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It's been a big week for me, not only was Hanford my last race as a four, but my Level 3 USAC coaching application was approved as well!

In a strange way, the category upgrade has been kind of just unnerving, rather than satisfying. I know exactly what I'm getting into, and still got into it.
Big jump, here I come!

The coaching license everyone derides as a book test, but have you read that book?
I did, twice.
I actually thought the sections on coaching children very informative, not a area that I have any expertise in at all, save for Little C's ice cream league soccer team, but an excellent set of pointers one can use with any new athlete.

Anyhow two days into the big break and still no bikey for Gianni, thoug I believe tommorrow the Sprints will see my face, but only to do some skills work and hang for a while with the folks....

Hanford

Damn proud of the team today.

We somehow missed the W but the aggression was highly gratifying to see.

Merkely, X doggie, and The Vickerator all spent much time OTF, with basically the entire CVC team and a few unattached guys blindly doing CVC's bidding needed to chase Mike down.

When you have a 15 man team, playing the one dimensional card is kinda sad if you ask me.

I flubbed it at the end, jist couldn't go no more and got the X and Vick swarmed, but they fought it off and got some placings as well, very nice, fellas!

Too tired to write about it more right now ,must get on with my season break before the real training kicks up again.

Car Talk

Show the colors, baby!

Dang Merkle and Alicat!

Those dang thinmints- one box destroyed already and the other in the freezer.
Yer killin' me!

I keep eating those, I'll have to do more of these fat-ass forties.....

Good to see Chico at a race, and I hope it went well for ya!

The race- without the wind, that shit was bunk. I don't try to hide my distaste for 60 man bunch sprints.I make a living with my body every day, it don't work, I don't either.
I was good, then I was boxed, got out and came up on the top 8 or so, then had a guy pedal backwards at me.Held the line and gave up with a sour taste that only ice-cold thinmints seem to cure.............

CVC Tower Criterium RR

Sunday was gonna be a goodie.

I did this race last year with Double and Merkeley, and snuck off in a early break, the first and only time that one has worked for me :-)

This year the field was much bigger and the guys were fresher, as well as no teammates.

0330 am the phone rings. Wrong number.

Now I'm up and thinking bike racin'.
I drift back off and it rings again at 4:30.
Party party party at the Quality Inn.
Now I'm up.
I think about going over to the race early to race with the young bucks, eat a little sumpthin', then fall out for 15 minutes, when my alarm goes off.
I slowly move my stuff to the car and make my way to Starbucks on the course.

It's still dark and the racers signing up look fresh, overly alert, and very young.

I decide I can't deal with this crap right now and go back to the car and drink a couple of cups of java and talk myself into getting on the trainer and warming up at least.
MAsters 4/5 goes at 9:20 and the warmup is better than I expected, the soreness from yesterday is gone and the fire in the belly is coming around, I stage up as we watch the womens' 3/4 race.
This crit is my all time fave, the 180 was dry this year and you could push it if you had the right line/ gear coming out.
Big representation from CVC, Simply Fit?, and Action. Centurion.
The race starts agressively, with many splits with all the teams represented, but in the 4/5 ranks people often are too conservative/ chase their own breaks.
We all gotta learn, no?
Both Nelson and I are in just about everything, and the primes are nice and fat, I got a nice bottle of wine for the team party this year!
1 to go and I got myself boxed , I was trying to keep up front and hold a position,but with the field fanned all the way out and no team driving, very hard to do on the wider spots.
We hit the main drag with the barriers and I decide if I want it I had to get up now, so I sprint up the hole next to the barriers and grab 3rd wheel, behind the guy that won Merced when I went for the woods by borrowing my spot in the lineup.
This fine fellow has downgraded after a few years at the upper levels and is a nice wheel to follow, so we urge the CVC guy on the front to line it out and he jumps for the chicane., with me in the hip pocket.
FOS, FOS and we make the turn with 160-175 meters to go,and I just tried to not screw it up, and managed to get around him on the line.
Big time atmosphere down in Fresno, lot's of great racing for the lower categories as well, and a incredible race organization that helped me all weekend. If they didn't have the answer, they found someone who did.
Incredible the amount of work going into this thing, all benefitting local charities.
Thanks again, CVC!

CVC ITT

Drove down Saturday morning, caught up with the 123 squad as they were heading back to the lair.
I have been whining about no time in the saddle, especially on the TT rig, but hey, it's only 28K, right?

Wind was quartering from the SW and I heard from several people to expect it to reverse itself during the afternoon, so a distinct possibility of getting head/ head and not in a good way.

