I got 1 2

Apparently it's time to clean up the TT bikes and get them on display: Sassy throws down the Cervelo look'n all pro and stuff ... ok, I can't compete with that ... and Maverick-Lothar tosses in his Blu which also looks nice.

May I present to you this little number; "Blew-by-U", because every steed needs a name, but usually just referred to as "The Weapon". Ok, ok, I know it's not much to look at. It's more of a poor man's TT bike. But it's been good to me, delivering occasional visits to the podium.



I've been thinking/lusting/drooling/scheming of getting a new TT frame, especially every time I see these, but I can't quite bring myself to unload my wallet several times over for something I'll race 5 times a year. That's like 400 dollars per race. Especially when Blew-by-nobodyinparticular has been so good to me in the past.

"Blew" used to be my regular road racing rig, back when EVERYONE rode OCLV Treks. It was originally a forest green '94 5200 until I was lucky enough to bust the frame and get the '98 postal baby blue (never liked the color but they wouldn't give me the silver one). When it took a backseat to the new E5 S-works, since replaced by the new Tarsmack S-works, I figured I'd throw some cow horns and a less than stylish Profile stem at it for giggles. Then I bought a *real* custom TT bike on Craigslist for $900 from retired Ofoto rider, Devon Weeks. I couldn't use the frame because it was too big so I sold it for $700 but kept these old Zip 404s and rear disc. Voila, aero wheels for 2 bills. That's why we love Craig

The old disc on the back is too flexy to use on hills because it rubs the frame, but works fine on the flats like Sattley, Dunlap. Like I said, it's not much to brag about... but it's good to me, so I will anyway. Can't wait to dust off the cobwebs at Madera.

Photo credit: www.abbiorca.com, Pinole TTT 2005

Oh, and another thing

Still fuming about Wente... This guy pulls up to me during the race; "You're pretty strong, I'm gonna have to keep an eye on you" Uh, Hello. There's a break up the road. Why don't you start racing. Anyway, he came in 5th so he won the field sprint. Congratulations.

PULL THROUGH










Photo credit: www.ronaldmariano.com

Wente Race Report

I raced the Cat 3's at Wente Vineyard Road Race on Saturday. Four 15-mile laps, plus a little extra, for a total of 66 miles. The climbing was about 1100 per lap for 4400 feet. I always think of climbing in units of Mt. Diablo, so that's racing up 1.3 Diablos... Le Ouch. Most of that climbing comes on one hill which is followed by a big decent, some rollers, another slight decent, and mostly flat to comlete the loop. Wind was bout 7-8 mph, not a huge factor but a little discouraging if you stuck your nose out or helpful when it was at your back.

I was happy to race the 3's to avoid the regular beatings I get in the M1/2/3. I was even more happy, I could convince my buddy Jason pictured at bottom to drive down and race with me.

The first time up the big climb was hard but well within limits. The second time up was a different story. Harder than the fist, but again not out of bounds. Peoples were getting shelled off the back, and given my poor position toward the back I had to constantly move up to keep from getting gapped. I was one of the last ones to stay with the peloton that was now half it's original 80. The reason it was going so hard was these chaps above were going off the front. Two Limeys, a Spine, and Big Red. The photo is toward the top of the climb and you can see in the next photo that the peloton is not far behind.

On the big decent I weaved in and out of riders to the front to be in position to start attacking once off the hill and past a 90 degree hairpin corner. On that corner we were told the break had 35 seconds. I launched the first of what would be many attacks. My goal was to get a break and catch the other group. No one would pull through so I sat up. Then a guy says "let's get organized and pull this back", everyone says yeah, he takes a pull and again no one will pull through. A small handful of us are willing to work. I've got no desire to drag the whole field of free loaders back, so I keep attacking and checking to see if we can get a little break to stick. To no avail... not sure what everyone else is thinking because they haven't got team mates up the road and they're not pulling through. They're basically just gumming up the works and I'm not sure they even have a clue about it. By the end of the 2nd lap, the efforts of a small group of us who are either trying to chase, or trying to make a break (me and maybe one other), have brought the field to within catch of the break.

