Fred Schnaars, Berkeley TTT, 90+

Flex... Flex...Flex... As I stretch my fingers getting ready to try and explain what in the world was I thinking when I had a bright idea to send an email to a TeamMate about doing the Berkeley Team Time Trial. At what moment in my life did I think for a second that "Hey" I think I would like to do a Time Trial would be a good idea. As most of you might or might not know I have made no bones about the fact that I can’t TT to save my a#@... About a year ago I did the Dunlop Time Trial... I think that was like giving birth! Oh my Gawd! The pain... They say that after a certain amount of time something clicks, and something in your brain says... Hey! I thinks I might like to do that again... Well just about 9 months later I had that stupid click moment... The pain had gone, my ego was back in check, and my stupidness was fully engaged! So now came the moment of decision? Who could I get to race this RACE OF TRUTH! Hmmm! Wait a minute he just had a Birthday, and his racing age was now 45... 90+ class... Nolan/Metcalf look out!

Yaaa Buddy! Mr.(The Motor) Bowlus... That would be the guy. Not only can he TT, what’a shelter... Tuck in behind Chris and enjoy the ride! Or at least that what I thought. So out the email went... Hey Chris ol’buddy what’a doin on March 9^th? Would you believe, he said yes! Wow DBC Masters TT’n machine agreein to TT with a professed putz. What a great Team we were goin to make. Date set, time to prep.

Race Day, as usual up early... That great smell O’ Coffee, I think if it wasn’t for the smell of coffee I just wouldn’t get up in the morning. Had to make a detour, and drop the wife off at the airport. She was on her way to Clearwater Fl. ... Bus’a’ness meet’n ya know. Pull up to yo curb, figgerin 5mph was safe, open da door, and pushed er out, toss er bags, and off to the Berkley TT I was a flyin. After all rumors had it "Levi" was a goin to be there, and Big and Walker had’a major as#@ whoppin to put on ol’ Mr. Levi. So enough of the small talk, you know the rest. You show up at these events try’in to look the total bad as#@... Walkin the walk, Talkin da talk... Yo, yo,yo, dats right... Me n Big... Where’s Levi? I stroll up to the table, sign’n up. Where do you want my autograph baby? Oh! Right here? MR FAST esq. Stroll back to the car and grab my mighty hi tech steed, 23lb of Zunow steel. Aero wheels, aero bars, 43/53 - 12/25... Man gears! 9:31:30 start time... Gettin ready. Up on the line, and Chris sayin... Hey! You ready to Rock? Ready Big Guy! Now up until 9:30:30 I was feeling BAD As#@. 9:31 reality had set in. Chris had said you go first... Ok I said. I had done this Race before, so I knew of the hills to come. Off the line I thought 23/24mph would be a good start, you know let the legs breath, build your speed, that kinda thinking. 9:31:30 into our race, Chris, I think was thinking as he came motoring by me, enough of this Putz! 9:31:45 we were screaming along at 27+ mph. 9:32:30 I was already starting to lose Chris’s wheel. Arrgghhh! Whoa Big Guy... Chris backed off a little. Now I should have mention that our 30 second guys were our own TeamMates. Will and (give me 100) Lee. I that moment I realized that I had the tail of a guided missile, and Chris had Will and (give me another 100) Lee locked in his sights. Given Lee’s tactical training, and sensing a laser had locked on to them, had gone into evasive maneuvers. That goodness for them I had the I can’t harm a TeamMate chip implanted in my brain, and it would not allow me to let Chris mow them over. So as we Raced around the course, the distance stayed about the same. The course was 16.6 miles of up and downs. Along the flats and rollers I was having a hard time hanging onto Chris’s wheel, but I hung tough thinking that when we hit the climbs I could make up some time, and pay Chris back for all the work he had been doing. As we rolled onto the first of the three climbs... Baby Bear I think I started up ahead of Chris, and within 100 meters Chris comes rolling by me... Crap! Why Me... Where does he get this power from? I fought to stay close to Chris, but my legs just were on full protest, and every time I would go over 320/330 watts it was game over. I played this silly game for the next two climbs on Mama and Papa Bear. Now at the top of Papa you can see the 1k sign, and the fans on the side of the course are screaming 1K... 1K! GO! I’m dying... Push! Chris is just ahead of me, and I starting to yell to Chris... Go! There is a small downhill just before a small uphill to the finishing line, and we are flying 53/12. I’m gaining on Chris, and I’m yelling Go! Go! Go! Chris doesn’t hear me, and as I come flying by him, I think Chris is thinking WHAT THE! Were did that come from? After all that work... I pimp Chris at the finish, but all was good, Chris was right there. Just like he had been the whole ride. I set a new fast time thanks to Chris, and I have to thank him for being a great TeamMate, and hanging in there for me when I was having a less than stellar day...

