Shawn Rosenthal - 2003

Jr District Criterium Championship, 2003 - Good job everyone, I'm sure we learned alot from the race today, thanks everyone for blocking when I went. And thanks to everyone for putting together the race.

The race started out slow so I stayed in 2nd through the whole lap until the corner, then I attacked. I only lasted about one lap before my legs started to give and the group was gaining so I decided there will be a better time to go later on. A couple laps later, Clint broke away solo for a few laps and we gradually reeled him back. After that, Max went off solo so I just sat in the front, making sure that only one person could pull, slowing the pace, I also made sure that no one broke away. Clint attacked and max got caught, which gave me the opportunity to break away so I did, I also realized that it was a prime lap for the tires so I went all out and made about a 8sec gap. I feel that I could have held out for the remaining 20min by myself, but I had an asthma attack so I had to sit up and take a few puffs from my inhaler. Not too much later, Clint attacked and when I wasn't feeling so great, and when everyone else wasn't feeling so great. Clint(SGW), Nick, Josh and Fred(Pen Velo) broke away and I couldn't do anything about it, my body was wrecked. I still hurt, I wanna take a nap.

Fremont Crit (5/24/03, Junior 17/18): Being my first crit since march, I was very skeptical. I didn't want to pull another Mclane Crit so I went all out from the start. Every lap, I would get dropped in the headwind and catch-up and lead the other half. I tried a solo break, hoping that someone would bridge up; however, someone just pulled the group back up to me. After that, I saw Josh up the road so I bridged up to him and pulled for a while but the group caught on to us. A little after the halfway point, I saw Alex up the road by himself so I decided to go. I bridged up and went around him, I guess I surprised him because we almost had a little collision. We worked together and after another half lap, another rider bridged up, so we thought we had a chance with 3 riders in a break. We continued for another couple of laps but I started hurting when Alex and the other rider went for the prime, Alex won the prime but I fell back and was feeling like it was time to drop out, I was wasted. The field soon caught Alex. I was struggling to just hold on, while I was doing that, Holloway and Weir decided to attack. I tried bridging the gap when I saw it, it was too late. My legs didn't completely die like I thought they would and I finished unscathed so it's all good.

Copperopolis (4/19/03, Junior 17/18): My legs were really, really fatigued from the sprints I did the preceding day, so I warmed up for a good amount of time, including a few jumps and climbs. I felt fresh when I lined up, and was ready for what was ahead of me. Realizing that we were leading the first mile of the race, I inititated a brief jump and backed off just to get others to the front. The pace finally picked and people were taxing themselves before the long climb. I stayed in the back so I could mantain a good pace for the long hill; however, I saw Max off the front, and I felt good so I decided to go with him. He mantained a dreaded but good pace as I held on until it flattened out and then we worked together to keep our gap. After the second long climb, I started hurting badly, I bonked and the lactic acid accumilated on top of the already sore legs. While I was struggling to hold on the Max's wheel, Evan bridged up from the field and joined us. Max and Evan took turns pulling as I just tried to stay with them. While approaching the climbs, my legs cramped up every time I stood up so I was in trouble. My legs were beyond dead but I knew that the finish was getting that much closer. Max and Evan rode away from me at the crest of the hill where it had got the steepest so I got off my bike and started walking. After a couple of minutes, I decided to get back on bike and just gave whatever I had to get through the next 18 miles by myself, trying to stay ahead of the others that were chasing. Max and Evan placed 1st and 2nd, so I was very satisfied knowing I had helped with the successful break.

Sea Otter MTB Race (4/13/03, Jr. Sport): I wasn't able to get enough sleep (3.5hrs) and my legs were still a bit fatigued from the Road Race, so I made sure to get a good warmup. I got a good spot on the line and found myself getting tangled up with the people that went out too fast. I was skeptical about the whole single track idea but soon got comfortable with it and flew down the hills. I only fell about five times (four uphill, from losing traction). Throughout the race, I was passing the slower people that started ahead of us. On the final climb, I was rapidly passing people, but realized when I got to the top that I could have gone faster. For my first MTB race, I feel that finishing was suffice but finishing in the top 25% felt pretty good. My bike needed washing really badly though.

Sea Otter Road Race (4/11/03, Junior 17/18): I had a nice warmup on the trainer but forgot to do some jumps to stimulate my legs and CNS. The fast start and 90+ juniors was a shock to me physically and mentally. I gradually backed off and found myself in the back of the group. After the long descent, chasing down (attempting) the field, I found myself fairly fatigued. The long steep hill proceeded the long descent and my body didn't have it to get up the hill fast enough. I spent the rest of the race, making a chase group which started with four people and at one point had around 40 people. On the last climb, I saw the sign that read 5km and realized that it was a long steep hill that Max might be able to accel in. I looked to the front of the group and saw Max in the front so I took the front and sped up the pace to a point where it wasn't an attack but was fast enough to tax everyone's legs. When the hill got steeper, I started to get tired and Max went, making a 15 sec gap as I stayed in the front of the group, blocking people in back of me who probobly didn't see the attack happen (a drawback to staring at people's wheels). Max finished atop of everyone in the group so I was satisfied although I got dropped 5min into the race.

Lodi TT, 2003 - 20mi: I came to the time trial with fatigued legs from what I did the other day, but it's good training so, whatever. I planned to pace myself but soon found out that there was a crosswind the entire time, so it was difficult to pace myself by speed so I just kept looking up the road, looking for someone to overtake, only happened twice. At the turn around point, max had a 1min gap over me. I tried to pick up the pace on the way back, but my legs were done with, and I fell apart. Max did a fantastic job winning, winning the race by 1:40.

