mattm

Part of teamwork is sacrificing your result for that of your team.

Look at it this way: would you have done anything different if we were on different teams? (when you were on the wrong side of the split)

If the answer is no... that's the problem.

aaronmcd

No kidding, what do you think I do most times I race with teammates?? What happened at Henleyville when Dave and I worked our butts off until we blew up? Or Dash for Cash when I brought back the last lap move to set up Matt A? Modesto, covering for Dave's break? Baby masters champs working hard to get Jeff the win? Multiple times letting the break go?

Purposely getting popped and pulled from a race 30 minutes in does not count as sacrificing for a "team". It's called being an idiot. We didn't bridge to a break, we closed a gap and survived. It's ok to admit you were too far back and caught behind a gap.

Of course I would bridge across the gap whichever team you were on whether you went or not. You didn't factor into the decision. We both had to stay in the race regardless of what anyone else does.

My decision was, either get dropped and pulled from the race or put in a 2 minute all out dig to get back on. You made the same decision, and neither of us towed anyone up with us.

gsteinb

Greylock

7th overall
2nd in the age group to Erik V by 30 seconds

mike868y

the nyc dude who won cat 3 stage 2 at gmsr allegedly had just had his upgrade denied...

Ygduf

I have no idea. I just know a guy who got his 1 upgrade on like zero legit points so I assumed everyone could do that.

gsteinb

Apparently I also won the Massachusetts hill climb series. Had no idear so I left before it was announced.

aaronmcd

New race on the calendar today.

I went to Jackson, I messed around, there was a steep as s*** hill and I survived 22 minutes. Popped off and rode for another 20+ minutes til the small remnants caught me and just sat at the back til the finish.

Very fun L shaped course through downtown small-town with a tight turn to a steep climb, a descent to a left with a hole in the apex, more descent to a hairpin to a little bump to a fast straight, turn to a little rise before the line. The hill sucked but I almost had it. Will be back next year!

hubcyclist

Did my first cx race today 43/47 crankarm came off with a lap to go. D'oh! It was fun, maybe didn't go as hard as I could have (legs weren't burning nor breathing overly labored) but I didn't fall and handled the course pretty well.

mike868y

did the reading/bucks county double this weekend. no results to report, but i will say that I highly recommend both these races. absolutely great weekend of smashing.

Wylde06

9.1 mile TT last night, last club race of the season

Warming up I didnt feel that great (my right hip/leg started to hurt..stretched as much as I could before I started), and combined with the headwind I had a feeling it was going to suck..as TT's often do. I was on my road bike (with a HED 3 front wheel) so I wasn't going to be in the running for any kind of good placing, so this was just an end of season test for me.

Started off what I thought was too hard, averaging close to 290 to the first turn. Hit the turn and was still pushing close to 300 so I had to force myself to back it off a little because the home stretch was a headwind and I didn't want to blow up before the finish..ended up at 270 from turn 1 to turn 2. Had to slow down at the turn for a truck that ultimately decided to stop and let me go (everyone with orange vests and flags must have made him think he had to stop) so I started this section a little slower than I would have liked. Tried to carry as much speed as I could on the few little rollers on this last section and really picked it up in the last mile or so knowing that I was almost done. Averaged 300 watts from turn 2 to the finish, finishing with a time of 23:06 (23.5mph) at 286 watts.

Overall i'm happy with how this went. I had 7 or 8 guys that started in front of me, but I didn't pass anyone. I was closing in on someone but slowing down at turn 2 killed any hopes of catching him. There were a bunch of guys on TT bikes that started after me that did not catch me, so that was nice. Ended up getting a FTP change notification from Training Peaks, which is always nice at the end of the season.

This also makes me wish I have been riding my TT bike. I need to ride it often if im going to race it. I havent ridden it at all this year so i've done the TT's on my road bike. Makes me wonder how fast last night would have been (I had a few TT's 2 years ago at ~25mph).

