Hammer Head Racing Blog

In May of 09 we just BLEW AWAY the old record with an average 9.5 bikes per ride.

This means we are encouraging new bikers and growing! That beats any record speed in my book. That is what we are here for. Great job to all of you and keep it up!
To put this in perspective;  In 08 we had record turnout numbers often having summer months averaging 6.2 to 6.3 riders per day. In April of 2008 was the old record 6.7 riders per day.

(Pops, Diva, Napa, Sgt, Kong, Geek, Dog, Pyro, Nag, Hank, CD, MM, & MJ)

After no ride yesterday due to rain just about everyone showed up today with fresh legs.  Dog led us out nice and easy into the wind and we decided to stay on the flats to try and keep the group together.  About half way out on CL road MJ did a strong pull at 23-24 into the wind and we lost Sgt, Pyro, Napa, & MM who did their own thing from there.  Then heading south on 800W Geek surged up the small rise resulting in Kong, Hank, & Diva falling off the back.  We turned right on 100S out to 950W where we had a 20.6 mph average.  Kong, Hank, & Diva shortcutted up 900W to get ahead of us.

Just before turning on 25S MJ jumped off the front and we let him go for awhile.  Dog took off after him about a minute later with the rest of us scrambling to hang on.  Left on 800W and back to CL road where it was big chainring time with the nice tailwind.  We had numerous surges off the front by Geek, Dog, and MJ but everyone hung together with speeds ranging from 25-30.  Half way across the flats we passed Kong, Hank, and Diva who jumped on the back of the runaway train.  After Geek gave a long fast pull MJ & Dog attacked leaving Geek behind.  But the pace slowed down enough as we appoached 400W that Geek was able to climb back on.  Then as we headed up nursery hill Geek decided to kill himself again with another attack (somebody make him stop).  After the group caught back up to Geek, CD launched himself off the front over the last rise.  A mad scramble ensued as everyone charged to get on someone’s wheel.  Heading into the finish at speeds in the high 30’s MJ made the final sprint attack and won with Dog close on his wheel.  Nag and I were trying to keep up and I hit 40 but they still pulled away (Dog said he hit 43).  Overall average was 23.2 mph.    

It looked like rain today but we dodged the showers.  (Pops, Stang, Bones, Diva, Napa, Sgt, Kong, Geek, & Dog).  We headed out into the gloom with me & Dog leading out the pack.  I dropped back to the rear as we got close to the top of the first rise and Dog joined me shortly after that.  Going south on 400W we maintained a consistent pace that kept everyone together.  Sgt led up the first 200S hill and then I took the lead for awhile.  Sgt made a few jumps off the front going up the hills but each time backed it down to allow the group to catch up.  Then as we headed up the last long climb to 800W Dog & Bones attacked from the rear and got a bit of a gap.  After a slight hesitation Stang and Geek gave chase and the rest of us tried to follow.  This was too much for Napa and a short time late Diva backed off to join her.  At the turn we had a 20.1 mph average.  

After Dog & Bones realized they had been caught the pace dropped a bit allowing Kong and I to get back on the rear but a short time later Geek dropped the hammer and Kong bowed out at the church.  We headed around the lake and then Sgt gave an all out pull up over 30.  Then Dog took the lead and backed down the pace.  I was right behind him and decided to jump off the front to see what the reaction would be.  I think that’s when we lost Sgt as Geek and the others chased me down.  Geek counter-attacked and I got on his wheel.  As soon as he backed off I gave it another go.  This time the pack let me go and get a decent gap.  Now I had to decide whether to go all out or sit up and let them catch me.  I went for the all out approach to make them work and maybe steal a win.  I knew Dog was back there with his bitches and he made them do all the  work until they came over the last rise.  By this point I was laboring and I looked back as Dog shot away from what was left of his pack.  He was closing fast and the best I could do to the finish was around 32 mph.  It wasn’t enough to hold off Dog as he timed it perfectly and passed me before we hit the dip to the finish line.  Disappointing but worth the effort.  Overall average was 22.6 mph.    

