Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Zack is a superstar!

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/03/20/sports/communitysports/5ea976a2390fe71a88257412006ca08d.txt

Here's Zack's article in the North County Times! Awesome.

It's great that he's getting a bit of press and the exposure is great for the team. Everyone on the squad is really psyched right now about our momentum and we're looking forward to the next few races. Next up Del Mar #2!!!

Saturday, March 22, 2008

LAX Circuit Race March 16th

After a rough day at the office on Saturday; Zack, Marc, and I headed up to the LAX Circuit Race. Here's Zack's race report:

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Sorry to send out this race report a little on the tardy side - Nytro is starting up their busy season, and I've been pretty swamped over there. This Sunday, Chris Daggs, Marc Yap and myself drove up for the LA Circuit race. A giant hotdog shaped race course with 2 long straights and 2 one hundred eighty degree turns. Due to the late start to the National Race Calendar, many pros are living in CA, waiting for the first big stage race of the year: Redlands. As a result, all our local races have been FAST. The fields are at max capacity, and everybody is coming to race with solid fitness. LA Circuit Race was no exception, and registration filled all 125 spots for our race. Several Pro teams brought their fast guys - including Toyota United with Ivan Dominguez, Dominique Rollin, Caleb Manion, Hilton Clarke, and Jose "Chepe" Garcia. Rock Racing brought a full squad, including former 4th place Tour de France finisher, Tyler Hamilton. Marc was a victim of this race's new found popularity. He got caught out on the waitlist, and did not get to start.
Daggs and I toed the line and the race kicked into high gear right away. The wind was blowing hard, with a huge tailwind on the downhill finishing straight, and a nasty headwind on the back straight. As a result breakaways would continually roll away on the tailwind section, only to be reeled in on the headwind side of the course. I followed several moves, a few of which were initiated by Tyler Hamilton. That guy is tiny, but definitely strong. He did not have the hollow look of a grand tour racer, but the natural talent he possesses still shines thru. With so many sprinters at the racer, the field sprint was inevitable, and Daggs and I finished safely in the pack. Fast race with a quality field.
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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

He put's the 'Master' in Master-san

Saturday, March 15th will forever be known as the day Steve Masterson tried killed me (and Marc and Zack and Jose). He almost succeeded, but we were able to withstand the onslaught of attacks during this Master-class display of power which was so Master-fully orchestrated.


We showed up @ Nytro to ride with the club. Everyone was a bit tired from the Del Mar Crit- like waaaaay tired. A light workout was in order. Steve was sporting his new Cannondale Super Six and ridin' high after his podium appearance at Del Mar.

In an exhibition of Team Discovery-like control; the Swami's Cat 4 squad placed a Vice Grip on the front of the field, refusing to back down. Albert, Troy, Steve, Fred Muir, Pascal "The Hammer of Wallonie" Bonaventure, Andy "Way Above" Parr, Rich Sarles, Cam Sanders, and Bob Rosemeyer (forgiveness for anyone forgotten) threw down! After Master-san's Cipo-esque sprint (see below) 4 more Swami's rounded out the top 11. Awesome!

So we start rolling to San Elijo and I fell terrible- like my door mat! I'd been tired since the crit, but it seemed worse today! As we climbed in to San Elijo I was huffin and puffin...and Steve rolls by like Contador. Then after we round the corner and come to the next climb he puts in a bit of a dig! Immediately Zack (who was up front) switches from 'Chill Mode' to 'Robo-domestique/Hunt/Attack/Destroy Mode'-and this is really my fault as I drilled into diminutive Zack that when attacks go you must follow and counter ALWAYS! So the hammer gets dropped. Now Jose starts going for it-he's having PTSD flashbacks to winning the KOM in Tour of Northwestern Venezuela. And now the other guys are joining in. I made a nice move on the descent and sprinted out of the corner only to get severe leg lock and nearly get dropped! Thru the park Steve puts in a dig on the climb. Owwww. "Seriously, whats wrong with me today," I think out loud. At this point the madness must be stopped. I went to the front and tried to set some kinda tempo for the church sprint. Over some seemingly minor rise I think I bonked and someone launched the sprint. I limped home, but watched Steve nearly upset Zack in the all important church sprint. Thank you Buddha for helping Zack win. I barely make it to the church. Steve is chatting away looking as fresh as the day he showed up at UCSB and Marc, Jose, Zack, and I all look pale and clammy! We comiserated about our frail aching bodies and determined that there would be no long loop today-in fact if someone wanted to ride back to the coast and get a car we would wait at the church for that person and buy them dinner. We were hurtin pups. The ride left without me as I waited for Skyler (who did the A ride and met up with us) and we spun home. It felt like we could have walked faster! I checked my Polar CS400 for the average speed and it showed a whooping 13.5mph when I got home. Poor Skyler was equally wasted. I think he stopped along the road in Rancho Santa Fe and took a nap after we split up. I heard that Steve continued to put the wood to the ride on the way back to the coast. I think next time I'll just do the Swami's A ride-at least I expect that one will hurt!

