Sunday June 10 -- just 11 days before Junior Nationals, Jake lined up for his first Cat 3 race today at the Air Force Cycling Classic Crystal Cup (aka the Crystal City criterium). It's a tough, technical 6 corner criterium with a long flat drag to the finish line.
Jake was joined by his HPC teammates Avery Wilson and Matt Amman. Coppi was represented by David Wilson (who has been tearing it up) and Kosta Tombras. Bike Doctor Waldorf and DC Velo both had big teams. Jake was not intimidated.
Before Jake's race, we chatted with Andy Guptil of Miller School who was acting as director for his former pro team Jamis/Sutter Home. Andy introduced us to the guys right after the Pro men's race.
We also go to talk with my PT, Sonja Evers, who I hadn't seen in a while as she was waiting to do the Pro Women's race.
It was damn hot, in the 90s, so Jake warmed up on the trainer in the parking garage. But it was still so hot that we covered his back with ice packs and I fanned him with a Kenda catalog that was laying in the back of the car.
Then he lined up with 50 or 60 local Cat 3 crit monkeys. According to Jake's Garmin, the temps during the race averaged in the 105 degrees range!!
someone needs to be more aggressive in the scrum
And they were off and I started my nervous walking and random video taking. Here's the start
Jake was well positioned mid pack most of the time (I had trouble spotting him sometimes). Here he is with Avery.
There were a lot of guys popped off the back. 3-ish laps to go.
Here's one lap to go and I'm getting nervous.
Here's the bunch sprint. Chaos
Jake did great to finish in the much diminished front pack. He was 22nd. Poor Matt has been sick and had to pull out early. Not sure what happened to Avery, he made an attack on one lap which may have gassed him. Jake admitted that it was very hard, and that he was spun out in his junior gears.
In the Cat 4 race, Luke was hanging in pretty well until he started to cramp, but it was a good step forward.
Jake was somewhat disappointed (he's used to being at the very front), but doesn't seem to really appreciate what a significant accomplishment finishing that well is for a 14 year old in his first Cat 3 race. It was a rude race for the first Cat 3. But Sue and Pierre and I are now positive that Jake has the legs and race sense to do well at Nationals and really be a solid teammate for Shane, who has the ability to win the 15-16 races. The countdown is on
On SATURDAY we had our final regular season baseball game. Regular head coach Bill Porter was out leaving me in charge with Matt Carlson as assistant. We only had 9 players. Liam had a good game at the plate. I had him move a little closer to cover the outside of the plate and he started making solid contact, driving one up the middle and then ripping a triple down the third base line. He made an unfortunate error at shortstop. But we won, securing our 3rd place standing for the playoffs this week.
Jake is a Cat 3. 14 years old. Far surpassing me at this point.*
He's registered for the Road Race, Crit, and TT at Junior Nationals.
Thanks to everyone that helped him, on HPC and on Coppi.
*although I still hold the 1-0 record over him in head to head cyclocross, and it will stay that way forever, as I will never leave the comfort of the Masters race again
The chase/quest for upgrade points reached its zenith this weekend. With just 2 weekends left before Junior Nationals, if Jake was going to get to Cat 3 to qualify for the Road Race & Crit at Nationals (for 15-16 they have to be Cat 3) he would need some results this weekend. He was not alone. James Panagiotopolous was also perilously close (James is a great kid and I love his parents). On Saturday was "Ride Sally Ride" in Chantilly and on Sunday would be Leonardtown, down in southern Maryland. We had done both of these last year, and you can see those discussions in my old blog here.
For Ride Sally Ride, Loren's dad, Jack, and his wife, Susan, came to visit so they could see Jake race. The Chantilly location and spectator friendly crit format would be great for their intro to racing.
From a "soigneur dad" perspective, this weekend was ugly. Jake would do both the Junior and Cat 4 races both days. But promoters hate juniors (or their parents) and so have junior races at 8am. So, to get to these races in time to register and warm up, Jake and I left the house at 6:15 on Saturday and.....5:30 on Sunday. Ugh. I simply expected not to ride at all this weekend.
Ride Sally Ride
(Jake realized as we left, that the road at the office park is called "Sally Ride Drive" thus the race name)
For the junior race, a couple of the older HPC juniors, Justin Mauch and Matt Amman, came to add some horse power to the team, which was really great of them. The plan was for them to help James and Jake to high results so they could score upgrade points. Andy Fleming, Luke, and Jacob were all there to add to the effort and of course see if they couldn't land themselves a high placing as well. (Andy needs the points as well, but isn't as close to Cat 3 as Jake and James due to some flats/crashes/bad luck). Justin took the lead at the meeting in the parking lot.
