Comeback Victoy!

CCCX #3 Race Report - CAT 2 19-34

Written by Corey Luce

 I wasn't sure I would be racing this weekend until last minute. I had an open weekend to do some more hard training prepping for the Fontana Nationals next weekend. But what better training is there other than by Racing! I woke up feeling descent even after some hard training blocks my coach(The Heater Heaton) has me on now and I just put in a solid 30+mile ride the day before. Getting to the site was a challenge due to another event blocking off roads and having to go another way taking longer than expected. Then the line for registrations was super long. By the time I got registered and ready, it was only about 10min until start. I quickly spun the legs out to get the best warmup possible. Knowing that the 1st lap may be my warmup anyways. Heading to the start line, I see my field (19-34 age group) had another large showing. We were in a start wave with a couple other groups including juniors and singlespeeders. As the CAT 1 guys take off, we were next. The hurt locker was about to commence!

We get our instructions from the director and 15 sec until start. BAM! We are off down the pavement start. Keeping calm, I just tucked in behind a couple guys before hitting the dirt. Trek/Bear Devo rider sprinted out front before the dirt. I hear my boy and fellow racer Dennis yell at me, you see him?! You watching him?!! I got 'em, I said. We made a quick turn right onto dirt, then another left. As we take the left to the dirt climb, the rider in front of me switched his line causing me and my front tire to wash out and down I go! I get up and my chain was jammed and off. As I worked on getting it working, I watched my entire start wave pass me. DEAD LAST! I hopped back on and looked down at my Garmin gps..it had frozen. No data, Heart Rate, distance, time..nothing. It was down to me and my training from there.

I threw down a pace and started climbing my way back through the ranks and making passes in any place I could. By mile 3 I could see our lead group and the leader. I made some more passes and caught the leader. Starting the 2nd lap I passed the leader at the top of the start climb. I look back and Sergio is on my wheel making the pass too! The 2nd and 3rd laps I kept looking back and Sergio was still there! He was like a magnet to my wheel! For those 2 laps, I kept pushing the pace just a little more and pushing the climbs just a little more to see if he would hang on and he did. I just kept it smooth and fast. Lap 4, the last lap, I knew I had to push it harder and get some distance. After the first climb he was still sticking to my wheel. As we navigated through traffic, he was still hanging on. Getting close to the end, we caught up to some CAT1 guys. I think there were like 7 of them in a line. As we hit an open section, I pinned it and jumped out in front of 5 of them. Hitting the climb and hammered up and passed another. Then at the top, I passed another! Before dropping back into the descent, I glanced back and saw that Serg didn't get around some of them and I had some traffic between us. I kept hammering up the last climb and across the finish with the VICTORY! Also pulling the fastest CAT 2 time of the day!

After being in last place after the start mishap, it was difficult to imagine brining home the win. Thanks to God, Platinum Performance, Sho-Air, Oakley, ESI grips, SRAM and HC3 Coaching for the the WIN, and of course Keith DeFiebre for putting on these great events here in Monterey!

Luce at Bonelli!

Us Cup #2  Bonelli Park   3/17/13

Written by Platinum rider Corey Luce

Early morning start Sunday morning for the CAT 2 racers at Bonelli. I was feeling pretty rested and had a descent warmup before the start. I did a quick spin around the course the afternoon before and knew it was going to be grueling. Steep climbs up to 25% grade, technical descents, off camber turns, and little recovery between climbs.

My group was the second wave which allowed for an open course the 1st lap with little traffic, which was good due to the course layout having very little passing room in some sections. The start went out hard as some of the top guys sprinted out for position down the pavement. Hitting the dirt I was drafting in 5th place as we began to ascend the first climb of the course. I wanted hold back on the pavement some, to have the freshness to power up this steep climb while some racers huffed and puffed for going out to hard! Strategy, all strategy! . As we powered up the climb, I made my move up to 3rd. Hitting the next descents and climbs I was noticing the leader pulling away and the rider in front of my just wasn't holding his own. I finally had to aggressively him on one of the climbs but the leader already had a good 30 second gap on me. I then laid down the chase to try and catch him. Coming through the 1st lap, another racer was right on my tail. The whole 2nd lap we kept swapping places and we both showed strength on all the climbs. When i was behind him, I stuck to his wheel the best I could as we navigated through traffic of other racers. Still no sign of the leader but knowing he wasn't too far ahead. Coming around on our 3rd and final lap, I was sitting in 3rd. I knew I needed to make a move but didn't want to make it too early and not have enough if it came down to a sprint finish. I held back and kept to his rear wheel. There was so much traffic, it was hard to make time on the leader at this point but we kept pushing the pace and each other. Getting close to the back side on the last climb, I started to make a move, but he countered hard and stayed ahead of me. I stayed calm and waited for another opportunity. Time was running out! We started to descend the final descent and down he goes! His front wheel slid out on a soft corner and he had to put a foot down! I was right on his wheel and was able to take advantage and made the pass! I stood up and hammered it out to the finish for a 2nd Place!