Got in a perfect warmup, used a whole hour, got off a couple times and worked on some new stretching I have been learning about, tried to open up all the zones and get loose in the flexors, which have been tight during my 45 minute roller sessions.

Made it to the line early, keeping the stress down is important, I would say I felt so-so, but was willing to go hard early and take the chance of a blowup.

Guy counts down just like on TV with the fingerdoodle move and I'm off, 10 stomps and settle. I push the Lap button and see I'm already at LT just from excitement,I try to calm myself down and get to it.
I had two gaps in front of me in the start order giving me minute men and then no one, so I just tried to work with the wind and take what it would give me, dropping a cog, going back up one, better with no face shield on the helmet, I like to feel the wind a little and hear things.
I passed my first minute man about 5 K in, then my second one stayed out there longer, till we hit the slight rollers and I could spin it up a bit and catch him.
I was about 10 beats over threshold by 10K in, and just tried to keep consistent, passing a womens ' division, refusing to look back, especially with a aero helmet, amd embrace the wind instead of hating it, which was now quartering more into the front of me.
Not enough power to push the really big cogs and I found spinning it up was faster anyway.
Hit the 1K hill and it was gut check time, with a bonus check, when it flattened out about 500 meters in and I had to leave the voices at the door and drop another cog, yum, yum that cytomax tastes good again, ooooh and it's over.
I had no idea only having 2 minute men how I was looking in the results, no real feedback from the watch that forgot to stop and I felt kind of crappy with no good form, sliding up, knees out more than they should be, back probably hunched like mad.
Rode back while bonking my ass off, only had a vague idea where I was and where I was going, I figured Fresno was somewhere up there, probably riding back hurt more than the race effort itself, as the cramps really set in.
My experience with cramps- calf cramps, yellow zone
Quads, especially while riding home in the car with buds, can even be good for a chuckle or two.
Hammies are no fun and can end a nice race.
Ass cramps are no fun.
Ass cramps while lost in the heartland of California really suck.
Only hobbling around and Ibuprofen help.
And large Coca-colas.

Anyhow, after lots of hobbling, chatting, and Coca-colas, the results were announced to the 20 people left in the parking lot and I won the damn thing.

Celebrated by going to Sweet Tomatoes solo and watching Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle for the 15th time, big bachelor night out!

A little perspective here, I was minutes off of the big time guys, not just the pros but the really strong masters guys, especially the demons of Sattley.

Trophies are just damn cool things.
And CVC put on one hella-cool race this weekend.

Bookends

Thanks to CVC for putting on such an excellent weekend!

This one goes on the calendar every year, great TT course and one of my favorite crits.

More report to come, but I'm a little fried right now and would just ramble anyway.

Old Mclane recap/ rant

Well, it's been almost a week and my head is slowly clearing and the legs feel decent, and I finally got the urge to jot a few things down....

Kudos to the teams in the 35+4 race, ones of note were the Pegasaurs, the EMC boyos, Sierra, CVC, and even Webcor and Davis, both who had like two racers.
All of the above attempted to animate at least for a lap until the old dads got tired and the reality of setting up for a 60 rider bunch sprint became a reality.
We probably tired each other out with all those attacks and counters, as the individual riders made hay while the sun shone in the final results.

That was a crazy finale to a crazy day, with riders careening into the dirt every turn. The only safe place was right at the head of the storm, with most of the field hanging back while the big P tried to control at the front.

Road racing in the grampa Cat 4's?

Lame.

Waiting for a bunch sprint and chasing everything down, even your own team?

Like watching paint dry, and yet many people encourage it, as it seems like the only way up and out of the 4's unless your talent is on the higher level of the curve.

Are we teaching people the finer points of bicycle racing, as is claimed?. A totally different game being played on the 123 stage with strategy interspersed with a savage beating every few minutes. Real bike racin'.

Anyhow, I'll shut the rant off now :-)

CVC for this lame Cat 4 starts Saturday, and I'm more than a little concerned over my total lack of TT preparation, unless sitting on the rollers for 45 minutes in the morning is gonna help, in the bars or not., but it's cool, I'm riding Snowflake, my oldest bike, and me and her have seen more than a few barbeques along the way.
Matter of fact, I think Snowflake is gonna get some bloggage soon, like a whole ode to the 'Flake.
See ya'll soon,
J

Feel the burn

Oooooh how are those airline miles stacking up? Check this out- the siren of stupid endurance challenges is calling me again....
Note the race promoter in the moustache- " People call me a sadist- I'm just a provider of pain ."