Sagebrush 2010

In the spirit of the day, and since I've had a couple questions about how it went, here's my belated report from the MTB XC season opener on Feb 28.

I've used a hybrid Fastrack/Ken bullet point style, with the patented Jurist style extended coverage for anyone who actually gives a darn:

Cliff Notes version:

-Super fun, fast, sloppy, clear, beautiful, crazy tough event with 3 Chickens racing: Alfredo finished an impressive 4th in Cat 3, Me a slightly disappointing 12th in Cat 2, and Gabe seemed happy with his 7th in Cat 1 (I think Gabe was mostly just happy to have finished his near epic 2Hrs, 43 Minutes on course, gnarly!!!!!) Let's get a bigger CR turn-out for Bonelli.

Extended Coverage:

- Alfredo wins the last minute planner award for making final decision and arrangements to race while still at work after 10PM night before

- 4-1/2 hour drive down under clear skies on Sunday morning rolling out of SB at 5AM on day of event with Alfredo, myself and Gabe carpooling as the only riders representing Team CR (Cats 3, 2, 1, respectively).

- Dirt entry road and parking lot were relatively firm, but scattered with deep mud puddles and temps were still in low 40's. Reports from overnight campers and locals was that it absolutely dumped rain Saturday evening with freezing temps overnight

- Racers were out in force, seemed like REALLY good numbers in the lot, registering and at the starting line. Lots of great energy and good buzz out there.

- Seems like about 1 in 4 riders is on a 29'er now and half of those are hardtails.

- All ages and classes went off with staggered start times beginning at 11AM, by which time it was warm with absolutely beautiful clear blue skies.

- Cat 2 & 3's both rode the same course ~18 miles, Cat 1 & Pros going a tough 22 miles

- First 1-1/2 miles or so was paved & mild. My Cat 2 group of 22 riders hung together in a tight peloton with quite a bit of joking about who was gonna try to organize a breakaway and/or win the next 'prime'. The pace did get lifted a good bit on the flat to put some pressure on the group leading up to "the hill"

- Course turned steep up hill for a 15 minute paved climb (7-10%?) which blew apart my group right away. I was able to hang with the top ten riders of my group on the climb but things did get a bit messy/confusing while overtaking slower riders from prior heats & simultaneously getting passed by 1 or 2 fast f'ers from the following heat. (no group numbers were written on legs at this race for some reason, so you could only ID someone actually in your age/cat if you recognized them form your starting group)

- At the top of this first big paved climb, less than 1/4 into the race I'd say the finishing positions were about 80% fixed.....

- Leaving pavement & dropping over the backside of the ridge, the course became an absolute never ending roller coaster super fun carve fest. Lots of excellent banked twisty single track and some super fast fire road descents made for one of the most fun course I've ever raced. The dirt withstood the water really well in general, not clumpy SB type clay, but just a little tacky in general. The multitude of puddles and a few granite rock carved single track sections and a couple mild drop offs really kept things interesting.

- For those of you gear hounds - although I did get passed by a very small number of full-boing riders who were absolutely bombing so fast through corners on the twisty fireroad downhills that they must've been locals, (IMHO), in general I really fell in love with my 26" hardtail during its first race. Even on the washboard descents and drop offs I felt like I could open it up and bomb just fine, and obviously it was super nice to be able to climb seated or standing on a lightweight hardtail on the uphills. On the flip-side, I did feel the fatigue factor just a little in my lower back having to stand for the duration on one of the longer downhills late in the race.......

-most puddles could be avoided carving slalom-style on the single tracks & open roads, but when you had to plow through a water hazard, it was a little scary. In order to not risk an endo you wanted to keep your weight back or try to unweight/bunny hop, but obviously that's easier said than done. Ask Gabe about his front wheel stand manuever at race pace sometime when you get a chance......

- one ginormous section of super steep hike a bike uphill at about 2/3 through the race was pretty hard on the psyche. It was a huge quarter mile long uphill slog conga line. I actaully did pass a couple "trudgers" by shouldering my bike lower down on the wall, but then I regained my senses and got into line just in time before I imploded.

