Garden won the JPS today, but not the way we wanted it done...
Going into the race, the kidlets layed out a plan to put Garden on the top step of the podium... it was a pretty simple one: TK, AWfoSho, and Staz would cover the front and make sure that nothing threatening got away, Davitamon was the set up guy, making sure Garden was delivered to the last corner in the right spot, El Gigante was the sweep. His job was to make sure that Garden's wheel was clear and concurrently do his best to finish behind Garden but in front of Joel Shaffer.
Everything went according to plan, until 4 to go... TK was up the road with Micah Herman, AWfoSho threw a wet blanket on anything that tried to roll away from the field and mount a chase, Davitamon babysat Garden in the group and El Gigante took up his position on Garden's wheel...
Joel, riding exactly as he should have been, pretty much mirrored Garden in the group.
With four to go, Joel and El Gigante came together behind Garden. I've heard two versions of the story... El Gigante claims he had the wheel and Joel made a move to take it. Bars bumped and El Gigante put his elbow out to defend the space. Joel moved away from the elbow, unfortunately, into the wheel of the rider on his other side... Joel, as I've heard second hand, claims that he was riding close to El Gigante, but not trying to move him off the wheel, when El Gigante put the elbow out.... I'm not sure which is the truth, probably some combination of both stories... the bummer is that the contact broke a spoke on Joel's wheel causing it to go out of true and the brake to rub... 4 to go, no free laps...
I don't think anybody felt worse after the race than Joel, but El Gigante was a close second... he spent the remaing laps of the race with Joel, even pushing him along as he fought the rubbing brake.
We knew there would be a fight for Garden's wheel during the race. It was the most sound tactic for both AMD and DBCJRT. We did stress safety though. AWfoSho, who never backs down, backed off a battle with Joel for the wheel at one point in the interest of safety. We wanted Garden's win to be clean, not flawed by a mechanical or other incident. We wanted to see the boys sprint it out for the win.
All of the DBCJRT boys, myself included, hope that Joel and AMD understand that it was just racing and not in any way planned or malicious.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Sunday, May 20, 2007
and I'm supposed to teach Math
guess I goofed somewhere in my computations... the Junior Point Series Standings have been updated, and after all the numbers have been crunched Garden and Joel Shaffer are exactly tied. But, when you drop the lowest point race, Joel holds the lead by 3 points. No big deal. We'll just have Garden win! By virtue of the tie break rule, even if Joel finishes second behind him, Garden will take home the trophy. And, that will make four straight years the DBCJRT has owned the 15/16 title; Thor in 2004, AWfoSho in 2005, Davitamon in 2006, and, if all goes well, Garden in 2007...
The phone rang ealier today with news from Panoche. Laundry took home his third state championship in the 15/16 road race. My math should be correct on this one... Laundry won the road race title as a 13 year old, the crit title as a 14 year old, and now the road race title as a 15 year old. I believe that makes three, but it is hard to count my fingers as they flutter over the keyboard.
I think DBCJRT owns 10 state championships amongst the current riders... Alexis Braun is a state TT champion, Dishes is also a state TT champion, Laundry has the three listed above, El Gigante has a state TT championship, and AWfoSho has two crit titles, a road race title, and a TT title. Let's get some more in the next couple of weeks.
The phone rang ealier today with news from Panoche. Laundry took home his third state championship in the 15/16 road race. My math should be correct on this one... Laundry won the road race title as a 13 year old, the crit title as a 14 year old, and now the road race title as a 15 year old. I believe that makes three, but it is hard to count my fingers as they flutter over the keyboard.
I think DBCJRT owns 10 state championships amongst the current riders... Alexis Braun is a state TT champion, Dishes is also a state TT champion, Laundry has the three listed above, El Gigante has a state TT championship, and AWfoSho has two crit titles, a road race title, and a TT title. Let's get some more in the next couple of weeks.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Waiting...
I've been waiting for the NCNCA Junior Point Series standings to be updated, but will wait no more.
DBCJRT has held at least one trophy in the series each of the last 3 years. Looks like the 15/16 trophy is our only shot this year, so we will be pulling out all the stops to protect Garden's lead... with the 17/18s racing with the 15/16s the dbcjrt boys will throw their whole weight behind Garden. I've got a few ideas brewing in my little old head... can't wait til race day to pull out the bag-o-tricks!
And all that man juice was flowing thanks to TK and Davitamon toilin' away on the front...
Joan Anton took the photo of the JPS podium in 2004... that shot cracks me up. AWfoSho, Juge and Brian Larson may not be all grown up yet, but they've come a long way since Joan was snapping away at the Albany Crit. Thanks for the memories JA...
Jim Kuphaldt gets credit for the two more recent pics...
By my best count, Garden is leading AMD's Joel Shaffer by 2 points after dropping their lowest races. Looks like a battle extraordinaire brewing for the final race of the season. The rules state that the last race will be the tie breaker. Looks like whoever finishes ahead of the other will be the point series champ.