Justin instructs the troops (photo Pam Mauch)
It was a big group of juniors, over 40. Lots of strong riders. Here's a little video of the line up (notice how only Devon Baumer of ABRT breaks his game face and waves; Devon's a great kid)
And the HPC boys (Jake was in his MABRA BAR jersey -- free entry!)
James is smiling for a reason (photo by me)
Justin drilled it from the start, then Matt attacked, it has just attack after attack. Jake and James were to do no work to save it for the sprint or get in the right break with Justin or Matt.
Luke did some nice work controlling attacks (notice Jake & James sheltered) (photo Pam Mauch)
With about 5 laps to go, Justin launched an attack and brought James with him. This was the winning move. They gained a gap of 10 seconds or so. There were some attempts to chase but Rock Creek Velo and ABRT couldn't organize to close it down (note all the lapped younger juniors, which made it tricky).
Justin and James held it out and James rolled across the winner. (Justin had the GoPro handlebar video camera rolling, which you can see here)
Right behind Jake got 2nd in the field sprint for 4th overall. (As usual, turn down the sound to avoid my "go jake" yelling)
I joked that Justin should have slammed on his brakes and not crossed the line ("oh, cramp!") so Jake could get 3rd. But the 4th was worth 2 upgrade points so that's good. James' win gave him 19 total points (I thought that's what someone said).
Jake, Andy, and James then lined up for the Cat 4 race and hour later. This was 90+ crazed MABRA Cat 4s. An entirely different and much scarier animal. Andy started off with a bang, immediately jumping into a 2 man breakaway for a couple of laps
As he said after the race, maybe not the smartest move, intellectually, but they're fun. Jake rode well, generally keeping up toward the front. James and Andy likewise kept good position as these photos by Doug show.
Andy, James, Jake across the front (photo Doug Graham)
Well positioned (Doug Graham)
James & Jake (D. Graham)
a boy amongst men (D. Graham)
solid through the turn (D. Graham)
Thanks to Doug Graham for the photos, which you should check out at HERE
Ok, so I may have yelled at Jake to "move up" once or twice, so with like 3 laps to go he literally turned and yelled at me to "shut up" which was funny.
Watching your kid in this kind of churning mass is very nerve-wracking. So here's what we saw as they came into the final turn/sprint (seriously, turn down the sound)
and here it is captured. Notice Jake on the left diving to the inside of the crash.
Jake was 6th out of 100, which was awesome. Unfortunately, because USA Cycling doesn't give crits as much credit, it was worth 1 point. We joked he's getting his upgrade 1 point at a time (9th at Poolesville, 1pt; 9th at Tucker County, 1pt; 6th at Walton Park, maybe 1pt depending on how many starters).
So, Saturday evening Liam has a baseball game, and then we went out to Carlisle (restaurant) for dinner after, but the restaurant screws up and we have to wait an hour, so we don't eat until after 8. But remember how I said Jake and I have to leave at 5:30am the next morning. Ugh.
Leonardtown.
Right, so, my alarm goes off at 5:05, I shake/wake Jake, fill 6 bottles of water & 2 w/ EFS, grab clif bars to eat in the car, and we throw everything back in the car, and head off to Leonardtown, in St. Mary's county, 1.5 hours away. The town is very nice, and the drive is actually very easy at that time of morning. This was the regional crit championship for Category 1, 2, 3, and 4, so it's a big race. It's also a fun course. However, I didn't bring any media equipment and my Blackberry battery was dying, so no videos or photos. The team would be Jake, James, Luke, and Andy Mount would be the Cat 3 crit powerhouse who made a last minute decision to come help, which as great of him (and let's face it, his mom, who got up at 5am to drive).
A photo for Loren, the yarn store at the start/finish line
Again it was an aggressive race, and at one point there was a break with Jake, James, and Andy, and 2 boys from RCV. I thought that would be it, but they didn't quite work and Tanner Browne and an ABRT boy were able to get back to the group (which was nice work by them). Jake threw in an attack with 3 laps to go (which I still don't think was the best for him given how much racing was in his legs at that point), but it didn't stick. In the final lap, Andy was able to launch James with 1/2 lap to go and James held it for another win. The sprint was close on his heels though. Zander Guzy-Sprague (real name) from RCV took 2nd (securing his trip to nationals) and Jake took 4th behind Andy. Tanner was close on his wheel for 5th in a nice race by him. The big question was how many juniors started. BikeReg says 21 so I'm going with that (the results never say how many starters, only finishers), so that should be another 2 points. I was hoping he could win the Jr at Leonardtown, but it wasn't to be (he didn't have the snap he had on Saturday). I'm glad James won.
ok, but now the Cat 4 race wasn't until 2pm, so we had 5 hours to kill. I gave Jake $20 and told him to get something to eat at the cafe there on the square. In the meantime, Dan Klaussen and I went for a ride out in the local countryside. Well, there's an hour or so.
