Berkeley Hills -- John Marshall

The 50th running of the Berkely Hills Road Race was Saturday morning. I rode the 45+
open along with Paco, Paul, RIch and fellow from Truckee that I have not met yet. The
course circumnavigates San Pablo Dam Reservoir just over the first line of hills from
Berkeley on roads my father raced as a grad student. We raced 2.7 laps (51 miles) that
brought us over the mama/papa bear hill series 3 times, with the finish atop papa bear.
These climbs are the main selectors and are 5-8 minutes long and fairly steep. Weather
was cilly in the morning but later warmd to a perfect riding temperature. Some wind,
particulalrly a nasty head wind up mama bear.

Our race was frankly a bit wierd. Webcor had 10 riders, one of whom went off the front on
the first lap. Rich and Paul pointed out the two stronget Webcor guys that were planned to
mark and they were sitting up. Nobody chased so the lone rider got 45+ seconds on the
pack as we headed for the climbs. The first lap climbs were relatively controlled and the
entire pack stayed together. The second lap saw a few accelerations with Paul going off
the front near the bottom of mama bear. The second time through the climbs were more
intesne but not full tilt. The pack was split in half though. On the third lap, numerous
accelerations were made by solo riders on the long San Pablo Dam road stretch but
everythong was covered quickly.

Near the end of this stretched Paul siddled up to me and asked if I was ready for some
TT'ing. I nodded affirmatively and at the next opportunity (the last downhill before a right
turn off SPD raod, I jump and got a good gap, know that when I was got, Paul would go,
with RIch in reserve for the climbs. I motored alog riding the rollers with vigor and stayed
off for about 8 minutes. Paul and Rich report that the move unsettled Webcor a bit as they
had to chase. I slowed when it loked like my attempt was catch was nearing. Shortly after
I was caught, Paul jump got a gap and a strong rider bridged. With 2 riders off the front,
Webcor was under pressure again and their leader was shouting at guys to chase. A
strong man came to the front and chased down some stragglers from the 35+ 4's meriting
a nice rebuke his fellow riders as they pointed to Paul up the road. Richa and I covered the
attempt s to catch. The pack caught Paul mid-way up mama bear with a lone rider off the
front. We then raced down and set up for the final grind up papa bear. The final climb
was gruelling and not very exciting to report except that Rich , Paul and I were at the back
of the lead small group and finish well at 6 (me), 7 (Rich), 8 (Paul). I was accerlerating over
the final 50 meters and tyhe 5th place guy and I were separated by a tire width after our
exhausted bike throws (not a pretty sight going uphill at 6 mph).

As Paul and I drove back to Reno, we hashed over our strategic choices. DId our attacks
on the last lap serve any purpose? We could not honestly answer whether we would have
finish any higher had we sat and rode more defenisvely. But we concluded that that is not
the type of racing we want to do; sometimes it will work (Paul escaping at Madera),
sometimes it will be inconclusive (this time) and sometimes we will blow and limp over the
line.

Our execution of the first attacks we agreed could have been better as we could have tried
to escape together the first time. Next time. Also, in retrospect I think we lost our
aggresive edge on the final climb as we sat and looked for wheels to grab as the moves
were beng made by others. Perhaps we should have gotten, myself, Pail then RIch in a line
and grinf the f-er out and force other to react. Next time.

And thank you Mike D for the loan of sexy wheels; I thnk I won the steel bike category
(grasping, I know). Now to watch the Giro!