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.