DBCJRT has held at least one trophy in the series each of the last 3 years. Looks like the 15/16 trophy is our only shot this year, so we will be pulling out all the stops to protect Garden's lead... with the 17/18s racing with the 15/16s the dbcjrt boys will throw their whole weight behind Garden. I've got a few ideas brewing in my little old head... can't wait til race day to pull out the bag-o-tricks!At Bazerkeley Hills I cringed when Garden was isolated by the AMD boys... not much one can do in that situation. Garden fought the good fight, leading the chase up the grande bear towards the finish, all the while knowing that most of the group was going to come around him at the top... but what else can you do. I had the feeling we were in trouble on that course... those AMD boys are all climbers. In hindsight, I should have had Garden racing all big picture like. He should have been marking Joel and letting everybody else go up the road if they wanted...
Hindsight be danged. We're looking forward to this Memorial Day weekend. Hill climbers beware, DBCJRT specializes in the flat fast stuff. The Memorial Day Crit is back on our turf! Game on...
Meanwhile, while we wait, check out the testosterone flowing through this boy after Golden State. Unlike that guy who raced in France last summer, AWfoSho's is all natural...
And all that man juice was flowing thanks to TK and Davitamon toilin' away on the front...
Joan Anton took the photo of the JPS podium in 2004... that shot cracks me up. AWfoSho, Juge and Brian Larson may not be all grown up yet, but they've come a long way since Joan was snapping away at the Albany Crit. Thanks for the memories JA...
Jim Kuphaldt gets credit for the two more recent pics...
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Golden at Golden State
AWfoSho played the consumate teammate during his post race interview at Golden State today, mentining his teammates David Vuilleumier and Taylor Kuphaldt enough times to get a chuckle out of the crowd... as well he should have because they had done the same for him on the bike for the preceding 80 minutes.
For the first half of the prosey race TK patrolled the front, keeping things under wrap like a Christmas present on December 23rd, while Davitamon sat side by side with AWfoSho making sure his sprinter had everything he needed and stayed neatly tucked out of the wind. It was during the second half of the battle that TK and Davitamon really started flying the DBCJRT colors...
With 11 to go the Safeway machine started playing their cards, sending one of their boys up the road and growing his solo effort to over 35 seconds... far enough ahead to be out of sight on that twisty little number of a race course in Rancho. AWfoSho sent TK to the front with 9 to go to bring him back. TK sat up there all breathin' hard and sweatin' while the Safeway boys played blocky-block at second and third wheel. After 5 laps TK had the break hoverin' round about 10 seconds before AWfoSho sent Davitamon up front to drive in the final nail. With 3 to go Davitamon finished pounding and the field was back together but on the verge of splitting up as 80 minutes of riding in circles began to take its toll. 2 to go and TK had just enough gas left in the tank to put AWfoSho into the front group of a rapidly disintigrating field. The single file line had more holes than a slice of swiss cheese that's been nibbled on by a few little critters... pert darn near perfect...
End Game...
With just over 1 to go Safeway's Dan Martin, fresh off his win in the proseys at Cat's Hill, shredded what was left of the field like some kind of infomercial cheese grater as he launched himself into orbit. Pedaling head down and all hard-like across the start/finish, Martin had about 8 seconds on a small chase group containing Eric Riggs. Like a good 'coon dog, AWfoSho was hot on Martin's heels at about 10 meters. And then that sneaky little devil kidlet of mine began to play games... a quick check under his arm told AWfoSho that Riggs was in pursuit and coming fast with an 'I'm gonna win this thing grin' on his face. Some cat sportin' EMC colors was all cross-eyed and latched onto Riggsy like pitbull. AWfoSho made contact with the uber bagboy and pulled through after pausing just long enough to fill the lungs with a quick shot of O2.
Lil' devil trick #1: AWfoSho didn't drive it once he came through, instead he played all spent-and-plumb-tuckered-out-like while waiting for Riggs and his pitbullish companion to make the junction. Once aboard, Riggs hesitated only a few seconds before throwing his cards down and firing his shot at the day's glory. There goes the gappy-gap...
AWfoSho has bigger heuvos than I would if I were thrust into the same situatation...
Lil' Devil trick #2: AWfoSho, still feigning an empty tank, patiently waited for Safeway and EMC to throw a wet blanket on Riggsy's move before latching onto the back in position perfecto, 4th out of the final corner...
With a tailwind sprint and junior gears I thought that was it. 4th would be a good result. AWfoSho had other ideas.
Jesse Moore of Moore Performance has had the kidlets doing little gear sprints all season long, working on that elusive leg speed. Today it paid off. I was too intent on watching gaps and who was coming around whom that I missed it, but El Gigante said big bro's legs seemed to be all coiled up spinnin' twice as fast as the other three guys...
