Swami's Racing

Race Report: Manhattan Beach Grand Prix Sun June 28th

2009-06-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

Alex - 3rd
Zack - 4th

Manhattan Beach Grand Prix is one of the last Cat 2 races of the season and Rob, Jason, Pascal, Zack and I were there representing Swamis DET. At a quick team meeting in the staging area, we hashed out our plan: be attentive and work together as a unit. The chances of a sprint finish were high, so Jason, Pascal and Rob were to keep Zack and myself as rested and sheltered as possible. It would then be our job to stay out of harms way, jockey for good position into the decisive last turn before the finish, and then sprint our trusty steeds with all our hearts (and legs) to the finish line.

Ralph Elliot rightfully labelled the course banana-shaped, and with a slight rise leading into each of the two 180 degree turns on opposite ends, it was definitely not a crit for the faint-hearted. Upon the official’s whistle it was go time and all us DET riders quickly took charge.

Pascal, Rob and Jason covered breaks and kept tabs on Zack and I, and the two of us were able to stay out of harms way and float around the top 20. The pressure mounted as our stellar team effort came to fruition but, we all fed off that pressure; this was true racing at it’s core: crashes ensued, the impressive crowd cheering as we passed by, the glory of an NRC podium was on the line! The field was lined out through the start/finish when, before I knew it, I saw 2 laps to go. Great carnage was likely on this technical course during the final laps, and a peloton of 100 or so over-eager and reckless Cat 2s increased the danger exponentially: it was important to stay close to the front. The team dropped us off perfectly for the final lap and with 1 to go I was somewhere around 10th wheel. On the back stretch I did my best to not get boxed in and anticipated surges on the wide course. I hopped onto a mini train and was about five riders back with Zack right behind me. Two riders jumped into the turn and I followed. TRhge sprint was on! I got edged out for second by about half of a wheel and took 3rd place on the day. Zack was close behind finishing in 4th with a well timed surge and bike throw. A podium finish and another teammate in the top five – a very respectable day in the office to say the least.

It is evident that all of our hard work and experience together as a team is paying off. We set out with specific objectives for this race and we executed them in textbook fashion. I look forward to building on this performance in the weeks to come. It was great motivation for us all as July is a month packed with some big races. SLO, Super Week, Cascade and Nationals in Bend, OR are just some of the races our DET riders will be heading to.

Until next time,
Alex

Race Report: State Road Race Sun June 7th

2009-06-24T14:44:00.001-07:00

When we last left off it was State RR time and the squad of Alex, Rob, newly minted Cat 1 Corey, Jason, Orion, and I travelled to Bakersfield for the 93 mile State Road Race. We were accompanied by super sognieur/domestique Kevin Davenport. Kev was there to help feed us. He raced the Cat 5 Sunday morning before our race and finished in 34th place. He's a real trooper for helping us post race. I think many of us were still in bed while he was going up the climb the first time!

The race started with the usual early attack which we let go without much fight. LaGrange rode on the front and kept the gap around 3 minutes. With 1 feeder and 6 guys requiring 2 bottle and food on 2 separate laps feeding was tricky. Corey and I were designated team leaders for the day and Alex, Rob, Jason, and Orion had domestique duty. they grabbed mussettes from Kevin and fed the team at each feed zone. This was huge. On the 2nd lap corey attacked the climb but the field chased him down. The break had dwindled to a solo rider and his gap was dropping. At the start of the 3rd lap we got our final feed and we lost Alex and Rob after they slayed themselves for the squad. a pair of riders snuck off and caught the solo man and the break surged ahead as we hit the final climb. Jason also snuck off the front to keep Swamis in the game! We rode up the final climb slow but we still lost riders; we were 80 miles into a 93 mile race! On the descent LaGrange chased furiously and they were down to 1 man, Adam Livingston in the final miles (Adam was defending champ and like the champion he is he chased solo on the front to stay in the race). SC Velo and Jason and Orion hit the front and pulled back the break with 1 mile to go! Orion put in a few digs to keep it fast and Jason moved me up to the top 5. I yelled at Jason to go and make it fast and with 600m to go he jumped. After he faded Thurlow Rogers took over and the sprint was on! A few guys came around my right and a few on the left and I passed a few and we hit the line. I crossed in 6th! Sweet! It was a great team result! Everyone rode awesome and we got lots of props for our efforts! Post race we snagged burritos at Chipotle- my favorite post race treat!

