Race Team

Cat. 3 Chico Stage Race Report:

Short version:

It was hot. The volunteers and organizers were awesome. We rode as hard as we could and suffered. Lots of Corsa on the podiums. Did I mention it was hot?

Long version:

Friday - Dave K., Corey D., Mike P., and myself rode one easy lap of the Paskenta RR course to get a feel for it from that direction. The rest of that day I thought about the course, weather forecast, field sizes, & possible race scenarios and started realize what we were in for.

Saturday - Before leaving Chico I posted the following on facebook: "I have a feeling this RR is going to be MUCH harder than people realize". That said, I underestimated it. By a lot.

Corsa had 5 of the 14 racers in the cat. 3 field. Before the race we decided not to take advantage of our numbers, at least not until the second lap of the race. We wanted people to have a good experience and come back next year (with friends), so attacking again and again from mile one was not in the best interest of the long term health of our race (thanks for pointing that out Mike P.). Before the race a San Jose BC guy rode over and said, "so, you guys have five guys...any chance we can keep this race civil for the first lap?" Our reply, "yes, and thanks for coming to Chico, bring teammates next year".

Race started, civil riding ensued...for about two miles until a Team Type One guy attacked and a UC Davis guy followed. Mike P. covered the move and they opened a big gap, quickly. San Jose BC guy happened to be next to me so I said, "hey, we didn't start that". He replied, "ya, I know, you just covered, but it's going to make this a long day". So we had a guy in the break and 4 of 11 in the chase. We just sit in and let the other guys chase. No problem.

No problem until two other guys bridged. We weren't paying attention and didn't cover the move. Okay, now we had 1/5 in the break and 4/9 in the chase. Not a very good position considering we represented 1/3 of the total field. We talked a bit and decided to be patient. We lost three guys before the gavel on lap one. We were now 3/6 in the chase group going into the gravel. In the gravel a DBC guy and Mike R. flatted. That left myself, Anthony and a Rocknasium guy chasing a five man break. Now we actually had a numerical disadvantage going into lap two. @$&#!, how did we let that happen?

The follow car (Geno) passed us because the "break" was now larger than the "chase". I was starting to panic. We had gained time on the "break" through the gravel and the Rocknasium guy was wiling to work with us, so we still had a chance. The three of us chased hard for 7-8 miles (passing two dropped break riders in the process) and caught the break. Mike P. gave us a thumbs up as Corsa now had 3/6 in the new break. So at that point we had the numbers back on our side. Mike P. immediately attacked again, solo, and opened a huge gap on the rest of us. One of the other break guys said, "tell you teammate Jens Voit to give us a break, he was driving the whole first lap". I just smiled, knowing Anthony and I had a free ride until Mike was caught, or won.

The other three worked well and eventually brought Mike back. Once all together again I started taking big pulls because I was not sure who was chasing and I liked our numbers in the break. On Black Butte Rd. we were all out of water and starting to cramp and the pace slowed. Two guys caught us, luckily one was Mike Ricks. Now we had 4 of 8 with half a lap left and everyone CLEARLY hurting.

In the hills just after turning off of Black Butte Rd. we lost Mike R. to a medic ordering him off the course (low B.P). Now 3 of 7. Nearing the gravel Mike, Anthony and I talked and we are all in pretty bad shape and cramping but Mike P. seemed to be the strongest (despite all his early work). Literally, as I was try to think of a way for us to put Mike in a good spot two guys attacked. I was the closest Corsa to the front so I chased. After joining the two attackers I looked back and saw that there was no reaction behind us. Uh oh, now I had to be committed to the move. I was REALLY hoping that the others would catch us because I was cramping all over the place, but the gap grew and grew. Just before entering the gravel I was sure this was the winning move so I had to do whatever I could, as the last Corsa guy (even though Mike P. was clearly the strongest on the day).

About half way through we dropped one guy. At that point it was me and one other guy and I was in absolute misery. My only hope was that he felt as bad, or worse than I did. He flicked his elbow to signal me to the front and I decided to see what he had. I tried to lift the pace...and I cramped. Uh oh, new plan. Get through the gravel and rollers and try to sprint (somehow without cramping). I came out of the grave first and tried to stay on the front so that I could set a pace that I could maintain, but he eventually came around me. I held his wheel as long as I could, but he eventually rode away from me. I tried several times to close the gap but cramped each time.