As if the Klingons were hot on his tail with the gamma ray all juiced up and ready to fire, AWfoSho somehow kicked that 52x14 into warp factor 6 and won going away... enough of a gap to sit down and salute across the line as he tasted glory for the first time in a prosey race! I wouldn't know, but can't resist the How sweet it is comment... Musta been pretty sweet cause AWfoSho was grinnin' like a teenage boy on prom night when he came back around after doing the coolio lap.
Davitamon, despite all the work he did to get AW to the right place at the right time, dragged himself to a ninth place spot, just inside the money, and TK, looking all cooked and ready to be eaten with his jersey unzipped and a cheshire grin on his face, rolled across the line dead last, but took home a pretty little paycheck for all his sweatin' and slavin'...
I'm tellin' ya, these kids will sell themselves down the road for their teammates. I love it!!! Now if I could just get them to mention their equipment sponsors in post race interviews along with their teammates' names I'd really be learnin' 'em how to be all pro-like... like the boys of NASCAR who always mention their Lowe's Chevrolet and how good it was! But... it's probably hard to remember all that kind of stuff when your grinnin' like a teenage boy on prom night!
For the first half of the prosey race TK patrolled the front, keeping things under wrap like a Christmas present on December 23rd, while Davitamon sat side by side with AWfoSho making sure his sprinter had everything he needed and stayed neatly tucked out of the wind. It was during the second half of the battle that TK and Davitamon really started flying the DBCJRT colors...
With 11 to go the Safeway machine started playing their cards, sending one of their boys up the road and growing his solo effort to over 35 seconds... far enough ahead to be out of sight on that twisty little number of a race course in Rancho. AWfoSho sent TK to the front with 9 to go to bring him back. TK sat up there all breathin' hard and sweatin' while the Safeway boys played blocky-block at second and third wheel. After 5 laps TK had the break hoverin' round about 10 seconds before AWfoSho sent Davitamon up front to drive in the final nail. With 3 to go Davitamon finished pounding and the field was back together but on the verge of splitting up as 80 minutes of riding in circles began to take its toll. 2 to go and TK had just enough gas left in the tank to put AWfoSho into the front group of a rapidly disintigrating field. The single file line had more holes than a slice of swiss cheese that's been nibbled on by a few little critters... pert darn near perfect...
End Game...
With just over 1 to go Safeway's Dan Martin, fresh off his win in the proseys at Cat's Hill, shredded what was left of the field like some kind of infomercial cheese grater as he launched himself into orbit. Pedaling head down and all hard-like across the start/finish, Martin had about 8 seconds on a small chase group containing Eric Riggs. Like a good 'coon dog, AWfoSho was hot on Martin's heels at about 10 meters. And then that sneaky little devil kidlet of mine began to play games... a quick check under his arm told AWfoSho that Riggs was in pursuit and coming fast with an 'I'm gonna win this thing grin' on his face. Some cat sportin' EMC colors was all cross-eyed and latched onto Riggsy like pitbull. AWfoSho made contact with the uber bagboy and pulled through after pausing just long enough to fill the lungs with a quick shot of O2.
Lil' devil trick #1: AWfoSho didn't drive it once he came through, instead he played all spent-and-plumb-tuckered-out-like while waiting for Riggs and his pitbullish companion to make the junction. Once aboard, Riggs hesitated only a few seconds before throwing his cards down and firing his shot at the day's glory. There goes the gappy-gap...
AWfoSho has bigger heuvos than I would if I were thrust into the same situatation...
Lil' Devil trick #2: AWfoSho, still feigning an empty tank, patiently waited for Safeway and EMC to throw a wet blanket on Riggsy's move before latching onto the back in position perfecto, 4th out of the final corner...
With a tailwind sprint and junior gears I thought that was it. 4th would be a good result. AWfoSho had other ideas.
Jesse Moore of Moore Performance has had the kidlets doing little gear sprints all season long, working on that elusive leg speed. Today it paid off. I was too intent on watching gaps and who was coming around whom that I missed it, but El Gigante said big bro's legs seemed to be all coiled up spinnin' twice as fast as the other three guys...
As if the Klingons were hot on his tail with the gamma ray all juiced up and ready to fire, AWfoSho somehow kicked that 52x14 into warp factor 6 and won going away... enough of a gap to sit down and salute across the line as he tasted glory for the first time in a prosey race! I wouldn't know, but can't resist the How sweet it is comment... Musta been pretty sweet cause AWfoSho was grinnin' like a teenage boy on prom night when he came back around after doing the coolio lap.
Davitamon, despite all the work he did to get AW to the right place at the right time, dragged himself to a ninth place spot, just inside the money, and TK, looking all cooked and ready to be eaten with his jersey unzipped and a cheshire grin on his face, rolled across the line dead last, but took home a pretty little paycheck for all his sweatin' and slavin'...
