2000 TOUR OF GERMANY RUNNER-UP UPS THE ANTE ON SUNSET
Saturn Cycling's Soren Peterson Shows up on Tuesday night

I didn't know who he was when he first rolled up, but I could tell that he was from Saturn/Lemond's professional road cycling team. There were a number of hints that would lead one to believe that this guy was the real deal: his titanium Lemond frame (equipped with Dura-Ace components, his clean & bright Saturn Cycling bib and jersey, his 150-pound, 6-foot physique and his accent. It was after the ride that I signed on to www.saturncycling.com and discovered that he was Soren Peterson. His recent results include third in the General Classification at the 2002 Redlands Bicycle Classic. His best day was in the Oak Glen Road Race (ouch!), where he finished third being World XC Champion Rohland Green and event winner Chris Horner. I'm still more impressed by his Tour of Germany runner-up finish.

Actual turnout was a little low (about 35) and the Vertican brothers, who tend to set & control the pace were absent. (They went to Durango for the NORBA Nat'l.) The pace started out slower than usual and I was fine with that even though I was aboard a featherweight carbon fiber Trek 5900 that a friend lended me. It was only my second ride (first Tuesday night) on the Lance Armstrong replica, but I was mentally and physically prepared to do it justice by putting in a respectable effort. With the Vertican's absence I saw the opportunity to advance myself in the pecking order. As the ride contiuned no one attacked and everyone seemed to be fine with that, although we still dropped a lot of people before peaking Sunset on the first go-around. The lack of an attack actually made me nervous because it meant everyone in our seven-man break was saving their legs and lungs for a massive surge on the third lap. And even worse, just before starting our third lap we added three fresh pair of legs or our break. Three riders, one each from Jelly Belly, Cycle-Tek & 7UP must have gotten a late start because they were waiting for us. When I saw them I immediately thought, "Damn, those guys are fresh and they're going to blow us to bits." Their legs may have been fresh, but they were also cold because it didn't take long before we dropped them too.

After passing Caroline Park Josh Underwood took over the lead and I took his wheel, sitting in a perfect spot to react to a Peterson attack. I was beginning to feel a little guilty for not taking over the workload, but I had already done my part and was saving myselft for whatever may occur. Waiting, waiting, waiting. . . Nothing. Then Josh pulled to the left to signal that he was done and I was left with no choice but to take over. 30 seconds later I heard gears clicking up and Peterson and a Jelly Belly hammered by in big ring. I quickly responded and followed, tyring to stay on the Jelly Belly's wheel. I did, but he couldn't stay on Peterson's wheel so he waved me by and I tried for myself. With a gap of about two bike lengths between Peterson and myself, the gentleman Saturn rider from Denmark looked back, acknowledged us, and then skipped a few pedal strokes allowing myself and the Jelly Belly to catch up. From there the three of us tempoed to the top of Sunset, followed shortly by Josh, Trevor Walton, Austin Mortimer, and couple Trek/VW and Jelly Belly riders. About thirty other riders, who had only completed two loops waited for us at the usual regrouping point on the corner of Sunset and Alta Vista.

I opted to skip the rough and bumpy ride down Live Oak and San Tim Canyons to salvage the race wheels on my borrowed Trek. I already love that bike.

It was my best Sunset performance ever and learning a little bit more about the Saturn rider whose wheel I rode made it even sweeter. Had I known who he was at the actual time of the ride, it probably would have freaked me out mentally and I would have allowed myself to get dropped. It's starting to seem like road bikes agree with me more than mountain bikes. . .

QUOTE
"I don't have ulcers. I give 'em!" - Lyndon B. Johnson

freemanrace@aol.com

RIM NORDIC MOUNTAIN STAGE RACE - JULY 27-28
(Round 3)

The Beatings Continue
"I was waiting for the awards after the last CA State race at Snow Summit and I looked over at you sitting with your parents and you just shook your head. I thought, he's probably thinking, 'Man, what a sand bagger.'" - Tony Manzella refering to the recent beatings he's been putting on me and the rest of the Expert 25-29 XC class. Actually I wasn't shaking my head so much as I was turning it back and forth like one does after drinking sour milk. I was trying to fight off the dreadful leg cramps brought on by the 30-mile (100-degree) race that we'd just completed (some of us faster than others).

