The View From the Rail

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

San Marcos Crit

So a couple of weeks ago Saskia and myself drove down to LA to visit some friends and I also planned on racing down in northern San Diego with Chcuk and Ryan from Las Vegas. Long story short, it was my very first cat3 race and I was pretty excited for it, especially because I was going finally race with Chcuk! Anyway, about 10 minutes into the race my gears started to play tricks on me, skipping up and down, and then finally just not shifting... before I know it, I look up and the race is down the road. Bummer. I managed to finish the race however, with access to only a couple of working gears. I guess it's important to note that there was a short and punchy climb on the backside of the 1.7 mile course which presented a problem for me with my messed up drivetrain. When I got back home, I realized my rear derailleur cable was fraying all over the place inside the hood. Need to grease that more often, thanks to the tip of Travis from Freewheel. Good thing that cable didn't snap during the race! Nonetheless, we all had a good time racing and hanging out, even though it was just for the day. We'll all be racing together again in September here in the bay area, which should be lots of fun.

-As always, thanks a bunch to Saskia for driving and taking photos =)

Ryan in the 4's

Myself

Chcuk

-Joe

Monday, August 2, 2010

Sky

One of my favorite race photos that I've seen in a while - this is during the UK championships that Gerraint Thomas won. These guys are DIGGING!

Seen at pezcyclingnews.com, photo by Ed Hood

-Joe

Updates...

Sorry for the lack of posts recently. The days have been pretty busy for me with work, riding, and racing. Although between my last post about the San Rafael crit and now, I have made the upgrade to cat3, so I'm pretty stoked on that. Obviously the racing is a bit more punchy and aggressive, so it makes for good racing, and ultimately it's going to make me a stronger and smarter rider (hopefully!) which was my original goal at the beginning of my first road racing season.... also, Rainier is about to make the leap to cat2 in his first full season... we both started as cat5's this year, and I'm pretty damn stoked for him. Good job man, maybe I'll see you there sometime in the next couple of years haha... Two days ago at the Copper Town circuit race I also met Fergus for the first time, and got to race with him and Rainier. Then yesterday we all raced the Timpani crit in Santa Clara and I saw first hand "how it's done" in my first cat3 crit race. With one to go Rainier blasted up to the front to lead out Fergus for the win and it was awesome. Rainier was so stoked for Fergus, that I got super juiced too! Stoked for both of them, and when results like that happen, it motivates me to get myself up there too. Pack finish for me, as I just had a lapse of concentration with 2 or 3 laps to go. Not really sure what happened, but before you know it, it's the last lap and I was too late trying to make my way up to the front. Quite disappointed with that, considering I feel pretty good about positioning myself for the end of the race, but what can you do. Oh well, no excuses, my legs were more or less toast at the end anyway. Time to get back on it!

I will post photos of the past couple of races in the next couple of days. Pretty excited for September as well, with some friends from Las Vegas planning to visit and race up here. It's all been our first year of road racing, and I met Ryan, Chcuk, and Nathan through HOC and riding track bikes. Good dudes, and I think they're all doing pretty well this year. Actually Chcuk is a cat3 also and has been racing for a couple of years. He's the strongest Filipino rider I know HA!

Oh yeah, new HOC kits are being worked on right now by Jonathan and myself, and they're going to be sick so stay tuned...

-Joe

Monday, July 12, 2010

San Rafael Twilight Criterium

I wish we raced at twilight but of course they timed it so that the Pro 1/2's would race as the sun would set and it was pretty awesome. Ken Hanson of TT1 took it over Rasaan Bahati...

Beautiful day for bike racing that day in downtown San Rafael. For some reason by the look of the mapped out course online, I thought it was going to be a boring 4 corner crit. When we got there, I was stoked to see there was a small little uphill coming out of the first turn, then after the back stretch there was a small downhill part into the final corner which made for a fun and fast race. As with the beginning of any race, I looked around to see if there was anyone I had not raced with before, in addition to seeing the usual suspects of the cat 4 races. Good to see Joshua there from Mission Cycling, always a nice dude. The race itself went pretty smooth. Not too many attacks as they would always be brought back right after the uphill section. Going into it, I knew that I had to be in good position (meaning the first 3 or 4 guys) coming out of the last turn to have a chance at the sprint for the win. The whole race I pretty much sat and floated around 7th-8th position not having to expend too much energy. The last two laps picked up in pace and I managed to move myself close to the front of the race in 3rd position if I remember correctly, and that's how it ended up. I took 3rd in the sprint to the line and that was that. Legs felt good, and I'm wondering if I could have started the sprint a tiny bit earlier? I just felt like I could have sprinted a tiny bit longer... Maybe not. It's all a blur at the sprint anyway isn't it?! Nonetheless, I was stoked for my first podium placing. After coming so close the last couple of races, although not taking first, I'm satisfied with third for now. That finish got me my points I needed towards the upgrade to Cat3 so we'll see how it goes. On a side note, Rainier took 3rd in the Cat3 race as well, and went on to race the next day in Lodi and took 3rd Again! there after getting into a 5 man break the last 8 laps, staying clear of the field. Keep riding strong dude!