I gotta say, those Berkeley boys know how to put on a good race. Registration was quick and easy, there were plenty of friendly and knowledgeable volunteers, we had follow vehicles for every field, the course was interesting and well-marked (with marshalls at every intersection), results were posted quickly, and the prizes were great. Easily worth the 200 mile drive from Reno, in my opinion.
My day started with an amusing interaction in the parking lot while I was getting ready. I was parked next to a guy from a Bay Area team (Thrid Pillar), and as we were suiting up I noticed him taking hits off an asthma inhaler. "Hey, you got a waiver for that?" I joked. He laughed and then asked if I had seen "that hilarious posting on ebay selling the Basso blood bags". Apparently, Bullisimo's humor has risen to the level of viral internet humor (just like that picture of the 70 pound house cat and the music video of the guys dancing on treadmills). Good on ya, Richard.
Now to the race: Jim Herzman and I were the only Wheelmen in the 50 rider Elite 4 field, with 52 miles and 3 trips over the set of climbs on the menu. Jim and I ended up at the back of the field after the neutral start and were content to sit there for the first 5 miles or so, watching the hammerheads take turns towing the group into the wind. On the long descent down San Pablo Dam road, I coasted my way into the leading 10 riders and stayed there all the way to the climbs. The group strung out and then split in front of me on the first climb (mama bear). The gap was small and not too worrisome, but I noticed that all the hammers that had been towing us for 13 miles were in that lead group. So I bridged up on the crest over mama bear, figuring I should keep an eye on those guys and stay close in case they decided to attack. Jim wasn't too far behind me, but he stayed tucked in the pack. Well, the little split on that first climb turned out to be THE move of the race, as our group of 9 improbably stayed away the rest of the race. The gap back to the pack was so small by the top of the second climb (papa bear), that most of us in the break were sitting up and waiting for the catch. But one of the original hammers in our group came storming by, saying something like "we might as well give it a go" and then started bombing down the descent. I was unconvinced, but grabbed his wheel anyway and let him pull all the way down the mountain. By the time we got back onto San Pablo Dam road, our gap was large enough that it made sense to commit to the break, so we organized a rotating paceline and went for it. The only team with 2 guys in the break was Berkeley, and everyone else was solo, so there wasn't much game playing and everyone took their pulls.
Fast forward another lap, and it's still status quo in the break. We'd lost 2 guys due to punctures, but the 7 of us left were still trading pulls. I started worrying that we'd get caught, though, since the break really wasn't working very hard. My heart rate had come down to 150, and a few of the people left in the break were definitely dead weight. I took a few strong pulls to test the group, but it was clear no one was weak enough to be easily dropped. Then, the moto came by and told us we had a 3 minute gap to the first chase and that sealed the deal: nice easy run into the finish, sprint for finish line at the top of papa bear. After the descent off mama bear, the stronger of the two Berkeley guys rotated to the front for his pull and, as if by unanimous consent, the rest of us just left him on the front. We came onto the flanks of papa bear, and Berkeley was still going pretty strong, with me sitting 3rd wheel. When we passed the 1k to go sign, Berk put in an acceleration and opened a little gap on the rider in front of me. I hung back on number 2's wheel, the gap started growing, and number 2 finally seemed to panic with a "There he goes!" comment. I came around to start closing the gap, wheelsucker number 2 grabbed MY wheel, and it was 9 mph mayhem for the last 300 yards. Number 2 launched by me with about 100 yards to go and ended up catching and passing Berk for the win. I was slowly closing the gap on Berk, but my legs ran out of pep even before I ran out of room, and I crossed the line 3rd about 10 yards back. The rest of the guys in the break had given up long before, and it was a good 50 yards back to 4th place.
All in all, a great race. I cooled down, rode back to the start line, and had just enough time to towel off and down a recovery drink before the results were posted and I got my podium call. Third place was good enough for $20, a bottle of Stonehouse Olive Oil, a T-shirt, a water bottle, and a handful of Gu's all in a cloth Stonehouse grocery bag. The T-shirt didn't achieve the high level of fashion statement that the Velo Promo ones do, but I was nevertheless much impressed. And with that result, I get to end my fun in the 4's and move to a whole new level of suffering in the Elite 3's. Yippee! :-)
Next up, Mt Hamilton Road Race on Memorial Day weekend.
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