Gran Fondo- Fun With Levi!

Images are here
Just a quick GranFondo update,

Think of a century ride that has the Gibraltar loop in it with the
Camino Cielo section twice as long. Amazing roads, amazing views with
the best paved decent you have ever seen followed by a 30 mph tailwind
along the coast. If that's not enough at 75+ miles throw in a shorter
version of Old San Marcos climb. I was happy riding in my 34-28 on
alot of climbs... The pros finished under 5 hours. After Levi pulled
for the first 50 miles, he pulled off to socialize in a couple of the
rest areas. It was one of the most organized and well attended "fun
rides" we all ever attended. The Chickens finished from 5:12
(Craig), 5:26 (me) and everyone else was close behind. More from the
others..


Dave

fastrack@mindspring.com
http://www.fastrackbicycles.com/



http://granfondo.smugmug.com/2009/Carson-Blume/9744543_eqGpz#669502585_48VP7


Thank you,
Carson Blume
Carson Blume Photography, Owner
Digital Capture Systems, Owner Digital Production
Women's Cycling Magazine, Co-Founder / Photo Editor
Cat4Pro.com, Coming soon
888.680.2276


It was long.

The highlight for me was watching Lettreri try to pump up Bob Roll's
rear tire at the start and another guy walks up and says, "I can help.
I'm a bike mechanic." He then proceeds to try to pump the tire up and
stops and says, "He needs a new tube." At which point Lettreri gets to
say, "It's a tubular." Priceless.

Other highlights:

1. Levi seemed stronger than most of the other riders.

2. I felt a bit gypped. It turned out it was only 102 miles but they
advertised 103 miles. Maybe they made up for it by advertising 6,500
feet of climbing when it was really 8,900 feet of climbing.

3. The course was perfectly marked. You knew right where to go. All
hazards were marked including steep downhills.

4. Levi's wife is 18 inches taller than he is. She also descends into
oncoming traffic. It must be a Euro thing.

5. Axel Merckx couldn't try hard enough to avoid me. In our little
pack I kept sneaking up next to him trying to start a conversation. I
now hate him also.

6. Bob Roll was the best. A pick-up truck honked at us and he yelled
back, "Bunch of retards".

7. I've never seen so many people walking their bikes up a hill. The
hill from Highway 1 back to Santa Rosa was unbelievably steep. It's
used in the AMGEN Tour. The street was still painted with "Basso
Cheat". My group got a big chuckle out of that one.

8. Lettreri has mellowed in his old age. We were supposed to meet
outside of the hotel at 7:20. At 7:23, Mitch and Nikola still were not
out with us and Lettreri was actually calmly waiting for them.

9. We at breakfast at 6:15 am two hours before the ride. The majority
of the other riders were already in their chamois. Assuming they
finished their ride around 3 pm, that would be a 9 hour chamois day.
That can't be healthy.

10. Thanks to Carson for getting lots of pictures of me coming out of
the port-o-potty.

11. At the end of the ride there was no water or food.

12. Friden arrived back at the hotel after the ride to shower. No more
than 5 minutes later Lettreri's truck jams out of the parking lot to go
home with Friden in it. We imagined Friden was still in his towel with
shampoo in his hair sitting in the back of the truck. Maybe Lettreri
hasn't mellowed with age.

13. Lettreri has his name written all over his jersey and I still don't
know how to spell it.

14. No fewer than 5 people asked me if we are sponsored by a brothel.

15. I suck at descending. My deep dish carbon wheels really helped in
the strong cross winds. Great equipment choice. Next time I think I
might bring my disc wheel.

16. Jurist is the best to travel with.

17. Dano, Jurist and I had dinner with my old LA riding buddies. Back
in the day they used to dominate bike racing. They finished this ride
in 7 hours. I guess some things change.

18. Everyone wearing a Levi Gran Fondo jersey walked their bike up at
least one hill. Don't buy the ride jersey! It slows you down.

19. Who won the polo field sprint on Sunday?

20. At mile 95, they had you turn off the well paved road onto a gravel
bike path. True story. The sign said don't worry, it's only 1 mile
long. Only 1 mile? Try riding on rocky gravel for 1 mile after already
being in the saddle for 5 hours. Two of the local pros who had been
pulling my group for oh, about 2 hours straight, flatted on the gravel.
Sweet. I beat them.

21. I suck at descending. I was so bad I needed to say it twice.

Thanks to Lettreri for getting me my entry. I'd like to do more of
these rides.

Bling.

1. No Problem on the porta pot shot!
2. I think I would have been less wiped if I had done the ride than shot it.
3. Welcome to NORCAL!
4. Levi's wife beat Dave, and kicked Allison Sterns but down the hills and most of the guys, that is hot!
5. Could we get sponsored by a brothel?
6. We, David Walls and my self, on the moto also got waived onto the dirt path, that was "fun"
7. tubular! that is priceless!

Thank you,
Carson Blume
Carson Blume Photography, Owner
Digital Capture Systems, Owner Digital Production
Women's Cycling Magazine, Co-Founder / Photo Editor
Cat4Pro.com, Coming soon
888.680.2276


The list has gotten exhaustive, but let me add:
Great photo #158 Paul next to Levi. Great job just to get that close to him, let alone timing it with Carson to be there. Dave seemed to be more preoccupied with riding next to Levi’s wife and the other blond pro. Other reports:

1. Bling, the people you saw walking up the final climb were the medio fondo riders who had ridden only about 25 miles up to that point. By the time I got to there, it was all gran fondo riders, and to my amazement no one was walking even though that seemed to me to be the more sensible thing.
2. I was just lucky that I was able to shower and get a towel around me. Last one back rides home in a wet towel.
3. Mitch spent most of the ride taking in the amenities at the rest stops and he still beat me in.

