Cascadia Crit Series: Fremont RACE REPORT

[race report from from our new upstart in seattle, eric cockrell.  who by the way we are all very proud of him representing the b+ colors in the northwest and his first outing in a crit.]

The course was super fast (less than 1k), wide and had 3 corners, one of them being a nasty u turn. There was a crash at that turn on every lap, and it was definitely on everyones mind everytime we came around. This totally could have been becasue it was a 4/5 race, but from what i heard, there were still a lot of bails in the womens, and the 1/2/3's. I took as much advice as I could retain through the butterflys. I showed up early (didn't pre reg) and warmed up on the course to get comfortable, I even started dead center very front with no trouble clipping in after the whistle. stayed pretty hydrated, but could have drank more during.

40 minute race, field of 75, and I was able to hold the 6th wheel for the first 15 or so minutes (missing the primes by inches, SO FRUSTRATING), then I really started to have trouble maintaining my speed out of the corners...slowly dropping back. I eventually found myself in a small group of 7 or 8, and nobody wanted to work together to catch up. One of the guys in our group was yelling at everyone trying to get a pace line going and it seemed like him and I were the only ones that cared at that point, and it showed. We started to make some progress on bridging the already too large of a gap when we were dropped out with about 6 laps left.

Overall, pleased for my first crit. I expect to do much better on Saturday, .8miles, 4 corners (one of them downhill) lots of brick, rain, and loud drunks.

VIA Polar:

Time- 29:46.0

AvgHR- 174bpm

MaxHR- 183bpm

Kcal- 575

Dist- 11.4miles

Avg Spd- 23mph

Max Spd- 29.1mph

MT HAMILTON WIN

WIN WIN WIN, team becher+ takes the mt. hamilton road race.  
kristopher tjernell, in true b+ fashion, won with a solo attack on the attacking front few.  [race report to follow]

patrick piccolo having fun in the heat

benjamin barry looking strong as always

ONTARIO 1

[wes nielson, aka capt'n: ontario race report]

Yesterday I contended in 2 races at Ontario, 30+ 4/5 and the 4/5. Both races were pretty uneventful. So I’ll start with the excuses. I have been pretty sick for the past 3 days leading up to the races, and have just returned from a vacation that had nothing to do with cycling and everything to do with eating and drinking.

In the 30+ 4/5 race I stayed in front for the majority of the race but my legs felt so sluggish and cob-webbed from not riding for a few days. With 2 to go I was sitting about 20th and knew it was now or never so I jumped outside the group to make a move to the front 10. Just as I did so the group slowed down and I slang-shot right to the front of the pack. “Fuck” I was thinking I was in no position to pull the group this late in the race but had no choice and figured it was a training race so I put my head down and drilled it on the false flat leading into the last 2 turns of the 7 turn course. After my pull I sat up when the surge came around me and latched onto the back of the group. I made one more move to the front during the last lap but again realized my legs and burning lungs from my cold were not going to allow me to contest the sprint so I just sat in and coasted in at the back of the pack. No biggie and really not a bad race for my first race of the season and feeling like complete shit.

Race 2 the 4/5 race I was accompanied by John. We had a good warm up and I could tell my legs were going to feel way better this race. At the gun I took off to take a short pull to wake my legs up (my signature move) and noticed I gaped the field. So I sat up and took 7th wheel or so. John and I were in contact for the majority of the race only to be separated every now and than but always finding each other again. My legs felt a lot better and therefore was able to race way more aggressive. I took a couple of pulls and maintained a position in the top 10 for most of the race except when I go boxed in and shuffled to the back from a surge that came up the side. When this happened John and I simply sat in the back for a lap while we coasted and recovered. With 4 to go I told John we need to get to the front. So I booked it and got in the top 20 and then jumped again 2 turns later in the head wind section to go to top 10. “Perfect” I am thinking sitting 10th wheel with 3 to go all I have to do is hold position and go with any surge that comes around. With one to go I was still in position and thats when it happened, some asshole crossed 3 lanes to chop my wheel in turn 5 causing me to have no other choice but to brake and loose 20 positions. At this point I had absolutely no momentum so I simply sat up and cruised in with the back of the pack. I was pissed and call the mother F’r out. I went looking for him on the warm down lap. I didn’t find him but found 2 of his teammates (SDBC) and asked if they were the ones I yelled at, they said no, I told them the story and they admitted they were sure they knew who it was. I told them tell him to cut that shit out and learn how to race safe or next time Ill put my bike up his ass.

