More BJM!

Well, since 'nando is probably racin', I can post the in-progress Ben oriented ToC report; 16 miles into the stage, BJM is driving in the break that just hit the 1:20 mark. It's 7 riders, very U.S. heavy w/2 Slippers (Pate & Cozza) & 2 HealthNuts (Menzies (Aus) & Tim J), T-United-Sean Sullivan (Taz)& T-Mobile-Adam Hansen (Aus).

Update: 65 minutes/30 miles into the race and the break is looking strong & just around 3:00 gap! Pate is leader on the road.

Update: Gap's coming down now; 2 hours into race, about 20 miles to go and gap is now under 2 minutes. Break still seems to be working well together, but Disco has help from sprinter's teams in the chase.

Just Plain Benjamin...

From VeloNews.com; Stage 6, ToC, we can see BJM finishing in good company, but only with a first name! Taylor T also in there... My sattelite recpetion gave out on me, so I saw very little of the stage, too bad, sounded exciting.

15. Bram De Groot (Nl), Rabobank, s.t.
16. Sergey Lagutin (UZB), Navigators Insurance, s.t.
17. Jurgen Van De Walle (B), Quick Step-Innergetic, s.t.
18. Taylor Tolleson (USA), Slipstream-Chipotle, s.t.
19. Benjamin (USA), Priority Health-Bissell, s.t.
20. Stuart O'Grady (Aus), CSC, s.t.
21. Jens Voigt (G), CSC, s.t.
22. Jackson Stewart (USA), BMC

Cantua Micro Field

35+ 4/5 Field A = 16 riders. Well, I should just enjoy the experience of racing in a smaller field which is a rarity given my old sportie status and NCNCA locale; and enjoy it I did, but.... Why can't I simply enjoy it? why does it still bug me? Because just behind us is Field B, made up of 33 riders. Due to clerical/record keeping errors, our beloved Velo Bob split the field. He had issued race numbers 300-367 and field limit was 50. But, there were 10 numbers missing in the sequence and some no-shows, and the Ref was unable to (or seemed unwilling to) make a decision at the start line to rejoin the field into one group of about 49 (Last year our field was 54, so it is possible to exceed the field limit of 50. At least there is a precedent.) So, the first 16 registered (as in, we mailed our entries in early January) raced in a group ineligible for upgrade points and smaller than the typical group rides in our home area; the late-comers enjoyed a larger field, though still small for our ilk, and were eligible for upgrade points. The pessimistic interpretation is that this was a 12 hour day for a glorified training ride; I could've stayed home and trained as hard for much less money and had time to do some work. The positive interpetation is that it was a beautiful day on a fun & nearly traffic free course, I got to race with 4 other team-mates (two of 'em got well-deserved t-shirts; good job Dave & Steve!); I worked (and trained) my ass off taking many long pulls and it was indeed fun; Heck, I 'earned' my highest placing in a NCNCA event (11th, but I only counted 9 ahead of me; what's the point of protesting/questioning results of a race not eligible for upgrade points/top 10 finish anyway?). And I got some good Nando chat at the finish line waiting for the Women's finish.

How petty am I?!? I mean, this is such a small issue in the Big Picture of the world and in the micro-cosm of racing it's nearly a non-issue. Top racing concerns for us masters are safety, fitness & fun. So why does this still bug me? Because it was fully preventable. Fairness should be somewhere in the list of objectives in athletic competition too; see 'hootie's discussion on ToC Stage 1. Anybody doing a head count would see it was ONE solid field. Ref, unwilling to go against the race promoter's decision. Where was the race promoter? Or anyone else with the authority to decide or ability to contact the promoter? In my old districts where I knew ref's, I would've been more assertive, but I didn't want to be that bitchey sport racer on EMC2/Vellum. Rant off. And that's all the time/energy I have, so no actual report.... but it was fun, honest! I just needed to ventilate this. No more shall be spoken nor written on the Cantua Micro Field. (by me)

Race Fan

Only three and a half and gapping the 9 year-old girl bad. Took Kai to watch the Pro & Women race at Martinez. Hell if I was racin' in that much wet stuff... turns out, he's a race fan. Knew just what to do - yell. He's totally mastered the concept of 'chasing.' Thought the moto ref was pretty cool too. Enjoyed some post-race chatter with 'nando. Trying to hook him early. I'm sure it'll fail, but fun for now. As long as he tolerates going to a few races a year and yells for me, I'll be happy.