At that point I just tried to limit the damage over the last 2-3 miles. It was horribly painful. He put over a minute into me. I put two minutes into the third place guy. Mike P. was 4th, & Anthony 6th.

It was 90 mile, 100+ degree sufferfest. Everyone in the field was destroyed by the end. Time gaps were huge. We all tried to recover for Sunday.

Sunday TT - Dave Kyle offered up his TT bike which was awesome. Just sitting on it made me feel fast, however I felt it was a little too big for me so I rode the old road bike with clip on aero bars.

I beat the leader by 1 second but the third place guy won the stage and took a minute forty of the time I had on him back. Painter maintained 4th, Anthony moved up a spot to 5th, Mike R. absolutely flew to a second place on the stage, and Dave moved up despite riding his road bike (Anthony used his TT bike).

Crit - Before I even knew what the GC situation was Mike P. came over with a paper on which he had worked out all the results. He delivered the bad news, that the third place guy was now only 19 second back of me. He basically told me, "You stay on his wheel no matter what, we'll take care of the rest". He wasn't kidding. He and Anthony attacked from the start and eventually lapped the field. The Rocknasium guy in third did the lion's share of the chasing with most of the other non-Corsa riders either content with their GC place, or too tired from Saturday to do anything about it.

When Painter and Anthony lapped us Mike Ricks attacked. All the while I just followed the Rocknasium wheel. Dave Kyle sprinted to take away the prime time bonuses and covered a few moves that the non-Corsa guys made. In the end it was Anthony, Mike P. and Mike R. taking a podium sweep, and protecting my GC spot in the process. Total team effort.

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED TO PLAN, ORGANIZE, AND RUN THE EVENT. ALSO THANKS TO THE REST OF THE CORSA CAT. 3'S FOR THE SELFLESS RIDING. I OWE YOU ONE.

Josh Bullock wrote this on Sunday, July 4, 2010. This post has 0 Comments.

Michael Smith Podium'd in Pescadero

Congratulations to Michael Smith for a 3rd place in Pescadero.

Geno Gruber wrote this on Monday, June 21, 2010. This post has 0 Comments.

Pescadero Road Race Report

Mike Painter and I left for Pacifica on Friday to stay the night at my Granny's house, just 30 minutes or so from Pescadero. Mike and I talked about strategies and tactics we would try to employ on the challenging course we faced: stay out of the wind, and stay in the top third of the race, especially at the start of the three climbs.

After a delicious home-cooked meal the night before, we were energized and ready to go the morning of the race. We traveled to the start line and got out of the car. Brrrrrr! A chilly 50 degree morning was upon us. Typical bay area weather: cold, cloudy, and a bit windy. Mike took off for his race over an hour and a half before mine, which left me alone with my thoughts and nerves. 10 o'clock came around and we lined up. As I looked around, the field was stacked for a Cat. 5 race. It was quite daunting. The race was filled up with 50 starters and we rolled out.

We were supposed to have a neutral rollout, yet the pace was at 22-23mph. There was a sprint prime 4 miles in that many went for (which I think the winner got a patch kit! Wahoo!). Soon after we hit the first climb. It was short but fairly
hard. We dropped about 10 guys or so. Then we went down a screamin' descent that was tight and included lots of switchbacks. (something like Cherokee mixed with HoneyRun) The roads were smooth and blocked to traffic. After the next, similar climb. We were down to a very fit 13 guys.

The next portion of course was a flatish 10 miles with beautiful views of the valley. This led to the feed zone hill and then the beginning of Hawskin's Hill. A Kinetic Cycles guy dropped his chain and had to stop for a few seconds. I
asked if we were going to wait, and a Team Roaring Mouse guy said "That's his fault, we was probably going to do well". I urged to wait but he pushed on as did a couple others. I may have said something along the lines of "Watch out
guys, we have a couple Pro Cat 5's in the group!". I waited with the others until the guy caught back on pushed ahead. We crested with the same select 13 and began another jaw-clenching descent.