Next up: San Pedro GP and the return of the Cuban Missle!

Chris

Alex Jarman Wins Tour de Donuts!

2009-06-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

Alex suffering up the final climb in Le Tour de Donuts. Does he get upgrade points for this? It must have been a really slow newsday too: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/sports/more/Tour-de-Donuts-Rides-Through-San-Diego.html

Corey Farrell: First DET Cat 1!!!! (One is not the loneliest number; it's the coolest)

2009-06-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

We are proud to announce Corey Farrell got his Cat 1 upgrade. This is awesome news for Corey and the Swamis DET. Corey will be attending the U23 national champs later this season and hopefully he'll get an opportunity to go to europe with the US U23 squad.

Corey is the first development rider from Swamis DET to get his Cat 1.

Race Report: Ventura County Stage Race, Sat/Sun May 16-17

2009-06-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

Squad: Corey, Chris, Zack, Skyler, & Robin

So finally a race thats about as local as it gets for me. I've been excited about this race since hearing about in December. The race was a 20 minute drive from my house in Ventura, Ca. So the crew got to my house the night before. Everyone just did some final adjustments to their bikes, ate, and slept.

The next morning we did the usual pre race stuff, and headed to downtown Ventura for the prologue. The course was 2 miles with 2 small risers, and one steep downhill that went straight into a left turn. I wasn't sure if I should race it on a road or time trial bike because of how technical the course was. I ended up riding the time trial bike, just because the turns were pretty wide, and there were some flat parts where you could make up some time.

The team signed in, kitted up, and started warming up. I never saw any of the other guys again, as I opted out on the trainer and got on the road. Since the prologue was so short you had to really get on it during the warm up. I got it done pretty well, but my legs were still a little stale while rolling up to the start.

My goal was to go under 4:05, but after crossing the finish I was told I went 3:58:71. Not that it really mattered because the time gaps between first and 50th would be something like 20 seconds. The time put me into 16th place, 4th in the U23 category, and 12 seconds off the lead. Later in the day was the crit, so we headed back to my house and recovered for a few hours.

Corey @ 3:58:71
Daggs @ 4:02:02
Zack @ 4:05:16
Robin @ 4:06:94
Skyler @ 4:18:30

So the crit was in the same place as the prologue. The course was going to be hard and lined out with a short steep climb after a long false flat to the start finish. There was also the same steep downhill to left turn that would keep everybody paying attention.
The race got going from the gun and within the first 5 laps or so, there was a crash that split the field. With a lead group of about 35 the pace was still being driven by a few different teams. The goal for the crit was to keep Daggs and myself in the front and save our legs for the tough road race the next day. We ended up finishing the 75 minute crit, and I ended up moving to 13th in GC and first in the U23 race.

Next up was the road race in Ojai. We were able to sleep in and take our morning slowly which was great. We drove up to Ojai and got Zack his caffeine fix at Starbucks. Quickly we realized that is was going to be super hot that day, which isn't unheard of in upper Ojai. The temperature was quickly at 95 degrees before the start, and got over 100 during the race. With no shade on the course everyones jerseys were quickly unzipped.

