TNPR

Tuesday Night Practice Race

Also known as the Tuesday Night World Championships.

Or the Tuesday Night Worlds.


Most cycling communities have an unofficial race early in the week. These races are usually free and open to all comers. They are a chance to ride in a race setting with locals of mixed abilities, from beginner to PRO.

Here in Monterey the TNPR is contested at CCCX, the local circuit race course, a brutal 4.3mi loop full of false flats, 4-6% climbs, a few twisting turns, and a fast descent. It's a hard man's course and breakaways often stay away during the 5-lap race. (Future TNPRs may be on a shortened Seaside Bay View Course, a true criterium.)

The TNPR picks up at the start of Daylight Savings. Tonight was the first night and over a dozen riders participated. Chilly 15mph gusts blew mist across the open roadway at the 6pm start.

"Are we ready?" asked Brownie.

And off we went!

RESULTS

3/12
1) Candy
2) Brownie
3) Leo
4) Bison
5) Steve
6-7) Matt & Mike
8-9) Whitey & Stacey
10-13) Unknown Riders


3/19
1) Jeremy Loader
2) Chris White
3-12) mix of MBRT & VOS riders
(a number of regulars missed this TNPR)


3/27
1) Candy
2) Jim
3-6) Brownie, Steve, Ben, Leo
7-12) mix of MBRT & VOS riders


4/2 Seaside Bay View Course
1) Candy (with assist from Jeff who had to leave early)
2) Les
3) Brownie
4) White
5-12) MBRT, VOS & other riders.


4/9
1) Candy
2) Leo
3) The Mighty Ken Calendar
4-15) Chris W, Scott (VOS), Les, Steve, Matt...


4/16; 4/23 I missed both because of Sea Otter but I hear Ben Albracht walked away with it on the 23rd.


4/30 Good group tonight. Ben and I showed up a little late and joined at the bottom of the course. The pace was not super fast but there were several attacks and break attempts. It was good to see some new faces out there. Newcomer Dave wore a Sea Otter winner's jersey didn't miss a single move. It was nice to see D3 back on the bike and recovering from his injury. According to my memory:
1) Candy
2) Dave
3) Ben
4) Leo
5-6) Mike O'neil/Les
7-12) Lance, Steve, Toby, D3, and others.

5/7 Nine riders started. The pace was pretty calm. There were a few attacks off the front and a few short-lived breaks but nothing stuck. Keith joined in after a few laps. I was off on a break and run down 100m from the line.
1) Steven Jones
2) Candy
3) Keith (did not contest the sprint)
4-10) MBRT, VOS, and Peninsula Bike Works riders.


5/14 Teammate Steve Jones gave me a race report which stated, more or less, that Logan gave Keith a leadout, though Logan could have dominated it.
1) Keith
2) Logan
3) Steven
4-10) MBRT Riders

5/21 I jumped in with just over 1 lap to go and spotted MBRT riders Matt, Brad, Brownie and Steven riding with Ginger and Alex. As I was four laps down, I did not want to contest the sprint or interfere too much with the natural outcome. When Brownie and Steven broke free on the main hill after the false flats I went to the front in order to lead them to the finish.
1) Brownie
2) Steven Jones
3) MBRT riders, Alex & Ginger

5/28 I could not attend this one. Word on the street is that seven riders showed up.
1) Brownie
2) Mike O'Neil
3-7)???

6/5 Great turnout with 15 riders. Make that 17 if you count Ken Calendar and his daughter on a tandem (awesome!). I went a little too deep on the first half of the first lap and was unprepared for PRO Cyclist Logan Loader's counterattack. I have to remind myself: You're not a pro, Chris. Attack the other amateurs as hard as you want but it's not wise to go in the red when there are pros lurking in the field.

