Hello race fans! This weekend started with a trip to San Diego to Barrio Logan. Yes it is in the Barrio. The atmosphere is wonderful down at this race. Families, kids, everything. The prize list was really good too. The course is a figure 8 and came with a healthy helping of WIND! We had three riders in the race, Jose, Paul Che (First race with the team, great to have him with us!) Some fast boys showed up and were ready to roll. Roll we did. From the gun the pace was high and 70 minutes would at times feel like forever. I didn't get a full warm up with is normally fine but when there is nowhere to hide it makes the first quarter of the race painful. There were some breaks from the beginning but nothing was staying off for more than a lap. I would have to say that 90% of this race was single file at least. I was able to get off the front into a move (break) here and there but nothing really stuck. I was getting really tired at times but then recovered and ready to go again. Sometimes I'd be close to the back of the pack thinking how the heck am I ever going to get to the front again much less off the front of this train. Not too long after that thought went through my head a little voice popped up. It was a girls voice and no it wasn't the one in my head. I might shave my legs but I don't work that way. ;) It was my friend Dotsie yelling at me, "now is the time!" By the next corner I was off the front with five other guys all of which are strong but not a part of the big teams that showed up. Maybe this will get away because it doesn't look to be to much of a threat. We hammered for 3 laps until some more riders bridged up. They countered the break and I went with them. At the time I wasn't thinking but after a few seconds I thought "why did I do that?" I wanted to go back and rest. LATER. We stayed off for another two laps. After we got caught I was blown and it took everything to jump into the field back up to speed and rest. With about 12 minutes to go I wanted to get Paul up to the front so he could light up the sprint. Paul is so quick it's not even funny. Now looking at the effort I went too early. Once we race together a few times it will start to click better but Paul can always make the best of the situation. i'm looking forward to more races with him. Once we got up close to the front Jason from RPM took off and I went after him. He can move and if I could just get to him then that just might work. It might as well have been 100 miles. I never came close and I was cooked. Paul and Jose were now in the mix and the race ramped up even more. It was already flat out and going faster seemed impossible. Jason would be caught and ride in the back of the pack with me. With a lap to go things started to get dicey and into the finish straight I sat up at the back of the pack looking for Paul and Jose. Paul came in 13th and Jose 18th. Great job to both and it was great to have Jose back racing. Sunday was San Luis Rey road race where we would do 7 laps with about 1000 feet of climbing each lap. This race is always hard and would break up very early. Seasilver and RPM had a lot of guys and Ben Brooks from Jelly Belly was there again. It was going to be very fast. My legs were very tired from the day before but I was hoping to just make it over the first climb and then loosen up the legs after that. As we started up it was already going pretty hard. Not too bad though. I was fine and through the feel zone I was able to spot my friend Debbie who would make my day possible. We screamed down the hill at over 50mph and the group settled in. On the back stretch there were a few attacks and I knew that if I had a chance in the race I would have to get a jump on the climb. There was a break up the road by about 30 seconds and with a right hand turn coming up that would lead into the main climb and back to the start. So still in the head wind I took off to try and bridge up. So I made the turn and now had a tailwind on a false flat. This is where I can really roll. That is all the way up until the climb. I could see the pack and Ben Brooks on the front. Uh Oh! I was in major trouble. The pack caught and passed me like it was a sign post. The pack was gone and I wasn't too far off the support truck for a while and as long as I had that in sight I knew I might have a chance to catch the field on the decent. That would not happen. My day was cooked. I caught some of the SDBC riders and four of us started to work together. All of us were 6 feet and more than 170lbs. Funny how that works. Most of the guys the second time up the climb were just like "hey let just back off we aren't going to catch them". I had come for a race and since that was gone I needed to get some miles in. Chris from SDBC was cool with tempo and we rolled along together thinking that we'd get at least 3 laps in. We never let up and as the laps soon ticked off we both though that since we'd gone that far we might as well do the whole friggin' thing. Debbie was feeding me and the hand offs were perfect like she had been doing it forever. Without that I would have been either dead or done at 3 laps for sure. Chris and I talk about a lot of stuff and noticed that we had seen a ton of wildlife. The list stood at a snake, loose dog ( very scary if they come at you or straight into a pack), a roadrunner, and even a bobcat. Yes even though we were out there hurting we still noticed those things. How often do you