Here's to the New Year

For cycling, 2014 was my best year ever. While I did crash while training in late February, I learned from the mishap and generally improved in all areas.

2014 Statistics

• total miles ridden: 7,391
• average distance per week: 145 miles
• average time per week: 8.5 hours
• total hours: 445.5 hours
• total elevation in feet: 590,617
• number of rides: 234
• 2014 100-mile (unsupported) days: 3
• One 107-mile day (61.7 mi. point to point road race, with a 42.8 mile ride back to the car afterwards, and 2.9 mile warmup prior to the race)

2014 Summary

In 2014 I raced 22 times. Of those, eleven were road races, one hill-climb TT, and ten criteriums (5 official and 5 pre-season during the Early Bird clinics). Riding unattached, I had one first place finish, three top-three finishes, eight top-five finishes, and nine top-ten finishes.

In January, after a 26-year break from road racing [since USACycling was USCF (United States Cycling Federation), I started over from scratch in category 5. After participating in all five Early Bird Criterium clinics and races, in February of this year, I upgraded to cat 4 with a third place finish (Early Bird road Race) and a top five finish (Cherry Pie Criterium).

The weather was really favorable for cycling this year (unfortunately due to continued drought in the region) so I only had to race in the rain once. My early season results were mostly mid-pack, but later in the season I performed much better. This was partially due to increased fitness, but mainly experience–I learned to stop covering every break, and contained my nervous energy that often had me sittiing on the front of the pack. Counting the Early Bird criteriums, my 2014season consisted of 22 races: ten road races, one circuit race, ten criterums and one hill climb time trial.

By my count, I've earned 21 upgrade points, which makes me eligible to apply for an upgrade to category 3, although I’m not required to do so unless I reach thirty points within twelve months.

Post Season Climbing Series

My friend Rob Easley suggested I join an informal team that he was on, to ride the Low Key Hill Climb Series, a different challenging climb each of nine consecutive weeks, from early October through late November. All levels of riders are welcome, and while times are recorded and data is elaborately parsed and reported on the website, it's all just for fun. It's a great way to stay motivated to stretch out the tough efforts beyond the end of the road racing season. I joined the Sisters and Misters of No Mercy and rode all but two of the climbs. 282 men and 46 women participated in at least one of the climbs. Our team had the largest roster at each ride, which contributed to our winning the overall team competition. I ranked 13th among the men.

Because most of the climbs are less than five miles long, many of us would join up for a longer fun ride afterwards to make the car trips worthwhile.

My general “take” on the year...

In general I'm happy with the year in cycling, if bit melancholy. This year, for various reasons, I missed more weekend rides with my closest cycling friends. This is, for the most part, due to my involvement in racing. Races take place on weekends and that's when our weekend rides took place. Training for races became my focus for the types of riding I did during each week. I worked hard to increase my average speed on rides over all types of terrain. While I've met many new riders through racing, I plan to ride as much as possible with old friends and new.

Health-wise

In general I feel like my health improved in 2014. I continued the body weight loss which began in 2013 while training for the Mt. Tam Hill Climb. At the start of 2013 I weighed 152 lbs. By June 2013 I weighed 135. A loss of three more pounds followed until November. After reduced mileage this early winter, and many holiday meals, I'm back up to 135 lbs., which seems to be optimum. I've lost a bit of muscle mass in my upper body, and while I don't do any other exercise, I feel like my back and core are stronger than in years past. I don't wake up stiff and crooked anymore. I've had just one brief head cold this year. I didn't experience discomfort due to allergies at all this year, where in years past I had weeks of sinus and respiratory reaction to pollen in spring and late summer. I had one significant injury in late February, when I crashed on a training ride. Fortunately I was only banged up, combined with some ligament strains. I only missed two weeks of riding, and missed no races. While six months later I don't have any any lingering physical issues resulting, I am still working to overcome some timidness on fast, technical descents.

Fitness-wise

Without any means to measure real power, I can't compare accurately, but my perception is that I'm faster and stronger on the bike this year. The average speeds show that. I think I can safely attribute this to pack riding. In 2013 I focused mainly on climbing. This year I added sprints, intervals and overall speed on flat to rolling terrain.

