April 28-30, Madera County Stage Race, Madera
Race info

Results

Masters 35+ 4/5 report by Ted Brooks, Mako-Galaxy Granola Racing Team

This year's Madera Stage Race finally welcomed in some real California weather (in the 90's), after what seems like one of the wettest, rainiest and most trainer-time intensive winters I can recall. This Velo Promo race is a real blast, and a good gauge of early-season fitness and team strength. I would love to see more events like it. Mama Granola (Donna Menard) even brought down a motor home in which we were able to cool down and enjoy cold drinks and snacks during the day. Paige Youngman kept us going with several mechanical repairs and bottles filled with ice-cold carbs. Saturday night found Team Mako (along with Morgan Stanley and some others) at the Vineyard Restaurant, enjoying a great time of bragging and bonding. This can only be appreciated at a real road trip like this.

Mako/Galaxy Granola brought a decent contingent in a few categories this year, including the 35+ 4/5. Saturday's Criterium turned out to be a real sandbag event, as it became clear that everyone wanted to spare some energy for that afternoon's Time Trial. The majority of the race was very calm, save for the Prime laps and the finish. A while into the race, I checked my watch to see how much time was remaining, and saw we were then about half done, so I decided I should take a crack at the next Prime. As luck/fate would have it, as we passed the line, the bell rang for a valuable points prime. Having already made the decision to have a go at this one, I pulled myself up into position, within the top ten, and held that through turns two and three. Out in the back, I notched up a couple spots, and waited to see if anyone was going to jump for it, in which case I was going to let them pull me through. The pace kicked up as we rounded turn four, and I spotted San Jose Bicycle Club's Steve Mielich taking off like a bolt of lightening just in front and to my left. I immediately jumped on his wheel, and stuck until about 50 meters out as I saw that he had then maxed out, when I slipped just to his right and poured all I had into it. I threw my bike forward as we crossed the line, narrowly beating him. The finish saw teammates Laurence Dudson in 11th, Carlos Soto in the pack, and me in at 13th.

Ted Brooks at the Sharon Time Trial finish Photo by Carlos Soto

The wind picked up for the afternoon Time Trial, but never produced a nice solid tailwind. At best, there was a crosswind out in the back section after turn 1, but not good enough to really get into that "sweet spot" where you feel carried along for a while. Laurence clocked in at 24:30 for 5th, Carlos just under 30 without a TT bike, and me at 24:56 for 9th. Laurence and I started 2nd and 4th, so we fought to keep our leaders in sight, neither passing nor getting passed. Both Laurence and I were kitted to the gills in our skinsuits, TT helmets, and new Trek Team Time Trial bikes. Those bikes cut the wind like a butter knife, and they make us look dead sexy!

Finally, the joy we all waited for greeted us on Sunday, in the form of the bumpiest section of road Bob Liebold could find in all his years of organizing bike racing. This year was a lot easier on my butt, as we were on our Trek 5.9's this year (we have some great sponsors!), and I chose to ride carbon wheels with tubulars at a nice low pressure. Not that it was comfortable, but it wasn't as bad as I had remembered it from last year. So, we do the race, a few break attempts go and are reeled in, one very early. I predicted exactly where we'd catch the solo effort, and we did right at the hills. Since we were pretty much in a big group (although some had been shelled in the hills earlier), this would be a big mass sprint finish. We all fanned out to take our spots at the rollers, with Laurence getting 4th, me 8th, and Carlos valiantly finishing the long, lonely race. Laurence picked up 4th overall, I got 12th. Lloyd Rath snagged 2nd in the 55+ group. Also racing were Mako teammates Ray Sisson, Gordon Chiang, Lori Conley, and Russell White. This is what it's all about - we had such a great time.

Elite 4 report by Darin Olde

Heading into the Madera County Stage Race on April 29-30 as my second race of the season, my ambitions, you might say, were somewhat less than lofty: goal 1 - rubber side down at all times; goal 2 - finish with the pack where appropriate; goal 3 - with 1 and 2 in the bag, get near the front and medal like mad.

