Berkeley Hills Road Race, Saturday, May 7, 2016

Smack in the middle of the pack. Ascending Mama Bear before the rain.
photo: Katie Truong

Group
Master 55+ Cat 123

Teammates

Nope, not yet...

Result

7th of 21 (out of the money for six-deep prizes, but 7th of 21 earned me one brand new shiny upgrade point!)

Course

An 18.8 mile loop on mostly good roads. Our race is 2.7 laps for about 52 miles. Roads are open to busy traffic in both directions making for a lot of irritated drivers who pass racers with very little room to spare. The centerline rule is in effect for us racers the entire course. Three main climbs on each lap. Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Baby Bear. Mama is a straight, wide 0.7 mile, 6% grind. Papa Bear is 0.8 mi, avg. 6.5%, though some sections come close to 10%. The finish is near the top of Papa. We do these bumps three times.

Weather conditions

Heavy overcast, 53°-60° with likely drizzle that held off until the wet last lap.

Goals
Stick with the leaders and finish as well as possible. If opportunities arise to join an attack without drawing the chase along, give it a shot, but be committed.

The Race (as I remember it... please leave comments to correct likely inaccuracies of my account)
21 of us lined up for the neutral start from the parking area at San Pablo Reservoir. This is just my sixth road race of the season (three other criteriums and one hill climb TT) and I was surprised and really pleased to get some nice greetings from other racers who I’ve been learning from and trying hard to learn the names of.

With hope that the rain would hold off until half way through the final lap, I went with bare legs, a knit base layer under the thin Castelli aero jersey, arm warmers and a skullcap under the helmet, which was plenty of clothing for the day.

I’ve learned to expect attacks early and often in this bunch and sure enough, as soon as we turned onto San Pablo Dam Rd after the neutral start, someone went off. I’m pretty sure it might have been Brian McAndrews (ThirstyBear p/b Akamai), though it may have been Alan Roberts from the same team). While this one was reabsorbed soon, I was right to expect many more similar moves from several in the bunch. In a short time Jan Elsbach (Davis Bike Club Race Team) put in a strong dig and separated, gaining a good gap which he maintained for about 3 miles until we veered onto Alhambra Valley Road. At this point the wind really starts taking it’s toll on solo riders.

No doubt everyone was marking Carl Nielson (CA Technologies Racing) who holds many climbing records. I think the only way to beat Carl in this uphill finish is to break away without him. So there’s almost always a surprise counter-attack when the group settles back down after reeling in a rider. There was no relaxing for anyone. I lost track of all the attacks. But I believe our group was together by the time we climbed the three bears the first time.

Crossing the line with two laps to go, I think I remember Hans Gouwens (ThirstyBear p/b Akamai) and Jon Ornstil (Hammer/53x11) put in a good dig and got a decent gap on the fast 1.6 mile descent back towards San Pablo Dam Road (I’ll just call it SPD rd. for simplicity). The group reunified, but gaps formed again on the steep little kicker after the descent, which rises to meet the junction with SPD rd. With some work we regrouped and from the rear of the group now, I waited for another attack.

Instead up front, I heard yelps and saw sliding bikes and tumbling riders. Others barely missed being taken out, while I had time to safely hold a safe line for the two or so behind me to miss the carnage. Cal Edman (Team City Racing) Jan Elsbach (Davis Bike Club Race Team) and Dan Shore (Hammer/53x11) somersaulted off the road and out of the race. I admit I followed the example of other racers here and just raced on. But everyone was distressed by the crash and concerned about the downed riders. Jon Ornstil and Hunter Ziesing (both teammates of Dan Shore) seemed very concerned and conflicted but the race raged on.

I think it was a mile or so later that a rider with blue in his kit solo attacked on the long gradual descent to Castro Ranch Rd. Shortly Alan Roberts (ThirstyBear p/b Akamai) powerfully accelerated, separating from our group and after a long, hard effort, bridged to the other rider. A couple of times, individuals attempted to bridge, but were immediately covered by either Hans or Brian (the remaining Thirsty Bears).

I expected the two remaining Hammer/53x11 riders, Jon and Hunter would be the most likely to mount a chase, and I remember feeling a bit like a leech sucking wheel on one of them along Alhambra Valley road on this time around. I lost track of exactly when the two in the break were reabsorbed, but I think we were all back together for the final lap. Hans had another significant gap cresting Papa Bear, and the precipitation began coming down enough to actually call it rain. I was surprised that no one except Hans really attacked the long, fast descent (something to remember for next year?).

More attacks and surges came on this final lap. On the backside, along Alhambra Valley Rd. I was in position a pair of times to join Hans and another rider, but the tiny gap didn’t seem to justify a cooperative rotation and the efforts called off. Maybe I wasn’t committed enough and was the weak link on these. I’ll admit I didn’t relish the prospect of burning out halfway up Mama Bear to watch the dwindling pack of 13 ride off to fight it out on the finishing climb, but that attitude is self-defeating for sure.

In the end, everyone marked each other all the way to the base of the Papa Bear finishing ascent. I led the tiny pack here, for no other reason, than to use momentum from the previous descent to boost me up the first few meters of the climb. In retrospect I should've forced a spot farther back so I could more easily spot the acceleration to come.

Sure enough, Carl, Steve Archer (Morgn Stanley Specialized), Quentin Sims (Fig Mtn Brew Racing) Brian and Hans came past on both sides of me. I picked some riders to draft, and began noticing that I felt crappy… but heck, it’s a hill. It’s not supposed to be pleasant. And it’s a race, and this is the bunch sprint! I looked over to see Harold Reimer (SunPower Racing) was feeling good and began to surge past me. I felt like I was already cranking out all the power I could, knowing Carl and a handful  were untouchable, over 100 meters ahead. I dug deeper for the last 100 meters and passed a couple of guys for 7th place.

My sincere hopes for recovery for the three involved in the crash.

Takeaways
I think I'm on the right track with two top-10 road race finishes in a row, but need to stay on top of things by working on my endurance and speed during non-race weeks. And keep up with interval training on flats and climbs. Pack skills maintenance continues on group rides each week. My confidence is improving as I get to know more riders and their abilities in this field. I'm absorbing as much from their example as possible, and some are even commenting on my improving results. Let's see if I can keep up the good work on flatter courses with bigger fields. I've allowed my progress in criterium racing to slip a bit as I've focused on building endurance for longer road races yet to come, but need to jump back into some short, fast criteriums soon.

Spending last season learning how to behave as a team member was priceless, and gave me a good foundation for understanding what I'm observing in the M123 field. After a tough start to this season, I feel like I'm beginning to make a transition, but still consider myself a freshman. Just as in cat 4, I don't take lightly the privilege to race with and learn from other riders.