Cycling Expenses

I spent quite a bit more money on cycling in 2014 than in recent years. With race registrations averaging a bit over thirty dollars each, that's around $660. Fuel and tolls for the 1600 miles driven to and from races, adds another $300. I won't include the cost of cycling gear because I would've had to spend that anyway. Although I did upgrade three significant components, all of which improved safety: Brake calipers $120, shoes $120 and helmet $180. Exposure to my competitors' lighter carbon fiber bikes made me wish I could replace mine, but their admiration for both my classic bike, and my performance on it, made it easier to stick with what I had. However in October, I discovered cracks in the frame of my steed, and while I was able to outfit a substitute, replacement became unavoidable.

What's ahead for 2015?

I've renewed my USAC license and joined a team: Cushman and Wakefield Racing

The parent club is Lamorinda Cycling Club. The team has a large category 4 masters squad. While the club is based across the bay, there are a good number of teammates here in Marin county to train with and carpool to races. I plan to travel across the bay to train with the rest of the team whenever time permits on weekends.

The support of a team will motivate me, and generous sponsorship should help ease some of the financial load that this sport creates.

In November I celebrated my 54^th birthday. USACycling considers a rider's racing age to be that which they are on December 31^st of a given year. While my racing age for the 2015 season will entitle me to race in master 55+ groups, I plan to continue to race with the m45 group.

Even as an unattached rider, with only my own aspirations to pursue, I did well in 2014. One of my goals for 2015 is to learn how to ride for the team. Besides the value in learning and executing good tactics, if I can help several more teammates boost their upgrade points, perhaps there will be more of us who can race together again after upgrading.

A canned video created by Strava, using my annual stats

First Spin On the New Bike!

My new 2015 Emonda SL6
(pretty soon I'll cut the steerer tube so I won't chip my buck teeth on all those spacers;-)

Since Tweety's sad retirement from service, Sylvester has been performing surprisingly well. Yet I don't have much faith that Sylvester's frame and worn components would last another road racing season. I gaze in wonder at the level of equipment that many in the masters peloton are riding on, as I piece together whatever machine I can just to be able to ride. Work has been slow this year and unlike 24 years ago, I can no longer spring for a grand tour level bike. But I have to ride. Tweety lasted almost two decades, and a well-cared-for bike is almost like a piece of real estate–it even could be considered an investment. So a couple of weeks ago I started shopping, hoping I'd find a modern bike that I could almost afford, without feeling like I was settling. If I felt like I'd be “driving a Rambler” I'd just stick with Sylvester, as that bike actually rides like a classic 80's race bike. What I bought today is far, far below the level of what many of my fellow racers are riding, but so far I love this bike. It's a Trek Emonda SL6. The Emonda is new for Trek in 2015. The SL frame is Asian manufactured, with 500-series OCLV carbon fiber. The “6” means it's Ultegra 6800 11-speed equipped.  The bland wheels are Bontrager Race, as are the alloy stem and bars. Higher level Emondas are U.S. Made frames that are quite a bit lighter. With my clunky old Look pedals, this bike weighs 16 lbs (five pounds lighter than what I've been riding–now the combined weight of bike and rider are less than my body weight alone three years ago). While the new Ultegra group has a lot more thermoplastic and pressed steel in it than past generations, it works solidly. Trek "splits the difference" on many of their 2015 bikes, using an integrated seat mast with a longer mast/cap/post thingamajig. I don't expect a fantastic saddle with an off-the shelf bike, but the Bontrager one that comes with the bike isn't bad. What is so remarkable to me is the ride of the whole bike. I had about an hour to take it for a spin this afternoon. Like I told Jen tonight at dinner, there's no way I can describe how amazing this bike feels on the road, but that won't stop me from trying over and over until you're all sick of hearing it. What I notice most of all is rigidity of the frame at the bottom bracket and the front end, yet there isn't any jarring feeling. It feels like a really good italian steel race frame in that there's a liveliness that's not the result of flexibility (If that makes any sense). Equally impressive is overall handling. I've only done two test rides from the bike shop, and then today's ride. Today's ride covered a mix of good to poor pavement. You can hammer hard for 14 miles through the curves and rollers, powering over rises and through turns. I didn't beat any of my personal records, but I was really impressed with the handling. It's hard to crow about neutrality, but with this frame, I think Trek really struck gold. I've ridden old 70's crit bikes with 74-degree head tubes and they weren't any fun in a 60-mile road race. This Emonda is about a degree more relaxed in the front, while still having a 74-degree seat tube. The fork offset is a cushy 45 mm so the steering is predictable, yet lots of fun in turns. I think I found the bike that's in that sweet spot of the market–one that performs solidly, yet comes in well under three grand. Most shops are selling the SL6 for $2999. My new race team's sponsoring shop offers a generous discount, but it's inconvenient for me to drive all the way over there for multiple test rides, etc. I'm very lucky that my local City Cycle in Corte Madera was willing to match the deal. For convenience and the impressive level of customer service I experienced there, I purchased the bike there today. Major kudos to Scott Green for his great service.

