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What Brian J. saw:
Category: 2 races
Result: Top ten
Well I made it out for the Santa Rosa Crits. It was my type of weather, over cast and cool. I raced two races.
First race 4/5, I felt good, so I went for it. Worked hard through the whole race, up front/pulling. I picked up on prime for my efforts. Last lap, last corner. A Valleyspokenman rider blew a tire in front of me about 10 feet. O-SHIT! I said, to myself please slide slowly, I just made it around him to clear without me going into the crash. Needless to say the field got busted up and I chased but couldn't bridge, got 13th place.
Second race, Another off the front work hard with a couple of other guys, felt good. Got a prime in this race too. Almost got a second prime, but got beat by half a wheel. I should of had him, but I know what I did wrong, next time. As for the final, I could feel all my hard pulls and efforts in this race and the first race was starting to wear on me. I wasn't has responsive has I needed to be on the last lap, last corner. I was in the top 5 going into last corner, but couldn't hold on for a strong sprint, got 10th. place.
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What Matt I. saw:
Category: 3/4
Result: Mid-pack
The drive wasn’t bad out to Santa Rosa and the weather was nice so I was happy to start in my first Category 4 race. Upon arriving I saw Ziggy shortly after registering. We talked a bit about what to do as far as the race goes. Ziggy said for me to just get the experience and move around in the race. I was going to do just that, so I hopped on the trainer for about 40-45 minutes to get a good warm up.
I rode the course for a few laps just prior to the start to get an idea of the turns involved and especially get an idea of what the final sprint would look like. The course was pretty good. 4 right turns by my count and a sweeping left after turn 2.
Since they were putting both the 3’s and the 4’s together, my hunch was that this was going to be a fast paced race. I was going to try to stay around Ziggy and try to sit in and help if I could. When the whistle blew I clipped in right away so I was relieved to get moving with the bunch right off the bat.
The pace was pretty slow at first. I think a lot of people were just feeling out the course and checking out the competition. Shortly after, there were attacks galore. They came from left, right, one right after the other. That was one huge difference when comparing with a category 5 races, the cat 5 bunch usually stays together. I think it was Ziggy that mentioned in the Cat 5, people are afraid to do work. It wasn’t the case in this race. So, with those attacks I tried to just stay near the front and not allow myself to get swamped.
All the breaks got caught and they were brought back into the pack. Ziggy and I had a close call on turn 2. I was leading the pack and it was a prime lap so the pace was just a bit high but no attacks were made yet. Coming into turn 2, I saw a rider almost come out from nowhere and we almost bumped into each other just after that, I noticed it was Ziggy. Whew, I thought what an embarrassment it would have been if we both collided. I was happy to see he was taking off for the prime. Being at the front of the pack I wanted to see if I could keep the pace high to prevent attacks and block a bit, but it didn’t happen that way. Another attack came up on the left side and some people were chasing off that side as well. The one guy with Ziggy didn’t cooperate I guess and so the pack swarmed after that.
Towards the end, I was feeling pretty good and comfortable. Ziggy was at his usual place, in the front and I was right about the middle. Noticing the pace quicken, I tell myself I need to get to the front. I was feeling anxious because it was 2 laps to go. I made a good sprint up the side on the straightaway and got myself into about the 10th position. I stayed right there until the last lap.
Coming into the final stretch my legs were good and I sat up and was ready to sprint. I got boxed in by a couple of people..Damn! I yelled for them to move and I did get a small space and then off I went. I passed a couple of people and was hauling all the way to the finish. I got 15th out of 41. Not bad I thought. Ziggy had a good race and I’ll let him tell his story! Ziggy, next time I hope there’s more I can do for you!!
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What Eugene saw:
Category: M35+ 4/5
Result: Back of pack
In the semi-old new guys race, 35+4-5, we had about 30 starters. It was much slower than last week. The fields were probably split between the track Champs and the masters races in the east. My ambitions were same as last week, sit in. This was accomplished as I rode mid-pack without much strain. Was waiting for the buildup for the finish but it never came and the bunch almost stopped 500m out before the finish and off we went for the sprint. I rolled in at the end of the bunch. If I go to the next Santa Rosa race in a couple weeks I may consider a second race.
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What Ziggy saw:
Category: 3/4
Result: 4th
No report.
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