Placed 4th in the Elite-4 race sprint finish ! It was a safe,hard ,but fun course.

Jason

Cat 4 35+
Sunday I was tired. Legs were still cramping at 1:00 am and I was not optimistic about a hill climb circuit race. Warm-up was slow and the legs were sluggish – but loosened up a bit after about 40 minutes of slow riding.
I was rolling around as the previous race finished and did not get to the line before the crowd had formed. It was a full field of 100 riders and I was stacked at the back. The race official warned us about the turn at the bottom of the descent and then we were off. The race was pretty tame for the first couple of laps – a fast downhill from the start finish line to the narrow and tight right hand turn at the bottom of the descent. A quick couple of pedal strokes and you turn right gradually and head up the first step of the climb. At this point the pack slowed and everyone shifted down a few gears and began the hill. It is not very steep and less than a mile in length back to the top and the start finish. The climb reminds me of sections of Bo Hiway climbing into Occidental. We had a couple of guys try breaks but they got reeled back. During the last 5 laps things began to pick up a bit and we sorted it out to the main contenders near the front and me pretending that I was going to be able to sprint J , at least the legs had loosened up a bit. In the final lap the pace picked up a bit more and strung the pack out on the climb. I had trouble moving up as riders pushed for position but I kept looking for holes and found a few opportunities to get near the front. A couple of the Wells Fargo guys made a good jump on the last pitch of the climb and we all began scrambling. I picked up a few guys but just had not recovered my legs from Saturday’s stop and sprint fest.

–Still I broke the top 10 and finished 9th on Sunday which landed me 4th in the omnium.

Kevin

Okay so 3 races may be too many in one day, especially a hot day… That was what was going through my mind as my legs were seizing up during what should have been the easiest race of the day. But then maybe things had not gone completely as planned - in my first race.

M35 4”””’’s - Finish 3rd place - Heat wave in Brisbane
Brisbane is a short technical course .6 mi around with 7 turns including a hair pin. The surface was good most of the course with a couple of bumps, holes and a short section of rough pavement. In this race was Ernie and Royce and we had an informal alliance to keep an eye out for each other, Royce had forewarned me that he expected me to sprint and would be looking to help me get to the front when the time was right.

Early in the race Ernie went to the front and put his head down and stretched things out a bit. We had one guy launch an attack and I was a little worried he might be strong enough to make it stick so I moved to the front to help Ernie. When I got there Ernie told me not to worry he knew this guy and this was not going to last - Ernie was right-on. This rest of this race was a crash fest. For the most part all 3 of us managed to stay clear of the carnage until late in the race. Somewhere around 7 laps to go sitting comfortably near the upper part of the pack I had two guys decide to do a little asphalt dance in front of me on the first corner and I had to make a brief diversion off the course with them, ride between bikes and bodies sliding, dodge standing and rolling orange pilons, brake hard to avoid hitting the 6 inch curb and somehow managed to avoid joining the ground party. By the time I recovered I had gone from front to back of the pack. I think Ernie figured me for out of the race. Adrenaline going I did my first hard sprint of the race and bridged back up to the pack (sprint 1), I pushed my way back up through the pack and let Ernie know I was back between gasping for enough air to keep track of Ernie”””’’s wheel in front of me, it would not do to run over my team mate. I think it was maybe a lap later and I got caught behind another crash, this time in the hairpin. This time I got hit by one of the flying bikes and almost come to a complete stop trying to stay upright, again I slid back well into the pack again - damn. Another sprint and full out effort (sprint 2) to get near the front and postion myself. Somehow in all this joyous excitement 6 laps had passed and we were at 1 lap to go and Royce pulled up along side and told me to “get on”, which did not really sound like fun but I did not have the energy to argue so I obliged and Royce did a very smooth pull bringing the two of us near the front of the field. Three guys had launched themsleves down the road and looked to be on their way to picking up all the sweet podium positions so once Royce had us in the back stratch I decided to make a jump, cause as they say - “it was now or never”, and was able to cross the gap (sprint 3). It was a good thing because as the now 4 of us came clear of the hairpin I could hear a big pileup back behind us. Thankfully neither Royce nor Ernie ended up on the ground. No sooner than that and the sprint (sprint 4) starts in earnest and I only managed to pick off one of the guys remaining - my legs were toasty bits. The key to being motivated was Ernie and Royce out there in the field. It was good to look around and see the jerseys out there and know they were “enjoying” this as much as I was.

