The day has arrived! it’s the race i’ve been waiting on since i missed
registration last year. Being an Oakland resident, the berkeley hills
road race is basically in my back yard. The course includes a popular
local series of climbs affectionately known as the “three bears”.
along with some fast descents and a fair amount of rollers, this was
going to be a tough race.

There would be 2.7 laps for the E4 bunch, each lap containing
approximately 19 miles and about 1600ft of climbing, totaling 52 miles
and 4340ft —no slouch of a race route.

After a short promenade we were set loose on the opening stretch of
road. making note of the headwind i tucked in the pack in an effort to
loosen up and see who’s who. the group of us (about 50 in all) wavered
down the initial descent and took the first right hander into a ‘set
of stairs (© grayson), another descent and then on to the back stretch
of rollers. After that it’s the 3 climbs, the biggest being the last
with the soon-to-be finish line up top.

A fairly uneventful first lap turned into some strong pace making for
round 2. the back stretch proved to be a bit of a challenge, with the
wind, quick pace and rolling terrain. i kept finding myself having to
close little gaps as the front group surged over the small bumps. the
rest is a bit blurry, i drank a lot of water, ate some blocks and we
all kept a close eye on each other. at one point there was a bit of a
move that i decided to involve myself in.
it hurt… and we were eventually reeled in.

Fast forward a few miles and i was towards the back of the lead pack
approaching the second to last climb. my plan was to move up on the
outside and gain a considerable amount of spots when the grade kicked
up. this proved to be a bit harder than i had planned due to some
strong pace driving from the davis squad. by the time we took the
right-hander into the beginning of the long, straight climb, i had
just managed to start picking up position and noticed a group of about
6 riders making a move. with only one major climb left after this one,
i knew this break was going to be decisive. i stood up and dug in,
just able to latch on to the back of the break as we made considerable
distance on the rest of the pack. grinding our way to the top, my legs
were all but cooked from the effort to latch on. by now there were
four of us – the lead two riders (davis and beaver medical group)
managed to open up a bit of gap that Eric Colton (a rider for The TEAM) and I
just couldn’t close.

Heading up the final climb it was a bit of cat and mouse once we
realized that the distance was a bit too far to close in time for the
finish. i focused on spinning all i could until i saw eric coming up
on my left. i clicked those few gears, stood up and just did all i
could do. it was enough to get clear and seal 3rd place as i crested
that damned hill.

Tough course, great race, took a goofy picture and even got some
awesome GU Energy products as a prize.

So, I drive out to Elgin last night and get to the training center to pick up my wheels about 7:50pm.

Standard greetings. Rob’s in the middle of a running an indoor training session for some awkward triathletes. When he gets a chance he brings me off to one side and shows me the wheels. My heart stops. “But they’re tubular..?”

“Yeah. Thats what you ordered.”

“No. It isn’t.” He runs over to his bag and checks the invoice while I look for the email that has ‘CLINCHER’ all in caps. I can’t read the expression on his face. “Shit. Mike, I’m so sorry. Hey, how much time do you have?”

“Well I’m not racing this weekend but…”

“No, I mean tonight. Can you hang out for a few hours?” Feeling a bit awkward I really don’t want to drive out here again, unless I’m racing. So I say, “…um, sure. I guess. I only have nonsense meetings all day tomorrow.”

“Ok, you can help me build your wheels tonight.” Ok, now I’m excited.

So we get over to the PSIMET’s lair at 8:30 and say hello to his wife and son and head to the basement where his wheel building empire in its toddler phase. Seriously, there were kids toys all over the place–but in a semi organized way. All the pending orders orgnized in the q (Matt, your’s is comming up!), several going to different states, Texas, Colorado, North Carolina. Spokes prepped and laid out, boxes of rims all over the place. There were several red wheel bags with “Simon” written in black marker–looking at those bags makes me feel slow. We both laught about it and he settles in and starts to assemble all the materials.

For the next three hours he build up my wheels and I got a lesson in wheelbuilding/physics, the bike industry, and got to know Rob a little better than I knew him before.

We have a good sponsor over there.

Plus I got to choose the color and sticker type. Reflective black looks super badass. Especially the “rr” Rhythm logos at the valve. Looking back at it, I think the discrete “rr” logo would look even sick in red. But I’m not second guessing my choice, just thinking ahead, perhaps for another pair (CX?).

