Friday, December 14, 2007

I was there

Live at Yoshi's in Oakland with
the Electrik Band...
Happy Birthday to Me !!!

Friday, November 16, 2007

News of the Day

Well, it's official.

Mikey Hernandez has asked Junior to be a part of the new VOS P~1,2 squad. Waaaaaayyyy
cool!

He was all set to ride for the Lombardi U23 boys but nothing ever seemed to come of it.It would have been a good team for him, three of the strongest juniors he's had to race against, and with, over the years but things just didn't work out.

But now he has the perfect opportunity for growth and developement with Mike. If Hernando can't show him the ropes no one can. It's especially cool 'cause Michael has been Micah's hero since Junior got into racing about 5 years ago. Olaf used to live in Reno and was the guy who always crushed our poor little bike club when he raced for the Mighty Reno Wheelmen. We've since forgiven him. They've always had a good relationship as Mike LOVES to talk bike racing and I've always instilled in our
yoots to ASK QUESTIONS, especially ask those who know what they're talking about.

So now he's taking the next step to see how far he can go with racing. One day at a time, eh? Daddio is jumping up and down and trying to stay out of the way, (that's got to be the toughest part) and couldn't be prouder!
His grandpa is all excited as well...he used to race a Lotus sports car so can certainly relate. That's the reason I HAD to race Sea Otter this year, (see earlier post).

Now that he's going to be on a new team, maybe I can grab some of the AMD stuff!!!

caio

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

The Country-Western Bass Player

So this kid decides he wants to be a country western bass player and moves to Nashville, seeing as that's the home of county music.
He seeks out the top bass player/teacher and approaches him about bass lessons.
The pro says that in order for him to teach the newbie, the kid has to show up on time and learn what was taught. "OK, I can do that." says the prospective student.
Says teach,"My house, 4:30 Tuesday next."

So the next Tuesday the kid shows up and the teacher describes the biggest, fattest string closest to his chin: "That's the E string. Start at the bottom and play the first 12 notes up the neck and back down. That's called a chromatic scale."

Next week the kid executes his first lesson and teach describes the next biggest,fattest string, calling it an A string and tells him to do the same thing as the week before.

Nest week comes and the student is a no call, no show.
Teach is angry, very angry, but there's nothing he can do about it so he forgets about it.

Many weeks later Teach spots kid at the grocery store and calls him on not showing.

Says Teach,"What happened to you? No call? No show?"

Says student,"I got a gig!"

Friday, November 2, 2007

The Jazz Musician

So this jazz sax player comes back to New York from L.A. for a short vacation and runs into an
old buddy.
JSP: Yo, 'sup?
OB: Not much, you?
JSP: Oh man, I've been in L.A. for the last couple of years.
OB: Oh yeah? I hadn't heard about that.
JSP: Yeah, and shortly after I moved there I got a gig playing for Sting on his world-wide tour!
OB: Wow! I hadn't heard about that.
JSP: Yeah, and after that I got a call to record on Barbara Streisand's new CD.
OB: No kidding, I hadn't heard about that.
JSP:And if that weren't enough, I landed some studio gigs and have been heard on several TV shows and three movies in the last year!
OB: Amazing! I hadn't heard about that.
JSP: Yeah, man. But then I came back to New York for a short vacation and, not wanting to let
my chops go to waste, I took this stupid wedding gig and must have had a bad reed or something 'cause my playing really sucked!
OB: Yeah, I heard about that!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

From there to now

Oh, well, what the hay...

Many, many months since anything's been written on this site but I 'spose it's time to update now that the season is over.

A few things happened since Sattley ~ for me I missed the podium @ Esparto TT by 4 seconds and should have been on it except for the sandbagger who beat 2nd place by close to 5 minutes!
2nd place beat 3rd place by 1 or two seconds and 3rd beat me by 1 or two as well. Alll things considered, it was a very good day for me. AND, I didn't have to do Patterson Pass the day before. Got to hang in the feed zone and then follow Micah's Cat 3 race for the last lap. Once again he got top 10.

San Ardo was a blast...Actually hung with the pack the whole race. A first, me thinks.
And I didn't have to do University RR.

The only other accomplishments for me were placing 2nd in the Mighty Reno Wheelmen's Time
Trial Series for the "C's"...obvioulsy, not many of the heavy hitters showed up for that one but
I'll take it just the same. 5 free entries next year!

And I finished 3rd overall in the "C's" with Alta Alpina for the year. Next year = numero uno, baby!

