Go Back  Bike Forums > The Racer's Forum > "The 33"-Road Bike Racing
Reload this Page >

Racing Highlights...From the Past

Notices
"The 33"-Road Bike Racing We set this forum up for our members to discuss their experiences in either pro or amateur racing, whether they are the big races, or even the small backyard races. Don't forget to update all the members with your own race results.

Racing Highlights...From the Past

Old 04-26-20, 03:16 PM
  #1  
Hermes
Version 7.0
Thread Starter
 
Hermes's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: SoCal
Posts: 13,100

Bikes: Too Many

Mentioned: 297 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1327 Post(s)
Liked 2,438 Times in 1,425 Posts
Racing Highlights...From the Past

Since racing is on hold while the pandemic gets sorted out, I thought it may be interesting to have a thread where we post races from the past that were meaningful to the us. It does not have to be a victory or championship jersey but certainly can be.

Look the NBA is replaying Michael Jordon games. If it is good for those guys why not us? And it is something NOT Covid. And older races that have past meaning to you may be easily copied and edited from the archives of the various race report threads, videos and pics.

Rules: Well there aren’t any. I suggest more current stuff but hey something from 10 years ago is fair game and a highlight real featuring a composition of successful or failed races could also be interesting. Race videos are okay with the proviso that there is some editing so it is more of a highlight than a complete race and race pics with a lag line are perfect. Since most do multiple disciplines such as road, track, cross and mountain, all are fair game.
Hermes is offline  
Old 04-26-20, 09:32 PM
  #2  
Ttoc6
Cat 2
 
Ttoc6's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: UT
Posts: 1,570

Bikes: Tarmac, Why Cycles R+, Evil The Calling

Mentioned: 91 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 605 Post(s)
Liked 194 Times in 87 Posts
I'll start with a memory of a race that I didn't win. I don't even remember the result. It's the context of the race that matters to me. I was a junior in college (2016) and was in charge of being race director for the our home collegiate race. After a **** show of organization the previous year I volunteered to take care of all the logistics of putting on a race for 2016. Lo and behold, organizing a race is a lot of work on top of being a full time college student at 20 years old.

Less than a week out from race day I was still missing crucial permits I needed for racing to go on. USAC had approved everything, and I worked with one of the highest ranked USAC officials in the country to make sure I was doing everything right. The new course was going to be awesome. Somehow, at the last minute all the paperwork fell into place and we got everything taken care of. All the logistics were sound and ready to go. Come road-race day, it was perfect weather, teams were filing into the state park we were using as staging and everything was just working. First sets of races go off and I finally have a moment to breathe and use the bathroom.

To cut the story down a little bit, my moment of calm never really came. Messages started coming over the radio and on my phone about a crash. Information was flying every direction. Without speculating on details I don't know, one of the riders in the C-field crashed real bad. Police and ambulance showed up and took him away. I'm trying to figure out how to move on when I got an email from a social worker asking for the official in charge's information. He went off to take the call and broke the news to the conference. The rider had passed away in the crash. We decided to cancel the rest of the races for the day, with the Sunday crit being put on hold with more details to come later.

As you can imagine, I was absolutely devastated. To this day I still don't talk about it much. This actually the first time I've ever even written about it. The conference came over to my parent's house and we all kinda sat around and ate food, and chatted but it was solemn. We made orange and black ribbons for all the riders in the conference (rider was from Oregon state University). These got pinned to our numbers and worn for the rest of the season.

Saturday night was some pretty awful sleep, but I got out of bed sunday morning to go to the crit course. We had decided it would be okay to race, even if the OSU team had already gone home. Logistics played out fine. Being race director was tough and the weather (typical Seattle spring rain) didn't help with the early fields having some crashes. I got the chance to turn over the keys to another teammate to run the show while I got warmed up. I had not planned on racing that before the incident but talked myself into it given how smoothly things were playing out. That race was a blur of emotion and pain. The course I've raced 100's of times, but this one was special. Racing with my heart and giving it my all. Like I said above, I don't remember my result (I definitely didn't win) but definitely remember being absorbed and focused. Dug back through facebook and found a picture. I'm on the left in the UW (purple) kit with silver shoes.

Racing is about more than results. The friendships I gained that year in the conference and the collective maturation this day caused in me something I'll never forget. I wish it wouldn't have happened in the way it did, but bike racing is a thing of pain and emotion and beauty unlike much else.