-Friden



Hats off to Dave for orchestrating the "Great Train Robbery" start strategy. After getting the distinct feeling that the 2 by 2 start of the ride might take several hours to accomplish, Lettieri gets our group to stage around the corner from the start in front of a fire station. There was already a large group there and we figured they were interested in the same "drop in". Turns out they were the marshals for the ride, but were cool enough to recognize the incredible athleticism and riding savvy that a whore house cycling team represents (not to mention that Blinger had already built a reputation as a Santa Rosa bar fighter) and allowed us to stay put. Dave went back to the start, glad handed his way to the front of the pack and as they came around the corner starts yelling for us to jump in. Thusly, we were excused from the mayhem, shouting and carbon crunching sounds heard a ways back in the field.

As far as the best to travel with, it's an old story: easy trumps pretty.

David

Here is a little video from my Fondo experience... it's on You tube.
(shot on my iPod Nano, produced on iMovie)
------ look for Dave's cattle call: "go go go" - Priceless.

Mark

Firestone Race Reports

I'm catching up a bit on the reports, but these are worth the read. I enjoy sarcasm!



Race was great. They had special up close parking for locals. We all huddled in the morning cold and it was nice to have so many Chickens out there. Barney wore a wonderful Italian loafer to registration. Jelly raced Clydesdale but I will tell you there's no way in hell he's 200 lbs. I demanded a weigh in. Boxers weigh in wearing underwear. I'd like to see Jelly do the same...

Race started on-time versus Sea Otter which starts 1 hour late. I was ill-prepared for an on-time start.
Up the first climb I was in the top 10 and already we were immersed in the 35-39 class. I just don't get it. A lap takes 45 minutes so why do they start everyone in only 1 minute increments. I felt OK and tried to push it a bit without blowing up. The fast guys were gone so I settled into a pace that I could maintain.

Coming into the finish of the first lap, I thought I got lost as they had us go round and round near the pit area. What a bore. It added 1/4 mile to the course of blah. Anyhow I was riding with 1 guy from my class and the leader of the 45-49 class. I might add that the guy leading the 45-49 class who had already made up a minute on me and was beating the entire field was: (i) overweight; (ii) wearing a neoprene knee brace; (iii) riding an old piece of crap that probably weighed 28 lbs; and (iv) had the driest and rustiest chain I've ever seen. You gotta love mountain biking.

Next was the best part of the day for me. I came through the feed zone where my 13 year old son Charlie (also known as Winger) handed me a bottle and said, "Dad, way to go. I love you." As I write this, a tear literally comes to my eye. I am blessed. The rest is just boring.
I attacked the two guys I was riding with (including the overweight guy with the knee brace) and rode away. Thrilling. I didn't stick around for the results but I figure I'm somewhere in 7th. I achieved my life long goal of finally beating the crafty Spaniard, but in fairness he hasn't been training.

Also the times were very fast. I did 1:28 and each lap was the same, 44 minutes. That's faster than I did at the pre-Otter 2 weeks ago and this is a slightly longer course.

Hope everyone had fun.

Bling.


Ditto for me except please make note of the following edits:

1. Add: Cramping in the last 15 minutes of the race and watching 3 guys blow past me like I was standing still - this is not fun.

2. Replace: Blingerman's 6th with 20th for me (when he races with the kids next time, I will be joining Women's 55+. BTW - anyone know a good plastic surgeon?).

3. Insert: Speaking of underwear, why does Ramirez insist on wearing underwear beneath his bibshorts? That's just flipping wrong.
4. Insert additional highlights:

a) For a brief moment, actually thinking I was close to Blinger, then realizing it was Donoho - we had a nice chat and then I proceeded with my race.

b) Not having to lend Ramirez any chamois cream.

c) Being passed by Barney right before an off-camber decent, wondering to myself, "what the heck is he doing racing a MTB after his accident and not having ridden a MTB for 5 years?, I sure hope he doesn't crash", then watching Barney ride right off the trail and crash.

d) Coming through the feed zone and getting a hand up from Doyle who made the long haul to SY just to cheer the team on - a tear came to my eye as well but it was actually from some dust that got kicked up.

e) "Attacking" my PB&J sandwich on the way home.

f) "Racing" immediately back to SB in time for 3 hours of match play tennis with my daughter and some other parent/kid teams...yes I am a mess today!!!!

All kidding aside, a great weekend and great times on the MTB. Glad to be healthy and looking forward to upcoming Ventura SR and Elings Park MTB events.

Bill

Seinfeld & The Chicken Rig!

Hello everyone,

On Friday Craig and I did the amateur version of the Solvang TT for the 2nd year in a row. And for the 2nd year in a row it was an incredible experience. I will do that race every year that they offer it as long as I can still ride a two wheeler! There's nothing else like it! This year due to the Lance factor and the favorable weather, the crowds were 10 times the size and the overall vibe and energy was off the charts. I think I saw every single person I know from the cycling community somewhere out on the course. Whether it was David Jurist holding up a big sign that said "Go Chickens!" on the first climb..(that made me laugh)... Greg Leach and company whoopin' it up in front of his house in Los Olivos...Jason Hannon and the Platinum crowd just a few houses down... Randall Tinney doin' his Red Devil impersonation on Ballard...Mark Fennell taking pictures in two places at once...Dave Lettieri and company yellin' at me from the follow car tellin' me my "ass looked big in those shorts" and laughin' when I almost went wide on a corner going 30+ miles and hour in the aero bars...I was soakin' it all in, and lovin' every minute of it!

Once you get over the embarrassment of being a poser ( I got over that a long time ago) the experience of riding on the same course, on the same day, literally just minutes before the best riders in the world is unbelievable! Imagine getting to play flag football with your buddies on the field during Superbowl halftime...that's the closest thing I can think of. As a cycling fan it gives you such a unique perspective on what it would be like to be one of the top riders in the world. Except that they do it every weekend...and we get to do it maybe once a year.

