The two weeks I got off from school over the holidays are thoroughly missed, and now I am back at school battling homework, the upcoming finals, grades, etc. I have given up on providing complete race reports for whatever readers I have but instead will try to provide updates every few weeks at best.
The Mount San Bruno Hillclimb happened to fall on the day the rest of the world knows as New Year’s Day, as it does every year. To make a short story shorter, I won the juniors race and Cody came in third. I think everyone is at least a little surprised with Cody’s four-minute improvement over last year. Way to go! It’s nice to have some momentum going at the beginning of the year and to know that my training is on track. But I’m still not planning on doing crits this year, so don’t hold your breath!
The prizes, I’m sorry to say, were lame again. For winning I got some packets of promotional sunscreen, a promotional mini backpack thing, a medal, Gu2O, and an honorary envelope (and by “honorary” I mean that they gave me an envelope with nothing inside). To top it off, I got an NCAA basketball video game for Xbox 360. Firstly, I don’t have an Xbox 360 (or, for that matter, a PlayStation 2, which prevents me from playing the Tony Hawk game I got last year), and secondly, I am a little bit insulted that the promoters would think I waste my time playing video games rather than waste my time training. But I shouldn’t be complaining because juniors are technically not supposed to get any prizes other than medals and ribbons (do honorary envelopes fall in this category?), so this was pretty good, and they did put on a great race. I just wish they wouldn’t assume that a junior who would spend his New Year’s Day doing a bike race likes video games so much.
Here is proof that Cody and I were on the podium:
My dad moved all of the components to the Pegoretti Love #3 that I got for my birthday half a year back. It is awesome to say the least. I find that it has a little bit of a smoother ride that the 8:30 AM that will be passed on to my mom and is also a little lighter.
One picture for now (Yes, it has a headbadge. If I wanted the lightest bike I would’ve gotten something uglier):
On Sunday we hauled it over to the Napa region for some climbing, which was a lot of fun. We were even graced by the presence of local pro Paul Mach who rode with us slow pokes.
I’m looking forward to the rest of the year (cycling-wise)!
My dad orders a lot of things online, so we often get packages delivered by UPS. But when the delivery man rung the doorbell today, I looked out the window and was surprised to see not a big brown truck but two guys with bikes and trailers full of packages. I tried to find some more details online. I didn’t find much, but apparently UPS is also delivering by bike in Portland during the holiday shopping season. It would be too bad if they stopped riding after the holidays because I think what they are doing is pretty cool. Delivering by bike probably helps the environment more than the time UPS decided they would minimize left turns on their routes to decrease the amount of time waiting for turns.
Well, it’s been a while since the last time I’ve posted. School has kept me busy, and as for cycling, I took a two-week break that coincided with my dad’s trip to Germany and the performances of my school’s rendition of the musical Les Misérables for which I played keyboard, but otherwise I’ve been riding. My family went to Santa Cruz for a few days of riding, which was a lot of fun. I’ve given up on the hope of finishing my race reports for the year, but here are a few summaries:
Dunnigan Hills Road Race:
My brother went off the front early as a joke, but some Swift guys bridged up and the break stuck. Cody and I made a series of attacks that shattered the field, and we got a small break going. I won the field sprint for fourth and Alex won overall.
Mt. Shasta Hillclimb:
As usual, this was a small event but fun nonetheless, as usual. I got a good time, finished a little ahead of my dad, and won the juniors field of four.
Mt. Tamalpais Hillclimb:
A break got away that was just going too fast for me. I was third in the 15-16s but a little disappointed.
I’m looking forward to Mount San Bruno, the first race of the 2009 season.
Right now I’m working on a new website, although I’m not sure whether or not it will replace this blog.
The newest online cycling-related trend seems to be making custom bikes with Pedal ID, so I figured I’d show off my dream bike.
Now my parents know what I want for Christmas!
It’s been a long time since University and an even longer time since the last time I posted something new. School has started, and I’m swamped with homework resulting in my ambitious schedule. I haven’t had any time to do anything other than homework or riding, but this weekend I’m taking it pretty easy cycling-wise and don’t have much homework, so I can finally start catching up.
A while back my family stayed in Mountain View the night before the University Road Race, where my dad and I would be racing the 3s. I wasn’t sure what the course was like other than that it was short with one hill and one descent. Once we arrived I got a better idea. It was right in the middle of the UC Santa Cruz campus and about three miles long with almost no flat spots. From the start/finish it went up fairly gradually with a steeper section to the top of the climb. Then there was a long descent with a sharp right turn back to the climb and gradually up the the start/finish again.
My dad and I rode the course in the opposite direction of the race once or twice. Then we started exploring some bike paths that seemed to connect the whole campus. We got a little bit lost but found the course again and rode back to the car. The campus is definitely beautiful. It’s hilly, scenic, sort of secluded with a lot of trees, and a whole lot different than UC Davis.
We soon started. The race was certainly fast. I mostly stayed near the back and tried as best I could to hang on. Unfortunately, my dad got dropped and had to finish the rest of the race on his own. Towards the end of the race I was really counting down the laps. The climb really hurt, but the descent provided some momentary relief every lap.
By the end of the race I didn’t have much left to sprint. The final time up the climb the group split, and I was in the back as usual, so I had to bridge the gap. By then I really didn’t have anything left at all, and I just did my best to get to the finish line. I got eighth.
So again I missed the t-shirt, but I still had a blast nonetheless. Once again I discovered another part of California through bike racing, and I’m glad I did.
At the start.
In the group going up the climb.
My dad riding alone.
Waiting for the race to finish.
Finally finishing.
Waiting for results.
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