It was a rough weekend at the office. Originally our plans were to head to Camarillo for camp. Unfortunately, our accomadations fell thru at the last minute. Everyone was bummed, but the weather was looking dodgey so we viewed it as a blessing in disguise. On top of that a few of the guys were sick; they needed rest more than miles!
Friday: Dana, Skyler, and I headed down the coast for some climbs of Mt Soledad. The 3 ascents were tough and Dana was killing us! Sky headed home early for much needed rest-he was on the tail end of a bad cold. Dana and I got in a few extra miles.
Saturday: Marc, Zack, Jose, and I joined the Swamis ride for a good workout. Loic, our Belgian guest, joined us as well. Zack did the short loop; he was fighting a cold too. Marc, Jose, Loic, and I got in some great training-it was a fast ride. Skyler slept til 3pm (WHOA!) in an effort to feel better. Dana woke up with a sore knee and needed the day off. We got together that night for a movie ("I am Legend" pirated straight from China!!!) and some pasta. It was a good time hanging out.
Sunday: The general consensus was to skip the CBR Crit since the weather was looking bad. I did a few hours on my TT bike. We got together over at Skyler's for another zombie movie ("28 Months Later"). Skyler and Zack seemed better, but Dana's knee was still sore. Skipping the crit was good-it was cancelled due to a flooded course!
It was a great week of training for me and the team was looking good. We're all looking forward to the season getting into full swing in a few weeks.
Chris Daggs
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
MLK Race Report
Last Saturday saw the first race of the season in the town of Crenshaw, which is more or less South Central LA. The course was approximately 2-3km, with a bumpy descent over 3 drainage ditches, followed by a sweeping left onto the back straight into a tailwind, followed by a chicane leading into a bumpy 1 block hill, before making a final left turn into an uphill headwind 200m finishing straight to the finish. As this was not a scheduled team race (the first being this Sunday in Dominguez Hills), the full Swamis - FPPI Devt Elite Team was not in attendance. Chris Daggs, Dana Alia, and myself ventured up to Crenshaw, with Daggs competing in both the Master's 35+ and the Pro/1/2 races. Alex Jarman from the UCSD - Swamis development effort also raced the Cat 4 race. Loic Marcourt (our belgian exchange cyclist) came with us to get his first taste of US Crit racing. Loic helped us get ready for our races, cheering and shouting advice from the sidelines.
Chris Daggs was very active in the Masters race, following many moves and generally being an aggressive rider thru-out his race. With 15 minutes to race, Daggs launched a vicious attack, quickly building a 30 second gap. Now in Time Trial mode, Daggs maintained his gap and took the 30 second gap into the final lap. Unfortunately, the cards were stacked against him, and the sprinters worked together to bring him back. The worthy effort was foiled, and Chris had to rip off his top number and now race in the P/1/2, with less than 10 mins of recovery.
Dana and I were considerably more fresh for the race, and it looks like the big, consistent miles we have put in over the winter are paying off. We took turns countering moves off the front along with Daggs. It is worth mentioning that the field was a very solid and fast one, with LaGrange Cycling out of West LA bringing 16 riders to the race. Tony Cruz (former US Postal and Discovery Channel rider) from the BMC Professional team, along with Hilton Clarke (former Navigators Pro Team) from Toyota United Pro Cycling team were also in attendance, along with a smattering of fast guys from around Southern CA. Clearly, with LaGrange bringing the full squad, they were looking to dominate the race, and put guys in every move, or chase down anything that did not have a couple of LaGrange riders in the break. Gradually a break of 8 riders formed, escaping in 2's and 3's. Hilton Clarke made the move, and with his help, the break lapped the field. Meanwhile, back in the pack, the attacks were nasty, mostly coming from riders who wanted to be in the winning break. Tony Cruz was especially active, and when that guy dials it up, it is brutal.
The breakaway of 8 lapped the field with 5 laps to go, and LaGrange began to lift the pace, looking for a sprint victory (5 of 8 riders in the break were LaGrange). As the pace got faster and faster, two other LaGrange riders that had attacked the field (not part of the original break of 8) were left out in NoMan'sLand, and their gap was rapidly shrinking. Tony Cruz led thru the chicane and up the final hill, before Hilton Clarke blasted thru the inside of the final corner, snatching victory from LaGrange. Going into the chicane, I was sitting in about 6th wheel, with Dana Alia right behind me. We blasted up over the hill, and I opened up my sprint, good enough for 4th or 5th in the field sprint, 12th overall. Dana came in a few spots behind me, somewhere around top 20. Daggs unfortunately paid for his heroic efforts in the Masters race, and finished off the pace of the lead group.