Micah had a good year...11th overall in the RR at Nationals. Had the finish been at the top of the
hill instead of another couple hundred meters down the road, he would have been more like 8th.
I understand he JUST managed to avoid the crash, and a good thing as apparently he was flying
down the hill and it would have been ugly for him had he not. He was pretty shook up for the first lap until Ben calmed him down, then he showed some stuff. Finished in the chase group which was 3 or 4 minutes up on the pack. Not bad for some kid from Podunk, eh?

Next, he was off to Valdor, Canada for the Tour de l'abitibi, which was his first UCI race. Rode for the South Central team from Lubbok, Texas. This was the race Taylor Phinney won before
he won the World's Time Trial. Did I mention Micah beat Taylor at Nationals? Yeah, I know, Taylor's something like 6'2" and isn't a climber per sey and was kinda working for the team, but
nonetheless...
So anyway, Mi moved up an average of 10 places per stage and finished 60 something overall.
He also was the highest placed rider on his team which won him a trophy, which allowed him to
come up to the stage during the presentation ceremony and that gave him the opportunity to
kiss either the Commissare or Mayor on the cheek which brought down the house. Typical.
He was also the highest placed rider from the NCNCA so that was cool as well.

Next, he WON the Challenge in the 3's, finished 8th in the 3's at Everest Challenge, ( BTW, his
overall time would have placed him 8th in the Pro 1~2 ). He made the mistake of hanging with the P1~2 guys on the first two climbs of the day, which caused him to be dropped on the 3rd climb, but he was still the first Cat3 to make the turn-around at the top. Unfortunatly, the 4th
climb took him out. Nothing like bonking at the beginning of a 17 or so mile climb! He lost 30 minutes or so to the leaders BUT the next day made up for it. Being the smart just 18 year old that he is, he rode his own pace on the first climb and was sitting around 4th or 5th in the 3's.
The leaders of the 3's were 3 minutes up the road with the P12's at the top of the 2nd climb when he flatted. Good thing Daddio was there to give him a wheel, even though he felt kind of awkward about it. So, seeing as he flatted, his companions naturally attacked him, and seeing as
he was running junior gears, ( 14X25 ) he wasn't able to catch back on. So, with one climb of 21
miles with upwards of 20 percent gradient he set his own pace and one by one picked off every
one of those guys!!! By the finish he had worked his way up to 4th place for the day! Way to go,
Junior!

And last but not least, the Great Race Around Lake Tahoe.
Got there thinking it was a 7:30 start only to find out it went off at 7:oo.
So as the gun went off ( literally ), Micah was just getting on the bike and had to slot in at the back of the 150 or so riders that signed up for this epic race.
I was able to motor-pace him up to the back of the lead group and by the first real climb he was on the front drilling it. From my vantage point, which was behind the wheel of the loser cruiser,
which is what the juniors like to call the minivan, Micah was drilling it at the front every time it
went uphill.
By the end of the first climb, the lead group was whittled down to 13, including Jeff Angermann,
Chad Timmerman, Jason Walker and John Laine, not to mention Kat what's her name, the former National Champion up from Santa Cruz, who impressed everyone by staying in the entire race. When I remember her last name I will insert it where it belongs.
So everything stayed together until the last climb which was from Sand Harbor up to Spooner Summit. One of the Reno boys had rolled off the front and had a decent gap at one point, but Junior was able to bridge. Unfortunatly, the chase group caught them with about 2 miles or so to the top. Jeff then attacked the field but to no avail. No sooner was everyone all back together
Micah counter attacked and got away. He quickly opened up a 45 second gap and was looking like this might be his day.
I got caught in road repair hell and couldn't stay with the group as they were allowed through but no cars.
So I finally get through and drive like a madman down the hill towards Glennbrook and catch
up to them only to see that they have reeled Junior back in. Rats! I was REALLY looking foreward to him snatching victory on this one.
They all stayed together until the sprint and Micah ended up 3rd, according to the timing chip.
There was some doubt to the accuracy of the thing and he still hasn't received his prize money
yet, so we're sure of nothing at this point, but he had an excellent finish to his season. AND, he
WON the King of the King Time Trial up the backside of Kingsburry Grade. 39 minutes,16 seconds ~ 8 miles , 2,500 ft. altitude gain.

So now we are resting the legs and thinking about next year. Lots of new things happening. Too
bad I can't disclose any of it yet.

