The Finish

Thanks for Veronica Lenzi (www.veronikalenzi.com) I have a picture of yesterday's finish.

Carrera de San Rafael

Bike Rx rides to its second victory! One of the best crits in the NorCal circuit tonight's twilight race illustrates the fun, tactical nature of crit racing. After a day at the shop, Scott and Tryon road to the race in San Rafael for a good 45min warm up, arriving just as the Masters 1-2-3 warmed up the crowd for our CAT 4 race.

Our friends from Dolce Vita, Rich Stagliano of Live Fit Medicine, Devon Koch, and Steve O joined the group of 90 riders for the many laps around this fairly technical course.

With wind in our face, no one broke away. Patience and calm kept the race safe but tactically challenging. With several strong teams (ie. Kovarus, Active Athlete/Squadra, and Whole Athlete), Team Bike Rx stayed near the front to attack on the final lap.

Following a strong wheel into the second to last corner Scott emerged from the final corner, hesitated not, and hit the gas for the 350 or so meters to the finish. A second victory in two weeks. Looks like CAT 3 is right around the corner.

A great day on the road!

Bike Racing - 1st Season

Over the past 2 years, since I returned to the bike after an injury that kept me off the bike for 4 years, I have been trying to get back into good cycling shape. Last year, with a year under my legs, I entered some of the local cycle cross races. Cross, after all, always appealed to me and it seemed like a good transition to the world of cycling. Little by little my partner Colin encouraged me to ride the road bike to obtain better riding fitness. I refused. I bought a MTB and hit the trails as often as possible. Colin and I road 3-4 days a week, starting night rides on Thursday nights with friends and clients. Last year, when Chris Reed joined our team, it became inevitable that I'd get a road bike. While Chris too shared a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for the MTB, he too road a few days a week to maintain his overall ride fitness. So last year I started to ride the road bike. It was fun. Much more fun that I anticipated. After a year on the road and most of the MTB races over, I thought I would try my hand at road racing. I remember watching Colin's twin brother Aaron Beardsley race the Pro 1-2 San Rafael crit last August. It was so exciting. I thought it would be fun to race a local road race or crit with some of our clients and friends who also race the local races. When I decided to sign up for the San Rafael crit early this year, I realized that one had to be a Cat 4 to enter the race. No crash 5 welcomed. I decided to start planning to race this spring and summer to officially upgrade to the 4s and race this August in San Rafael. Well, here we are in the beginning of August and I am a week away from racing the CAT 4 crit in San Rafael.

These past few months of road and crit racing have been so much fun. I raced my first road race at Sea Otter, passing up the MTB XC race to get some road upgrade points. I travelled from Livermore to Santa Clara to Berkeley to Menlo Park and little by little I counted off the 10 races to upgrade. With three Cat 4 crits and one Cat 4 road race (Pescadero) under my belt I think I am ready for San Rafael. Yesterday's victory at the Timpani Road crit was glorious. I have never won a race before (except for a few wins at the training races in Santa Rosa (Colin quickly reminds me that the Santa Rosa Corporate Crits are training races!) and a Cat C cross race last winter but that is all. This year, in reality, has been both fun and frustrating. I have gotten "so many" 2nd place finishes that my friends have been calling me "deuce." Victory yesterday at Timpani was sweet!

So, what is the point of this blog? Well, I thought it would be fun to share some of my experience with you on the local race circuit, perhaps inspiring you to come join me at the next local race. A few of our clients have already joined me at the Santa Rosa crits the past few weeks and my friend Tyron, a seasoned crit racers, recently upgraded with me to CAT 4. He has become a real domestique, guiding me through the crazy packs of riders at the most opportune moment for a strong finish. I big thanks for Tryon for all his help this season.

Here are some pictures of my season thus far. I hope you enjoy these pages of my "race history" in '08. Many race updates to follow.