Afterwards we met with all the other DBC racers, and all had a good time talking about the day... So despite my bad descision to do this AGAIN! It turned out to be a great descision because of the friends I had to do it with.

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

Jason Snovel, Berkeley TTT, 4 Man

I always loved watching the TTT's in the Tour. It was always one of the most enjoyable stages to watch for me. The strength, the power, the speed, the whole team moving as one, in perfect unison, floating inches from each other, a sneeze away from disaster. Beautiful. Now, after having competed with 3 of my fellow compadres in my first ever...there's no feeling like it man!

Alarm went off at 4:45. I jump out of bed to turn it off so fast I don't even think I gave it a chance to reach it's full "I want to rip it out of the wall and pound it with a sledge hammer" potential. So amped about the event was I that before I know it, I'm out of the shower and in the garage for the last once over on the bike.

Fast forward to 15 min. to our 8:19 start. "Go ahead, I'm right behind you," I tell Darin, Rod and Mark. Throw on the helmet, grab the gloves, one last swig, and head out. About a mile from the parking lot I pass a rider heading the other way cussing and trying to click in...I ask if he's ok, he hollers something about my teammates, "Cool, thanks man!" I reply, thinking he was telling me that they're just ahead of me. Rounding the next turn I come upon the guys helping Mark dust off and checking his bike out. I look to Mark, who's by that time full into the ever dreadful "Ouwee Dance." "WTF!?!" I ask. His jersey's ripped, his elbow's bloody and we haven't even make it to the flippin' start line. Turns out the guy had just collided with Mark. I didn't see the accident but from what I was told, the guy was flying, tucked with his head down, and without warning, ran right smack into the back of Mark who was pulling off the road to check his bike. Mark took the brunt of the "attack" in the "left rear quadrant"...arrow bars! OUCH! El Toro strikes. It would be unanimously voted later that Mark's new nickname is "The Matador!" Mark felt pretty bad about it even though he wasn't the one at fault. I guess the other rider fared much worse and was screaming at Mark. Maybe it was a good thing I wasn't there. Give the once over on the bike, everything seems strait, without a word, Mark jumps on and leads the way to the start line.

"10 seconds!" "5-4-3-2-1-GO!" and we're off. I take the first pull. Perfect weather, great warm up, feeling good as we serpentine our way down the course. Working surprisingly well as a group for not having ever ridden together, staying tight, taking turns, beautiful. We fly into the first right hand turn. A truck burns passed us, the flagger waves him through, he stops, the flagger then tries to stop him, he lurches, we slam on the brakes. SH*T! I let out an expletive, Darin reels my emotions back in, and we press on. First big climb, we settle into a silent rhythm. I'm just starting to hum Promontory from the last of the Mohican's (it just works for me) as we level out, regain speed and hit the next climb. Pushing my 25 I say, "Thats all, no more gears!" Just then, Darin drops his chain. We slow, not sure whether to continue or wait. Looking back, hearing the seconds tick off, seeing Darin struggle, we look at each other and just as we start to head back, Darin gritting his teeth yells, "Go ahead guys, GO!" I can't imagine how tough that must have been for him. Feeling like hounds on a leash...we release.

Over the hills and through the woods, we reel in team in front of us...we surge. The final stretch, laying it all out diggin' deep, done.

High fives, back slappin', a few minutes later, Darin rolls in grinning from ear to ear like the rest of us. He hammered out the rest of the race solo just in case one of us had a mechanical. Way to go Darin. I think the "Toughest rider" award will have to be shared by both Darin and The Matador, who HTFU'd and pulled his share through the pain. You both rocked! And Rod, you hammered brutha!

The best part, throwing back a few with Rod, Darin, Dawn and the Matador over a perfect Chicago style pizza pie and Zachary's, exchanging stories and complimenting each other, laughing so hard that my abs cramped up. I tell ya, every time I race with this team, I come away saying, "What a great group of guys man!" Any time, any place...I'm in.

Dawn was the perfect TTT sherpa, helping with all of our #'s and just being there. She was also able to snap a few shots of all of the other DBCers out there, as well as a few great shots of Levi, who started about 20 min. after us and was still unable to reel us in! :0) As soon as I can, I'll upload them onto the web site. I'll let you know when I do.

Not sure what our time was, i think it was "Officially" around 49 and some change. 17th out of 24 I think. I think there were around 16 pro teams out there though. :0) ~ J