Anyways, first two are done and although they are not the results I shot for I am happy with my second race. I was in good position the whole race and had the legs and lungs to finish top ten if it wasn’t for that SDBC shit head. Oh well that’s racing as much as I would hate to admit it.

John had a great race and was riding real strong. He pulled the group with me on his wheel with 3 to go which kept us in perfect position. Ill let him tell his story though. Sorry for the shitty and long race report my cold is still causing me to feel spacey in the head. Oh and sorry for the shitty results, at least in the first race I never crossed the finish line so they wouldn’t log me a 60th place! haha.

I’ll be at Long Beach next week and hopefully redeem myself.

EXTRA EXTRA, read all about it

first win of 2010
sean neilson ripped the field at the red trolley crit in san diego this past sunday [7 feb 2010] and took the first win of the season for team becher+. we are all on cloud 9.

not only did sean rip it up on sunday in the crit, he mounted a superb campaign on saturday at the epic boulevard road race, coming in 8th after a long cold, wet effort.  any top 10 finish at boulevard is a huge achievement.

the team is looking forward to giving sean and others more support in the coming months, so look for more wins and plenty of top 10 finishes, as this is finally our year to dominate. our whole team this year is full of depth, strength, courage, discipline and all out desire by everyone to work for the team and attack the field, good results will only follow.

i have a few more posts coming, as we have had our first team camp a few weeks ago, which was a huge success and other team news. we would of course like to thank our sponsors for helping to make sean's win possible, becher+, enervit, bobo's hamburgers, masi, midnight oil creative, iMartin, and greg jarrett. we would also like to thank all of those companies that give us support, especially louis garneau.

[sean's race reports]

boulevard road race

Today was the boulevard road race and someone ordered a lot of rain.

The day was filled with rain and cold. The highest temp I saw all day was 46 degrees. The course begins with a fair climb that leads into a long shallow descent then climbs back up to the start. Climbs are average 5 to 6% grade. We did roughly 50 miles, 2 laps.

100 people strarted in the rain and cold. But once we were rolling the temp wasn’t such an issue as the body heat rose. With the centerline rule in effect and a full field I knew position was most important. I got a good start and was never outside the top 10. The first half lap was fairly easy with a tempo pace. After that first half lap though legs and lungs were burning. Being at 4000 feet the air was thin. A group of us began to ride away from the group, about 15 of us. The pace was high and I was sucking air on the climb. I was shelled and in pain.

The rain didn’t let up and the chase began as I was beginning to feel better. I chased for a bit and caught up to a group of 4 guys and worked with them trading pulls and trying to close down the gap. On the last big climb I was feeling good and went to take my pull and just kept pulling until I realized I had some how ridden the whole group off my wheel leaving me to cross the line alone. Ended up 8th, unfortunately out of points and money.

Boulevard Road Race  (Rank 2.0)
Category 4
Place	License	Name	Team	SoCal Points
1	270784	Brian Wilson	Moment Cycle Sport	28
2	256517	Henry Valenzuela lll	PAA / RE/MAX	22
3	294285	Marco Menchaca	TriSports Cycling/Eclipse Racing	20
4	269508	Nick Gillock	Herbalife LaGrange	18
5	292387	Brien Miller	Unattached	16
6	295278	Roman Gama	Citrus Valley Velo	14
7	288624	Jonathan Hornbeck	Team Ranchos	12
8	288949	Sean Neilson	Team Becher+	10
9	272524	Taylor Vaccari	Coates Cyclery Racing Team	8
10	20386	Jay LaRiviere	Peninsula Cycle Club	6

red trolley crit

Red Trolley Crit. Today was the exact opposite to yesterday. Nice blue skies with some clouds and a bit of wind.

The course is super fun with turns 1 and 2 flat and turn 3 being a fast sweeper downhill and a bit tighter but fast and fun! After turn 4 is a big ring climb that flattens to the start/finish line. Front straight had a bit of a head/cross wind and between 1 and 2 a cross wind. Rest of the course was tailwind and fast.