see a roadrunner and a bobcat much less during a bike race! During the second to last lap we made sure we really kept the gas on. We didn't want to get lapped. We tried getting info on what was happening up the road but everyone thought they'd say something funny. We finally got some good info and figured that we were ok. Going into the last time up the first hill I wanted to die. Debbie had left the feed zone because everyone had left. We were the only ones out there. She saw us and turned around to make sure I got my last bottle. You are amazing Debbie. Oh ya, she raced her first race, had a great finish, fed me all on Mothers Day! I don't know what I did but I felt pretty darn special out there as she gave up most of her day to feed me. I really can't explain what it means to racers to have a feeder but they are hero's in my eyes. Chris and I also started a list of what would be in our future. Ah... a double double from In-N-Out... yes,and a shake! Ok so it's not a crazy race report with guys attacking all over the place but this was really hard to slug out. You gotta keep yourself motivated to get to the finish. Pain is only temporary and this was going to be one of those days that would make me just a little tougher. As Chris and I finished even the officials clapped for us. It ended up that we had out lasted a lot of the field and he finished 26th in the 1's and I finished 20th in the 2's. Thanks Chris for riding out that race with me. Now I get to look forward to Tour of Utah. Yeah! On the way home my legs were twitching and I was cooked. It's funny that I had a blast out there at the same time. A good friend told me that I was living the dream. I thought about that when I was on the course and it put a smile on my face. I do really love this stuff even if I do get killed out there. Again thank you all for your support and feedback. It doesn't get over looked one bit. Each one of you matter when it comes down to diggin' deep. Below is a link to a picture from the crit. I'm going to go roll around on my foam roller now. Until next weekend.
Hey Nate, I am over 6 feet and nearly 170 and I won that race... with Ryan Lane- also over 6' and 170+ in 2nd... don't make excuses!!! Big boys make some noise. See you in a couple weeks at Tour of Freakin' Utah (must be under 5'7 and 120 lbs to be competitive). Hahaha. RB
4 comments:
Hey, someone drop by and ask Saul how much motorcycle riding he's getting in these days...
Seriously, though, hope he's getting better quick-like.
Hello race fans!
This weekend started with a trip to San Diego to Barrio Logan. Yes it
is in the Barrio. The atmosphere is wonderful down at this race. Families,
kids, everything. The prize list was really good too. The course is a figure
8 and came with a healthy helping of WIND! We had three riders in the race,
Jose, Paul Che (First race with the team, great to have him with us!) Some
fast boys showed up and were ready to roll. Roll we did. From the gun the
pace was high and 70 minutes would at times feel like forever. I didn't get
a full warm up with is normally fine but when there is nowhere to hide it
makes the first quarter of the race painful. There were some breaks from the
beginning but nothing was staying off for more than a lap. I would have to
say that 90% of this race was single file at least. I was able to get off
the front into a move (break) here and there but nothing really stuck. I was
getting really tired at times but then recovered and ready to go again.
Sometimes I'd be close to the back of the pack thinking how the heck am I
ever going to get to the front again much less off the front of this train.
Not too long after that thought went through my head a little voice popped
up. It was a girls voice and no it wasn't the one in my head. I might shave
my legs but I don't work that way. ;) It was my friend Dotsie yelling at me,
"now is the time!" By the next corner I was off the front with five other
guys all of which are strong but not a part of the big teams that showed up.
Maybe this will get away because it doesn't look to be to much of a threat.
We hammered for 3 laps until some more riders bridged up. They countered the
break and I went with them. At the time I wasn't thinking but after a few
seconds I thought "why did I do that?" I wanted to go back and rest. LATER.
We stayed off for another two laps. After we got caught I was blown and it
took everything to jump into the field back up to speed and rest. With about
12 minutes to go I wanted to get Paul up to the front so he could light up
the sprint. Paul is so quick it's not even funny. Now looking at the effort
I went too early. Once we race together a few times it will start to click
better but Paul can always make the best of the situation. i'm looking
forward to more races with him. Once we got up close to the front Jason from
RPM took off and I went after him. He can move and if I could just get to
him then that just might work. It might as well have been 100 miles. I never
came close and I was cooked. Paul and Jose were now in the mix and the race
ramped up even more. It was already flat out and going faster seemed
impossible. Jason would be caught and ride in the back of the pack with me.
With a lap to go things started to get dicey and into the finish straight I
sat up at the back of the pack looking for Paul and Jose. Paul came in 13th
and Jose 18th. Great job to both and it was great to have Jose back racing.
