Random Photos by Ryan Bates

Here are a few random shots taken by one of our sponsors Ryan Bates of Ryan Bates Photography.     www.ryanbatesphotography.com

Also please check out the first of several photo shoots with Ryan: 
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151646234926940.1073741827.89835246939&type=1

Tri for Real, Rancho Secco Ca - June 2nd 2013

Charissa & Ryan Odom have been flying the TRI flag for Team Velo Wrench this season & they have been rocking it!  Both raced hard to second place in their divisions @ the TBF Tri for Real.  Keep up the great work you too!!

Race report by Charissa Odom

Hello!

Ryan and I had a fantastic time yesterday racing the TBF TRI for Real at Rancho Secco.  It was my first Olympic distance course, and I LOVED it.  Ryan and I both took 2nd place in our categories.  Ryan was 20th overall!

The water is just warm enough at Rancho Secco.  I wore my wetsuit, but I've swam here before without and was fine.  Though I was passed by a few swimmers in the wave that started after me, I didn't lose heart.  I had a feeling I was one of the last of my age group out of the water, but you never really know!  For me, I still have to keep focused on a steady stroke and breathing, not so much on speed yet.  I'd love to cut my swim time way back!  

This is my first race on my new TT bike.  I am so thankful for VINNY for how well this went.  Not only was the bike tuned up perfectly, but it fit me very well!  Vinny spent 3 hours on Friday afternoon making adjustments for me.  First I was up in the trainer to get the fit.  Then he'd send me out for a trial, I'd tell him what was happening, and he'd make expert changes.  It's amazing how important a few mm can be on that bike!  Thanks, Vinny, for helping find just the right saddle and saddle fit!  

By this point in the day, it was HOT.  The run has no shade cover at all, but plenty of aid stations.  I could see the little white tents ahead and kept thinking about the cool water that they'd have.  TBF always has a great group of volunteers!  So, I was trucking along at my pace and feeling strong enough.  Then, I was passed by a woman who might have been in my age group (her markings had worn off).  I considered pacing off of her, but decided to keep with my steady run.  Here is where planning and pacing comes in--she was heaving on the side of the trail five minutes down the line and I trotted right by her.  I had planned to pick up my pace for the last mile, but the heat was a bit too intense.  So I could only sprint the last 3 tenths of a mile, but I passed a few folks right at the end (none in my age group).

I am looking forward to the next TBF race coming up in July.  Ryan and I are going to do the TRI for Real series and see how much we can improve our times!  

Cheers,

Charissa

Charissa 2nd Place!!

Fear the Beard!  Ryan second place!!

Dunlap TT, Davis CA - June 1st 2013

Leslie had a great ride at the Dunlap TT, she rode to a second place in Women's Cat 3!  Way to go Leslie!!

Race Report by Leslie Creed

     I am liking TT more and more...

     Of course I was the first of the Cat 3 and 4 women out on course...gotta love being everyone's carrot.  My goal was to just not get caught...and I did NOT for a change.  I managed a 2nd place in a field of 4 with a finishing time of 45:15...14 seconds off first with 3rd 45 seconds behind me...I am not going to complain.  The course had its challenges between passing the double yellow to get around farming equipment and then the awful wind on Midway and Runge Rd.  Kristen did a great job running the event and eventually I will have my own TT equipment to practice the discipline on a regular basis. 

     Thanks Vince for loaning me the Focus TT bike and Kristen for the helmet...they both made a big difference in my race and placing!

-Les

 

Rockhopper Classic, Lagoon Valley CA - May 26th, 2013

Team Velo Wrench had a great Rockhopper. Kristen got 3rd in the Open Women division in the Super D. Amy won the 19-39 Women Cat 3 XC. Kurtis got top 10 in Cat 1Mens 19-29 in the XC and 6th in Super D. Danny placed just barely outside top 10, in 11th his divison in the XC. On a sad note...Kristen found no Mud all day.