After going too hard on the first half of the first lap I spent the next several miles trying not to get dropped. Teammates Matt and Mike rode well and it was nice to see aggression from Steve and especially Leo, who spent a lot of time on the front. On the fourth lap Ben Albracht went into TT mode and several riders came uncoupled from the group. When Ben flatted only Brownie, Dave Lock, Logan and I remained in the break. On the last lap I attacked and broke free at one of my favorite spots, the hill following the false flats. Logan and Dave caught me midway up the rollers. It came down to a sprint.
1) PRO Cyclist Logan Loader
2) Candy
3) Dave Lock
4) Brownie
5-15)

6/11 I couldn't make it. Steven Jones says:

It was a good group, myself, Don, Matt, Mike, Leo, Alex from Peninsula Bike works, and local strong man Ben. Everyone at the top of the hill was in a merry good mood and real talkative until someone said oh ohh and got real quiet. I thought it was the 2nd coming or something but it was worse, it was Logan rolling up sans helmet. All of a sudden everyone got there game face on lol.

Pace was fast with Ben putting down his TT pace on the false flat; Keith jumped in somewhere on the 1st lap. On the 3rd lap Ben took it easy on the false flat but as soon as we created that little bump on the hill Ben then took off hard. Logan and Keith were able to jump and those 3 had a break on the rest of the group about 10-15 seconds. On the 4th lap Keith fell of the break and was in our group and then on the rollers we picked up Ben. Logan was still out there and it was clear we was going to be racing for 2nd place tonight.

On the last lap on the biggest roller climb Alex put in a hard effort and Ben was on his wheel. As soon as he crested the hill Ben took off and broke off; myself and Leo's couldn't hold his wheel. Ben went in his TT mode and took 2nd, followed up by Leo, myself, Alex, Keith and Matt. But Logan wasn't messing around that night (or maybe he was) but he killed it.

1) PRO Cyclist Logan Loader

2) Ben Albracht

3+) Leonardo, Steve Jones, Alex, Keith, Matt...

6/18 Ten riders: Four from VOS, Five from MBRT and Ginger. I went off the front a few times but pace was pretty mellow. Most laps were 12+ minutes. On the last lap, one solid attack on the rollers sealed the deal.

1) Candy

2) VOS

3) MBRT

....

6/25 Fifteen(!) riders, including Ken Calendar and his daughter on a tandem and PRO Cyclist Logan Loader. Steven Jones and I went on a little break early on but the PRO towed everyone across. So I sat in for a bit. Brownie and Leo went off the front and Scott Hennessy towed me up to them. Scott fell off and the three of us stayed away working together until some attacks on the final lap. The PRO rode at a conversational pace all night.

1) Candy

2) Brownie

3) Leo

4) Scott Henessy

...

7/2 A dozen riders. On the first lap Ben Albracht crushed the false flat, Brownie counter attacked up the hill, and I went over the top to open up a gap. Brownie bridged and we stayed away, working together without unnecessary zigzags, swerving, or feet in spokes...until the final sprint.

1) Cheeky
2) Brownie
3) Steve
4) Leo
...(Ben Albracht lead the chase for two laps before a mechanical)


7/9 Steve Jones says: It was a good group, myself, Don, Matt, Mike, Leo, Alex from Peninsula Bike works, and local strong manBen. Everyone at the top of the hill was in a merry good mood and real talkative until someone said oh ohh and got real quiet. I thought it was the 2nd coming or something but it was worse, it was Logan rolling up sans helmet. All of a sudden everyone got there game face on lol.

Pace was fast with Ben putting down his TT pace on the false flat; Keith jumped in somewhere on the 1st lap. On the 3rd lap Ben took it easy on the false flat but as soon as we created that little bump on the hill Ben then took off hard. Logan and Keith were able to jump and those 3 had a break on the rest of the group about 10-15 seconds. On the 4th lap Keith fell of the break and was in our group and then on the rollers we picked up Ben. Logan was still out there and it was clear we was going to be racing for 2nd place tonight.