Im kind of glad to be done for the season..now its time to try and train for Hincapie Gran Fondo. I have nothing to climb to train for it...

aaronmcd

Did the "Red Bull Bay Climb" today. Obviously not a USAC event. I didn't hear about it until last night on the district facebook page, but it was only 4 blocks from my apartment in Potrero Hill SF so I had to check it out!

They had mens fixed, mens open, women's fixed and women's open category. Its too bad I didn't have proper gearing for fixed cuz it seemed like no one else did lol! Mens open was full but I waited around for prereg to close and grabbed an open spot. They had the 80 guys compete in 3 heats (10 rounds of 8, 4 each move up to the semis for 5 rounds of 8, then final 5 duke it out for the big bucks) in order to make it a fu'll day affair and give out more Red Bull.

The race was straight up 3 blocks in Potrero Hill, 15% average grade. As my wife pointed out last night, I'm not a climber. Nor am I a sprinter but I figured it would be a fun event to attend. One of the local race promoters was on hand to help out and made sure I got a waitlist spot.

I had no idea if I would be last or first in the first heat at this type of event! 4 of 8 move on to the semi final heat so all I had to do was beat 4 guys. And many are random dudes with no fitness. But others are cat 2 or 1 racers and others are random dudes in t shirts beating the hell out of serious racers. I let a bunch go ahead at the first more gradual block. Then kicked it up a notch on the middle 19% block and passed 4th dude as he was blowing up. Rolled in "easy" in 4th. "Easy" being 478 watts for 1:50 at my 155 lbs. Probably a PR but lets call it "easy" cuz I chilled the last block lol.

Semi final heat, only 1/8 moves on to the finals and I knew I had no shot. Phipps was there and he even only took 3rd in the semi final heat. I paced the first block again, but couldn't even catch up by the top and got last of our heat. 523 watts for 1:44. Definitely a PR.

Some of the climbers times were 20 seconds faster. That's what happens when you weigh 110 lbs! Lol.

Aria won the overall prize of $750 plus a bunch of other cool ****. I was happy to participate and not be eliminated in round one (and happy to get a PR of 7.4 w/kg for 1:44 holy effing balls that hurt)!

topflightpro

Did you take your front brake off. You might have KOM'd it if you had.

hubcyclist

another cross race for me today, 53rd/60, dropped my chain which seemingly took forever to put back on, but I think it just felt like forever as people were passing. Hopefully I can do an event without a mechanical or other snafu. But I'm definitely having fun

Ttoc6

Getting a chain back on 1x system is a matter of time and luck. Best lesson i learned is set the bike back down easy. Don't slam it into the ground even if you're running a narrow wide chain ring.

Ttoc6

Yesterday was a big day of racing for me. 3 races. 1 cross race in the morning, 2 crits in the evening.

Men's B CX race. Fitness was there, but it took me 30 minutes to feel comfortable on my cross bike. It's only the 4th ride out on it, so I guess that makes a bit of sense. One RLRL, downhill chicane got me every lap. I gave up and ran it one lap. By the end I was getting it right. Ran about 3-5 psi too high of pressure for the course. Next week will be better, but I wasn't last and didn't get lapped.

Drove down south for an evening crit. Had pre-reged for the Men's b category with plans to do the A race if I felt I was up to it. Course was about a .75 mile out and back between two round abouts. Tailwind finish out of the last round about. I raced pretty stupid in the B's. Bridging some big breaks in the winds only to just have them brought back in less than a lap. Moved up aggressively in the last two laps into about 5th wheel. Last round about, guy in front of me clipped a pedal and by some miracle, kept it upright. Forced outside and had to spin back up to speed for a 40mph sprint. (I think my rear wheel came loose at some point in this race as I couldn't use the cog in the back that I really wanted to sprint in) Definitely the fastest finish I've ever been in. Rolled it for 6th out of about 20. 25.8 mph average.

