STAGE 2: CRITERIUM
I had a decent rest before the crit, although I ate lunch a bit later than I had originally
planned. The C group had 16 riders. For some reason, just because I'd been placed in
first, everyone assumed that I was better than them, and I got "helpful" advice ranging
from "don't sprint for any time bonuses" to "you could just escape solo after the halfway
mark" (much easier said than done). We started out at what felt like a leisurely pace, and I
was trying to stay near, but not at, the front of the pack. This was difficult to manage as
other riders were also using the same strategy, so I spent a fair amount of time on the
front. I attempted to sprint for the 10 second time bonus at the halfway point, but two
other riders got a good jump on me and I just ran out of room. Oh well. Following this, I
decided that I would try to see if I could break away from the pack. I attempted several
jumps, got about 15 yards on the pack, but was reeled back every time. (While I was
feeling good and was definitely among the strongest riders in the group, I didn't have the
strength to hold off the whole group on my own). Coming into the last corner, I took the
perfect line and found myself at the head of the pack down the finishing straight. Sid Sin,
who had taken the preme time bonus was second, and pulled wide left of me. Knowing
that I couldn't sprint all the way to the line on my own, I got behind him, thinking he
would lead me out for the sprint. Unfortunately, slowing down to get behind Sid allowed
three other riders to start their sprints to the line. The pace was frantic, as all of a sudden I
discovered that other riders could ride FAST. I finished the crit in 5th place, but was able
to keep my overall lead by 7 seconds.

STAGE 3: ROAD RACE
Sunday morning dawned, cool and cloudy, with the forecast of "showers" throughout the
day. "Fun," I thought (I really prefer it hot and sunny). Making the drive from Orinda, I
arrived with about 45 minutes to go before race time. I got my bike ready, changed
clothes as I saw it was going to be cool, and talked to Gary about the course (this was my
first time on this course) and had time for a 5 minute warm-up before the race meeting.
After the meeting, I had another 5 minutes to warm-up and one minute to use the
bathroom. I mistimed things a bit, and when I rolled up to the start line, I realized the C
group had left about 10 seconds before me. So I chased them down to greetings of
"Where have YOU been?"

With that mishap out of the way, now I was into the race. Group C had decreased
overnight to 14 riders, and within a mile, 4 cyclists just popped off the back and weren't
seen until the end of the race.

I learned my lesson from yesterday's crit: I was going to be patient and wait for the right
time to make a move, rather than burn myself out to create the action. So I patiently rode
behind whoever was willing to ride in the lead, taking a few pulls only on downhill
sections. The rain created the challenge of poor visibility through my glasses, but I
couldn't take them off because there was so much spray and grit being kicked up by riders
in front of me. So, I settled for wiping them with my glove every so often and realized that
everyone was in the same boat as me.

I was going for the 10 second time bonus over "the wall," which I thought I needed since I
was only 7 seconds in the lead. Unfortunately, since this was my first time on the course, I
didn't know where to make my move, so I ended up second over "the wall" behind Sid,
who'd won the time bonus in yesterday's crit. Sid took off over the hill, and when I saw a
gap starting to open, I took off after him. I chased him down after 1/2 mile, and maybe 1/
2 mile after that the rest of the pack caught us. We rolled together to the turn onto
Watsonville Rd, which was taken very cautiously by the group, with me first into the turn.
After the turn, I looked back and noticed that everyone was continuing to ride slowly, and
after a millisecond internal debate, I decided to make my move: hammer time. I
accelerated hard for about 200 yards, turned around, and saw that only Sid had gone with
me. We had a nice gap on the rest of the group and I yelled out that we should work
together. We traded pulls for a while, but I noticed that he was slowing down every time he
got to the front. Since he was racing for Wolfpak, I didn't know if this was a tactic to slow
me down, or if he was genuinely tired. Well, only one way to find out, gun it!

We made the turn onto Uvas road, and I accelerated out of the turn and took off. I gapped
Sid and got back into time trialing mode, except unlike yesterday, this time it hurt a lot
more! I turned around several times and noticed that Sid and the group seemed to be
gaining on me, so I stood up and accelerated to keep my gap. I was just about redlining
when I saw through the rain and misty glasses what I thought was the finish line. Got
closer and realized it was only a telephone pole (sorry Gary), "D'oh!" I was really hurting
now, and wondering where the line was, when I finally saw it about 200 yards in front of
me. I turned around briefly, confirmed I still had a gap, and made my final acceleration,
sprinting all the way to the line. Once I was able to breathe again, I threw up my arms and
yelled out in joy. My first race victory!

Special thanks to my coach, Bruce Hendler of Athleticamps.com, who was easily reachable
the entire weekend. Couldn't have done it without him.

This was a great event, extremely well staged, and a ton of fun. I'm more motivated than
ever to pursue racing and get better! Next year, onto the "B's".

--Matt