I'm tellin' ya, these kids will sell themselves down the road for their teammates. I love it!!! Now if I could just get them to mention their equipment sponsors in post race interviews along with their teammates' names I'd really be learnin' 'em how to be all pro-like... like the boys of NASCAR who always mention their Lowe's Chevrolet and how good it was! But... it's probably hard to remember all that kind of stuff when your grinnin' like a teenage boy on prom night!
Friday, May 11, 2007
Friday Night (high)Lights
No, we're not talking highschool football...
DBC Elite team members and Aggies extraordinaire finished fourth in Kansas today. They were only 24 seconds off the pace in the men's division one TTT. Tyler Dibble, Zach Kimsey, Shawn Rosenthal, and Stephen Dey put in a good ride, but ended up in the hole. Their four spot combined with the Aggie women's two spot will leave them battling from behind for a repeat of last years stars and bars... Fort Lewis won both the men's and the women's team sufferfest today, giving them quite the leg up for the omnium. Unless they have their eye on individual championships, all they have to do is ride to defend their points lead and their own stars and bars should be in the bag. As for the Aggies... they are gonna have to go on the offensive in both the crit and the RR if they hope to make up the huge chunks of points that they need.
Bazerkeley in the early am tomorrow... AWfoSho says his legs feel good, but we're gonna keep him reigned in to insure that he gets some good quality miles, especially with guys like Barry Wicks lining up to take on the three bears. After an aborted attempt in the proseys at Cat's Hill, TK is staring his first real test in the face after his little jaunt to Europe. Myself, I'm looking forward to seeing how he is going. Hopefully he's still got several handfuls of that early season form left. El Gigante and Laundry are straight off a three day field trip to Ashland, OR. It'll be interesting to see how their legs respond. We rode El Gigante hard before he left, so we might see a little mini-peakage. As for the15/16's, I'd like to say I'm confident in Garden, but I'm a little worried about all them Disco climbers... if they get their act together even Garden's fine form may not be enough to contain them.... still, if the Discos can't get individual accolades out of their heads and ride like a team, Garden has a fair shot. Staz is a bit under the weather, but will still be hunting points in the 17/18 affair. My pick for that war... Bryan Larsen ahead of the pure climbers.
And, Golden State on Sunday... not much to say 'bout this one. 80 minutes for the big boys. That'll be the longest crit most of our kidlets have seen, still with the field split between the Gold diggers and the Amercana chasing Steinbeckers, the dbcjrt kiddos might be able to scratch together a decent result. Golden State will also see Davitamon back in the battle. After a few weeks of solid training, he should have a little pent up racer-type aggression to play out.
DBC Elite team members and Aggies extraordinaire finished fourth in Kansas today. They were only 24 seconds off the pace in the men's division one TTT. Tyler Dibble, Zach Kimsey, Shawn Rosenthal, and Stephen Dey put in a good ride, but ended up in the hole. Their four spot combined with the Aggie women's two spot will leave them battling from behind for a repeat of last years stars and bars... Fort Lewis won both the men's and the women's team sufferfest today, giving them quite the leg up for the omnium. Unless they have their eye on individual championships, all they have to do is ride to defend their points lead and their own stars and bars should be in the bag. As for the Aggies... they are gonna have to go on the offensive in both the crit and the RR if they hope to make up the huge chunks of points that they need.
Bazerkeley in the early am tomorrow... AWfoSho says his legs feel good, but we're gonna keep him reigned in to insure that he gets some good quality miles, especially with guys like Barry Wicks lining up to take on the three bears. After an aborted attempt in the proseys at Cat's Hill, TK is staring his first real test in the face after his little jaunt to Europe. Myself, I'm looking forward to seeing how he is going. Hopefully he's still got several handfuls of that early season form left. El Gigante and Laundry are straight off a three day field trip to Ashland, OR. It'll be interesting to see how their legs respond. We rode El Gigante hard before he left, so we might see a little mini-peakage. As for the15/16's, I'd like to say I'm confident in Garden, but I'm a little worried about all them Disco climbers... if they get their act together even Garden's fine form may not be enough to contain them.... still, if the Discos can't get individual accolades out of their heads and ride like a team, Garden has a fair shot. Staz is a bit under the weather, but will still be hunting points in the 17/18 affair. My pick for that war... Bryan Larsen ahead of the pure climbers.
And, Golden State on Sunday... not much to say 'bout this one. 80 minutes for the big boys. That'll be the longest crit most of our kidlets have seen, still with the field split between the Gold diggers and the Amercana chasing Steinbeckers, the dbcjrt kiddos might be able to scratch together a decent result. Golden State will also see Davitamon back in the battle. After a few weeks of solid training, he should have a little pent up racer-type aggression to play out.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
Bits and Pieces...
Been awhile since I've grabbed an extraneous moment to wax poetically... pray excuse my tardiness. It's not that I haven't been thinking about words and keyboards. It's just that there are a bunch of 10 year olds that seem to be grabbin' at my time (danged ol' job) and there's riding to be done in the hills 'round here. A few of the ponderings that have crossed my mind...
Hot... not just the weather of late, but this kid!