And here occurs the decisive moment of the race for me; It comes and goes without me knowing it at the time. When we got close to the break all of us who had been working let up. The collective thought was we had gotten close enough and let some other sap do the work to finish it off, or that we were close enough that we would absorb them on the climb which was approaching. A funny thing happened though when we came off the front... our pack slowed visibly and the break moved away again. It was at that decisive moment that I should have tried to bridge because I think I could have gotten across there. The break would go on to become the winning four with a Limey taking first, Big Red second, and the other Limey and Spine third and fourth. Fifth doesn't matter to me in this case because the break was never caught.

The rest of the story: After we came so close to the break without catching them, we proceeded to the climb which was a lot more relaxed than the two times before. The rest of the lap was a repeat of the prior with me and a small group of others trying to form a break. A couple of times it looked like we might have something promising but guys would not pull through hard enough so we couldn't make it stick. The fourth time up the hill, I paid for all my prior attacks and was dropped. I wasn't far off though and did my best to keep close. I was pretty sure I could catch back on maybe on the decent or just after. I collected 4 or 5 other stragglers on the decent. One of them a Webcor who I could tell would be strong on the flats with me. We started a rotation at the bottom of the hill to chase the peloton which was close. But then my chain dropped and I had some trouble getting it back on. When I finally did, my group was a little too far off for me to catch quickly. I watched as Webcor dropped my group, and another fell of the back who I then passed. Once the group was shattered like that, it was much harder to get back on. I think Webcor eventually made it. I was slowly catching the other three but couldn't close it and after about 10 minutes started losing ground to them. At this point my race was over except to finish my TT to the line.

Oh, and I saw Levi!

Photo Credits: www.ronaldmariano.com

Come to the dark side, we have cookies

Is it possible this Rene Wenzel, is the same Rene Wenzel who is a defendent in this lawsuit about doping? These guys contend Rene doped them when they were racing on the junior national team back in the early 90's. Long story short, they say the effect of the drugs made them susceptible to illness and masked the symptoms of those illnesses making something otherwise benign to become serious or chronic. In defense, the plaintiffs basically say "it's too late to bust us" (statute of limitations), and "you can't prove it was the reason you got sick". The plaintiffs don't dispute that they administered drugs and that makes them guilty in my book.

Dopers suck. Coaches who dope kids suck big time. These guys are pond scum. Also note, Chris Carmichael was involved in this and settled out of court. More smoking gun evidence against The Boss.

Call to action: I see a lot of teams with Wenzel.com Coaching as a sponsor. Those teams should drop Wenzel like a hot rock. Don't support drug dealers.

Athletes who dope are in many regards the victims who suffer the most. They are the ones who suffer the negative health effects, including death, which may not be worth the financial reward and hero worship they strive to achieve. When the system allows doping to exist, then it becomes required to compete. It is imperitive for the governing bodies to completely remove doping so the athletes can compete clean and fair and are not forced to make the deal with the devil.

It's difficult for me to be upset with a professional doper if they're competing in sport where doping is already rampant and standard. Take Barry Bonds; He was the best player in baseball before he started doping. Across the Bay you had the A's with a murderous row including McGuire, Canseco who doped. The A's whooped on the Giros in the '89 World Series, so Barry had at least a little exposure to those guys. I don't think Canseco, or any dopers, could carry Barry's jock strap let alone compete with him cleanly. If Barry wanted in on the home run race, he had to get on the juice. To have a witchhunt against Barry now is unfair when the entire system is rotten. So yes, Barry is my favorite doper.

Cherry Coke

What's with Cherry Coke lining up with the geezer pro/schmo men at Copperopolis? I was like "whoa, what kind of smackdown is she looking for?" I was shocked... not in a macho "oh no, there's a girl with us. I'm going to have to beat her or turn in my manhood certification after the race" way, but rather I know plenty of guys who won't race M1/2/3 because of the flat out beatings that are doled out regularly and here's this petite Cherry Coke lining it up. I was also wondering why she didn't line up with the pro women because I'm guessing it was a pretty quality field too. Anyway, she was plenty welcome. I see her team is really Cheerwine, but she'll for ever be Cherry Coke to me. Don't you think Cherry Coke when you look at her?

Photo credit: www.ronaldmariano.com

Here's to women lining up with the guys. That's got to take guts. I've seen it in cross races with Gina Hall lining up with us, and I know national CX champion - Katie Compton lines up with the men in Colorado to avoid UCI points. Tough chicks.

