UCSB Race reports

[carmi]

Let's hear some race reports

[RWB]

Super fun.
Megan killed it.  Lots of people made some good moves and some good finishes.  Some first time racers did pretty well (top 10s)!  Jack is a beast.  You guys are all super cool.

[carmi]

UCSB Crit, MA
Distance: 60 min
Teammates racing: Alex and Julian
Placing: 13th

First collegiate race of the year, must say it was hellsa of fun. Race was pretty fast but not that hard considering the course was fairly boring. There was a nasty headwind on the backside which I guess made up for it. The usual big name culprits were there, UCD, Cal poly etc. and even a surprise showing by pro Eric Bennet. There were alot of attacks which Alex, Julian and I were able to cover for the most part. I tried my hand at a few breakaways but nothing stuck. With probably about 8 to go a break of 10 got away containing all the big name schools and included Julian. This meant I had to go on the defensive to help keep the break up the road. I tried following any bridge attempts and with the help of Alex the break stuck. Coming into the final lap I set myself up with good positioning. UNR tried setting up some sort of lead out train and by the final corner they had all disbanded that plan. I followed behind them to the final corner and bided my time a little bit for the final dash to the line. I ended up 3rd in the field sprint. Definitely not a bad way to start the collegiate season. Nice to have a couple teammates too.

UCSB Road Race, MA
Distance: 62 miles
Teammates: Julian, Alex
Placing- I think 12th?

Pretty much the same story as the crit. Break got away pretty early and despite having 8 guys Stanford was not interested in chasing. This lead to alot of attacks by Eric Bennett but to no avail. Julian managed to get into the break again and I stayed in the pack. With 2 laps to go, two cal poly guys managed to put in a massive move and bridge up to the break .By the last lap the peloton had dwindled down to about 10 of us somehow and it was all fairly calm until after the climb when the attacks started to happen. It did manage to stay altogether though and coming into the final sprint I started cramping up a bit and rolled in somewhere between 11-13. Not 100% sure on placing as I didn't stick around for results.

It was nice to see so many new faces at the races and to watch UCSC crush, keep up the good work kiddos. Let's hear how everyone elses races went.

[joy]

WA Crit report

40 minutes of head winds and hacking up a lung. Not fun. I've heard the other girls comment on how this was the most aggressive crit they have raced collegiately and I can probably attest to this despite being a rookie to the league. Anyway, there were constant attacks from the get go and I just sat in and hung on. It probably was an acceleration for a prime that chopped me off at 12 minutes to go. I chilled until they came around and lapped me, then I hopped back aboard and sat in again. Didn't whip out the guns for the final sprint cause I'd been lapped. Thus, I won the backwards race yet again. Considering that I was well under the weather, it was not too demoralizing. At least the rain had stayed away. I decided to race the cat 3/4s an hour later, which went better. It was significantly slower and less aggressive and I managed to pull out an ok result even though I had nothing in the tank after being destroyed by the previous race.

WA Road Race report

They went off around noontime or so while I was deliriously laying on the side of the road. I yelled at them to wait for me, but then I realized that I was not in chamois, nor did I register or get my number. Oops. At this point, I sat back down and watched Adam fling Ritz crackers 1500 feet across the road. I was thoroughly impressed, though Ryland clearly thought otherwise. Anyway, had I been on my bike that day and about 100 times not sick, I think I would've done fair since this course did not have much climbing.

Everyone did me damn proud though and I had hella fun hanging out with you all off the bike. Good work team.

[JamieP]

MB Crit Report

Despite the headwinds and a lot of seemingly strong UCLA and UCD riders, this was probably one of the slower crits so far this year. That being said, Davis, Cal Poly and UCLA did a pretty good job of controlling the race. The massive headwind on the backside made it a little hard to move up at times. My legs didn't feel very snappy for some reason (most likely the all nighter I pulled two days before), so I spent a fair amount of time just sitting in, just hoping I'd have something for the sprint. I saw both Ricardo and Stephen up front, looking good. My legs never really felt better, so I sat up at the sprint...good training race.

E4 Crit

I almost didn't race this race in favor of feeling better the next day for the RR, but I had paid for it already, so there you go. This race, on the other hand, was one of the fastest so far this year. My legs felt better this time around. There were lots of accelerations from the older gentlemen throughout the first half, none of which stuck. Then the field got split apart by an attack by (I think) a UNR rider with a couple laps to go. I was left closing a gap and as I was accelerating, with Stephen on my wheel, some douche swerved 4 feet across the road to bump me off the wheel I was following. This left me in the wind and I got to the finish in the second group.

