Reports by:

• Mike Z.
• Matt I.
• Tim
• Chih
• Jason
• Alan

Category: 4/5
Result: Back of pack

This race started very fast on a cool, foggy morning. I stayed near the back for most of the race. I felt good with 5 laps to go. With 3 laps to go, I pushed a little and moved myself from the back to the front on the inside of the finishing straight. I moved into the lead position with plenty of distance to the corner and took a pull through corner number one, pulled off and was very happy that I worked my way back into the line in fourth position.

Corner 2 was great, why don't I ride at the front all the time. It is quiet and smoothe and safe. I stayed there for another quarter of a lap and then began to get swarmed on both the left and right by other riders. I do not know how to keep my position when this starts to happen. Anybody have words of advice. Coming into the last lap I was probably half way back. I moved up a little more as we rounded the final turn so I was in the top third of the race.

At this point, especially in an early bird race, I usually sit up. I wanted to get a feel for a sprint at the end of a race and saw a big gap to the inside so I mistakenly went there. The big gap closed very quickly and I realized I wasn't going anywhere and so I relaxed on the pedals and was content to roll to the finish. A few seconds later, I saw one or two riders go down about 5 or 6 riders ahead of me. I braked hard since I couldn't steer around them and was almost to a stop when the guy to my right suddenly just fell over in front of me.

I went over the top of my bike and suffered some minor abrasions to the thigh and knee and minor contusions to my knee and elbow. The bike suffered approximately the same with the front wheel slightly out of true. As soon as I landed, I assumed the fetal position for a few seconds until I was sure that noone was going to run over me. I got up and surveyed the carnage. Bikes and riders were strewn about. Tacoed wheels, exploded helmets, most people scraped but up and moving with a couple of people in worse shape and needing medical attention. I don't know what the final tally was. It took me a few seconds to locate my bike. I put my chain back on and started riding to the finish. Unfortunately, I had a flat and had to walk to the finish.

This season is starting right where the last one left off, walking across finish lines.

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Category: 5

For this race, I was going to try to keep the same strategy as last week's EB #1. The only part I was going to try to change is the last sprint, I was going to try different gearing to see if I could get a better jump.

The start of the race was a bit different than last weeks'. It started off very fast and many people were jockeying for position-last week, people went to a paceline right off the bat, so it was a different scenario. I was near the front for the first couple of laps, and I really had to work hard because I found myself in the wind some of the time. It was hard to find a wheel to hang on. Because of this, I felt that I worked a bit too hard early on in the race.

After about 5-6 laps people settled down and I was able to get my legs back. It was then I realized I was in my small ring. I was trying to figure out why I was spinning a bit harder than I normally do! I quickly got in the big ring, and I was so happy to have more leverage on the straightway. There were a lot of sketchy riders out there that almost caused some near crashes. I tried my best to stay away from them and keep my eye on the lookout for that kind of stuff. I found Chih a couple of times and was happy to see him in the pack with me, but we seem to have lost one another because riders kept swarming up the sides.

Towards the end, I was trying to move myself up, but I was so fixated on sucking wheel until the last moment, that I missed the surge of people coming up the sides. I just noticed it but it was too late to even get a good sprint up there, so I just pounded as hard as I could, passing just a few. I finished mid-pack. Chih had a most awesome sprint up the side! He looked to get somewhere in the 8,9,10 position. I'll let him tell his story.

Next week--I'm going to be AT the front at the final turn. I think that'll help propel me to a better finish. All in all, I was happy that this was an uneventful race. I didn't see or hear any crashes, although Ziggy did say he saw one. It was a pretty smooth pack. I think this race was longer and faster than last weeks: Total race time was 51 minutes, average speed was 24.8.

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Category: 1/2/3
Result: Mid-pack

The 1,2,3 race was interesting. Just like the 4, 5 race it was faster. For some reason a lot of the big boys showed up Lombardi's, a Real (non-master) Postal guy etc. I will be interested to see the results, because I think there were some fairly famous guys out there. Anyway, the first lap avg was 21mph. After that it was balls to the wall. About half way through our average was 27.3mph. Finally it slowed down for a finish of 27.07mph. The amazing thing was since the field was so big we slowed down in the corners much more than normal which means the average was Really impressive.

I was pretty tired at the end, so I just put in a half attempt to move up and then sprinted. Tough end to a tough week. 176 miles with two killer parking lots crits, a trip up the wall, two tandem rides and this to top it off. Whoops, I thought we were supposed to take it EZ in Jan. Hope the coach doesn't see this...

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Category: 5
Result: Mid-pack

At this week race, people looks calmer than last week. Speed is little slower due to the wind. People were doing double pace line to block the wind. I was in the middle of the pack for a while and I saw Matt is hanging at the front. Since I was in the middle and I drifted with the pack and I was able to conserve my legs for the sprint.

At half way through the race, we caught up the 35 + group that start 1 minute later. About 5 labs to go I decided to make a move. So I position myself outside of the turn and I was able to paddles through the corners and I gained position. At the last lab, I was in a very good position for the sprint. After the turn 3, I saw people speed up and sprint for the finish. I know that there is a long way to finish line after the turn, so I waited little bit and I sprint. I was able to pass a few guys before the finish line. I saw Garry at finish line watching us the race, and he told me that I just missed the top 10 finish.

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Category: 5
Result: Back of pack

Lesson: Shot gun approach doesn't work.

The guy that started the pace Matt was talking about was me. At the line, I excused myself to the front next to Galen. Decided I was going to ride his wheel. When the whistle blew I had a little problem clipping in, so I notice some people to surge ahead. I put in what I thought was a small sprint. This raised my speed up and I kept it up through turn one. I looked back and to my amazement nobody grabbed my wheel. In fact the pack hadn't even set up for turn one.

So I decided to keep the pace up until the pack caught up. I did not believe I was going that hard. But when I hit the back side, my Saturday ride hit me and I started to loose wind. I hung with the pack for about 1 lap or 2 before I had to get thrown back in. I decided to sit in, but got dropped. Galen and I formed a two man pack and rode until we got caught by a mixed group that finished about a minute behind Matt and Chih's group.

With 2 laps to go, Ziggy told me to start moving up. So I did what he said, I locked on to one wheel, then moved up again. Going into turn 4 I was at the front and a big hole opened up. So I decided to jump on it. I heard some yell you got it the pack is dead. So I just dropped the hammer into the wind with no support. Then just before turn one, all the work I accidentally did at the beginning caught up with me and I died. I just nursed it home where Galen and I had a friendly sprint. I do agree the pack seemed much more relaxed. I think the cornering mentoring session helped a lot with that. It put people at easy.

It was fun.

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Category: 4/5
Result: Back of pack

I came, I hung on . . .

I came out for the training, and sucked wind in the back for the entire race. The race was fun, and I even got through the epic crash at the end without a scratch (although I did go over the top, but at very slow speed). The pile-up must have taken out half of the field. The average speed on my computer - after the walk back to the finish - was 24, so the actual race average must have been around 25. top speed was around 30.

Afterward, Mike and I rode up Palomares.

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