The race got off pretty slow, with the exception of a few solo attempts to get away. The course had climb that was about a mile long that was sure to blow the field up during one of the 11 times we rode up it. For the first few laps my legs weren't feeling super great, and it was HOT. Then on the 5th lap Neil Shirley and Roman Kilun attacked at the bottom of the climb, and I tried to bridge my way up to it. At the top of the climb I wasn't able to catch up, but I was with 2 guys from Liquid Fitness. I looked back and saw we had a pretty big gap, so I stayed with them. We quickly started rolling pretty well, and the gap to Neil and Roman slowly started dropping. Eventually the gap started to grow and they kept pulling away, but we were also opening up a pretty big lead on the main field. We were working pretty well together, and aside from the occasional cramping I was feeling pretty good. At the end of the 11 laps I rolled across the finish in 4th place, and we opened up about 4 minutes on the main field. I was pretty happy to finally get the result I have been wanting, and it was even better to find out I had placed 4th in GC and 1st in the U23 category.

The race organizers put on an awesome race, and I can't wait to race it next year.

Corey

Ventura

2009-05-18T09:21:00.001-07:00

Me and corey shadowing Roman Kilun, pro w/OUCH in the crit.

Collegiate Nationals: Fort Collins, CO by Alex Jarman

2009-05-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Collegiate Cycling Nationals was this past weekend in Fort Collins,
Colorado. All of the best teams and individuals in the nation would be
competing for the stars and stripes jersey. Myself and Tammy
Wildgoose represented UCSD's cycling team, qualifying individually based on our rankings in the overall omnium for the West Coast Cycling Conference.
We arrived in Fort Collins on Wednesday to get acclimated
to the elevation prior to Friday's road race. Thursday morning we went for a beautiful spin through the valley in Fort Collins and then drive the tortuously hilly course. Several of the racers were at the rider meeting Thursday night. This was the real deal - full neutral support from Shimano, rolling closure, etc.
Friday morning was the first big day of racing. Tammy ventured outside
the hotel to warm-up and was greeted by a crisp-cold morning and gale
force winds. The womens Division 1 race was off first at 8am with a field
of about 80 of the nations best college women racers. The peloton stayed
together until the first major climb of the day. Tammy was able to stick
with the lead group for the first portion but by the top was not able to
hold onto the lead group. The rest of the road race was spent battling
the winds with a group of about 15 riders and attempting to chase down
the two groups in front. Tammy finished 21st in a shattered and tired
group of four riders.
The mens Division 1 race began promptly at 11 am with a field of more
than 130 of the nation's best. Although it was a "neutralized start," race was chaotic from the gun with a crash about two miles in ending the race for some. I immediately fought my way to the front, and sat two wheels back from the car leading the bunch. The peloton shattered into several groups by the time we reached the circuit in Masonville. The climbs, elevation and competitive field did me and several others in. I felt good in the third group, but being that our group was 6 minutes down at about 50 miles into the 70 mile race, I decided to end the chase and focus/recover for the crit on Saturday.
Saturday was the last day for Tammy and I to show off some sprinting
skillz. Tammy was frustrated with her performance in the road race and
was able to channel that energy into the criterium.
The women's field managed to stay together for the majority of the 60
minute race. With two laps to go their was a crash that fractured the
field. Tammy was able to avoid that crash and stick with the front group
to the finish line. It ended in a bunch sprint with Tammy able to sprint
as hard as she ever has for 3rd place! This finish also moved her up into
8th place in the omnium.
The men's race was fast and intense! The field was strung out in a long
line for most of the race. The peloton of over 130 riders stayed together
for most of the 75 minute race. I sat amongst the top 20-30 riders for most of the race. However, with five laps to go a group of about four riders managed to get away from the main group causing an enormous and chaotic chase effort by University of Vermont riders. The peloton averaged 29.5 miles per hour for the race, of which we were easily well above 30mph for the last 5 laps. The peloton caught the break with about half a lap to go and I was unable to get into good position. I finished 31st.
After a long weekend in Fort Collins and a good season of racing, Tammy and I were very pleased with an epic weekend of racing to end our collegiate careers.

