2010 Callville Bay Classic
Post by Jeremy Wilson
February 26 – 28, 2010
The TT was on Friday the 26 and it was up hill 3.6 miles with 4 – 5% grade with a kicker of 7% grade at the end. Names like Robert Shaw and Ryan La Pier were racing in Cat3. Shaw was the guy who won the TT and GC at VOS. His time was 31:11 at VOS. La Pier finished 4th in the GC at VOS and second in the RR. There were 56 starters for the day. I finished 37th. I dropped my chain near 3 miles into the race. When I looked over the power data I had to lost power for 15 seconds. I took me 3 seconds to get back up to power. I was a little disappointed but I knew the road race the next day would settle things.
The RR was brutal with steady winds, temps in the 40’s, and intermittent rain, let’s face it was mostly rain. The race started with the same up hill climb that was the TT. As a group, I believed we ascended faster up that climb then I did in the TT. I just sat in the middle of the pack and enjoyed the draft. The race continued on an undulating road with some long steep climbs. The race leaders were relentless. On the way north I was dropped about a half mile from the top of the first big climb. I didn’t panic and continue to ride strong to the top. I was telling my self “I could get back on if they just eased a little.” Plus, I was doing 420 watts when I was dropped. That’s 5.3 / kg for me. I knew they couldn’t hold that for much longer. I think the only thing that really rattled me was when the wheel truck passed. It’s as if they are saying “Oh, he’s off. He won’t get back on.” F— that! I hammered on the down side, through the slight flat, and passing the wheel truck back in the pack. I stopped pedaling once I was in the middle of the pack which was down to about 35 riders. The same shenanigans continue from the turn around heading south. This time I just watched for the head bobbles and was on it with any little acceleration. Somewhere about 40 miles into the race some guy took a flyer.The pack didn’t chase until the south turn around about 10 miles left. It was fast. I wasn’t up front during the turn around and that was a mistake. I ended up getting gapped, the wheel truck coming around, and me saying “F—!” No way was I going to be dropped 10 miles from the finish after working my ass off to stay on. I ended up dragging 5 others back up to the pack. I received a couple of thank you’s and one guy who told me I just saved his race. It felt fair enough to hear “thank you” but in all honesty I didn’t care who I was dragging back up. I just wanted to get back to the pack. We ended up catching the guy who took the flyer. Then two others managed to attack and stay off until the end. One guy was 29 seconds up the road and the other was 4 seconds. I ended up 26 in the pack. There were 52 finishers & 4 DNF’s.
The next day’s criterium was uninteresting. Only 46 guys showed up to race. 5 guys total were popped off and it was a group finish. One crash and of course it was on the last turn into the finish. I ended up 32nd and 25th on the GC.
UofA Crit
Bryan wrote: Great efforts on the day from all involved. Also, big cheer for Paula & Beto for coming up from Sierra Vista. Paula and Doogie both jumped in and raced the Master Mens 30+ (VERY fast group comprised of a lot of CAT1/2s). Leo did the shootout as a warmup for the Cat 3s and Neil rolled over from studying at the library. Way to go!
18th Richard Ellwanger Master 50+
12th Scott Douglas Cat 5
18th Bryan Schlegel Master 30+
DNF Scott Douglas Master 30+
DNF Paula Bohte Master 30+
4th Bryan Schlegel Cat 3 Vic’s video of the 3/4 race
12th Neil Becwar Cat 3
16th Leo Masursky Cat 3
6th Paula Bohte Pro Cat 1-2-3 F
14th Victor Riquelme Pro Cat 1-2 M
http://uacycling.com/UACrit_Results_2010.pdf
Avondale Criterium
Elliot, Rick, Neil (where’s my bike?), Leo and Vic (Aggressor with a ghetto kit) all traveled to Avondale for the season opening crit. The results were as they should be this time of year. There was a lot of work done, but it was mostly about awakening the beast within.
Pro 1-2 Vic 12th after chasing down a three man break. They were swept up by the peloton in the waning laps of the race.
Cat 2/3 Neil 12th and Elliot toeing the line
Cat 3/4 Neil and Elliot work another round
Masters 40+ Leo takes a dig; Check out Vic’s video of the event:
Masters 50+ Rick finishes 19th; he is the oldest by six years to the other finishers!
Rick Ellwanger in the 50+
El Paso Puzzler
Done with that!
Mike P, aka iMike, Beto and Paula (become an Aggressor?)ventured to El Paso for some mountain bike sufferfest on single speeds.