Race Report by Daniel Sullivan

     I have to agree with Amy, the start was a bit confusing. I finally figured out that it was all Men's cat 3 starting at the same time. It was a bit crowded at the start until we started up the hill to the water towers then it thinned out some. I made it safely to the bottom of the hill after a close call with the rider in front of me. Unfortunately I dropped my chain going up the single track on the NE side. That cost me a couple of places then it did it again going up the W side single track and I got passed up again then one more time a little later...I finally figured out I could no longer use my lowest gear. The rest of
the race I was playing catch-up...it was pretty motivating. Unfortunately it wasn't enough because I ended up in 11th place in my cat. But overall it was a load of fun and thanks to Vinny and Brandy and every one from the team who showed up, I had a blast.

  

Race Report by Amy Rondoni

     The start was a bit confusing as to whether we were starting with the juniors or not, but none the less, it was a start. The course was in prime shape and everyone was jamming. I was trying to coach an opponent down hamburger hill, but when she started saying, "I can't do this", I knew I had to make my way around her and book out. I have put down better runs on this course just free riding compared to race day. Race day was more mental than physical for me. I never
felt strong and wanted to quit from the very get go, but knew that wasn't an option.

     What kept me going? The age 40+ beginner women who are my inspiration.

     There were many times out there that I questioned, "Why am I killing myself?" I realized it's a simple answer. Because I can!!!
      All in all it was a great day for racing. The event staff was great, and
post race festivities were well done. The high light was watching Nate pull raffle numbers in his Team Velo Wrench jersey amongst all of Ray's cycle peeps.
Thanks for the support and the opportunity to race. Congrats to all the other riders who were out there mashin it up!!! -Amy

Amy coming in to the finish

Amy for the WIN!

Danny coming in to the finish in the XC.

Got Frog?  Kristen 3rd in women's Open SuperD!

After Super D Kristen coning in to finish of XC.

Kurtis coming in to finish of XC

Kurtis off the start of the Pro/Cat 1 XC race.

Team Velo Wrench Pit

Vinny!

or as Vinny calls it...Sea Donkey

2013 Sea Otter, A.K.A…Sea Donkey, by Vince Coons

     What can I say about sea Donkey? First, it was an awesome trip.  I handled the cooking and in keeping with Sea Otter tradition, I did a bike build the day before a race. I am happy to report that the bike was flawless and in no way responsible for the placement of the rider in the final sprint for the line.  

     We did coin a few new phrases, like “choncha-ria” (the bad things that happen to your naughty bits when a bike doesn't fit) and my favorite “The Vinmahall” (my 4 bedroom tent, a favorite of any kid that walked by).

     I got some serious schmoozing done with most of our sponsors. Kali was very happy to see us and even offered up some hats which Pat Sasaki will be getting me soon, or I will call his boss. Serfas as usual came to play, and hooked up this old guy with my new favorite shoe the Serfas Zirconium Road (they ROCK). You know they are a good sponsor when they meet you at the tent and already have your beer in hand.

     I would personally like to take a second and thank another Team Velo Wrench sponsor, Alvarado Equine for stepping up and giving a race reimbursement for all Team Velo Wrench riders that pre registered and gave Brandy a receipt. Also team, if you get the chance; please take a second and thank Luis Alvarado, whom BTW will be stepping up as the President of the Velo Wrench Bike club. Thank You Luis!!!

     Did Vinny ride???  Well…Hell yes I rode, I just didn't get to race.  Danny and I rode out to the road race course to cheer on Richard. We watched as he came by a few times got some pics of him racing and headed back to the camp, back up 3 miles of climbing. Good news is that the sore leg eased up a bit about 1/2 way up the climb but I did pay for it that night. On the climb out, Danny and I traded yelling at each other and the passing riders in French and Italian as to confuse them as they passed us by. When Richard passed we yelled “Allez Ree-charrd Allez” leaving his competition confused and unable to keep up, thinking he was a Frenchy.

      I and Richard were also given the opportunity to hang at the VIP reception for the new Jamis women's Pro Road Race Team.  Richard ran in to the Yackle Brothers whom joined us for dinner that night at our camp.  I cooked for everyone.  I spent some time with the Jamis engineer, and may have convinced his to make a Campy build for the Jamis steel Eclipse, which I will have if they do.  I WILL! I also ran across my other new bike the Jamis 650 Nemesis carbon MTB. (Brandy interrupting here, my plan to get everyone on a 650b is working!  Muwahahaha!!)  Yes I will! (Any man can have a bike, but it takes a Vinny to have a Harem.  Shuuush don't tell my wife)

     All in all a good one, I hope more of Team Velo Wrench can make it next year. 

