Time Trials to Memorial Day: Half Season To Go!
By Dan Vinson
SCNCA Individual Time Trial Championships (23.5 miles): After getting back from Bisbee and Gila I went out to the Palmdale desert do the SCNCA Individual and Team Time Trial Championships. I quickly found during the individual time trial that I wasn't fully recovered from all of the recent racing. It was like I was dragging a brake or riding with my tires at 50 psi the whole ride. Unfortunately, I didn't have those excuses. I rode the best time trial I could at the time - ending up 9th place on the day. Thurlow Rogers and Dan Ramsey set blistering paces with Thurlow defending his State Time Trial Championship by the narrow margin of 2 seconds over Dan Ramsey who placed second. Chris McDonald rounded out the podium for the event.
SCNCA Team Time Trial Championships (23.5 miles): The following week, held on the same course as individual time trial championships, was Team Time Trial Championships. LaGrange put together a team including Mike Garrett, Marco Rios, Tyler, Ofstad, and myself. This week I was riding strong and felt pretty good compared to last week. We knew our main competition would be the team including Gordon McCauley, Pat Caro, Frank Shroeder, and Scott Raymond. To win, we had to go fast. . . very fast. The conditions were pretty nice - not too much wind and perfect temperatures. We were the last team to go off. We started fast and maintained our speed, passing a few teams along the way. At about the half way point we lost a rider, but couldn't afford to slow down.
The loss of a rider meant increased pain at longer intervals with less rest in between, but we maintained our momentum. With less than 2 miles to go, a huge 18-wheeler semi truck was up ahead coming straight towards us. It was passing other riders on the opposite side of the road and went completely into our lane - going all the way to the dirt. As we played an unwanted game of chicken, it's not a surprise who won. All of us went flying off into the dirt, nearly crashing. We essentially had to come to a complete stop to get back on the road. We built up our speed and finished with a time of 46:51 (although we had clocked ourselves as 45:51) for 2nd place. We averaged over 30 mph for the ride. McCauley's team finished in a time of 45:47, 1 minute 4 seconds faster (or possibly 4 seconds if it was just our time that was incorrect and not everyone's across the board), and took the State Championship for the team time trial.
San Clemente Circuit Race (75 minutes): This awesome 2.3 mile course is pretty much all up or down including a gradual climb on the backside and a sprinter hill up to the finish. This race is kind of a blur - I had bad luck and so I blocked it out of my memory, but here is the short version. Our race started fast with almost immediate attacks. We tore up the climb almost every lap until a break was away. The first couple breaks were short lived and chased down. Eventually, a group got away and began to pull away. I got into a chase group, but thought I saw a teammate up the road and so I stopped drilling it and sat on. Soon thereafter, I was tempo on the front on the climb, and then found out that LaGrange didn't have a rider in the break. By then it was too late - the break had extended their advantage. Successfuliving.com did an excellent job driving the break ahead and slowing the field down behind. The last few laps we were flying, but it was a little to late. The 7 man breakaway held the field off. Hilton Clarke (Navigators) won with Adam Livingston and Curtis Gunn (both Successfuliving.com) in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Kyle Gritters (Healthnet) was fourth. Rahsaan Bahati (TIAA-CREF) took the field sprint for eighth. I got boxed in worse than an inmate at San Quentin and finished out of the placings.
LA Wings CBR Memorial Day Criterium (90 minutes): Held at the fast and flat Long Beach course right off the 405 and 710 freeways. It was real windy out at the course and we had a huge field - many riders taking advantage of the long weekend in which we paid respects for those who have served our country. The pace was high - and it just got faster. Soon, the entire field was strung out and beginning to fracture throughout. After consecutive blistering paced laps, about 25 or so riders detached themselves from the main field and we began to pull away. At the front, however, the attacks continued and the front group broke apart. On three separate occasions I went with the moves and ended up the the lead group of 10 or so riders, but the lead group of 20+ riders came back together each time. During the next attack by Tony Cruz (Toyota United Pro), I let it go, figuring it would come back together once again. At any rate, my teammate Kayle LeoGrande had made the move. About 7-8 riders began to pull away. Our group began to chase while I sat on to recover.
We all sped around the course. The leaders lapped the field and moved to the front. Our group was chasing desperately, and although I rotated through, there were some good sprinters in my group and I knew that Kayle's best chance was if we didn't lap the field. However, with 3 laps to go, we caught the field and several riders from other teams came back to bring their men to the front. Without any teammates I desperately tried to move up, but didn't have a lot left to do it on my own. Up ahead, Rahsaan Bahati (TIAA-CREF) won the race with Tony Cruz in second and Paul Che (Helen's Cycles) coming in third. Kayle LeoGrande (Kahala LaGrange) was 5th and I rolled through 14th.
Well, the season is half over. Now it's time for more training and to prepare for some additional big races of the year! Until the next one . .
Dan Vinson