On the last lap on the biggest roller climb Alex put in a hard effort and Ben was on his wheel. As soon as he crested the hill Ben took off and broke off; myself and Leo's couldn't hold his wheel. Ben went in his TT mode and took 2nd, followed up by Leo, myself, Alex, Keith and Matt. But Logan wasn't messing around that night (or maybe he was) but he killed it.

7/16 - From my understanding five or six riders showed up and then decided to go their separate ways. 


7/23 Steven Jones says: It was a good size group tonight. From MBRT we had Matt, Mike, Evan, Les and myself. There was Scott from VOS on his Cervelo S5, local strong man Jeff Maylinick (sorry I think I spelled his last name wrong) with his disk rotor brakes nice! Keith made an appearance on the 3rd lap and local pro Logan also jumped in for a couple of laps and pulled off.

Pace started off fast, on the second lap Jeff made a move up the hill after the false flat. He was able to get a gap and held it through the rollers. We kept him in sight and after the last roller I jumped from the group and bridged to Jeff. I took a long pull and tried to create a break with Jeff. If we could keep the gap to the false flat then we might be able to hold it. But Mike is a demon coming down the hill and brought the group in on us at the CCCX start/finish line.

I was on the limit, I tried really hard to create a break. Sensing blood the group really ramped up the pace up the false flat. I had to dig really deep to hold a wheel and came close to getting dropped. The 3rd lap had a couple of small attacks nothing serious and everyone was intact. 

4th lap Jeff put in a couple of attacks, but Matt and Evan did a lot of work reeling him in. I sat in, content with a sprint finish.

5th and last lap Jeff made another attack up the hill after the false flat, this one was more promising as the didn't respond. Jeff quickly had a gap and no one really wanted to chase. Then Scott on his Cervelo S5 went in on his TT mode and pulled really hard followed by Evan, myself and Matt. 

Scott pulled all the way down to the first roller and pulled off, Evan then pulled really hard through the first 2 rollers. We had Jeff well in sight and it was clear we were going to catch him. 

Coming up the 3rd roller I was in front and caught Jeff. Jeff was sitting up and once I caught him he countered attack! Wow, that move broke the spirits of Scott, Evan and Matt. I had to dig down and catch up to Jeff's wheel. 

Coming to the finish it was down between Jeff and myself. I was in good position on the wheel of Jeff. With about 500 meters to the finish I pulled right next to Jeff and rode next to him. I didn't want to draft by him for the sprint after all he did a lot of work up front. With about 200 meters I went for it and was able to hold Jeff off. But to be honest I think Jeff just let me have it. Coming in 3rd was Matt then Scott and Evan.


7/30 It was a little cold and windy out on CCCX last night. A dozen riders toed the start line, including several MBRT regulars, NCNCA President Keith DeFiebre, National Time Trial Champion Logan Loader, Jeremy Loader, Ben Albracht, Jeff Malnick and Dr Toby Katz. 

Jeff's early attacks were ignored and I sat in for the first lap. Logan must have been bored because he dropped out. On the second lap I raised the pace through the right hand turn and up the rollers. The selection was made: Ben, Jeff and I kept the tempo up and lost sight of the field. Some time later we saw Keith and Jeremy loitering on the rollers. Keith jumped on the back but let us continue to work until the main hill after the false flat, where he did a monster effort up the left side of the two-lane road. 

Let me back up here. The course is not "closed" but it is very rare to see any vehicles out there. We usually just take up the entire road. And right after Keith's effort up the hardest hill we faced traffic barreling down on the four of us. "CARRRUPPP!!" The four of us swung over to the right side of the road. In the confusion I attacked. Jeff responded and we rode the final together. We were shoulder to shoulder heading into the sprint, laughing and talking. We agreed to shift into the easiest gear and "spin it out" for the final 400 meters. Jeff has a compact on his adventure bike; I run a 1X10 with a 44T chainring up front.

1) Candy
2) Malnick
3) Ben A.
4) Mike O'Neil
5) Steve Jones/Matt McKenzie/Les Ogelsby/Jeremy Loader