Lars Holmgren - 2006

Tuolumne Crit
Cat 3's
11 starters 6 finishers
Placed 2nd
4/2/2206

This has always been a fun crit course for me, because of the slight ups and downs in the course. My dad and I got to the race at about 8:00, and my race started at 10:00. We went to go get my number, and walk around the course. At about 9:00 I hoped on the rollers for about 35 minutes while watching the races. Then at about 9:35 or so I went to take off my leg warmers and put on some "qoleum" pre sports oil which really helped. When the race started some guy from Eastside cycles tried to get away, but I got onto his wheel. After we got caught, he kept trying to get away which was really pissing me off, because he really couldn't attack. So basically after he went to the front to do one of his hard efforts, I attacked all out. That basically dropped him and left his teammate all alone. The big problem was the majority of the field that we didn't leave behind were sprinter guys that were really big. So I had to watch all of these huge sprinter guys. On the last lap, one of the big sprinter guys sat up, because he didn't want me on his wheel, so he let a gap form expecting me to bring it back. That was exactly what I did, but I attacked and passed the group he let go and dove into the corner first. Then out of the corner I had about a 15 foot gap (according to some of the other racers). I was trying to hold it all the way out of second to last corner and till the finish which was about .4 miles. I still had about a 10 or 15 foot gap going into the final straight with about 250 meters to go. The finish is a slight downhill too, which was not so good with my 14, because I was giving an all out effort at 37 miles an hour but one of the sprinters caught me just at the end. He beat me by less than a wheel length, which really pissed me off, because if I would have had an 11 like that guy I should have been able to stay away. In the end, I won one prime for 10 dollars, and I got second, which got me 15 dollars. So basically I left the race with 25 dollars in my pocket, and a wonderful Velo Promo T-Shirt. Oh well, overall it was a great race. Now I will get myself a 12-25 for my next Cat 3 Race.

The morning started off with me trying to ride to the race. Going down the Boulevard, JP called me and said we had to pick up our number together, so I turned around to go to the race by car. By the time I got to the race it was about 8:40, and sunny out, with a little wind. JP and I went to pick up our number, and started warming up. One of the main things you need to do in a TT is warm up, because you definitely want to go FAST the whole time. The problem was that I only had Jason 's rollers, and I had never ridden the rollers on a TT bike. So tried it out and it worked, but I could not do any hard efforts so I just rode. Then after about 30 minutes, I got off the rollers and went 3 times up to the start and back doing intervals. That was great at getting my heart rate up. We were going to be the 4th of 5 junior teams to start. Ben and Jim from LGBRC were going to start 1 minute behind us. I started the first pull and went for about 20 seconds, and then pulled off. Then we started doing 10 to 15 second pulls, which were not so good, because we were out in the wind more than we should have been. After about two minutes, we caught our minute men, and 20 seconds later our two minute men. That felt really good, because we knew we were going pretty fast if we did that already. By the time we got to the first hill we passed all of the juniors that started in front of us, and at least two teams from other categories. This is where I started to hurt, probably because I set too hard a pace up the hill, but JP saw what had happened, and let me draft for about 2 minutes. Then after we got out to the Pig farm road, I was able to do some pulling. I pulled for about 10 seconds, and JP pulled for about 30 seconds, which was nice. Up the hills, JP rode next to me yelling things to encourage me. That really helped me get up the hill faster than I would have without him. He got me into a rhythm and we kept it there. Up the bears we had to have passed at least 5 groups, which would have meant our 10 minute men! Papa bear was the worst, because it was the steepest, and I was already tired from working earlier. This is where JP really got me going, in that he was really yelling at me to keep going and not give up, and stuff like that all the way to the top. It really felt good, knowing that I left a little something for the downhill, because if we would have coasted down that, it would have taken a long time to get the finish line. At the end we finished in 46 minutes and 13 seconds, which was slower than Tyler and Charles last year, dang! Thanks to JP we were able to finish strong; he was the main powerhouse to our two man team! Dinuba Critirium
3/26/05
Juniors 16/18
Place: 7th
Field: about 9
Teammates: Tyler G, Jordan C, JP L, Julian M, Ye L, and Myself

This was the best race of the weekend, because it started at 11:00, instead of 7:30. We all woke up at about 8:00, and had some Musslie (the best cereal in the world). Then we cleaned out our rooms, and packed everything into the car. Then at about 10:00, Tyler and I rode our bikes over to the start to register and get warmed up. After we finished that Tyler started warming up on some rollers, while Julian and I warmed up around town.

The race started off with CVC picking the pace up, and then I attacked and was off for about one lap by myself. Then JP and Logan bridged up to me and we tried to get the break to stick for about 2 or 3 laps. When the group caught us, Jordan attacked and went on a break. He was off the front for about 2 laps by himself, and then I decided to bridge. When I caught him, we worked well together to get a huge gap. We were off the front for about 18 laps, and at lap 4 we were caught. Immediately after we were caught, Julian launched an attack and was off the front for about 1 lap. Then with two laps to go Ye attacked and tried to get away. In the last lap and in the third corner JP blew his tire, and came to a stop. I then tried to encourage Ye to try and keep it up for the next 500 meters off the front, but he was tired. Then I started to lead it out, which worked out well, because Logan was on my wheel which meant he would have to lead out Tyler, because I was going to pull off early. In the end, Tyler won the Race, and Ye came in Third. Overall, it was a great race, and we worked very well as a team.