McClane Pacific Road Race (3/23/03, Junior 17/18): For the first 5 seconds of the race, again, I failed getting into my pedals. Still traumatized from my crash in January, I immediately set myself up in the front of the field. I finally got into a safe position, onto Max's wheel, one mile into the race. Knowing that I had no chance in the sprint, I decided to initiate a suicide attack out of the first turn, one mile into the race, 47 miles left. I thought that I would go up the road while the sprinters (Holloway and Rogers) would chase, taxing their legs at the end of the race. After a minute of an all out effort I looked back and saw that the group was really far back, so I decided to take off. I was hoping the team would be able to save their energy while others had to chase me down. The group started getting further and further into the distance, a sign that we might have had a chance of taking in a win. With my team doing a fantastic job blocking for me, my only enemy was a lack of food (had only one serving of Hammer Gel with me), lack of water, and that urge to stop and cough up my lungs. As I passed through the first lap, I realized that I might be able to hold up and continue for another victory, knowing the team was doing all they could to slow the field, killing pacelines and creating a volatile pace for the field. With no food left, I was in jeopardy of bonking, almost did a few times in the hills, but just rode through it, knowing the finish was so close. On my way to the finish, I took one last look back and realized that my team was able to hold back Holloway and Rogers for 48 miles. Again, couldn’t have come out with a win without the team backing me up. I might want to try out some more aero wheels in the future, now that I know my strength. Wanna divvy up the rock?

McClane Pacific Crit (4/11/03, Junior 17/18): During the warmup, I realized I violated the eating within three hours of a race rule. I felt dead during the warm-up and no surprise, I felt dead during the race. For the first 5 seconds of the race, I couldn’t clip into my pedals, while the group speeded ahead, dropping me. I did all I could to get back into the group, working with Joe, but two people can only do so much. I got lapped twice and was pulled from the race but others did well, staying with the Swift riders.

Monterey Circuit Race (3/1/03, Cat 4/5): A field of 98 squirrelly, unattached amateurs,(Cat 4/5 disgusts me) led to my decision to ride the race very defensively, doing all I could to stay in the front end result, energy was wasted along with my legs and ego. At least I came out unscathed. I wish I can erase this from my resume of races, lets agree to never speak of this race again.

Snelling Road Race (2/22/03, Junior 17/18): My third road race was an interesting one including multiple attacks throughout the race. I attacked in the beggining of the first lap, hoping a teamate would follow, and bridge the gap. Didn't happen, but I did eat alot of wind for a good 12 miles. Josh and Max were able to stay with the main group through the race. No one got killed by the swarms of bees so all went well. I got dropped so there isn't much for me to add except that I failed to hold a wheel for 85%+ of the race.

Cantua Creek Road Race (2/17/03, Junior 17/18): After two days of races, I was feeling a little more confident. We looked at what Team Swift did the other day at the Dinuba Criteruim and tried their tactics in our race. The field was small, consisting of four of us and two from another team. In the first twelve miles, we tried to position ourselves to keep the two others away from each other to block them. We set the pace around 11mph until one of the other riders became impatient, breaking away solo. We let him go and then sent Joe and Josh out to hold a position between us and the rider up the road. Charles and I sat with the other rider, sitting on his wheel while he tried to bridge up to Joe and Josh. As soon as he downshifted to an easier gear, I took off, bridging up to Joe and Josh at 37mph. We caught up to the rider up the road, while working together in a paceline. With twelve miles to go, I put my head down for two minutes to break away from the group. After I was a distance away, I coasted to the finish line for the remaining eleven miles at 23-27mph. My prize for my first place victory $10, a purple T-shirt, and a bee sting upon the forehead.

Dinuba Criterium (2/16/03, Junior 17/18): I was still extremely fatigued from the brutal road race the other day, Pine Flat, and had to spend a good hour warming up and stretching. The winner of the criterium had already been decided before the race started, for Team Swift had 2 of their big guns racing against us. Team Swift attacked in the first lap and broke away. We watched and couldn’t pull them back. We were destroyed but learned a lot from the experience.

Pine Flat Road Race (2/15/03, Junior 17/18): After a long layoff from winter illnesses, I embarked on a 62-mile race, my first road race. We had a small field, consisting of three of us and two others, so we joined the women’s race, in which we had to speed up the pace to >20mph through the hills in the first half of the race. The problem I encountered during the race was that I hadn’t ridden 62+ miles since December, two months ago. The inevitable happened to me halfway through the race, my legs were shot and my body stopped replenishing them with fuel. When we got to the hills, the final 10 miles, a rider attacked up the hills as I chased. Josh was able to gradually catch him and finish with a victory while I was still climbing up the hills, trying to retrieve energy from reserves that were empty.

Cherry Pie Criterium (2/9/03, Junior 17/18): It was a chilly; hence cold enough to cut into my warmup. Trainers are definitely requisite to a morning race. I was still shaken up from the Early Bird Criteriums, and as a result I refused to hold a wheel for the entire race. The fear instilled from the Early Bird Criteriums cost me the any sort of placing, finishing close to last. Many others started the season well, especially Evan with his 2nd place finish.

Early Bird Criteriums (January 03, Cat 4/5): Large fields of incompetent meats came together for a fun carnage of crashes. Lesson learned, become Cat 3 or stay in front. Cat 4/5 => the death of me.