- Final mile of the race included about 3 or 4 good water crossings, one maybe 24" deep in the middle and 25 yards wide which some riders rode and some carried their bike ( I rode through and got completely drenched with cold water while rinsing quite a bit of grime off me & my bike)

- Met up with some guys from Linked Cycles after I started chatting things up with them a bit after my race and one of them says, hey you're with Chicken Ranch, do you know Robert Higgins?...... Seems that this guy (Ryan) knew Big Rob via email but had never actually met him in person. So Rob: Ryan from Linked Cycles passes along good wishes and prayers for a speedy recovery.

- We all do miss you out on the rides and at the races Rob, hope your recovery is going well.

- Alfredo scored a super nice lazer engraved stainless steel plaque for his efforts

- After the race, a guy next to us mentioned that he was from San Diego and this was his ONE local San Diego race and he wasn't looking forward to having to make the hube drive for BOTH of the Santa Barbara races. (chalk one more up for living in SB)

- Team Chicken is now sitting in 5th place in the team competition after 1 race, sure would be nice to have a minimum of 8 Team Chicken Ranch riders register, race and score team points at Bonelli and beyond!

See you ALL at Bonelli.

Ride On!

Paul

Gabe Says!

The Ventura Chapter of the SB Chicken Ranchers opt’ed for better weather in NorCal. John Vanmanekes and myself made a last minute decision and headed north on Sat evening to enter the Merco Foothills RR in Merced CA. Unlike our brothers who headed south, or stayed local, we endured perfect weather w/ the temps in the mid-60’s w/ patchy clouds.
The race was run on the back roads of Merced with complete road closures. I can’t remember ever being in a road race where we had no center line rule and access to the whole road….pretty cool! The course was basically 72 miles of rollers and flats, with the biggest hill being slightly steeper than our local Bates Rd and about the same length. We had roughly 90+ racers in our group. Considering that John has been going really well lately, it was agreed prior to the race start that I would work for John to either help bring back breaks, or get him into position for the sprint.
The race was difficult at times with attacks and small breaks that didn’t materialize, but going into the final lap it was pretty much certain that it was going to come down to a sprint finish. The last 2 miles included some big ring out of the saddle rollers, with the finish being about 500 meters from the top of the last roller. The original plan was to get to the top in the lead group and lead John out, but going into the final 2 miles, the Specialized Factory team formed an 8 man lead-out for their sprinter, who happened to have also won the previous day's crit. At this point, John got on my wheel and we made our move on the outside. Once on the front, I tried to wedge myself into the Specialized train, but they had it locked down pretty tight, so I just tried to keep the momentum up as high as I could and keep John near the front. Once we got near the top of the last roller, my legs were done and John went around in the top 10. I got swarmed by about 50 guys, but I managed to see John’s head bobbing near the front of the sprinting pack. He pulled off an impressive 7th place finish in a hard fought sprint, and his prize……$20 which covered the Starbucks bill on the way home.

There was also the Sage Brush MTB race last weekend. Paul Donahoe, Alfredo Gallegos, and myself headed down to San Diego early Sunday morning. Alfredo pulled off a 4th place in the Cat 3s, Paul turned in a 12th place in the Cat 2’s, and I finished in 7th in the Cat 1’s.

That’s it!

Gabriel

SLO Crit, A State Champ is Crowned!

Hi all!


Today was the SLO crit, which was really not slo(w) at all... I got my still-coughing-but-feeling-slightly-better self up at 5:30am to drive there this morning and race the crit. Chicken Ranch had a full women's squad out there, with 5 of us toeing the line. Susie, Jane, Sarah, myself, and our newest member, Edina (Eddy), were all up for this race.

We actually had strategy, and team tactics to play, and play we did.

Unfortunately the field was more than a bit sketchy, and there were THREE crashes during the race! Things started off well, with Jane winning the first prime. The 3 of us cat 3s decided to use the 2nd prime as a practice leadout, and Susie and Jane delivered me to the line first in perfect form :-). That in hand, I was feeling pretty good for most of the race. We tried to tire people out with some attacks, and I'm happy to report that Chicken Ranch got some serious airtime!

With 2 to go, I was too far back and getting nervous about positioning, but yet again a teammate came through in the form of Sarah Patz! Sarah had raced yesterday, too, and yet still had the energy to try and help me get up where I needed to be. I found a hole, and went up front. I saw some people coming over on the outside, and Jane was 2nd wheel.

