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