Sunday was San Luis Rey road race where we would do 7 laps with
about 1000 feet of climbing each lap. This race is always hard and would
break up very early. Seasilver and RPM had a lot of guys and Ben Brooks from
Jelly Belly was there again. It was going to be very fast. My legs were very
tired from the day before but I was hoping to just make it over the first
climb and then loosen up the legs after that. As we started up it was
already going pretty hard. Not too bad though. I was fine and through the
feel zone I was able to spot my friend Debbie who would make my day
possible. We screamed down the hill at over 50mph and the group settled in.
On the back stretch there were a few attacks and I knew that if I had a
chance in the race I would have to get a jump on the climb. There was a
break up the road by about 30 seconds and with a right hand turn coming up
that would lead into the main climb and back to the start. So still in the
head wind I took off to try and bridge up. So I made the turn and now had a
tailwind on a false flat. This is where I can really roll. That is all the
way up until the climb. I could see the pack and Ben Brooks on the front. Uh
Oh! I was in major trouble. The pack caught and passed me like it was a sign
post. The pack was gone and I wasn't too far off the support truck for a
while and as long as I had that in sight I knew I might have a chance to
catch the field on the decent. That would not happen. My day was cooked. I
caught some of the SDBC riders and four of us started to work together. All
of us were 6 feet and more than 170lbs. Funny how that works. Most of the
guys the second time up the climb were just like "hey let just back off we
aren't going to catch them". I had come for a race and since that was gone I
needed to get some miles in. Chris from SDBC was cool with tempo and we
rolled along together thinking that we'd get at least 3 laps in. We never
let up and as the laps soon ticked off we both though that since we'd gone
that far we might as well do the whole friggin' thing. Debbie was feeding me
and the hand offs were perfect like she had been doing it forever. Without
that I would have been either dead or done at 3 laps for sure. Chris and I
talk about a lot of stuff and noticed that we had seen a ton of wildlife.
The list stood at a snake, loose dog ( very scary if they come at you or
straight into a pack), a roadrunner, and even a bobcat. Yes even though we
were out there hurting we still noticed those things. How often do you see a
roadrunner and a bobcat much less during a bike race! During the second to
last lap we made sure we really kept the gas on. We didn't want to get
lapped. We tried getting info on what was happening up the road but everyone
thought they'd say something funny. We finally got some good info and
figured that we were ok. Going into the last time up the first hill I wanted
to die. Debbie had left the feed zone because everyone had left. We were the
only ones out there. She saw us and turned around to make sure I got my last
bottle. You are amazing Debbie. Oh ya, she raced her first race, had a great
finish, fed me all on Mothers Day! I don't know what I did but I felt pretty
darn special out there as she gave up most of her day to feed me. I really
can't explain what it means to racers to have a feeder but they are hero's
in my eyes. Chris and I also started a list of what would be in our future.
Ah... a double double from In-N-Out... yes,and a shake! Ok so it's not
a crazy race report with guys attacking all over the place but this was
really hard to slug out. You gotta keep yourself motivated to get to the
finish. Pain is only temporary and this was going to be one of those days
that would make me just a little tougher. As Chris and I finished even the
officials clapped for us. It ended up that we had out lasted a lot of the
field and he finished 26th in the 1's and I finished 20th in the 2's. Thanks
Chris for riding out that race with me. Now I get to look forward to Tour of
Utah. Yeah! On the way home my legs were twitching and I was cooked. It's
funny that I had a blast out there at the same time. A good friend told me
that I was living the dream. I thought about that when I was on the course
and it put a smile on my face. I do really love this stuff even if I do get
killed out there. Again thank you all for your support and feedback. It
doesn't get over looked one bit. Each one of you matter when it comes down
to diggin' deep. Below is a link to a picture from the crit. I'm going to go
roll around on my foam roller now. Until next weekend.
- Nate
Team Sotheby's
http://www.pbase.com/tdpg/image/43141845
http://www.pbase.com/tdpg/image/43136804
dude.. nate, get your own blog.. its free... blogger.com...
Hey Nate, I am over 6 feet and nearly 170 and I won that race... with Ryan Lane- also over 6' and 170+ in 2nd... don't make excuses!!! Big boys make some noise. See you in a couple weeks at Tour of Freakin' Utah (must be under 5'7 and 120 lbs to be competitive). Hahaha.
RB
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