Perfect. I latched onto that train, and around the final turn we went.

With about 1.5 blocks to go I launched, and came around them both, and never looked back. Finally a victory!!!!!!! Unfortunately, the sprinting pack got a little squirrelly, however, and behind me a couple of people got together, and Jane was caught up in a crash, which took a few riders right into the barriers (this is what I heard...I didn't even know it happened until I came back around...I guess when you're sprinting for the win you lose your hearing???). So that dampened things a bit. Susie and I went to see Jane at the ER on our way home.



She was being really brave, although she has a broken wrist and cracked scapula... ouch. Please send her your good thoughts, as she raced a really awesome race today (and yesterday, too where she claimed a 4th place).

I must say, that the womens CR team really came together today, and I am really happy to have been able to deliver us a V. :-) And since it was the So-Cal State Championship, even better!

I don't know how the other Races went today, as Susie and I left rather early to go check on Jane, but I hope all was well!

As always, I'm proud to be a part of this team.

Kimberly

 
Way to go Kimberly and to the rest of the girls!!


We were in the staging area waiting for the 3's race when the womens race was coming through on their final lap. It was an awesome site seeing all the CR girls drilling it near the front, then seeing Kimberly driving it w/ no one being able to get around her. Kimberly "State Crit Champ" Turner :-) sounds pretty good! As for for Jane, hoping for a quick recovery. Jane's crash looked really bad.


The men's 3's race was going really good.....until the final corner. The race had a full field of 75 riders and was fast w/ constant attacks. After dodging a number of mid-race crashes, all the CR'ers found themselves in the top 10 w/ only 2 corners to go. We were all sitting in good position when the rider sitting 3rd wheel overcooked one of the final corners and took out Matt, Ben, and myself. Most of the top 10 riders got taken out. Matt was shoved into the barriers, but managed to stay upright, Ben took a flyer over the hay bails and the fence, and I went down suffering minor scratches to the body and bike. On a good note, John VanMan managed to get through the mess for a top 10 finish. We're all OK, but bummed that we were all there, but couldn't finish it off.

I saw a bunch Ranchers riding around and racing, so hopefully we'll get more race reports.


Gabriel

July 4, 2009. A small field of 20 or slightly more 55, 60+ took off shortly after 800 AM under overcast skies and cool weather at Camp San Luis. It was a bit unclear to me, but I believe 3 riders broke away individually over the first couple of laps, including our own local, Karl (or Carl?) Weber. I heard later from Karl, these three eventually joined up at some point, but at the sprint finish, Karl emerged the winner. Note; Karl is 59, top of the


55 group and will be a formidable 60+ next year.

I managed to hang with the chase group of 6-7 riders through 5 laps of the 6 lap race, but unfortunately got dropped near the top of the final hill.

Riding alone, I maintained my position until the final few yards when someone passed me, possibly a 55+, but I’m not sure.

Final result, 11th over all; 4th 60+ against some of the top 60’s. If there had been a 65+, I would have won that, but believe there was only one rider older than me. See, eventually everyone dies off ;), so the longer you can last your odds of eventually winning increase.

All in all a good day, and I liked the course very much in spite of a few well marked pot holes and ruts. No one crashed in my race to my knowledge.

Note: I had an excellent pre race breakfast at Denny’s which included two poached eggs, Oatmeal, brown sugar and milk, a large bowl of fresh fruit and a cup of yogurt for $5.99 as I recall. Needless to say, I didn’t run out of gas during the race.

Steve

Rim Nordic

Today's race had its "good, bad, and ugly". The "good" went my way with a win in the 35-39 Cat 2 race. Unfortunately, "bad and ugly" went to Paul...see the attached pics.

The race course was great. It had a lot of fun single track rollers, some steep power climbs, and some of the funniest semi-technical descents of any of the race venues. The 2 lap race started, and right from the gun, I found myself chasing after the 2 leaders that got away. Once I caught up to them, I sat 3rd wheel and followed for 1/2 a lap. We came up to a steep rocky technical climb and both riders in front of me took the wrong line up the climb had to dismount. They saw me coming up and cleared a path to let me get through. After that, I never saw them again. I felt great for most of the race, but w/ a 1/2 lap to go to the finish, my legs and body started to feel really fatigued. At that point, I was in survival mode and just tried to hold on to the finish. I came across the line w/ a few minutes on second place.

