2013 Race Schedule Annouced - NorCal

Early Season Racing for 2013?

So far this off-season, the weather has been amazing in allowing me to put in a lot of miles for training (a lot of miles is relative of course).  As I type this, the rain has started to pour and it looks like winter is setting in and my indoor trainer will be getting some serious use.  However, the good weather has got me excited for racing and yesterday the NCNCA (Northern California Nevada Cycling Association) released their 2013 racing schedule.


The 2013 racing schedule is packed with some quality racing from the first of January straight through mid-September.  January has just three (3) races scheduled, but considering how early in the season this is, three is still a good number.  February picks up with twelve (12) races, then eighteen (18) for March, twenty (20) for April and the most races of the year for one month are in May at twenty-two (22).  Following is the complete breakdown of each month and the available races on the calendar:


Races offered per Month in Northern California / Nevada
January - 3
February - 12
March - 18
April - 20
May - 22
June - 17
July - 14
August - 18
September - 11

Its good to see a lull in June and July after such a strong hit of races early in the year and the star factor for the June races deserves more attention anyway.  Plus, mid July is also when the Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend Oregon takes place and this race is definitely on the Data Driven Athlete Racing schedule.

The early season racing is the typical mix of hard road races, criteriums and a few time-trials.  The early season road races are usually brutal due to a wider range of fitness for the riders as the off season means different things to each person, and the possibility of bad weather also plays its part (who wants to hammer in the rain or freezing cold wind?)  It appears that June will be a stellar month for the power climbing circuit/crit guys with Montserrat (Loomis) and Old Auburn back-to-back on the 8th and 9th, followed by Nevada City the following weekend.  What I like about the racing schedule for this year is after the July slowdown, August and September come back with some really fun and demanding racing in Winters and ending the season at Folsom Cyclebration in September rather than having that three-day race in mid season, like 2012.  The whole season full of races allows for each cyclist to take a deserved break when their body and goals dictate rather than when the cycling schedule dictates.  Nothing is worse than being super fit and not a race in sight to actually test it out.

For me, the highlights of the early racing calendar (pending cancellations and changes) are as follows.  I will be looking to get around 20-30 days of racing in 2013:

Jan
1/26 - Cal Aggie Crit

Feb
2/9 - Folsom Winter Criterium
2/10 - Cherry Pie Criterium (Napa)
2/23 - Snelling Road Race
2/24 - Merced Crit

Mar
3/1 - 3/3 - Merco Classic
3/16 - Land Park Crit
3/17 - Bariani Road Race

April
4/7 - Auburn Old Town Crit
4/13 - 4/15 - Chico Stage Race
4/27 - Wente Vineyard Road Race
4/28 - Wente Crit
4/28 - Clone Town Center Crit (This was a great race last year, but rumor has it that it's cancelled for 2013 so I was surprised to see it on the calendar.  Maybe "clone" means it's tentative.  Stay tuned)

May
5/4 - 5/5 - Golden State Series

Rocky Fletcher - 2012 Nevada City

5/11 - Historic Folsom Crit
5/18 - Modesto Crit
5/19 - Modesto Road Race
5/25 - Folsom Classic Crit
5/27 - Memorial Day Crit (Morgan Hill)

June
6/2 - Pescadero Road Race
6/8 - Montserrat Circuit Race (Loomis)
6/9 - Auburn Downtown Crit
6/16 - Nevada City
6/23 - Burlingame Crit
6/30 - Lodi Crit

July
7/4 - Fourth of July Crit (Davis)
Mid July - Cascade Cycling Classic, Bend Or.

Aug
8/4 - Patterson Road Race
8/4 - Fast and Furious Crit
8/10 - 8/11 - Little City Stage Race
8/24 - Winters Road Race
8/25 - Vacaville Grand Prix

Sept 
9/2 - Giro di San Francisco
9/6 - 9/8 - Folsom Cyclebration
9/15 - Milpitas Grand Prix
9/16 - Oakland Grand Prix

Of course these races and my schedule are subject to change depending on fitness, goals and family time.  But I am looking forward to a good season and smashing several of these races with my team, Data Driven Athlete Racing.  Good luck in 2013!

Stolen Valor - The Legacy of Lance Armstrong

Sport is rife with comments and comparisons to battle and war.  Brave heroes lining up to go into battle on the field in horrendous weather, injured bodies and the carnage afterwards often appears like a war scene as well.  Cycling is no different.  In fact most team sports lend themselves to the comparisons.  You have strategy, hours of training and practice and the eventual "battle" where you go to your physical limits in an effort to defeat the competition.  Cycling is brutal.  As I've written before here (Tough Man Competition), racing your bike isn't for the feint of heart and on the professional level the dedication and toughness is severe.  While no sport is anything like true war, it's always a glamorous way to envision and romanticize the sport.  Pro Cycling's early season racing takes part in the northern sections of France and Belgium while crossing former World War I and II battlefields such as the Forest of Arenberg.  The battles continue all year with the lieutenants sacrificing themselves for the generals in hopes of glory, maybe a medal for the battle in hopes of winning the war. Like in war, some take sport with the mindset of "winning at all costs."

