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  #1  
Old 03-06-2018, 12:48 AM
ivanooze ivanooze is offline
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UCLA road race

-Has anyone ever done the devil's punchbowl at all? If so then you know that this race is subject to very quick changing weather.

-1 moment it can be a clear sunny day, the next moment you're descending at 50 mph while being pelted by hail.

-I had the "opportunity" to do this race for the 2nd year in a row last saturday and well... lets just say it didn't go to plan.

-previous to this race I had never DNFed from a race in my life, even if i get dropped and left for dead in no man's land, i still manage to finish the race. However, this day was different. I was coming into this race with some decent race fitness, but i had totally forgotten how extremely brutal the climbs on this course were.

-I hate to admit this but 2 miles into the start of the race, I, along with about half the cat 3 field, had already been dropped. I believe the reasons i was dropped so quickly was due in part to too small of a warm-up, foam rolling to deep the day before which caused my right leg to be in pain the majority of the ride, a certain individual revving up the pace from the get-go thinking he can breakaway from a group of 25 riders for a 62 mile road race but ended up dropping himself, and also the 20-30 mph winds that completely shredded the field.

-As i approach the first descent of this 4 lap race i'm relieved to give my legs some rest, but the madness of the weather had only just begun.

-The descent itself was a nice open road with no technical turns that requires braking. However, when you have a 20-30mph crosswind jerking you around despite every effort you make to have your bike as wind resistant as possible, you might want to consider keeping a finger on the levers just in case the wind so graciously sends you on a one way ticket to the jagged rocky dirt on the side.

-As i was descending, i come across a downed rider who happened to be my teammate. I didn't recognize him at first, but once i did i had already passed him going about 56 mph. I felt awful for having left him there, but while in the moment of just trying to survive this non-technical, extremely windy, and speed bump of a descent, I decided to leave him and make my way down the hill and tell one of the officials that was navigating traffic down below. That was the right thing to do right?

-anyways, After completing my 2nd lap of the race, i decided to call it quits. In normal circumstances i would have kept pushing on to finish all 4 laps, but i had a series of internal arguments battling it out for mental supremacy, The winner would decide whether or not i stayed in this race:
1. (during the false flat section of the course) "If i stick it out towards the end, i can end up with a possible top 10 position, even if i'm the last rider to cross the line."

2. "I really don't want to die descending today, nor do i want to go up the climb again, i think i'll just stop after lap 2"

3. "oh i see there's another rider up ahead, if he keeps riding then so will I"
result: I see the rider i was using as my rabbit putting his bike in his car, welp.... guess i'm out

-So... I decided to DNF, first DNF to my recollection ever. Although i had not thought about this during the race, but if this had been an A location to B location road race instead of a lapped road race, I would've kept chugging along, but unfortunately i was given too many outs and i caved.

-I suppose misery loves company because, like me, about 40-50 other riders from all other categories (P1/2, CAT3, masters, Women P1/2, collegiate etc.) had also decided that the suffering wasn't worth the reward of finishing this race. So i guess i can take some solace in knowing that even pros quit sometimes.

-That's how my race went. Did anyone else here do UCLA?
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  #2  
Old 03-06-2018, 10:40 PM
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false_Aest false_Aest is offline
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i did it a few times along with the Devil's Punchbowl race.

I hated those races. HATED


HATED
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Old 03-06-2018, 11:20 PM
ivanooze ivanooze is offline
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it would be a great race if it was later in the season. People are still trying to get over the off season
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Old 03-06-2018, 11:39 PM
pasadena pasadena is offline
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Is it the exact same course as Devil's Punchbowl?
The start is tough because of those gradual stairstep climbs all the way until the descent.

I had a high speed shimmy on that long descent that scared the piss out of me. That was like a 50mph shimmy!

You can't do much for your buddy. By the time you stopped and turned around, and got back to tell him you would get help... well, you would have gotten help already.

I did DP once and never again... it's one of those races that are fun if you're at the nose of it, but I think it turns into survival for most.
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Old 03-06-2018, 11:51 PM
ivanooze ivanooze is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pasadena View Post
Is it the exact same course as Devil's Punchbowl?
The start is tough because of those gradual stairstep climbs all the way until the descent.


I did DP once and never again... it's one of those races that are fun if you're at the nose of it, but I think it turns into survival for most.
i heard allot of people call it DP so i'm assuming it's the same course. It truly is about survival. There's no hiding in this race, especially with 30 mph winds jerking you around even if your in the draft
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Old 03-07-2018, 09:27 AM
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false_Aest false_Aest is offline
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UCLA RR + Devil's Punchbowl are two different races (or at least they used to be). UCLA was early in the season. Devil's was in April/May.

Last time I did UCLA there was snow in the air. I think I was CAT 4 and abandoned at the beginning of lap 3 because "Eff that noise!"

First time I did Punchbowl Floyd was racing. The last time I did Punchbowl was when it finally clicked that a Cat 3s were taking PEDs.

Here's my beef with the race:

1. You start to climb out of the gate.
2. On the first climb the group always splits in two (5 out of 5 times it did).
3. At least through Cat 3 the 2nd group tends to panic and forgets to work together to reel in the 1st group. This repeats on lap 2 and lap 3.
4. Stop feathering your damn brakes on the descent and learn how to handle deep section wheel in cross winds!
5. God this is an ugly race.
6. God this drive sucks.
7. Why the eff is it <45*F or why the eff is it > 90*F?
8. Hey I just flatted and the car with my wheels in it just refused to stop. (Lesson learned there, I started to carry spares during RRs)
9. "The race is over. Let's get some food!"
"Cool, what are our choices?"
"Gas station, Beef Jerky Palace of Doom, Maud's Deep Fried Fat Emporium w/Sprinkles."
"What about Subway?"
"That's 30 minutes away."
10. . . . . . everything.
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Old 03-07-2018, 09:33 AM
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I'll follow my last reply up with this: If I were making a list of races to never do in SoCal this wouldn't be on it.

The reason: some idiot would think "You can't tell me what to do!" and then they'd go ahead and do it.

I think I'd rather race up Los Flores (or Mountain View for your east siders) with the bends.
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  #8  
Old 03-07-2018, 10:22 AM
pasadena pasadena is offline
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Highly entertaining UCLA race review by my fav cycling blogger Seth Davidson
https://pvcycling.wordpress.com/2018...r-fuggin-bike/
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