There were many who rode numerous miles over the 3 day weekend so it was not surprising to see only four riders show up today…Pops, Bones, Geek, and Hank.  Geek and Hank had just done 60-70 miles yesterday and said they were very tired.  So Hank led us out at a nice gentle pace with the wind behind us.  Bones brought the speed up over 20 as we passed 400W and short time later Geek took the lead and had us cruising at 25 mph.  At that point he must have forgot he was tired and took us up to 28-29 for awhile.  The rest of us backed the pace down a bit and we got to the 800W/200S intersection with a 23.1 average.

Heading back across the hills Geek was pulling hard again when Hank dropped off the back.  Bones and I decided to wait to help bring him in but Geek kept chugging along.  The three of us regrouped and I wondered if we’d be able to catch Geek as he had about a 200 yard lead on us.  I thought we’d make up some ground if we could take the turn north on 400W quickly but a car coming south forced us to brake hard and we lost more ground.  We rotated frequently going north and we were very slowly closing the gap.  After heading up nursery hill Geek started tiring and the gap was closing down quicker but I still doubted we’d catch him.   Hank gave us what he had left and then dropped off as Bones and I continued the pursuit.  Over the last rise I gave my last reserves and closed it down to about 20 yards.  Bones came around and finshed the job as we got on Geek’s wheel right at the cut in the road.   A few seconds later Bones attacked and took the sprint and Geek said he didn’t even realize we had caught up with him.  We didn’t lose much off the average into the hills and wind as the overall only dropped to 22.5 mph.

(MJ, Nag, Geek… Kong, Bones, Pops, Hank, Sgt, Stang, Napa, Bull, Diva)  After a hard week some of us were ready for an easy Berko.  But MJ showed up so others were anxious to play. We split into A & B teams before 400W. Sgt was with the easy-riders heading west on CL rd. Geek to the Chargers out to the 200S hills. The easy-riders had a easy time averaging 22 mph going out with the tailwind.
Before we reached 950W there was a pow-pow-pow rat-a-tat-tat. But don’t worry. TG it wasn’t the sound of another crash! It was just the shooting range full of red-blooded Americans exercising their right to bear their firearms.   God Bless the USA.  And I pity the idiot that tries to steal a radio out of one of those cars.  The shooting range was packed with cars & campers  Speaking of bare arms, Pops & Sgt were sporting the latest Micheale Obama fashion, “Sleevless Jerseys”.
We passed the charging school of tuna going the other way on 950W (Nag, MJ, Geek), I mean the charging Hammer-head Sharks.  B team turned back from 200S onto 800W to avoid the 200 hills. We finished as a group except for Hank, Bones and Pops pushing each other to the line out front. “B” teamed averaged 19.4 but I have no way of calculating “A” teams speed. It might have been a couple of tenths faster. Kong had them averaging 25 mph out to 800W almost ½ way.

(Bones, Pops, Dog, Sgt, Stang, Nik, Nag, Bull, Pyro, Kermit, Diva) It is hard to get serious after a bad crash, and today is one of those days. The local A.B. team had a really bad crash last night and we all feel horrible about it.  The Hammer-Heads all wish Isaac a speedy and complete recovery.  Here is a symbolic get well basket of cupcakes below.

Today the team went out for the longer Berko ride but we were all a bit post crash spooked since 3 of us witness the horrible crash last night. So we kept a quick but not crazy pace today. On 200 we lost Kermit and Pops, and then Pyro and Sgt. These 4 bikes took the 15.7 mi short cut. Then Pops and Sgt turned left and met the big group on 800W.
Sgt pulled around the lake bowl at 25 mph. As it leveled Dog picked it up to 30. Then someone attacked “??” and I found myself closing a gap at 34 mph. Thanks for letting me back on after my pull, whoever that was. The pack splintered badly at this pace as we averaged 27.5 for the last 4 miles home.

For the sprint Nag, Pops and Bones were off the front and jockeying for position. There was enough movement up there at 34 mph that I didn’t want to play any more and backed down along with Dog to ease across the line just after Bones claimed a surprise close from behind sprint win over Nag and Pops. Average speed was 22.0 mph.