Ttoc6 is offline  
Likes For Ttoc6:
Old 04-27-20, 08:11 AM
  #3  
Cypress
Globo Gym lifetime member
 
Cypress's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Salem, Oregon
Posts: 5,204

Bikes: Fast ones

Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 410 Post(s)
Liked 614 Times in 306 Posts
Originally Posted by Ttoc6
I'll start with a memory of a race that I didn't win. I don't even remember the result. It's the context of the race that matters to me. I was a junior in college (2016) and was in charge of being race director for the our home collegiate race. After a **** show of organization the previous year I volunteered to take care of all the logistics of putting on a race for 2016. Lo and behold, organizing a race is a lot of work on top of being a full time college student at 20 years old.

Less than a week out from race day I was still missing crucial permits I needed for racing to go on. USAC had approved everything, and I worked with one of the highest ranked USAC officials in the country to make sure I was doing everything right. The new course was going to be awesome. Somehow, at the last minute all the paperwork fell into place and we got everything taken care of. All the logistics were sound and ready to go. Come road-race day, it was perfect weather, teams were filing into the state park we were using as staging and everything was just working. First sets of races go off and I finally have a moment to breathe and use the bathroom.

To cut the story down a little bit, my moment of calm never really came. Messages started coming over the radio and on my phone about a crash. Information was flying every direction. Without speculating on details I don't know, one of the riders in the C-field crashed real bad. Police and ambulance showed up and took him away. I'm trying to figure out how to move on when I got an email from a social worker asking for the official in charge's information. He went off to take the call and broke the news to the conference. The rider had passed away in the crash. We decided to cancel the rest of the races for the day, with the Sunday crit being put on hold with more details to come later.

As you can imagine, I was absolutely devastated. To this day I still don't talk about it much. This actually the first time I've ever even written about it. The conference came over to my parent's house and we all kinda sat around and ate food, and chatted but it was solemn. We made orange and black ribbons for all the riders in the conference (rider was from Oregon state University). These got pinned to our numbers and worn for the rest of the season.

Saturday night was some pretty awful sleep, but I got out of bed sunday morning to go to the crit course. We had decided it would be okay to race, even if the OSU team had already gone home. Logistics played out fine. Being race director was tough and the weather (typical Seattle spring rain) didn't help with the early fields having some crashes. I got the chance to turn over the keys to another teammate to run the show while I got warmed up. I had not planned on racing that before the incident but talked myself into it given how smoothly things were playing out. That race was a blur of emotion and pain. The course I've raced 100's of times, but this one was special. Racing with my heart and giving it my all. Like I said above, I don't remember my result (I definitely didn't win) but definitely remember being absorbed and focused. Dug back through facebook and found a picture. I'm on the left in the UW (purple) kit with silver shoes.

Racing is about more than results. The friendships I gained that year in the conference and the collective maturation this day caused in me something I'll never forget. I wish it wouldn't have happened in the way it did, but bike racing is a thing of pain and emotion and beauty unlike much else.

Randall was a good dude. It took me months to accept what happened to him. There's a ride I do east of Corvallis where I first rode with him, and every time I'm on that road I like to think he's with me.
__________________
Cypress is offline  
Likes For Cypress:
Old 04-27-20, 09:49 AM
  #4  
carpediemracing 
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Tariffville, CT
Posts: 15,401

Bikes: Tsunami road bikes, Dolan DF4 track

Mentioned: 36 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 383 Post(s)
Liked 179 Times in 101 Posts
So first one to sort of echo the tragic one. I can't imagine that happening during the first race I promoted.

I'm glad you got to hold the race the following day. To be able to grieve together is important, as I learned. I credit learning that from Andrew Willis, the Driveway Series promoter in Texas, who had a tragedy at his race as well. I reached out to him in a vague way and he responded immediately, like within 10 minutes. He knew exactly what had happened even though I said something innocuous like, "I'd like to touch base with you regarding an incident that happened at my race."

I was probably in my 20th season promoting(?), in the race, when there was a fall in front of me. I rolled by one rider and it looked particularly bad. It was just a feeling, tbh, I'm not a trainer emergency person. Rider (Markus) ended up passing about half a day later - I left the hospital maybe 12:30 or 1 AM, he died at something like 4 or 5 AM. The incident got immortalized in VeloNews. https://www.velonews.com/news/from-t...in-the-family/

At the time my life had been pretty hectic. Not only was I promoting/racing the 6 week series of races, my son was born two Saturdays before (and I promoted/raced the next day), then the second race of the season Markus hit the deck. I didn't know him but as another rider pointed out (to others), all the riders at my race were "my riders". I never realized that until I saw that comment somewhere. I have reminders on my two primary bikes - bands on both, his name on another. I'll have the band on my new bike as well.