After yesterday having a good night relaxing and resting I felt good. From the start pace was high and the group was dropping riders every lap. I would consistently keep myself at the front being protected on the headwind and using the tailwind to my advantage to move forward. With about 20 minutes left I and another fella gave it a go and attacked the group on the climb. We would last for 1 lap as the group wasn’t going to let us go. So I would just make sure I wouldn’t let myself get swarmed and as soon as it would begin to get crowded at the front I would get up and push the pace a bit to keep position. Halfway through last lap attacks started to come so I pushed to keep with front group. Went so fast through last corner I drifted a bit before opening up a sprint on the climb probably about 8th wheel back. I went wide while everybody was wrestling for inside line and just put my head down and butt up. I was able to hold pace and come accross the line arms in the air and a loud ‘yeah!’

I couldn’t be any happier to deliever the first win of many for Team Becher+ in 2010!

BETTER

wow, what a difference a day makes. sunday was one of those days that would just never end. 60 miles in 5 hours [riding and fixing], 3 flats, multiple headaches, finally got home and tried to put the day behind me.

today was a completely different day, i got out for an early lunch ride for a little over an hour. it was a great spin, in great weather and i stuck to the only true bike path in the area out towards topanga [the length of the valley]. so now all is good in the universe and we are back on track. i think it just feels great to get in a good solid leg speed workout and feel super doing it.

in other news, i am really looking forward to our team's first camp of the season and it will be great to get a chance to properly gel with the 6 - 8 new teammates that will be there. the nor-cal contingent will be having one as well. so if you see us out on the road, give a wave and say hi [i throw that in for you tmgj, by the way i waved at every rider i saw today, i think i even said good morning to a few runners as well, weird]


[i think i am even going to crack a smile]

or was it this one?



but diffidently not this one.


[nice kit sky, almost another shameless knock-off of our design, although i am sure that boasson hagen'dazs will be rocking in it this season]

WIND

today was a good 60 miles, in beautiful sunny +75 degree LA weather. that was until we hit the far north east corner of the valley coming out of sylmar. the wind kicked up and gusts were blowing at over+40mph. it seemed like more than that, but none of us got blown over today. which i am sure made my orthopedic surgeon happy, not to mention me.

team news
the new year brought our first top 10 finishes of the 2010 season with a 6th place by patrick piccolo and an 8th by benjamin barry in the san bruno hill climb. way to go guys, that is one b_tch of a climb and all your preseason work is already starting to pay off.

race report
[san bruno hill climb / patrick piccolo]
Bright and early this morning was the first race of the Northern California season, the epic 3.5 mile straight up San Bruno Hill Climb. Thankfully the race started at 10 am and is a 10 min. drive from the city, so I was able to get a little of sleep beforehand. That however, that didn’t seem to help me feel ready or at all well. Though the race is short, its pretty steep and fast. Ben and I had a good start and perhaps went a little too hard at first, but then again the higher up you go the steeper it gets so its hard to tell. The last 100m are the worst and I just didn’t have the legs (or the stomach as it turns out) that i needed. I ended up doing it 17 min. 55 sec. which was good enough for 6th. Ben came in about 20 seconds later for 8th. Aside from the fact that I felt like death for the few seconds before I puked up my banana just after the finish, I would have to say I was feeling good and had a good time. Ben was mad that I talked him in to doing it.

RIDE

the weather has been great in socal the past week after the frigid temps during our fist true winter storm last week. everyone has been out training and exchanging quality banter.

greg update:
so greg wants to stay under the radar, but as an active team member he is to report training for all. he actually has an aversion to typing and sharing, being the man's man that he is. i will simply say that all the youngsters on the team had better step up and deliver as greg 'hard man' works long hours and usually is up by 4:30 - 5am each day. yet he still finds time to do 3 hours of training a day, and most days does 2 workouts. his cross training and core workouts are legendary. it will be sad if a 53 year old with bad knees, puts the rest of the team to shame. so if you are reading this, you had better be sitting on your saddle training or in between core workouts. because greg is. greg, your one of the teams inspirations and core medal.

[from blue and red blog]

michael and wes on the backside of GMR [?]


greg and i doing our civic duty and stopping at a red light during some afternoon LSD in the wind


these rouleur legs never run... from doing the work.

