Bazaar Road Race

Not much writing or riding lately. Last wednesday I had a good 2 hours of trailer hauling and then me and two other road over to do the wednesday hill ride, it was my first time ever. Since then I've been sick, with less than 20 miles a day for riding.


The bazaar road race, is one of the only races that I have done every year. Its a trip.

year 1. First year racing, first cat 4 race, crosswinds all day in a 30 rider field, about 35 miles I got dropped. Not sure why, I felt like I was barely pedaling all day, then all of a sudden, zap! My legs were done. Riders were 5 wide maybe, pace wasn't high, just legs said no.

year 2. Cat 1/2/3 race, I got 3rd overall, got some money, we ate at casa ramos. The wind was very light, we stayed together till the big hill, and 3 of us got away.

year 3. Big group of 1/2/3, this was my first road race as a Dad, me and two other colavitas drove down to race. It was my first race of the year(in april). Wind was probably 15-20 from the south. Many dudes from oklahoma were there. At the first turnaround, the race started, 17 miles in, 17mph tailwind, and we were hauling. We stayed together till the end...except for the car hitting the back of Mr. Funk incident. I couldn't sprint.

year 4. Huge wind. Only 12 starters. I could tell no one was really interested in racing today. At about mile 1 I put my head down and pedaled hard for 5 minutes. Bill Stolte was on my wheel and finally we started trading pulls. Turned around and started doing 45mph for 25 miles. About 35 miles in Bob Cummings caught us and dropped us. He had a big ring on his bike. Eventually I got caught by a group of 3 3s and we were battling for 3rd place. I don't remember how it ended but the last 8 miles into the wind was hard.

year 5. Its been 5 years. Seems like a lot and a little at the same time. There were 23 of us I think. Everyone was eager to race. There weren't any moves that stuck...people were trying, people were shutting them down. The wind was 25-30mph, headwind. There is 1 cross wind section about a mile from the cone. Kent W. killed it, I was back in lala land, maybe 12 riders back, while 4-7 guys got a small gap. Then Coe jumped up to them. I saw 5 undiscovered guys right in front of me. I told my teammate to ride behind them, make them make the catch, not us, there were 5 of them right in front of me. Then the first 3 jump hard, the last 2 sit up , and I'm stuck, I jump around and slowly get up to speed into the wind. I chase the whole way to the cone, then make the turnaround. I'm doing 50 pedaling hard and making some ground. I catch Mr. Skinner, and he sticks on my wheel for a while. Then we trade a few pulls, then we catch another guy. He was slow, he didn't want work or pull through. There was no way we would catch the lead group of 5 with this guy sitting on and taking light pulls through. Then we go over a bridge, too fast, I blew my rear tube, and my race is over. I get to watch Joe A. come through in a small group of 3 with 1 guy up and the field a good gap behind, he ends up coming in 2nd for forty quid. Thats a $5 profit. Thats roughly 21 miles worth of fuel in his truck, or a bottle of sparkling water with a snickers bar.