- Alex

Race Report Retraction: San Luis Rey RR

2009-05-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

Clarification has been requested by Fred Muir on the San Luis Rey RR race report. Per the original report Fred did drink half the beer we brought to the race for our feeders. However, we only brought 4 beers (I'm a lightweight - light featherweight really), so Fred only drank 2 beers. Apparently, a number of Swami's had become concerned with Fred's drinking problem.

Collegiate Nats Update

2009-05-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

Got a call from Alex in CO. He is resting up and hoping to have agood ride in the RR. It's a tough course and definitely favors the climbers. Alex was hoping to finish and blow the legs out while looking for a big result in the crit. He also said that Nationals were going to streaming live on cycling.tv. Cool!

Sat is the crit. Hopefully I'll hear from him later today about his RR performance.

Chris

Alex Jarman to Collegiate Nationals in CO!

2009-05-06T13:07:00.000-07:00

Alex Jarman will be representing UCSD at the National Collegiate Cycling Association Championships in Ft Collins, CO. Alex placed top 20 in the crit last year and is looking to better that in 2009. The nationals berth came after an abbreviated, but effective collegiate campaign in the tough WCCC. Alex had a number of top 5 placings and was awarded an individual invite to NCCA Nats.

Go Alex!

Man vs. Lizard: Corey's final Gila Report

2009-05-06T07:23:00.000-07:00

Below is Corey's final report from Gila:

Friday: Had a less than spectacular time trial. The course has absolutely no flat ground in it. You are either climbing or descending. Usually this would be a perfect race against the clock for me. I had to really try to remember and not go out too hard. Time trials at altitude are hard, you can't recover. I don't wear a heart rate monitor, but I'm pretty sure thats the hardest it's ever thumped. Saturday: The plan was to rest up, and spin out my legs. The course was on a pretty tough loop with 115 feet of climbing in a .7 mile lap and it was ridiculously windy. Was able to avoid any problems, and sat in the with pack.

Sunday: The infamous Gila Monster stage. The course was 105 miles of fun. There was almost 10,000 feet of climbing, finishing up with a 13 mile climb to the finish. I really wish SoCal had more races like this, I loved it. So a early break of 6 guys rolled off, but I didn't want a repeat of my experience on first stage. I figured it was a long stage, and they would be brought back. They eventually got a gap of 11 minutes on us with about 70 miles to go. After that the pack wasn't letting anything go. I was able to attack on a little climb, and get away alone...Great I have nobody with me, but what do I have to lose. I could either sit up and ride with the pack until the final big climb, hoping the break would be caught. OR I could do a super Jens Voigt inspired solo move and attempt to bridge the 11 minutes to the break and move way up in the final overall.
I chose the later. Eventually I looked down and calculated I had about 65 more miles to race, 13 of them uphill at almost 8,000 feet. It was one of the suicide moves where you really had no other choice.

I quickly got into a good, fast tempo and started motoring on the winding roads toward the brutal Gila Monster climb. Luckily there was a tail wind to make things a bit easier on me, but not much. A motorcycle referee rode up and gave me my time splits. Along with some encouragement, he told me I was 4 minutes ahead of the pack and 6 minutes from the break which was down to 4 riders. There was still about 30 miles to the finish, and I was committed to catching them. At the base of the climb, the group was 6 minutes behind me and I was 4 minutes from the break.

I started the climb, still feeling pretty good. About 3 miles into the climb, I could feel the effort of trying to catch the break start to creep into me. A few miles later the referee rolled up and told me there was a group of 4 guys flying up the mountain and he that he was waiting for a radio confirmation of the time gaps. With about 8 miles to go he told me they were 3 minutes behind me, and I don't remember the time split to the break. I just wanted to hold the chasers off. Then with 6 miles to the finish the group of now 3 chasers caught me. I held on the group for the next mile or so, but the race leader threw in a super hard attack that I couldn't follow. I tried to crawl my way back, but they kept pulling away. While doing that it happened again, I cracked. I tried eating and drinking everything I had on me. A bit later a big group of riders rode right past me. Most of them trying to give me a push while riding by. I rode the last 3 miles alone, with a few stragglers passing me every once in a while. When I finally got the finish I got off my bike and sat down below a tree. Eventually, I went and picked up my spare wheels from the follow car and rolled the 5 miles back into town. In the end I ended up losing 5 spots in the overall, but I gained a lot of street cred.

