Race Report

Race Report by Kathleen Meyer

There were lots of folks there in the TWW jersey and many more. I saw Paul, Jenny, Isais, Kirsten, Peter, Julie, Frank,Creamy Rich, Dave (I always forget his last name) and more. Noticably absent, Brenton. I hope you are healing well! Patrick rode the course in the jersey. Not sure what he was doing but when I finally found him he was joking with his brother and Frank and Valerie's kids as he passed. They had to hold up the start of the sport race, waiting for Patrick to finish. Some days that kid could drive me to drink!

I saw Kenny Cleveland. His son raced for his first time. A number of Velo Bellas and at least one Velo Girl. Nice day out. I was supposed to go riding after the race with Frank and Valerie, their kids and mine but the kids were having too good a time rolling in the poison oak and we were having a good time watching the racing. We'll ride another day!

k

Race Report by "Downtown" Julie Brown

Team WrongWay ROCKED!!!!!! I don't know how the guys did, but the women came and tore the place up! Out of the top five finishers in Sport Women, three were TWW chicks! We rocked!

Course is kind of a no brainer...no climbing, a couple steeps and mainly fast and furious. Lots of big ring sprinting...a typical cross course.

Thanks to Jenny for watching my back when a certain a--hole started buzzing my bag tire because he didn't like that a girl passed him on an uphill. Jenny and I both decided he wasn't worth the bad energy he created and blew by him.

Also a shout out to Kirsten and Jenny for podiuming! Kirsten got second and Jenny got 4th...seconds behind me. Couldn't shake that girl no matter what! It was really fun seeing all the TWW jerseys on and off the course. We definitely represented.

Come out to the next one! Sea Otter is just around the corner....

Race Report by John Coomes

Weather was great--cool, no rain, and earlier rains had firmed up the sand. Course was basically the same as I remembered from last year, w/a few rerouts around large puddles and other obstacles. The 2 I did last year started at the bottom of the steepest climb on the course, was like being in a herd of cattle. This time they moved the start to the road so things thinned out a bit before the single track (yea!), and also waited longer between starts for the different brackets. Something happened to some of the tape marking part of the course, so that during my first lap riders were going both ways on a short section of single track. Kinda surprising to see someone coming right at you :-).

Was a good time, w/lots of TWWers present. Certainly don't remember everyone, but talked or said 'hey' to Kathleen, Peter S., Allan S., Paul and Julie, and saw lots of others there. Sounds like the TWW women rocked--Julie said they took 2nd, 3rd & 4th! Don't know any more details, since I had to leave before they posted the results to meet a friend for another ride; ended up doing a Sea Otter pre-ride to make up in distance what I lacked in speed :-).

-John

Race Report by Peter Sterlacci

So, here are my comments on the CCCX race:

1) Kirsten:
Pre-race comments: Yeah, I am not really focusing on winning. It is just the first race.
Post-race comments (after coming in 2nd): Ohhh. I can't believe I didn't win this race.

2) Frank:
Pre-race: Winning this race is my only goal. It is what I came here to do.
Post-race (after placing 3rd): I suck. I should be in Beginner class

3) Paul:
Pre-race: Man, I don't know why I am here. I am not in any condition to race.
Post-race (after placing 24/47): Man, I can't believe I finished mid-pack. What a shitty result. In all my races last year I did not do so bad. (This is of course his comments to me who always finishes mid-pack so it made me feel oh so great!!!)

4) Dave Boested:
Post-race 1(after racing beginner class): Man, I flatted and did not have a tire iron to change my tube so I DNFed
Post-race 2 (after signing up and racing sport class): Well, at least I finished this one!

5) Rich:
Pre-race: Yeah, it's just another race
Post-race (after finishing 17/47): Yeah, it was just another race

6) And yours truly:
Pre-race: I will be lucky to finish mid-pack
Post-race (after finishing 36/47): Well, true to form, I finished worst then mid-pack

Race Reports by Isaias Job

15/19) Isaias :

Pre-race comment: I expect to finish not to far off the back of the pack.

Post-race comments: Why the fuck am I racing expert again? But seriously, what a huge jump in race intensity! I thought bumping from beginner to sport was huge, the jump to expert is a quantum leap.

Stay tuned for a detailed race report!