Garden put himself atop the podium at Cat's Hill on Saturday and again at the Clo-terium on Sunday... That's double hot, and well deserved. This kid is training hard and religious like... Jesse is gonna have him flying come July for that little trip we are taking to PA.
SATs... that little old test kept most of our 17/18 contigent on the sideline this weekend. But look out college, ready or not, here they come!
Sprintervals... What is the best kind? Is it the little gear job that comes at the end of an ME effort? Perhaps it is the rush to the county line? Or is it the one that comes at the end of a long group ride? In my humble opinion it is the one that comes at the intersection of Midway and Cantelowe Roads... See, there is this not so little dog that lives there abouts that has a wicked vertical leap. Clears barbed wire in a single bound and without missing a step. He's been hot on my wheel the last few times I've been cruisin' around his local. I haven't been able to determine how long he can go yet. He always stops after a well placed water bottle to the face, but up until he is within spitting distance, he's gaining on me all slobbery and snarlin' like... I'll be comin' around Mr. LaBerge if the dog catcher don't show up soon.
Two crits on dia day las mamacitas (I stole that from Olaf Vanderhoot, but couldn't resist). Golden State is the close one, gotta travel to hit Steinbeck. It's tempting to make the trip all the way to Salinas simply to hear Mike Hernandez MC as we bike racers types ride in circles... Alas the kidlets will be turning their pedals in anger in Rancho... guess I'll have to settle for my daily dose of verbage on MH's bloggy blog.
Bazerkeley Hills on Saturday... it's so close, but so far away... somehow this race has escaped our attention over the last 5 years. Not this time... AWfoSho is throwin' it to the lions in the prosey race... El Gigante will be workin'-n-slavin' to protect Garden's point series lead in the 15/16's... Staz will be huntin' points in the 17/18's. Rumor has it that The Tapinator, Laundry, and Dishes will be doing the dance up the three bears as well. Last weekend we put four of the kiddos on the podium, crossing the fingers that we can do the same on the upcoming...
And finally, found this interesting tidbit on The Yellow Bug Times. Martina will keep you all following the 'Be Good or Look Good' mantra... she does both of them really well...
out...
oh, Riki gets credit for the Cloterium Podium shot...
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Mad-Era Highlights
The top 21 things about a weekend in Madera:
1) Playin' like Bo Duke, with the back end steppin' out, gravel flying, and rubber squealin', after taking AWfoSho's shortcut to the start of the Ben Hur TT... There is a road on the map, but nobody said anything about it being 12 miles of dirt. Should've seen the look on that rancher's face as the Mazda sped by in a 5o mph cloud of dust with three bikes on the roof! Should've seen the look on AWfoSho's face when he realized his pops could drive like that...We did make the start, albeit only minutes before reg closed...
2) The beautiful country off of Ben Hur Road... might think about moving their one day...
3) AWfoSho not finishing last in the prosey stage one TT...
4) Watching Deadliest Catch marathons on Discovery in the Madera Motel 6... The only other entertainment in the neighborhood was the local high school kids wretching in the bushes at 6:30 in the morning after a run-in with some Prom Night debauchery... That or counting the wheels on all the trucks in the Pacific Pride Trucker's Dream Stop, gotta be one of the only places in the world where truckers can pull to a stop after a long haul, hook AC units to their sleepers, run in to the video section of the local version of Gas-n-Go to rent some porn, stop by the Trucker's Chapel (a converted box trailer), and be back in the afore-mentioned sleeper in about two shakes of a calf's trail... imagine all that good stuff in a one square kilometer area...
5) AWfoSho not finishing last in the prosey stage two TT...
6) The Staz chuckling to himself as the guy who just passed him in the 4's TT went straight when he should've turned... seems one of the local farmers was in need of a few of VeloBob's orange cones so made a quick stop on one of the course corners where somebody had conveniently left them for him... too bad for the guys that had a good ride going...
7) Funeral cakes for dessert at Perko's Cafe... Madera: the only place in the world where one can hear a former Czech National Champion on the road say,"I don't have my glasses. What does that say? Funeral Cakes?"...
8) Not having to wake up at o-dark thirty for a bike race... Having the kidlets upgrade is really starting to pay off. Not only do I get to skip the occasional Friday at work, I don't have to ask for the dreaded 5 am wake-up call when I check in. Now if we could just get something done about those higher reg fees for the pro/1/2 field!
9) AWfoSho not finishing last in the prosey stage three Crit...
10) 7 hours making new friends in the feed zone... There was Tiffany who's husband rides for Morgan Stanley in the masters, Melanie who's husband rides for Sierra Nevada in the 3's, the Vello Bella squad with their resident life-of-the-party, Olaf Vanderhoot, etc... I'm gonna try to figure out a way to charge admission to feed zones... people would pay for that kind of entertainment...
11) The Sierra Nevada Pale Ale flavored soda-pop that Mike Hernandez slipped me in the feed zone... See? I told you people would pay for that kind of entertainment...
