Nor-Cal Results: Nevada City Classic
Kevin J. Metcalfe
Fathers Day means the annual Nevada City Classic. This year was
the 34th edition of this brutal "criterium". Half of the 1.1
mile course is uphill and the other half is downhill. The course
climbs about 120 ft. per lap for a total of almost 5000 ft. of
climbing in 45 miles. The hill isn't brutally steep, but after
about 20 or 30 laps it starts to wear on you. I usually end up
using a 39x19 or 17 if I'm feeling good and a 39x21 if I'm
hurting. There are too fast left hand corners at the bottom of
the hill. The first corner is slightly off camber and very fast
(~35-40 mph), the second corner is a little more than 90 degrees
back up the hill. Your line is very important in the second
corner. If you start too far inside you just might kiss a hay
bale.
With the conflict of USCF road nationals in Seattle we lost a few
pros and good amateurs that might have been here otherwise.
Still, Coors Light sent Mike Engleman, Scott Moninger, Ron
Kiefel, and Chris Huber. Chevrolet/LA Sheriff sent Bobby Julich,
Dave McCook, and Jamie Palonetti. Shaklee was represented by
Australian World Team Pursuit Champion Billy Joe Shearsby. The
total field was about 65 riders.
The somewhat smaller field made the parade lap and start of the
race a little less tense. It is vitally important to be at the
front immediately in this race or you have almost no hope. The
first five or ten laps are in general very hard, but you just
have to gut it out until the pace settles down.
I had a mediocre start, but was able to move to the front by the
end of the lap. Coors was controlling things up front and after
about five laps, a group containing Scott Moninger, Mike
Engleman, Bobby Julich, and Chad Gerlach (Team Redlands) got
away. That mellowed things out a bit in the main pack, which was
down to about 20 riders by this point. A couple of laps later
Ron Kiefel went away with Jamie Palonetti and a few others. They
were all brought back except Kiefel who quickly bridged to the
leaders. The leaders proceeded to steadily increase their gap
and it was obvious that the top five places had gone up the road.
I had no problem with that as it was unlikely that I had any
chance of staying with those guys anyway. My goal was a top ten
finish and by the way I felt in the group I figured I was going
to get it.
I was starting to get into a groove and feeing really good about
ten laps into the race. I led for a lap or two and then coming
around the second corner, leading our group it happened. A
woman, who I believe was drunk was cutting across the course just
past the end of the corner. There was snow fencing there, but
she must have jumped it. The spectators were yelling for her to
get out of the way and as I rounded the corner at about 30 mph
she was in the middle of the road moving left to right. She
stopped and started back towards the left. That was good. I
just drifted my turn a little wider right. Then, she panicked
like a squirrel and ran right in front of me. I got on the
brakes, but had no chance. I hit her like a linebacker blind
siding a quarterback at about 20 mph and did a flip. Dave McCook
was unlucky enough to be behind me and crashed also, though not
as bad. I hit my head and neck on the pavement and quickly got
up to continue. She was lying on the side of the road and I said
the "F" word a couple of times at nothing in general, just to let
the anger and fear out. (Well, maybe I screamed it.) I picked
up my glasses and my bike, but the front wheel was a potato chip.
The pit was down at the first corner and as I carried my bike
back towards it I yelled for the crowd to get the guy to bring me
a wheel. The crown obliged and the support guy brought me a new
front wheel. Nevada City though, doesn't have a free lap so I
had to make up the time myself. By the time I got going, the
Moninger group lapped me and I lost most of a lap to the group
that I was in. The crowd of course thought it was the greatest
thing ever that I got up and continued and for a the next ten
laps or so made a lot of noise for me whenever I went by. (At
least they appreciated a good show.)
When I got going, I was kind of dazed and lost all track of where
I was in the race. It took a few laps to get back in my rhythm
and during that time I was caught by my old group. I rode with
them for a few laps, but was having problems with my rear
derailleur. The down tube adjuster was all whacked up and I
couldn't adjust the cable tension on the bike. I was just trying
to ride in TT mode and ideally (though not realistically) I
wanted to get away from my group and try to catch as many of the
people who passed me as possible. During this time Scott
Moninger came by and lapped me again and the group for the first
time. The LA Sheriff manager, Dave Letteri was yelling to
Palonetti that Moninger was just about to catch us. Palonetti's
response was, "What do you want me to do, kiss him?"
After a few laps with the group, they attacked at the top of the
hill and rode away from me. I had been riding at the front for
the last two or three laps, but I wasn't really concerned with
them because they had already lapped me anyway. I finally had to
stop at the top one lap and get off my bike to adjust the barrel
adjuster on my rear derailleur to get it to stop skipping.
During this time I noticed that my left ring finger really hurt
and it was almost impossible to shift my STI lever up into the
big ring because of the pain. What I ended up doing was riding
most of the rest of the race in my big chain ring, using a 53x19
and 21 on the hill. That actually worked out to be a good gear
for me. I did use the small ring some and to shift back into the
big ring I would put my left hand in the center of the bars and
use my right hand to shift the lever over. I could trim,
downshift and brake with my left hand, but that was it.
Alone again, I just got into a groove and was probably riding as
well as I have ever ridden here (including 4th place in 1987). I
caught and dropped some riders and even caught back most of my
group (though still one lap down on them). It was kind of fun,
because all I did was hammer. Since I was a lap down tactics
were pointless so I just rode at the front lap after lap. You
can do that, BTW because the course is all up or down, there are
no flat spots.
With about three laps to go, going around the fateful turn I
broke a spoke and it put my rear wheel so out of true that I had
to get another wheel change at the top of the course. I lost the
group I was in and finished alone.