For the first race of the season I was satisfied with the result. I feel like Swamis - FPPI Devt Elite can be a factor in any race we do, and this weekend's Crit is a sign of better racing to come. The race paid 15 deep, so we even got to split some prize money at the first race of the year. Following the Crit, Dana, Daggs, Loic, Alex, and I went to see the LA Track World Cup. We saw the Men's Keirin, Team Pursuit Finals, and Men's Scratch race. Watching world class athletes in competition helped us see the bigger picture, and what is possible at the top end of our sport.
Until next race.
Zack Simkover
Swamis - FPPI Devt Eite
Team and Media Relations
Chris Daggs was very active in the Masters race, following many moves and generally being an aggressive rider thru-out his race. With 15 minutes to race, Daggs launched a vicious attack, quickly building a 30 second gap. Now in Time Trial mode, Daggs maintained his gap and took the 30 second gap into the final lap. Unfortunately, the cards were stacked against him, and the sprinters worked together to bring him back. The worthy effort was foiled, and Chris had to rip off his top number and now race in the P/1/2, with less than 10 mins of recovery.
Dana and I were considerably more fresh for the race, and it looks like the big, consistent miles we have put in over the winter are paying off. We took turns countering moves off the front along with Daggs. It is worth mentioning that the field was a very solid and fast one, with LaGrange Cycling out of West LA bringing 16 riders to the race. Tony Cruz (former US Postal and Discovery Channel rider) from the BMC Professional team, along with Hilton Clarke (former Navigators Pro Team) from Toyota United Pro Cycling team were also in attendance, along with a smattering of fast guys from around Southern CA. Clearly, with LaGrange bringing the full squad, they were looking to dominate the race, and put guys in every move, or chase down anything that did not have a couple of LaGrange riders in the break. Gradually a break of 8 riders formed, escaping in 2's and 3's. Hilton Clarke made the move, and with his help, the break lapped the field. Meanwhile, back in the pack, the attacks were nasty, mostly coming from riders who wanted to be in the winning break. Tony Cruz was especially active, and when that guy dials it up, it is brutal.
The breakaway of 8 lapped the field with 5 laps to go, and LaGrange began to lift the pace, looking for a sprint victory (5 of 8 riders in the break were LaGrange). As the pace got faster and faster, two other LaGrange riders that had attacked the field (not part of the original break of 8) were left out in NoMan'sLand, and their gap was rapidly shrinking. Tony Cruz led thru the chicane and up the final hill, before Hilton Clarke blasted thru the inside of the final corner, snatching victory from LaGrange. Going into the chicane, I was sitting in about 6th wheel, with Dana Alia right behind me. We blasted up over the hill, and I opened up my sprint, good enough for 4th or 5th in the field sprint, 12th overall. Dana came in a few spots behind me, somewhere around top 20. Daggs unfortunately paid for his heroic efforts in the Masters race, and finished off the pace of the lead group.
For the first race of the season I was satisfied with the result. I feel like Swamis - FPPI Devt Elite can be a factor in any race we do, and this weekend's Crit is a sign of better racing to come. The race paid 15 deep, so we even got to split some prize money at the first race of the year. Following the Crit, Dana, Daggs, Loic, Alex, and I went to see the LA Track World Cup. We saw the Men's Keirin, Team Pursuit Finals, and Men's Scratch race. Watching world class athletes in competition helped us see the bigger picture, and what is possible at the top end of our sport.
Until next race.
Zack Simkover
Swamis - FPPI Devt Eite
Team and Media Relations
Sunday, January 20, 2008
First one on the books...
We ventured up to do the MLK Crit on Sat to kick off the season. We'll have more details from the weekend soon, but it was a good start!
Friday, January 18, 2008
Not far off...
Racing is around the corner! We got our clothing yesterday. IT'S FANTASTIC! Nice work Capo!
Zack, Chris, and Dana are heading up to the MLK Memorial Crit on Sat to kick off the season. Next week is camp; 2008 here we come!
Zack, Chris, and Dana are heading up to the MLK Memorial Crit on Sat to kick off the season. Next week is camp; 2008 here we come!
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
1/1/08
The squad kicked off the new year with a big ride out of San Elijo Hills. We met up with many a bright-eyed and bushy-tailled Swami and headed out for a day of climbing in and around North County. The entire team was in attendance (except for Zack who rung in the New Year like a ROCK STAR!!!) Our first target was Rice Canyon. From there we continued on to Rainbow, turned around, headed up Couser Canyon, rode over to Valley Center for a brief food stop, dropped into Escondido, and from there the group split off to return to their respective homes.
Stats for the day:
Flats for the day: 2
Powertaps lost/run over: 1
VMs and texts answered by Marc while riding: 37
KMs: 146
Total vertical ascension: 6000+
Ride Time: 5:24
Total Time: 9:38 (It was more like 6hrs, but it seemed to go on forever)
It was a great way for us to ring in the New Year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
