Reports by:

• Mike Z.
• Jeff
• Santiago
• Ziggy

Category: 5
Result: Off the back due to minor wreck.

The short story: Of those that finished, I was last and probably 5 minutes behind the winner.

The long story: It was a beautiful day for the race. I arrived in Los Gatos very early and walked the course once before I started warming up. I took a few warm-up laps and made sure the bike was working properly for the technical shifts going into the 23% grade hill. Everything seemed fine and we probably started our 10:00 race shortly after 10:00.

They were giving prizes for prime points (on certain bell laps) and KOM points for most times up the hill in the lead. I led the whole first lap claiming the first lap's KOM point, and then fell back several places on the 2nd hill climb. I didn't get into a small enough gear and really struggled through the last third of the climb.

The next few laps were uneventful, but I continued to fall back towards the middle to back of the pack. I was really starting to hurt by the 5th or 6th lap and knew that it was going to be a long last half of the race (as long as 15 minutes can be). By this time, the eventual winner had a 20 second gap (solo from lap 3). On the 5th lap, I tried to make a move up to the front so I could try to lead a chase. I went into the 1st corner very fast and scraped a pedal coming out of that corner. It didn't cause me any problems other than scare me a bit.

I stayed content near the middle to back of the pack throughout the 6th - 8th laps. On the 9th lap however, I was feeling much better and took the hill in a lower gear (39 X 23). By the time I got to the top, I found myself in the back of a 4 man chase group (10 seconds to the leader now, and the four of us had a few seconds on the rest). One guy pulled at the front for a little while and moved over so the second guy could go and chase down the lone leader. The second guy promptly pulled over too so I moved into the lead of our chase group for the rest of the 9th lap.

I relinquished the lead and got back into 4th position so I could take a little rest before the hill climb. I pushed hard coming off of turn 2 and set myself up for the final climb up the hill. I was once again in second place going into turn 3 (the turn that starts the hill climb) and had just gotten out of the saddle for the last sprint up the hill when I felt a bump on the inside of my rear tire. Another racer had come way off his line and hit me (this was corroborated by two witnesses at the scene. One of whom happened to be an FFBC club rider). I straightened up a bit but I had lost most of my momentum when another rider plowed into my rear tire tossing me headfirst over my bike and onto the pavement.

The result is a bruise on my elbow and hip and some superficial road rash on: ankle, calf, hip, butt, elbow, lower and upper back. I tried to jump back on my bike, but the left brake hood was bent inwards 75 degrees (easily fixed with a good tug) and the chain was jammed (easily fixed with a whole bunch of good, bad, and indifferent tugs). I didn't think the marshal was going to let me continue, so I took off my shoes (broken left cleat but still ridable) and walked down the sidewalk where a friend of mine from work and the FFBC guy (I can't remember his name anymore) helped me get my bike back into working order (minus the front brake which was now rubbing on the tire. It was temporarily fixed by opening the quick release.)

A couple of stragglers went by, so I put my shoes back on and asked the course marshal if I could finish. He said yes so I clipped in and went up the hill in my lowest gear this time. Two minutes later I arrived at the finish line. As I approached, I put 5 fingers in the air, then all 10 fingers in the air (for those of you who watched Museeuw in the 2002 Paris - Roubaix, you'll know what I mean). At least I got a few laughs and cheers from the small crowd for that. Museeuw's victory salute signified 10 wins in the classics, mine victory salute signified 10 laps of the race.

So, lessons learned:

1. I kept telling myself before this race that I would just stay in the front of the race so I could stay out of trouble. Apparently, when trouble wants to find you, it checks its global positioning system.
2. Look around for the dangerous riders and do more to avoid them. The guy that caused the problem (in my point of view) was the same guy that kept trying to pass on the inside of turn 6 (the final turn after a long downhill). He would cut through the line that most of the other riders were taking. He was a strong rider and probably ended up in second.
3. When checking to make sure you are not going to spit on somebody, check twice and at least make sure they are not your teammate. Sorry Ziggy, hope that goober comes out in the wash.
4. Wrecking sucks. Being run off the road sucks worse. My dog licks me more with blood and salt on me rather than just salt.
5. Today was still a great day.

Category:

(Jeff was recovering from a fractured wrist.)

Sorry to hear of your debacle, Mike. I've already crashed twice this season. What's the average number of crashes per season for different categories of riders?

I went to Cat's Hill today as well to catch the Pro/1/2 races and get a refund. I caught the tail end of the women's Pro/1/2/3 and the entire pack finished together with the leaders locking handlebars. I did stay to watch most of the Men's Pro Race.