Meet Sylvester

Sylvester

I'm hoping Sylvester will suffice as my primary road bike, since Tweety's retirement. He's a mid-eighties “Raleigh of America” (which has to be a joke because his frame was crudely brazed by robots in Taiwan). This was the Raleigh Competiion model, which came with Shimano 600 components. I found it on eBay for $150 several years ago, and built it up initially as a fixed-gear bike. The frame is halfway decent, made from Reynolds 531 double-butted tubes, though the quality of the lugs and the brazing is poor.

I harvested Tweety's “organs” and installed those that would fit onto Sylvester.

Sylvester is about one centimeter too small for me in each direction. This means that after setting up the initial saddle (fore and aft) position, relative to the crank spindle (measured with plumb bob and ruler), the shorter top tube and the 10 cm Salsa stem I was using on Tweety resulted in not enough reach. So I installed my spare 11 cm stem. This configuration makes for a twitchier feeling ride, but not in a bad way. I think it actually feels a bit more like a criterium bike than Tweety did. I'll be interested to see how it performs on fast, technical descents.

The Columbus SL fork from my first Ron Cooper frame

For nostalgia and weight-savings, I installed my first Ron Cooper's Columbus SL fork. Since Sylvester is grey and off-white, the grey fork kind of works. It's about 8 ounces lighter than the Raleigh fork too. The 45mm offset is identical on all three of my forks, so handling shouldn't be adversely affected.

This frame uses a clamp-on front dereilleur, which meant I couldn't use Tweety's Dura Ace braze-on one. Luckily the Competition's original Shimano 600 seems to work solidly.

The seat post is currently about 1.8 cm beyond the max. ht. marker

Flipping the stem will raise the bars about 2.5 cm

I got out for a one hour test ride this afternoon, and so far so good. I can tell the frame is too small for me, but I'll try a few tweaks, such as flipping the alloy stem to get a bit more elevation on the bars, and maybe I can find a used seat post that's a hair longer.

In any case, Sylvester is my only option, so he's got to work out.

Thursday Oct. 30th update...
I put Sylvester to the test today at lunchtime. I had set a goal on a challenging climb, which would expire by the end of today. The base of this climb is 14 miles out, and you've got to do about 1400 feet of total climbing just to get there, so it's hard to save a lot of energy for it. I rode at z1/z2 since I was also still evaluating the safety and fit of my new replacement steed.

Back in March of this year I did this 2 mile climb that ascends 669 feet in 12 min. 32 sec. For the past year I've been trying to beat 12:30. I do this climb about 25 times a year.

Today a combination of factors allowed me to do the climb in 12:14. Taking it easy on the approach; using Rob Easley's spare compact crankset; focusing on relaxed, in-the-saddle form; and a really well-timed leadout from a rider named Mark who I had caught just before the final switchback. Mark was out for an easy day with his buddy, but couldn't resist jumping onto my wheel when I passed. I said "Oh cool! I could use some incentive to hammer on this last stretch. I'm trying to beat a goal." Mark said "I can help you with that" and blasted off. I couldn't actually catch his wheel, but having a rabbit to chase did boost my speed for that final 150 meters.

The bike was still doing well so I went on up to the East Peak of Mt. Tam, then returned via the same route.

This weekend I'll be able to do the 5th consecutive climb in the Low Key Hill Climb Series. This one is an 8.5 mile, 2043 ft. time trial.

Goodbye Tweety!

Tweety until hours ago

This past Saturday was my last ride on Tweety, my beautiful nineteen-year-old steel road bike. I'm devastated today after discovering two lateral fatigue cracks in the frame... one across the top tube and one across the underside of the down tube. Both cracks are surprisingly straight, and are located just beyond the points of the lugs. I'm still in shock.

The straight line across the tip of the lug point is the first crack

A closer look at the crack

This is the crack on the underside of the down tube

A closer view

I thought the line across the top tube was just a buildup of touch-up paint after a shoddy bit of cleanup I did after a crash this past spring. But as I was disassembling the bike for an overhaul after last weekend's rainy, muddy ride in the Berkeley Hills I noticed the second crack on the underside of the down tube. I still wasn't sure they were cracks, until I looked closely in direct sunlight through Jen's 10X loupe (magnifier). Then I could clearly see jagged, rusty cracks deep between the fractured paint. The cracks go all the way through the tube wall. It's fairly apparent that these cracks have been developing for the past year at least.