Note bike in background - band around front of top tube (German colors plus Markus's team colors) and Markus's name at the back part of the top tube.
__________________
"...during the Lance years, being fit became the No. 1 thing. Totally the only thing. It’s a big part of what we do, but fitness is not the only thing. There’s skills, there’s tactics … there’s all kinds of stuff..." Tim Johnson
carpediemracing is offline  
Old 04-27-20, 11:01 AM
  #5  
carpediemracing 
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Tariffville, CT
Posts: 15,401

Bikes: Tsunami road bikes, Dolan DF4 track

Mentioned: 36 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 383 Post(s)
Liked 179 Times in 101 Posts
Happier ones.

My mom died from cancer in Aug 2003 (okay, that's not happy). She was diagnosed in 2000, moved into my house almost immediately (she preferred to be treated in the US, my parents were abroad at the time). In early 2003 my parents moved into their own house, where I grew up, as sort of a "return to home" for my mom. In July 2003 she asked me when the state championships were - I'd won the gold the prior year (on a total fluke, tbh) and she was wondering when I'd be defending it. I told her that I wasn't really focused on that for now, that I promised I'd win that and my own race series for her "after", meaning after she passed. At that time it was very close, and she deteriorated very quickly immediately after. When I finally dared to get on a scale I was about 215 lbs (I'm 5'7"). I was so round that I didn't recognize myself in a picture taken in spring 2004, and by then I was down to "only" 200 lbs.

It took 2 years to win the Bethel Series, in the closest finish of my life, winning against a superior sprinter/racer/everything. My brother recorded the race for posterity, full of faith (that I didn't have) that it would be a great day.

It took another year to get the gold in the state championships. Due to out of state racers being there I actually got 3rd, but that was enough. POV camera, not wide angle, so not very illustrative.

Finally, the best leadout I've caught on camera. My favorite clip, for the 2010 Bethel Spring Series overall (I won the field sprint but didn't catch one break rider so got 2nd in the race). I was flying that year, almost 40 lbs lighter than the prior Bethel Spring Series. Weaker but the weight loss more than made up for it.
__________________
"...during the Lance years, being fit became the No. 1 thing. Totally the only thing. It’s a big part of what we do, but fitness is not the only thing. There’s skills, there’s tactics … there’s all kinds of stuff..." Tim Johnson
carpediemracing is offline  
Likes For carpediemracing:
Old 04-27-20, 07:55 PM
  #6  
cmh
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Portland, OR
Posts: 2,910
Mentioned: 2 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 140 Post(s)
Liked 327 Times in 161 Posts
The pinnacle of my bike racing career: https://www.bikeforums.net/33-road-b...grats-cmh.html
cmh is offline  
Old 04-27-20, 09:03 PM
  #7  
Ttoc6
Cat 2
 
Ttoc6's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2016
Location: UT
Posts: 1,570

Bikes: Tarmac, Why Cycles R+, Evil The Calling

Mentioned: 91 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 605 Post(s)
Liked 194 Times in 87 Posts
Originally Posted by Cypress
Randall was a good dude. It took me months to accept what happened to him. There's a ride I do east of Corvallis where I first rode with him, and every time I'm on that road I like to think he's with me.
Wondering if I know you...

I never even knew Randall. Only after the fact did I learn how much we had in common. I almost went to OIT for undergrad... It's my Dad's Alma mater. Similar fields of study. I think about him a lot. The day before my first lotoja I had some inspiration that stuck with me. I've considered getting this tattooed somewhere for years. The small things...





carpediemracing I always have appreciated your stories. I remember watching some of your vids when I was just getting started racing thinking you were the coolest dude ever. Now I know you really are . I'll post a happier racing story soon!
Ttoc6 is offline  
Likes For Ttoc6:
Old 04-28-20, 12:35 PM
  #8  
Cypress
Globo Gym lifetime member
 
Cypress's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Salem, Oregon
Posts: 5,204

Bikes: Fast ones

Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 410 Post(s)
Liked 614 Times in 306 Posts
Originally Posted by Ttoc6
Wondering if I know you...
I hosted some homestays at my place in Philomath, but I can't remember which schools. I did the OSU crit once in the A's (2016 maybe?) and ended up lapping the field with one or two other guys. Aside from homestays, the crit, and driving my BMW as a lead car once during the road race, I didn't do much with the team. Maybe a group ride here or there for the social aspect, but the fitness gap between the OSU club riders and I was pretty big.

