalt wet enough to form puddles in places. But it wasn't coming down at start time. 

My plan going into the open-course warm-up was to cut it short and secure a good place at the line to get a fast start. I figured that since the 180-degree corner was right after the start, things would get split up pretty quickly if someone went down the first time through the hairpin. And I did get a prime start place in the first row (we were lined up 4 or more deep with 76 starters). 

I went right from the whistle and was one of the first 5 into the hairpin. From there I was at or near the front for nearly the entire race. I probably spent more energy than I should in the first half closing gaps that weren't going to decide anything. My least sensible move was on the first prime lap, when the most attacking rider in the race (a BBC rider, Jeff said afterward his name was probably Chris or Keith) got a good gap on the backstretch, and I put in a moderate effort to close it as he was attacking, then ended up on the front and towed the field around for the lap. The gap came down a good bit, but that wasn't going to help me and I couldn't tell if Jeff or Seth were nearby. Didn't accomplish much. 

On the flip side, the few times small groups got little gaps on the pack that caused surges that shed riders off the back, I was usually in those groups, so saved the energy of not having to dig deep to get to the front or bridge the gap. 

The major crash of the race happened around halfway, in turn 1, which I didn't think was sketchy, but apparently the very inside had irregular pavement features hidden by a water puddle at the apex. Someone slide out on the inside and the crash dominoed right across the field. It started 6 or 7 back, and I was maybe 12 back, so had enough time to see it happening, slow down, and pick my way around bikes and bottles as they were sliding to the outside. I rejoined and the front group hammered from that point knowing that there was going to be a gap. Unfortunately, Jeff got stuck too far behind the crash and couldn't get back on. Seth made it back on.

That was the only crash I saw (I heard there were many others), but my personal scare was when I hit my inside pedal coming out of the hairpin in the later part of the race. I recovered it and kept going, which wasn't too hard given the turn's low speed. I did find the least effort in the hairpin was to take an late apex line then pedal a few times seated before everyone stood up to sprint out of the turn, so I kept working that method, just a bit more carefully. (Only worked when single file or when hogging the middle of the road with guys only to the outside.) 

The finale was a simple drag race. I was looking around for the BBC guy. He also took the second prime (I got third) and had put in a good attack with five to go that I followed and worked a bit on, but it came back together. But on the bell lap, I didn't see him. After the hairpin, I followed a strong Stanford guy and got a bit off the front with him, but it was a long way to go and I didn't counter when he slowed up. I looked around for a few seconds, then saw BBC guy attack up the far left with good speed, with a whole paceline in tow. Had to dig hard and got a wheel around 10 back. Moved up a couple in the final two corners by pedaling through the corners, but in the final 200m, I ended up on the outside pretty far from the fast wheels. Didn't have much left and wasn't in a good gear, so after a weak jump, I sat down and spun it out while watching a couple guys pass me on the right. Good news is that one was Seth. 


Result: 11th. Seth got 9th. Around 30 finished in the pack--the others got pulled. 

Also got my face covered in road grime. 


I thought it was a fun race, probably because at the front I didn't see nearly as much sketchiness, though there were plenty of close calls too minor to mention. 

My Powertap says the hardest efforts were in the first 60 seconds of the race, the first prime lap, and the follow up to the crash. My final sprint was disappointingly weak by comparison to other recent crits. 

Overall, spending effort throughout the race seems like it was a pretty good tradeoff for not having much saved for the end, but I made a couple poor tactical decisions that wasted energy when I should have simply let the race unfold. 

Panoche RR

Objective: Test my climbing legs for Pescadero. Hoping to stay with the main group on the main climbs of the day. 


The heat was definitely a factor. When the 4s started at 9:15, it was already above 80. When I finished around noon, it was 95, with a not so cool breeze. The organizer had sent an email recommending that riders take 3 bottles, and that was a life saver, since it wasn't something top of mind for me to have done otherwise. (They also had plenty of bottles at the feed and various refreshments at the finish, which was much appreciated. Said afterwards that they gave out 200 gallons of water.) 