Craig and I both got up there early to get good parking spots and set up our trainers for the warm-up. The competition was much stiffer this year with the addition of two local hammers Gary Douville, and Brian"The Cookie Monster" Cook. Last year when I did this race I felt like I rode as well as I could have on that day. This year I felt like I was struggling the whole time and could never get on top of the gear and yet I rode almost the exact same time. Last year I rode a 36:27 and this year a 36:29. Two seconds difference... You have to marvel at the consistency of my mediocrity. Blinger on the other hand was almost two minutes faster than last year. He's getting older and wiser and I'm just getting older. We both got our doors blown off by Gary and Cookie. Gary won with a 33:47 and Cookie got 2nd with a 34:47. Floyd Landis's buddy and owner of the OUCH Cycling Team Dr. Brent Kay was 3rd and beat me by 15 seconds.....ouch! It's kind of surreal doing the race in the morning and then a few minutes later your standing in one of the VIP tents watching the pros on TV thinking "I was just right there!" and then you see them fly by you in real life. Too cool!

I'm always amazed when I see the photos that guys like Fennell and John Goodman, and Carson get. Fennell somehow got pictures of every local rider starting and finishing, as well as pictures of all the top pros. I got one picture of some blurry guy that I think was Levi but I'm not sure. By the time you realize they're coming they're already past... plus there are 100 other people all trying to take one step closer to the action getting in the way. Check out Fennells' blog to get his take on the days activities.

There were a couple funny things that happened that I thought you'd enjoy reading. Dave, Gabe, John V, Kim McD, and Barney were all gonna drive behind me in the Big Ol' Chicken Ranch truck. The amateurs aren't supposed to get follow vehicles but Dave knows everyone and was able to swing it last year. So they roll up to the course officials and one of the guys says " There's no way in hell you're taking that big rig out the course!" Dave says' " We already talked to Chuck and he said it was OK"
The guy says "Who talked to Chuck?" and Dave says " Barney did." to which the guy replies " Well I'm Chuck, and all Barney said was Hi, and there's no way in hell you're taking that big rig out on the course!" So being the quick thinkin' guys that they are, Gabe runs half a mile and gets his BMW wagon. They all pile in and drive back to the course officials. This time Chuck just laughs and waves 'em through! It's always good to hang out with Dave at pro races.

After my race John VanManakkes comes up me and says "Hey you got any jumper cables?" It seems the Rock Racing Team car, a Pimped out black Escalade had a dead battery. So we trek over to my truck grab some cables and then go hang out with the Rock Racing guys like Tyler Hamilton and Fast Freddy while they get the Escalade going again. While we're there some lady asks Tyler if she can take a picture of him......with her dogs. Being a dog lover he obliges and she proceeds to arrange her 5 dogs in the perfect position and then gets Tyler to crouch down and pose... with her dogs. She wasn't even in the picture. Just Tyler with her dogs. I thought it was funny.

The last funny story was hearing a rumor that before the race Lance Armstrong had been spotted riding the course with Jerry Seinfeld and some other guy. Upon further investigation we discovered that it was a case of mistaken identity. Lance did pre-ride the course in the morning. But not with Jerry Seinfeld and "some other guy". It was our own Dave Lettieri and Levi Leipheimer. They thought Dave was Jerry Seinfeld! And poor Levi, when he rides with Lance and Dave he gets relegated to "some other guy" status.

What great day! I look forward to doing it again next year if the opportunity arises. And if not.....well, I've already got memories that will last a lifetime. Thanks to all of you who were out there cheering us on. It really does give you an extra boost and help you go faster......except for David Jurist's "Go Chickens" sign. When I laughed it caused me to lose my breath and I never recovered. I think it cost me at least 3 minutes.....maybe more.

See ya,

Matt



Esquire, thanks for the photos!

California State Mountain Bike Championships, B Team Style!

Dave Jurist and his impeccable prose regarding the State Championship are below for your reading pleasure!

Le Bon Temps Roulet

Four intrepid poulets made the 6 hour round trip out to Big Bear on Sunday with the California State Cross Country Championship title hanging over their heads like an ARM reset on a Fresno mansion. Due to a costume malfunction on the Blinger mobile, Junior Varsity was called off the bench to head the transportation committee for the “voyage”. The close quarters of the JV mobile had CZ sprawled across the backseats for a disco/beauty nap and Brian “The Bladder” Bermudez ridin’ shotgun (Mike Abbott had ridden in via Jesusita and the Angeles Crest minutes prior to start). Mind you, nothing compares to the “breast” room of the Chicken Rig, but we did manage 3 bodies and 3 bikes with the relatively diminutive foreign substitute.

In what seemed like fifteen or so minutes into the drive we were pulling over for our first pee stop. In what seemed like fifteen or so minutes Brian had finished and we were back headed to the race, chatting easily about tire pressure, philosophy and, at Brian’s request, the most strategic way to have his bike fall off the top of the car.

We arrived at 9 to a near empty parking lot at the race site. The registration tables were marginally crowded, but nothing like you would expect for a winner-take-all State Championship race. When signing up, I hadn’t noticed any Team Sho-Air names in my group which is usually a given. After bathroom, registration, shedding clothes, stretching, taping, filling and kitting up we got going up the hill to the start. As we mosied up, there was the Sho-Air squad parked up by the ski hill (not the designated parking area, gentleman!) and the start area was showing a pretty good group yapping and doing the fire road for warm up.

By a cruel stroke, the organizers decided on a group start for all sport classes, so Craig and Brian went off in a blur of dust and lycra with about 100 riders. It’s up to those boys to give the gory details of the 20 mile “medium” course, but I can say for certain that Blinger blasted through his previous Big Bear time by 8 minutes, shut down his arch rival (the “America’s Got Talent” Phil Dalhauser look-a-like) and even, with the 6th fastest time in all sport categories, took 4th in the 40-44. It doesn’t get the JV too pumped for an upgrade in class next year! Brian, riding on a bike he apparently doesn’t even like any more, made 6th in his group and shot his bike after the race.