From Mountainflyer Magazine: Singlespeeders Cameron Brenneman (Sante Fe, NM) andBeto Villegas (Sierra Vista, AZ) blitzed the 1600′ Mundy’s Gap climb along with 40-49 winner Kenny Wehn (Colavita – Durango, CO) and 19-29 winner Sem Gallegos (Crazy Cat Cyclery – Austin, TX) close behind the lead threesome of Plews, Brown, and Chavez. On the west side of the Franklin range, Brown plowed through the infamous granite rock slide to regain the lead. At about mile 30, Plews regained contact and later took control up the final major climb of the day, a 350′ foot grind up a newly finished set of 12 switchbacks.
Plews, coming off double pneumonia just before the holidays, went on to take the win in 4:38 with Brown about four minutes back. Moving into 3rd position was Brenneman who pushed a 32×19 on his 29er. Villegas and Gallegos rounded out the top five. In the women’s race local Susanne Rasmussen took the win in 6:24 with single speeder Paula Bohte (Sierra Vista, AZ) coming through in second. Alex Castro (Bicycle Co.- El Paso, TX) was the top finisher in the shorter 35 mile men’s event and Diana Almeida (El Paso, TX) took the women’s 35 miler.
iMike would battle mechanicals but get it done nonetheless. Next up for iM: 24 hour, solo…
Team Aggress and the Arizona Calendar
The 2009 ABRA road season is now officially over, with the Wupatki Road Race on October 11th having been the final event on the calendar. Here’s a look at our notable results in Arizona calendar races this past year.
January 31st – Swiss Criterium
Victor Riquelme 5/35, cat.5
February 7th – Flapjack Flats TT
Victor Riquelme 2/22, cat.5
February 28th, March 1st – North End Classic
Rick Ellwanger 1/5 (crit), 65+
Kurt Garbe 5/18 (rr), cat.4
Kurt Garbe digging deep in the North End Criterium
March 6th, 7th, 8th – Tucson Bicycle Classic
Brent Barber 2/48 (itt), cat.3
Kurt Garbe 6/56 (itt), 4/55 (rr), cat.4
Victor Riquelme 1/52 (itt), 3/51 (rr), 1/46 (cr), 1/46 (gc), Cat.5
March 15th – Hungry Dog Criterium
Victor Riquelme 1/21, cat.5
March 28th, 29th – Colossal Cave Stage Race
Bryan Schlegel 5/19 (itt), cat.3
Kurt Garbe 2/28 (itt), 2/24 (rr), 2/24 (gc), cat.4
April 4th, 5th – Tumacacori Omnium
Victor Riquelme 1/24 (crit), 1/20 (rr), 1/20 (omnium), cat.4
Victor Riquelme winning the UofA crit
April 11th – Copper Valley Road Race
Victor Riquelme 3/21, cat.4
April 24th, 25th, 26th – La Vuelta de Bisbee
Bryan Schlegel 15th/73 (gc), 35+
May 3rd – Scottsdale Grand Prix
Rick Ellwanger 1/3, 60+
May 9th – South Mountain TT
Victor Riquelme 2/13, Cat.4
Jim Averill 2/31, Cat.5
May 17th – Sonoita Patagonia TT
Bryan Schlegel 1/9, Cat.3
May 31st – Thunder Road TT
Victor Riquelme 1/8, Cat.4
June 7th – Arizona State Championship Road Race
Bryan Schlegel 5/32, cat.3
Victor Riquelme 4/51, cat.4
Kurt Garbe 5/51, cat.4
State Road Race
June 16th – Tortilla Flats Road Race (series*)
Elliot Anderson 2/34, cat.4/5
June 28th – Mt.Lemmon TT
Jim Averill 5/34, cat.5
August 11th – Tortilla Flats Road Race (series*)
Elliot Anderson 4/17, cat.4/5
August 16th – Picacho Peak TT #2
Victor Riquelme 1/6, Cat.3 (20k)
August 18th – Tortilla Flats Road Race (series*)
Elliot Anderson 2/14, cat.4/5
*Elliot finished the Tortilla Flats series 5th/91 racers in 4/5. There were a total of 11 road races in the series, all scored on a points system.
August 23rd – Skull Valley Road Race
Victor Riquelme 1/24, cat.3
Khris Dodge 1/34, cat.4
September 13th – Arizona Individual Time Trial Championships
Brent Barber – 3/11, cat.3
September 20th – Kitt Peak Time Trial
Elliot Anderson – 3/10, cat.4
September 27th – Mt.Graham Hill Climb
Victor Riquelme 5/16, Cat.3
Jim Averill 6/25, Cat.5
October 10th, 11th – Single Track Omnium
Victor Riquelme 2/8 (rr), Cat.3
Elliot Anderson 1/6 (hc), 1/8 (rr), 1/6 (omnium), Cat.4
Thanks to everyone who supported us through the year. See you on the road!
New bottle design!
Drink This!
Copper Valley Road Race
Only the toughest men from the AZ peloton came out on Saturday to compete in this grueling edition of the Copper Valley Road Race. With temperatures in the low 40’s and an 80% chance of rain, everyone knew what they were getting into. The course was a 60 mile out and back, with a 7 mile sustained climb at around 6% grade 20 miles from the finish on the way back.