In order to win, you must risk losing. Unfortunately over the last few days, I've learned this the hard way. Even though the race didn't turn out as I hoped, it was still a good experience. I'll be back next year.

Corey

SLR Pics 2

2009-05-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

SLR Pics

2009-05-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

Race Report: San Luis Rey RR, Sun May 3

2009-05-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

Squad: Sky, Zack, Alex, Jason, Pascal, Orion Berryman, and myself.

Goal: Redemption

The Barrio Logan GP/SLR RR is my favorite race weekend of the year. These are two of the best courses in SoCal (anywhere for that matter). It's a classic Crit/RR weekend, reminiscent of the races I did growing up in the Midwest. And if I had to pick one race of the entire season to do well in, I'd pick SLR (or Nationals, but Nationals can be a crapshoot). But this year I wasn't expecting much for SLR even with the new course-sure there was less climbing, but that just means we'll go faster on the climbs! I hadn't been doing much climbing in training lately so I was planning on a supporting role at SLR. I was bummed after Barrio and so was the rest of the team; that one seems to escape us every year. The saying goes "You're only as good as your last result" and after Barrio that was 21st and missing the break! The Swamis DET is better than that; everyone was determined to put Swamis back to the top of the results sheet at San Luis Rey.

Our pre-race meeting was quick: be aggressive and make the breaks! We had many Swamis feeding us: Gary and Luuuuuke Emerson, Kevin Davenport, Fred Muir (who drank half our beer), and many others. The feeds and cheers were awesome. Behind every good team is a good support system and the Swamis were tip top in that area Sunday.

From the gun an attack went. Two riders rolled away and no one chased. Zack took over to cover it and soon it was Zack leading the race. A lap later another group took off and Alex covered that. Perfect. Jason has been riding really well and is our ace climber. His job was to follow Adam Livingston. Earlier in the week Adam told me he was skipping Barrio to win SLR. Jason rode great and did his job to perfection; Adam was very aggressive in the early laps and Jason was right there. Finally Rock Racing decided to shutdwon Alex and Zack's break. The race officals threatened to neutralize the 1/2 field if we got caught by the master 35+ field. If that happened the break would get a huge gap and our race would be over. Good for Swamis, but bad for Rock! They put the hammer down for a lap and brought the break back.

We passed the halfway mark and the field was more or less intact. Two riders had jumped away. Guys were tired. I had been feeling strong and decided to save my legs for the finale to help Jason or do something myself. As we neared the feed zone the 4th time a strong group attacked and I was in a perfect position to go with them. Before I knew it we'd caught the lead duo and put a good gap into the field. I had been feeling really good on the climbs and was usually in the big ring; I could tell I was on a good day so now I had to finish it off for the team. We motored for the next couple laps: we were doing 27-30mph on the flats and 14-17mph on the climbs! On the last lap we got word our gap was close to 2mins. I was starting to feel crampy so I drank up and sat on as much as I could. I had been working a fair share, but 2 guys had been sitting the whole time. Now it was my turn to sit. We started attacking each other in the valley on the way to the turnaround. We traded attacks but everyone was saving it for the final climb. After the corner more attacks came in the tailwind. Rudy from Liquid Fitness, attacked on the first ramp and our group split. We came back together at the base of the main climb and then Nic Sanderson from Rock attacked and shattered the group. Of course the two wheelsuckers had the juice to go with him and so did Rudy. My legs were locking; I quickly decided that I'd better just ride my best pace to the top. I didn't feel too bad, but there was no attacking left in my legs. I kept the pressure on and was soooo relieved to see the cones for the finish. The chasers were nowhere in sight so I had time to enjoy a nice hard fought result. I ended up 8th, not too bad at all.