Challenging but exciting race at this national event in San Dimas! Looking forward to the Fontana Nationals in a couple weeks!

Good Times at Bonelli!

Francisco Vidal, Dean Swank, Jon Miller and John Biron post race!

Francisco Vidal hammering the climbs!

Alex Teno making up ground!

A National caliber podium!  Dario Fredrick (4x National Champ), Rob McGee (2nd Nats x2), Todd Booth (Sea Otter Champ x2), Kenny Wehn (Cyclocross Superstar) and Nathan Lloyd (Hammerhead).

US Cup #2 Bonelli

US Cup #2  Bonelli Park   3/16/13

Written by Platinum rider Jon Miller

Bonelli Park has always had great MTB races. This weekend was no exception. Saturday at  8:30 a.m. was go time the cat 1's . Again we were not able to get the whole team to the Start Line, but again the guys that showed up were ready to wreck the place. 

 

(Todd Booth battling Nathan Lloyd and Rob McGee)

Todd's group was stacked, like a national. Todd flogged it for all he was worth and finished a respectable fifth place. 

 

(Alex Teno and Dermott Carroll)

(Roger 007 Moore)

The 45+ had the usual suspects, but this week Dermot Carrol came out to play. He and Alex Teno were going to take on the mighty Tim Zandbergin. It looked like everything was playing into their hand when Alex decided to overtake Derm on the nastiest downhill on the course. He miscalculated his speed and slid out on the cheese grader rocks. This display of sheer madness caused Dermot to slow up, and created a gap between he and Tim. Trying desperately to close the gap  Derm threw his chain, and it took precious seconds to get it back together. Alex got up quickly, beat up, bloodied and lucky, he sped past the sidelined Carrol. After a minute or  so Derm gets his chain in order and off he goes. "Absolute madman" is what they were saying about this guy as he reeled in rider after rider. Alex rode his way in to third place by the end and Dermot fourth. Roger Moore put in a good ride for eleventh. It was another freebee for Tim this week.

 

(Podium John Biron, Tinker Juarez and Johnny O'Mara)

In the 50+ it was the Johnny O and Tinker show, with our very own John Biron finishing in third and Fransisco Vidal in fourth. Andy Osburn finished eighth.

 

(Dean Swank racing to a Silver place finish!)

The 55+ was off with that wave also, Randy Lichty went with the early leaders and got away from Dean Swank, who was also having shifting problems. Dean finished in second place with Ted Williams in third. Steve Silva also made the trek down, finished sixth. 

 

60+ also went with this wave and I had a great race, chasing Dean and Fransisco around. It's a good thing we were together because Fransisco made a wrong turn on to the old course, Dean was screaming NO, No, wrong way. So he eventually figured it out, caught back up and passed us again. Good racing with you guys. So I won the 60+ going away. 

 

(Tim Sparks on his winning run)

Whoops almost forgot about the Single Speed class. Stud Muffin, Tim Sparks DESTROYED the class, for another victory. 

 Yea Team.    I can't wait until we finally get the whole roster to show up for one of these races. World Domination !

Photos by: Laura Swank

Sparks and Culbertson Win at Keysville!

The Keysvile Classic   3/10/13

Tim Sparks has a special victory at Keysville!  Sparks took a bad spill in the last couple of miles of the race and still wins the Cat 1 Singlespeed division.  He banged up his left cheek pretty good.

"Danger" Dave Culbertson pulls off his first victory of the season in the Cat 2 50-59 class.  Culbertson also raced Southridge on Saturday.

Craig Sisino rode to a solid 8th place finish in the Cat 1 Singlespeed division.

Jon "The Coach" Miller showed us all age means nothing in racing.  Miller took a 3rd place podium finish in the Cat 1 Singlespeed class.  Most of Miller's competition was 15-20yrs younger!

Dermott Carroll had a solid ride in the Pro/Cat 1 Open race.  Carroll finished 17th in a very competitive field.

Roger "007" Moore took a 21st finish in the Pro/Cat 1 Open division.  A very respectable ride in a field that even Tinker Juarez didn't win!

Photos by Roxanne Moore