Paul's race was going good until he went over the bars and down a steep ravine on the final lap. When he came across the finish line, he was a bloody mess. After some time in the medical tent, some tears, and a few bandages, he was all better.

The most painful part of the day was waiting for the results. I knew I won, I just wanted to get my medal. We hung around waaaaay too long, but I finally got my medal, which happened to be made of plastic.

A few pics have been attached

Gabriel

Keyesville, Podiums and Good Times!

Last year, I made the trip w/ the CR'ers to the Keysville Classic MTB race to test the early season MTB legs on the 16 mile Sport Class race (8 mile loops). The race started and right from the gun I had a good lead on my group. A few looks over the shoulder and I could see my lead increasing. About a 1/3 of the way through the first lap and I'm feeling great...catching and passing the racers from the groups ahead. Then, somewhere along the course, I took a wrong turn and ended up going through the Start/Finish line only 4 miles into the race on what was supposed to be an 8 mile loop. I had no idea where I turned off. I rolled into the feed zone where Matt asked, "what happened?" I took a wrong turn when leading the race and was forced to DNF. That race bothered me all last season.

Well this Saturday, I made the trip again. I put no pressure on myself and just thought of doing my best. The 30-44 Sport Class had a good turn out and I was just hoping for a good showing. This time, I wasn't going to go off the front and get lost again. I planned on following a wheel through the first lap and put in a hard effort on the second lap. The race starts and I find myself off the front 1/4 of the way through the first lap. One look back and I have a huge gap. I decide to hit it hard and hope for the best. Going into the second lap, I take a quick look back and second place is nowhere in site. At this point I'm feeling good and thinking that I might pull off my first MTB win. Going into the finish, I pass some spectators and they yell, "no one in site, you got it." I come through and got the win, incuding the best time of the day for the Sport classes. It was a feeling of relief and satisfaction. I redeemed last year's screw up and my poor performance 2 weeks ago at the Nevada Stage Race. Today, I had the legs and the lungs.



As a team, we also had some other great performances, including another win by a CR'er. I'll let them give their reports, but I'll give you a hint. The winner of the 44+ Sport Class owns a bike shop in town :-) We got a bunch of top ten's and a lot of good times. As always, racing with the Rancher's is awesome.

Since we all like pics, I've attached a bunch from the trip.

Gabriel

Hello everyone,


The Keyesville Classic has been goin' on for twenty years, and is the first Mountain Bike race I ever did. It's definitely got an "Old School" feel to it and there are many people that always fit Keyesville into their race calendar. The course is one of the best anywhere with enough climbing to make your legs burn and enough fast technical descending to keep it interesting, and the scenery is pretty awesome as well.


They moved the Cross Country event to Saturday this year so me and a few other Chickens left Friday night to make the 4 hour drive to our chosen resting spot the Paradise Cove Lodge. It was kinda weird how we arrived around 11pm, went straight to our rooms, and left at 7:30am in the morning without ever seeing anybody. We never checked in. Never signed anything. There was no front desk. We just walked in, slept and left. Awesome! The rooms were actually better than expected. Mine and Roberts even had a TV but it took us 15 minutes to figure out how to turn it on, and another 30 minutes to figure out how to turn it off. We had the same problem with one of the lights so we just un-screwed the lightbulb....like I said..."Old School."