Laid down in the back of my car for half an hour after cooling down and decided I'd hang in the A's because why tf not. It's the last crit of the season. Was supposed to be an hour, but it got too dark so they cut it short at 40 minutes. After so much intensity in a day, I had to play the group well to just hang in a few times. Sag out of the corners and move back up in the straights. Really, a good practice for future races to just work on conserving energy. Held with the group which was a real strong field. A pro-CLIF bar racer was there + a multiple time national champ and some other strong teams. 26.7 mph average on shot legs made for a good workout.

Finished the day by driving home, getting in-n-out and passing out once I got home. The In-n-out is not agreeing with me this morning, but it was worth it.

My season is over (on account of there being literally no more races on the calendar). Going to race cross for fun over the next few weeks. Beginning of October will be busy with a planned work trip and heading down to Moab for a mountain biking trip with my brother who is flying in. After that, we'll settle back in and start working on base. Already looking forward to Chico!

rubiksoval

I watched the crits online and I was chomping at the bit. Definitely on the calendar for next year, even though it'll be quite a drive. Don't think I've ever raced in PA.

mattm

Did the Oakland GP on Sunday - elite district championships. Last race of the season.

I might be 1st in the 2017 Norcal p/1/2 BAR, but I'm not the district champ.. maybe next year?

Fun race - but the guy that I knew was a huge threat (unattached, TT champ of some other state), got in a break, and by the time I realized it and tried to bridge the gap was 20" and I could only close about 8" of it. Tried twice, failed twice.

Now he's the TT champ of some other state, and the crit champ of Norcal.

No real team help; one of my guys won a prime from the gun, two others sat in the pack, and one guy did chase a little but was tired from the 35+.

So it was basically up to me and the defending champ to chase; he had even less teammates than me (none). We tried damn hard, but just the two of us couldn't do it. Another big local team (A-Main) oddly decided not to chase until the last 10 laps. They did that thing where they let the winning break go, ignore it, then rapidly chase down any bridge attempts as if that was the winning move.. wtf.

At least I was 2nd in Cal Cup this year, so came away with $80.

Season is over now.. not quite sure what to do!

topflightpro

Nice job this season, but did this guy move to NorCal or just visit? I ask because I thought one had to be a resident to be a regional champ? At least, that's the way things are here. Guys from out of state may win, but they highest place rider in our local association is the LA champ for the year.

rankin116

@topflightpro, I think you know who it is. I don't want to use names, but I think he's the BF of the massage therapist that used to live in Carrboro, SD. I saw an IG post about it over the weekend.

And he's a 1st or 2nd year resident so he works like 70+ hours a week!

topflightpro

You're right. I do know him.

mattm

Yeah, Vogel's doing something right! Besides becoming a doctor.

Ygduf

all the doctors I know are suspiciously fast.

Ttoc6

Raced the 2nd race in the cross series today. Got into the 2nd row at start and had a bad start on account of being in the 2nd row. Chased hard over the first lap and felt really good in the relatively sloppy conditions. Was in 3rd place and about 50m off the leaders when I went through a series of two corners, 1 uphill, off camber, one slight downhill on camber. Both 180 "turnstile" corners. Coming out of the second corner I pulled it just a bit too much to avoid the tape and burped my tubeless. Down I go and I lost all my pressure in one go. After the confusion, ran to the pits, hit it with CO2 and I was back on the dirt. Manged to somehow chase back into 8th place after having to fight back from dead last. I kept track of the leaders and I was moving the same speed, solo. We would pass each other on opposite sides of the tape at the exact same point every lap.

A bummer, but my handling is getting much better and my fitness is still there. This was definitely what I would call a "grass Crit" but my NP is more inline with an actual race rather than a ride. Which tends to be the case when I'm fighting the bike rather than allowing myself to push it physically.

Having fun with this time off the road bike. Just riding for fun when I feel like it.

gsteinb

Picked up the win over arch rival Erik V at the App Gap hill climb. Missed the overall best time by single digits seconds to an 18 year old bean pole.

globecanvas

Awesome!