This loss is hard to wrap my head around, but when I think of how fortunate I am to notice the damage before a catastrophic failure on the road, it almost blows my mind. That kind of failure would be bad enough for me alone, but what about the riders in the pack behind me?! This is sad but I'm choosing to feel lucky it worked out this way. I paid sixteen-hundred bucks or so to have Tweety built and I got to have a blast riding for nineteen years... that's about $84 a year.

I had this frame built in 1995 by Ron Cooper. Ron brazed Tweety together using Reynolds 853 OS (oversized) tubing into his gorgeous custom lugs. For each of the first sixteen years I likely rode Tweety only about 2500 miles. By 2012 my mileage increased to 4000, then 5500 in 2013 and as of late October in 2014 I'm just beyond 6000 miles. In total I've ridden Tweety over 50-thousand miles.

As things have turned out, this past year was a fantastic swan song for Tweety. Coming off of a 27-year break from racing, Tweety and I started over in cat 5, upgrading through cat 4, doing twenty two races, with one win, two 3rd-place, two 4th, two 5^th and an 8^th place finish. Along the way I accumulated 21 upgrade points, so if I was completely nuts, I could move on up to cat 3 before next season... but I'm not that nuts yet.

It was challenging enough, drawing stares, often, the only racer in the pack on a heavy steel bike with primitive 9-speed components. At least it was Tweety, who generated at least a few respectful compliments from fellow rolleurs. Now I'll harvest all of Tweety's components, and install them onto my eighties, Taiwan-built Raleigh that is now promoted from spare to primary road bike.

Well so long dear Tweety! You were an ass-kicker!

StoVeHenge – Why I Won't Be Doing the Winters Road Race This Weekend

Nigel Tufnel: In ancient times, hundreds of years before the dawn of history, an ancient race of people... the Druids. No one knows who they were or what they were doing...

I had to take a week or so off from riding to take care of an important home repair. Jen says I traded one obsession for another. As of yesterday, the job is officially done, and today I got out on the bike for a couple of hours.

Before: The Contempo III in most of its splendor

Over the past sixteen years, the broiler, the top oven, and then the bottom oven quit working. Appliance repair techs said parts were no longer available, so we closed the valves to each unit, leaving only the cooktop operational. The day before my most recent race (the Dunnigan Hills Road Race–I haven't done a post on this one, as I punctured thirteen miles in and proudly, chased solo, for 30 miles, unsuccessfully for a magnificent "DNP") our great, 1965 O”Keefe & Merritt Contempo III started leaking natural gas. This tiny 1954 stucco house is our first. We've been hoping to update and remodel it dramatically, but over the last decade and a half, haven't settled on the design, finances and logistics. But this “dead stove” did present us with a simple, one-week, super-inexpensive opportunity to improve our little kitchen.

Tweety would have to wait

We had been hoping to go camping for a short getaway before Jen starts school in September, but a fully functional kitchen is more important. And when I start a project, it becomes my number one priority, from sunup to sundown. I had no freelance production jobs scheduled, so this was the time to crank this job out. Training rides were off my calendar.

Our trusty backup during repairs

This is my family's Coleman camp stove. It's about 55 years old. We also used our gas grill, microwave, and our toaster oven in the interim.

After

Our friend Ryan helped us shove the old stove out the door and up to its current (temporary) resting place. Jen found a great deal on a used stove, which our fantastic friends Shaun and Stacy brought in their pickup, and helped us haul it up to our living room for storage until I finished up the framing, electrical, gas, sheetrock, and painting.

Over the next days I opened up the wall, built a bar-counter, and installed the “new” stove.

"These go to eleven"... well... to "HI" anyway

I haven't totaled the receipts, but I'm pretty sure we did this whole modification for under $400, including the stove! Jen and I are “fighting” over who gets to cook, while the “loser” actually wins by getting to sit at the cool little bar/counter, chatting with the chef of the moment. Still hunting for some bar stools Today I finally had a chance to get out on a ride. My very rested body was able to hammer pretty well. I ascended Big Rock within one second of my best time, with a VAM of 1452. I managed a decent average speed of 18.9 mph for today's 44-mile ride, however I can tell I've traded some fitness for freshness.