I won't lie. I would like for Tony to bump up to Semi-Pro for the next year and even if he doesn't I sort of understand because that step requires a whole lot more of a commitment than most people are willing to give. And I don't really think he's a sand bagger either. He's a nice guy and admits that his performance in 2001 was not even close to the results he's been posting this year. He attributes his success to long road rides in the winter to build up a good base.

Well, Tony's long winter road rides paid off again last weekend at round three of the Rim Nordic XC Series in Running Springs. The event doubled as Mountain Stage Race, which consisted of a Hill Climb and Dirt Crit on Saturday and a 22-mile XC race on Sunday. Awards were given three-deep in each category for the Stage Race and for just the XC.

HILL CLIMB
1.75 miles can seem like 11 minutes

The night before I took the computer off of my Cannondale Scalpel and what a mistake that was. Posted as only a 1.75-mile climb, I now wish I would have had the computer to help pace myself a little faster because the race was so short. The Pro, Semi-Pro and Experts all started at the same time and the first half-mile was actually flat or downhill, so you can only imagine how bad the dust was. I felt like I was desert again and not because I got a bad start. As the fire road tilted upward I began to make my move passing riders one by one, however as the race progressed the fire road turned into singletrack, making it very difficult to pass on. At one point I looked up and saw three riders that I was gaining on at a fast rate. I thought to myself, "Okay, I'll get these guys just around the next corner, no problem." There was a problem - that being that around the next corner was the finish line. Doh! You see, had I not removed my computer, I would have known that I had little time to waste and would have been able to track my milage. The big surprise was that Paul Freiwald beat Tony Manzella in Exp 25-29. I finished third. Coincidentally, a young Texan by the name of Dana Weber racing Semi-Pro won the overall.

DIRT CRIT (a.k.a. Short Track)
15 minutes plus three laps can seem like eternity

We (the Pro, Semi-Pro, Exp 25-29 & Exp 19-24) sat and waited as Rim Nordic organizers ran all the Beginner, Sport and older Expert class Dirt Crits first. Deteremined to get a better start than I did earlier in the day in the Hill Climb, I got to the starting line early gambling that a good warm-up was less important than a good start. When we finally did start I went out hard and I went out fast, sitting approximately sixth from the front, which Jasen Thorpe was controlling quite nicely I might add. He would slow down the pace in the back section of the course. He later told me that he was accelerating out of the turns to tire everyone out, but I didn't really notice. What I did notice was that I was leading my class and that there was no one directly behind me. We rode Jasen's wheel for a few laps before the guy in front of me started to come off and he did it in a most unfortunate place of the course. For the most part, the course was good, however there were a few spots were it was nearly impossible to pass and as he created a gap between himself and the rest of the field, I ventured around him into the sand trying to close the gap he created. Meanwhile, Jasen's pace was too much for a few others up front and they began to crack and the entire blew wide open. I blew up trying to close the gap, Griffith Vertican, who can normally hang with nearly anyone on a mountain, fell off and guys that weren't even up front at the start began to pull us in. In the end I finished third in class again because Tony went by with Paul on his wheel with about three laps remaining. Tony held on for the class win and the Texan won the overall event with Jasen finishing second.

XC
Traction is always nice, but so is not flatting

You hate to capitalize off of someone else's misfortune, but that's why I run a lot of air in my tires, especially at Rim Nordic. I've been feeling tired and fatigued and I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm not up to the pace that Paul and Tony were setting all weekend, so when I passed Paul on the side of the trail, the victim of a flat, half way through the first of three 7-something mile laps - I picked up the pace. Less than a mile earlier I had passed two other guys in my class and had a pretty good ideal that I was in third. I had also caught a glance at Tony up ahead, but not too far, so I knew I was in a good spot to be. The last thing I wanted to do was let Paul fix his flat and then bridge back up to me. So I rode fast and steady, but never saw Tony again. I think he may have been thinking the same thing. As it turns out he finished five minutes ahead of me with a time of 1:46:16 to my 1:51:48. Our times would have put us fourth and seventh in the Semi-Pro class out of 11. Pro racer Garner Vertican had the fastest time of the day with 1:39:something. He took home $75 for his effort.

Stage race results were tallied up and Tony actually would have won the overall if Rim Nordic would have scored it that way. Instead it was scored by class so I took third. Webber, the Texan DNFed the XC race so Jasen took Semi-Pro honors.