Ride Epilogue: upon arriving back to Casa Daggs I napped for 4 hours!

Chris

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Del Mar #1 Vid

http://delmarcrit.raceplan.com/docs/media.html

Sweet.

Del Mar #1 or The Blue Train of Pain!

Del Mar #1. The importance of this race was not lost on the squad at all. It was a race we could win. To make things interesting a handful of 'hitmen' showed up. Yup-the Foregin Legion heard about our little race and came down to play.

Matt Wilson- Team Type 1, Aussie RR Champ, 2x TdF competitor
Ben Brooks- Team Type 1, Giro competitor, hard mofo, Aussie Champ
Hilton Clarke- Toyota-United, winner of countless races, Aussie Champ
Caleb Manion- Toyota-United, another hard Aussie mofo, always in the top 5
Matty Rice- Jelly Belly, yet another hitter from Oz

For kicks we also had 3 Rock racers: Rashaan Bahati, Justin Williams, and Iggy Silva- all multiple US champions. And there was also the usual assortment of SoCal teams and fast guys, SDBC, 5 Star/WVO. It was not gonna be an easy Wednesday night training crit.

Game on.

The gun was fired promptly @ 7:25pm and we were off for a 'neutral' lap behind the Hoehn Motors Honda Element pace car. We were jockeying for position and when the Element pulled off, the Foreign Legion PUT IT DOWN! Our pre-race meeting was basically, stay safe, stay up front, and stay upright! Immediately, all the guys came up front! Jose, Marc, Skyler, Dana, Zack, myself, and even Rob Carr and Alex Jarman! Guys were coming off the back in packs! The course was tough especially in the dark! Wow! I flatted and headed to the pit. I'll be honest; I didn't want to go back in. The race was dicey in the dark and I didn't want to crash. But I knew the team needed me so I sucked it up and jumped back in. Of coursethen the crash happened. I got gapped with Rob and Jose. Zack and Dana went down. Both looked okay. Unfortunately, we had to chase back to the group. My splinter group chased for about 20 minutes, but we finally rejoined. Then it was time to go to work. The team had missed the break and we had to chase to go for the win or at least limit the damage. Chasing also kept the race safer for everyone-on this difficult course a high pace would keep things smooth and eliminate weaker riders. We got organized, put the entire team on the front, and then rode our guts out for the next 30 minutes. We were keeping the leaders from lapping, but they were just too strong. We switched to leadout mode and kept it fast for Skyler; he was our best chance in the sprint. The guys were pretty wasted. Skyler ended up 4th in the bunch gallop and 10th overall.

It was a huge team effort. Everyone was psyched. 10th was good considering all the work Sky did. But it wasn't about the result really. It was about the ride! We sacked up and rode like pros. The entire team was proud. Skyler summed it "That's how we roll. We're riding like that all season. Like pros. Like a team. On the front."

Here we come.

Off The Front!!


'Cause That's How We Roll Baby!!!
All season, every race. Rain or shine.
Bring it on!!

Media Darling

The North County Times is doing a story on Swamis, the Del Mar Crit Series, and DET!! Sweet!! I spoke with the reporter, Matt, for a few minutes and then he spoke to our poster boy, Zack, for about an hour. Very very cool. We'll post the article when it appears.

Chris

The Biggest Winners

Okay this show makes me cry EVERY time! Seriously! The Biggest Loser These people work so hard and you get to see the incredible impact their amazing transformations have on them.

Seriously, check it out. I try never to take my fitness and health for granted. Always draw inspiration from the hard work of others.

Chris

Monday, March 17, 2008

Tour of Murrieta

ToM was a great race for the DET. Here's a quick recap:

Stage 1: Hard. Lotta pro squads-Kelly, Toyota, Rock, Jelly Belly, BMC. Ouch. Breaks went and the field split a few times. Windy. We were throwing the boys at the front, but nothing was sticking. Field sprint time. With 4 to go Kelly wound up the lead out only to crash in the first corner. Not cool a) pros aren't supposed to crash when leading the field and b) the Kelly guy at the bottom of the pile got F-ed up! Zack and Marc hit the deck, but were okay. Sky and I survived, but I was gapped. Skyler rode like the pro he is and freelanced the sprint for 7th. Very nice. It was a good team effort even with the crash in there.

Stage 2: Harder. We wanted to stay in the GC so the plan was to get Sky into the sprint or into the break/split. Jose and Zack were going to cover moves and make sure we were represented. Marc and I were tasked with looking after Skyler-get him drinks, move him around, keep him out of the wind, keep him fresh for the action. The course was awesome and so was the weather. The wind picked up and so did the action. A few laps from the finish the field split under pressure from the heavies AKA Dominique Rollin and Neil "Don't Call Me" Shirley. Everyone was on board and the race shut down behind us. I made the move for the team but Skyler didn't. What now? Wait for Skyler and if I was isolated go for a good stage result. At the finish Karl Bordine slipped the break and won to once again remind the pro teams they passed up one of the best guys in the US-they don't just give away Elite TT Championships!!! I hung on for 18th-nothing special but a good effort. Skyler busted out the fast legs again and took 4th in the field sprint. In the end Sky took 15th overall and I got 25th. We were happy with our race. We headed off to dinner with Karl and the guys.

Next up DEL MAR!

Chris

Friday, March 14, 2008

Finally a break; well kinda!?!?

We do a lot of races! We just did Del Mar #1 Wed night and I still haven't posted a report from Murrieta! Look for a bunch of updates this weekend.

This weekend is a bit of a break for the team. And we can use it! We've been racing and travelling since January 19th! A few guys may race this weekend and we'll post a report from that race.

Monday, March 10, 2008

DET Stats to date

49 races
4523kms of racing
7 team members
1 new addition
2 states raced in (AZ and CA)
2 host families
30,477kms of training
163 Clif shots consumed
1207hrs on the bike
754,310Kcals burned
2 flatted tubulars
3 crashes

Merced/MERCO Classic Wrap Up-Thanks Jen!


A shout out to Jen, Zack's friend, who HOOKED us up with host housing at her Mom's place in Snelling- right on the RR course. The location was fantastic, and her family was amazing. Thanks Jen!! We had the best time. A few other teams (yes teams) were staying there and her family took all of us in like the mongrel nomadic bike racers we are (actually the DET is filled with respectable young men, but the other teams...). Jen is a bit of a rock star. She's been featured not just once, but twice in Pezcyclingnews.com 'Daily Distractions.' After the road race on Sunday, we showered at Jen's and had lunch before hitting the road. The trip back to SD was long, but it was a good trip. Another weekend and 2 more races on the books; only 6months of racing left!!

The Kids

Adam debuted with the DET at Merced which was very cool! In his first Cat 2 race he placed 15th; an awesome start! Adam finished in the field in the RR. We're looking forward to doing more races with Adam and I know Zack is psyched about having another Cat 2 teammate.
Alex had an awesome weekend! He won the Cat 3 crit on Sat and got 6th in the RR on Sunday. Alex was on cloud 9 and we're hoping he can get his upgrade soon and join us on the DET!

MERCO Cycling Classic Day 2 terribly long (and somewhat boring) Road Race

This will be a quick post. The MERCO RR was 200K!! That's a long race. Sometimes you can get bored during a long race, but seriously this thing would not end!!! Brief synopsis: Race was hard for 100k (but not too bad). Entire field decided to chill for food and a pee stop at halfway. Jose, Sky, and I were refueling and the break went; 25 guys...no Horner. Everyone looks to Horner to chase. Horner says whatever. Break pulls out insurmountable lead. Field starts racing again with 10k to go. Race finishs (there we'rent any places left. And that's bike racing.

Zack was doing the Cat 2 race and looking good. He made the break. Zack's exuberance turned out to be his enemy. After a few too many hard pulls Zack cooked himself and the break left him behind. Ouch. Good news for Zack; he made the break, he's riding strong, and he looks good in the new kit. Bad news; missed out on a top 7 placing worth valuable upgrade points. Zack was bummed, but he's got plenty of results in him. We all commented that you only make the mistake (working to hard in the break) once!

Zack in the Break









Jose and Horner >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Horner dropped out soon after. So We all beat Horner which means Sky, Jose, and I can all finish top 16 in the Tour ..... Right?

the blogging continues...

I'm watching Miami Vice while blogging...who says there's nothing good on cable!

Friday, March 7, 2008

Keep Your Head on a Swivel

Saturday, March 1st (afternoon): The downtown Merced crit is always a bit dicey. It's not NRC this year, but that didn't diminsh the speed or pro team attendance. With Bissell, Kelly Benefits, BMC, Rock, Colavita, Successful Living, Chris Horner (Astana!!!), CA Giant Strawberries, and LaGrange (and us) at the races, it was gonna be fast! In years past, Merced was always the first NRC and the first outing for pro teams which made for nervous racing. It's not an easy course; it's bumpy so you really have to concentrate and manage the course. Add in the constant battling for position to take the primo lines and it generally makes for a stressful race. Plus there's always a crash (or 2); I've seen broken backs, collarbones, legs, and wrists at this race!! Eeeeek! I never know what to expect and usually go into it with a goal of throwing in a few attacks, stay up, and finish. This year I had Sky and Jose with me-I haven't had Cat 1 teammates for 2 years! Goal one was to get a good start=done Sky and I were on the front row! Goal two was stay there=we did! Goal three was try and make something happen=this one was a lot harder. Sky and I kept our noses in the action, but we were both outta gas by the finale. I got caught behind the inevitable last lap crash, but stayed up. Jose and Skyler were further back and avoided the crash and rolled in safely. A break had been up the road and Alejandro Borrajo, Chris Horner, and Ben Jacque-Mayne lapped the field and finished in that order. Horner was fearless in the final laps diving into corners- just goes to show that when your a world class racer that means world class at everything! Unfortunately BJM got caught in the crash, but got up and rolled in for 3rd. All in all a good day. Swamis were mixing it up with the big boys

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Lotta Drivin, Lotta Bikin', Lotta Bikers, Lotta Food OR Everything's Bigger in Merced, CA

Friday, February 29th: This weekend's exciting vacation plans took us to Merced, CA. Merced is a looooong ways from San Diego. Adam, Alex, and Zack took off earlier in the day; Skyler, Jose and I (Chris) headed out around 7pm. We cruised thru LA and pulled into Visalia around 12 midnight. Head to pillow was good.

Saturday, March 1st-Morning: We woke up refreshed and ready for the afternoon's race. First up was a spin around Visalia. We're thinkin there's not a lot to do in Visalia....yet (see above)....oh yeah!!

Skyler and Jose
We rode for an hour and then hit up Country Waffles for an outstanding breakfast. Oddly, none of us got waffles. Skyler did however pick up a mean case of hiccups which lead to indigestion ALL weekend. Not cool.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

NEW GUY!!! Welcome aboard Adam Bickett!

We are psyched to have Adam Bickett join the DET! Adam was a Cat 3 with the club and was pretty close to his upgrade last summer. Well, over the winter he trained a lot and threw down at the Valley of the Sun Stage Race. He ended up 3rd overall and that was more than enough to earn his Cat 2 upgrade. Adam is working on his PhD at UCSD in Computer Science. Adam's got a big engine and will be a great addition to the team. A few of our other Cat 3's are halfway to their upgrades as well. Hopefully, they'll be joining us this summer.

Chris

Sweet Glorious News! Cannondales a comin!!!

We heard today that the C-Dales are in transit! Many a Swami's member will be happy. Unfortunately, that means my current steed will probably end up on E-bay. It served me well, but I am looking forward to riding a bike designed and built (by hand) in the good ole U.S of A (as in 'A'wesome!!!)

Details to come! Yeah!

Chris

Telegram

There has not been a DET news blackout. Zack's been busy...it's all Zack's fault! Ha!