MASH DNF
Photo by Mike Martin
Slow going on Wednesday’s stage. We rolled around 9:15 and reached the top of the final climb at maybe 5pm, having covered just 70 miles. At that point, the consensus was to pack it in for the day. We were still 45 miles from the finish.
A few of the delays:
- Cleat broken while skidding – 20 minutes
- Waiting for the race entourage to pass through – 40 minutes
- Many, many gear changes – 20 minutes
We started off under clear skies on gently rolling roads through the orchards outside Merced with the mountains on the horizon. But after the course left the valley floor, we didn’t cross a mile of flat ground the rest of the day and there wasn’t a climb or descent too small to warrant changing gears. I switched between 44×21 and 44×17, but I probably should have replaced the 17 with a 15. Oh well.
Photo by Mike Martin
That said, there was some amazing riding over snow-covered passes that had to be plowed earlier in the day because of the Tour. Mike got some gnarly descending shots from the scooter.
At least we knocked off all the day’s difficulties; from where we stopped, it was all downhill to the finish. I guess that riding track bikes during the Tour is an inherently slow method to cover these courses. Sure, It was disappointing not to complete the stage but that’s part of the adventure. Not every day is going to work out perfectly.
But one can always hope.
-Josh
MASH Gear Selection During the Tour of California
Photo by Mike Martin
Other than the weather, gearing is probably our most frequent topic of conversation. These courses are throwing a really wide range of terrain at us; finding the perfect setup will be essential to make it all the way through the trip. But most of the roads are completely unknown to us and you can only learn so much from the course profile, so there’s a lot of guesswork involved.
Tuesday’s 100-mile stage* from San Jose to Modesto started with the super steep Sierra Road climb right off the bat, followed by some gradual descending, a smaller climb over Patterson Pass, another gradual descent, and then about 50 miles of pancake flat, windy roads through the Central Valley.
Our gear selections:
- Garrett: 44×20 and 44×15
- Blake: 44×22 and 44×14
- Walton: 47×19 and 47×17
- Josh: 44×21, 44×17, and 44×15
- Rainier: 46×21 and 46×17
Sierra Road is so steep that Cervélo TestTeam (including last year’s Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre) told me they were going down to a 38t chainring. So all of us would have been more comfortable on a smaller gear, but we managed. I can only speak for myself but if that climb had been at the end of the stage, I would have really struggled.
For the rest of the stage, the 44×17 was perfect on Patterson Pass and the 44×15 was good for the flats. I was maybe a little overgeared for some of the block headwind sections.
Wednesday’s stage has probably more total elevation gain than today but the climbs are more gradual. Sierra Road is roughly a 2,000 foot ascent in three miles, and the first climb tomorrow is about the same elevation gain but over maybe ten miles. I’m thinking that the 44×17 should be okay as my climbing gear, and I might run a 44×14 on the flop-side since there will be some long, wide-open descents. But it’s all a crapshoot, really.
-Josh
* We had to skip about 20 miles in the middle in order to get ahead of the race’s rolling road closures. So it was more like an 80 mile day for us.
The Oldest and the Youngest on the MASH Team
Sunday’s journey began in earnest. We set out from Davis in a steady rain, arriving roughly 100 miles and seven hours later in Santa Rosa in similar conditions. The pros left 2.5 hours after we did and finished about the same time. Rock Racing’s Francisco Mancebo was incredible today; he rode solo off the front almost the entire race, then outfoxed two riders with much fresher legs who caught him within a couple miles of the finish.
Meanwhile, six of the MASH crew battled wind, rain, climbs and descents. Here are two of them, the oldest and the youngest. Meet Blake and Walton.
Photo by Mike Martin
Blake Von Knopka
Age: 40
Hometown: Berkeley, California
Stats: 6′2″, 190 lbs
Occupation: General contractor and property manager
Status: Married with 7 bikes
“I was surprised that I made it to Santa Rosa before the field. I rode so hard the last 30 minutes. I just didn’t want to get caught and have to wait on the side of the road.”
