Colavita and Boulevard Cup

Pics courtesy of Matt (I'm a Bad Mutha F**ka cuz my wallet says so) Cunningham

Colavita Cup

I'm a little late with this post for a ton of reasons, the main one is I'm really lazy sometimes!!!

I was just off the podium on Saturday, 4th out of 19. The Colavita track was a good course with a decent mix of high speed and technical off camber twisty stuff and one big climb...

At the gun I hit the pedal and get a good start, I settle into 3rd behind Roger Williams and an Slimmen und Grossen rider. The pace was pretty fast from the gun but I'm feelin good so no worries. I move into 2nd when the Slimmen rider bobbles at the first downhill off camber 180. I sit on Rogers wheel for the first 2 laps suffering pretty good, he seemed to be on a mission today and was riding well.

The 3rd time up the hill he got a gap and I couldn't close it. A 50+ Trek rider and a 40+ teammate of his go by me and proceed to ride away also. Now in 3rd, Josh Taylor was on my wheel and wasn't going to come around so I just maintain the current pace and keep on rollin.

On the 4th lap I bobbled a little on one of the downhill off camber 180s and Josh went by me. No worries I got on his wheel straight away. On the next lap he gapped me a little, about 40 feet, and this was how we stayed until I dug my pedal into an off camber section which lifted my rear wheel and made me slide out...down to the ground I went. The damage was done at that point, I got going and kept the hammer down but the gap remained the same on lap 6.

On the final lap 7, I was still charging and brought him back a little but in the end the little mistakes I made created a gap that was more than I could overcome that late in the race.

I felt pretty good overall and had a good ride other than the obvious, Roger ended up 2nd to a Trek rider from Omaha, who was a very small person...a classic climber if you will.



Boulevard Cup

A few more steps away from the podium on Sunday. I ended up 6th outta 26...not bad considering the size of the field. Whilst I was doing my inspection I heard rumblings of Shadd Smith is here...I thought great...there goes 1st...he's a bad man and if he's at a race that early it can only mean one thing, racing masters. Oh well, It didn't really bother me because in racing you just never know til it's over.

So we line up and it's official, he comes rollin up last. I say to him, why do you hate us? He responded with " I have soccer games"...good answer! Anyway, they finally let us go, and I get a good start and settle in behind Roger Williams for second wheel. We drag race for at least 1/4 mile with a good section being sidewalk. Just about the time we leave the sidewalk Mr. Smith comes blazin by and takes over the front of the race right before we hit the off camber switchback section.

I guess it pays to get good starts because not a second after the 3 of us had cleared the first set of switch backs, a slower rider with more ability to pedal than to handle a bike, can't negotiate the first switch back while riding and proceeds to blow through the tape into oncoming racers and plows one of them and causes another to flip.



I heard this carnage but didn't realize how close it really was, I never saw the guy coming down and had no idea he went, more or less, right behind me until I saw the 3rd video below, which was the first one posted to youtube. My jaw literally dropped open from how close it was.



The guy that got plowed first is Prayuth Sirasudi, he ended up with a DNF...Mr. No Skillz cost Prayuth a helmet, and a frame, Prayuth told me the top tube and down tube of his NEW frame were cracked...and a concusion for the cherry on top...



Moving on...The first 2 laps has Shadd riding away leaving Roger and I to fight it out. Lap 3 we get passed by 2 more riders and eventually the guy that flipped in the video catches us and rides away leaving Roger and I in 5th and 6th.

As the race progresses Roger puts in good dig here and there, I try to make a move on occasion and he would counter. Eventually I decide to sit on his wheel because it's clear he's not gonna let me by without a huge effort.

With about 1 and 1/4 laps to go we both blast through the sand pit, run the railroad ties, hit the side walk to remount and this is where the end came for me...as I set my bike down and went to grab the bar I missed and hit the brake lever with the palm of my hand, I recover and remount and had to sprint to get back to his wheel.

The sidewalk section was about 100 feet long which lead to a 90 degree left onto the grass. My holy shit he's riding away from me effort had me going pretty fast so I reach for the brakes and the rear lever is not where it's supposed to be, so I almost blow the turn and when I get squared away on the grass I look at my lever and I had more or less pulled the plunger out of the piston on the lever that drives the caliper...game over...I finish the race in no mans land crossing in 6th place...

I'm thinkin my mojo was just a bit off this past weekend...can't be great every race.

E