Tutti Insieme- Vinny"

"Allez Vinny!"  Vin on the RR course cheering on Richard

Coming back in to camp

Fancy new Serfas Zirconium Road Shoes

Presiding over the camp & kitchen.

Jamis Bikes!!

Love our Kali helmets. 

Chillin at the Serfas tent

Adventures at Sea Otter 2013

Vince, Brandy, Richard, Danny, Leslie, Amy and Kurtis all made the trip down to race/ride/chill at the Sea Otter classic.
Here are a couple of race reports:

Richard Nagel races the Cat 4 Elite RR & Circuit Races @ Sea Otter-

 “Hello everyone, Sea Otter was great. Thanks Vince and Brandy for all you did. Thanks for the mechanic work on my new KHS bike Vince.

     Alright, race recaps time. – The Road Race on Friday was great. 54 mile 5000ft of climbing kicked my butt.  The course was good to fair. Lots of large potholes on the first half of the course after the first decent, but it was “Flat tire alley” for a lot of people.  Luckily I stayed clear of the left side of the road through there so no flats for me. The course is much better after that section. I did well for the first half of the race was in the front of the peloton. 4th lap in, one guy jumped off the front and blew up the rest field including me! I worked with 4 other guys chasing them down. We would touch the back end of the group one more time before they pulled away and stayed away. I finished in 2:42:56. I went through 5 bottles of Skratch Labs fluid and three things of Honeystinger Food.

     The circuit race on Sunday was awesome! The course is a famous race track so it is always has wonderful road conditions. The race was very fast but I couldn’t tell you how fast because I forgot to start my Garmin! (No Strava PR’s for me) I was in the pack and doing well all the way to the last lap.  I got dropped half way through the steep climb.(My legs were feeling the road race from Friday)  I tried like hell to make up time descending the corkscrew. I threw myself into the hard left turn and thought for sure that I was gonna crash but the bike stayed upright and held the speed (what felt like 50+mph).  I saw the peloton at the bottom of the 180 degree turn while I was at the top but that would be the closest I got. I work and finished hard.”  -Richard

Richard racing the Road Race

Richard climbing the Road Race

Richard working to bridge the gap

Richard mid Circuit Race

Kurtis Westbrook raced Cat 1 XC on Friday - 40miles, through hot temps and tons of dust-

Sea Otter Classic Cat 1 XC

        I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this race other then I knew it would be painful because I had never rode 40 miles with 7800 feet of climbing on a mountain bike and have never done that much climbing in one day. I acquired some intel from my teammates and riding buddies and the basics of it were that there was a lot of fire road and some deep sand descents to look out for. My main goal of this race was to finish and if I was able to finish ahead of some people that would be awesome.

        I made the long haul out to Laguna Seca Raceway Friday morning after a big breakfast; I arrived, set up my tent, and ate a little something for lunch. The race started at 1:45 and Brandy showed me the way to the start where I warmed up on the race track. Soon enough the race was off, my group (which turned out to not be my group because my racing age is 25) started up the race track in one pack and we were all drafting two guys in front. Once we made the left turn on the dirt things started to spread a little bit and the pace kicked up also, but I was able to keep up with the front half of the group. It was a fire road hammer fest until we got to the first steep rocky climb where almost everyone dismounted and ran up. I had a gel at the very top and descended down some more fire road until I got to some sweet twisting sandy single track. I made a few passes here, the whole time I was pushing the bike pretty hard, some of the turns were really tight making me want to have smaller wheels but I made it through fairly well.

        After the fun stuff I hit more fire road followed by some sandy single track descending which led into the really sandy descents that dropped down on some flat double track. I implemented my drafting skills and rested a bit here and ate a waffle. The race went down a road and then up a bit where there was a water station, I took some water and downed it. After the water station the race went on some single trail that went along the side of a ridge which dropped out on more fire road. There was a long single track climb followed by a decent and then some more single track climbing which led out to the last bit of fire road climbing until the second lap. During the first lap I ate a good amount and drank almost both of my bottles of water. Luckily Brandy and Richard were at the start of the second lap to hand me off two more bottles this time with Skratch Labs in them.