Feel free to add Get Well messages to the comments of this blog.

(Kong, Bones, Bull, Kermit, Diva… Napa, Sgt, Hank, Pops) Pops & Hank wanted to make up for the TT they missed, and wind conditions were virtually identical today so Napa, Sgt, Hank and Pops took the short cut from the hill route and ran a makeup TT. I added the times into the blog for 5/19/09 as a gray note.

The rest of the group went on to do a Berko20 to be sure they didn’t catch us.

Awesome ride everybody. I think everybody did better than I expected, except for me. I lost rank.  5 people Smoked me! 

Dog more than spanked Geek to revenge last week. 

And holy cow Stang made up big time for an embarassing ride last week taking 3rd.

Bones if very solid, and Nag did the best time trial I’ve erver seen from him, making up for several that I beat him on in the past.

Bull & Diva trade places until next time.

And all our newer riders are comfortably over the 20 mph ceiling that typically limits new riders.

Note that Kong almost matched me, pushing his huge Hulk of a body at 24 mph cost him an average of 352 watts with a peak at 902 watts on his power meter.  I think that is pretty close to the specs on the Toyota Prius electric motor?

*Note names in Gray were added May 20th by a make up TT in near identical conditions.

(Dog, Geek, Troll, Nag, Kong, Bones, Stang, Bull, Diva, Napa, Pyro, Sgt, Hank… going out later  Toad, CD) Sgt called “Easy Pre-Race Ride”. But then the Troll showed up then the Nag got excited. Sort of like a Shreck relationship I guess. It didn’t tke long before Sgt, Hank, Pyro & Napa found themselves on their own for an enjoyable ride in the rear. Now that I can breathe and talk I found that Napa ran a Mini-Marathon Saturday, (That’s 13. painful miles on foot.) She’s more man than me.  After 3 miles I start to suffer and 5 will really hit my knees hard. If I were her, I wouldn’t be out here on a bike with this group today. So I salute you Napa, Your tuff.
We decided to turn back on the 15 mile route and caught Toad going the other way, All right! That makes 14. Then as we crossed 400 w the beak away caught and passed us. Then we saw CD going out… That makes an awesome 15 bikes on the road! I think that’s a record. The most we have had since I started recording is 13 bikes. Shortly after we were passed by the Hells Angels, (Dog, Troll etc…), Nag came up about ¼ mile off the back and passed us too. Then Napa dug deep into her marathon abused legs and passed the Nag back and pretty well made it stick. The sight brought a tear to my eye and I didn’t mind that I was being left behind too. “You Go Girl!”

Geek will have to add what happened up front.

(Nag, Sgt, Hank, Kong, Stang, Bull, Diva) Nag called “Easy Ride”. But as soon as we got out on the road he also called “Mills Hills”. “That’s no easy ride!” I complained. But it has been a long time so why not? With a SE wind we went out 200S at 21.5 keeping the pack together.

When we turned from 800W onto 100S for the second set of hills I heard some whimpering, but all complied. Going this direction 100 seemed to be 10 miles long all by itself. When we reached 650W it was demoralizing because after fighting the wind and hills it seemed like we should have been close to 400 by now. But NO, the hills are just getting started. Every hill changed the order of the pack and seemed to break somebody. Often it was me.

Finally we turned home on 400 and then CL. Nag pulled Nursery hill into the cross wind and didn’t seem to mind staying up front. I staged Hank on my wheel for the sprint and Stang behind him to block Nag. Kong took us through the roller hill and on to the final down slope. I yelled at him, “Get on the GAS and GO!” He said “I am on the gas!” He was doing a hard 21 mph into the cross wind. But somehow he found some more strength and sprinted up to 26. Then I took over and pushed up to 31 mph. I looked back and Hank was on my wheel. My pain was intense, but we had this one, so I held out for almost 4/10ths of a mile. And I looked back for Hank to come around but he didn’t look like he could. Then I expired and Nag plucked Hank at the line like a spring dandelion.  Avearge speed was 21.2 mph