Ok, so you thought you were tough finishing Sea Otter? Try riding it with one arm:

Overcoming challenges. That's what it's all about, eh?

Photo credit: Ross McMahon, www.brightroom.com

Summer on the way

It's warming up now!

The Dare

Dude, I triple dog dare you...

Photo credit: Anthony Kahn

News Flash: JohnnyO turns 4-O

John is the big 4x10 today. He's been a bud to me for 1/2 his life now and more than 1/2 of mine. (SAT question: How much older than Griffo is JohnO? Hint - A lot, in mosquito years.) We've had many a good adventure together thanks to a mutual addiction to adrenalin and good vibes, combined or separate.

Here's to JohnnyO, aka Johnny Oarsmen, Johnny GoFast, Johnny Gold, Mondo, Mad Dog. A good friend, good father, good person, good brother (to me in the proverbial slap-me-some-skin sense, and to his brothers), good wingman... you get the picture. Happy B-day, pass it on if you see him.

Picture is of the Napa World Cup, circa 2001, unknown photog credit. It was the last time Johnny beat me at anything, so I thought it would be good to rehash today, eh?

Now there was a cool race through Domain Chandon estate. It was actually a pretty good techie course with ample single track, as well as being scenic. The best was seeing the likes of Cadel Evans, Little Mig and the euro-MTB-pros duke it out with Tinker, Brown, and other North-Ams right here in Podunk city. I learned pros ride hills in the their big ring. Oh, that's why they're so fast.

I'd say the last UCI World Cup in Cali marked the end of the halcyon mountain biking era in NorCal, but some of us, like JohnnyO, keep trucking along with cyclocross, road and occasional dirt race.

Copper-pop-olis

Levi and I were racing Copperopolis this weekend. We ride the same bikes, Specilized Tarmacs. The similarities end there:

His Tarmac is an $8500 SL, mine is a $5500 standard

He got his for free, I sacraficed a new couch for mine

He's pro, I'm shmo

The pros did 5 laps for 105 miles, we did 3 laps for 63 miles

He crushes on the climbs, I get crushed on the climbs.

Photo credit: http://www.RonaldMariano.com

Copperopolis is a great race. The course is a 21 mile loop with 1600 feet of climbing per. Starts out flat for about 3 miles then turns uphill gradually at first, but gets progressively steeper as it stair-steps to the summit which comes after about 10 minutes of climbing. Then it's fairly flat or down hill rollers for the next 12 miles or so. You usually have winds to deal with in this section, but not this year. Then another 5 minutes of climbing followed by a fast decent, a short flat, and 400 meters up hill to the finish. Calling the roads potholed is a compliment. On many sections there are so many that you can't pick a line through them. Just have to bomb right through them. Tough course, but very fun in a epic way.

mmm Chocolate

Happy Easter

Enjoy the chocolates

The other five Otters

Photo credit: www.brightroom.com

5 - Ride the Rail - It's not easy to race twisty wet single track. Especially with 3 or 4 people tailgating you, giving you the "come on dude" because your letting the gap form. You see that gap forming, hear those guys talking and shifting and riding their brakes right on your tail. Then you start thinking about all that, get tight, and it gets harder to ride fast. It like the feeling I get when I'm trying to tee off at a golf tourney in front of a bunch of people (I suck at golf). So was the case with a Bagboy in front of me. I was right on his tail and 2 guys were right on mine. We were getting the "come on, dude". Bagboy bobbled a corner and rather than fight for the spot he let the three of us go by. Now I was in the lead. Would I also have these guys yelling at me? Better focus and start ripping corners. Curvy single track: One of the great joys of mountain biking! PS - Bagboy placed top 10, also did the circuit and the road race, and was sick. What a bad ass. Good job.

4 - Engaged: The grunt I got from a recently engaged VB when I tried to start a conversation with her on one of the steeper climbs. Urgumph. Note to self: don't talk to people when they're racing!