The results were a total fiasco with some riders being as many as
five laps down. Having a smaller field and less depth made them
keep more riders in the race and it really confused everything.
The race ended at about 4:30 and I didn't get out of there until
at least 7:00. Results are always difficult here though. I
ended up in 16th, and got $75, a Waveflo saddle cover, and a set
of shoe inserts. The prize list was pretty top heavy with
Moninger making $650 cash and Chad Gerlach getting only $150 for
5th. Chad did get a Southwest Airlines coupon for one r/t ticket
though.
I went and got an x-ray this morning and it turns out I broke my
left ring finger. Do you know what a pain in the ass it is to
type with a broken finger? :) I probably won't race this
weekend, but I'll be back for the July 4th weekend.
It was an up and down day for me. (Literally!!) It was nice to
see that I've got such good form, but it was a shame to waste it
because of a stupid drunk. As far as I know the woman was
scraped up a bit, but not really hurt. For those of you who
don't remember this is the second incident this year where a
drunk spectator ran out in front of a pack at a "big" race. The
first was in Athens, Georgia in May.
Nevada City Classic
1. Scott Moninger Coors Light
2. Mike Engleman Coors Light
3. Bobby Julich LA Sheriff
4. Ron Kiefel Coors Light
5. Chad Gerlach Team Redlands
6. Jamie Palonetti LA Sheriff
7. Steve Cunial Velo Freni (First Am.)
8. Matt Sarna Berkeley Bike Club
Moninger lapped everybody in the break and everybody past sixth
place were at least two laps down.
--
Kevin Metcalfe
Davis, CA
metc...@smdis01.mcclellan.af.mil
Thomas H. Kunich
Kevin J. Metcalfe <da...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu> wrote:
>
>The pit was down at the first corner and as I carried my bike
>back towards it I yelled for the crowd to get the guy to bring me
>a wheel.
So what happened to the lady you centerpunched, or wasn't that
important?
>1. Scott Moninger Coors Light
>2. Mike Engleman Coors Light
>3. Bobby Julich LA Sheriff
>4. Ron Kiefel Coors Light
>5. Chad Gerlach Team Redlands
>6. Jamie Palonetti LA Sheriff
>7. Steve Cunial Velo Freni (First Am.)
>8. Matt Sarna Berkeley Bike Club
Casey reported that Gerlach was Strata Semper Dura -- must have been
a mistake.
Moninger is so good it makes you wonder why he isn't in the European
races.
John Frampton
: In article <2u5p3h$4...@usenet.ins.cwru.edu>,
: Kevin J. Metcalfe <da...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu> wrote:
: >
: >The pit was down at the first corner and as I carried my bike
: >back towards it I yelled for the crowd to get the guy to bring me
: >a wheel.
: So what happened to the lady you centerpunched, or wasn't that
: important?
The lady apparently had drafted (drunken too many drafts) without
permission - so (in the ethics of r.b.r) she deserved centerpunching.
More seriously, I was also surprised that there was no mention of what
happened to the flattened woman, irregardless of her guilt in the
affair.
John Frampton
jfra...@lynx.dac.neu.edu
Jay Wenner
: important?
:
In the article, Kevin said something like, "As far as I know, the
woman wasn't hurt, just scraped up a bit."
Jody White
woman because he was busy trying to get back into his race after the
unfortunate incident.
Jody White
jo...@cco.caltech.edu
ez04...@chip.ucdavis.edu
: Kevin J. Metcalfe <da...@cleveland.Freenet.Edu> wrote:
: >
: >The pit was down at the first corner and as I carried my bike
: >back towards it I yelled for the crowd to get the guy to bring me
: >a wheel.
: So what happened to the lady you centerpunched, or wasn't that
: important?
I have mixed feelings on whether I care what happened to the woman. On
one hand it's sad for anybody to get injured, on the other hand it's hard
to feel bad for somebody who was that stupid/drunk. Let me paint a
picture of what was going on. She was at a BIG bike race, there were
thousands of spectators. Most of the course was fenced off with specific
areas to cross the road that were marshalled. There were LOTS of people
who had been drinking all day. For a lot of people it is just a big
drunken party. She chose to cross the course right at the end of a
fairly blind corner by jumping over the snow fencing. She wasn't using
any caution at all once she got out onto the road. She was just
sauntering across the course with her cup of beer. As we were coming
around the corner there were probably over one hundred people yelling at
her to look out for the racers. She was completely oblivous until she
saw us at the last moment. She started back to the left. That would
have been fine. She could have just froze and we would have missed her.
Instead she started back and then darted right in front of me. She cost
me a place as high as sixth, certainly no worse than eigth. That means
she cost me about $75 cash, a ruined front wheel, a lump on my head, a
broken finger, and possibly slightly bent forks (I'll find out Sat.). I
don't think she was still there when I got going again and she certainly
wasn't there a lap later. So she walked away. Sorry if I don't feel too
bad for her.
PS Maybe you should read the whole article before you comment Tom.
Kevin Metcalfe (From my wife's account)
metc...@smdis01.mcclellan.af.mil
Davis, CA
PPS She's lucky she didn't end up in jail like the guy who pulled the
same bonehead move at the Athen's Twilight Crit. in Georgia this May.
ilan vardi
>
>I have mixed feelings on whether I care what happened to the woman. On
>one hand it's sad for anybody to get injured, on the other hand it's hard
>to feel bad for somebody who was that stupid/drunk. Let me paint a
It's not just being unaware. A significant number of people would
rather risk injury to themselves and the bike racers rather than wait
30 seconds. A good course marshall should have football experience at
tackling people.