At noon, Jake and I sat in some rocking chairs in front of a local shop and watched Andy in the Cat 3 race. He really is a natural crit rider. The attacks were hot and heavy from the start. Andy was in the first break, then there was a break with 2 riders that lasted several laps and forced a serious chase. When the catch was made around mid-race, I saw Andy, who had been near the back (Jake had even mentioned he thought Andy was in trouble he was so far back) -- slingshot up the side of the group. I thought he was just shooting past the lull to move forward in the group, but he was attacking and when they came back around he and 3 others had a gap. Those 4 got a good gap that moved up close to 20 seconds. A guy from C3 and my friend Neil from DC Velo both tried to bridge the gap. The C3 guy made it, Neil went back to the pack. The 5 man break established a nearly 50 second lead and they were secure. Andy was solid in the break and took 3rd. So, that was great.
For the Cat 4s, we didn't know what legs Jake would have, so if he was spent we discussed pulling out rather than risking crashes or fatigue. It was 60+ guys.
The only Coppi was Eric Bloomquist, who you'll remember was such a great teammate to Jake in the Cat 3 cross race at Schooly Mill. I told them both not to get caught up in early break attempts, but to look for them starting mid race. I sat on a bench at start/finish and talked with a former teammate, Patrick Dolan. It really helped what would otherwise have been a very nervous hour for me. It was pretty hard from the gun, with a solo breakaway requiring a long chase by the field. Jake held very good position, and by the final laps he was well positioned in the only 15-20 guys who remained. A solo rider from GW had established a decent gap that he held for the win. Right after the start/finish on the bell lap there was a crash, with one guy going down. Jake had been 5th wheel, but he said the crash caused confusion and surging and he got shuffled back. He didn't have the legs to move back up in the last 1/2 lap, so was stuck sprinting in the back of the group, taking 14th. No points, and no top 10 (you can upgrade with 10 top-10s, this would have been his 9th top 10 this spring). Damn.
Still, he rode a very solid race, particularly for his 4th in 2 days. But he was exhausted (and so was I).
This morning I submitted his upgrade request. Fingers crossed.
There, I gave away the end in the title. Sunday, after much discussion with Jake and with Coach Sue (Hefler), we opted to pass on the 15-18 junior Bike Jam race in Baltimore and instead go to the Stony Point Circuit Race in Richmond and do the men's Cat 4 race. When we got there, we saw that Jake's HPC teammate, Avery Wilson, was in the Cat 3 race. It was cut short because of a crash but Avery scored a 10th.
The Stony Point course was cool, a multi-turned 1.3 mile circuit with a good hill coming up from a turn and then into the finishing straight. Swirling winds added to the challenge. They would do 30 miles. This was going to be a hard race which should suit Jake.
Jake and I lined up for the Cat 4 race with 42 others at noon. Liam made the trip with us and he would man the video camera, so, yes, you're going to see some video (he took 2 videos per lap).
The race was put on by Richmond Velo Sport and one of their guys, Jimmy Picard, a former college cross country runner, has won 3 straight Cat 4 races, in convincing fashion, including riding away from the Cat 4s at Morgantown RR and catching and passing most of the Cat 3 field that had started 5 minutes earlier. I told Jake that he needed to mark Jimmy and pointed him out before the race. With the hill and a very large RVS group, I knew that Jimmy would go at some point and I wanted Jake with him.
I haven't trained and have barely ridden for 3 weeks, so my participation mainly filled out the field for upgrade points. I felt crappy during warm up. I lasted 5 laps. Enough about me.
Here are some early race videos by Liam (click on the "youtube" label on any of the videos to watch a bigger version)
Start:
Breaks were starting.
Jake was well positioned but maybe hurting a little on the hill. He was right on Jimmy P's wheel, which was perfect. With 12 laps to go a solo rider broke away and got a good lap. There was a group of like 3, including 1 RVS guy trying to bridge to him. When the field hit the turn and hill, Jimmy had punched it and Jake was right on him. I yelled for Jake to go with Jimmy, this was the move.
Jimmy pulled Jake up to the break, which caught the solo and was 5 men with about 25 seconds.
