Will Brieger, Berkeley TTT, 90+

(Notes on time trialing with a marine) DBC masters stole a march on the People’e Republic of Berkeley, embedding teams in a variety of categories, all finishing in remarkably similar times, with one matchup separated by a mere 3 seconds.

Recon started with Will ranging the course in January; Patrick T and Justin Hall re-surveyed the terrain last week. Lee Millon gathered local intel from a Berkeley native. See prior damage assessment from the 4-man team of Snovel/Hockridge/Fernandez/Salk, who were finished, changed, and polishing their bikes before our 2-man contingent even saddled up. Brieger/Millon started 30” ahead of Bowlus/Schnaars. Other notables in the 2-man categories included Turner/Hall, Matiasek/Feliciano, R.Freund/A.Freund, Metcalf/Nolan, and some guy named Leipheimer who could not find a partner.

If you think Brieger/Millon were nervous having Bowlus/Schnaars breathing on their backsides, picture poor Bowlus. Rumor had it that his nemesis Franz Hammer had come from Phoenix with his grandson, boasting that they would clean house in the 90+ combined age category.

What can you say about a TT? The perfect weather and scenic loop did not take the sting out. Millon led the charge on the flatter first half, requiring my frequent resort to the pre-arranged secret code for easing up [“SLOW DOWN Lee”]. He was muttering something about ‘taking the hill’ as we passed our 30” men. The first two climbs yielded quickly to a salvo of SSA. The final climb was better fortified, but by then I was feeling good and enjoying my old high school stomping grounds. As my mind wandered, Lee noticed the 1K sign, and blew past me for the line. We quickly circled back to watch Fred pull the same move on Chris.

After a 40 mph descent to the cars, some of us took a spin up Wildcat Canyon and Grizzly Peak Blvd. Lessons learned for next year: TT bars for sure, and ‘just say no’ when Millon insists that warmup include 100 pushups. Will