12) El Gigante still in the lead group of the 3's RR after lap one, and two... oops, he's not there the third time thru...
13) Having Shawn and Chad tell me that El Gigante flatted at the end of lap three and was NOT dropped from the lead group in the 3's RR... Those boys took good care of El Gigante. Chad even offered him his wheel when the unmistakeable sound of escaping air was to be heard... alas it had adult gears on it. El Gigante would have been DQ'd after winning the field sprint...
14) Staz's valiant effort to hold off a charging 4's field in the RR... Those Simply Fit guys will never get out of the 4's if they are scared to stick their necks out for fear that they might get dropped if the attempt at victory comes up short... I can hear 'em now, "I could win if I can tolerate this pain for two more K's, but if they catch me I might get dropped and won't be able to finish 23rd in the field sprint, better slow down!"
15) The smile on Jason E's face after finishing the 5's race second on the GC... Hope you like that T-Shirt, Jason. I hear that all the words are spelled correctly on this one!
16) Watching the women 4's feed... gals trying to take a bottle from the right-hand side with their left hand, gal's saying, "okay girls it is the feed zone, no attacking!", feeders doing sommersaults in the middle of the peleton... thankfully, she was the only one that touched pavement... bottle's rolling hither and yawn... you get the picture...
17) Watching The BL earn his 2's upgrade by winning the the 3's RR... That boy has been working hard the last few months. I'm glad to see him out of the testosterone-driven, horse power-laden 3's where you are one stupid bike trick away from a 30 bike pile-up worse than anything this side of a NASCAR restricter plate race...
18) Listening to the cattle lowe as they try to find a way down the rock band behind the feed zone... for three hours... I always wondered what lowing cattle sounded like.
19) AWfoSho not finishing last in the prosey stage 4 RR...
20) AwfoSho not finishing last on the GC in his first prosey stage race...
21) Final Results posted in a timely manner by VeloBob!!! Gotta say thanks to Bob and his crew for putting up with all of us snot-nosed bike racer types for another weekend...
The top three things maddening about this year's version of Madera
1) El Gigante's ride ending flat out of the lead group in the 3's RR... He had a good one going and was in need of the confidence boost...
2) The Staz getting caught in the last K of the 4's RR... upgrade points, where art thou???
3) Forgetting to tell Kelbster to record Talladega on Sunday... Afterall, it is the best restrictor plate race NASCAR has to offer...
1) Playin' like Bo Duke, with the back end steppin' out, gravel flying, and rubber squealin', after taking AWfoSho's shortcut to the start of the Ben Hur TT... There is a road on the map, but nobody said anything about it being 12 miles of dirt. Should've seen the look on that rancher's face as the Mazda sped by in a 5o mph cloud of dust with three bikes on the roof! Should've seen the look on AWfoSho's face when he realized his pops could drive like that...We did make the start, albeit only minutes before reg closed...
2) The beautiful country off of Ben Hur Road... might think about moving their one day...
3) AWfoSho not finishing last in the prosey stage one TT...
4) Watching Deadliest Catch marathons on Discovery in the Madera Motel 6... The only other entertainment in the neighborhood was the local high school kids wretching in the bushes at 6:30 in the morning after a run-in with some Prom Night debauchery... That or counting the wheels on all the trucks in the Pacific Pride Trucker's Dream Stop, gotta be one of the only places in the world where truckers can pull to a stop after a long haul, hook AC units to their sleepers, run in to the video section of the local version of Gas-n-Go to rent some porn, stop by the Trucker's Chapel (a converted box trailer), and be back in the afore-mentioned sleeper in about two shakes of a calf's trail... imagine all that good stuff in a one square kilometer area...
5) AWfoSho not finishing last in the prosey stage two TT...
6) The Staz chuckling to himself as the guy who just passed him in the 4's TT went straight when he should've turned... seems one of the local farmers was in need of a few of VeloBob's orange cones so made a quick stop on one of the course corners where somebody had conveniently left them for him... too bad for the guys that had a good ride going...
7) Funeral cakes for dessert at Perko's Cafe... Madera: the only place in the world where one can hear a former Czech National Champion on the road say,"I don't have my glasses. What does that say? Funeral Cakes?"...
8) Not having to wake up at o-dark thirty for a bike race... Having the kidlets upgrade is really starting to pay off. Not only do I get to skip the occasional Friday at work, I don't have to ask for the dreaded 5 am wake-up call when I check in. Now if we could just get something done about those higher reg fees for the pro/1/2 field!
9) AWfoSho not finishing last in the prosey stage three Crit...
10) 7 hours making new friends in the feed zone... There was Tiffany who's husband rides for Morgan Stanley in the masters, Melanie who's husband rides for Sierra Nevada in the 3's, the Vello Bella squad with their resident life-of-the-party, Olaf Vanderhoot, etc... I'm gonna try to figure out a way to charge admission to feed zones... people would pay for that kind of entertainment...