MB RR

This one hurt. Initially, UCSB's Eric H. did a bunch of attacking, but for the most part the first lap and a half were uneventful, but fast. Then two crashes split the field, one of which on the flat runout right before the climb and one on the climb (don't ask me how a UCLA guy in the front went down going uphill). I was out of harm's way on the first one, but got caught behind the second one, which left me chasing up the climb. It hurt, but I was able to integrate myself back into the group. Right after I got back in, a break went away, included UCLA, Cal Poly, and Davis. The only big team that had no one in the break was Standford, so I tried getting them to work with me, but no one was down. The last lap was absurdly slow, we're talking 14mph slow, until the climb, where people started turning up the screws. I followed, feeling pretty good, until the top of the last climb, where my hamstring cramped (probably because I didn't eat enough). Eric came by me chasing with another guy and motioned for me to get on. At first I thought I was going to cramp again, but after a couple pedal strokes, I felt back to normal. Once Eric ran out of steam, I came around him (maybe 500m to the finish), intending to take a pull. Instead, I ended up dropping him by accident and made it back on to the front group. I didn't have too much left fort he finish, but I was inside the top 15, maybe top 10.

Good job team, another successfully fun weekend! (Yeah, I'm taking a break from finals studying...that's why I wrote an essay.)

[jmartinez]

I have a half hour to kill, so here it goes! Also, it's been almost a month so I might pass on a few details; it's also early, well not really, but close.

MA Crit

Crit started out with the usual attacks, counter attacks, chasing, breakaways, sprints on the prime laps and occasional moderate paced laps. I got in a few moves, one with a UCLA guy that lasted 2 laps, a couple others, but all were eventually brought back. Carmi and Alex were riding great, getting in other moves, going OFT or helping bring back the current break. With about 6-7 laps to go, I jumped across to a group of 3 or 4 guys. The group eventually got bigger, and as the race dwindled down to around 2 laps to go, I believe our group had around 10 riders in it, with most of the schools represented. Interestingly, I looked back at one point and noticed UCSB pulling on the front, even though they had one guy in the move. OK.

On the last lap, a UCLA took a flier off the front. With half a lap to go, Joe from Cal Poly jumped to bridge across, I got on his wheel, but so did everyone else. By the time we rounded the last corner, I was kind of gassed. I attempted to give it a go, but soon noticed myself going backwards in the last 200 meters. I was in the right position, just didn't have the sprint to finish it off this time. Still early though. I ended up getting 7th




MA RR

Race started out with a break. Got brought back; another one went containing Joe, a UCLA rider, UCD, and UNR rider. Alex did a good job on the 3rd lap( I think), of riding at the front of our ridiculously slow pace, making sure we didn't get passed by the girls field . On the next lap, I took off with a SB, UCLA and davis rider on the flat part of the course. We soon had a gap and worked well together. By the next lap, it was just me and the Davis rider left. We eventually caught the break, which was now just Joe, a davis rider, and UNR. We were riding at a reasonable pace, and by the start of the 6th lap, the break was just four guys: me, joe, and 2 UCD riders. We definitely weren't going slow.

At the base of the final climb, I decided to give it a go. I looked back and quickly had a gap on the group. No one followed except for a lapped rider that we happened to pass at the same time. Before I knew it, though, and out of nowhere, John Bennet from CP was on my wheel. It was weird because we hadn't seen them the entire race and suddenly they were there! We traded pulls for a short while before Blake from CP caught us. With about 1 KM, Blake jumped and I tried following but couldn't quite close the gap. Bennet then jumped and caught up to blake. Then Joe came out of nowhere and jumped across. It was then me by myself on the downhill section toward the finish line. I looked back and could see the 2 davis riders closing fast. I was giving it everything but couldn't pedal downhill fast enough. I need more donuts!

Frank from davis caught me in the last 300 meters. This is where I really messed up. He basically went by me, allowing me to sit on his wheel. I looked back and could see the other davis guy quickly catching up. I decided to try and attack frank with 200 meters to go. Crossed eyed and not really thinking straight, I jumped on the headwind side. Bad idea. Frank closed the gap, and was able to sit on my wheel until the line. The other davis guy latched onto my leadout and came around me. I got 6th.

All in all, not a bad race; I left it out there with that attack on the hill, and learned a lesson about finishing. It was a fun weekend hanging out with the team and going to some pretty cool bike races. Even without the IV rager this time. Plus, I made it on time both days. Mission accomplished for the weekend.