While we still haven't reshaped this 940 square foot mid-century house into the domicile of our dreams, this fix has at least opened up the long, skinny, galley kitchen a little.

Now while I drum up some more freelance work, I'll start disassembling the old stove so I can load it into the truck to haul to a salvage company. Then I'll check the racing calendar to see what road races are left before the season wraps up.

Today's ride:

The 30th Annual Patterson Pass Road Race

Stringing out the group on the 2nd climb (this would pay off on the next lap)
photo: Alex Chiu

Event	30th Annual Patterson Pass Road Race
Date	08/03/14
Group	M45+4
Bib #	821
Result	3rd of 25

The Course:

Two laps of a 23-mile “Loop: Patterson Pass WEST from registration, north on Flynn, north on Carroll (after freeway), east on Altamont Pass Road, east on Grant Line, south on Midway back to start/finish area. A 23 mile loop with  a lot of up and downhill (mountainous) in the first half, rolling in the second half. Two very fast descents.”

Details of the race:

The organizers definitely go easy on us by only making us do two laps of this tough course (the Elite 4, E3, W1/2/3 do three laps and Men1/2/Pro do four).

The crazy looking power transmission structures near the start/finish area
photo: my phone

The start/finish is right in front of a sizable electrical power station on Patterson Pass Road. I'm guessing this is a transmission station that distributes the massive amount of power generated by the thousand of wind power generators in the area.

Wind power generators atop Patterson Pass
photo: me - a frame grab from one of my stock footage shots

From the whistle, we climb 1800 feet in 4.8 miles. Most m45s I know, wisely ride with compact gearing these days (50/34 up front) and can spin in the saddle on climbs like this while they study the competition, but for several reasons, I'm stuck with my standard gearing (53/39, 12-27). At 8 mph I'm barely turning 64 rpm, so to avoid falling over, I hit the final 0.8 miles of the ascent on the front of the group, even though this bit is more challenging due of the powerful headwind coming over the pass. Even so, the group remained intact over the top.

The non-technical, no-brakes, westbound descent, all the way to Flynn road is a blast! It made me glad to have a 53-tooth chainring.

A tight right turn onto Flynn gives the legs a chance to pump out some of the evil that accumulated on the climb. Everyone was still there, but I sensed that some weren't recovered, and the pace up front was too relaxed for my taste. As charming a group as I'm sure this was, I didn't want to have a big bunch sprint to deal with after two laps. Flynn takes us with the wind as it climbs an easy 545 feet over 3.7 miles. No harm in getting on the front here, so I hit it harder and stretched out the group.

photo: Alex Chiu

I can't say I was thinking ahead here, but in retrospect I think hitting this short, second climb hard, broke some guys down quite a bit in advance of events on the second lap.

photo: Alex Chiu

Cresting the climb I sat up and waited for 3 or 4 others to pass. We all made it safely through a tricky, off-camber left turn, then blasted down towards the i580 overpass. The freeway summits Patterson pass at this point, which behaves exactly like the venturi of a carburetor–amplifying the speed of the already powerful wind that perpetually flows from west to east over this pass. Even though we're beginning a steep descent, we have to work hard here.

Swinging right onto Caroll Rd. we have the wind with us again. As a full pack, we covered these 6.8 miles at an average of 32 mph.

A tricky right turn onto Midway Road puts us into a very tough crosswind, reducing our speed to just under 19 mph.

At this point one more right turn brings us to the beginning of lap two.

Even though we're heading west, into the direction the wind comes from, we're sheltered by the hills for the first part of the climb.

I'm assuming at this point that we have most of the pack trailing, although I'm pretty sure many of them are about to get dropped as we ascend these two climbs again.

The guys who climbed well earlier were beginning to do so again. Halfway up Patterson Pass Rd. the group thinned dramatically. Harold Reimer (LuxVue-SunPower Racing) cruised on the front, even as we reached the tough, windy upper section. I looked back to see that five of us had a twenty-second gap on the strung-out field. Moments later, Harold accelerated. Two riders couldn't match the pace, but Rob Easley (iRT-Reactor p/b JL Velo) and I stayed with him. Rob and I were in a breakaway together recently in the Leesville Lodoga road race.

We had a solid gap by the summit, so we introduced ourselves and got busy working together. We built on our lead over the next ten miles. Our moto official checked in with another by radio and told us we had a 1:30 gap back to a lone chaser.