The field came through soon and most of the guys were in there with Pascal mixing it up for 19th. The guys were awesome today. It was really awesome to have Swamis yelling for us all day.

Thanks Gurus. I'll see you on the road.

Chris Daggs

Race Report: Barrio Logan Crit, Sat May 2

2009-05-04T08:02:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a rough day at the office.

Barrio Logan is a tough crit and one of the best SoCal has to offer. Figure 8 course. Uphill. Tight corners. Always a bit windy. Cool venue. We had a good size squad: Myself, Skyler, Zack, Alex, Jason King, Rob Carr and Joel. We were excited to have Joel racing with us; his finishing speed and smarts are a great asset! After Zack's success last week we were looking for more results. Our game plan: Rob was super domestique today; Jason and I were to cover breaks and work on keeping the race together if it came down to a sprint; Joel, Sky, Alex, and Zack were our sprint team with Alex and Zack also watching for a break. Attacks started rolling from the gun and we were on it. Rob was a regular sight at the front pulling and closing breaks down; he had a great race. Jason and I were covering little breakaways and making sure Swamis was in the mix. Alex and Zack also made some excellent moves. things were looking good until 20mins to go. The field got strung out and gaps started top open. Before we knew it a small group had snuck away and we missed it!!! I jammed hard and closed the gap and caught a few guys who got dropped from the break. Luckily for us SDBC lost a man out of the break so they had to chase too. But we just couldn't coordinate our efforts and the break steadily pulled out of sight. In the end Sky finished 21st, 1 place out of the money. We were all disappointed with the outcome of the race. That is the roller coaster of racing: one week you're winning and the next you're 1 place out of the $$$.

We'll just have to throwdown at San Luis Rey!

Chris

Race Report: Dana Point GP Pro/1, Sun April 26th

2009-05-04T07:32:00.001-07:00

Short and sweet. Sky, Jose, and I (Chris) did the Pro/1 race at Dana Point. We were a bit concerned it was going to be a crashfest as the course is pretty technical. We had a huge field and lots of pros were there: Bissell, OUCH (w/Floyd), Rock, Fly V, Colavita and a few others. Dana Point is an NRC race; this means the field is limited to Pros and Cat 1s and there is a minimum prizelist of $15K! Sky is a pretty saavy sprinter so our goal was to get Sky in position for the sprint. As expected it was FAST. Not dicey though, very very smooth. There were lots of attacks, but the fast course kept things close and we were destined for a field sprint. I worked with Sky to help move him towards the front for the sprint. I didn't do much but got him towards the top 40 with about 10 laps to go. With 6 to go Sky got T-boned by some guy and nearly crashed! Sky said both wheels came off the pavement and he hit Rory Sutherland on OUCH (the other guy didn't even acknowledge he bumped Sky). Sky was a bit dazed, but Rory saw exactly what happened and sprinted up to the offender and took a mean swipe at him! The incident took Sky out of position and with the speed of the group the last few laps, we were going anywhere. Sky, Jose, and I all finished safely in the bunch. Live to fight another day! It's always fun doing NRC races. It was pretty cool to look over and see Floyd next to me a few times.

Chris

Man vs. Lizard: Corey @ Gila Stage 3 and 4

2009-05-03T22:38:00.000-07:00

Briefly heard from Corey that his Stage 3 TT didn't quite like he wanted it to, but he moved up the GC to 18th. Solid. Gila is so freakin hard, even the crit has climbing. Stage 4 was the crit and Corey finished in the field.

Hopefully the Gila Monster goes well for him on Sun!

Bottles!!!!