Way to go TWW...what a showing! Congrats to all!!! As I was getting ready to line up for my start I noticed about 10 Sycip racers all bunched together, on their bikes, getting ready to race...it was a pretty awesome sight. I suggest next time we do a race that we all gather near the starting line in a huge horde to intimidate the rest of the field with our presence ;-)

Can't wait for this weekend's race!!

Cheers,
Isaias

Part 2

What a TWW showing! Awesome. I can't wait till next weekend's TWW Iron Angel's gathering. Congratulations to the ladies of TWW for dominating the sport field.

After cheering on and snapping some photos of my fellow TWWers at the sport class start, I rolled back to the car to dump off my camera and head out to pre-ride the course and warm up for my start.

They started by calling the pro and semi pros to the front of the field and then the under 34 expert field. I'm thinking to myself, holy crap, this is big time, racing with the pros. Surprisingly, I wasn't nervous at all. My start was bad as I barely dodged two guys crashing directly in front of me. This put me about 50 ft behind the pack. I sprinted to catchup only to get stuck in back of the pack as we entered the singletrack.

My legs feel like crap, but my heart rate is not pegged and I'm thinking damn it, I should have warmed up better. Next time I'll bring my trainer to warm up on. About 20 minutes into the race I finally get my heart rate up to the correct anaerobic zone, which is about 182 for me. From there on out it was just a hammer fest to the end at my anaerobic threshold.

Through the entire first lap I thought to myself, what in the hell am I doing racing in the expert class and how in the hell am I supposed to do 3 more laps at this pace. Interestingly enough, by the 2nd lap I started feeling like I was recovering and I picked up the pace, as much as I could anyway. I actually passed some people, but not more than passed me from the expert group that started in back of us.

By the third lap I realized that the trick for the short power climbs was to lockout my fork and stand and hammer instead of sitting and spining. The place where I had the most success was in the single track sections where I actually hammered in by biggest gearing and surged passed people. Unfortunately, my drivetrain was not really co-operating with me and it took a bit of fiddling with my front derailleur to actually make it shift up to the big ring...damn it, don't try racing in the expert class with marginally working equipment, there is no room for error.

Near the end of the third lap I felt a twinge of the cramp monster trying to come on. I shifted down and increased my cadence. Soon enough the feeling subsided and I pushed on. In the fourth and final lap, I was flying through the single track, I hit a muddy spot and the next thing you know the bike slides out from under me and I'm flying down the trail on my face, I shake it off, pick up my shades and jumped back on the bike. At this point I'm feeling better and thinking, my god I'm actually going to finish the race.

As I rolled to the finish line, I was tired, but not exhausted. The long rides this winter have helped my endurance, but I just haven't done enough power\interval workouts to output enough power to be competitive in the expert class. Even though I've gone from being a top sport to the back of the expert class, it is ultra exciting to be racing with such a high caliber of racers. This is going to be an interesting season.

Peter - thanks for handing off water to me and not stealing my empty water bottle ;-)

Finally, we've got to get some more TWWers racing expert. It's lonely rolling to the finish line to find only the crickets and the grass growing.

Cheers,
Isaias

Race Reports by David Ambrose

Yeah dude!!! You just described my first expert race too. I really need to increase my anaerobic endurance. In the TBF race last weekend my first two laps flew by and I bettered my previous sport time on those laps by about 4-5 minutes. But that third lap got me - I pooped out and started to cramp. I think because first, I haven't enough anaerobic endurance currently and secondly, I think I didn't take enough fluids. Maybe some day I'll feel competitive in the expert class... maybe. But honestly, I think racing expert is way more fun. I dunno.. I think I feel less pressure, plus along with just being more of an epic race. Possibly from the greater spread that seems to occur than in the sport class which seems to clump up into small groups of riders? I also think racing expert is good training for the longer endurance races coming up like the CCP100 and 24/12/8 hour races.

At a recreational pace I feel like I can ride all day long, but obviously that's not the same as trying to hang with the expert class. This past weekend I did a 50 mile ride at Tamarancho and Mt Tam/Pine Mountain on the singlespeed, then a 60 mile road ride Sunday up Mt. Diablo and surrounding area. I feel fine from those rides. But that third expert lap kicked my butt.

Isn't racing expert a blast!??

So are you going to drop from the top of the TWW rankings? ;) WE'LL BE BACK!!!! Some day... Mwahahaha...

--

David Ambrose

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