San Dimas Stage Race – Race Report

This past weekend was the San Dimas Stage and was hands down the best race I have done all year.  Not necessarily from a result perspective but the course, the officials, the volunteers, race direction were all spot on.  Even with the gnarly weather (more on that later) they made it happen and pretty much with out a hitch.  well done!

Last week I had Gordon put my Quarq back on my road bike.  I haven’t ridden with “power” since Kona and I was very curious to see what the numbers would be after focusing solely on bike riding 4 months.  The race was a good chance to test it out.

Friday - Stage 1.  3.8 mile TT, 1375 ft. of climbing. 15:28:38 – 1st in Cat 4 – 25 points for KOM competition

The TT was awesome.  Straight up GMR.  I warmed up longer than normal (1 hour) on the trainer and was dripping sweat by the time I got off.  I am finally starting to find out what works for me.

I hit the climb and was feeling good and just continued to build the pace throughout.  I passed 4 guys and rolled through the finish line.  I was shooting for sub 16 minutes and felt that would have me in the top 5.  So rolling in sub 15:30 was rad and I had a feeling it would be one of the better rides on the day (for my race).  I didn’t think I would win it but was stoked to find out I did.

power stuff:

avg pwr: 384 watts
max pwr: 657
norm pwr: 385
avg HR: 190
max HR: 196
kj: 356

Saturday - Stage 2.  42 mile Road Race (6 x 7 mile laps). 20th finished 2:27 behind winning break. 15 Points for KOM (total of 40)

I knew it was going to rain on Saturday, but I didn’t expect what was some of the worst weather I have experienced in southern California in a long time.  It was raining when I got to the race start so I got dressed in my car and kept the heat on.  It was in the low 40s and the wind was howling.  I got in a quick 10 minute spin on the road before the staging call for the race…. while waiting for the whistle to blow it started to pour. sweet.

my mindset was just to embrace it.  this is bike racing.  racing in crap weather happens and you just gotta deal with it.  there were KOM points at the top of the climb on laps 2 & 4, and sprint points at the start/finish on laps 3 & 5.

The group split a bit after the first climb and the descent was definitely sketchy in the rain.  So I decided that I would go to the front before the climb and stay there so I could be on the front, or near the front, on the descent.  just to be safe.  I wasn’t trying to be first for the KOM points but I did want to win it.  I took 2nd on lap 2 and third on lap 4 without putting myself in the box too much.

At the beginning of lap 5 two guy pulled away at the first turn in the driving rain and wind.  The group kind of let them go and I wasn’t worried.  I was pretty sure once they hit the backside of the course, where the wind was the worst, that we would bring them back.  Well that really wasn’t the case.  Nobody was willing to chase in the crappy weather and they were pulling away.  So I went to the front tried my best to bring them back.  After 10 minutes of hammering and pulling the whole group I backed off.  I couldn’t have kept my face in the wind for the rest of the race and open myself to get attacked or dropped by the group.  There was a bunch of confusion in the peloton.  We ended up catching and passing a lot of lap traffic from other races so some of the guys thought we had brought back the break and others never knew there was a break.  I knew they were sitll up the road and either way nobody wanted to work with me to chase.  So I let it be, still rode hard, and just hoped the gap wouldn’t be too big.

Well… I gambled and lost.  the winner of the race, Nate Whitman, smashed us and solo’d to victory and put 2:27 into my group.  Goodbye Yellow leaders jersey!

off the front.  Nate, the winner.

my group finishing.  I am somewhere behinh the guy in the yellow jacket just missing a crash!

Another lesson learned.  I tried to race smarter and not chase down every break like i have in the past and it came back to get me.  I was bummed to lose the yellow but it’s bike racing and it’s not easy!  I know I had the legs to ride with the winner but I just missed/underestimated the break.  I should do more research on guys I am racing.  Nate is an accomplished pro mountain biker (and nice guy) so he definitely had the engine rip our legs off like he did.

As for the weather…. It rained the entire 42 miles of the race and I thought the wind was going to blow me off the road at some points… it was epic and I truly enjoyed it.  I’ll bank this race and the suffering!

No power data.  Apparently my Garmin 500 doesn’t like getting super wet.  It wouldn’t download when i got home.  Luckily it started working on sunday after it dried out a bit.

Sunday - Stage 3. 35 minute Crit – Finished with the group.  Same time.

I am not going to BS here.  I woke up sunday morning at home to heavy rain and I could here the wind trying to blow my doors down.  My motivation to drive back up to San Dimas to race a crit in the rain was very, very low.  But since I was still 2nd in the GC and the winner of the KOM competition I had to show up.  I rained the whole drive up until I was about 10 minutes from san dimas and then it stopped and the clouds cleared a bit.  Once I got to the race site the sun was actually out.  The roads were super wet but at least it wasn’t raining.