(you'll hear this is when 4 with Jake were about to catch the solo; you'll hear me yell to Jake he's perfect and Liam is giving time splits)
more gap video by Liam
They dropped 1 guy and then another and with 5 to go it was Jake and two guys from RVS. They worked together and built up a 50 second lead over the field. It was really exciting to watch. (Liam got a bunch of video where the video starts with Jake disappearing and then the gap, going from 15 up to 50 seconds of space before the field; I'll upload one of them) trust me it's jake at the split second start.
I was worried the two teammates would start to attack Jake and they would all get caught but they worked together until the last lap. Jake was on the front going up the hill toward the finish.
He apparently then dropped behind the 2 RVS guys at which point Jimmy attacked and Jake was gaped. He tried to close the gap to Jimmy, but when it was clear he wouldn't, he sat up rather than tow the RVS teammate to the finish.
Jimmy came through clear for the win, then Jake and the other RVS guy came up the hill. I was rolling video at that point, so I'll let it show you what happened. Turn down the sound, I was yelling at the top of my lungs.
Well, obviously, I was ecstatic. Jake was happy but also irritated that Jimmy got the gap so Jake couldn't go for the win.
We threw together an impromtu podium with Jimmy (the 3rd guy was road guarding the next race).
Jake & Jimmy Picard
It was a fun race, cool course, and RSV were good hosts. Jake won $60, which paid for our registrations. Me and the boys grabbed some Chipotle for lunch on the way home.
Really awesome day. Jake got 4 upgrade points toward the Cat 3 upgrade he needs to qualify for Junior National road race this year.
Saturday May 12th was the Poolesville Road Race, put on by NCVC (National Capital Velo Club). It's a great race. It's the
Queen of the Mid Atlantic Classics, the Poolesville course features a feared,
notorious, and for some of us eagerly awaited 1 mile stretch of gravel road on top of 9 miles
of deceptively tough classic Maryland hills. The course lends itself to
breakaways and wins by strong men and women. I've done it many times, this would be Jake's first time (and as with any road race that involves gravel, he was psyched). There is no Junior race so he would line up with 75 Cat 4 men (including me; the 45+ race was at 8:30am and the Cat 4 at 12:30 so it wouldn't work for me to do the morning). It would be 53 miles, 5 laps of the 10 mile loop.
As soon as we ended the neutral roll out, two guys from Whole Wheel Velo attacked. I was 4th wheel and had little choice (well I guess I did) but to try and follow. But I stupidly didn't close the gap quickly so spent 1 minute at max effort trying to close to them. When I looked back, Jake was coming across the gap with Coppi Chris Grengs. And "boom" we have a 9 person break away within 2 miles of the start. Unfortunately, that was all I could handle and dropped out of the break. I sat up completely to recover and positioned myself on the front of the pack to try and control the chase.
I'd seen a break work from the gun at Poolesville once before so while 49 miles is a long way to go, it has happened. I worked with Coppi Rob Eom to make sure that only 2 or 3 guys were able to do all the chasing. At one point, Jake's teammate Andy Fleming came up front but I told him Jake was in the break and not to chase. We hit the gravel at the front, again trying to keep any massive chase from mounting. Unfortunately, that 20 minutes was all my legs would handle and I faded away after the gravel. I would ride on for several laps with another guy for training until the officials pulled us out and placed us based on our position at that time.
In the meantime, I was getting updates from people on the side of the road about Jake's break away. It had held for the first lap but was caught at the beginning of the second lap. Here, Jake's group enters the gravel the first lap:
by Doug Graham http://wildlightphotos.photoshelter.com/
someone always overcooks that turn. photo Doug Graham
Here Jake Leads his group around the last corner of the lap (these photos by Andreas Gutzeit)
From pictures and accounts I gather that after that Jake was well positioned near the front the whole race.
photo by Jay Wescott http://jaywestcott.net/
photo by Andreas Gutzeit
Jake in gravel mid-race by Doug Graham
More perspective on the gravel road dust:
Andy & Jake - photo Pam Mauch
Jake & Mike Rousso - photo Pam Mauch
After I got pulled, I went back to the feed zone to hang with Coach Sue and Pierre and the HPC support system. Shane and Andy Mount were in the Cat 3 break with Coppi James Hibbs. But Going through the feed zone with one lap to go, I didn't see Jake in the Cat 4 group, so I rode backwards on the course to see if he had been dropped, crashed, had a flat. I didn't find him (must just not have seen him) so I headed for the finish line to catch the finish.
The Cat 4 lead moto came around the bend and it was a fairly big group sprint that looked chaotic. Using my SoigneurDad scanning powers I was able to see Jake at the last minute, tucked into the second row of people (you can see him in Jay's photo 3rd from the right with his new white helmet), so I immediately thought he might be in the top 10.
