Here is summary of my Masters 1/2/3 race in Burlingame. This is always a fun race for me because I raced for about 5 years as a Cat 2 with Penn Velo and this is their annual event. The course is flat and fast with 4 90 degree turns and a long sweeping right turn into the final 200 yards of the downtown finish. There is always a big crowd of spectators and a strong field of riders.

This year was no exception with a talented field of about 95 riders. I was hoping to do well this year with my fitness in pretty good form and I had good preparation leading up to race day. At the line there were a number of teams that had shown up with three riders with the Safeway squad appearing to have four or more. The announcer kept firing off names of riders to look for that had significant accomplishments over the recent years and others that were riding well this year as well as those signed up for the P/1/2 race after our event. It was nice to have local racer from Colavita, Michael Boehme line up behind me.

Any pre-race nerves disappeared as the gun went off and we filed into the first turn with 4 riders abreast. As speed increased, I felt comfortable in the pack not needing to exert too much effort. The nice thing about racing in this category is that most all riders have a good amount of experience and are good bike handlers. So, a couple times as things slowed into the turns and the field condensed, no one got too excited about bumping shoulders or elbows.

I was able to maintain good position in the top 1/3 most of the race. I watched small breaks launch off the front but nothing looked too threatening. I did bridge to one break that looked promising that was caught after a lap or so. When we saw 8 laps to go I believed the majority of the field was content to let it go to a field sprint. This was good news as this is where I can excel exploiting the efforts of the other teams for my benefit. With 4 laps remaining, it was go time! As with many crits, if you get shuffled back into the field with just a couple laps remaining, your race is done. I fought for good position with 2 and 3 laps to go. A couple times 5 or 6 riders surged around my outside and I found myself boxed in. My training and racing paid off when small gaps to side opened up and I could put myself in the wind and quickly get back into top 7-8 position.

With good position and ¾ lap to go the sprinting began. The team lead outs fired off and it was everyone for themselves. A train of 2 in front of me launched. I immediately reacted. Hesitate here and again, your race is done. With 4 or 5 riders in front of us I knew it was going to be a tight finish for the paying top 8 spots. We went flying on the inside of the sweeping turn. I waited till the last 75 yards then flipped the nitro switch. I headed for the right side gutter. With 50 yards to go, I was starting to come around the guy in front of me when he came a bit right trying to come around the guy in front of him. As the road funneled a bit and not much room between me and the snow fencing I held my line. As we bounced off each others shoulders 3 times in full sprint, I leaned left to keep our handlebars from getting tangled. I know I had him at the finish but wasn’t sure who was further to the left so I threw my bike at the line just in case.

When it was all sorted out, it was good for a fifth place finish. A podium top 3 would have been nice, but that is what keeps me coming back year after year. There always seems to be room for improvement. It was a fun, fast race with good energy from the crowd. My hope is that the workout from Burlingame and the subsequent two weeks of training will “sharpen the saw” enough to put me on the podium at San Rafael. See you at the races.

Caught in the middle of the on going budget battles within the State of California, Annadel State Park is faced with permanent closure starting in July 2012. Located in the heart of Sonoma County, Annadel is loved by cyclist and pedestrians alike – especially members of Red Peloton. That’s why when a golden opportunity to participate in a major push to keep the gates open presented itself, Red Peloton jumped on the chance.

Piggybacking on the efforts spearheaded by Bike Monkey, LLC through their Annadel XC event, Red Peloton donated $1000.00 to Bike Monkey with the written intent that “…the full amount be donated to Annadel State Park to keep the park open for all users or/and cycling related causes that benefit the park.” It was a donation worthy enough to earn some Twitter love from the Bike Monkey crew:

“@BikeMonkey: HUGE thanks 2 The Red Peloton! They just donated $1000 to Annadel fundraising. Tell ‘em you love ‘em when they pass you.”

In the end, Red Peloton is very excited to give back to our community in this way. Although we may be a cycling club, we truly believe that helping to build a better community as a whole is vital to our well being because it garners respect and understanding between cyclists, pedestrians, and everyone who must share our roads and trails.

Carlos Perez (right) of Bike Monkey receives the $1,000 donation from Red Peloton.

Did you know that you can find Red Peloton on Facebook? We have a Red Peloton Racing group page where we post race results, reports and photos throughout the year. If you would like to keep up on the latest events right as they unfold, we encourage you to become part of our family on Facebook.

Join us on Facebook today!

