Roger Bartels – local pro mountain bike racer, dentist and one of the Red Peloton’s sponsors, finished the Leadville Trail 100 MTB race on Saturday in 7:11hrs placing 23 overall. Congratulations to Roger! LT100 is arguably the toughest MTB race in the United States with a starting elevation of over 9,000′ and tops out at nearly 13,000′ at the halfway point. Last year local Sonoma County pro Levi Leipheimer set a new course record at Leadville besting the like of Lance Armstrong, Dave Wiens and many other pro’s that have suffered through this race over the last 20 years. Roger placed 2nd in the M5 age group and only lost by a few minutes to the legend – Tinker Juarez. Roger is in an inspiration to all of us and we are proud that you are part of our team!

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.

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!

This report illustrates how Spring has been for us here in NorCal. Unseasonably cool and wet late into the season, the Dash for Cash was anything but typical this year. Congratulations to Craig Fellers for taking 3rd place in the Elite Men’s Category 3 race. Below is a report about that race by Matt Abbott.

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Race: Elite Category 3
Riders: Craig Fellers, 3rd
Matt Abbott, 13th
Report by: Matt Abbott

The Dash for Cash is usually the first race of the year with nice hot summer weather, but this year was a bit of a disappointment; rain all day made for a soggy race with a low turnout. 34 of us raced in the wet for 50 minutes of racing with a prime almost every single lap. The plan was for Craig Fellers, (being the monster sprinter that he is) to get as many primes as possible and for me to help out as much as I could while saving enough for the last lap. It was a great race tactically; I can’t recall any time when one or both of us were not in the top five spots and in the perfect position to answer any attack. Craig managed to get a couple of primes and amazingly, I was able to get one for myself. It continued to rain off and on throughout the race, then with four to go the pace quickened and everyone became extra careful when taking the corners. Craig’s positioning was perfect; he was able to stay in the front for the last few laps while I got slowed down by more nervous riders near the back after recovering from an effort at the front. Craig said he had to hit the breaks to avoid an incident during the final turn into the finishing sprint and lost some momentum, he still was able to take third place! I couldn’t get myself up to the front fast enough and finished 13th. All in all, a good day, neither of us went home empty handed and no one crashed.

Sunday May 15, 2011
Field: 22 Cat 3 riders, 27 P12 riders (we raced together, but 3s were counted separately)
Results: 11th in Cat 3
Teammates: None
8 laps of 9 miles each: 72 miles
Course: as flat as it can get! (according to my Garmin I climbed 272 feet in 72 miles!)
Average speed of 25.1

The day before I had raced the Modesto Crit with Jonathan Lee, Patrick Zahn and Nick Kersmarki. Nick is going to write a race report on that day as he won that race and I finished 2nd. I was coming off of that high coming into Sunday.

The weather was expected to be rain and thunder and lightening. Sunday morning came and there were some spectacular clouds but no rain. It had rained a bit overnight though as there were lots of puddles everywhere. Temps were a bit chilly and my start was at 8 am, but I ditched all warmers thinking it would warm up a bit which ended up being a good call. It was comfortable once we got going.

The first 2 laps were hard. The P12 guys were trying hard to ditch us lowly 3s and the wind was getting much stronger. By the start of the 2nd lap there was a break of 3 guys off the front and then the rest of us.. By the 4th lap, apparently one of those in the break stayed solo all the way to the finish and the rest were reeled in by a new break which consisted of mostly all P12 guys. Behind that there was the next group which I was in and we were a good 1+ minute off.. We decided to go after the guys in the big break ahead and a group of 6 of us started to work very hard rotating to reel them in… We succeeded one full lap later.. They were actually shocked when we caught them.. That was fun to see the look on their faces actually!

Now things were much more in control. Often times I found myself in the front 10 just drilling it. It was fast and hard. But I won’t bore you with all that.. Fast forwarding to the last lap..

8th and final lap: I was feeling very good. I knew that if I stayed in the front group of this main pack with only one guy in the break, I could easily capture a top 3 spot in the E3 group. I had one marked man from Davis BC (Michael Claudio) that I know I had to stay with. He is strong… There was also a SJBC guy who I thought was a 3 but he is a Cat 2 now (Kenny Strickland?). He and I had been riding a lot together all day and shared the work bringing the field back to catch the break.. I had to stay with them and was doing it just fine.. But on the last turn before the long straight finish of 2.5K to go, Kirk Evans ( a well known TT specialist, and a friend who is scared of riding in packs and is not comfortable with bikes “turning”) suddenly comes up and sits in front of me..I know Kirk well enough to know that I was in trouble. I was boxed in going into the last turn with HIM in front of me!… But I had no where to go.. Low and behold, we are going into this turn hot and Kirk just hits his brakes and slows him and me down by at least 5MPH.. I was in trouble.. I had lost momentum and this was not the time to be burning matches to catch back up with the fast moving group.. But I did go around him and caught back on, however, now I was blocked behind a ton of somehow slow moving P123 group who took up the entire road’s width. I have no idea why the group bunched up like that.. This was killing me.. I was anxious to get out of this situation but could not find an opening.The far left side of the road proved to be waste of time.. I noticed ex team mate Charlie Schnider (whole athlete) finding a hole on the right and going away.. I wish I was on that side!
I finally gave up and moved to the middle thinking a hole is about to open up, instead, two guys started banging bars and were about to go down.. That was devastating to be right behind that.. I was losing the pack that I was trying to go around on earlier and now again I had to play chase.. Out of the saddle and BAM, both hamstrings locked up on me… I gave it all and I had and limped through the finish.. I was so bummed on how the past 2 to 3 minutes completely destroyed my seemingly perfect race.. Kirk Evans came up after the race and apologized to me for that move on the last turn as he knew what it did to me and how costly it was for my race.. Ironically he finished 7th!

To see all the guys I was working very hard with finish from 2nd to 8th place in the P12 group, and the rest of the E3 guys that worked with in the top 5 or 6 position and finishing 11th was very frustrating.

Luckily, I still have great memories of Saturday to chew on. All in all, a great weekend, I am in one piece, had a great time, got a great work out and learned a ton..

Thanks to Nick, Patrick and JLee for an awesome race on Saturday.
Kashy