At this point we were halfway through the “easy”, fast, tailwind section of the course, averaging about 37 mph for six miles. We stepped up our pace. None of us wanted to relax and risk getting caught.

Turning onto Midway Rd., the cones and markers were tricky to interpret and both Rob and I took crappy lines. In fact we almost missed the turn. Harold, who had been taking his pull on the front, sat up and waited for us to hook on again.

Our pace for lap 1, with the whole pack, was 19.5 mph. As a lean, mean 3-man breakaway we were flying through the second lap at 20.5 mph. The hard work suddenly took its toll on me and some groin cramping caused me to fall behind Rob and Harold for the final 1.8 miles to the finish. I couldn't close the gap alone in the crosswind, so I did the best I could, checking to make sure no riders were coming up on me from behind. I crossed the line third, about twenty seconds after first-place Harold and second-place Rob.

Clearly I forgot to put on my best "look" for the finish photo
photo: Alex Chiu

Two minutes later, powerful Dan Wood (Cushman & Wakefield Racing) came across the line for 4^th place after chasing solo for eighteen miles.

I accumulated five more upgrade points with this race result, bringing my total to 21. A category 4 rider with 20 points can request to upgrade, but isn't required to do so unless they get 30 points in any twelve-month period. I think I'll wait and get a bit more experience before moving up.

Results

http://www.usacycling.org/results/?year=2014&id=2508&info_id=79457

Colavita-Norcal Grand Prix (criterium)

No, this isn't the finish–just another shot at a prime
photo: Jennifer Kinion

Event	Colavita-Norcal Grand Prix (criterium)
Date	7/20/2014
Group	Masters 45/55+ Cat 3/4
Bib #	952
Result	tbd
Course (per flyer)	Located in Novato, CA at the Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company Campus. The Course is 1.1 miles, totally enclosed, private property, excellent pavement, lots of parking. Long straight finish.
Details of Race	It wasn't until the day before that I decided to do this race. While I want to race as often as possible, admittedly I try to select events that offer the best potential for accumulating upgrade points. This race had two strikes against it: category 4 mixed with cat 3. And the fact that it is a criterium. I figured that the chance of placing well among cat 3 racers wasn't great. I've done okay in crits, but I'm certainly no specialist. I pre-rode the course the day before the race and found it to be relatively flat, fast and non-technical. No sharp turns and the road surface is excellent. I decided to race. After a long, dry summer and spring, race day was muggy and humid with occasional drizzle threatening to grease up the course. Our race was not only a combination of cat 3 & 4, but the 45+ masters were combined with the 55+ masters. While the two age groups would be picked separately, the categories would not. I couldn't count riders but I'm guessing there were at least 40 of us. photo: Jennifer Kinion

The combination of a subtle elevation gain and coincidental headwind on the backside of the course had a huge impact on rider speed in that area. I often used this section to move up through the peloton and a couple of times launched attacks here also. There were two or three breakaway attempts by others which didn't stick. I resisted the urge to chase, trying to sit in and conserve energy for my silly “prime-dreams”.

photo: Jennifer Kinion

By the bell lap, the pack was still together. The average speed increased to 28-29 mph as we all attempted to maneuver into the front of the pack. On the backside of the course I was about to accelerate when two squirrely jackasses cut sharply across from right to left, missing my front wheel by less than an inch. Yeah, this is racing and it's a crit, so sure there's going to be some knocking around but that kind of disregard is inexcusable. The rider who nearly clipped me was big but I launched my acceleration and on the way past him I really got in his face with some foul language that I'm not proud of. I think I hurt his feelings, but my main message was “Watch your @#&!ing line you d#ck!” Because of the slight delay in launching my acceleration I was not in the front ten riders by the last turn. I was too far back on the 300-meter straightaway to be anywhere close to a good result. As we gathered to see posted results, the finish official apologetically informed us that the camera “choked” and didn't record the riders crossing the line. He asked us to help him sort out the finishing order by recounting what we saw. A still photographer who had been shooting photos also helped out by showing his shots on the small LCD panel on the back of his camera. Everyone was certain who the top three riders were, which was good enough for distributing prizes. Eventually after comparing the photographer's pictures with riders' kits, and even tattoos, a partial, hand-scrawled, semi-official result sheet was posted. My number was nowhere on the sheet. I knew I was at least twelve or more riders back of the winner, but in all of my results to date, I'm really proud and feel very lucky to not have any DNPs or DNFs (Did Not Place or Did Not Finish). I didn't want this to be my first, so I chatted with the official after he was walking the results of a later race over to be recorded and posted. I mentioned that my dad had his GoPro camera recording near the finish line and the official's eyes lit up. He said if I could send him that video file he might be able to use it to confirm some more of the results. He gave me his business card and I drove up to dad's house to copy the file. That evening I sent it to the official via one of my online file transfer services. I haven't heard back from him and as yet there's no evidence that he has downloaded the file. No official results have been posted yet but from the looks of the frame-grabs that dad made from the video, I came in about 20th in the group. That's me back there with a big old "20" underneath image: Tim Kinion For the heck of it I'll update when results are posted.

