Madera

Only one way to describe this weekend - TEAMWORK. Everyone worked well together and raced smart.

We had some ups and downs this weekend. Steve had a mishap in the crit and has some pretty bad road rash. We think his back wheel may have come dislodged and sent him OTB. He was treated and released from the hospital, back home and in pretty good spirits all things considered. From what we know now no broken bones, but some pretty bad road rash. He was sitting 7th on GC after the TT and crit. Get better Steve.

For the Sr. 3s we had Steve, Andrew, Rick B and me. We were not quite sure who had the best TT, but we did know I was up on Steve by about 10 seconds and at least 3 others with better TT times. It was pretty hot and windy out there and by the time the crit came around it was 95. We worked really well together with the guys covering and rotating and Rick trying to speed things up - it was the slowest crit I've ever done. With 3 to go Steve took some flyers and set a good pace to finally string things out. With one to go I was not so happy sitting in 15th and some guys were lolly gaggin' so I moved up to 6th wheel with two turns to go. Andrew said he was right behind me, but I was just focused on positioning around the last corner and following Peter’s sprint tips. I took the inside(protected) and Andrew swung to the outside. Guys started the sprint immediately and I waited a bit not wanting to go too early into the wind. The jumps looked pretty good and forced me to commit. Drilled it all the way in for the win and a 20 second time bonus. Andrew was right there for 2^nd and a one two punch. It was bittersweet with Steve’s crash though.

We did not get any GC data until the morning – I was 6^th, Andrew in 18^th or so and Rick down a little further. Eastside was 1&2. 5^th place had a mechanical on lap 1, so I moved up to 5^th. Andrew and Rick put it on the line with Rick riding very aggressive and then Andrew and Rick going on a break on lap 2. I moved up and tried to ride 2^nd and 3^rd wheel on the rough section (worse than Copper IMO) while Eastside and one other team chased – perfect. It was just as easy to ride there than further back….and safer. At a minimum, holding 5^th would be no problem as I felt good (5thGC had a mechanical or flat). I was calculating the entire race when to attack as I really needed the 20 second bonus for first and another 11 seconds for the GC win. The rollers were described well as being like English Colony – again perfect as we train that a lot. At the end of the rough section on lap 3 of 4, my seat broke…%$#&! Had to ride the rollers out of the saddle at the end of lap 3, which really took a lot out of me. The seat was not going back on. Andrew had some difficulty with the heat and offered me his bike – that’s what teamwork is all about. Unfortunately, he rides a monster 58 with a Tom Boonen type set up where I’d be lucky to even reach the pedals. He’s also got Looks vs. my DA so I kept rolling (thanks for the offer Andrew). I was off the back and the field started drilling it – crap. I tried to chase and it hurt bad. Rick dropped back and pulled me back on then the field let up. Whew. I told Rick it was now his stage and to go for it. I was going to make an effort to keep the GC placing. Things went ok and I made it through the rough section …..remember with no dang seat – only the rails or standing. When we hit the rollers I was cooked and got dropped – all that out of the saddle took its toll and when I did sit on the rails, it was tough to generate power and fricking hurt. I lost at least a minute and maybe more and felt demoralized as I watched the field pass the finish line up the road. Rick stayed in the lead group and drilled it hard to the line and took second place, so that was huge after all the work he did earlier in the race. Way to go Rick!

In the 35+ 4/5s, Ken Todd drilled it for Wilson a lot of the race, Wilson stayed patient and took second place and we think 6^th on GC. Not sure how Brian did in the 123s – it looked pretty brutal when we drove by and saw the break off by about 2 minutes or so.

The winning GC guys and team in our races did not place in the top spots for the RR and crit – we need to work on the TT some more. All said and done, we had 3 seconds and a win, so despite the difficulties we did very well as a team.