I did manage to overhear a snippet of CZ’s post race interview with “The Goodland Velo Lemon Rancher Gazette”:

GVLRG: How was the ride out?

Blinger: We had a good time.

GVLRG: Were you happy with your race?

Blinger: It was a good time.

GVLRG: With the road race season over, can we expect any equipment changes next year?

Blinger: I already have a good Look, maybe a good Time.

My task was far less daunting. My main rival from Sho-Air was a no-Sho which left some guys whose riding I haven’t really seen much of. The start went off in typical fashion with Mark “Quick-To-The-Front-And-Quicker-To-The-Back” Thome doing his usual 90-seconds-to-anaerobic-failure start up the hill with me on his tail. After depleting all the oxygen within a 45 foot radius of his body in the first hundred yards, I stroked past and started to remember just how much climbing the course dishes out. About half way I had passed most of the other groups back markers and couldn’t see anyone from 45-49 100 yards behind. So, I did what anyone would do and promptly crashed on the fire road descent straining to look over my shoulder. With that out of the way, I made my way around the short course, avoided being run over by expert riders and cruised in for a first place finish. And that my friends, is good timing.

Chickens At The Santa Barbara Triathlon!

Most Chickens just enjoy participating, and competing. So quite a few of them decided to do the Santa Barbara Triathlon last weekend. Below is Matt's report. I'm hoping a few others will chime in as these one sided tongue in cheek renditions of the days happenings must be stopped. Pete, did you get some good seats for Celine? ;o) Enjoy the ride!

What a weekend!

I'm pooped. But that was a blast. Why is it that triathlons have more participants than road or mountain bike races? The timing seems like it would be a nightmare, and yet they're extremely well organized and the results are up and accurate within minutes of finishing? I don't know how they do it, but Joe Coito and his crew from the S.B. Triathlon do a phenomenal job. It's a first class event.

We had several Chicken Ranchers taking part in the festivities with some impressive showings. I'll mention some of the highlights but leave it up to the individuals to tell their own stories.

My own race went something like this:

One mile of very poor swimming.
35 miles of pretty good biking.

5 miles of mediocre running followed by 5 more miles of very painful running.

Doesn't that sound like fun? Well, actually it was fun. Challenging but fun. I accomplished my goal of finishing in the top 10 of my age group. It's getting almost comical but I managed to extend my world record string of 2nd place finishes. But one goal I did not accomplish. I bet Arick Fuller and John McFadden (both excellent swimmers) a burrito, that I would be able to catch them by the top of Toro on the bike leg.... I wasn't even close. So while I just missed feeling the thrill of victory. I can fully experience the agony of defeat. Great job guys. I just sent each of you a gift card to Taco Bell for .99 cents. Enjoy your burrito.

The all Chicken Ranch relay team of Ben Edwards, Pete Sproul, and Eric Forte won the relay division handily. The best part is that after his swim Ben ran into the transition area to tag Pete for the bike leg but Pete wasn't there. He had to wait for 2 minutes for Pete to finally show up and ride and they still won! Apparently Pete was late because Celine Dion tickets went on sale at the Arlington and he didn't want to lose his place in line. Craig Blingermans Team finished 2nd but he retains bragging rights by posting the fastest bike leg of the day. I think Blingerman's legs were a little fresher because he's not a Celine Dion fan......he prefers Barbara Streisand.

Gabriel Garcia and Robert Ramirez renewed their rivalry with Gabriel coming out on top once again. As soon as Robert figures out that the doggie paddle is not the most efficient swim stroke they might actually have some close battles. I also saw Fredrick and Mike Cage out there giving it their all. Nice job everyone!

Sundays short course saw some excellent racing action. My 13 year old son Tyler was offered $50 bucks if he could beat Brad Jellison. Unfortunately, Brad had the race of his life and he beat Tyler by 18 seconds. Tyler was bummed about not getting the $50 bucks but he finished 3rd in his age group and got a trophy so he left happy. Brad finished an impressive 7th place in his age group and left with a sore right hamstring. Brad's 17 year old daughter Kelliann also tackled the course on her own finishing 4th in her age group.

They also had a parent/child division on Sunday where parents could compete alongside their kids for moral support. Ben Edwards and his son Sean, Gabe Garcia and his son Dylan, and me and my son Brennan all took part. Ben Edwards is going to be impossible to deal with for a few weeks because not only did he win the relay division, his 11 year old son Sean also won the parent/child division. Sean is a great kid and is a gracious champion with good sportsmanship. But his father is an obnoxious braggart. So if possible, avoid all contact with Ben Edwards for at least 2 weeks until his ego returns to normal size. Gabe's son Dylan is 9 years old and weighs all of about 60lbs but he was out there running 9 minute miles and giving a lot of adults a run for their money. My 12 year old son Brennan finished 4th in the parent/child division. But more importantly, he had the fastest bike split, and as you all know the bike split is the only one that really matters.

All in all it was a great weekend. I can't wait 'till next year. My blisters should be gone by then and Tyler will be one year older and a lot faster. Brad on the other hand should be one year older and a lot slower. So I think next year I'll offer Brad $50 bucks to beat Tyler then I'll use that money to bet Arick and John that I'll catch them by the top of Gobnador and I'll still end up $48 dollars ahead!

Big thanks to all the people who were out there cheering and yelling. That was a big help.

See ya out there,

Matt

Blinger & Gabe @ Sisquoc

My depression has finally worn off enough to do a race report. As some of you know, I had trained and focused on doing well at Sisquoc. The idea of the top 6 guys splitting $300 worth of merchandise motivated me beyond my imagination.