WEEKEND

a great weekend of base training by the team. it was cool, well actually cold and crisp for the socal contingent of the team. i actually wore my team wind breaker both saturday and sunday. it was chilly to say the least. now i know what you are saying, 52F is not that cold, but the wind chill put it closer to 45F and lower.

greg has lost over 30 pounds, is super fit and trim, combined with blood pressure meds [he is 52 after all], he was bone cold. i thought my hand was frostbite after he said, 'hey, check this out', and shook my hand. i assume with all his new found uber fitness and weight loss that his doc will have him off meds soon, contrary to the prescription drug dealers incentives to keep us all medicated one way or another [and why are there prescription drug commercials on TV? its not like i can go out and buy them over the counter].

ok, on to team kit orders and sponsor'ship corralling.

SHAPE

[tim 'masiguy' jackson / today at lunch]

update: tim is doing much better now, after some time since his horrific track crash. he has been back on [and off] the bike now for some time and we are all hoping that he will be crushing the competition during the 2010 track season, and who knows, maybe even see him on the road too.

tim's bills from the accident are far from paid off and i would like to give you advanced notice that we will be auctioning off a greg lemond autographed jersey soon on ebay to add to all the wonderful support tim got through our paypal medical funds drive [thank you so much to all that donated]. check back here, on the masiguy blog, @timjackson, and @bplusradsport, for more info on the upcoming auction.

update

i would like to add that the jersey was graciously given to help the tim jackson get well fund', by eric stobin of lemond fitness. next time you run into eric, tell him thanks from all of us on the team, especially tim.

ebay auction date to be announced soon, so check back here soon.

WENTE

[report from the nocal team]

Norcal Squad Wente Vineyards Race Report 

[journal account from john, with some ED. review for family viewing, ie no bike racer words]

i was way more excited to post about this race before i heard wes went down with such great position yesterday. what a f_ckin drag!

wente vineyards was 3×15 mile laps that started with a sharp climb. a promenade lap to start meant we had to climb it 4 times. Ryan fell off the lead pack midway through but continued to work hard and finished well. commendable considering his preference for the flats.

benjamin (now of “beer” racing) fared a little better, and also had the distinction of throwing up in his mouth twice.

with one lap to go, kris and i were both in the mix and feeling pretty good. we were tired of yo-yoing and picking up stragglers due to riders reluctance to take pulls. kris put his head down and basically towed the top 15 riders the entire way, only allowing me to take short pulls for a little bit of rest. no one else even tried to come around. we were really hauling though.

kris slingshotted me into first as we reached the final climb but i didnt quite have the legs to get it done and ended up getting passed by 5 riders with fresher legs.

props and thanks to kris for the attempt. he rounded out the top 15 with the entire packs respect (especially mine).

WEEKEND 2

[JACOB POST]

Ok, now that I can finally sit down at the computer and dedicate
some time to writing about what happened.

In the San Fernando race Stefan and I ventured out onto the
horribly `P' shaped course amongst a field of 40 to compete for
about 30 minutes. It was a fairly uneventful race, and the 180
degree turn at the bottom of the course made for a big slow down
and then a fast acceleration in which a lot of power was used
and people seemed to be set up to crash. Although no one did
crash, many cranks hit the ground upon first circling the poorly
chosen route. Nothing really happened other than a few standard
accelerations. There was a bit of a false flat downhill before
the 180 degree turn, and a bit of a false flat uphill for the
way back up towards the finish line. I stayed in the middle for
most of the race, relaxing and having a good time, as my main
goal was to get out of cat 5 alive, but this ended up working
out very well, as in the last few laps I moved to the front and
on the last lap positioned myself correctly, switched into the
perfect gear for the acceleration, and jumped on the lag
following the turn. If I had someone pull my up, it would have
been infinitely better, but the guy that I was drafting behind
slowed down significantly during the 700 meter jaunt towards the
line, so I had to battle the wind and try and catch up with the
3 main guys who podium-d. I almost beat the 4th guy, as he got
lazy, but it was a bit too little, too late, and I came in 5 out
of 29 that finished. It was a crappy course, but a decent race,
as everyone was just out to have fun it seemed, rather than that
usual worthless cat 5 acceleration at random times bullshit that
just mixes up the field, not really tiring anyone out, but the
solo breakaway who doesn't get more than a few yards up before
being consumed by the rampaging organism that is the group of
angsty old men who need the points to upgrade again after not
racing for years. Oh, and stefan and I were the only ones who
were under 25 in the race (I believe). Hey man, those angsty old
guys can haul sometimes.
The average speed for the race was 20mph.
5/40

