9.05.2007

The past week was pretty laid back. I did quite a bit of track work and double days to get some hard work in. On Friday McCook and I were doing some madison exchanges and one went wrong some where along the line and Dave crashed. He rang his bell really good and ended up with a wicked concussion. He revovered fast and ended up 3rd an the Atlanta 100k.

I did a lot of driving this weekend. Friday night Rose and I drove up to a good friends to hang out Saturday for her house warming partay. Erek and I hit up the local morning ride on Sat. It was a totally different than any group ride down in the south bay. The roads were pretty beat up, guys don't really point holes or anything like that. On top of it half the ride was on the left side of the road, even though there is not to much traffic it was still scary to think about a head on collisions with a car. We made it out alive :). That afternoon we walked around old town Sac which was rad, they had a western show going on for the holiday weekend. Sunday morning Rose, myself and Earl the mechanic (Jim Ryan) drove down to LA for the Jonh Fitzpatrick/Dave Staub Memorial Far West Championships at the Encino Velodrome. The group down there is awesome and they always put on a good race. It was a bummer to see that crowd has fallen over the years but still a fun race. It was hotter than hot with a hot wind which made it HOT. By the time I got the bike all ready and dressed there wasn't much time to get the legs moving. So I wasn't sure how the Scratch race was going to go with no real warm up, and there being 8 Rock Racing guys in the race. Before I know I have a half lap on the field and gaining. I laped the field in the first 10 laps and had 2 Rock Racing guys hot on my heels to lapping also. The last 10 laps wern't as fast as I thought they would have been with the whole team leading out Rahsaan who lapped also. I ended up hooking one of the guys trying to sweep and staying calm enough to set up a run out of corner 2 with one and half to go. I got a good gap pretty fast but Rahsaan was coming hard but couldn't make up all the distance. In the madison I rode with Sterling Magnell, who hadn't done an exchange in a long time. But with my pop and his huge engine we lapped the field pretty quick and held on for the W. Got some nice BBQ on the fast food strip of Ventura ave and then headed home to get some sleep for the Giro di SF the next day.


Woke up for the Giro feeling pretty good, not to sore from all the driving and training/racing. Got to the race pretty early so I could ride some before to get some hours in to get ready for Missouri. Once I got on the bike I felt good which made me smile. Erek and I got together before the race to discuss race strategy. There were some big primes up for grabs and we decided if we were in posistion we would go for it and if not no worries. I spent the day moving from the front to back and going across to a few moves that looked pretty dangerious. It was super windy all day and that made it hard for things to stay away. In the last 5 laps or so the Strawberry boys stated to line it up and I was fighting for the back of it with a few guys. A prime in the last 5 laps messed up there train a bit but they got it back on track and things started to smooth out for the last 2 laps. Going in to the bottom 2 corners a small swarm came around and I was now 6 or so back which was ok with the slight up hill windy sprint. But going in to the last corner the front guys slowed slighty and I carried a lot of speed out of corner 5 and hit the gas. As soon as I jumped I said crap this is a long way to go, I hope I can hold on for something. In the end no one came around and I held on for the W.

Now it's time to put in some miles. After a day off yesterday to see the chiropractor, I'm off to the valley ride tonight. I'm going to ride for a few hours before and try not to get too cross eyed to make it home. Then Thursday ride for a few hours and then hit up the points race at the track. Friday and Saturday are long rides and then rest time and one last visit to get my back straight before the plane ride.

I'll let you know how the week goes.

3 comments:

jAndy donka-donk said...

I will see if we can run on the left side of the road tonight for you....

YbsisKaren said...

Congrats on two W's. I"m glad to hear you are getting some long rides in before MO. I remember doing the ride across Iowa and it's a LONG ride day after day after day. Good luck there.

Anonymous said...

dago. you're winning races right and left. good on ya mate. good luck at MO.
-alex b