Road ID made us some silicone Randall bracelets after the accident. I took the metal plate off of it and epoxied it to my stem. If you PM me your mailing address I'd be happy to mail you one of the complete bracelets.
__________________
Cypress is offline  
Old 04-28-20, 03:43 PM
  #9  
Hermes
Version 7.0
Thread Starter
 
Hermes's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: SoCal
Posts: 13,100

Bikes: Too Many

Mentioned: 297 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1327 Post(s)
Liked 2,438 Times in 1,425 Posts
My wife and I started racing in 2007. After over 10 race days per year until 2020, there was only a few races that we did not both race and that was generally due to one of being sick or injured.

I have raced with the men in mass start and team events as well as time trial and she has done the same with the women. I think some of the most rewarding races is where she and I raced together as a team either on the tandem in time trials or that totally fun mass start UCI road race in Tahiti that we did on the tandem against over 100 other tandems.

She and I did a two person 3k team pursuit at Carson for a LAVRA. We had to get “special” approval from USAC since a team pursuit must have 3 people. And we have done two person 20k time trials on Fiesta Island.

And she has joined me and a couple of other men to ride 4 person 4K team pursuit at Carson.

Last year, we raced Fiesta Island 20k TTT as a two person time trial. Those are really fun races.



I think my two best performances, sprinting, were winning the CA state championship in my age group in the 500 meters. In 2015, I won it in NorCal and in 2016, I won in SoCal. It is hard to win back to back individual anything and in both districts was special.

And my wife and I have raced internationally and around the USA. We raced the World Track Championships in Anadia Portugal in 2010. And we have raced US nationals in TX, PA, NC, CO, WA and UT. And my wife and I made record attempts at Aguascalientes Mexico on the indoor velodrome. She has 3 WR and I have zero. Oh well, husband of....

One of the most rewarding things that I did was volunteering to help with a team pursuit program that a promoter started for women with the goal of taking 15 women to elite track nationals. My wife was a participant and was on a women’s team. I showed up at training and practice events and helped out. And I was responsible for getting sponsors.

We put 54 women through the program and it was a huge success for USAC at the event and for the women. And the 15 that made it, won a lot of medals and a couple of championships.

2020 may end up being a bust due to the pandemic but we continue to solder on and look forward to maybe something this year and certainly next year. Be well.
Hermes is offline  
Likes For Hermes:
Old 04-28-20, 05:04 PM
  #10  
TMonk
Not actually Tmonk
 
TMonk's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: San Diego, CA
Posts: 13,938

Bikes: road, track, mtb

Mentioned: 140 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 2505 Post(s)
Liked 2,957 Times in 1,571 Posts
I look forward to more TT stuff as well - it was a lot of fun getting into it in 2019 and I look forward to trying more. Hoping I can make some gains with my position and equipment during this empty period for racing.
__________________
"Your beauty is an aeroplane;
so high, my heart cannot bear the strain." -A.C. Jobim, Triste
TMonk is online now  
Likes For TMonk:
Old 04-28-20, 07:01 PM
  #11  
aaronmcd
Senior Member
 
aaronmcd's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: SF, CA
Posts: 3,462

Bikes: Cervelo S5, Marin Gestalt X11

Mentioned: 71 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 554 Post(s)
Liked 65 Times in 45 Posts
One really fun non-win one was Turlock Lake Road Race in cat 3. Was raining buckets as it tends to do for that early season race. Break of 4 escaped mid-race and I knew the guys were strong and I missed out. Then my rear derailleur cable broke and I was stuck in 50-11 or 34-11 the rest of the day. There was one several mile flurry just after it broke and I was psyched out, almost got dropped. Then one guy came back from the break - he had some kind of mechanical, had to stop and set it straight.

So he and I take off together maybe 25 minutes from the finish after a flurry of attacks started to lull. I'm hurting like hell, afraid he's gonna drop me, but I'm pushing hard and doing my full share, when suddenly he starts drifting back. I'm afraid I can't make it alone especially with my gearing issues, so I ease up slightly and call back to him. He's done, gassed from his earlier break. So I buckle down. I got 10 minutes of short steep rollers followed by a right turn to a tailwind maybe 8 minutes from the line. So I focus on spending all my energy just to get to the tailwind, shifting between 34-11 and 50-11 over and over and over trying to get over the rollers. Round the corner still with a big gap and roll in 4th a minute or so ahead of the field.

Oh and the other tired dude somehow found it in him to win the field sprint after all that!
aaronmcd is offline  
Likes For aaronmcd:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.