For more information about Rim Nordic or the Running Springs trail system visit www.rimnordic.com

QUOTE
"You probably thought you'd died and gone to heaven." - Denise, after I described the motorcycle, bicycle and punk rock decor that laced the walls of the Mountain Bike Magazine Burbank office.

"Jesus is da' bomb."
The sticker attached to the rear window of the Dodge Stratus that (all in one motion) flicked a cigarette out the window and cut into my lane without a glance, while I was on my way to work last Friday.

DETROIT'S FINEST
The White Stripes, the finest music to come out of the Motor City since the MC5.

BALTIMORE'S FINEST
Has anything fine come out of Baltimore except for Texas Is The Reason? Unfortunately they've disbanded, but the perfection of Back And To The Left will roll on for infinity. . .

QUOTE
"Too bad he's going to fade like a T-shirt from the Colton Auction." Me to Aaron Gerth when he called to inform me that he was watching a NORBA Nat'l on OLN and that Trek/VW's Travis Brown was leading at the start of the Men's Elite XC Race.

Stay tuned for a race report from Rim Nordic's Mountain Stage Race, July 27-28

(Tuesday Night/7-23) Can you say, "crack?" That's exactly what I did at this week's Tuesday night fast and furious Sunset circuit training ride in Redlands, but not before putting in a few courageous, yet worthless efforts. Since my nine-day business trip up to Washington and then to Monterey, I've felt sluggish like a wet sponge and haven't been able to stay with a break away for three trips around the circuit. Two Tuesday nights in a row I've been spit off the back like a cannon, only completing two laps with the chase group. Chalk it up to too many days off the bike or maybe even to over training, but either way, it's frustating as hell. Nevertheless, I was my own worst enemy last Tuesday as I foolishly tried a solo break away early on (in big ring). The end result was fatigue instead of glory. I had my reasons for the attempt. Mainly because the week prior I got caught sleeping when the break away occurred and by the time I had worked my way up to its tail end I was cooked from dodging back markers. This week I wanted to avoid that problem at any cost so I went out fast and paid the price. Afterward Johnny T said I lit too many matches too quickly. He was right.
After my first attack a chase group, made up of the usual suspects reeled me in (with little effort I suspect). The group was larger than usual, but wasn't affecting the pace. It was still fast. I merged in somewhere in the middle to recover from my effort and actually started to feel good, that is until an unknown Jelly Belly attacked not long after passing Caroline Park. Garner Vertican followed and so did I as everyone else sat back. What was I thinking. Match number two lit. It didn't last long and the break group we had broken off from caught me before I could even get comfortable on Garner's wheel. Moments later I popped. I sat up in disgust just as we reached the summit of Sunset on the first go around.
I hooked up with a couple of other guys who had cracked earlier and at one point it looked as though we may bridge back up to the the breakaway. It didn't happen - instead we got caught by a chase group. Trevor Walton was in the chase group and was doing most the work until we climbed past Caroline Park starting our second lap. He too may have lit too many matches too quickly.
The ride concluded with a speeding pelaton down to San Timateo Canyon via Live Oak Canyon Rd. Nerve racking as hell, but fun none the less. The total turnout I'd say was approximately 50. Not bad for a 100-degree day. As we ended the ride with a light spin back into Redlands a member of the Trek/VW team commented on my attack and I told him I felt like I was going backwards recently. Being a seasoned road racer, he assured me that that was typical of the month of July. I'm taking the next two days off before the two-day mountain bike stage race this weekend at Rim Nordic in Running Springs.

Friday, July 19, 2002: I got up around 5 AM and started the dreaded westbound commute on the 91 Fwy in order to make it to the Corona, Green River exit with enough time to ride the Santa Ana River Trail into work. As it turns out, traffic was heavy for a Friday, so when I arrived at Green River it was too late to start riding. Instead I drove ahead to Imperial Hwy and parked at a park in Yorba Linda to begin my ride there. Once on the trail I maintained a 20 to 24 mph pace and picked up a riding partner before reaching the Anaheim Pond. He drafted me until we reached the Costa Mesa area then we slowed our pace and began to talk. He was a Cat 3 road racer who had planned a 60 mile morning. We went our seperate ways not long after passing MacAurthor. I arrived at work a little late because we slowed our pace considerably while we were talking. With the ride home, I'll log approximately 43 miles today.