The start of the race was fun. I'd hung around the line and got in the first row for the start. I stayed right at the front for the first few miles at a conversational tempo, and then worked to hang out near the front and keep an eye out for moves, pulling through when the time came. A guy went off at mile 8 and we left him out there for a while, then a few guys got impatient and the pace picked up with some responses. I followed one move, but we all ended up sitting up again at the top of one roller or another. The terrain in the first 10 miles was moderate rollers with flats in between. Fun and fast.

After a series of rollers, at one point the road didn't roll back down, so there we were, on the first substantial climb. The pace picked up and there were as many riders going backwards through the pack as forwards. I'd started the climb at the front, drifted back, realized there wasn't any more room to drift after the first 25 guys or so and chased back on with some effort. We hit a fast downhill, then the second climb. I unceremoniously popped off the back right where the event photographer was set up. 

Climbed much of the rest of the way on my own. Slowed down when I saw Ed Richardson (only knew him because I'd talked him at the start line) at the side of the road with a mechanical, but hesitated on whether to stop and he waved me along. Another guy (Hollyloft jersey) chased back to me shortly after that, and I welcomed the company on a couple of downward rollers, getting a decent draft. On the twisty decent, I dropped the guy by a good amount. At the bottom, looking at the wide open terrain, I sat up and waved him to join back up. It turns out he was having problems with his hub sticking and making noise on him, so he sat up and I took off. 

Much of the middle part was about riding with and against the wind. It felt great doing decent tempo with the tailwind and slight downhill solo at 28 or so, but a 5-man chase group came along doing low 30s. Even better. We saw the main pack going the other way not long before the turnaround, with a few stragglers off the back. Then we hit the wind. It pretty much shattered my little chase group, which wasn't helped by guys wanting to pull off away from the wind, which really created no shelter at all. I'd started it off right, but someone got the group to switch. Not a helpful group at that point. 

When a guy hammered on by, I hesitated, looked at his number (by his speed, it surprised me that he was a 4), then bridged up to join him. He was super motivated. Talking to him after the race(Chester from Santa Barbara), it turns out that he'd had two flats just before the race (pretty freaky flats... I saw his tubes split open... perhaps blowouts the heat?) and missed the start but chased solo for the entire race. He ended up with 16th, iirc. Anyhow, I didn't hang with him at the start of the hill. 

Water in the feedzone was extremely welcome. But I was dumb and threw two bottles but only bothered to grab one, since I had one that was still nearly full. Somewhere before the feed, a Dolce Vita guy (Ben) from the 5-man chase group caught me. We started chatting when he saw a Bioware-branded bottle I had (from Jade Empire, I think... I don't get much game schwag nowadays). Turns out he's an executive producer at EA. We started chatting games for a few minutes. He sat up after the feed and I soldiered on. Met some guys coming up from behind (stopped with mechanicals, etc) and some guys dropping back, and a new chase group coalesced. At some point, Ed rode up (some 25 mi after I'd seen him stopped). Mostly the group worked together, but there were a few attacks, particularly by Calder, a Cal alum I'd ridden with at the Berkeley crit. 

I ran out of gas with about 5 miles to go. Around the same time as my two remaining bottles went dry, so perhaps not a coincidence. I clawed my way back to a Third Pillar guy we'd caught, rode with him awhile, then sprinted passed him at 200m. 

Finished. And off to find some shade and Dave's cooler, with the 2L bottle I'd filled with water and stuck in the freezer the night before. Best ice water I've had in a long time. 


Result: Don't know. 30ish maybe (of 65 reg'd). 

Lessons: 
- Take as much water as you can when it's a hot day. 
- I need to practice echeloning in a cross wind, and could be more assertive in organizing a group doing it wrong.
- Even when dropped, racing can be even more fun than a fast group ride. Don't sit up.
- When the pace isn't super hard, might as well talk to the guys you're riding with. 
- Generally felt like I saw more road racing tactics than at Wente. Not sure what I learned, but it was good experience.