Curt Mills
The Race Formerly Known as Leesville Gap
Tiger Woods used to dominate the Masters, in his first nine attempts at Augusta he won four times. A win percentage like that in golf is almost unprecedented, let alone in a major as storied as the Masters. Tiger was as dominating a figure as the sport has ever seen. In the seven attempts since those first nine though, Tiger has won just twice.
So what changed? Well quite a bit’s changed for Tiger, but the reason many believe he’s not as dominant as before can be traced back to two major course alterations that occurred in 2002 and 2006. Those alterations were aimed at making the par 5’s Tiger was so accustom to reaching in 2 shots outside of even his range. Lengthening those holes would force him to play 3 shots to reach the green just like everyone else. These changes came to be known as “Tiger Proofing” the course. Read the rest of this entry »
Madera Stage Race
Here’s a quick recap from our team’s trip to the Madera Stage Race – this weekends DDA roster included Casey, Eric, Nate, and me – Curt.
Time Trial:
Our team’s hopes in the “race of truth” hinged on Eric Brickler, who’s racing with one good arm (“to make it a fair fight”) – and Casey Fallon who’s ramping up for the Chico Stage Race in a couple of weekends. The two of them laid down solid efforts and landed just outside the top 10 (11th and 13th respectively) in a full 75 man field. Nate and I did less well, but remained in remarkably upbeat spirits all the same – really well done Nate and I.
Criterium:
Needing a fair amount of time to land in the top 3 in GC, we decided to do what we enjoy best and just race our bikes in the crit. This crit felt a little like a P/1/2 race where there’s this constant aggression until a break get’s established that’s agreeable to the field, only this field was pretty disagreeable and that wasn’t going to happen. The whole race attacks would go, get caught, then the counter would come – for 60 minutes this went on, making it easily the most difficult race we’d done all season.
Somewhere in the midst of the relentless attacks, Eric shows his incredible race savvy and unleashes his killer sprint to land a time bonus prime that moves him into the top 10 in GC. Again, all with only one good arm.
Finally with two to go Casey put in a perfect move, got a gap, and put the bit between his teeth (his words, no fake british accent used). The pack was caught trying to determine who was going to chase this down, I love this moment in races. Read the rest of this entry »
Gold Country Gran Fondo – Saturday, March 29th
Billed as a “A challenging mass participation cycling event reaching deep into the history of the sierra foothills”, our team is excited about this event. Here’s why:
- It’s being organized by the crew at Folsom Bike. From Tri-Night to the amazing Town Center criterium, these folks always throw great events.
- The course is on the same roads we train on, except instead of riding by our lonesome – we’ll have 500 friends along for the spin.
- Burying the lead here, but Big George Hincapie is going to be there too. If there’s ever a time to give a run at the KOM on Prospector, it’s probably when George is tapping out tempo on the front.
Maybe most importantly though – we’re all excited that we can sleep in and still make the start (unlike Levi’s big ride in October). If you want to sign up, go to gcfondo.com to get registered.
Data Driven Athlete Racing 