Den Satake Wins Napa Valley Dirt Classic

We have just received word that Den Satake won his Expert 40-44 race at the Napa Valley Dirt Classic this Sunday. His time of 1:42 beat both the winners of the Expert Male 30-34 and 35-39 races. Nice work, Den!

Other Tam Racers turned in worthy performances as well. Alex MacSwain finished 10th of 26th in Sport Male 35-39. James Pucket was 20th in Sport Male 40-44.

Also racing were several Friends of Tam Racing:

Olivier Bock (Motionbased) 7th in Pro/Elite Men

Eric Russell (Clifbar) 1st in Expert Male 30-34

Abbie Durkee 5th in Pro/Elite Women

Paula Bock (Motionbased) 1st 35-44 Expert Women

Wente Road Race Results
The Wente Vineyards Road Race and Criterium results are now posted. We're pleased to report that our finger counting was indeed correct, and Lynette Forbes finished 8th place over all in the Women's 4/35+ race. And, after all those Wente woes, Joachim Neto still managed a 10th place finish in his Elite Category 3 race.

Congratulations to all who raced this weekend.

We now turn to this report from Paula Bock and her perspective on Copperopolis.

One last thing, I swear... Pete sends us his interactive Motionbased ride data from our ride last Sunday. This is pretty neat!

Tam Racers Take On Wente Brute!

We're still awaiting official results from last Saturday's Wente Vineyards Classic Road Race. Many racers from the men's squad were seen, including Tim Koehler, Pat Bush, Shane Deal (4th in the Elite 5b field?), Joaquim Neto and Harry Hunt. On the women's side, we believe Lynette Forbes earned her second top ten finish in three races (the results from the Sea Otter Classic are wrong!) in the Women's 4/35+ race, but this was deduced by counting on our fingers. Katie Kelly finished a confirmed 6th and consumed her entire hard earned bottle of wine minutes before posting this update! Full report at 11.

Meanwhile, Tam Racer Pete Billington tells of another Levi Leipheimer sighting as the debate of to crinkle or not to crinkle continues in his lively report of our Tam Cycling Men's Team in the Elite Cat 3 race.

Photo of Lynette Forbes purchased and printed with permission from www.ronaldmariano.com.

Super Mom, Super Model Julia Violich in Marin Magazine

Available at select newsstands now, this month's Marin Magazine features an interview with non-other than our own Julia Violich-Mecklenburg, owner of our favorite bike shop, Paradigm Cycles.

This issue of Marin has Mother’s Day bases covered, from a maternity wear fashion feature (“Belly Beautiful,” page 46) and an interview with eight-months-pregnant Fairfax mom Julia Violich (Lifestyle, page 48), to a selection of thoughtful gifts for the revered women in our lives (Gifts for Mom, page 50).

Speaking of Paradigm Cycles... We've got our first ride posted in our Rides section. Come on out!

Andrew Johnston Takes 6th at Menlo Park Grand Prix!

While some of us suffered at Copperopolis last Saturday, Andrew Johnston was racing at the first annual Menlo Park Grand Prix and took 6th place in the Elite 5 division. Well done Andrew!

We have more Copperopolis results, too. Joachim Neto finished 6th out of 48 riders in a tough Cat 3 race.

We have a letter! Tam Racer Tricia Wallace writes:

Hey, did you know how Copperopolis got its name? Originally it was a copper mining town, then they found asbestos and mined that - then realized it was a dangerous substance and stuffed it back in the ground. Decided Asbestopolis didn't sound too good so named the town Copperopolis (but it is filled with asbestos). Think of that when you're breathing hard while racing! This insightful information is from Laura Vaughn (Geoff's wife).

Fascinating news, Trish. And to think all that wheezing was just asthma!

Let's now turn to our Pack Fill Reporter, Katie Kelly, with her views from this exciting race.

Photo of Andrew Johnston by www.sheryllrossphotography.com

Take a Look at Paula's Motionbased Dashboard

Paula Bock has generously donated her MotionBased Dashboard for us of her tour of Copperopolis.

Based out of Sausalito, MotionBased is a web based application that translates GPS data into online mapping for endurance athletes. It even offers something called a Map Player with which you can not just view previously recorded routes, but watch the activity of the route, including topographical and elevation changes. Check out their Paradise Loop analysis!

Pro Tip! And Copperopolis Update!

We had at least six Tam Racers at Copperopolis this Saturday, April 15, including Paula Bock and Katie Kelly racing in the Women 4 category, Joachim Neto and Harry Hunt in the Cat 3s, and rounding off our Cat 4 team were Miguel Mestayer and Nick Danmer. So far we know that Paula and Katie finished 5th and 6th in the Women's 4 race. More results and reports to follow soon!

In the meantime, we offer you this Pro Tip, offered by some dude parked next to Paula and Olivier's rig. Dissatisfied with our own number application methods, he immediately rushed over to show us his professional ways.


Notice the parallel placement of the safety pins. This allows for a closer, more streamlined number application. "Will it make me win?" asked our reporter.

"I cannot guarantee this," said our mystery panel expert. "But you will go faster."

What about crumpling up the number before hand? We see that a lot of times at the races. "Heavens, no!" said the expert. That is "wrong" and "tacky". Not to mention that the race officials don't like it, because the numbers are too hard to read.

Here we see on our model Paula Bock our own attempt at mastering this technique.


We neglected to ask Paula if this new and improved method helped her in her race, but our lonely reporter couldn't help but notice that she climbed awfully fast.

Surviving the Sea Otter

Our field reporter Katie Kelly was on the scene at this year's Sea Otter Classic, and she brings us this report from the front.

While you're here, check out our (so far) one other archived report from last year's Mt. Hamilton Road Race.

More to come!