Until then,
Caio for now

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Sattley

As soon as I'm physically able to post a report on that Fabulous Sattley day in Hell,
I will.

OK...Well, it's now Wednsday and I'm starting to find my legs. You'd better! Don't forget tomorrow's
slugfest! Yeah, how could I? Another bout of pain against the mighty Reno Wheelmen. I think the
score so far for this year is about 735 to 12 ...them.

So anyway, Sattley.
Woke up around 5:30 or so and only had to drive 1.5 hrs to the race. Awesome. Normally we scoot for at least 3 hours minimum, 4 average. Typically, a NorCal race is 200 miles one way,
so this was kinda nice.

Got loaded up with some java for the drive..it was weird, though, I went alone and that almost
never happens...usually have a van full of juniors but Micah flew out to beautiful Lubbock, TX.
for the qualifying camp for l'Abitibi (hope the kid makes it, he deserves it) and Heath went to
some theme park for high school graduation. No other juniors this year. Wimps!!

Got there in plenty of time to register, ride up and down the parking lot otherwise known as a
road, said "Hi" to lots of folks and just chilled in taking my time getting ready. Just the way I
like it. I can't stand being pressed for time. The only thing I remember forgetting was getting
the right song in my head off the I-Pod before the start. Instead I had this cool big band thing
going on but it's not the song that keeps me going. I was, however, able to segue to the proper
tune about 5k into the race. Nothing normal about TT'ing.

So we're off!

Went a tad bit too hard and it took about 2K to get normal and comfy again. But then I was a
feelin' good. I was a flyin' by my standards. My 30 second man hadn't dissappeared and although I never looked back, at least not until after the turnaround, I could just tell that no one
was movin' up on me either.

And I'm thinkin' a podium might not be so far fetched afterall. And that jersey WOULD certainly
look good on me!

And all was good.

But then came the turnaround. In setting up the 180 degree uturn I managed to almost run
myself off of the pavement, loosing time. And then..Mariah! I HATE Mariah. I even posted a
blog on Mariah detailing just how much I detest her. And if that wasn't enough, that stupid song
tried to make an appearance in my head. That was the last thing I needed, so hunker down, baby,
and let's just git~r~done!

My calculations suggested I would cover the 40K in well under an hour...until that flippin'
turn-a-round.

I mean I was in a 21 or 23 at one point and could barely turn the pedals, all the time crying like
a school girl or Paris Hilton for my mommie. I have never had to hold onto the bars like that
before...it was everything I could do to stay upright. So bad that on the drive home my forearms
were killing my just holding onto the steering wheel.

Oh but that's not all. Nooooooo. By now my 30 second guy is out of sight and he's not coming back into the frame. Not only that, but now the Webcore guys who will remain nameless, fly by
and I now know there will be no podium. But I still have to get back to the finish! In a wind that
is just relentless. And I can't let up 'cause I'm going to allow myself to be beaten by only so many
riders. So, push on. And on. And on.

I actually catch and pass two guys that started in front of me. What? They're in the 60 + group?
Oh, yippee. Good for me.

So I slog it in for a 6th, which, all things considered, is acceptable, considering I did manage to
beat a buddy of mine who I have never beat before and I know he didn't have any excuses.

So even though my time sucked, it was just as hard for the fastest as was the slowest, and there's something about that that I like. But like they say, "Ya' gotta be weird to time trial."

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Times and Trials

Does it ever stop? I mean, it ain't even got Campy on it but it acts like it does. How do you tell
it there's a difference? It's probabbly pissed that I put the Jap stuff on it. "I'll show you".

Actually, it's not the componets that made me DNF in last night's Fabulous Cold Springs
Time Trial. No, not this time. Save that for another day. No, this time it was the rear wheel.
Gotta love those old Spinergy Rev X's. I do. Did. Never imagined one could explode .

Heard a "pop" and thought I had flatted. No such luck. "Ok, you've only given up maybe 30
seconds, you can get back in." Yeah, right. "What's that bump-de bump-de bump? Has
the rear gone out of true? How the heck can a friggin' carbon wheel go out of true?"

Stop~n~check...nothing. Over and over this goes on for the 1st lap of a 7 mile circut. Finally
I just sat up and chilled back to the van to find the carbon had separated from the braking
surface. Ya'll think spinergy will give me any advice? I didn't think so, either.

so now I has to use something else for Sattley, but the good news is the TT helmet arrived
today so maybe I still have half a chance.

Stay tuned.