As I’m typing this I can’t wait to get home, put ‘em on and ride. Hell, it will be nice just to look at them for while and get all lusty with my new “hoops”–yes, hoops.

I didn’t get home untill 2am and only got 3.5 hrs sleep last night, but I’m super excited. I not only have hand built wheels by a guy I’ve known for years, but I watched those hands put build it. I was totally worth it and I am even more confident that Rob is super pro, nevermind the fact that he’s a mechanical engineer.

If you are hesitant, don’t be.

After a 4am wakeup, two hours travel time and not nearly enough warmup, i’m heading to the start line following a quick nature break and see that my group has already left…shit!

I hit the gas and race about 300 meters (580.8399 yards for you non-cycling folks) to catch on. as i reach the pack I do my best to settle into the back with a few familiar faces.

The course is a series of poorly paved farm roads with two moderate climbs separated by rollers and punctuated with a numbingly rough descent. three laps, 62 miles in all.

The first lap is spent doing my best to find some sort of rhythm over the constant bouncing around and danger of potholes. I find myself a bit too far from the front of the pack on the first pass at the rough descent and have to work to catch back on at the bottom – not doing that again.

As we head upwards through the feed zone for the second lap I make sure to move forward and work to hold a solid position. Coming up on climb number two and it’s time to get on the front to test the legs a bit. feeling good as I drop into the descent with the
front group, the lead few do their best to find a “smooth” line down as we hit speeds of up to 40mph over rocks, potholes and gravel.

Pace keeps steady as we come around for the last pass at climb number one. The road conditions coupled with the constant up/down is taking an obvious toll on everyone. we hit a patch of fresh pavement and the pack lets out a synchronized sigh of relief. it’s just brief enough to realize how much your legs hurt.

As we climb the pack splinters. coming over the top there’s 11 of us with a solid gap on the rest of the field. A paceline is agreed upon, but never comes to be. A small chase group eventually latches on, that now makes about 15 of us, amazingly there is only one team with two riders in the mix – marked. I sit in over the rollers and wait. Approaching the base of the last climb I take an outside line and decide to give it a go. moving up… on the front, legs say no. dropped back into the saddle with the patented ‘no cramp’ chant. by now there’s approximately 9 of us left as we crest and roll into the final descent. a friend flats to my left, chains are jumping off, rocks are kicking up, my hands are numb as I do my best to hover over the saddle. the bike and i stay in one piece and now there’s approx 6 of us left coming into the 1km mark. I tuck in behind the two teammates (team chica sexy) who are obviously setting up a leadout – they’re strong. the pace is smooth and fast.

the grade kicks up a bit. 200m sign. Big guy on my left goes so I jump on his wheel. he’s fading, I come around his left and gun it. it’s me and one team chica sexy rider. sprint! sprint!
He edges me out by a wheel length – strong rider, good finish.
I’m happy and 2nd place wins me a shirt plus enough pesos for some beers.

75 men lined up on the line. From the gun (or the lady yelling go) Rhythm was on the front. Villena and Witry took control of the race. They immediately set a tempo that allowed Merkey and me to settle nicely in the top 15 (and spit riders off the back before they could clip in). Riders were a little frisky on the downhill portion of the course feeling the need to test out their breaks on a regular basis….. Villena continued to punish the field and I was content to sit top 20 until I saw 5 to go.

With 5 to go, Witry came to take me up to the front for the remainder of the race. With 3 to go Villena and Merkey attack to get the prime (unnamed box of product, should have been GU), mission accomplished. They had a small gap with 2 others, but the field quickly pulled them back. With 2 to go Witry and Villena take over the front of the race on the hill. As we crossed the start / finish line with 1 to go Rhythm lit the fuse on the downhill, I am told we were flying at 40 mph or so. As we hit the turn into the hill Villena and Witry went through the corner 1st and 2nd, I was 4th wheel but found Witry’s wheel as the ground went upward.

At that point it was go time, we heard carbon and metal scrapping the ground behind up as Villena accelerated and I hugged Witry’s wheel knowing it was almost my time to lay it on the line. As we crested the second hill Witry gave his last effort to spring me up the hill. As I hit the wind I gave it everything I had in an attempt to take the day. I pushed through the pain as the acid built up in my legs. I could see a wheel or two behind me and I realized I wasn’t alone. As we came out of the last corner I saw two wheel come by to my left. I hammered the pedals to try and keep contact but I was spent, I crossed 3rd giving Rhythm yet another podium. David Hudson of xxx was 2nd and we were both bested by a member of the Christian Cycling Club. In retrospect there was little chance of beating a member of the Christian Cycling Team on Easter weekend. Great course, great race, great result.

