Cyclebration - Day 2

We had 4 younger riders crash with us after the BBQ.

This is the fabulous breakfast that I prepared for them....

Since we were staying in a house that had been empty for three months, all I could offer was left-over birthday cake.

So after a quick trip to Peet's and Jamba, we headed back to the homestead so the boy's could change and ride over to the circuit race start.

Meanwhile, I took a walk down the bike trail to the old quarry and threw the ball for our dog, Otis....

"Throw the ball. Throw it. Throw the ball! I'm ready! Pleeeze! Throw it!"

"Again!"

*Repeat this exercise 5-10 times*

"Ah...waaater"

"Can we rest here in the shade for awhile?"

Good Dog.

To the races!

So, a circuit race is like a crit, but the course is longer (usually closer to two miles or more). Also, road race rules apply, so if you have a crash or mechanical failure, you do not get a free lap.

The race started up and it seemed like the peloton was very slow to come around.

When we did see them, a break was beginning to form....The Cyclist made a nice attempt at bridging the gap...

After they all passed, we noticed some stragglers coming around...

(Sorry T, that bites)

...then the wheel car...

...and we realized there must have been a crash on lap 1.

Unfortunately, this happened to one of our good friends...

Ouch.
We hope he is healing nicely.
In lap two, this break formed...

...it looked like it might stick for awhile, so my brother & I decided it was time for one of these....

...there is nothing better than cold beer on a hot day.
This was from a local brewer - Lockdown Brewing and it was really good.

Remember that break?

Well, it did more than stick. Those guy's remained out front the whole race. The gap was big too.

Meanwhile, I managed to take some pretty decent shots (no sport continuous on this day!)

...and, I caught the finish on video....

(I'm not sure why I've never done this before!

The winner was friend of the blog Chuck Hutcheson! Good job!

Additionally, when I saw a friend of ours hanging out the sunroof of the pace car with his super giant camera....

...I knew he would get some great photos.
His pics can be seen here.

Because The Cyclist and other team members finished in the GC (top 16 overall), we got stuck waiting around for 500 years for the final results. (Yes dear, 500 years is an exaggeration).

Since I was sitting on the curb, footwear caught my attention.
And so begin my gallery of cyclist/spectator footwear...

And last but not least....teammate & friend Adam Ross won the Lanterne Rouge of Cyclebration, which turned out to be this awesome trailer....

Sweet!

Until next year....

Cyclebration - Day 1

Cyclebration started with a time trial.  I did not photograph the time trial because it was well....a time trial.

For those of you who aren't familiar with a time trial, it is essentially a race against the clock.  Cyclebration is an omnium.  (Strangely, I couldn't find the exact definition of omnium that I was looking for - that link is to Wikipedia which describes omnium as a track cycling event....this is as close as I could get.  Apparently omnium also has something to do with the stock exchange, which you won't hear me talking about.)

Anyway, an omnium is a multiple race event in which you gain points for your placement in the GC (general classification).  The time trial determines your starting GC rank for the event.  If you have not seen a time trial, here is what it looks like:

Clip art from The Skinny on Shawnda blog

OK, OK.  I know it's a cartoon.

But seriously, here is a real time trial photo...

Photo: Bike Rumor

So.  Not that much different right?

Needless to say, you probably didn't missing much if you skipped watching the Cyclebration time trial.  Just sayin'.  Unless you really want to pay attention to the rankings, which I don't.

In fact, I was minding the Munchkin during the ole' tt.  Then I went and got my hair did.  Afterward, Coco & I went shopping - regular and thrift.  I'll share the sweet thrift store goods I scored in a separate post.

We were a little late to the Crit.
We found a nice spot on the grass and I took some photos...

(can't miss this start/finish)

....and watched some bikes go by.

...catch any flies Mr. R?

Like I said, we arrived late, so it wasn't too long before the race finished up.  Here is the race for 2nd place...

Sorry...I missed our first place rider, who is also a friend of the blog.
He flew by as I said "...wait, is that guy....oh!  Oops."

Overall, not a bad day at the races.
Unfortunately, I probably should have been paying more attention to the actual race, but at the end of race season, it gets difficult.

We headed to the Team BBQ later that night where I proceeded to eat too much cake.

All of my terrible pictures are on Flickr....for some reason I decided taking pics in only sport continuous mode would be a brilliant idea.  Not.  Seriously, not only were the pictures grainy and blurry, I took like six gazillion of them and it took 400 years to edit (note lateness of this post).
I'll blog post them or you can click the feed at the top of the blog.

Not to worry, Cyclebration Day 2 photos are much better!  And I have video...assuming I can get it uploaded.

The Munchkin ate my Sac GP

So there was a big ole' race last weekend - Sac Grand Prix.  I was there, as was The Cyclist and The Munchkin.  Since The Cyclist was well... racing...I was manning The Munchkin...meaning I didn't really watch the race.  At all.  Much.

I've mentioned The Munchkin here before.  In case you're wondering, he is The Cyclist's tot.  Now that we have tied the knot I can officially call him my step-child.  Being a step-child myself I can say "step" is such a lame word....kind of like fiancé.  I wish they (whoever they are) could have come up with something cooler, like.....well....I can't think of anything actually.  So nevermind.

Meet The Munchkin....

What?  Oh!  You can't see his face?

Yeah, I'm not going to put full pics of him here.
He is the cutest boy ever though.  Just in case you were wondering.

OK, back to the race!!

The Cyclist got there early and grabbed these pics of the Men's 3/4 race...

The Cyclist has a steady hand!  Not too much blur action happening in his photos.

Other race photos from some of our favorite photogs can be found on the following links...

Images by Derek Novaes

MYi2U 

(Mr. J - great pics as always!)

Jim E. - Rio Strada Racing

Jim E. got this ↓ great photo of the crash in the Men's P/1/2 race...

I'm not really sure how The Cyclist managed to avoid this one, especially since it was right in front of him.

(See the yellow shoes?)

He says he has "skillz".

I can vouch for his cookie makin' "skillz" only.

There are more photos & video on the NCNCA Racing Blog

Video - Men's Pro/1/2

A whole bunch of other video on You Tube

This is what I saw most of the day...

...and to be honest.  I'll take this over a race any day of the week.

I still ♥ watching you too Cyclist.

Last race of the season coming up....Folsom Cyclebration

But don't worry, there will be plenty of other bike happenings through winter - Savage Sprints anyone?