Bicycle Johns was a bit of a different story, as it was a crit.
Four corners of hellacious hell-dom raining down upon my
confidence. In this one I placed 14 out of 50, but it wasn't as
much fun. I need to regain my confidence in crits following the
woodland hills crash, because while I walked away almost
completely unscathed, I realize how lucky I am, and how much I'd
rather do a road race or GP, even though crits are fun, as there
is less of a chance of me being injured, and thus no longer
being able to ride. So, the race started off fast with a
fair amount of wind, so when I got pushed out into the wind, it
caused me to work a lot harder than I should have been working.
I stayed on the outside, because I was too afraid to be on the
inside of such an agro crit. I just wanted to survive until I
got the upgrade, as I mentioned earlier. It was basically a
battle for the front the entire time with several almost crashes
occurring in the pack throughout the race. The big crash
happened when the back half of the group got stuck behind a
group of riders who went down (I don't know what happened,
because I was moving into position in the front out of the
middle and subsequently harms way when the carnage ensued). I
was up front, and slowed down to look (hey man, I'm still new
and my instincts of wanting to help injured people kicked in)
and realized that that was a stupid move, so I accelerated to
catch up with the group, but others had taken the opportunity
right at that time to break away, so it was pretty much a futile
attempt... until the last lap! So I was near the front, coming
around the last half of the lap, and I again got stuck behind a
guy who slowed up significantly, slowing me down, and making me
go around him in an attempt to catch the front by myself. I came
around the final turn, a bit separated, but was able to sprint
past a few guys to make up for my slowness. It was an ok race,
and I was just not as cold hearted and solid spine-d as I had
hoped to be. It's there, I promise.
The Average speed was 25mph
14/50

Shazaam, that was a weekend of racing as described by Jacob
Margolis.

Oh, and I upgraded to Cat 4, so wes, becher, and brian, here I
come! I look forward to being able to work with all of you guys.

WEEKEND

[wes post]
images will be posted soon.

Saturday Brian and I contested the Cat 4 at San Fernando. After controlling the entire race i.e. bringing back breaks and setting tempo along with Chester and Seth of Platinum Racing we were set to go with two to go. On the Bell lap Brian moved into the lead-out position taking the lead of the peleton and ramping the pace like he does so well. The guys from Platinum let me in to take Brian’s wheel (Becher + gets respect). Through the S-Turn and down to the final turn Brian let a few through setting me up taking 3rd wheel. After the Big U turn I ended up in front, not where I would like to be at all,especially with 700 meters or so to the finish. After looking back and seeing a small gap on the peleton I jumped and put my head down and hammered. Obviously an amature move, with about 200 meters to go a huge group of guys go my me leaving me to finish a lousy 27th. What an upsetting finish for me, especially with such a great move from Brian I felt that I really let him down. I had top 5 at least cinched and blew it. Live and learn I guess. Brian finished in 33rd.

Sunday I represented Becher+ in the Cat 4 at Bicycle Johns Grand Prix. A new course from last years and a great one at that. A really fast 3 1/2 turn really really fast course. About 20 minutes of really fast paced racing a group of 7 went up the road. I scanned the group from the peleton to see who was in it. It was both Seth and Chester from Platinum racing, and a few other big hitters that have been racing really well lately. Therefore I knew that it was the winning break with that line up in it. So I planned my attack and launched out of the peleton and bridged the gap solo to enter the break. What started as a 10 second gap from the field we ramped up the pace all working really really hard to put time on the peleton which we did. When a crash in the peleton occured on turn one it enabled us to increase our split on the field. With five to go the peleton were closing in but it was too late to catch us because we were flying. On the last lap in turn three our paceline got split up when one of our break away riders flated and caused our group to split into two paceline. After the final turn we all hammered but my group of 4 got behind, but I sprinted past one rider and finished 6th overall. Seriously without a doubt one of the hardest efforts I ever put into a race. It was murder just hanging on to that break let alone after taking my pull when it was my turn. What a great way to finish the weekend!! Some great racing and workout for the up and coming state championships next week.

