Weekend Race Reports

Chickens,

I made the incredibly smart decision to drive down to San Diego Friday night to try and do the two races schedule in the area. After five hours of traffic accidents every few miles and rain so hard the wipers didn't work fast enough, we made it to San Diego. We got up early Saturday to head east to the booming metropolis of Boulevard, CA. When we were getting out of the car to register it was 38 degrees and pouring down rain. I was trying to keep come enthusiasm going as the weather was a bit demoralizing, but I definitely wanted to get out there and leave it on the road.

We started the 1st lap with a cold fast descent and at the base of the descent the rain started coming down a little harder. I was just cruising 6-10th wheel on the roller section until I dropped my chain and had to get of my bike before chasing back on to the lead group. We crested the climb for the 1st time and the lead group was about 20.

Fast forward to the bottom of the descent on the second lap it started SNOWING and snowing hard! When the snow started coming down after being soaking wetting and freezing, I definitely wanted to light up the climb and get a good result. We were all drilling the rollers hard and when the big climb started about 5 of us road away from the field, then 4, then 3.
Myself and two others were hammering through the snow alone the last few miles. The other two guys were definitely strong, but all I could think about was how I'd get across the finish line 1st. One of my friends told to remember that when it hurts really bad on the climb that everyone is feeling the same pain, so keep pushing, which was some good advice. With a 1k to go I was ready to attack, but our group of 3 was flying, so I held off.
Finally, 200 meters to go and I got a rush of adrenaline and knew it was time to hit it. Click, click, click on the shifter and I stood up sprinting as hard as I could and gave a look back with about 150 to go and saw I had a nice gap, they couldn't respond! I was telling myself to just keep going as hard as I could to the line, so there was no way I'd get caught. I crossed the line, still sprinting as I heard one of the two snow bound spectators yell, "Way to go Chicken Ranch!"

I was so psyched, I won the race! It was really satisfying to ride through the rain, snow, and the climbing induced pain cave to a win.

Riding back to the car the 2nd place finisher was pulled off of the road standing there shaking with the snow coming down. I stopped and gave him my left over Cytomax and realized that my hands and feet were totally numb as well.

Getting back to the car, the pro and cat 3 races were getting ready to roll as the snow continued to fall and they were all definitely not happy to be out in those conditions. Then a very excited Ken Hanson rolls up screaming about how he's in his element and is ready to race. The numbers in the pro field dwindled really quick as all of the Jelly Belly, Team Type 1 (besides Ken), and most of the cat 1/2 riders dropped out during the 1st lap. 3 laps in I went to the feed zone with Ken's girlfriend and next thing you know Ken and this guy named Floyd ride by with no knee warmers.... Crazy!

Now I'm off to a crit. In the rain..... Sweet!

John


yo matt..just got in from san diego..wanna give you a weekend update..raced red trolley down in sd..got 3rd..now just 2 pts from cat 3..fun course, short w/a nice drop into the final turn and then a little kicker up to the final stretch..i latched onto some guy on the drop and he powered me up the hill, 2 guys were able to make it around us on the stretch then i was able to dig in enough to move around my leadout sucker into 3rd...kinda suffered in the middle of the race cuz my dumb ass feeling fresh at the start tried to go in a break..i composed and tried to relax the rest of the way then moved up w/3 laps to go..so i was happy w/my finish...last 2 weekends of racing have been my only high-intensity riding all winter but my legs are starting to feel stronger..some good training the next 3 weeks then nevada..i saw a chicken riding cat 5 but didnt get to talk to him...you guys get some wet rides in this weekend?....ray.