We awoke to a beautiful clear morning with frost on the ground but no clouds in the sky. When we arrived at the venue we found a perfect spot for the Chicken Rig right on the course. So we could basically sit on the tailgate and hand out water bottles. During the Sport race Matt Perry, Pete Sproul and I hung out and watched the action waiting to give the guys their feeds. Gabe was on fire, and at the end of the first lap he already had a huge lead and we knew he was gonna win barring catastrophe. Dave came through in 2nd place in his race but he didn't even take a bottle 'cause his eyes were so focused on the guy right in front of him who was leading at that point. I said to Perry "It's over. Nobody smells the finish line like Lettieri!" and I was right. He wasn't gonna let this chance to win his first MTB race slip thru his fingers. Rob Ramirez and Brian Bermudes had a good little battle going on with Bermudes coming out on top at the end. Normally it's Lettieri battling with Ramirez...or Zimmerman....or Gabe...or Jellison...or Cuttler. It's funny how everyone wants to beat Ramirez. I mean sure, he is a little annoying sometimes, but way down deep inside somewhere he's actually a really nice guy. The battle between Rod Garrat and Philip Friden never materialized because Philip adheres to the Robert Ramirez approach to bike maintenance. Which means....don't do any. As a result he had multiple mechanical issues and was unable to finish. We'll have to let them duke it out at the next race. Which for Rod will be next years Keyesville Classic.


After we handed out the bottles it was time for me to eat my normal pre-race meal. A peanutbutter and jelly sandwich. I went to my cooler and to my surprise found that I had remembered the loaf of bread, but forgot the peanutbutter and the Jelly. Instead of eating dry bread I went down to the expo area and ordered two breakfast burritos from the local food vendor. Not the smartest decision I've ever made. While I doubt it affected my performance in the race. It did have a profound affect on the flavor and texture of my burps for the next 2 hours. Our class was a combined 30 to 44 age group so I got to race with some of the younger guys for a change. Which I thoroughly enjoyed for the first lap and the third lap. I didn't enjoy it so much on the second lap mainly because they all rode away from me and I couldn't seem to do anything about it. I kept pluggin along and according to the other Chickens I finished in 6th place or so. I'm not really sure since we didn't stick around for the results. In fact when I came across the line, Dave grabbed my bike and began loading it in the car. Bermudes washed me off with a bottle of water, and Ramirez gave me a Coke and a smile and said "Let's go!" We were in the car and ready to go literally 10 minutes after I finished the race. Bermudes's water bottle shower was easily the most enjoyable part of my day.


The drive home was relaxing. Mostly because Dave was in a good mood and wasn't trying as hard to get back to the shop to sell bikes. Paul Donahoe was driving the other car and they also had a race winner in their vehicle as well so they seemed to be in good spirits. We stopped at local restaurant in Bakersfield to fill up our stomachs for the drive home. I can't remember the name of the place....something like "Kebobs R Us" or something like that. It wasn't too bad, and it fit our criteria for a post meal as outlined by Dave and Robert....."No shitholes!" That was Robert's request when asked where we should go to eat. We first attempted to go to some Hawaiian Bar-B-Que joint but Dave walked in then turned around and walked out and declared..."It's a shithole!" so we opted for Kebobs R Us instead.





During the drive home Paul Donohoe kept "drafting" or "sitting on the wheel" of the Chicken Rig all the way from Bakersfield to Ventura. We were using walkie-talkies to communicate between vehicles and when they pulled abruptly around us and proclaimed "We're gonna win the sprint!" before taking their exit to drop off Gabe, we used the oldest trick in the book to teach them a lesson about etiquette. We informed them that since we were on the same team we would not contest the sprint for the win and congratulated them on a job well done. As soon as they backed off the gas I punched it and the Chicken Rig accelerated like Cavendish in the last 500 meters. They tried to cover our move but alas it was too late and we crossed the finish line at the Victoria off ramp with our hands in the air and a comfortable "half-car-length" margin of victory! They'll try to tell you a different story, but in their heart of hearts I think they know.


Great weekend Chickens! Let's do it again!


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

Manhattan Beach Grand Prix

Today's race was bright and early w/ a 7:45am start time in Manhattan Beach w/ a full field of 120 riders. The 3's race didn't go as I had hoped. Similar to last weekend at San Pedro, my race ended on the last lap, but this time I had to walk my bike back to the car and I didn't get to cross the finish line. On the back straight of the last lap, I was sitting pretty at the front of the pack, when another rider on my right side decided to make a jump to his left. He jumped out of the saddle and made an abrupt move onto my line w/ nowhere for me to go. I was 1/2 of a bike length into him, but apparently he didn't see me. I tried to slow down and give him room, but the next thing I know I hear spokes popping and my front wheel jammed up inside my fork. His skewer took out my front wheel and my skewer took out his rear wheel. Fortunately, no one went down and the only damage was a few broken spokes and the need for a front wheel rebuild. I'm a bit disappointed, but then again, that's racing. When you race crits, you put yourself and your equipment on the line.