        I was pretty worn out from the first lap but knew I could press on, it wasn’t until first single track climb where I started to cramp. I was able to push through a few more cramps but my pace had dropped of significantly and I couldn’t see through my glasses very well because they had become coated with sweat. At this point I knew I was way out of the podium and was just going to complete my goal of finishing. At the very last single track climb before the fire road I passed a guy playing some ACDC which rose my spirits a bit and I made my final push to the finish. I was exhausted, but in better condition than some people because I seen someone puking and people lying on the ground. My main concern after finishing was to find camp and get some food in my body, but this was made difficult because the volunteers did not know where anything was.

        After the race I found out that my finish time was 3hr 45min and that I had actually beat two people which made me feel a bit better about my performance. Next year, if I do this race, I would like to get my time down to around 3 hours and to do this I will need to spend more time in my road bike saddle on long rides. All in all it was a great weekend, spent time with my teammates, met some of the sponsors (Kali, Smith Optics, Jamis Bikes, Serfas, ESI Grips Honeystinger, Skratch Labs), checked out a bunch of cool stuff, got some free stuff, rode a pump track, listened to a band that was giving away tacos, seen some old friends, and got a great work out. *Trail narrative may be out of order. It was a long race.”  -Kurtis 

Kurtis before his XC race

Kurtis on the start line

What 40 miles at race pace looks like. 

 

Napa Valley Dirt Classic 4/14/2013

Race Report by Kurtis Westbrook.  He raced Cat 1:

"Napa Valley Dirt Classic

                This was my first time racing the Napa Valley Dirt Classic and I wasn’t sure what to expect, although I did hear from people that it wasn’t too bad. I was told that there were three or four rollers that were rocky and that you should carry speed going down to carry yourself back up. I also herd there was a big climb out after you descend a short sandy section. I went into this race thinking I could place well as long as I held with the front pack and got on the draft during the flat fire road sections.

                Well we arrived with plenty of time to check in and change; I did my warm up a little late though because after a few laps around the track and doing some climbing everyone was starting to line up. We had a huge start group and it was sort of bottle necked in between some parked cars so I knew it was going to be a bit sketchy. The race started and we sprinted up a road climb and into some double track that climbed up to a steep rock ascent. Everyone I seen was walking this so I dismounted and hurried up to the top and got back on my bike. The pack was still sprinting and I could feel myself falling back, I just didn’t have the power to keep up, so I was dropped off the lead pack. I was passed by a few more people and each one I tried to stick behind but wasn’t able to keep up. I was still in the mix with the slower cat 1 group when we reached the rollers which weren’t as bad as described and actually kind of fun.

                Once we got in the single track I was more in my element because it was fast, flowy, and there was decent grip under the fallen leaves. I was pushing my bike pretty hard drifting a few corners and was able to get by a few who weren’t as good at the twisting single track. I had one guy who thought he wanted to ride faster than me so I let him by but in the next turn I watched him wash out and hit the ground pretty hard. I asked if he was alright and he said yes as I rode by him so I continued on. Once the single track section was over I ate a gel and drank some water because it was too fast and tight in the single track to do so.

                The race continued on a fire road for a bit and there was a water station where I downed a cup of water on my way through. After the water station there was some single track that led to the sandy downhill which I cleared just fine but then I remember the climb was a little bit after this. I downed a gel and some water and prepared for this climb. The climb went on and on and was steep, I was spinning in my low gear and keeping an alright pace but there was one section where people began walking so I joined in. During the hike up I ate some energy chews before the climb was rideable again, then the trail descended and there was more climbing. We reached the top of the climb and went down some fast fire road/double track and then there was more fire road climb.

                As the fire road climb started peaking I recognized some of the trail from my pre ride and sure enough the airport we passed on the way out was up ahead. My Garmin didn’t read near the advertised distance and climbing but it was indeed the trail we had rode out on. I got to the steep rocky uphill that everyone walked up in the beginning and didn’t have a problem riding down it. The course ended with some single track that led into the running track where you had to do lap around to the finish. My finish time was 1hr 45min and I finished 25^th out of 27. Which isn’t good but I did have fun riding the single track there. I really felt bogged down during the race like my seat was too low, so after this race I went and got re fit on my bike. This race will be on my race schedule next year because it was a good race that isn’t too far away."

GREAT JOB KURTIS!!