Thanks for all the hollering and cheering and yelling of split times from Jim, John, Greg, and of course my girlfriend Kristine!!

Thanks for reading

Wes

ONTARIO CRIT REPORT

[the following is the ontario [1 jun] CAT4 race report from wesly neilson, team rider and all around bad ass]

Yesterday Brian and I contested the Cat 4 race at the Ontario Airport Crit. The field was smaller than usual (due to the Dana Pointe Race). Anyhow Brian me and our friend Eddie lined up together with a plan to stick together and help set a good pace throughout the race and more importantly to really drive the pace on the last lap with a goal to position me in the third wheel to launch me for the sprint. The pace started really slow and so Brian went to the front and really ramped it up to tire out those who couldn’t hang. A few breaks got away and were reeled in without any problem. Later in the race another 2 man break went up the road. When it was time to reel that one it Brian took his turn first, Eddie did his job after that, then it was my turn. We closed the gap significantly but couldn’t get the group back without help. Therefore not wanting to race for fourth we basically called out the peleton for lacking the will to do work. Finally with 3 laps to go someone other than us three took a pull and finished the job bringing the break back. On the bell lap it was time to make our move. After turn 1 Brian took command of the peleton setting a blistering speed that no one could get around. Eddie was sitting 2nd wheel and I third. When Brian pulled slowed just before turn 2 Eddie took his turn, once again setting a great pace. Eddie popped a little early and the pace slowed. Luckily a rider for Team Bearclaw jumped around Eddie and created a gap. Therefore I jumped on his wheel and we set up for the final turn (3). Two riders beat us into the turn taking the inside lanes. Sitting in fourth I stood and sprinted passing one rider and finally just nipping the other at the line to finish 2nd! It was a great race and I felt good going into it. But I must admit I could not have pulled it off without the help of my Teammate Brian BW’s and our good friend Eddie who both did a lot of work chasing breaks, setting awesome tempo, and positioning me perfectly for the sprint. So mark it 11 points for Team Becher +. After the race we continued to be complimented from the may riders on our hard efforts and being the controlling squad of race. Hope you enjoyed, and hope to see you all at the next race which will be San Fernando Sat. June 14.

ROUND 2

tim is back in the hospital today for round 2, he has one or more blood clots in his injured knee / leg and will be in the hospital for a few days on an anti-clot drip to try and open them up without surgery. once again please keep tim in your prayers and i will keep you posted here as to his progress and eventual release from the hospital.


[i have been taking it easy since tim's accident and hospital stay, it really wore me out and now i am back to riding and racing. this weekend the boys in blue will be contesting the barry wolfe crit in woodland hills at various levels, so come on out and say hi. this past weekend paul did his first race ever at ontario, he held his own for awhile, but the heat stroke from the day before and the 100 degree weather finally did him in and he reluctantly pulled out towards the end. i am very proud of him for his effort and for even doing the race and i know that soon enough, we all will be seeing his back side at the finish once he gets a few more races under his belt.]

UPDATE 1

[even in the hospital tim represents for the sponsors]

his blood clot status, albeit a very serious condition in his leg, do to one of them being above his knee, is holding steady and the treatment is not complete yet.

UPDATE 2
tim is now back home, getting shots in the stomach and we are all praying that the regimen works and his clots are gone for good.

TORRANCE CRIT 2008

ok, finally some form and redemption, albeit stymied by a huge pile up in front of me on the last lap.

the torrance crit went off very successfully for noah, wes and i. no one crashed and we all put in a good hard effort. the torrance crit is 4 corners of pure speed and some good ol fashioned bumping and skidding. noah was first off the mark and held his own up front for most of the race, while wes and i yo yo'd through the group. it was wes's first race of the season and even though he is getting a late start on things, he held his own and got stronger through the race. i too held my own and got some confidence back that had been lacking since coming back after surgery. i felt stronger and more comfortable as the race went on. i would say that every flat and or crash was due to a carbon rim blowing up, some guys keep their bikes upright, others did not. going into the first corner of the last lap at full rivet, about 10 guys went sliding across the lane as i was deep into my corner and as my back wheel went sideways and said hi to the front wheel, i finagled my way through the carnage and got on it to finish as best i could after going from 30+ to 3+ and still in my 53/11. all in all a good day, i am proud of the efforts that noah and wes put out, as far as i am concerned they did the colors proud and i walked away with a big smile after i caught my breath and could talk again.