I couldn’t have done it with the dedication of my teammates and the selfless effort made to put me on the podium,

What’s next?

.

There was a solo attack with maybe 20 or 30 seconds off the front and a paceline firmed to chase. Mike was spent from pulling us up and was recovering but ben evan and I jumped in. Ben got a great spot probably 10th wheel, so I moved up the side of the line and he let me in. The chase got serious. I must be on pretty good form right now cause I was taking good pulls and receiving pretty quick

Chad hartely was trying to bridge solo, but our paceline as bringing them both back slowly. I got to the front and pulled hard, I looked back and had a gap. A few guys came with, Brian hill yelled up “don’t slow down now” so I pushed again. We caught Chad hartley in the first gravel section, (I was really sorry to hear evan crashed out, dude you would have pulled off a big result in your first 3′s race) I sucked chads wheel till the left turn and passed him on the inside. I was chugging along and we dropped Chad. Chiefly there after we caught the solo dude.

There were four of us and we were all alone and working together to grow our gap, I as the only 3 and feeling good about my chances. Then all of the sudden another 3 comes outta nowhere!?!?!! I don’t know how he did it all by himself but he brought fresh blood and we dropped two of the 1/2′s we had left. So it was Brian hill myself and zucco (I believe) really zucco was driving and his draft is worthless.

The weather turned foul all of the sudden it dropped at least 10 degrees, the wind picked up and it was snowing raining sleeting. Your mail man wouldnt have delivered in this shit. The gravel roads turned into soup and my glasses were getting covered up I took them off because I couldn’t see, bad idea. I got mud in my eyes, bad excuse I know… But I was wiping my eyes and I let a gap open and that was that, I couldn’t close it, see you guys later.

I was freezing, my hands were so cold they were swollen and I was dragging ass, I was not properly dressed. This guy passed me I had no idea who he was but I kept him in sight. We started lap 4 and going though the feed zone Wolters tried to give me something I waved him off, but he told me this was my last opportunity… I took the red bull.

It was the fourth lap what the he’ll was he talking about, did they shorten the race? I don’t know I wish the guys in the car would tell me something. I was suffering bad, real bad but still chugging through the head wind from hell. I couldn’t wait for the lap to be over, that glimmer of hope from Wolters made me decide that even if the race wasn’t cut short I was not doing another lap. In the final gravel stretch, I caught the guy who had passed me. I looked across the field and saw no one else was in the feed zone. When we got to the corner officials stopped us and told us the race was shortened. They seemed as confused and cold as us bur we didn’t need an excuse to turn into town. So we turned left.

The other guy says “so do we sprint now or something” and I sorta half nod and say “I guess” I’m on auto pilot and have a killer tail wind. I wind it up, there is no way I’m taking 3rd after all that I tell myself as I shift into my 11 and drop the guy well before I cross the line. Fawkes is the and counts us and tells us we were 1 and 2… We are both really confused and he tells us to just go get warm, I don’t need to be told twice. I head towards the parking lot and run into Adam and the 2 johns driving to meet me. I got off my bike somehow and my heart rate dropped and I started shuddering like Michael j fox. The guys literally had to strip me. I dont know what I would have done without them. I love this team.

Brian hill and zucco started a fifth lap before they had decided to call the race. Hence the post race confusion and why I was initially slated as the winner. Brian called it quits shortly after the feed zone to roll back to town and win the pro race. Zucco continued and finished a fifth lap like a madman to win the 3′s… Pretty amazing stuff.

This is the race of attrition I can’t wait till next year! Thanks team.

Eric

At the start of course. It was a fine day for a kermesse. Overcast still looming from the nights rain and windy. A small field but with big guns. Neutral rollout and off we go. Sitting in, riding into what I know to be a headwind, we are going slow. Slow because it is that windy. Hoping to save myself for the imminent split of the field I think myself wise to stay hidden.

The turn comes and the long stretch before the first gravel secteur. Knowing I am out of place, I take the liberty of the turn to advance up the side and skirt the yellow line for an official warning. It’s full gas now and the field is strung out. I give what I got to close gaps and maintain contact, but its not enough. Goodbye to the tete de la course and groups B – G.