This weekend Gabe allowed me to set the schedule. Thus instead of arriving 4 hours before the start of the race, we arrived 1 1/2 hours before the start so we could have a relaxing warm up and pin our numbers. Gabe took offense to my last write up so this weekend he arrived with one small bag, one cooler, and no extra wheels. He left all his lubrication, extra food, pillow, and extra chamois cream at home. I think he was trying to starve me so that I would realize how good I had it at La Mirada. It worked.

While warming up I felt I was on a great day. You know the feeling when the cranks turn over really easy. I felt for sure I would win the race and take the first place prize (floor pump) home. To digress, it was this race a couple of years ago where Pops Larsen and Flood came riding into the finish together. They were teammates and coming in for 6th place with no one around them. Seated and dribbling in, at the last minute Pops jumps out of the saddle and beats his teammate Flood. Now granted, this is not the TDF, but still? Nipping your teammate at the line?

In the 4,000 emails that went out about this after the race, someone asked Pops if he really needed the 6th place prize which was a multi-tool.

In one of the great email comebacks of all time, Flood wrote, "Pops is a multi-tool."

Anyhow, we line up for the race and I think there were 70+ guys in the 3's. I also heard the 4's sold out and the other fields seemed larger than usual. Randy decided to upgrade to CAT I that morning so it was only Gabe and I. I love the staging area. The stuff you hear is unreal. First Gabe spots a guy on a 2009 Specialized. I ask Gabe how he knows it's a 2009 and not a 2008. Gabe says, "Because the Specialized sticker on the seat tube is filled in instead of being outlined." Holy shit. I had $5,000 Lasik surgery and I couldn't see that. Clearly we were outgunned as people were already on 2009 equipment.

Then each guy who is fit and tanned must go through the litany of medical conditions currently afflicting him. It's amazing how many people are either: (i) sick; (ii) just coming back from being sick; (iii) planning on getting sick; or (iv) haven't trained for this race.

The race started and it's a 6 lap affair over an 11 mile course. There's only one real climb on the course but some nice rollers. We put my 13 year old son Charlie in the feed zone with bottles for all. For those of you who have never received a "feed" from Charlie, you're missing out. He's a boy-scout and he loves bike racing. There is no one more serious and customer service oriented in the entire feed zone than Charlie. Grabbing a bottle from him is like a lifeline. He was wearing a Little Fred Leprechaun Bike Jersey just to top things off.

On the first time up the climb, it felt pretty hard. There were lots of strong guys and I thought uh-oh, this might be harder than I imagined. I then started thinking about last year when I had a lot of trouble finishing CAT 3 road races due to my fitness. I decided I better be mellow and conserve energy if I wanted to finish. Great state of mind for a bike race.

Couple of laps later, we get to the base of the climb and I shift down to my small ring and drop my chain. I probably could have predicted this. It's never happened to me before in a race so you might ask how I could predict this? Well, I was looking at pictures of Cadel Evans' bike from the TDF and he has one of those third eye jobs on his seat tube. So I've been cruising the web looking for one but not wanting to spend $3.95 on the wrong part, I held off ordering it so I didn't have one on my bike. Plus I probably should hold off for the 2009 model. I hear the plastic is .05 grams lighter.

So now I find myself at the bottom of the climb, chain off, dismounted, and unable to put the chain back on. As the peloton rides away from me, I think to myself this would really suck to not finish. So I jam the chain back on and remount. By now the peloton is quite a ways up the road and I see Gabe drift to the back and look back at me. I throw it in the big ring and begin the chase. However this is CAT 3 racing and not the TDF so as I start to bridge up, I get behind the follow vehicle carrying the spare wheels. Instead of helping me bridge up, the guy pulls across the double yellow and into on-coming traffic in order to deny me any draft. It was one of the safest driving maneuvers I've ever seen in a race.

Anyhow after a bit of a chase I got onto the back of the peloton. In reality, it didn't take that much effort and guys were blowing out the back and getting dropped. It was kind of like playing Frogger as I weaved my way through the carnage. In retrospect, instead of being bummed and dejected for having to do that effort, I should have taken solace in knowing I had enough form to chase the pack down even as guys were getting dropped. Gabe then paced me back to the front of the pack where I had been riding pre-chain incident. After a couple of more laps, I was all recovered and ready to go for a mediocre finishing spot.

With 1 1/2 laps to go, Seth from Platinum snuck off the front with another guy. Going up the climb the 2nd to last time, I expected the race to explode with a chase. It didn't happen. I was just sitting in spinning up the climb. Very little effort needed. Another 3 guys bridged up to Seth so now the break had 5 guys. I still sat there spinning using little effort. This was the point I should have made my move. However fear, mediocrity, and uncertainty took over the day.

As we went through the start finish line with 1 lap to go, Gabe rode up to me and said he was going to try to bring the break back. I was unsure of how much effort he had left in him as he was only on a 2008 model frame and I expected guys up front to be on the 2009 models.

All kidding aside, Gabe rode straight to the front (at this point we were probably down to 45 guys) and hit it. We were drilled single file. Gabe continued to hit it. He completely sacrificed his chances in order to try to bring the break back so I could contest the sprint. We started to nudge closer to the break and a couple of miles later Gabe was still on the front! Drilling it! It was awesome to see.

Gabe dropped back and as he slid past the peloton, numerous guys congratulated him on an enormous pull and a huge effort. But wait, it wasn't over. As we twiddled along on the flats before the climb, Gabe went up to the front again! Now we're something like 60 miles into the race and he's gunning it a second time. Again we nudged closer to the break. I started to think that Gabe's efforts would pay off as at the bottom of the climb, the break was in site.

Gabe dropped off as his work was done for the day and I prepared myself for the explosion that would take place on the final climb. I moved towards the front and waited...and waited...and waited. No explosion, not even a ripple. I made it up the climb with no effort. Again, had I been using my head, I would have ridden hard, attacked, at least broke a sweat. I kept waiting for others to take the initiative as I thought they were stronger than me. It turns out they were just mentally stronger.