No time to celebrate - I had to get to the car, pound a bottle of gatoraide, rip off the race number and replace it for the next event.

M45 3/4”””’’s - Finished 14th
I started at the rear of the field - and let things unfold througout the race. Smoother, and safer - sort of. I only counted 5 crashes in this race. I had a better feel for the course from the earlier race and I picked my spots to move up where it took very little effort. And I found that the hairpin was a good place to stay wide and hold speed, drop a few gears and accellerate out pretty smoothly - no jumping. It was a little bit risky since this was the devil”””’’s triangle of bike wrecks and while I wasn””””t worried about going down I could get caught behind one but I was picking up 3 to 5 positions every time through with little or no effort. By the end of the race I was back near the front - this seemed good! Now if my legs would just stop cramping… Last lap and a few guys manage to mix it up in the hairpin - this time in front of me, guess that line was too good to last the whole race… I had a bike come around and hit me hard enough to almost bring me to a complete stop. I went backwards from top 10 to probably around 25th while I struggled to get the bike moving again. I could see the race was done but figured I would chase and see how many I could catch. 14th at the line - oh well at least I hadn””””t developed any road rash. The only problem was my legs were cramping up - not good.

1 hour and several leg cramps later - the E4”””’’s race begins. I decided to get in a workout and when the leg cramps got to be too much I would slip off the back. A little over 25 minutes later the legs threw a piston and I called it a day.

Kevin

I raced the cat 4”””’’s with Ernie and it started slow till 13 miles in and the attack came so hard that it went from 90-100 riders down to about 35 . I missed the move where 6 guys went clear and found myself chasing for 35 miles with only 3 other guys working and no chance of catching but after much energy loss managed to come from behind to take an 18 man sprint for 7th.

Jason Buckley

Sunday at Bariani road race. A lesson in team-work - delivered by Taleo and Davis Bike Club.

I was “wait listed” but figured (ok hoped desperately) I would get in since Sal had heard that racers were dropping like flies over a little wind and threatened rain. What I had heard of the course from Staroba sounded right up my alley so I risked the drive out there with a “16th on the wait list” - fingers crossed that I would NOT end up as a NorCal cheerleader watching from the sidelines. This would not be good - because I definitely did not bring any pom-poms.

Weather was definitely a factor - the wind was strong and gusty at times. But thankfully, no rain

When I got there I asked and the promoter let me add my name to the wait list for the Masters 35 race as well. What the hell - I figured the first opportunity I got to race I would jump it.

The Elite 4”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””’’s had a good SoCo contingent with Ernie and Jason from NorCal and Starr and Matt from 2 wheel. While it looked like a good opportunity to partner up - the first race opportunity for me came when the called the M35 roster - I became the sole NorCal guy in the race (Bryan I was lookin for you) which was dominated by 3 teams with very strong representation. Taleo, Davis Bike Club, and Wells Fargo all showed up in force. Humm - This was going to make things interesting - since I was getting in the race from the wait list I ended up near the back of the pack from the start - oh what fun. Closed course - harsh wind, narrow road, big teams near the front, and the NorCal team of 1 near the back. Mental note - don””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””t let this happen again :-).

Taleo and Davis came with a plan and they did not waste any time in the execution - from the start Taleo sent one of their guys off on a flier, a few other teams got riders out there with him before the rest of the plan came together and Taleo started blocking very aggressively. Davis had a rider out front too but they were far less aggressive about blocking and let the Taleo team do that unpleasant task. Taleo tried to shut down the race entirely anyplace the road was narrow enough they would line up center line to shoulder and drop the pace into the teens - I once looked down to see us moving at the glacier like speed of 13 mph. On the back leg of the course the road was very narrow - and center line enforcement was strict with the motor bike threatening a number of the riders near me with a DQ if they crossed the lines again. I don””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””t think he was offering them a treat at the local Dairy Queen. This course is perfect for that kind of tactic (if you have no pride and don””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””t mind the riders trapped behind you making numerous derogatory references about your questionable parentage).