[never start at the back of the field at torrance, oops, as passing is pure grit]


[wes getting his game on]


[am i really smiling?]


[chester and blue moving up]


[i will be able to talk in a few minutes]

SATURDAY RIDE 19 apr

a good solid ride with wes, brian, john, stefan, peter, and the soon to be racing paul [well actually peter L should be racing too, but i don't know if i have that much mojo to get him out try again after all these years] we did a good pace out to descanso gardens, rose bowl, lida, and back to HQ. all in all a great ride with a few big ring power intervals.


[wes is one bad ass vegan]


[saturday gang minus a few]


[team pride]

STAGE 2 AND 3 / SDSCO

STAGE 2
this image pretty much sums up stage 2. the winds were gusting +35 mph and after stefan returned a few minutes after starting his stage, i called the plug on our stage 2 antics. the wind conditions put the race organization into serious disarray, with start times starting 1 hour later than on time, i personally didn't even have time to get ready after helping the organizer tape down my groups sign in sheet, she said that our race would start on time, that gave me 7 minutes to get dressed and on the bike, instead of the previous stated 1 hour. needless to say i was highly caffeinated and not happy. the CHP even rumored to close highway 8 to traffic because of the wind. so stefan and i loaded his bike on the roof [not easy when you are blowing over] and headed back to la mesa and a consolation ride out to the coast and del mar.


[stefan smiling cause he knows that he is going to get to go UP torrey pines on the way back from del mar]


STAGE 3
well, the crit did not go much better for me and quite frankly was pathetic and i don't really want to go into it, i felt good, i got some sleep, i eat well, warmed up and proceeded to fall victim to 3 large teams on the hunt for omnium points and places, nuff said.

stefan on the other hand had some fun attacking and bridging all day. he really did very well considering it was a flat course and his average speed is faster up hill. all props go to stefan for great first 3 straight days of racing. he really made me and the whole team proud.


[stefan warming up]


[stefan getting his race on]

STAGE 1

[quick update]
SAN DIEGO CYCLO-VETS OMNIUM TT [20K]

17 BECHER, JAMES TEAM BECHER+ 20:20.63 [masters 35+ 4/5]
14 WEBSTER, STEFAN TEAM BECHER+ 22:15.29 [cat5]

-now for the rest of the story, we had 6 hours of sleep, got up at 5am, had 20min of warmup, started at 7:10am.

TUESDAY TRACK 1

tim let it all hang out last night at the tuesday night track races at the san diego velodrome, testing his form in various events. just starting to gain some form and after multiple out of country trips, he did very well, actually showed some spark, i feel sorry for the competition when that spark turns into a fire and those guns really start spinning.

QUOTE OF THE DAY
'i like your bike, it's sparkly'
9 year old track racing girl


[racers to the line]


[the really cool thing about the evening was the graduation of the juniors track class, which was sponsored by squadra [?] these kids that would otherwise not have access to bikes and the track, got a chance to learn the ropes and race. they all seemed really jazzed about racing on the track and i hope will continue racing for both the good of them and cycling.]


[warming up with masidaughter]


[this is not tim walking up to the rail]


[but tim did finally make it to the rail]


[tim cooling down]


[tim making his move]


[tim off the front]

HIGH TIM

[news flash, masiguy seen training with big-foot in local mountains]

tim went to a top secret masi brand camp in big bear lake this past week and got in some good ol' fashion high altitude training. it was suppose to snow, which it didn't, but he did get to put some of the extra weight in the freezer, as it was hovering around 32 [that would be 0 for all you euro types]. i will have tim explain his make shift thermal booties himself or how to turn team aero booties into thermal booties. it reminds me of the time a few years back while i was in arizona training and got caught un-aware's that it would be 32 degrees at 6am, so i found myself in a 24hr wal-mart buying gardening gloves so i could get some feeling back in my hands. apparently i can only fit one hand in my mouth at time to warm them up.


[looking good in the over challenged team wind jacket, yet not cold enough for the cap]



[there you go, now it is cold enough for the cap, but just a wind vest]



[one sweet looking team bike with a very special red grouppo]