From there it was more mediocrity as the 5 guys stayed away and I rolled in for 12th place. No floor pump. Not even a multi too.

We drove home and I swam with the kids, jumped on the trampoline, went to dinner, and saw a movie. You may ask why I give this much detail? Well, after a 66 mile road race, one should be wasted. However, if one rides like a scared pansy, then one is not tired and has a full night's activities. Woke up Sunday morning fresh as a daisy but skipped SLO. No one else was going to be riding in my race so racing alone did not appeal. Instead I went to World's where I actually rode harder than in the Sisquoc race. Go figure.

Thanks to Gabe for his Herculean effort and to my son Charlie for always being there in the feed zone. I am convinced more than ever that it is better to use your full effort and not finish, then to sit and claim 12th...

Blinger

HOT! HOT! humid HOT!

The race weekend started off w/ Craig Zimmerman and I car pooling up to La Mirada. As we drove through the valley, we knew we were in for a hot weekend of racing. The temps along the 101 freeway ranged from 95 to 110 degrees. Once we got to the La Mirada race course, the temps were well into the 100’s w/o much of a breeze. Needless to say, we didn’t need much of a warm-up. We were fortunate enough to be called the “featured” race of the day, or as we saw it, the last race of the day at 3:55pm. At the starting line we had at least 50+ racers lining up. This was to be my first Cat 3 race, and I picked a doozy, w/ a 2 mile circuit that had lots of climbing, rollers, and an uphill sprint finish. The main climb being a ¼ mile big ringer. The pace was fast from the gun w/ riders trying to separate themselves from the field on the first climb; even after the climb, those on the front didn’t let up through the rollers or the descent. Craig was looking very strong staying in the top ten throughout the race, where I was hanging around in the top half of the group. With the 105 temps and the pace being as hard as it was, riders were falling by the way side. Going into the final lap, 7 riders attacked off the front and got away. The rest of us were left to sprint for the final top 10 places. In the end, Zimmerman took off and placed 9th, and I came in behind him in 11th. I later came to find out that over half the pack DNF’ed w/ the rest of them scattered around the course.

Brett Harrison was also one of the Ranchers at La Mirada racing the 4’s. We saw his start and kept an eye on him as we were warming up for our upcoming race. Brett was looking strong, riding at the front for most of the race, but at some point during the race we noticed he was no longer in the front group of about 12. We later found out that there was a crash and Brett got taken out. From the sounds of it, a rider in the pack toppled over from heat exhaustion and took out a number of riders. Brett toughed it out and got back on his bike and never stopped chasing. Brett ended up coming in 20th w/ torn kit and some road rash. The 5’s went off really early in the morning so we didn’t have a chance to see Dan Rudd, but he tore it up w/ a 6th place finish.

The following day at San Pedro, we found much better racing conditions w/ temps in the 90’s, but w/ a nice cooling breeze coming from the ocean marina. All the categories looked to be larger due to the fact that San Pedro was the State Championships. At SP we had Philip Friden representing in the 5’s, Brett in the 4’s, and Zimmerman and me in the 3’s. Zimmerman and I got to the venue in the middle of Philips race. He was looking really strong w/ good positioning throughout the race, but going into the final lap Philip found himself on the front, and going into the sprint he got swarmed and boxed in. Philip came across the finish line in 20th place. Brett’s luck changed for the better at SP. As always, we found Brett hovering close to the front of the pack. The pace of the 4’s looked to be extremely fast w/ riders popping off the back on every lap. When it came down to the sprint finish, Brett gave his all and came in w/ a solid 6th place.



As for the 3’s race, we had a stacked field of close to 100 riders. After yesterday’s race, both Zimmerman and I were curious as to how we would recover and how the legs would feel. From the gun the pace was fast, but not hard enough to blow the field apart. Zimmerman went to front and put in a lot of effort of stay up there, while I hovered in the top 20-30. The pace did pick up w/ a number of riders trying to go off the front, but a steady headwind on the front straightaway helped neutralize and bring the breaks back. With a few laps to go, the field started to get dicey and riders started to move up towards the front. I made it to Zimmerman’s wheel as we prepared for a lead-out. Going into turns 1-2 of the final lap, Zimmerman moved ahead and got into 3 wheel, while I stayed in the top ten. This is where everything went to @^$#! From what Zimmerman told me, some moron got a flat/mechanical on the previous lap and decided to walk on the course against traffic carrying his bike. We rounded the 1-2 corner in the big ring, out of the saddle, and fighting for position when the front riders ran into the moron carrying his bike. This caused riders to lock-up their brakes and some rode into the bushes to avoid the bike carrying knucklehead, Zimmerman was one that had to use his MTB skills to stay upright in the bushes. Although I didn’t go down, I came to a complete stop, in my big ring and on the hill. I got back on course and sprinted to the tail end of the lead group. Going into the final corner, I could see they were all strung out and at least 25 deep. My and Craig’s race was over at that point and we sat up. Craig was upset because he was going really good and put in a lot effort to stay at the front and out of trouble….so we thought.

In all, it was a good weekend of racing w/ some good times, good results, and some good high intensity workouts.

That’s it! Sorry if it was a little long winded. For those of you that missed out this past weekend, start getting ready for Sisquoc. With a Cat 3-4 race, we should have a huge turnout. I know that as of today, we have at least 7 CR’s in that race.