Helen and I staked out the inner corner of the base of the hill where my fellow race school pupil Brent was being a race marshal. One of the things I noticed on each climb was the unsettling sound of everyone changing their gears at the same time. I often mistook the sound of metal-on-metal for metal-on-pavement. What a horrible sound!

Several breakaway attempts were made on the hill. None were successful until Eric Wohlberg of Team Saturn broke away with 2 guys from Pale Ale. Eventually, he broke off on his own and the other 2 fell back. I left before the race was finished because Helen was having an allergy attack, but Wohlberg had a 30 second lead on the pack. He was out of sight and out of mind.

How could he do this in a crit? I suggest 3 likely factors:

1. Superior climbing form. He didn't grind up the hill like the other riders. It looked like he was slinking up it. He was out of the saddle but stayed lower than the rest of the bunch. I wish I had a camera to save it for analysis! He is also short and light.
2. No wind. The course is completely sheltered by the wind. This reduces the comparative advantage of the pack.
3. Terrain. Half of the crit is hilly. The pack is useless to you on climbs and not much use when you're going down hill. Wohlberg pedaled while going downhill to get the extra speed. I often notice that when you're drafting downhill, you end up having to brake anyways. So the pack is no help there.

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Category: 4
Result: Mid-pack

For me Cat's Hill was another great race and learning experience... I was doing pretty good and feeling great through the race, moving to the front before every single climb to avoid getting block and loose momentum, but... on the last climb I stayed in around 5th position before hitting the climb, and it happened, I got block right behind three dying guys and the sidewalk, by the time we got to the top I had to actually get into the dirt off the road on the left to get around these guys and jump to get on the back of a 14 men break that had sped up on the climb, I did manage to close the gap but couldn't make to the front to contest in the sprint, I did pass a couple of them but ended up in 12 or 13 place, not sure. In any case again the camera malfunctioned, so they only know who the first 6 places are... I think they need to either get a new camera or have two cameras running just in case.

Regarding gears used in the climb, I found that using 39-21 was to easy I my rear wheel was just going all over the place and loosing traction, so I did it in 39-19 most of the time with a high cadence. The guy that won the race was doing it on the big ring and a 27 cog, but he was not going any faster than me on the climb, I rather stayed with the small ring for next year... so you can respond in case you slow down in the climb for any reason.

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Category: 4
Result: Off the back

I think I'm gonna join Brian J. in the "bad with directions" club. I wasn't paying too much attention at the 880/17 change and I missed the exit and proceeded to drive an additional 20 out of the way. This shortcut basically ruined my warm-up and left me with about 15 minutes to convince my legs it was time to do some work.

15 minutes clearly isn't enough time but I still felt pretty good going up the hill. The first few times, I managed to get up it without getting blocked and was in pretty good placing in the group. The next time up the hill, I got blocked in by two riders that looked to be doing well, but blew up and came very close together just as I was passing them. This sucked. Nowhere and no way to go but slow. I did manage to get around them but that took alot of effort.

Next two times around went ok as I was able to catch back up to the front of things. Next lap, it happened again, but this time the guy in front of me busted his chain. This wouldn't have been a problem if my evasive maneuver had gone off well, but it didn't. In going around him, I hit something in the road that made my back wheel come up and my left foot come unclipped. This also sucked. Pedaling up Cat's Hill with 1.5 legs and trying to get back into the pedal at the same time is hard.

I survived and made it back to the rear of the pack. I found that most of the racers didn't pedal on the downhill portion of the race so this became my way of making up lost time. Another lap goes by without a hitch, then it happens again, only this time it seems to be a wall of riders. On this run up, my legs would have no more of the slow going stuff up the hill and they started complaining. The back of the pack was in sight, but for whatever reason, I didn't have it in me to get back up to them. The last lap was my last effort to catch back up, and I did for a very short period of time just before the hill.

I hit the hill and completely blew to pieces. It was a strange feeling to go from dancing up the hill to barely being able to turn over the cranks. I sat up on the last part of the race and finished somewhere near last. For whatever reason, LGBRC only likes to count the first pack of folks in their results. Probably for dramatic effect when telling good ol' Cat's Hill anecdotes.

As has been said about this race, if you are lucky enough to not get blocked, or strong enough to ride at the front the whole time, you will have a good race. The pavement sucks, and makes for an even worse race when you are getting your a$$ handed to you. The course is fun to be sure, but for me it left little time for re-grouping and strategising. A little bit of strength and a lot of luck go a long way in this race.

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Pictures

• Cat's Hill start.
• Mike Zuerlein charging up Cat's Hill.