During the sections where the road was too wide to block the race started again and a few of us took that opportunity to put the hammer down - partially trying to recapture some sort of race back from the 7 riders off the front and partly in hope to hurt and drop a few of those miserable Taleo roving road blocks. These efforts were disrupted not by Taleo so much as by Davis Bike club who did there best to train us on the fine art of disrupting the pace line. BTW that works pretty well on a course this windy since everyone was trying to stay in single file to get a whisper of the draft. I had a couple guys help me out, one from the Wells Fargo team who was strong - thankfully they did not get a guy off in a break or this race would have been over - done deal! 30 miles of this cat and mouse game and we finally managed to hurt and remove enough of the Taleo team to reestablish a bicycle race. By this time we had the pack pretty well tenderized and spread about on the course and we had pulled back 3 of the guys in the breakaways including the Davis guy - thankfully cause one of the Davis racers (Lee - I think) could have delivered a PhD lesson on screwing a pace line.

This left us with 2 groups of 2 riders still off the front as we closed the last few miles. We could see 2 of them but the other 2 were long-gone out of site, probably tippin back a few in their lounge chairs at the start finish line (one was the Taleo rider). As we caught the first 2 somebody made a mistake and down they went just in front of us. I dodged left and barely slipped past a tumbling bike and rider - phew!

The Wells Fargo team had about 5 riders left in the front group and they lined up left front as we came up on the 1 kilo sign another group of riders was gathering in the center and on the right and the speed kicked up going into the final corner. At 500 M everyone started looking around and the center of the lane opened up like a beckoning gateway. Okay maybe it was not that hospitable since we were running into a headwind but I did not hesitate for a second - I jumped and caught them looking at each other while I sped away - one glance back at 200 M told me all I needed to know and I sat up and coasted home from about 75M out. 3rd place!

Bariani is a great course, brutal winds but gentle hills. Mostly safe and fast and a perfect course for team antics (uh I meant tactics).

K

First race - We had to wait for the race to start as they carried a cat 5 racer from the course in an ambulance. Our first race was the M35 4/5 race.
Sal raced well the first race - he was up in the front and close by me most of the race. It was a bit dicey at times and amazingly there were no crashes. I missed a prime shot in the first race by a few inches as I had a wheel sucker knock Sal off my wheel and follow me around almost all the way to the line. The race was fast but not particularly smooth. We were forever dealing with guys shooting up the sides and then on the brakes into the corners hard. Staying near the front was best but was made difficult by the risky tactics of some of the racers. It was basically amateur hour with some pretty nerve wracking mistakes. I was sitting pretty well at the finish by got driven to the outside of the turn and then cut off by another rider. All over the brakes when I should have been sprinting but caged in and really nowhere to go. When it opened up it was too late to do anything but a short jump and pull back a 9th place finish.

Second race - I felt good but Sal was not breathing well. I rode near the top of the race pretty easily - except again for a few goof balls taking big risks - the race was pretty uneventful. Had a guy take a flier on one of the prime laps and I saw a hole to get up near the front and took it. Two guys in front of me took a pull and then went face first into the wind - the pack was strung out behind me in a line and these guys just gave up on the guy who took the flier. We still had about a half lap and I could see the guy was cracking up in front so I jumped and crossed the gap solo and basically rode away from the field for an easy prime. I sat up and reintegrated into the field and figured I was going to get comfortable and set up for the win. I went into the last lap a little too far back - and had a couple of guys go down hard in front of me. On the brakes, and a quick evasive action, followed by sprinting to close the gap. I had to make up a good deal of distance to get back in contention before the final corner. I again got taken to the outside by a couple of guys taking a $%^#-load of risk. They got tangled up and almost went down right in front of me - again all over the brakes just before the finishing straight. I managed to recover and still could have won the race but could not buy a hole to sprint through. I had a solid line of guys in front of me basically blocking any safe chance at a sprint. I basically rode in without a sprint breathing through my nose wishing I had taken an inside line - this should have been my race.

As I think about it I should have not got stuck in the inside of the front of the pack as we went into the final lap. It was like a house of cards after that point. Every time I thought I was getting back in position some other joker took a big hairy risk and blocked my chances…

k