Monday, July 13, 2009

Look ma' I've raced a bit.

Went to my one year check up today. According to the CT scan it looks like bone is holding the clavicle together as opposed to a "fibrous bridge." That's good. Still there's work to be done to get things fully functional. Glad my current profession doesn't require heavy lifting or overhead work.

Not nearly as many races as last year...but hey...
2-28 North End Classic
Stage 1. Criterium , Stage 2. Road Race.
3-29 LA Circuit Race
4-4 Golden Acorn Road Race
4-5 Dominguez Hill Criterium
4-18 Devil’s Punchbowl Road Race
4-26 Dana Point Gran Prix
5-3 San Luis Rey Road Race
5-16 Ventura County Stage Race
Stage1TT , Stage 2 Criterium , Stage 3 Road Race
5-25 Long Beach Criterium
30+, P1,2
6-7 So.Cal. Champs Road Race
6-14 Dominguez Hill Crit.
30+, P1,2
Camp San Luis Road Race
SLO Criterium Classic

Race report for SLO 4th of July Weekend races:
RR: Interesting parcourse on the oldest original national guard
facility in California. Up, down, left and right. Seldom straight and
flat. Throw in front, side and tailwinds. Don't forget fork snapping
cattle guards. After the first two laps the almost 2/3 of the field
disappeared. Credit Strawberry, Liquid, A.Olson (Telekom, Saunier Duval,
Bissel, who's he riding for now?) and N.Shirley for setting an
untouchable pace up the climb. Many of these culprits would eventually
drop out after the butchering was complete. Decided it was way too fast
if I had any hopes of finishing. Cut my losses and rode within my
abilities. Funny, I just came up with about five excuses for letting
myself drop off the back. Finished 23rd.

Camped out under the stars at El Chorro campground. Ear plugs and an
eye pillow allowed me to sleep in total oblivion to the developing scene
(11hrs of zzz's) around me. Awoke to what could only be described as a
post apocalyptic America. Massive trailers, campers, trucks...basically
tons of horsepower.

Crit: After getting a look at the course I checked my pants for the
cojones that were locked in the car. Totally psyched myself out for
this race. Started at the back and stayed there until the finish. Once
things got moving it turned out to be a very smooth and safe. Once again
supporting the idea that slow crit: bad, fast crit: good. Finished
feeling a bit unsatisfied as I never really had reason to put out a real
effort. Entertained the idea of moving up at times but the field was
strung out the length of the block. Super fun course. Semi-technical
with a short momentum climb, long gradual climb, wide corners, barriers
for length of the course and a very enthusiastic crowd and MC. Finished
somewhere in there.

An all around good weekend. Mark it on your race calendar. Well worth
the drive.

Side note: Be on guard and watch out for drivers with smoking brakes
rolling through stop signs. Still counting my lucky stars :)

Pictures are worth a thousand words:

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