Gabriel

Chicken For A Day

Having received the bad news that my Platinum Performance pal and cycling mentor/motivator, Mr. Mortgage, wasn’t heading up for the Big Bear Shootout June 1 reminded me that my bicycles currently out-value my autos and none qualified as appropriate (read: reliable) transport to the start line. Enter one Former Olympian. I was down at the shop buying a really fine seat bag for the race rig (you know, the ones that come with a yellow bag with a square hole (I thought it was a free with purchase “Elephant Man”Halloween mask) when I mentioned needing a lift to the big day. The FO said he’d mention it around town and give a shout if somebody had an open seat. Seemed like one of those things that gets said and then floats off like a smoke ring. To my great shock and pleasure FO called at the beginning of race week and said that there was a cancellation and did I want to ride with---drum roll---the great chicken ranch trinity. Now, I have only been riding on two wheels without a beer in my hand for about a year and am new to SB, but not so new that I don’t know when my life is about to change! The fam and I relocated to Goleta last year from the Alamo City (clap, clap, clap, deep in the heart of Texas) last year and so we know a thing or two about ranches. I pulled up at the biggest chicken’s coop at the crack’o for the get-a-long and sure as heck, them boys showed up all a wearin’ stretchy pants, just like back in the Republic. I knew I was amongst kin.

Loaded up with the big one and the bling one, we went to Milpas and picked up what appeared to be a homeless man on a bike. But, whoa moses, there’s those stretchy pants again, spare that brother a dime! You can imagine the amount of cataloging my newbie mind was doing given this “all access” pass to observe the super chickens pre-race routines. Let’s see: there were the TWO cupcakes and a bottle of water for the homeless guy; a mysterious, peanut buttery smelling mixture eaten out of a plastic bag for the bling one and damned if the big one didn’t eat a peanut butter and jelly an hour before the race like it was 2d grade lunch period! All that restraint made me question the Belgian waffle, sausage patties and Frappacino I had slowly eaten precisely 3.4 hours before the race start.

One unfortunate episode on the way to the race, a spirit woman named Gigi, who’s voice seemed to be channeled through the bling one, gave us totally bogus directions that had us perilously close to losing almost 7.3 minutes of drive time and the homeless guys sanity. On the bright side it did give us a chance to check out Jeff’s white Yeti, TWICE! Not to fear, the troops landed with mucho tiempo to spare.

Once on the mountain everyone got right down to the business of race-preparedness, which way to the port-a-potties?!? After registrating and getting free-taco ticketed we got our collective arses in the saddle for what seemed like a 45 minute climb to the race start. The weather was fab-you-los, maybe 70 and almost no wind and the staging area was pleasantly cool. The big one was made to start early as he is big and must go further. Then off went the bling-y one with the FO on the medium loop. Sometime later, off I go with a huff and a puff or I’ll blow at altitude on the small one (and it was just right)!

The course was super fun, a long climb out of the start and then some rolly fire road. Things got interesting when the trails merged and I was greeted from behind by blingy and the FO who gave a much needed “atta boy” to the slaving limbs below me. There were some nice single track sections with varying degrees of difficulty from soft loamy dappled shade prettiness to sharp rock, pick your line or you gonna hurt, bomb-a-thons. My “glory” moment was chasing down my category foe, Mike Rauls, from team SHOW-OFF on a single track section. We had passed each other several times on the course and he made a move and got to the single track ahead of me. When we got to a fairly large spot of water, he decided to dismount and go around the edge. I quickly reflected on the situation, “what would the b team do?” I hopped off the war pony and went cyclocross through what turned out to be knee deep water and never looked back.

About 2 miles from the finish after panting up yet another climb and coming down some fairly sketchy fire road, I felt something falling on my legs. Was that thirty minute port-a-potty visit not enough to clear the bulkhead? When I looked down I saw my “Elephant Man” mask from the new seat pack wrapped around my cassette. I also realized that the recreational bikers on the trails were going to score some nice tire levers, a tube, patch kit, multi-tool and the overdue DVD’s from Blockbuster that I was going to return on the way home. Ten seconds into the argument with myself about whether to stop and clear it the jury came back: There was no flippin way daddy-o was pullin over. So I managed to shift into a gear and got a pedalin’, single-speed style. The chicken karma worked its magic and I got across the finish 4 minutes ahead of the dreaded SHOman.

The big one came in fifth in the papa category, just 7 minutes off the pace and is truly a spectacular captain of the good ship chicken ranch. FO and the bling one crossed the line 6th and 7th closer than a slow dance at the high school prom in the mama category. I, dear reader, managed top of the boxes , but then, I was chicken for a day.

PS One last amazing moment from the trip. On the way home, the FO, who is not one to camp in the outdoors, showed us how he makes “urban” s’mores. To celebrate the big right turn at the ocean and the home stretch, he produced a perfectly melted Almond Joy from his stretchy pants! Who knew the power?

Craig & Matt's Big Adventure

Hello everyone,

Yesterday Craig and I got to be the ultimate posers........and it was awsome! The Solvang local organizing committee for the Tour of California offered the chance to ride the official TOC TT course right before the pros, to the first 20 people who ponied up a thousand bucks. It was a great way for them to raise money to help offset the costs of having the race come to town and offer a unique experience to the participants. I may have to ride my current bike for an extra year or two to justify it with my wife but it was worth every penny!



Our adventure began Thursday night when they had a "Meet and Greet" dinner up in Solvang. Craig brought his son Charlie and I brought my date for the evening......Dave Lettieri. I have to admit that Craig and I were both kinda thinking it'd probably be pretty easy to get one of the top 3 podium spots since there were only going to be 20 competitors. But our hopes of an easy ride were quickly dashed when in our group there were 2 age group National Track Champions and 2 age group State TT Champions. Damn it! Why couldn't it be 18 old farts then Craig and I......Oh yeah, we are old farts. Anyways the dinner was fun and we went to sleep excited and nervous for the next days race.

I had the added bonus of getting to ride a tricked-out top-of-the-line TT bike provided by our friend (and sponsor..) Ben at TESTRIDER.COM. It was a fancy Isaac frame with the latest Zipp wheels and bars. Big thanks to Dave and Luke for getting the thing set up in time so I could ride it. Dave said I was more of a pain in the ass, and caused him more stress than wrenching for Lance Armstrong at the Tour de France! Ben attached a camera to my bike so he could film the whole route and also followed in a car filming the bike in action. He should have a segment up on the web site soon with the footage. So you can stop teasing me about riding with a dorky triathlete water bottle mount behind my seat, it was a camera battery!