The Team Roaring Mouse guy was running his mouth all day and was annoying the field. He slowed to ask his teammate we were passing that was dropped from another race if he had any food. Wanting to catch him off guard, similar to what Cancellara did to Boonen, I took a long, hard pull to shake him. I was successful but as I pulled off the pace slowed and he caught back on, yet in the red. Almost there.

Our last lap was underway and we hit that first hill again and the T.R.M guy wouldn't stop talking about wanting to buy hay and help him remember the phone number. I along with three other guys looked at eachother, fed up, all attacked
at the same time...we didn't see him again :) . We rocketed down the descent and hit the next climb and pushed harder. We crested that hill with about 5-8 seconds advantage over the chasing 9 guys. We BOMBED down this descent, hitting 30-35mph around blind switchbacks. We saw we had the strongest four guys in the race (the 4 that crested the hills together each time) and immediately formed a beautiful paceline and worked super well together. It was bitter-sweet because this is my 4th four-man break I have been in this year, and racking up a 2nd, 3rd, and a 4th, but never that elusive 1st. I never looked back. I was getting fatigued and my pulls were getting harder and slower, while the other 3 were still able to keep theirs at 26-28mph.

8 miles down the road and having been popped off the back of that break 3 times, I never gave up. We hit the finishing hill with 2k to go and one guy shot off the front. We knew he would win and we were racing for 2nd-4th. I was in the
hurt locker the whole climbing, struggling up the 8-14% gradient the whole way up. Long story short, I ended up 4th, about 1:30 in front of the chasing 9 behind us, and secured one of the six prizes which were........Bike Locks! This
was the fastest Cat 5 I have raced in. On a hilly course, we still averaged a tad over 21mph. Not bad for a group of noobs!

I wanted to give a quick shoutout to Mike Trowbridge for encouraging me to practice my descending constantly. All the tips he has given me and having me time my descents to see improvement gave me the confidence I needed to fly down descents I could have never ridden at the beginning of the year. I was in the top 5 each descent, and allowed me to be in that decisive winning break! Thanks!

I encourage everyone to try to get out and do this race next year. Amazing venue, beautiful landscape and ocean views, well run, marshalled beautifully, and we had a great time. Will be back next year for this one, hopefully as a Cat
3 by then! Thanks for reading another lengthy report of mine!

Cheers,
Jesse Rushing

Jesse Rushing wrote this on Monday, June 21, 2010. This post has 1 Comment.

Modesto Road Race

Race date: May 17, 2009
2nd place, Mike Ricks, Cat 3
11th place, Michael Cordova, Pro/1/2
16th place, Mike Painter, Cat 4/5

Webmaster wrote this on Monday, May 18, 2009. This post has 0 Comments.

Modesto Criterium

Race date: May 16, 2009
10th place, Mike Ricks, Cat 3
17th place, Michael Cordova, Pro/1/2
42nd place, Jeffrey Galland, 35+ Cat 1/2/3

Webmaster wrote this on Monday, May 18, 2009. This post has 0 Comments.

Wenzel Coaching Sonora Road Race

Race date: May 3, 2009
3rd place, Alex Blease, Cat 3

Webmaster wrote this on Monday, May 18, 2009. This post has 0 Comments.

SugarCRM Cat's Hill Classic

Race date: May 2, 2009
Win! Margaret Jones, Women Junior 17-18
7th place, Weston Crumm, Cat 5
11th place, Alex Blease, Cat 3
16th place, Rob Bishop, 35+ Cat 4/5
27th place, Dave Albrecht, Pro/1/2
36th place, Mike Jasinski, Cat 3

Webmaster wrote this on Monday, May 18, 2009. This post has 0 Comments.

Wente Vineyards Criterium

Race date: April 26, 2009
3rd place, Rob Bishop, 35+ Cat 4
5th place, Rob Bishop, Cat 4
8th place, Dave Albrecht, Pro/1/2
10th place, Dave Albrecht, Nth Degree Cat 1/2 Omnium

Webmaster wrote this on Monday, April 27, 2009. This post has 0 Comments.