Riding over the hill with Jim Herzman from Truckee, we arrived in Madera no sooner than midnight, with the Cat 4 crit to start the next morning at 8 a.m. Fortunately, Jim was up for the early rise and we arrived in plenty of time. The 4's kept a leisurely pace until the first prime at lap 3. And, having found myself 100 yards off the front in the second lap (had I warmed up too much, perhaps?), I made my first strategic error by leaning up and drifting back during lap 2, and allowing the prime sprinters to form a 4-deep coalition in lap 3 that managed to go the distance. Not knowing who's who, I relentless tried to rally my own "coalition of the willing" to bridge. But, some team tactics foiled organized efforts and the lead group managed to stay away.

To make a long story short, I spent way too much time trying to rally the front of the pack into a chase, and was unable to make the solo bridge. I led the remaining pack into the final turn, burned up early and settled for 14th.

Because Jim's crit started at 11 a.m., and my time trial started at 1:30 p.m., the next tactical move was to hitch a ride to the time trial site, which was about 20-30 miles north of Madera near a town called Ch-Ch-Chowchilla. Fortunately I hooked up with Rick Bradley from Rio Estrada and Andrew Lancashire from Specialized/Sierra-Nevada. Rick, I soon discovered, was the workhorse that kept the break in front - and he managed to pull the sprint victory as well. Andrew, who has been top 10 at virtually every race this season, was also first at the Wente Crit the week prior. He finished top 10 today. So, in good company (and not-so-quietly hoping their recent good fortune might be contagious) we ambled on (In truth, I promised Andrew a leadout if possible in the next day's RR, knowing quite well that he would hardly need my help, and that I might be in poor position to help anyway - but with a shrug and a smile, he accepted).

Time trial… does anyone really want to hear about this? Nah… But it's worth mentioning that Radek Jagmin, from Reno, wrapped up 5th place in the TT and top 10 in the a.m. crit (perhaps top 5?). Mr. Herzman, who graciously loaned me clip-on aero bars (no thanks to the pair I brought - which didn't fit), arrived for his TT at 3:30 p.m. Jim managed to wrestle a bee from underneath his helmet in the final 1K to still secure a personal goal and move into good position for the next morning's road race.

With the numbers slightly lower, and the odds slightly better, my chances on the four-loop, 68-mile course were somewhat improved. On Sunday I hooked up with Kurt Bickel and Tom Morris of Spine and fellow Reno-ite Jeff Albert for breakfast and an early start - which would finally allow Jim a little extra sleep.

Now, knowing who to watch in the RR, I felt as if I might be using brain in addition to my brawn, which was clearly not enough before. Rick, the machine, made four relentless attacks in a row over the first rollers in lap 1. What a guy! I held, wondering if I ought to attack as well, but let the proven winners set the pace. Seeing as much, Rick settled in and we managed to rotate enough to drop several of the weaker riders.

Heading into the final set of rollers and having accomplished goals 1 and 2 thus far, I worked into the coveted 3rd or 4th position. I had reminded Andrew just prior that I hadn't forgotten about my promise, but as the rollers approached, he drifted somewhere behind. Inside the final kilometer everyone went. I managed to catch the whirl of Rick and Andrew sprinting ahead. I charged, leaving any intelligent thought in the distance, to approximately a 4th-place finish. Across the line I met Andrew, who finished 2nd just behind Rick. Radek finished 3rd. Congrats to all, and my apologies if the results are reported incorrectly as official results are yet to be posted.

Thanks to Andrew and Rick for the ride and race beta, and to Kurt and Jeff for breakfast and, of course, to Jim. Also thanks to Alon, the stranger who volunteered to pick me up if I was stranded without a ride during the weekend. Whoever says Roadies lack compassion should spend a weekend in Madera getting to know a few.

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