Thursday, January 1, 2009

Happy New Year for Fun Racers!

Happy New Year from San Bruno!
Though "serious" racers may scoff at the idea of racing in January, especially early January, a couple hundred hearty souls decided to brave the chilling fog and start the year off right with a little "oh yeah, that's what going hard feels like".

Here are a few of the podium pics I snapped.


P/1/2 Winner Tracy Colwell and runner up Evan Pickett



Clark Foy takes the 45+ a couple days before his 45th. Ain't "racing age" great!

I decided to race the 35+ this year, so instead of being on the front line I was back behind the P/1/2, Elite 3's, W 1/2/3 and Juniors.  It took me about 8 seconds to get to the starting line, but I rode the same time as last year so I was actually a little faster.  Luckily for our group, the pace at the front wasn't Nolanesque like in 2007, so the masters guys were able to join the elite leaders at the front before any breaks occurred.  There was no one person dedicated to setting a fast tempo, so several of us traded pulls and attacks but we still had a fairly large, though a bit strung out group by the turn at the start of radio road. (thanks to gstein for the video).

As we started the climb up Radio Road, Even Pickett (Metromint) , Tracy Colwell (Webcor) and I had a small gap.
Once it started getting steeper I attacked and after a couple more surges I had a gap that I was able to hold to the line.

Thanks to Peninsula Velo, Pilarcitos and everyone else who made this event happen, it's a great way to start the year!

7 comments:

mr.g said...

congrats on another commanding ascent of hypoxic proportions!

Anonymous said...

Congrats on setting the standard for '09. Maybe I should push away the champaign glass and get up early to start off the year right.

Anonymous said...

Congrats again Chris, it was nice meeting you in person after seeing photos of you for a good while.

Manley Man said...

Congrats on giving me the six-pack of beer before the race. We've been trying to make this exchange for almost a year. I'm sure getting that temptation out of your back seat was just the motivation that pushed you to victory!

Oh, and as you and the other 35+ guys came around us 3's at the start I appreciated the small pull to the lead group. I was able to keep up with you guys, albeit at the back of the pack, for most of the way up to the park ranger station.

phipps said...

Thanks everyone.

Goose - beer works better than Champagne as a pre-race hydration/carbo loading beverage.

Carl - nice to meet you yesterday, hope to see you on a BF ride soon.

Todd - sorry it took so long to get it to you. Yeah, if I didn't give it to you I would have had to drink it all myself. Also nice ride yourself, can't wait to see you tear it up in the TT's.

Allison Krasnow said...

i think i should have done this won and one the pregnancy division...congrats!

skinnylegs said...

Hey Chris, congrats on the hill climb. Hope to see you on the tuesday rides soon.