Friday morning gave us wet roads and cloudy skies. Now I was already nervous about riding the course with a bunch of people watching, the rain just made it worse. They set up a warm-up area for us behind Dr. J's bike shop. Big thanks to Gabe (AKA #4), Dave, Brian, Jelly, and anyone else I'm forgetting for helping us out and making us feel less stressed. Gabe was awesome, setting up trainers, pumping up tires, grabbing goos, it was like having a pro pit crew! Now I know Craig had been battling illness ever since we got back from Valley of the Sun. I guess the late night make-out sessions with Larsen finally caught up to him and he caught the same bug that took Larsen down in Phoenix. To his credit he never complained, never made any excuses, he just went about his business as if everything was fine. But seeing him on the trainer I could already tell he was hurting, I didn't even have to ask. You know how when somebody's sick you can just see it in their eyes or in their face? He had that look. I felt bad for him cause I know we both wanted to be able to compare our times to the pros when we're at our best. But you know what? On a day when his body would only give him 80% Craig gave 110% and I was proud of him. In the big picture, how we rode didn't matter as much as the fact that we got to ride at all, and he wasn't going to miss this no matter how sick he was.

I can't even tell you how cool it was! There we are, up on the starting ramp, and the announcer is telling the crowd about our racing accomplishments....although in the case of Craig and I we don't really have any racing accomplishments so he just talked about our wifes and kids! Still cool though. You know that beeping timer you always hear at the Tour before the riders start the TT's? beep...beep...beep...BEEP! That was cool! Plus the guy holding his hand in front of your face counting down with his fingers 5..4..3..2..1..Go! I was so amped up coming down the start chute with all the people ringing bells and banging on the barriers I hit the corner to start the first steep climb and my legs were already burning. I had to keep telling myself to calm down. It was so awesome seeing and hearing people you knew all over the course yelling and cheering for you. I remember big groups of Chicken Ranchers screaming on the first climb, in Los Olivos, on Ballard, and at the finish. Too cool! Having a personal lead motorcycle the whole way was really cool also. Coming through the finishing straight was probably the best part though. Solvang already looks like a little European town so it was easy to imagine you were in France or Belgium or somewhere other than your own backyard with thousands of people yelling at you. I rode as close as I could to the barriers just to get the full effect! And just like that....36 minutes and 27 seconds after I started it was over. After I caught my breath I was standing near the start area giving the post-ride report to Ben, and Pete and a few others when this old lady walks up to me and says "Can I take a picture with you?" I said "Well, you can but I'm nobody famous!" and she said "That's OK. To me you are." Right then I realized that Craig and I didn't have to go around trying to fool people into thinking we were pro riders. They were willing to pretend right along with us. To that lady I was dressed like a pro and I had a number on, so that was good enough for her, and to me, she was my one adoring fan. Too funny. Hopefully she never shows the picture to a real cyclist 'cause they're gonna ask her "Who's the linebacker in the skinsuit?" I was on an emotional high the whole rest of the day. Replaying every little part of the race in my head and trying to remember all the details. I accomplished all my goals. I didn't crash. I beat a couple pros (of course they rode 7+ hours in the wind and rain the day before!) and I made the time cut-off. So if I had actually been in the Tour of California I would have been allowed to continue today.........when I would have promptly been dropped.

Thanks to everyone out there who played into our "Pro for a day" dream race and cheered for us. It was definitely the ride of a lifetime and an experience I will never forget. Just to make sure my head didn't get too big, when I got home my 13 year old son Tyler asked me how I did. I told him I got 2nd in the amateur race and I would've been 95th in the pro race. He asked how may pros there were and I told him 104 started the day. He said "So you got 95th out of 104?.........that sucks!"

Matt

Chickens Dominate ToC TT

Last year when I was able to make the TT for the Tour of Cali it never crossed my mind that a chicken (b teamer) would ever be coming across the finish line. There wasn't just one, there were two.

If you missed the sports page the other day you may have shown up and been surprised yourself.

The Mutant (I didn't know which of his nicknames to use), and Blingerman tore it up.



There were plenty of locals and fellow chicken ranchers rooting them on. I hope we can get some of the videos I heard about on the web.

Congratulations Matt and Craig! Below are some photos that were sent around on the email string. I included Steve O's album in the photos as well. If you want to check out his album you can go directly to http://picasaweb.google.com/steveoinsb/TourOfCaliforniaSolvangTimeTrial/photo#s5170003290465518162

The Tour of Cali is such a great event to have come through town. I am hoping to make it down to the start of today's stage. I saw some of the highlights last night and it looked like Levi was a man among boys. It sure is going to be a real bummer if his team isn't let in to the Tour de France this year.

Mothballs By Blingerman! Photos by Carson!

Great job everyone. Fun day with a lot of team support.

As far as the 3's, I'm sorry for what happened. The team did great work. Barney, Luis, and Larsen rode the front a lot. Aaron had a break that Chicken and I thought might stick. Ben was a Trojan war-horse riding out there with his bibs torn open and still smiling.

As for the sprint, Dave was the captain on the rode and kept us organized with Chicken on the front, then me, and then Dave sweeping.

We went into the last turn and Chicken was doing a lot of work but then we caught a couple of guys on the inside who slowed down and I just made a bunch of mistakes. So instead of winning, we got 3rd. We learned a lot and I think we will do better next time.

As for the 35+, holy s__t! That was fast!

See you at Piru.
Blinger.


Here are some pics of the first few races, I had another shoot that afternoon, sorry all you who raced after noon. If the link above doesn't work, then here it is. http://tinyurl.com/3xf68b

Thank you,
Carson Blume Photography
888.680.2276