3 - Scavenger: I looked for my - Only - bottle 5 minutes into the race and saw it was gone. I'm screwed now. No water for a 3 plus hour race except for the single feed zone! Then I notice there are bottles everywhere on the ground from other riders. I'll be able to stop and scavenger a bottle on the 2nd time around which I do, perfectly. It took all of about 10 seconds as I spied a bottle of organge sport drink, veered, stopped, acquired, and was off again. A fellow rider said "good idea" and goes for the first bottle he sees. Picks up, shakes... empty, try again. I guess sometimes you get lucky.

2 - Yard sale: Not funny for whoever the victim was, but it's always intriguing to see a body hurling through the air at high speed as this rider who crashed at the bottom of the first big downhill, you know the one with the 2 foot drop off right at the nadir. That's why people watch NASCAR right? This happened about 15 feet in front of me. That was a white knuckle decent. Heard sirens a little while later. Hope he was ok.

1 - Petrified Man: I was catching a lot of people on the 2nd lap and this one guy in a grey with orange stripe jersey had been in front of me for a long time. I had seen him on and off for nearly the whole race. Now on the back side climbs he was finally in my sights for what I thought would be my final catch and pass. I was working to catch him. Just as I got close on a very steep short section, he froze in his pedals and fell over sideways without ever clipping out. I think he saw Madusa and was petrified. Denying me of the pleasure of the catch and pass but at least gracious enough to fall out of the line so I could ride right by. See ya.

Top 10 2006 Sea Otter'ins

The top 10 interesting things I witnessed during my journey

10 - Moment of decision: With such long laps, it's inevitable for an internal argument to take a hold of your mind when finishing the first lap and emarking on the second 90+ minutes of slogfest. This year the "finisher" voices spoke louder than the "quitter" voices thanks to my little orange friends (Vitamin A-dvil) and some sage pre-race advice from OV and VB's blogs not to go too hard off the gun.

9 - Nice Guy: I cut this guy off hard just before a very difficult rutted downhill with only one good line. Rather than the expected tirade, he coached me on "staying to the left" where the good line was. I happened to already know that information due to a fall I took pre-riding the course, but what a gentleman!

8 - It's a Sit In: You sprint to the line full out, only to find 5 feet of runway landing space because the "sit in" gathering of other riders who finished moments before you. Come on guys, this isn't Berkeley and it isn't the 60's, clear out.

7 - Freight Train: The guy riding the organge Santa Cruz Superlight going as fast as he was is a mystery to me. He looked 210 lbs and passed me on the Laguna Seca race track between laps one and two going about 25 mph. Being the unhonorable roadie wheelsucker, I latched on for the ride as long as I could. I passed him somewhere on the hills on the back side only to see him reappear on the fireroad sections at the end of the 2nd lap and pass me again. A guy that big, going that fast = Ox!

6 - Blowin in the Lead: Guy in green/black gidup who passed me as we hit the finishing fire road section toward the end of the first lap. He was winning the 40+ category at the time and had made up 5 minutes on me. Gargatuan quads, slight upper body, and crouched low on his bike, just stomping on it for all he was worth. I grabbed his wheel for the ride (see wheelsucker). He looked back at me, noticed I wasn't in his category, and was content to tow me along for a while. Then he says "man, this course is longer than I thought... I should have prerode". "Well" I says, "The 3k to go mark is coming up so you only have 19 miles and 3k to go". I wonder how that sat in his noggin? He dropped me on the hill after the 3k marker but I saw him again thanks to Freight Train, and I'm pretty sure he lost that 5 minutes, and then some, back to me before the finish.

2006 Sea Otter

It's the grand daddy of Nor Cal racing, especially for the mountain bike set. My favorite Otters are the years when they had in-line skate and volley ball events. It was soo cool to see those in-line'ers come down the cork screw in their ski tucks at 30+ MPH.

The last 5 years or so, I've taken to getting the most out of my Otter by entering as many events as the schedule would allow. My triumph was finishing the road race, circuit, short track, and cross country all in one weekend . Wish the schedule would allow that every year.



This year we had a completely new XC course. It was an exciting , challenging course. With many days of rain prior to the event, the course was very muddy for the last third. The first 2 thirds were sandy and thus handled the water pretty well. At 38 miles, it was an epic event with many athletes resembling muddy catatonic zombies on the 2nd lap. I look forward to doing this course again when in future years when it's warm and dry. It would be fast.

In the next post I'll have 5 of my top 10 funky experiences from this year XC.