After talking with Pete Saturday night my plan was for the crit was just to stay upright, stay out of trouble, and just finish with the group.  Nate, the GC leader, had 1:30 on me and that can’t be made up in relatively flat 35 min crit on wet roads.  I was also marking the Green jersey (sprint competition) he was 3rd in the GC and only 16 seconds behind me.  So I just needed to make sure if he tried to get away I was right there with him.

So I followed the plan.  I spent some time on the front, avoided a couple of crashes and finished with the group.  Pretty uneventful race but in stage racing I’m finding that’s typically the case.

Power:

avg pwr: 291
norm pwr: 342
max pwr: 947 (new all time high!)

kj 550

Overall Results: 2nd in GC & winner of KOM Competition.

Overall Podium:

KOM

Yellow, Green, & Polka Dots

Overall I am pretty happy with the race and super stoked to take 2nd place in the GC.  However after the TT I put it on Friday it was my race to lose, and I lost it.  Bike racing is so much about strategy and tactics and I still nowhere close to figuring it all out… so I just need to race more… but after a small break.  After 7 straight weeks of racing, including 4 stage races, I am ready to mellow out a bit and get back to training.

ok… so i might taste a little better when you earn it!

teamwork and another weekend of racing…

Tomorrow I’ll be heading north for the first stage of the San Dimas Stage Race.  This is a race I’ve always had my eye and was on my bucket list even before I decided to just race my bike.  It’s another 3 stage race with a TT tomorrow, Road Race on Saturday, and Crit on Sunday.  Hopefully this race will play out a bit differently than last week.  It’s not time-based race, the TT is up Glendora Mtn Road (no TT bike), and the Road race has some solid climbing.

Stage 1.  3.8 mile TT, 1375 ft. of climbing.

Stage 2.  42 mile Road Race (6 x 7 mile laps).

Stage 3. 35 minute Crit.

I really can’t wait to get started tomorrow morning.  I go off at 9:09 am.  Things could get a bit more challenging come the road race on saturday.  As of right now they are predicting considerable rain on Saturday & Sunday.  Thanks to Skinfit I have all the gear I need and will just embrace the conditions and make the best of it.

On the training things were a bit lighter this week, but still got in some quality work.  I am really stoked to have a “Team” to train with these days.  It’s not necessarily my racing team, but the Champion Factory Team.  I want to go into this in a lot more detail in another post, but I am having more fun training (and racing) right now than I have in recent memory.  I rarely do any of my key sessions without the help of my teammates.  Whether it’s a long Wednesday ride of smashing each other up on the hills or sweating buckets on the trainers in Pete’s garage we are working together to make each other better.

lastly… I always try to make new playlists before races.  Just some songs to listen on the drive and once I am on the trainer warming up.  This is my song for the trainer tomorrow morning before the TT…. the lyrics are fitting.  They might not be talking about bike racing but I like it.

Blackout by Breathe Carolina

I’m only getting started
I won’t blackout
This time I’ve got nothing to waste
Let’s go a little harder
I’m on fire
I won’t blackout
I’m on my way

Tour de Murrietta Race Report

Race reports are always more fun to write when everything goes your way and you come out on top, but that’s not the case with this one.  As I sit here typing this with a cold IPA by my side it’s easy to just chalk it up as good training and move on.

Tour de Murrietta is an Omnium(time trial, crit, circuit race), which is a points based stage race.  Where as Valley of the Sun and The Tucson Bicycle Classic (and most stage races for that matter) are about having fastest/lowest time after the stages in an Omnium you get a certain amount points based on your finishing position.  Tour de Murrietta put a lot more “weight” on the the Crit and Circuit race compared to the TT.  Here’s the scoring system:

The weekend started off good.  I picked up Chris and we headed to Murrietta for the opening time trial.  I was really looking forward to this stage.  The time trial was 4.1 miles/6.5k with the final mile mile being a dirt road climb!  This was also going to be my first race as a cat 4 so I was ready to see where I stacked up.

Chris getting ready to enter the pain cave!

my warm up set up:

Stage 1 – Time Trial – 10:48 – 1st in Category – 20 points

I was the second to last cat 4 to go.  I got in a really good warm up and was ready to go.  I bolted out of the start gate but tried to not overdue it in the first couple of miles, which is kind of what I did the week prior in Tucson.  I felt good over the rollers on the road section but didn’t feel like was going “fast”.  I caught two riders ahead of me before the dirt road.  when I got to the dirt road I nailed it.  I passed another guy and was riding well.  I hit one rock pretty hard and my bar shifted a bit point down, but it didn’t slow me down much.  I was taking some chances and came really close to going down in one corner.  I crossed the line pretty smashed, but was stoked to have the fastest cat 4 time of the day.