2009-05-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

The DET accessorized with the new custom bottles today at the Barrio Logan crit. They be represented complete with our bestest post-ride recovery drink sponsor Fluid!

Everyone has been super excited about getting these for a while... and it's easy to see why. Watch here as Chris Daggs takes full advantage of his share by stuffing them down his jersey....

Man vs. Lizard: Corey's Gila Report Stage #2

2009-05-01T08:09:00.001-07:00

We have heard from Corey about stage 2, but we saw he recovered from his hard first day! He finished 27th on stage 2 in the second group. Gila is a hard race, but it appears stage 2 was very hard. The field was broken up into small groups. Corey is solidly in the hunt for a top 10. Let's send some good energy his way for the stage today. It's a 16.5 mile TT; it's long, hilly, and at altitude, a good mix for Corey. He's in 21st overall right now, but only 2 minutes out of a top 12. With the TT today and Gila Monster epic stage on Sunday, he could jump into the top 10. good luck Corey.

Man vs. Lizard: Corey Farrell's Gila Report Stage #1

2009-04-30T07:55:00.003-07:00

Our youngest team member, Corey Farrell, isn't afraid to cause himself immense amounts of pain and suffering in the name of athletic accomplishments. It should surprise no one that Corey was once a professional triathlete! Corey headed over to Tour of the Gila, one of the gnarliest US stage races. Below is his race report from stage 1:

So heres my experience on stage 1. It was a 95 mile race, and there was a break of 3 guys that got away early and got a gap of 9 minutes on the pack. I attacked with 50 miles to go and got 3 guys to follow and one bridged up. We worked alright, but a few guys were missing their pulls so I filled in for them. I definitely felt like I was the strongest. We got a gap of about 2:30 on the pack, and closed the gap to the 3 leaders to about 4 minutes. We held the 2:30 to the pack, but we eventually caught the 3 leaders.

So there was a lead group of 6 with 2:30 on the pack and it was about 10 miles to go. 7 of those were STRAIGHT uphill and finished at 7,000 ft. We started the climb and I felt awesome. We were able to drop 2 of the guys with 5 miles to go, leaving a group of 4 of us. The other guys definitely looked pretty beat, and I was still feeling REALLY good. We rode together and our gap was only down to 2:20 with 3 miles to go, so we were definitely going to stay away. To be honest I was thinking of an awesome victory salute to make up for Zack's at Dana Point. I was 99% positive I was going to win. We rode together all while still holing on to our 2:20 lead with 2 miles to the finish. Then...I hit a wall harder than I have ever hit a wall before about 1.5 miles from the finish. It felt like a gorilla/rhino/semi truck slammed into me full force. I went from planning a victory salute to about to tip over on my bike. The other guys rode away from me like I was standing still, I wanted to die. I was seriously riding at MAYBE 3 mph. My legs just wouldn't work no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't believe it. I was looking over my shoulder praying I would be able to hold on for a good placing.

Then it happened. A group of 3 guys passed me, then a group of 2, next a group of 5. Then thats all I remember. I wanted to die right there on the mountain. I guess at the finish I sat my bike down and laid down. Paramedics started an IV on me, and filled me up with 3 bags of whatever it is they use. I was lights out, and mummified with wet towels and ice packs for what they say was over an hour. When I came to everyone was gone except a team of medics and the race director. I got a ride back into town in an ambulance, and now I feel a lot better. I think I might have placed right inside the top 20. When things went bad, they went REALLY bad. I'm still going to try to salvage a good result in GC.

Roll the tape!

2009-04-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

Zack's win on video

http://www.flickr.com/photos/schueyjr/3482276806/in/set-72157613006454551/

Thanks Mark!

2009-04-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

A number of people have asked "Who takes all these awesome photos of the Swamis?"

Many of our photos have been provided by Mark Johnson of Ironstring.com.