A very big congratulations to all of the Red Peloton riders who participated in this year’s Dunlap Memorial Time Trial! In addition to some outstanding Individual Time Trial results, the men’s team took top honors in the Team Time Trial event. Below is a race report by Craig Fellers on the team’s ride to victory.

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Event: Team Time Trial
Members: Patrick Zahn, Jonathan Lee, Craig Fellers, Javier Sanchez
Place: Overall 1st place
Report by: Craig Fellers

Thursday evening I got a call from J. Lee asking if I would like to be a part of their TTT for the Davis race. Apparently, some guy he rides with told him I would be descent because I was a triathlete for a number of years before I started cycling.

“A TTT?” I asked him.

“Yeah, it’s kinda like doing the bike part of a triathlon, but you get to cheat by drafting the entire time”

“Oh, I can do that, I told him. No problem at all.” Of course what he didn’t tell me is that he expected me to ride 5 mph faster than I have ever ridden in an ITT, or that he had two other teammates that were going to make sure it hurt.

I told Jonathan that I’d come out and would do my best to not let anybody down. I started to think of what I would need to do to not embarrass myself at the TTT.

As you all know, there are a few differences between triathletes and cyclists. I could name about 10 off the top of my head, but when I started to think of similarities, all I could think of is that we all enjoy eating breakfast. I had a lot of work to do and only 3 days to prepare for the event, which was not very much time if I wanted to fit in with the other cyclists. I started by tearing off all the old numbers that were crusted onto my seatpost and helmet. I lubed my chain, and removed the mark it subsequently made from my leg. I debated for a while, and finally removed my trusty Bentobox. I even got rid of the saddle mounted waterbottle cage/co2 pump mount. No longer would my formerly-cool chaingaurd between my cassette and spokes be considered aerodynamic, so it had to go, and while my wheel was off, I removed the rest of those little yellow warning stickers. My bike looked so naked. I decided to ignore the fact that in no way was the setup even approaching UCI legality, and I think the tip of the saddle actually overhung the handle bars by a few mm. It’ll have to do.

The day of the race I received a warm welcome from those warming up under the Red Peloton tent. I grabbed my bike out of my car, and before we went to warm up we had a brief team meeting. Jonathan set out a few ground rules for the event, “There are 3 things we need to do for a successful race. 1) Look good. 2) Go fast. 3) Look good.” Javier and Patrick just nodded without hesitation as there was no question in their mind about the importance of these guidelines. It was then that I realized I would fit in perfectly with Red Peloton.

Not only is Jonathan a brilliant coach/motivator, but he is also a very clever strategist. He has taught me that even though it is impolite to count as you pass people, it is still imperative for the safety of those around you to warn slower cyclists that you will be coming past. He took one for the team and selflessly removed all the grease from a number of bearing surfaces to create a rhythmic creak as he pedaled, alerting anybody in the general vicinity of our presence. BRILLIANT!

With the 3 rules firmly in mind, and our new warning system in place we started the TTT. Since Javier and J.Lee had already raced the ITT, it was up to Patrick and me to take some hard early pulls. Even though Patrick’s bike has been described as “pretty” he rides it like he means business, and got us out of the gates at a blistering pace. I was hoping that I wasn’t the only one thinking “This is going to suck,” as I tried to hold on, but as I looked at the face of Javier as he pulled through he was still smiling.

I have no cycle computer, heart rate monitor nor power data to back this up, but based on the increasing cadence of Jonathan’s various bike noises, it seemed the pace was quickening. I heard every one of them because he seemed to always be on the front, flexing those gigantic legs of his. (Or maybe it’s just because he has a disc wheel and a Shiv, but we’ll never know) He put us all in our pain cave, in that place where you lose touch with reality and start just repeating song lyrics over and over in your head for motivation. As Javier pulled through to the front, I think I even heard “Nooooooow here’s the story from A to Z, if you want to get with me you gotta listen carefully,” muttered under his breath. I was just glad that The Spice Girls could be keeping him company in this time of need. For me, I just pretended that Phil and Paul and Bob were annotating the race, and everything I did came as a third party comment from the greatest sports commentators of all time. It was the motivation we all needed to hang on and rotate through.

As we crossed the line, past the small crowd of cheering Red Peloton riders, I was elated that we had finished. I was impressed at everybody’s strength, positive attitude and teamwork. After the last Red Peloton team had finished we all went back to the tent to check results. Our victory for the TTT was only slightly diminished by the fact that 2 solo riders had beaten our entire team. “Whatever, they have no life,” I thought to myself as a condolence, and I happily accepted my $7.50 winnings to go spend at a “Chilies-esque” restaurant known as Red Robin’s with some awesome teammates. Unlike those two pros that beat the team, I don’t have a race weight, so I ordered a burger and fries, and enjoyed every bite.