Leesville/Lodoga Road Race - July 5, 2014

Start of the breakaway

Event	Leesville/Lodoga Road Race
Date	07/05/14
Group	M45+4
Bib #	711
Result	1st of 13 (2nd in the combined field of 26 riders: combined with M35+4 and two additional solo category riders)
Course (per race flyer)	New course due to a 13-mile gravelling of Leesville Road. A 70-mile out-and back course using the second half of the old course, with one major climb up Grapevine Pass (the old downhill) instead of Leesville Gap climb. Pavement is good to moderate (no bad pavement like in the past). Route: 7th Street (old Hwy 99W) north to Freshwater, west to Danley, north to Maxwell-Sites (jog to left at ca- nal), west to Lodoga, and past lodoga 5 miles to the current end of pavement for a turnaround, then back (north on Leesville/Lodoga Road, (becomes Lodoga/Sites, then Maxwell/Sites), south on Danley (jog to left at canal) to Freshwater, turning left to finish on Freshwater just before old 99w). Finish is 1 1/2 miles from parking/start area.
Course (my notes)	The only comment I have is in regards to the “no bad pavement...” remark. There is a 3 or 4 mile stretch of very bad pavement that you cover in each direction, prior to the turnaround.

Details of Race	This is likely the longest road race course for my category in the season. In preparation I made sure I rode several long, hard trianing rides over the previous 3 weeks. At the time of this race, two large brush fires are burning to the southwest: The 7000 acre Monticello Fire near Lake Berryessa and The 4300 acre Butts Fire in Napa and Lake Counties. A thick layer of dark smoke stretched across the highway as I drove north. Luckily my race course was 40 or 50 miles north of this, so the lungs were spared. The geography of the region is pretty fascinating–starting in the agrigulture-based, near-sea-level, northern central Sacramento valley where rice, sunflowers and other vegetable crops grow, the course climbs northwest, over some rocky wrinkles, over a 1750-foot rim, dropping into a 1300-foot plateau to the west of the central valley. Once on this plateau, we travel south, over extremely rough, patched asphalt before turning around and returning via the same route. This year's incarnation of this race is a few miles longer than the traditional course, which had to be altered due to new gravel on the much-loved old course. Veteran riders of the classic course were blasé about this version prior to our start, but I have a feeling some have changed their opinion, even though the precious gravel section was missing. Everyone speaks fondly of this gravel section, but I'm guessing that it had to be omitted because generally it takes some months for roadbase gravel to settle once it's distributed. I've driven a newly graveled, nineteen-mile section of highway 20 and the loose drifts of gravel were barely negotiable by motor vehicles, let alone bikes with 25 mm tires. We rolled out with about 26 riders in a combined field of thirteen m45+4, ten m35+4, one or two m45+5 and one w4 due to some low turnout. We were all allowed to work together. A lead vehicle took us through a 1-mile neutral lead-out. At Freshwater Rd. the race was on. The pace was fairly relaxed, since everyone was aware that one significant climb was coming, which summited at about mile 27 in our 70-mile race. In researching the preregistered riders' road race rankings, I figured that my friend Rob Easley (iRT-Reactor p/b JL Velo) was my closest competitor, but since we were combined with the m35 group, there were several unknown players to watch. The weather forecast indicated that the high temperature would be 100° at 4pm. We'd be finishing before 1pm so I calculated that we'd have mild, 90° breezes in our faces over the final 24 miles. At around 20 miles we passed the neutral feed zone (why they call it a “feed zone” I'll never know, since there's only water). I planned to take on a bottle, since I try to drink at least one per hour. I quickly tossed my empty into the pile, but was too far to the center of the lane to reach for a hand-up. We would pass here on the way back, but the bulk of the race was yet to be ridden before then. A gracious Cushman & Wakefield rider shared his bottle with another rider and myself who missed hand-ups. I don't see his name in the results, but “thanks!” Shortly after the feed zone, Rob and I led the pack up the main climb. We didn't have a plan, but we pushed the pace (because that's how we climb). We were careful to keep our pace manageable for a handful of riders so that if we had a gap at the summit, we'd have the potential for a successful breakaway. It wasn't yet clear whether the real climbers were "flying their colors" so we kept studying the group. Both of us knew it would