Photo by Mike Martin
Walton Brush
Age: 18
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
Stats: “slouchy” 5′10.5″, 155 lbs
Occupation: Industrial design student
Status: you’ll have to ask
“Would I want to race seriously? I think it’s more of a fad for me. It’s way funner riding at times like these than racing.”
Mash Rides the Tour of California
Our friends at Mash are crazy, they decided to ride the Tour of California on their track bikes (or “fixies” as some of you kids still like to call them). Josh Kadis will be blogging live from the road for us. Here is his first report.
A brief introduction… The Tour of California is a 9-day, 750-mile world-class bike race that invites only the top professional teams in the world. Taking inspiration from this competition of the world’s greatest cyclists, we’ll be expressing our own love of the bike with a parallel journey covering the same courses as the race, only on our track bikes.
Although MASH CA is non-competitive, carrying a hard tempo throughout will require the highest levels of performance from our equipment, bodies, and minds. Hopefully we’re up to the challenge. Incase has been a great supporter of our project and we’ll be posting more content here over the next 9 days.
Saturday was just a 2.4 mile warm up. We rolled 10 deep from Clif Bar HQ in Berkeley this morning and got to downtown Sacramento in time to watch the pros race. It was Lance Armstrong’s first major race on US soil since 2005. The crowd was huge, but it was really inspiring to see that almost everyone was there for the bike racing first and Lance second. He got the biggest cheers of course, but not by much.
After the finish, we checked out the course for ourselves. Garrett and I crashed, taken out by a wayward passerby. No injuries sustained, although we’re down a front wheel now.
The real test starts Sunday. About 100 hilly miles from Davis to Santa Rosa and the forecast does not look good.
Irvine Ridazz Relay Race
When I found out that a bunch of fixie fanatics decided to organize a Relay Race in Irvine, I got very excited and decided to participate in my first ever race. However, my excitement was quickly diminished when I found out that Tone Loc was gonna race as well.
There were fourteen teams at the start. Each member of the three man team had to race a three mile course and as soon as he/she crossed the finish, the next team member could go.
I was first to go on our team and quickly made it to the front of the pack, I was in second until I missed a turn and had at least four guys pass me. Still, I made if to the finish line in third and my next team mate went off like a mad man. Our anchor man kicked some serious butt and we ended up finishing second behind (suprise, surprise) Tone Loc’s Team.
Race Results:
- Team BTNC, Lazer Squad
- Team Huph-de-Tang (My team!)
- Team Justin
Incase hooked the winning team up with three Incase Messenger Bags. If only I didn’t miss that wrong turn I could have totally won one!
Photos of the event by Francis Manuel and Yacks.
I Made My Own Collab
Here is my Incase X Hellz Bellz “Love thy Neighbor” messenger bag. It’s my new favorite.
Vegas Drag Race
Our friends at Mash SF have been busy. They recently updated their site, took Lance Armstrong out for a bike ride and released an amazing bike with Cinelli during the Interbike in Vegas last week.
They also organized a drag race during the Interbike, which Incase helped sponsor. Winner of the brick of ca$h was Anthony “Tone Loc” Canevari, a beast from the OC Fixed scene, representing BTNC and G-Troop. Congrats Tone!
(Photos by Neek)
New and In Stock: Nylon Messenger Bag
The Nylon Messenger Bag is a sophisticated alternative for the utmost protection of your personal belongings. Constructed of weather-resistant nylon, the Nylon Messenger Bag features ample interior and exterior storage compartments and a dedicated faux-fur lined inset sleeve for your notebook.
BMX Track Bikes
Pista Concept + Aerospokes + BMX bars + retro stickers and colors = We want one of these Trackstar/DQM bikes.
Leave the Car at Home This Weekend
And ride a bike! Some sweet bike videos to get you “inspired”: Crazy Bike, Bicycle Burnout, Bike Theft Stunt and finally some Lucas Brunelle videos (this dude is insane).