Bryan Schlegel was the lone Cat.3 from the team, and got himself off on a solo break on the way out. He had about a minute and a half gap when another racer bridged up to him from the main field. They started working together, but sadly Schlegel flatted. The wheel truck was behind the peloton, and his break was over. He made his way back into the group, they caught the soloist that had bridged to Schlegel earlier, and a break of 4 got away on the climb. On the cold and wet descent towards the finish Schlegel made use of some superb aerodynamics, riding away from the peloton to a solo 5th place finish.
The Cat.4 Aggressor strongmen were Kurt Garbe, Elliot Anderson, and Victor Riquelme.The peloton was shattered on the first climb, only 15 miles from the start. Riquelme made the selection, and sat in while the Bicycle Haus team kept the pace very high. At the base of the climb on the way back the chase groups all reconnected with peloton, and Kurt and Elliot were back in the stir. The group did not stay together for long, as the attacks began to pour on while the climb progressed. 8 men made the split.
The group stayed together on the descent, and it came down to a drag race to the line. Riquelme finished 3rd, in what was a very closely contested sprint.
Kurt and Elliot finished 10th and 14th, respectively. It was a long, cold, wet day for all of us. The effort put Aggress on the Cat.4 podium for the 3rd weekend in a row.
Know the bicycle laws
The Sheriff’s department has been targeting cyclists recently and issuing inappropriate tickets. Please read and understand the laws below and make sure to carry ID on your rides.
Here’s a link to a printable card to carry to hand out to aggressive motorists and uninformed police officers. I have cards printed of pages 24, 29, 30 & 33: adot STR061208
28-812. Applicability of traffic laws to bicycle riders
A person riding a bicycle on a roadway or on a shoulder adjoining a roadway is granted all of the rights and is subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle…
28-815. Riding on roadway and bicycle path; bicycle path usage
A. A person riding a bicycle on a roadway at less than the normal speed of traffic at the time and place and under the conditions then existing shall ride as close as practicable to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway, except under any of the following situations:
1. If overtaking and passing another bicycle or vehicle proceeding in the same direction.
2. If preparing for a left turn at an intersection or into a private road or driveway.
3. If reasonably necessary to avoid conditions, including fixed or moving objects, parked or moving vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, animals or surface hazards.
4. If the lane in which the person is operating the bicycle is too narrow for a bicycle and a vehicle to travel safely side by side within the lane.
B. Persons riding bicycles on a roadway shall not ride more than two abreast except on paths or parts of roadways set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles.
Sun Devil Criterium
Victor Riquelme and Elliot Anderson both made appearances flying the Aggress flag at the Sun Devil Criterium this morning.
The course had a straight flat stretch with the start/finish right in the middle of it, a long sweeping bend after the first corner, followed by a sharp right back to the start/finish. The road was wide, and in good condition.
The schedule called for a combined 40 minute Cat.4/5 race, but due to a large field size (and emergency personnel all over the course after a bad crash in the prior ladies crit) the races were split into two 25 minute single category events.
Elliot did well in the 4’s, positioning himself in the front half of the pack the whole time. The race started out slowly, but quickly picked up pace as the attacks started to pour on. The field stayed together, setting up for a bunch sprint. On the last lap Elliot attacked on the back stretch, but wasn’t the only rider with the idea. He got swarmed and boxed into the last corner, was forced to brake hard to avoid hitting the curb, and had to re-accelerate for the sprint to the finish. He finished 20th/36. His mother was on hand and was expecting a better result, but is still very proud of him
Elliot Bridging a gap
Riquelme was aggressive in the 5’s, sitting on the front for most of the race. 3/4 of the way through the crit there was a crash in the middle of the pack on the back stretch. On the same lap, while coming through turn 2 at 30+ mph, some *%#$ passed on the outside, then dove in and across his front wheel. He avoided a bike/bike collision but could not escape an unfortunate bike/curb encounter.
Vic took a tumble in the dirt, but luckily machine and rider were unscathed, and he was able to get rolling again. Thanks to anger, motivation, and a supportive crowd, he caught back up within a half lap and immediately moved into first position. The rest of the field was more than happy to let him break the wind, and he stayed in first until the sprint, where he had absolutely nothing left and finished the day 8th/39.
Just moments after the crash, Eggliot the cameraman couldn’t figure out what Vic was doing so far off the back
Within two laps, Vic was leading out the field.
The Cat.5 finish
One would think that a course with only 2 corners and wide roads would create a safer race, but the inexperienced Cat.5 racers just used the relative low technicality to push speeds to dangerous levels.
At the end of the day, though a little frazzled, our boys are home and happy to be alive.
