Coach Thrasher

Regatta Report: Delta Blades vs. Palo Alto, North Bay

Regatta Date: April 8, 2006
Men's Entries: V4+, JV4+a, JV4+b, N8+, N4+, 2x, 1x, Mixed 8
Course: 2000m, straight, 4 lanes
Conditions: calm winds, partly sunny, 65 deg F
Results: MV4+
1. Palo Alto 7:32.4 (c: Meredith, Tito, Bryce, Reid, Keith)
2. Delta Blades 7:42.2

W2x
1. Delta Blades 8:59.1
2. Palo Alto 9:23.5
3. Palo Alto-B 9:51.7

WN4+
1. Delta Blades 9:03.8
2. North Bay 9:13.0
3. Palo Alto 9:25.2

MJV4+
1. Palo Alto 7:51.0 (c: Meredith, Sam, Alex, Patrick, James)
2. Delta Blades 8:03.4
3. Palo Alto-B 8:37.2
4. North Bay 8:51.2

Mx2x
1. Delta Blades 8:16.4
2. Delta Blades-B 8:32.2
3. Palo Alto 8:55.0 (Tito, Sarah)

WV8+
1. North Bay 7:55.3
2. Palo Alto 8:04.5

MN8+
1. Delta Blades 7:03.3
2. Palo Alto 7:44.7 (c: Nadav, Andrew Z., Alex, Sam, James, Patrick, Will, Andrew O., Gordy)
3. Delta Blades-B 7:52.0

M2x
1. Delta Blades 8:14.1
2. North Bay 8:30.9
3. Palo Alto 8:41.8 (Reid, Bryce)

WJV4+
1. Delta Blades 8:26.4
2. Palo Alto 9:00.7
3. North Bay 9:08.5

MN4+
1. Delta Blades 7:55.3
2. North Bay 8:11.0
3. Palo Alto 8:18.1 (c: Nadav, Andrew Z., Alex, Will, Gordy)

M1x
1. Delta Blades 8:47.4
2. Palo Alto 9:33.8 (Sam)

WV4+
1. Palo Alto 8:38.3
2. North Bay 8:45.0

Mx8+
1. Delta Blades 7:07.8
2. Palo Alto 7:20.9 (c: Meredith, Andrew, Alex, Reid, Bryce, w, w, w, w)
3. Delta Blades-B 7:39.0

We raced North Bay and Delta at this regatta: two teams that have the same experience to our men's program at Palo Alto. We've all been rowing for two years, so it was an opportunity to gauge our progress against similar teams on a level playing field.

We had all of the varsity/junior varsity guys except for Teddy who had planned to miss this regatta with me nearly 4 months ago. Looking at our 8 varsity/jv guys, we're really two groups: 4 heavyweights, and 4 lightweights. So we split into 4s, and subed Alex (our Hour-of-Power novice leader) into the LT4 (which made it heavy, thus it had to race as a JV4+). Keith moved from the LT4 into the V4 (heavy) to fill Teddy's spot.

This was Delta's first regatta and Joan had put a lot of work into setting up the venue, coordinating with marshals, and coordinating with teams. The only major hickup we had was before the first event: a cement plant moved a barge over the course and we had to delay for ~60 minutes.

Our men's 4s had a much better race this week than previously. Both the V4 and JV4 won their event. On review after the race the guys reported that they could have gone faster if they hadn't lost their focus/adrenaline due to the 60 minute delay. The MV4 was sitting on the water through the delay and didn't know what was going on. My own observation of their race was that we must continue working on catch placement - we're missing water at higher rates.

The N4+ rowed as a JV4+b boat to get some additional racing experience. They did pretty well coming in 3rd of 4 boats considering they're mostly lightweights AND novice.

We've had a few novice rowers missing practice regularly so I've made it a rule that people missing practice will not row at regattas. As a result, we only had 5 eligible novice rowers to row the N8. It was a similar situation for Delta, so we agreed at the coaches meeting that it was ok for JV rowers to row in the novice eights. We used our lightweights: Sam, James, and Patrick to fill in the boat.

On an interesting note: Sam rowed in 3 events: JV4, N8, 1x, and he went out for a quick practice row in the 1x before the regatta started (since it was his second time in the boat). So, he was really tired for the 1x race and was out there to have fun. He reported that the 1x was a very personal race, and that despite the result, it was a lot of fun. He talked with Craig (the Delta 1x) a little on the water after the event, and back on land, and found that that interaction really added a different dimension to rowing.

Thanks again to parents for providing food and support for this event! Being Delta's first hosted event, I thought it went fairly smoothly. Thanks for being such good hosts! Parking was stright forward, there was no traffic, the weather was nice, the water was calm, and all of the North Bay and Delta parents and rowers that I met made some great conversation.

Posted at 12:00AM Apr 08, 2006 by jason in Rowing  |  Comments[0]

Race Report: Sea Otter Classic Circuit Race

Event: Sea Otter Classic Circuit Race
Category: Elite 3
Teammates: Matt, Greg, Ben, Mike, me
Result: OTB, DNF, of 73 starters only 49 finished Official Results

Ugh, my first road race of the season did not go well, but all is not lost! I really wanted to start at the Sea Otter since I've never raced at that event and it's a huge 4-day bike festival with many pro riders attending. So, I registered and headed down to gorgeous Monterey CA for the Circuit Race.

The course is actually -on- the Laguna Seca race track. This really adds to the event since all of the corners are nicely banked, and all of the pavement is really smooth (~2.3 mile circuit). From the start, you climb gradually at first, and then you have to stand, to get up a 200ft elevation gain. There's a screaming decent through the "corkscrew", and some nice tight banked turns and winds around back to the start/finish.

I was well warmed up and stretched for the start. I made it up the hill with the pack easily the first time up. The second time was a little harder and I anticipated this by moving to the front and letting myself drift back as we climbed the hill. The third time up I used the same drift technique but just barely lost contact with the tail of the pack. We were only 15 minutes in to the race though, so I tried to chase back on. I managed to keep from getting lapped for about 46 minutes.

Every minute or so I'd ride past another rider who had been dropped. A few of them worked with me to try to chase back on, but there was really no hope with that hill in the way. What was left of the pack at that point came flying by on the uphill and I pulled out to become a spectator. We only had Ben, Greg, and Mike left in the field.

The last two laps looked fast. The finish came down to a field sprint in which 6 riders were head-to-head to the line. Eric Barlevav from the "Bicycle John's Serious Cycling" team won.

I need to get more miles in to be competitive. Coaching has taken a lot of time this year away from my own training. Realistically, I've got to get 12-16 hours of riding and rowing in per week which likely won't happen until the spring rowing season ends.

Posted at 09:56AM Apr 07, 2006 by jason in Cycling  |  Comments[0]