be very hard work to maintain and build on such a gap with so many miles yet to go. l to r: Don, Rob, Glen, Rich At the summit, there were four of us: Rob, Rich Gonsalves (unattached), Don Dumaine (Team Revolutions) and myself. After the short, one-mile descent into the plateau, we quickly established a very slick rotation. Several miles of very rough asphalt caused each of us to skip a turn or two in our rotation. At the turnaround one of the guys spotted a box of neutral bottles next to the course marshal. I looped around again and grabbed one while the other three agreed to soft-pedal until I caught back on (thanks guys). We rattled back through the rough stuff while we saw a chase group of about five riders on their way to the turnaround. One was a teammate of Don's, who seemed to be asking us to ease up and let them catch on to help our breakaway effort. I'm not sure if there was a vote, but the four of us continued our strong pace, which had produced a two-minute gap since the top of the climb. Don has raced the original course at least once, and was really forthcoming and helpful in sharing his knowledge of the distances and other details of the roads we were yet to cover. This was a great psychological aid to me, as it helped to break the rest of the race up into manageable chunks as the fatigue and cramping set in. For two of the 3-1/2 hours of the race I was at threshold. By now we've been off the front for 20 mi. with a gap of about 3 minutes. We had our own moto official. We summited the short one-mile climb over the lip of the plateau. The two-mile, non-technical, 40-45 mph descent was restful, but harmful, as it allowed the legs to rest, which, once spinning again, produced calf cramps. Since the Mt. Hamilton road race, my remedy for this is to shift into a higher gear and hammer even harder out of the saddle, allowing other muscles to share the work. This seems to work pretty well. In fact I had to do this occasionally over the remaining twenty miles. At 52 miles, we came to a small rise which coincided with a new wave of cramping. Don was also having an issue of some sort. Rich and Rob maintained  the pace and opened a 250 meter gap. I recovered a bit, checked to make sure Don was with me and began reeling in the other two. We were 200 meters away from regrouping when up ahead we saw Rob hit the pavement. I could see Rich slow up to see if he was ok, then he rolled on (it's a race after all... and he checked on Rob, so that's cool). I picked up Rob's ejected bottle as I approached, to hand over. I came came alongside to make sure he was able to ride. He said he overlapped wheels with Rich. He had some road rash on his hip and elbow. He got going and the three of us started chasing Rich. For these remaining 18 miles Rich plowed, solo, into a 10-12 mph headwind with a 30-second gap. We only gained on him briefly with 4 miles to go. Don reassured me that Rob and I would still finish “one, two”, since he and Rich were in the m35 group which would be picked separately. I thought “yeah, but it would sure be nice to catch him!” While Don and I didn't hesitate to mention it when we were hurting, Rob never let on if he was fatigued. He looked solid all day. I wasn't sure if we were going to challenge each other for the line. Over the final kilometer I was overcome with another wave of leg cramps, so I got out of the saddle again. This carried me to the 200m-to-go marker, where I just kept hammering (mostly to look good for the finish line folks). After a short, painful ride back to the cars at the school where the race started, I had a shower in the school locker room before waiting for official results. Yup, first place! What did I win? This t-shirt. No podium photos at this event though, so I have to be satisfied with the free watermelon they were slicing up. And so there's my first 1st place finish. With thirteen riders in the category, the result is good for seven more upgrade points (current total: 16). Of the sixteen official races I've ridden since last September, this makes nine top-ten finishes... for whatever that's worth.
Advice	Don't miss the bottle hand-ups (or stick an extra in your jersey pocket). Don't expect to stay away if you get away alone on the climb. Be smart about easing back enough to take a few riders with you over the top... you'll need them. In our case, four was a perfect number. The rough pavement section is significant, but probably not long enough to worry about running wider tires at lower pressure for the whole race. I had 23 mm clinchers (110 psi front, 120 psi rear) and was glad of it for 80% of the ride. The rest of the time I was looking at Rob's 25 mm tires enviously.

Results     http://www.usacycling.org/results/?year=2014&id=1802&info_id=78183