First lap and gapped?!?

Not the way to start the day. It is what it is and only one thing to do, claw back what I can and imagine that I’m closing down attacks. Luckily, my teammate Dan Pollard is with me. Together, we can make up some time and commence to doing just that. We make it through the secteur and add one. Unluckily, on the next secteur, Dan suffers a mechanical and has to wait for the caravan (wheel car). Proving his metal, he takes his change and soldiers on, but we aren’t to see each other again until later in the day.

Down to two, the motivation to catch the next group grows as every extra rider helps. We do. Luckily, this group has another teammate, Justin Merkey. We give each other the all too familiar look that there is work to do and start to drive our group to chase down the next. On the last gravel secteur before turning back into the headwind, we make a push to bridge. We catch them just after the crest of the hill. A couple of more and now we are at four. Four is better than two. Soldier on and catch a couple of more. Another teammate, Bryan Witry and now we are six strong. Six is better than four. We’re working well, and there is another chase group in front, but the gap isn’t coming down as quickly as it needs to. The pace picks up, but fractures our group. Not sure what happened, but next thing I know it is just Justin and myself.

Two laps to go and still feeling good. Another lap in the books and one to go. There is still a chase group ahead, but with just two of us and what looks to be about 5-6 of them. Gavin Gould is manning the corner and informs us of who’s in the group, just a little extra motivation. Thanks Gavin. Dave Pilotto, one of the fine gents that put this thing on, is also there giving us some encouragement. We start our last lap and the headwind is about 100 times stronger than I remember. I was lucky to get behind Kyle from Tati in our group of three, but even his tall frame didn’t provide the shelter I required.

80 km in and the body decides that it wants no more part of this. From here on out, the goal is just to finish. Can’t find the gear I want to save my life and Justin patiently waits for me as I stretch my back out every couple of minutes, still riding of course. Back to pedaling, we notice that there is a car behind. Up pulls Jason Meshberg, another one of the fine gents that put the kermesse on. He gives us an encouraging look(?) and passes by. I know what is coming next, Hemme. Yup. He comes by with two others.

Not so far to go now and it is time to will the body to the finish. Justin and I make it to the LEFT turn and proceed to properly thank each other for suffering together. The line is approaching and a lone rider is behind. Justin proposes that we not concede a spot and we sprint for the line. As it nears, we look back to check that the rider won’t be a factor and assured of that, we play a little game of finishing order. Not sure which one of us won or what constitutes winning, but it was fun nonetheless.

Back at the car and I’m reminded of CX races. Guys from my race have already finished and look to be enjoying themselves and changed already. Me, I’m cold, dirty and spent. End of race.

Why do we do this? -
1 – I’m not sure, but I can say that every other race this year will seem easy.
2 – I don’t know how a pro can do over 200 km, but I might now what it feels like.
3 – HTFU
4 – To be able to say I was there on this epic day.

I think that the Kermesse is a better race than Hillsboro and I know a few may agree with me.

I like dirt. Can’t wait for CX.

Race reports to follow when we’re not full of lactic acid.

I am John Villena. Not really.

Dom-a-nation! That is how I would describe the race that Rhythm rode
this past Saturday at the Burnham Racing Spring Super Crit in South
Beloit, IL. The plan was to contain breaks and we were constantly
attentive to people going off the front and always had someone close
by to haul the moves back. At one point I wanted to call out who else
was working in the group and went off the front for a little with a
Bicycle Heaven guy in tow, but sure enough when he pulled through the
pace slowed and we came back pretty quick. That made me think that BH
was employing a similar tactic to control the race until the last 2-3
laps and set up their guys for the sprint.

With about 2 laps to go a rag-tag bunch of riders opened up a gap off
the front and Drew was very astute to point out that we had no one up
there with such little time left in the race. He was right, we should
have someone up there, and even though there were 4 of us at the front
of the pack we needed to get the small break back. I pushed up to the
group who was quickly beginning go slow and pulled right up to the
front and I could see that Drew had come with me and sensed that
everyone did not want to do any work with 2 Rhythm’ers up there. At
that point I also realized that the pack was fairly strung out and it
was a good time to keep pushing the tempo. Drew’s account is entirely
accurate, I rolled off the front with out knowing it and when I looked
back I was shocked no one was there (thanks to my selfless
teammates). I turned back around and assessed the situation for about
2 seconds and then took off in a full sprint attack realizing that I
was going downwind to offset the draft advantage of the pack
and all I had to do was press hard into the headwind where the teams
were not working well together and I would have a gap. The real
reason I did it was to force the other teams to chase and not have the
responsibility on Rhythm to do all the work. As is normal in 4s
racing, no team really worked together to bring me back and with the
strongest riders in the pack on Rhythm it was looking possible that my
instigation was turning into a legitimate break-away!