Gabriel

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

A Couple More Elings Race Reports

Mike Abbott, who is Mr. Mountain Bike has a quick race report below followed by Mr. Sproul (dirt boy) and some photos. The photo credits go to Pete and Gabe. Thanks for sending them in guys.

it was a great weekend, got to see a lot of ranchers out beating the trail, thanks to matt and the feed zone we were all in good supply fluids, I was able to catch the first place rider in xc on the decent of the second lap, but on the end of the second lap climb he got by, i kept him in sight on the last lap up the pavement but did not see him till i was going south and he was crossing the line for the finish, he got me by more than a minute. the down hill on the other hand I got first!!, the super d came in fifth, due to the rule i did not know(you are suppose to drink a few beers shortly before the start if you want to claim a podium spot) that rule may need some tweaking to fine the proper mount of courage fluid!! Great job everyone.

Mike


Hard?!? Yeah, that was hard, one of the harder races I’ve done in a long time. I blew so hard on the fourth lap I wasn’t sure I was going to finish. Actually, maybe that was the second lap? I started off with what I though was a pretty mellow effort but after checking my first split and seeing around 27:30, I knew I needed to back it off a bit. I was sitting in 8th or 9th and had to figure out how to slow down and still pass people! Fortunately, that turned out to be quite easy as guys started popping big time about halfway through the second lap. By the end of the lap I’d moved up to 5th and just tried to maintain. The laps got harder and the lap times slower; 28 something for lap two, 29 something for lap three and about a 33 minute final lap. On lap three I was seriously overheating so I decided to roll around in the dirt for a bit. Didn’t really help but made for some good pictures. Best part was forgetting I was cramping in both legs and could hardly pedal and being able to pretend I was racing and sprint the last 100 yards with Matt! I’m sure it wasn’t nearly as fun to watch as Ramirez and Blinger but we gave it a shot. Fun times, too bad we have to wait three months to do it again!!



Great job to everyone else who was out there racing or just hanging out and yelling. Especially Jelly for talking me into racing SuperD on Sat. I’d forgotten what it was like on the podium and the 8 min race effort didn’t affect putting one foot in front of the other like I’m having trouble doing today!

Pete

Gabe, throwin down at Sea Otter

35+ Cat 4 Road Race
The road race started bright and early at 8am on Friday morning. It was foggy, a bit chilly, and there was a constant breeze. The race got underway w/ the neutral start down into the valley where we were scheduled to run 6 laps and end w/ the final climb out of the valley to the uphill finish. There were 3 CR’s in the race w/ Pete Sproul, Mitch Karno, and myself. The game plan from the beginning was simple…. survive until the final climb and grind it out to the finish.

The race started off on the .5 mile climb at a hard tempo. The climbers were off the front and determined to split the group. Once at the top of the climb, it was carnage behind and the group was divided in half. We were down to about 25 riders in the lead group w/ all the CR’ers still present. The pace was a constant hard tempo around the course w/ the pace picking up every time up the .5 mile climb.

At the halfway point, we were down to 17 riders and going into the final 2 laps, it became evident that no one else was going to be getting dropped. The group appeared to take it a little easier on the final lap, saving their legs for the final push up the 2k finishing climb. Once we started climbing out of the valley, the pace picked up and riders started to drop off the back. Pete and I managed to stay w/ the lead group up until the final 1k where the hill kicked up and got steeper. Both Pete and I got unhitched and began to lose ground on the leaders. The race ended w/ Pete coming in 8th place and me right behind in 9th. Mitch gave it all he had and came in just outside the top 20.

Once I came across the finish line, I rode up to Pete to give him a pat on the back for a job well done. But before I could say “good job Pete,” his first words out of his mouth were, “Gabe, I finally beat you!” Apparently Pete wasn’t racing against the other 50 riders, his goal was to come in before me. What Pete didn’t realize was that once he attacked for his 8th place finish, I was playing the team role and blocking for him, guaranteeing his top 10 finish. Although Pete doesn’t believe my “blocking for him” excuse, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! As far as I was concerned, there wasn’t an inner squad rivalry between Pete and myself, but after Pete’s untimely comment, there is now!!! :o)

35+ Cat 4 Circuit Race
After Friday's road race, which was suited for the climbers, I was looking forward to Saturday's Circuit Race which was more suited to my strengths. The course is fast w/ one steep, but short climb.