Thanks for the fun times!

With the arrival of longer days and warmer weather the racing scene kicks up another notch as we head into Summer. Despite Mother Nature’s confusion in the weather department this Spring, Red Peloton riders still managed to find success. Since the beginning of April, our talented group of racers has posted another 44 top 10 finishes with one of them even being an overall victory in a duathlon. Yes, sometimes we venture beyond just road racing.

Congratulations to the following racers on their finishes and we look forward to seeing how things continue to unfold this Summer!

District Time Trial Championships, June 12, 2011
Nina Strika, 2nd place, Wm’s 40-44
Laurie Peterson, 5th place, Wm’s 50-54

Benicia Criterium, June 12, 2011
Jenny Gott, 1st place, Wm’s Cat 3/4
Jenny Gott, 2nd place, Wm’s 1,2,3
Kashy Ghazzagh, 4th place, 35+ Cat 3/4
Mike Charleton, 5th place, Masters 1,2,3

Joseph Mendes Criterium, June 11, 2011
Jenny Gott, 1st place, Wm’s Cat 3/4
Jenny Gott, 4th place, Wm’s 1,2,3

Dunlap Memorial Time Trial (ITT and TTT), June 5th, 2011
Jenny Gott, 1st place, Wm’s Cat 3/4
Nina Strika, 3rd place, Wm’s Pro 1,2
Jonathan Lee, 7th place, Pro 1,2
Matt Abbott, 4th place, Cat 3
Javier Sanchez, 5th place, Cat 3

RP Men (Patrick Zahn, Jonathan Lee, Craig Fellers, Javier Sanchez), 1st place TTT
RP Elite Wm (Jenny Gott, Nina Strika, Soda Sodaro, Martha Bellisle), 1st place Wm’s TTT
RP Club Wm (Lauren Rignel, Kelli Badillo, Jennifer Kruger, Laurie Peterson), 3rd place Wm’s TTT

CCCX Fort Ord XC, June 5, 2011
Keith Flood, 4th place, Sport Single Speed

Dash for Cash, June 4, 2011
Craig Fellers, 3rd place, Cat 3
Stephanie Buckner, 5th place, Wm’s Cat 4

Bicycles Plus / Sierra Nevada May Crit, May 28, 2011
Lauren Rignel, 6th place, Wm’s Cat 4
Kashy Ghazzagh, 9th place, Masters 30+

Boca Road Race, May 24, 2011
Martha Bellisle, 1st place, Wm’s C Group (7th overall)

Golden State Circuit Race, May 22, 2011
Shannon Mitchell, 8th place, Wm’s Cat 4

Boggs Bash XC, May 21, 2011
Keith Flood, 1st place, Sport Single Speed

Golden State Criterium, May 21, 2011
Shannon Mitchell, 3rd palce, Wm’s Cat 4
Lauren Rignel, 9th place, Wm’s Cat 4
Kashy Ghazzagh, 10th place, Cat 3

Modesto Criterium, May 14, 2011
Nick Kersmarki, 1st place, Cat 3
Kashy Ghazzagh, 2nd place, Cat 3

Berkeley Hills RR, May 8, 2011
Craig Fellers, 1st place, Cat 3
Nina Strika, 2nd place, Wm’s 35+ 1,2,3
Jenny Gott, 7th place, Wm’s Cat 3
Shannon Mitchell, 8th place, Wm’s Cat 4

Double Dare Duathlon, May 7, 2011
Jonathan Lee, 1st place (Road edition)

Tri Valley Velo Criterium, May 7, 2011
Jennifer Kruger, 7th place, Wm’s 4
Kashy Ghazzagh, 9th place, Cat 3

Wente Criterium, May 1, 2011
Craig Feller, 2nd, Cat 3
Kashy Ghazzagh, 3rd, Cat 3

Wente Road Race, April 30, 2011
Nina Strika, 9th place, Wm’s 1,2
Martha Bellisle, 10th place, Wm’s 35+ 1,2,3

Menlo Park Grand Prix, April 23, 2011
Dan Boyle, 1st place, Cat 3
Jenny Gott, 1st Place, Wm’s Cat 3

Chico Stage Race, April 16-17
Jenny Gott – Wm’s 1,2,3 – 10th in RR, 7th in TT, 8th in crit; 9th Overall
Jonathan Lee – Pro 1,2, – 4th in TT (17th Overall after all 3 events)