Day 7 – Last Stage: Whistler Mountain 46km

Day 7 – Last Stage: Whistler Mountain

Too tired to write last night after the final stage, we now make our way back home relishing in our accomplishment.
What a great race. To our amazement, we finished unbroken and in one piece, which includes our bikes: we had not one mechanical, not one flat. Truly amazing. Over 500 kms and both our bikes and our bodies are in one piece. Not even a major fall. Considering over 50 teams did not finish the race due to mechanical issues or crashes, we did amazingly well. Grant’s smooth technical descending worked well. Not too fast, not too slow, just right. We passed so many riders whose rapid descents caused minor and major issues. Grant is the man.. As you can see from the photo.. all nicely dressed in the Bike Rx kit.

Yesterday’s final stage commenced with one of the hardest climbs of the race. After a short road hill climbs, we quickly hit double track up one of Blackcomb’s double track/cat track trails up the mountain. A 40 minutes climb, 3000 feet. Though the stage’s total distance was the shortest thus far, just 47kms, we did over 5000+ vertical feet for a second day at race pace and the first climb nearly killed us. Riders were cracking all over. I think we too showed our fatigue. While the opportunity presented itself for a 20th place position if we attacked on the hill, the legs were just not there. Knowing we were in for a hilly day, we decided to take it steady like all week long and once again it did us well. I think we finished 25th for the day.
We took the shop video camera so we have some race video that we are now going to edit for your review. We can’t show you how we cracked or were passed by the pro girls team in the last 1km.

All in all, today’s finish was glorious. Once again no issues, neither mechanical nor mental nor physical. We did “our thing” as Grant says and are now on our way home with only positive things to say of the BC Bike Race.

A summary entry of the week to follow...

Day 6 - The Best of Squamish

An epic BC single track day. Hard climbs (think climbing Bobcat in TV 8 times straight) then descending the sickest, most illegal trail on Tam (x 10 in quality).. think northside to Potrero meadows to cross country boys.. all day long. Super fun and fast. Race time 4:22 minutes; 65k.

The competition is crumbling around us. War of attrition. We currently sit in 22nd place. With no major falls and no flats again today we are riding a very good race and now wish it went on for another week (not really; but if it did, we would be top 10 for sure). The race-pace starts are the hardest part but fortunately today there were no major crashes.

A good day on the hill and now time for bed. We are staying in Squamish, a town known for its single track.

tomorrow we are off to Whistler for the final stage. While only 47km, it is suppose to be an epic 4hr race.

Wish us luck.

Day 5 Sechelt - Squamish

another long day. only 64 km but with 5 days under our legs (and on our asses) we are getting tired. 4:50 minutes. not our best ride thus far. I think the long days, early mornings and late nights are taking their toll.

Today's stage was very technical with lots of climbs. What we anticipated to be a shorter stage than yesterday turned out to be longer and harder. Grant's cold showed its signs today and his inability to eat made it a long and hard stage. Fortunately he is a kiwi and rides hard no matter what the situation. I on the other hand have no excuse. I am simply tired. These young, untested legs showed their limits today. And while it sounds bad, our overall position is unchanged. We held steady at 25th position, gaining on a few and loosing to a few (in overall minutes).

The ride began again with a hard road start that lead to another ugly road crash. One of the top 10 riders caught the wheel of another at 40km/hour on a downhill and sure enough it was load cracks and bodies all over the ground. Ugly. Not a fun way to start a 5hr race. Fortunately Grant and I were far enough away that we were unaffected. The pace quickly increased and the pack entered the first single and double track for the day w/ a long 5km climb to the first downhill section. As usual the 500 rides began to split up and we settled in for another long, hot day on the hills.

The technical riding was superb and final 10 km were all downhill w/ banked corners, log bridges and sweeping switch backs. I truly unique cycling experience.

that is all for now.. back to a large pizza and lots of water. Grant is already sleeping, with two nyquil down the hatch. I hope the poor guy feels better tomorrow. I am so proud of him for sticking it out. Begin sick is no fun and boy he is digging deep to finish this race.

Stage 6 tomorrow. 9am start.

Scott

a post race dip in the pacific ocean (Georgia Straits)