SRAM’s Amazing 2009

We wish our sponsor SRAM an even better 2010!

Tuesday Night Track Racing

Javier reports from the track in SoCal

Race: TNR
Field: 7 teams of 2 riders each
Events: 2 Madisons. First was 60 laps, second was 50 laps with sprints
every 10 in both races
Teammates: Brett (1st race) and in 2nd race we both had to change
partners. I rode with a former body builder with the nickname “The
Hulk”.
Placing: 5th in both events

First Madison was insane. The teams were a bit stacked and they
included the pairing of Sean Watkins and Mike McMan, who won Masters
Nat’s in the Madison last year. Shaun Wallace paired with Erick
Hollenbeck and the rest of the teams were somewhat even. I was having
a hard time getting my legs going and was suffering a bit in the
sprints. Brett right before the start took a spill, or more of a
tumble I should say. He got a nice gash on his forehead, but was okay
to race. About 20 laps into the race we missed a crucial split and
spent the next 25 laps chasing back on. With about 15 to go we decided
to get lapped and context some points that way as we were spending too
much energy and not closing more than 1/3 of a lap. We got some points
and managed to finish 5th.

Second madison was a bit less crazy but more aggresive when it came to
handling. My partner attacked on lap 3 and I quickly told him not to
do that again. He didn’t listen and attacked later on. We missed the
timing on our exchanges and I ended up having to sprint in them,
which was not a good idea as I didn’t have the snap. We did earn a few
points here and there, however the other teams were consistently
winning sprints.

Not sure why my form is so lacking after having some good recent
weeks. Could be a combination of having had a week off, stress of
being at work and recently getting diagnosed with acid reflux, which
seems to only come out during intense physical activity. I see lots
of Pepcid AC in my near future.

I believe Brett and his teammate won the 2nd Madison. He got to ride
with one of the National Champions.

Nevada City Classic – P/1/2

Teammates: Just me (Angelo)
Field: About 150
Place: Don’t ask

Lance beat me.

Actually, he and many others crushed me. It was insane how fast the Nevada City Classic was this year. I’ve done this race previously as a cat 3 and it was super-tough. Upgrade the category and add some of the best riders in the world and it gets a bit tougher…

I didn’t really plan on racing it this year, but when Lance, Levi and Horner announced that they were going to race it I changed my mind. Now I can say that I raced Lance. Even though it was short lived for me, I can still say it. Of ~150 starters, maybe 30-40 finished…most of which were lapped by Armstrong.

Even the neutral lap seemed to be a race to move up. Here’s a shot of me and Lance hammering it out on the climb: (Click on this to enlarge it and see that it really is me – ha!)
He utilized his call up to get great position for the start…the announcer couldn’t pronounce my last name and failed to call me up to the front.

I did get some fame (joke coming up courtesy of my teammate Jan):

“Look at the two guys in the background. The one guy is proud of his picture that he just took of Angelo, the other is texting his 10 friends about how Angelo is doing…”

This must be the part of the race where I was putting the hammer down on Armstrong because I’m in the big ring and climbing the steep pitch (the camera angle doesn’t give it justice.)

Anyway, it was awesome out there this year. The “Lance Factor” created a HUGE crowd that was totally into it. I felt very pro climbing and descending with that many people out watching. I was even asked for my autograph by a young kid before the race started…look for it on Ebay.

1st place: Lance Armstrong
2nd place: Ben Jaques-Maynes
3rd place: Levi Leipheimer

5th Place in The Pro/1/2 Modesto Road Race

Modesto Road Race
Pro/1/2 Field: 30
Teammates: Carmi on his lonesome
Place: 5th

Here’s the report from Carmi…

“The course reminded me a lot of Texas; flat and hot. We had to do 8 laps on the 9-mile course consisting of a bunch of corners, it was actually a lot of fun. About two laps in 3 UC Davis guys go off with a couple of other people and looked pretty promising, but eventually Clif Bar and Webcor brought it back after a couple laps. The next lap just consisted of people recovering and there were a couple attacks but
nothing serious. With 3 laps to go I saw a break go up the road that had a Davis, Clif Bar and a cal giant guy who all had teammates, there’s also a fellow loner Godspeed courier who eventually fell off. I decided to bridge up before they got to far up the road and managed to get up to them by myself. We instantly started rotating evenly and smoothly (I really like racing the p12s) and eventually a Reno
Wheelman and a Rocknasium guy bridged up and helped with the work. We managed to keep a 30-45 second gap over a 3 man chase group and worked our way up to over 2 min over the main field. With 1k to go the Reno Wheelman attacked the break and caught everyone off guard and held it to the line. I didn’t have anything left to sprint with and rolled in for 5th managing to win 5 bucks and a T-shirt, well worth it.”

Cat’s Hill Pro 1/2 Report

From the desk of AG: