Will Finishes 6th Overall at VOS

Congrats to Will on his 6th place overall finish at the Valley of the Sun Stage Race this past weekend! Will finished in the pack in Saturday's road race stage, after a three-man break took 2 minutes out of the rest of the field, and then took 8th in Sunday's crit. See you next time in the Pro/1/2 races, Will. :)

Will Starts Strong in VOS Stage Race

Congratulations to Caltech's own Will Sladek, who took 4th in yesterday's opening time trial of the Valley of the Sun Stage Race in Phoenix (Men's Cat 3), down only 25 seconds on GC. Stay tuned for results of the upcoming stages, or check the VOS results page.

UCLA TT photos

Here are some great photos from the UCLA individual time trial last Saturday. Photo credit: aBiker Event Photography.

Ari (me), half-smiling and half-grimacing, as I know there's only 1 mile to the finish line, when the fire in my legs will finally go out. That was one long mile:


John gets aero on his way to a stellar 6th place:


Morgan digs deep going into the final mile:

UCLA Race Weekend

Sorry I didn't get this race report out sooner, but the results didn't get posted until last night. We sent four riders to the UCLA time trial last Saturday. The course was 20k out-and-back of mostly flat terrain. We were "supposed" to have a head wind on the way out and a tail wind on the way back, but actually had the opposite. The first riders of the day some advantage as the wind picked up throughout the afternoon.

Ari was the first of four Caltech riders to take the course and finished in 37:50. The three remaining riders (Will, Morgan, and I) had registered slightly after Ari, and had correspondingly later start times. Will was supposed to lead the second wave of Caltech riders, but flated at the start line. The officials wouldn't allow him to push back his start time, so he quickly rode back to where everyone had parked and borrowed a wheel. This unfortunate event, not the last of the weekend, delayed Will's start time ~3 minutes past his official start time.

Morgan started one minute after Will's official start time, and I started one minute after that. I sprinted off the line to get my heart rate up, and held it between 174-179 for most of the race. About 9 minutes into the race Morgan and I both got passed by Will, who had actually started after both of us.

The second half of the race was definitely more grueling than the first. The headwind slowed my average speed by a noticeable amount causing a little mental frustration. With a mile or so to go, I started pushing with everything I had left and got my heart rate over 185. I don't think I have ever been so happy to stop pedaling as when I crossed the line. As soon as I did, I started to really feel the pain I had inflicted on my legs. Fortunately, it only lasted a ten or fifteen minutes as the cool down spin helped.

Overall, my first time trial was a fun experience, and I look forward to (hopefully) watching my time decrease throughout the season. I am now pretty sure I can push harder.

Results: Ari Stern - 37:50, 39th place Mens C. Will Sladek - 34:06, 24th place Mens A. (Although this is his official time, his actual time on course was ~3 minutes less. That would have put him top 15 in Mens A) Morgan Putnam - 36:40, 22nd place Mens B. John McKeen - 33:12, 6th Place Mens B

The road race was on Sunday, and as I alluded to before, we had another unfortunate event. While driving to the race, Ian’s car over heated! With the A’s race starting at 9:00am, there wasn’t sufficient time to fix the problem and Will and Ian (our two A racers) were unable to make the race. (Morgan and I drove separately, and had left before Ian and Will)

The Men’s B race started at 9:10am, but before I divulge details let me describe the course. Each lap was thirteen miles long broken up into a continuous climb and a continuous descent. The start finish line was half way up the climb, so the race started with a climb and ended with a climb. Each lap had ~1500 feet of climbing.

We started at 9:10am, and the first quarter mile was uneventful, until Morgan stepped up the pace and rode off the front of the peloton to the sound of twenty-four fellow (including me) riders booing him. Fortunately he didn’t step it up too much and we caught him after a few minutes. The first climb was pretty slow, as we all knew there was much climbing in our futures. I started the first descent near the front of the pack, but half way down the front end of my bike started to shimmy. The same thing happened on the first descent at Boulevard, and I’m pretty sure it happens because my shoulders aren’t relaxed at the beginning of the race. (I actually stopped at Boulevard when it happened to check my front skewer, only to confirm what I knew. It was tight.) To avoid causing any accidents, I dropped to the back and just made sure I hung with the pack. Just like in Boulevard, the shimmy only happened on the first descent, and I had no further problems. (If anyone has other thoughts on this, please let me know)

The second and third laps were uneventful. No one attacked, and the peloton mostly hung together. The riders that did fall back on the climb caught the main group on the descent, both laps. The fourth lap was a different story. After coming through the feed zone and the start finish line, I got up front and started setting pace. To be honest, I don’t really know what happened behind me on the climb, but when I did look back at the top, there were six of us together with a few singles a little ways behind.

We knew that we were going to have to work on the descent to stay away and planned to keep a pace line going with short pulls at the front. It sounded good, but never materialized. (This really pissed me off.) The descent was the most disorganized break away I could ever imagine. A couple of the riders would get up front and then stop pedaling. By the end of the descent, we had, unfortunately, been caught by 4 or 5 more riders. I made sure I was near the front coming into the short flat section between the descent and the last climb. I ended up out front, but only one other rider was willing to work with me. After a couple of pulls, I got frustrated by the riders behind me moving over with me when I went to let the next rider by to pull, so I attacked and went off the front. In retrospect, I haven’t decided whether that was smart or not. I guess I would rather be a little aggressive than the alternative. I put a decent gap between myself and the lead pack, but they stepped up the pace and caught me after a couple minutes, going into the final climb. At that point, the pace quickened even more, and five of us (two from Cal, one from Stanford, one from UCSD and me) pulled away. With under a mile to go, one of the Cal riders attacked and the USCD rider went with him for a short time. The other three of us just kept pushing as we were. With the finish line in sight, I stood up and pulled in front of the two other guys near me. Unfortunately, they kicked it up too, and passed me as we were crossing the finish line. I regret not sprinting at the line. I ended up 5th, with 4th a foot in front of me and 3rd about half a bike length.

Overall, it was a great race, especially since I enjoy climbing and dislike mass sprint finishes. My only regret is not sprinting at the line to hold onto third.
Results: John McKeen 5th. Morgan Putnam 21st.

There is a race hosted by UC Davis this weekend, but none of us are going. It's just to far to drive. Will, however, is race in the Vally of Sun Stage Race this weekend in Phoenix, so be sure to wish him luck!

The next race weekend is March 4-5 in Santa Barbara. The crit on Saturday is also a USCF, so I hope to see some of you non-collegiate riders there. Until then, happy riding!

Photos from San Diego race weekend

While we wait for the results of today's UCLA individual time trial (and of course, tomorrow's road race), here are some photos from last weekend's races in San Diego. Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention in the race report: John's front derailleur wasn't quite doing its thing, so he had to ride the whole race in the big ring. That must have scared the bejeezus out of his opponents on the climbs.

BTW, you can also check out the fantastic professional (i.e. I can't reproduce them here) photos at Clinton Photography and aBiker Photography.

When not racing, much of the day was spent waiting around for the other races to come by the finish line/feed zone:



Will at the start of the Men's A race, calm as ever:


Will crosses the line in 2nd place, several minutes ahead of the trailing riders:


Will and Chris DuBois (Claremont), the day's winner, celebrate their 1-2 finish:


Here's me near the start of the Men's C crit. See, it's blurry because I'm so fast ... uh, yeah, that's it:


Morgan and John before the start of the B crit:


John and Morgan clipping in at the start:


Morgan and John in the pack:

UCSD/SDSU Race Report

The collegiate road racing season kicked off this past weekend in San Diego. Saturday was the Boulevard Road Race, hosted by UCSD, in the high desert about an hour east of San Diego. Sunday featured the Red Trolley Crit, hosted by SDSU.

Day 1: Boulevard Road Race

The course was a 22-mile loop, beginning with a couple extremely short climbs, followed by a long, fast 10-mile descent, and ending with several long, steady climbs to the finish. The desert weather was a big factor, as temperatures hovered in the 30s for the early morning Men's B and C starts (feels even colder when you're descending at 40+ mph!), then soared to 80 by the afternoon Men's A race. The morning races were also marred by registration difficulties, leaving little to no warm-up time. With the exception of Will Sladek, this was also everyone's first road race.

Men's B Race
John McKeen and Morgan Putnam represented Caltech in the Men's B race, the very first race of the day. The first lap of two was pretty slow, as no one wanted to work too hard -- the low temperatures and lack of warm-up may have had something to do with this. The peloton remained intact until John made a push halfway through the second and final lap, with the raised pace dropping several racers from the pack. John actually managed to break away with two other riders but they were caught on a downhill prior to the final climb. On the last climb to the finish the remainder of the peloton spread out substantially, with John maintaining his strong position near the front. Results: John McKeen 4th, Morgan Putnam 16th.

Men's C Race
Ari Stern (that's me) and Dal Wilson rode for Caltech in the one-lap Men's C race. The filled-to-capacity 60-man field got strung out almost immediately, as gaps opened up on the first short hill, followed by some riders bombing down the descent and others braking cautiously. Unfortunately, Dal and I got caught out behind the gap, and despite trying to chase back on the descent, we didn't see the peloton for the rest of the race, and spent most of the day riding solo or in small groups of dropped riders. I managed to lift my pace and pass several riders on the climb, working for several miles with Michael Cullen of St. Mary's before attacking on the last climb of the day. Results: Ari Stern 46th, Dal Wilson 54th.

Men's A Race
Will Sladek was Caltech's lone rider in the three-lap Men's A race. Launching a pre-planned breakaway, Will stayed off the front for the majority of the race, later joined by co-conspirators Chris DuBois and Sam Starr of Claremont by the end of lap two. The third lap was described as a "two-man time trial," as Chris and Will used their climbing ability to open up a massive gap and dominate the rest of the field. Chris took the win, with Will a few seconds back in 2nd place. Spectators were incredulous as several minutes passed before any other riders arrived at the finish (Sam took 4th place). Results: Will Sladek 2nd.

Day 2: Red Trolley Criterium

The criterium was short, fast -- and unfortunately, uneventful for the Caltech riders. The 0.6-mile, 4-turn course was mostly flat, with no nail-biting hairpin turns, but there was a downhill followed by a short-but-significant climb before the start/finish line. Taking place in a San Diego office park, the mild, cool weather was a welcome relief from the now freezing, now sweltering temps of the previous day.

Men's C Race
I was the only participant for Caltech in this 15-lap race, but not for long! The opening pace was blistering (to me, at least), and once a gap opened up in front of me in the first mile, I knew my race was over. I was pulled from the race around the 3-mile mark (of the 9-mile race). Results: Ari Stern, DNF.

Men's B Race
John and Morgan both participated in the 22-lap Men's B race. The pace was fast and steady, with a few breakaway attempts, but the pack essentially stayed together from start to finish. John and Morgan both finished in the pack, saying that it was a great learning experience in the fast, frenzied style of criterium racing. Results: John McKeen 17th, Morgan Putnam 20th.

Men's A Race
Will participated in the 30-lap Men's A race. Fresh off their success from the previous day, Will and the two Claremont guys again planned to break away from the pack -- this time, to play to their endurance strengths while avoiding a field sprint. Unfortunately, they failed to get in any serious breaks, despite a few attack/counter-attack attempts. The last few laps were a flurry of trying to chase down a breakaway, set Sam up for the sprint, and then trying to hang on, as all three finished in the pack. Results: Will Sladek 22nd.

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That's it for now ... stay tuned for pictures, coming soon. See you next weekend at the UCLA time trial and road race!

Welcome!

Welcome to the new blog for the Caltech Velo cycling team! This will be a (hopefully) frequently-updated page for race and ride reports, recent photos, and other team news. The main web site is still http://velo.caltech.edu, but it will remain dedicated to general club info, and won't be updated very often -- pretty much as it is now. (At least, until Caltech ITS allows us to install a decent content management system for frequent updates -- but that's another rant altogether.) Enjoy!