I really wish I would have pre-ridden the course because I KNOW i have a faster time in me on the that course.

Stage 2 – Grand Prix – 12th – 19 points – 3rd in GC after race

Saturday morning was the Grand Prix (crit) in down town Murrietta.  I was a pretty cool course with quite a few tight turns and big field.  In the past couple of (time-based) stage races I have just had to ride in defense of the leaders jersey and make sure nobody made up any time on me.  Not the case in an Omnium.  It was important to try and finish in the top 10 if possible.

warm up day 2.

The pace started out pretty quick and I would lying if I said I wasn’t a little gun shy at first.  This was my first crit since my crash and first in the 4′s.  With the tight corners there was a lot of sketchy riding and quite a few crashes.  I rode safe and hovered between front & mid pack.  The pace was faster but I was still able to get the front when I wanted to.  I was hoping to try to get a way at some point but it didn’t happen.  There were no legitimate attacks or breaks.  With 3 to go it started to get dicey so with 2 to go I went to front and tried to string it out.  With 1 to go one of the Jessup brothers (who i rode with in palm springs a couple weeks ago) came around me and attacked.  perfect!  I stayed on the front and let him get a gap through the frist couple of turns.  my plan was to let him get away and then make a move to bridge to him and hopefully get away into the final turns.

my plan was working but when I got to his wheel he kind of slowed up and soon enough the group was right behind us but I was in good position.  I was third wheel going into the final two turns before the finishing straight…. well that is until some guy bulldozed the corner.  he came up on my left in the fast left turn and almost took me out.  I had to hit my breaks and several riders came by on my right.  I was now around 20th.  fantastic!  I hammered the final straight and was able to get some spots back and finished 12th.

Stage 3- Circuit Race – 27th – 0 Points

Sunday I was up mega early.  430am and with the time change it was rough.  I got the to the race, got on the trainer, and was actually feeling really good.  Soon enough I was on the start line and I knew I needed to finish in the top 5 for a chance at winning and even staying on the podium for the overall GC.  The course was pretty flat and fast with a couple of rollers and really tight in areas.  The centerline rule as in effect for 50% of the race and for the areas it would be easiest to move up.  So unless you moved up positions on the long start/finish straight it was a challenge to get to the front.

We had 35 miles ahead of us, 10 x 3.5 mile laps.  I rode in the middle of the pack for the first couple of laps and then moved into the top 10 for a couple of laps.  I was feeling really good and wanted to make a move at some point.  With 6 to go a guy went and i went with him, and when he faded a two more guys rolled.  I thought this was going to be a solid move to get away but it was short lived.  I continued hover all over the pack, not really to smart.  With 3 to go I was on the front and lifting the pace on the rollers.

With 2 laps to go I decided to sit in and recover a bit before the final lap.  When a couple guys almost when down in front of me i was pushed back to the mid pack.  Somewhere during that lap i kind of spaced out.  By the end of the lap  I was near the back.  With 1 to go the Swami’s team went to the front and was drilling it.  I did my best to move up on the long start/finish straight and was able to go from probably the 60′s to the 20′s.  Then in the tight turn the guy in front of me almost went down.  His pedal came off his crank arm and he was swerving all over the place.  great.  the group went flying by on our right so I had to chase, and due the centerline rule I was trapped on the back stretch.  I made up some spots but couldn’t get to the front.  The bummer was I had the legs to get there but there was no room to pass safely.  I am not about to make dumb moves and possibly take myself or someone else out in a cat 4 race.  It’s not that important.

In the final turns I rode well and got back near the front and in the final sprint finished with the group (same time) but in 27th place and out of the points.  That my friends is called SHITTING THE BED!  No excuses.  Just poor racing and I put myself in the bad position.  My disappointment lasted about 30 seconds.  It’s bike racing and I am still learning how to race…. and I get a chance to race again next weekend!

Finishing so far back and getting no points knocked me from 3rd place in the GC to 11th.  The points system, with so little weight put on the TT, doesn’t suit my strengths.  If it had been a time-based race I believe I would have still won by finishing with the same time as the group on saturday and sunday… but it was points based and I blew it!  I think I am good enough right now to always finish with the group in these kinds of races but winning them and moving into the top spots is going to take better & smarter racing on my part.

Overall I can bank last weekend as a great weekend of training.  Most of the guys I raced were good guys and I had fun.  I am stoked for my home boy Chris.  After having a disappointing TT and not scoring in the 5′s he rallied to 2nd in the crit & cricuit race to move up to 2nd in the GC.  He’ll now be upgrading to the 4′s so I am stoked to start getting on the line with some friends and hopefully working together to “make it happen”.

So i’ll bank this weekend and get ready for the race I have been looking forward to for a long time, The San Dimas Stage Race starting Friday.