The race started w/ a hard tempo leading into the first climb. I was surprised that the pace started so hard, so early. At the start of the race we had over 40 riders, but going into the final 6 circuits, we were down to only 8 of us. Of those 8, there were 2 teams represented w/ 2 riders each. And from the way all four of them were chatting, it appeared they all knew each other. With the 6 circuits remaining, one of the riders from the represented teams went off the front. I sat in waiting for someone to chase and see how the other team would react. It became obvious that there were 3 riders of the remaining 7 blocking and neutralizing any organized chase for the rider off the front. I glanced around and the remaining solo riders were looking gassed, including me. It was now a race for 2nd. On the final circuit and coming into the final corner, I positioned myself perfectly on 3rd wheel. I tried to catch everyone off guard and lead it out early, but I made the mistake of shifting down and sprinting at the same time. My chain didn’t like the torque w/ the shift, and the chain skipped. My plan of catching everyone off guard failed once my chain skipped and I had a hesitated pedal stroke. I did manage to wind up the sprint and hold on for a 4th place finish and a spot on the podium.

I left Sea Otter satisfied w/ my efforts and results. My goals coming into the races were top 10 finishes. I successfully accomplished my goals and exceeded them w/ a podium finish in the Circuit Race. With the season halfway over, it’s time to take a few weeks off from racing and start to recover physically and mentally.

See you on the road,
Gabriel

Matt's Sea Otter Wrap Up

Hello,

Great race reports everyone! I always enjoy reading those. I have to say that this years Sea Otter will go down on record as the funnest one yet. I think we had over 50 people from Santa Barbara either camping with us, or stopping by to say hi, or warm-up on trainers, or just hang out. The only problem is that there are so many different races and events happening at the same time it's hard to pick one to watch. I got to watch Susie and Kimberly's Circuit race and I also saw Gabe and Mitch's Circuit race. My kids had a blast and are already talking about next year! How many bike races can you say that about? They have pump tracks and obstacle courses and jumps set up for kids of all ages and they're all free. Plus the kids love just cruisin' around and getting free stickers and swag from all the vendors. Actually, so do some of the adults! Congrats to all the people who performed well. I know we had a few Chickens on the podium. I know Susie got a 4th in the Cat 3 Road Race and Gabe got a 4th in the Cat 4 Circuit Race and I managed a 2nd in the Cat 3 Circuit race. If I'm forgetting anyone I apologize.



I'll give a quick run down of the two Cat 3 races I did. It's funny, last weekend in I.V. and Ojai I felt like I had great legs and yet I made poor tactical decisions and never gave myself a shot at winning. At Sea Otter I felt like I had crappy legs but I rode smart and gave myself a chance at the end. In the Circuit race I had a really good chance, but I didn't have the legs to close the deal and got pimped at the line and ended up 2nd........again! I feel like I have a 400lb. 2nd place gorilla on my back! I've tried asking him to leave politely but it's not working. I think I'm gonna have to try drastic measures.......like training smarter! In the Road Race I was with the lead group to the base of the final climb but quickly realized you can't hide bad form on an uphill finish. I got spit out the back and ended up 29th. But then I rode back to our campsite and saw my kids all sweaty and tired with big smiles on their faces and lots of stickers on their bikes and life was good! We all sat around camp exchanging stories of how hard it was with the wind, or how cold it was and how we would do things differently next time. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that just getting out there and doing it is the important part. How we finish just changes the story we tell our family and friends. The important thing is having a story to tell, and people to share it with.

I'll try to plan a Team dinner in the near future so we can all exchange stories in person for a change. Thanks to everyone for representing Team Chicken Ranch with gritty determination and positive attitudes. Hopefully, we all inspire other people to get out there and do the same. Keep training hard, and having fun and I'll see you all out on the road.

Sincerely,

Matt