11) The Sierra Nevada Pale Ale flavored soda-pop that Mike Hernandez slipped me in the feed zone... See? I told you people would pay for that kind of entertainment...
12) El Gigante still in the lead group of the 3's RR after lap one, and two... oops, he's not there the third time thru...
13) Having Shawn and Chad tell me that El Gigante flatted at the end of lap three and was NOT dropped from the lead group in the 3's RR... Those boys took good care of El Gigante. Chad even offered him his wheel when the unmistakeable sound of escaping air was to be heard... alas it had adult gears on it. El Gigante would have been DQ'd after winning the field sprint...
14) Staz's valiant effort to hold off a charging 4's field in the RR... Those Simply Fit guys will never get out of the 4's if they are scared to stick their necks out for fear that they might get dropped if the attempt at victory comes up short... I can hear 'em now, "I could win if I can tolerate this pain for two more K's, but if they catch me I might get dropped and won't be able to finish 23rd in the field sprint, better slow down!"
15) The smile on Jason E's face after finishing the 5's race second on the GC... Hope you like that T-Shirt, Jason. I hear that all the words are spelled correctly on this one!
16) Watching the women 4's feed... gals trying to take a bottle from the right-hand side with their left hand, gal's saying, "okay girls it is the feed zone, no attacking!", feeders doing sommersaults in the middle of the peleton... thankfully, she was the only one that touched pavement... bottle's rolling hither and yawn... you get the picture...
17) Watching The BL earn his 2's upgrade by winning the the 3's RR... That boy has been working hard the last few months. I'm glad to see him out of the testosterone-driven, horse power-laden 3's where you are one stupid bike trick away from a 30 bike pile-up worse than anything this side of a NASCAR restricter plate race...
18) Listening to the cattle lowe as they try to find a way down the rock band behind the feed zone... for three hours... I always wondered what lowing cattle sounded like.
19) AWfoSho not finishing last in the prosey stage 4 RR...
20) AwfoSho not finishing last on the GC in his first prosey stage race...
21) Final Results posted in a timely manner by VeloBob!!! Gotta say thanks to Bob and his crew for putting up with all of us snot-nosed bike racer types for another weekend...
The top three things maddening about this year's version of Madera
1) El Gigante's ride ending flat out of the lead group in the 3's RR... He had a good one going and was in need of the confidence boost...
2) The Staz getting caught in the last K of the 4's RR... upgrade points, where art thou???
3) Forgetting to tell Kelbster to record Talladega on Sunday... Afterall, it is the best restrictor plate race NASCAR has to offer...
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Weekend at Wente
The Wente Road Race has never been one of my favorites... perhaps it is because of the haunting memories of a last lap bonk when I'd climbed that mean finishing hill so slowly that AWfoSho walked beside me giving me some much needed encouragement (read: a hand on my back), or maybe it is because we've rarely won there... until last weekend.
Wente is the course where Bryan Larson and Davitamon, then riding for SGW, figured out how to make AWfoSho go long in the sprint; Wente is the course where El Gigante has suffered through some chest constricting asthma attacks, Wente is the course where we've blown tactics in a grand way...
But that all changed this past weekend where it was AMD that screwed the pooch, tactically speaking. In the 15/16 race Charlie Avis and Davis Bentley had Laundry isolated in the break... for some unknown reason they failed to attack him repeatedly until one of them got away. Instead, they trusted their climbing legs and Laundry made them pay, beating them handily in the finale up Altamont Pass. Glad to see that we aren't the only ones who occasionally fail tactically. Seems we have a little streak going now in the 15/16 category at Wente with Laundry adding to Davitamon's win last year.
AWfoSho and Davitamon did their laps in the prosey race in search of some form... 4 times up the hill was enough for Davitamon, AWfoSho called it quits after climbing the hill for the fifth time...
PtotheArker earns the hang in there award... He rode most of the 17/18 race alone, but he finished. Takes a strong head to do that...
Sunday dawned bright and early in a reverse of Saturday. AWfoSho was first off on Saturday in the RR, El Gigante was next to last, making for a long day for me in the feed zone. On Sunday, El Gigante started early enough that I had the pleasure of watching the first race; and AWfoSho was last which allowed me to watch every race.
Same basic thing, with the exception of the pro women, re-enacted over and over again at increasingly faster speeds as the day wore on... a few attempts at breaks followed by a bunch sprint. El Gigante, the Staz, and AWfoSho all put a few more miles in the bank for June and July with not much exciting to report... a second in the 15/16 race for El Gigante, and a finish in the prosey race for AWfoSho were their best efforts.
