I wasn't sure what to expect going into this weekend. Ive cut back on my training and didn't know how my legs would feel over the course of the weekend. I've focused on time trials and crits this season, so I figured I could at least have a good first day.

Day 1

Stage 1 - Individual Time Trial
I really like doing time trials but these short ones are so much harder than the longer ones. I had the luxury of having a late start so I was able to get a good warm-up. The weather was great, mild to warm temps. and little to no wind. My legs felt heavy while warming up but seemed to be good by time I got to the start. I started the TT and spend the first minute or two getting comfortable. After that it was all about maintaining my rythym and not letting the hills throw me off. I stuggled some over the last 2 rollers to the finish but was still able to put in a strong effort all the way to finish. I finished with a time of 16:37, which gave me a lead of a little more than 30 seconds. It was good start.

Stage 2 - Crit
After spending the afternoon working around the house and taking my daughter to the park, I came to the crit hoping I was recovered and not wanting to lose anytime to the GC riders and if possible, gain some more time. The last few years this race has become predictable. A break stay aways and gets the first prime time bonuses, then we catch the break before the final sprint. I figured it would go this way again, until they announced the new time bonuses for the finish and the prime.

With 4 other riders within a minute or so of the lead, the bonuses were too great to let a break get away. The race was uneventful the first 20 minutes, a few breaks went away but they were caught. At 20 minutes a 3 man break was starting to get a little gap on the pack but then 2 of the riders in the break hit wheels and this sent Daryl Spano to the ground. The main group neutralized to make sure he was OK and to get help. Daryl was cut up but he was OK, at least he didn't hurt his shoulder again. Once everyone got regrouped the race started back up. The break got a 15-20 second lead and then it was chase mode for the rest of us. Everyone seemed to be riding harder now and once we caught the break, any other attempts were put on a short leash. Going into the last lap there was a lot people jockeying for position. I was shooting for a top 6 placing so I could get a time bonus. I came around the last turn into the final sprint in around 5th or 6th. I was feeling slow and downshifted to an easier gear, this allowed me to hit the gas and accelerate pass the other riders into first. This added 30 seconds to my GC time and I now had around a minute lead.

Day 2

Stage 3 - Road Race
I really had no idea what to expect at the road race. I've raced real poorly on the second day at a lot of stage races. I've twice lost the lead at the race and at the madera stage race because I didn't have the legs for the road race. Then to put more pressure on us, the time bonuses on the hill and at the finish were increased. Knowing how good a climber Clark Foy is, I was worried about him getting all the time bonuses. Anyone within 2 minutes of the lead had a chance to win and this left 6-7 riders with a chance. The group rode tempo each lap. A few people attempted breaks but with the time bonuses no one wanted to lose their chance to gain some time, so they were all caught. We hit Sycamore hard the first lap. All the top guys took off with Clark Foy leading the way. About halfway up the wall Kelly Higgins blew past everyone to take the 30 seconds, I nipped Clark at the line to take the 20 second bonus, and Clark got 3rd. We were the top 3 riders so it padded our lead but didn't change anything. Lap 2 was pretty much a repeat of lap 1. The real race was for the time bonuses and we hit the hill hard again. Kelly smoked all of us again, this time Clark got 2nd, and I got 3rd. Nothing changed with the GC. The field split on the back side of Sycamore but the we didn't have the organization to make it stick. On lap 3, a 3 man break got away before Sycamore. With these three getting the time bonuses it allowed the field to cruise over the last climb. I think most of us were relieved to not go as hard as the first 2 times. Once over Sycamore the chase was on and the group work together to bring the break back. We caught them on the climb to the finish. I had good position going up the hill and took off after the last turn. I opened a gap and was able to hold it to the finish for the win.

Just a few thoughts. This race was run as good as any stage race I've done, if not better. I think we would still be waiting for the TT results if it was another promoter. Good job SJBC. I really like the increased time bonuses. It kept everyone in the race and made more riders control the action. I also thought the competition was awesome this year. Looking at the top 10 we had a couple of cat 2 riders, 6 or 7 cat 3 riders, and a cat 4 rider. I thought that was impressive.

-Mike Holt

I am a new member of the San Jose Bicycle Club and new to road racing. I’ve done about 5 club races since last winter and have had a great time to meet the club members and gain some experience. I can’t say I had grand expectations or a strategy for this race up front. Day One ITT I’ve never done a time trial before. There is a serious amount of technique and equipment involved and I was thoroughly schooled. I kept up an honest pace which was 3 minutes behind the winning time. However it was competitive enough for the B group, about 15 seconds back in 5th place behind Joseph Morales. I didn’t know any of my competitors or comrades at this point and figured this would be a better group for me to ride in anyway. Crit. I appreciated the Crit course for its lack of traffic and safety. After arriving, registering, getting help from Scott getting that number on me, a few warm up laps, we had a roll call which let me put faces to GC placing. Once we got started we quickly settled into a B group pace, which I characterize as the blob. An amoeba moving cautiously, just fast enough to consume the few who took minor flyers and hang out in front for minute or so. After about 7 of 16 laps of this, Jodi Birrell, who was in 3rd after the ITT and Chris Farmer in 2nd took off with what I considered to be a reasonable break. As a few of us bridged up at the final corner our finish line judge rang the prime lap bell. Not good tactics. By now we’d also been consumed into the blob which started setting up for the prime sprint. There were a few big guys who had kept a low profile to this point, who took off real hard on the 3rd leg and left the rest of us in their wake. The winner had such a lead! The blob and sprint sequence was repeated again in the 2nd half of the crit, with the same guy taking the finish by a huge margin. This effort earned him 1st place with those time bonuses and apparently he was satisfied enough not to show up the next day. I had finished with another anemic sprint hardly moving relative to those around me. The GC order stayed mostly consistent with the ITT results. After the race a few of us devised the retrospective strategy of many more attacks and faster pace to keep the sprinters honest. We figured to bring this to the roadrace. Day Two. Roadrace. The roadrace started 10 minutes ahead of the A group. Joseph was again the GC leader with a 23 seconds over Chris, Jodi and I, who were within 3 seconds of each other. Joseph, our reluctant peleton boss started us out on a good pace with support from Alan and Randy. Not much happened until the first climb up the Sycamore KOM hill, after some position jockeying Alan and Joseph launched the initial assault but was quickly countered by the Los Gatos race club’s Marcos and Rene, and then again countered by Chris and myself. I outpaced Chris for the first KOM. This was the strongest I’d felt in the race so far and I started to think I could win the stage and/or the race. With a few KOM and finish time bonuses, there was a chance. In the second lap Alan and Randy again took up the pace setting role. At one point Chris and I plotted a tactic to stay away after the 2nd KOM. Chris took the KOM and we started off down the hill, followed closely by Joseph. We built up about a 100 yard gap and could have held it to the end, but instead started to think of the contest among us and got caught for a short while to set up for the sprint. I guess the chase group was hurt too as Joseph, Chris and I took the lead positions into the sprint. I launched, was able gap them and hold on for the win, and gain the needed 10 second bonus advantage over Chris for the final GC win. It was very exhilarating to win a sprint finish and stage race like this. It was great fun to meet the characters I described above and I look forward to the next ones. I really appreciate the San Jose Bike Club for sponsoring all these races which go on throughout the year and facilitating different race levels. Also Steve Mielich did such an outstanding job with the results. You folks really know what you’re doing….. -Jeff Farnsworth