Winning the war at all costs is no longer acceptable even in actual war.  What's known as the rules of war - The Geneva Convention - are signed treaties whereby countries will be judged post-war on how they treated civilians and acts during war.  Cycling's doping issues during the 1990's through today and the recent unearthing of the Lance Armstrong conspiracy shows the sport had its own "win at all costs" attitude for which it is now experiencing the United States Anti Doping Association's (USADA) version of the Nuremberg Trials.

STOLEN VALOR

For years, true heroes of war have been looked up to, memorialized and honored for often doing the unspeakable.  Being considered a hero is very alluring and to some cowards the twinkle of being thought of in such high regard is too hard to pass up.

The Day after Tomorrow

I would love to write about the 2012 Presidential election and how I'm sick of the looters, moochers and those that simply want other people's money and are getting it by legal plunder.... but I'll digress.  Instead, I'll focus on cycling and my own upcoming racing season with the hope that I'll have money left over after taxes to afford it.

The 2013 cycling season will feature a new team in the Northern California area.  Data Driven Athlete is a new sponsor on the block and has formed a team of about 10-12 riders focusing on mid-level amateur racing.  Data Driven Athlete is the coaching service company formed by Nathanael Dunn that focuses on coaching with a power meter to get the most out of training, racing and your busy life.

Folsom Bike has also joined our team and I'm sure I'll be visiting the shop in the near future for all my cycling needs.

I am looking forward to racing with a group of guys this year that are excited and ready to give each race their best and hopefully get some results.  I'm hoping to do at least 20 races this year.  The season will be upon us soon, and the off-season has already begun.  I hope to see you on the road.  If you see a rider in the flashy new kits shown here, waive and say hi.

Chris Froome saga - Don't Cry for me Britain

Tyler, suffering from the climb or Vaughters' singing?

Jonathan Vaughters was belting out at the top of his lungs "Don't cry for me Argentina" while I was on the nose of my saddle buried deep into a cave of pain trying to hold onto the main pack in the middle of the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic in Massachusetts, 1997.

Vaughters had serious cycling talent as he displayed it was no problem to sing and hold a wheel at the top of a nasty climb while I couldn't even suck down enough air to squelch the burning in my lungs and legs.

Vaughters is now the head of Garmin-Sharp and still displaying his talent by winning the Giro di' Italia this year with Ryder Hesjedal.  Last year Vaughters did his best to acquire the new cycling revelation Chris Froome during the Vuelta (Tour of Spain) as Chris was securing his eventual 2nd place overall - virtually coming out of nowhere.

Froome decided against the smaller budget Garmin team, and the chance to be the outright grand tour leader, and instead opted for the bright lights and budget of the big bad British cycling team, Team Sky.  Froome banked big time on his grand tour success in the Vuelta and as Vaughters mentioned on twitter July 12th -

This years Tour is already shaping up to see Froome and Braddley Wiggins as head and shoulders above the rest of those hoping for the top podium spot in Paris.  Stage 9's 41.5 km Time Trial at first appeared to be the same ole' thing with perenial TT specialist and former multi World Champion, Fabain Cancellara setting the fastest time and still holding that after a narrow miss from BMC's young Tejay Van Garderen.  However, Chris Froome topped Fabian by a solid 22 seconds and then Wiggins slotted a time almost a minute (57 secs) faster than Cancellara and 35 secs to Froome by the finish.

My 4th of July - Davis Crit as Seen from the Bike

Teammate Casey Fallon doing his work on the front

Every 4th of July the town of Davis CA (voted one of the most bike friendly cities in the US) hosts a great Criterium right down town.  The race is a fast and technical 6 corner race that is full-tilt from the start and takes its toll not only from the explosiveness needed for the corners but the inevitable heat as well.  This year was no different as the temp was just below the 100 degree level and the pace was high.  My teammate and friend (also a great cycling coach if you are interested) Nate Dunn of Data Driven Athlete put his go-pro cameras on my bike along with his power meter.  Below is the edited video of the last lap of the race.

Field Sprint Finish

I got 7th and while a break was up the road I was able to squeeze 3rd on the field sprint.  Not too bad for me although I really was visualizing myself winning this race this year.  Hey, you have to think big right?  The video is fun as you can see the need to hold your position as the last corner is close to the finish, yet the power meter will show that a lot of work and strength is needed to keep that position.   I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did making it.