Since Mark won't toot his own horn, I will. Mark takes some of the best cycling photos I've seen (besides my Dad's!) and he's an excellent writer. Actually, it's Dr. Mark Johnson - he's the owner of a PhD in English Literature from Boston U (kinda blows away my little BA in English Lit from Illinois State U).

Check him out at http://ironstring.com/wp/index.shtml

Chris

Race Report: Dana Point Grand Prix NRC Criterium; Sun Apr 26th

2009-04-28T15:16:00.000-07:00

The Swami's DET rolled into Dana Point down a few of our regular riders (Alex and Rob were off at Collegiate Conference Championships in Davis), but with the added reinforcements of Joel, Pascal, and secret weapon Orion Berryman. In addition to our added firepower we had Corey, Jason, and myself representing as well. Daggs 'wired us up' before the race, pro style (race radios). Every time we came around the squad received status updates of breakaways forming, and relative position of all our riders in the field.

We had a field of 60-70 racers, Cat 2 only, on the fast and technical course in Dana Point. Very similar to the course of last year, with a slightly wider "back stretch" for added "safety". Still technical, still plenty of opportunites for sketchy guys to make dangerous moves.

Our race was shortened from 60mins to 55, and after brief race instructions from the announcer and head offical, we were off. The Cat 2 Swamis did a good job of starting near the front and all our guys were active from the start. Category 2's racing is known for very irratic pacing. Attacks, lulls, more attacks, more lulls, a crash, an attack...etc. Minus a few scary guys, this race was surprisingly safe. Nearly every move had a Swami covering it, and we all maintained great position throughout the race. Pascal covered no less than 15 moves on his own. That guy is a machine!

Towards the end, Corey attacked and got off the front, only to be reeled in. Immediatly Orion counter attacked, and spent a few laps off the front. He was brought back with about 5 laps to go, setting up for a sprint finish. I made a point to find Joel in the scrum, as we were supposed to link up for the leadout in the finale. By Magic/Miracle/Sheer Luck we linked up, and I followed Joel's wheel throughout the final laps. When I got antsy and started trying to get in front of Joel he would caution me to hang back and stay on his wheel.

Finally, with 1 lap to go, Joel surged with me still on his wheel from about 10th position. We came up the little rise and Joel dropped me off on the outside of 3 turns to go in 3rd wheel. I punched it from there, and 2 guys attacked on the inside as I came over the top. I got on them and then moved inside to come out of 2 turns to go in 2nd position. From there the guy leading accelerated down the back straight and about halfway down the back straight I made my move around the last guy in front of me. I did the whole sprint/acceleration in the saddle, as I was worried standing up to sprint would cause me to lose a tiny bit of momentum. I came into the last turn super hot, leaned the bike and pedaled through the final turn, barely scraping my pedal. From there it was just about holding onto the lead. Somebody told me I crossed the line with about 5 bike lengths on 2nd place.

Great race! Awesome teamwork by the entire expanded squad. Huge thanks to Pascal, Orion, Jason and Corey for the hard work/awesome attacks. Props to Joel for dropping me off in perfect position. Well done team!

Zack Simkover

Zack Wins Dana Point GP Cat 2 race.

2009-04-28T15:11:00.001-07:00

Photo credit: Mark Johnson/Ironstring Communications

If it's an NRC Crit in April and they have a Cat 2 race; Zack is our guy!!!

Blog Revived from near death by enterprising college students!

2009-04-28T15:05:00.000-07:00

Yes thats right Swamis Dev team fans; we were down, but not out!

Cmdr Daggs is a bit busy so he has recruited the resourceful and currently unemployed Dev team rider, Jason King, to take over Blogger duties. As well as training mega miles up and down the mountains of San Diego (thus allowing JK to climb with the pros at Sea Otter!), JK also is pretty handy with websites and Blogger having been Blogguy for his previous team!

So without much more delay. Here's some new updates! And we'll do some old race reports just for kicks!

Cmdr Daggs out!