The legs were feeling good and after one lap off the front I felt even
better as my heart rate settled down and I began to get a rhythm
going. I glanced at the lap counter and verified that we had one lap
left and heard the bell ring. I looked back again and had to hold my
glance for a while to actually locate the pack and thought, “they
aren’t getting me.” The gap was coming down on the last lap as I
glanced over my should it was much easier to identify the pack but I
was still confident that it might work. In the back of my mind I kept
thinking that this was not the plan, I was violating our team plan to
work for Drew, but I was working for him but at the same time he was
working for me. Teamwork personified.

I came around the last turn on to the finish straight with Nick and
Shea giving me words of encouragement that caused more distress than
anything. They said “keep it up!”, and that immediately got me
thinking this was not the last lap. Was I mistaken about the bell?
Was I so cross eyed that I didn’t see a 1 but a 2 card? With this in
my head now I began to think of conserving energy in the event that I
had to do one more lap and drop into the pack and work for Drew. I
saw people bridging behind and that relieved me a little because this
reassured me it was the finish but not until I was about 25 meters
from the finish did I see that blank card on the lap counter. At that
moment a little shock set in and I totally forgot to post up and was
content to just cruise across the line. Done.

Drew 2nd, and with Rhythm composing 27% of the top 15 it was a great
day. A terrific show of team unity and strength that drew a line in
the sand to other teams of where they need to be to compete with us
this year in the Cat 4s.

Evan

I was excited for the race because the team was going to be working for me and if I did well then it would be last race as a Cat 4. It was the coldest road race I have ever done and I only had about a 10 minute “warm-up.” Shivering as the we waited for the whistle and as soon as it blew, I went to the front and started pulling in an effort to get warm. After about a half-lap, I asked the xXx rider if he was going to pull through and as he said no I sat up and let the team go to work.

As is normal with 4s races, people regularly try to break off the front only to get reeled back. This race was not much different, but every time someone was off the front a Rhythm person was up the road and other teams were forced to chase as we would block. With about 2.5 laps to go, Evan was sitting on the front of the group just pulling everyone along. I was sitting third wheel. The guy in front of me was not doing a good job keeping Evan’s wheel, so I moved up next to him and slowed the pace a little. Evan started unintentionally and unknowingly riding away from the pack. After he had maybe 10 meters, I saw him look back for someone to pull through, but realized he was off the front.

Then he attacked.

I kept patrolling the front as Evan was amassing his lead. Riders shot one by one in pursuit of Evan, quickly drifting back to the pack and at some point in the race, Evan had at least a 20-25 second lead. During the pursuit someone in the pack asked if that was the leader up the road or someone getting lapped, with someone else responding no that is “John Villena up there” (which caused John to briefly sit up and scratch his head).

Bell lap rang, Evan was still gaining up the road with all the other teams looking at each other to see who’d start chasing, but in no cohesive way. I was sitting with Adam, as he was going to be our lead out man.

As the pack started closing in on Evan, a xXx rider tried to bridge to Evan. Others really picked up the pace, scrambling to swarm to the front and Adam found himself boxed in, so I maneuvered my way out of the madness and to about 5th or 6th wheel. I waited until the last turn and knew people would start rocketing out after the turn (way too far to go). Sure enough a guy jumped, and I followed his wheel. Crazy sounds were coming from the riders on the right/inside (thinking they were all going to wreck). As the guy who was leading me out started to burn out, I jumped hard. I saw the xXx rider who was trying to bridge to Evan dying and I was able to pass him before the line and hold off the field. I finished maybe 4 seconds behind Evan, who had an epic ride.

It was a great race. We simply dominated from start to finish. Many other teams congratulated us on our teamwork. A 1-2 finish with a 7th, 11th, and 18th to boot. Now on to the category 3 races for me.