Cat 4 sprint - photo Jay Wescott
Results were quick and indeed, he was 9th. An awesome result (again better than my best). His teammate Andy Fleming was 15th and Coppi Chris Grengs was 6th. Really, proud again. To jump into the first lap break away then recover and finish in the top 10 was impressive (for Chris as well). Reminder, he's 14.
Unfortunately, my baseball soigneur skills were weak and we didn't get back from Poolesville until the 4th inning of Liam's game, and they were losing for the first time all year. It was tough loss, but we had a good practice on Sunday night so they'll bounce back.
I missed a weekend. Two weeks ago, I had to turn over Soigneur Dad duties to Dan Klaussen who helpfully took Jake to race the Charlottesville Omnium, with the Walton Park Crit on Saturday and the Wintergreen "Hill" Climb on Sunday. I had to stay behind and coach Liam's little league team while Bill Porter was off running around Maryland, literally. (we won)
Jake did the Cat 4 at the Walton Crit. We really wanted him to score
some upgrade points. Photos show he rode great, well positioned up
front the whole race. In the sprint he finished 6th, which is great.
An outstanding result, but just 1 place out of the upgrade points
because there were only 39 starters. Here are a series of photos (taken
by Charlottesville Racing Club)
Luke took 2nd in the Junior race (Jake skipped the junior race to concentrate on the Cat 4). On Sunday Jake, Jacob, Andy and Luke spent the night at the Acorn Inn and then readied to take on the climb to Wintergreen. You may remember I did this 6 years ago. It's really hard, long and steep.
That's what Jake looked like running next to me 6 years ago. This time he beat my time by 5 minutes and took 3rd in the 10-18 juniors category w/ a 40:25 time. Jacob Slife "found his calling" and won with a 38:29.
This weekend (May 5th and 6th) Jake and Liam and I would have more fun. On Saturday, Loren would be off to the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival with her friend Helena, from Cardif Wales, who is staying with us. So Liam would have to come with me and Jake to the C-130 Deep Blue Time Trial. They start out the back of a C-130 Cargo Plane. I was also signed up, but events would interfere.
The boys and I left the house at 5AM because they give juniors the earliest possible starting times (they hate parents). We made good time to the Air Mobility Command Museum in Dover, DE. Liam was off at 8:34. He would do 6 miles on his new Redline, which is actually Jake's old Redline. He was nervous, but did great. Here at the start (they didn't have the C-130 ready yet for them, which was a disappointment):
Here his finish: He did 21:50, which was very good. He was 2nd (out of 2). But he got a medal that he wore all day.
This was an impromptu "podium"
Jake raced up in age and did the 16-18 race to do longer than 6 miles. He launched out of the C-130 at 9:03 on his brand new TT bike for 22 painful miles. The TT bike position has some issues to work out yet. But Jake did ok, finishing 4th behind Shane, Andy Mount, and a "boy" (18) from ABRT. Here he waits to start after Shane (who blistered the course).
My personal credo has long been that "friends don't let friends do flat time trials," but I was hoping to at least do the race for training. But I needed to get Liam back to Arlington in time for a 3pm little league game, so my 10:30 start time would be too late. So I scratched (or darn). We had a nice drive actually, stopping for lunch on the way home.
On Sunday Jake did the Cat 4 at the Bunny Hop Criterium. I'm not a fan of this race, having crashed hard at least once and had other bad luck there in the past. I would skip it. The Cat 4 was the last race of the day at 4pm. Jake, Andy F, James P, Matt C, and Jacob S would all line up as HPC's Cat 4 contingent. Shane and Jacob Miller and parents hung around after the 123 to root them on. Jake was very attentive and within the top 5 for the whole first half of the race. So were Matt and James, and Andy slipped up there as well. (Some photos by Leslie Olsen)
With 11 laps to go, Jake jumped out of the pack to take a preme (he won a book) and he just kept going, attempting a break away. He was off the front for 2 laps. Aiden Palmer, a jr from ABRT, was head down drilling the field into a single file to chase Jake down. Jake didn't get any companions so his solo bid didn't last. But then on the next preme, Matt did the same, jumping for the preme then going off the front for 2 laps. Neither attempt stuck, but it was great to see them try and the announcer gave them a lot of credit. Jake's effort sapped his legs for the final and he finished 24th. Jacob did great to come from nearly dropped early on to finish 22nd. Andy was nearly taken out in the final corner but finished upright in the field. Matt likewise sapped from his late solo effort finished in the pack. Here are some videos.
Of course I didn't have the video camera running when Jake took his flyer.
