Reports by:

• Mike Z.
• Alan

Category: 5
Result: 1st

The short story: Of those that finished, I was first and about 30 - 40 seconds up on second place.

The long story: It looked like it was going to be cold and foggy, but the sun came out and made for another great day of racing. I felt a little sore in the hip and shoulder from the previous day's crash (see Cat's Hill Race Report), but I was pretty sure I wouldn't notice it on the bike. Brad picked me up a little after 6:00 and we made it to Pinole around 7:10 and everything went smoothly through registration, etc. The biggest problem of the day was the lack of course marking. It was very clear where to go, but it wasn't clear at all when the race started and the promenade ended and the finish line consisted of a piece of duct tape across the road. Not even a handmade cardboard sign saying "Finish" or something that might have said "1 km to finish". After the complete first lap, I still didn't know where the finish line was until I asked one of the Cal riders in the race.

As Cat 5 races go, this one was great. Somebody got really squirrelly near the promenade and very nearly took out several riders before the thing got started, but after that it was smooth sailing. My race was only 2 laps + a leg which means you go up the Mama Bear hill 3 times (in the 46 mile race, Brad counted 3200' of total climbing). After the first time up the hills, I was in a group of 10 riders that pulled away from the main field. Our group passed Brad on Papa Bear. His sage words of encouragement were probably the difference between winning and losing for me.

As we finished the hills, we were strung out 10 long. I moved to the back and started asking people to form a paceline. Much to my astonishment, it actually happened and it actually worked very well. It wasn't the fastest paceline (23+ mph), but it was fairly smooth. We rode this way to complete the first lap and start the second. The second round of hills further broke the group and I was in the lead group of 4.

Once again we formed a paceline and worked it quite well. I was astonished to find that in another 5 miles, a solo rider (he does half-ironman triathlons) had bridged our gap. Now we were 5 and still working together. 2/3 the way around the second lap, one guy flatted out. He was a very strong climber and would have definitely changed the complexion of the end of the race had he not flatted. So, back to the 4 of us still pushing on and working together although one guy was really starting to hurt and slow down our group.

There was also the guy from Cal. I think his last name was Wang since I saw that printed on his bike at one point. He worried me the most because he looked like a pretty strong climber as well. About 5 to 6 miles from the finish, I pushed up one of the little hills and found myself with a 3 - 5 second gap. I had a feeling the other 3 thought I would wait for them on the descent and I figured they'd coast down the hill so I put it into my highest gear and pushed hard down the hill. At the bottom, I probably had a 10 second gap. I really wasn't sure how far I had to go at this point, so I just sat in and pushed hard trying to keep the speedometer at about 22 - 23 mph. (I kept thinking about Museeuw's break at the 2002 Paris-Roubaix. He became my new cycling icon when he made his break with 20 miles to go and then just crushed the field including the 2 Posties, Hincapie and Doonen).

My lead slowly increased to 40 seconds (the motorcycle safety guy was doing a great job at this point. He would ride with me for a while, then stop and wait for the chase group. I suppose he'd give them the gap time and then ride back up to me and tell me the gap time). At one point he told me that I had 40 seconds and the three were rather disorganized (I talked to all of them after the race and one guy said that he was cooked and really didn't help at all). After what seemed like an extremely long time, I finally saw the long straight climb up Mama Bear. I kept a good pace and managed to cruise to victory. The triathlon guy came in second followed by the guy from Cal (at least I think that was the order). I talked to them for a while after the race. They were really nice. It was great since we had worked together so much of the day to keep the other riders as far behind us as possible. I talked with a few of the other Cat 5 racers as we made our way back to the car. A lot of them were teamless riders. I shamelessly promoted our team and asked them to come riding with us whether they thought they would join the team or not.

Lessons:

• Winning kicks ass over crashing.
• Winning at Cat's Hill gets you cool prizes. Winning at BHRR gets you nothing but glory and reinforced delusions of grandeur.
• In every race, some other possibly better, faster racer might have (also) flatted, crashed, unclipped, etc. so luck goes both ways.
• Today was another great day.

Category: Masters
Result: Mid-pack

Congratulations to all the great finishers - Brian, Santiago, Carl, Mike Z. You are inspiring!

I had exams the week following Berkely Hills RR so I didn't get a chance to write a report.

The promanade and initial miles on the course were slow, and the pelaton was one big oscillating slinky. I was sure someone would crash. The funniest quote I heard was some guy behind me who obviously had a bike a few categories above what a CAT 4/5 needs: "This bike is more of a man than me!"

Back to the race...

The first climb separated the Cat 3 riders from the rest of us schmucks. I hung on the the second "lead" group for the first lap and through half of the climbs on the second, then got gapped by 20 yards or so before the big descent and could make up the separation. So I time trialed for about a quarter lap until I caught up with two other riders and we worked together for the rest of the race, picking up a fourth along the way. I finished below 50th out of a field of 100. The exact place has not been posted yet.

I was riding with a group of a dozen or so during the first lap that had 5 guys from the same team. A few of us were trying to organize, but those yahoos were more interested in racing against each other than against the rest of the field. They obviously don't have a good Director Sportif!

Another great course; I could use some work on my climbing legs, and some aero wheels to keep up with the big guys on the descents.

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