150 Watts of Awesome - Book Review

Power meters have become the new rage in training for a cyclist, and with good reason.  Now, bikes can be rigged with strain gauges on the crank-arm or the rear hub to give immediate feedback to the cyclist on how much power they are putting into each pedal stroke.  This data can then be later analyzed by their coach to properly indicate how to better train, where the cyclist is currently at in their training and for some to just show what a stud they are by the sheer number of watts they can produce.  150 watts isn't much of an indicator of power, but author Anna Zimmerman with her book by that name, produces a power-house that starts strong and continues to the end.  The books name, 150 Watts of Awesome, is named for the amount of power the story's main character "Anna Schafer" believes she will need to produce to climb the most heralded and daunting climb in the Provence Region of France - Mont Ventoux.

Mont Ventoux rises out of the land in a moonscape type visual and has been a stalwart in the Tour de France since 1951.  In 1967 Englishman Tom Simpson began weaving while on the steep slopes of the mountain and fell over in a crowd of spectators, only to be helped back onto his bike and then fall one last time - dying of heat exhaustion caused by a combination of dehydration and amphetamines.  Anna, finds the spirit of cycling and decides to take a trip to Europe to follow the professional cycling circuit, train on her bike and eventually conquer the "Giant of Provence", Mont Ventoux, herself.  Conquer the very climb that Tom Simpson died attempting over 40 years before.

Anna Zimmerman takes you on a journey from the character Anna Schafer's home in Texas to Europe and gives you not only the romance of the world of cycling, but the simple and yet complex issues of carrying her bike around Europe, finding places to eat and dealing with the bureaucratic mess to have her visa extended in time to ride Mont Ventoux.  There are other books on cycling, but this is the first one I've read that puts the context in the point of the non-professional and the difficulty of the average cyclist to reach their goals along with the fanatical excitement of following the professional cycling teams through Europe.  As with many aspects in life, we are often let down by those we hold up as our heroes and Anna has to come to terms with this herself as she encounters the very riders she admires, adores and secretly wishes to be noticed by.

One aspect I love about the book is that while it's based off of the author's very own adventures, the book is fiction nonetheless.  Well, the characters names are made up as are some of the teams names, but you know the real people she is trying to portrait.  There is no doubt the two main figures in the book are based off the reputed Luxembourg Schleck brothers, Frank and Andy and that Alberto Contador is also appearing around the pages and subtext of Anna's work.  As an in depth cycling fan it's fun to match the specific races with the knowledge of who won with Anna's recounting using her fictional cyclists.  I will let you figure out which is which.  But while these parallel universe characters exist, the uninitiated cycling reader won't have to worry about who Anna is really trying to describe and just be absorbed by the descriptions she gives each and every one.  The real story is the adventure of Anna herself and simply how she uses the romantic vestige these cycling god's give off as a source of strength and courage to get her through her several months in Europe on her bike, in hostiles and simply being on her own.

I've read many cycling mystery novels (well, many is a stretch as I can only name about 3) and all seem to be more along the lines of something created by Marvel Comics.  The down on his luck cyclist finds it within himself to turn his career around and morphs (without drugs) from a back of the pack domestique to a potential (or actual) Tour winner.  Here in 150 Watts of Awesome, the journey is about Anna just trying to make it to the next race (visa permitting), train on her bike as much as she can and then climb the roughly 21 kilometers of the ascent to the top of Mont Ventoux.  Anna solves a few of her own mysteries in a "coming of age" sort of way, yet creates a new one at the end as I wonder - What was in that empty jersey pocket?

Non TV Tour Viewing

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For the past 5 years I have been without cable television or Satellite and I rely entirely on rabbit ears and the internet.  Yes, anyone who knows me will find this hard to believe for how much I enjoy TV.  I started living without cable simply for the fact I was going to law school and knew my limits - school and my TV habits would not coincide.  But for most of the time it's really not that big of an issue as most basic TV I can view online and races from Europe are found online as well

The only problem I really have encountered comes every July as the Tour de France rolls along.  I've not had the success of streaming the Tour online quite like I have with all the other races during the year.  This could be that French TV who controls the viewing is more forthright in their search for poached broadcasts being that the Tour garners such high ratings and revenue (eh hem, should we start talking about revenue sharing for the teams yet?).

However, the tour is like no other event and so is watching it.  I want to have each stage at my beckon call and watch any part of it I chose.  Therefore, I pay the $30 each year to have all the access and live action - all at my fingertips.  While I have a fondness for Paul Sherwin and Phil Ligget having had their commentary for the Tour since I started watching back in 1986, I know some have strong aversions to their style (to be nice about it).  The Tour tracker will not alleviate this issue, but it will allow full viewing with no commercial interruptions.


Below are the valuable links for the tour for online viewing - make a note and keep them handy.  Similarly as to being on a date, inopportune buffering can ruin your day.


NBC's TOUR TRACKER 
STEEPHILL.TV
CYCLINGFANS.COM