I did get to watch Daniel Holloway come up just short of beating the Berry Boy's lead-out for Devon Vigus in the fast guys race whcih made me think a little...
two, three, and four years ago I watched Holloway, Riggs, and Switters rip junior races to shreds. They'd attack and attack and attack. Then their attacks would be followed up by Joe Iannerelli, Thor, or Tyler Gough... Riggs, Holloway, and Switters all have contracts now and are being paid to ride their bikes. racing has definitely changed this year... AWfoSho or Davitamon or TK will throw down an attack, but nobody else is willing to follow through on it... seems like nobody but the DBCJRT boys are willing to stick their nose in the wind and take a risk. Everybody is following wheels. Funny thing is that Riggs, Holloway, and Switters didn't get their rides following wheels. If you want to be a bike racer, you have to race your bike!!!
Wente is the course where Bryan Larson and Davitamon, then riding for SGW, figured out how to make AWfoSho go long in the sprint; Wente is the course where El Gigante has suffered through some chest constricting asthma attacks, Wente is the course where we've blown tactics in a grand way...
But that all changed this past weekend where it was AMD that screwed the pooch, tactically speaking. In the 15/16 race Charlie Avis and Davis Bentley had Laundry isolated in the break... for some unknown reason they failed to attack him repeatedly until one of them got away. Instead, they trusted their climbing legs and Laundry made them pay, beating them handily in the finale up Altamont Pass. Glad to see that we aren't the only ones who occasionally fail tactically. Seems we have a little streak going now in the 15/16 category at Wente with Laundry adding to Davitamon's win last year.
AWfoSho and Davitamon did their laps in the prosey race in search of some form... 4 times up the hill was enough for Davitamon, AWfoSho called it quits after climbing the hill for the fifth time...
PtotheArker earns the hang in there award... He rode most of the 17/18 race alone, but he finished. Takes a strong head to do that...
Sunday dawned bright and early in a reverse of Saturday. AWfoSho was first off on Saturday in the RR, El Gigante was next to last, making for a long day for me in the feed zone. On Sunday, El Gigante started early enough that I had the pleasure of watching the first race; and AWfoSho was last which allowed me to watch every race.
Same basic thing, with the exception of the pro women, re-enacted over and over again at increasingly faster speeds as the day wore on... a few attempts at breaks followed by a bunch sprint. El Gigante, the Staz, and AWfoSho all put a few more miles in the bank for June and July with not much exciting to report... a second in the 15/16 race for El Gigante, and a finish in the prosey race for AWfoSho were their best efforts.
I did get to watch Daniel Holloway come up just short of beating the Berry Boy's lead-out for Devon Vigus in the fast guys race whcih made me think a little...
two, three, and four years ago I watched Holloway, Riggs, and Switters rip junior races to shreds. They'd attack and attack and attack. Then their attacks would be followed up by Joe Iannerelli, Thor, or Tyler Gough... Riggs, Holloway, and Switters all have contracts now and are being paid to ride their bikes. racing has definitely changed this year... AWfoSho or Davitamon or TK will throw down an attack, but nobody else is willing to follow through on it... seems like nobody but the DBCJRT boys are willing to stick their nose in the wind and take a risk. Everybody is following wheels. Funny thing is that Riggs, Holloway, and Switters didn't get their rides following wheels. If you want to be a bike racer, you have to race your bike!!!
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Catching Up on Old News...
I may be getting along chronologically, but I'm still a young buck when it comes to the Otter... been down to Monterey 4 times with the young'ns and their bicyclettas. The fun part is that 3 of those 4 times we've put a kidlet on the podium. First, it was TK in 05, then AWfoSho in 06. This year Garden held the torch, finishing 5th in the circuit race.
still a couple of spots shy of the top step, but we'll get there...
them's some proud peoples
and on the European Front... TK climbed off that big bird that flew him home with a 103 degree fever. Spent a few hours on the cobbles of northern France with the same fever, but didn't quite make it to that famous Velodrome in Roubaix. Read all about it here...
from the deep South... looks like a few of the domestic teams, Successful Living and Jittery Joes, forgot to get on that Midnight Train to Georgia. They missed the break yesterday and gave up nearly half an hour on the GC... somebody's got to chase. Too bad our homegrown boy, Eric Riggs, didn't jump into the break... would have been fun seeing a kid we've all watched grow up riding for the GC. Alas, Riggsy has to cut his teeth against the Europros somewhere... maybe next, year with the added experience that this year brings, he'll be in a fighting mood...
and finally, as a source of motivation... found this shot from Fitchburg on the Hot Tubes website. AWfoSho was trying to wrangle up a few sprint points, when he got the "Come on Nino" call from Danny Estevez.
Uphill sprints suck... unless you spend time working on them. I know a good hill off of Pleasant's Valley!
Monday, April 9, 2007
Recognize this Guy?
He's wearing green instead of orange and white, and his head is down in his traditional "I'm gonna win that prime!" style, but I've watched this guy race enough to know how he sits a bike from 500 hundred meters away... DBCJRT alum, Blake Anton aka Thor, takes a dig at the UCSB Island View Classic last Saturday.
Didya get the prime, Thor? and where'd you finish in the race?
Photo Credit: Steve Ryan
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