Lots of Racing, Lots of Reporting!

The Webcor/Alto Velo Men's Elite Team did a lot of racing this past weekend and scored quite a few podiums. Here's a summary:

Santa Rosa Corporate Crit, Cat 2/3
1st place, James Badia

Orosi RR, P/1/2
2nd place, Ted Huang

Berkely 2-Man Team Time Trial:
1st place, P/1/2, Badia/Nauta
1st place, 70+, MacNeill/Peterson
2nd place, P/1/2, Morenzoni/Beebe
3rd place, 90+, Wilford/Tapscott

Below are reports from the Crit, RR, and TT's

-Rob


James' Santa Rosa Crit Report:

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Category 2/3 with fields picked separately
3/24/07

Teamates: Ted Burns, Bill Dunham
Placing: 1st! of 70 ish

This was my first time racing this course, it was a flat crit with some chicanes in it. Nice pavement and wide finish. It was a 55 minute race. After about 5 minutes a breakaway formed of about 7 guys. They got about 5 seconds so I decided to try and bridge. I made it up to the break which was working together half heartedly. We had about 15 seconds on the field when 2 guys attacked the break, I went after it with one guy on my wheel and we were down to 4 people (myself, a Lombardi, a Clif Bar, and a Cycle Sports). For the next 50 minutes we worked together well with the gap getting as high as 45 seconds, then down to 25, then back to 45. There were 4 primes, each of us in the break taking one. No one tried to attack on the primes we all just let everyone get one. The head winds on the two back straight and the finishing straight was fierce. With 2 to go it was obvious we would stay away, guys started skipping pulls, myself included. On the second to last straightaway I was 3rd wheel, the Lombardi and Cyclesports guys started Cat and mousing a bit. When I saw that I attacked going into the last corner. I kept sprinting all the way to the line (about 150 meters) the Lombardi guy was on my wheel the whole time, I was worried he would come around me at the line, when he tried he came along side of me but wasn't able to get me at the line.

I entered the P1/2 race an hour later, I felt strong for the first 10 minutes, then a break away got up the road with about 20 guys in it. I stayed in the pack for about 20 minutes and helped chase but we were going backwards. I pulled out and decided to save my legs for Pinole tomorrow morning with Tore.

Thank for reading

James

Ted's Orosi RR Report:

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Orosi RR Pro 1/2, 3/25/07
Field Size: 25ish
Teammates: Jono and Dominic

Velo Promo created an absolute jewel of a course in Orosi. The course starts amongst the orchards of Orosi and dabbles into the foothills of the eastern Sierras, winding it's way up the side of a mountain in stair steppy fashion. The course then undulates along a plateau along the top before plunging straight back down to the farmlands/orchards yielding the courses only bit of flat (maybe 5 miles) before heading back into the hills again.

As usual, this race provided a small local field with the NRC Redlands race going on down south. Besides a contingent of BPG/RH Villa guys, there were a handful of riders from So Cal as well, none of whom we recognized. We also had one or two juniors in our midst. Their smaller gearing obviously didn't slow one of them down as one of them ended up winning the race!

The race commenced in very leisurely fashion with Andy Mendonca (BPG) launching almost obligatory attack before the climb, bringing along another rider. No one seemed too concerned and we dawdled along as the gap ballooned to at least several minutes. A So Cal rider picked up the pace on the climb and the gap became pegged at 2 minutes or so. Since we had the most
riders from a single team in the field except for BPG (they had at least 4 and had a rider in the break), we felt compelled to encourage a little pacemaking. I made some leg softening(to myself) attacks that went nowhere. Through the feedzone on the 2nd lap, the pace picked up dramatically and I just managed to latch on to a BPG rider, Kevin Klein, and Grant (a 17 year old!) I clearly wasn't climbing as well, so I opted to hang on.

Once the road flattened out, I was able to pull through a bit, but clearly lacked power. Our group
swelled to 8 or so with Dominic eventually bridging up. A few miles after the top of the ascent, our gruppo compacto caught the two-up break, and Salvotre, the sole Cal Giant rider, attacked drawing out a BPG rider with him. We made a significant error at this juncture by not having Dominic with him. (We unfortunately lost Jono on the climb) With two of us remaining, I was at a loss for what to do as I knew we should be conserving one of us for the finish, but also knew that a bit of pacemaking was in order to keep the gap in check. I also didn't feel compelled to have Dominic wreck himself in case I didn't have legs for the last climb.(My numerous attacks only softened me up) With no one really working, both Dominic and I took turns doing some light tempo at the front. We arrived at the base of the climb knowing the fireworks would begin and sure enough, through the feedzone, Kevin ratcheted up the pace. Luckily, I anticipated this and just barely managed to grab a quick feed and jump on the Klein Express. Grant and Kevin set a mean pace and I again hung on for dear life. A BPG rider, for some reason, sat about two bike lengths back the entire climb. Over the top, I moved into last position. The BPG rider then opened a gap. Kevin, sensing this, drilled it to open a wider gap. I jumped around the BPG rider and onto the duo. From then on, we took turns pulling to keep the gap up. Shortly after, we passed the cooked Cal Giant rider a but still no Christian (BPG rider still off the front)in sight. Finally, as we approached the final descent, a red jersey came into view. Christian latched on as we rode by and we thought we'd be a group of four for the finish. No one wanted to over work, so we rode at a gentle tempo.

With 2km to go, I took one last pull, and no one would pull around me. With 1km to go, I came to virtually a standstill as I didn't want to lead out the sprint. But then 3-4 riders blew by us, forcing all of us to accelerate. Grant saw his opportunity, and took off with about 700 meters to go. He quickly distanced himself as the rest of us looked at each other. Christian finally decided to punch it, and I emerged from his draft and wound up a very long slightly uphill sprint. I felt my legs fading after a couple hundred meters, but still had 150m or so left, and tried to keep the power on as I closed the gap to Grant. But it was too little too late. Grant won definitely by 4-5 bike lengths in fine style with myself 2nd, Kevin third, and Dominic rolled in a short time later in 9th. Jono finished as well having experienced chills midway through the race, along with a lack of energy. We all concluded that pre-race, it is better to err on the side of more calories than less calories. I hope to be hearing about this kid named Grant in a few years. He's the real deal, and nice to boot.

It was beautiful day in Orosi in great company. We couldn't have asked for much more.

Rob's TTT Report:
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Berkeley Hills 2-Man Team Time Trial
Date: 25 March 2007
Team: Brian Peterson & Rob MacNeill
Category: 70+
Result: 1st of 22 teams in 70+, 2nd fastest of 100+ teams for the day

Now 3 years old, the new format for this TTT is nearly 1 lap of the Berkeley Hills RR course. It starts on San Pablo Dam Rd at the boat launch. From there, it goes mostly downhill, turns right then goes over some lumpy terrain. Another sweeping right at the end of a fast descent leads to a false flat and another right with more false flat before tackling the 3 Bears (Mama, Baby, then Papa). The Bears are ~2-4 minute power climbs. The finish is just past the summit of Papa Bear after a 1 km descent. Typically, good times for the course are on the order of 40+ minutes.

We've done this race a couple of times before and have been 2nd twice, once in the 4's on the old course and once in the 3's a couple years ago. This year we avoided P12 and entered 70+ (we're both 35 yo Cat 2's) to maximize a chance for a win. As it turns out, the 70+ was one of the biggest fields and the P12's was one of the smallest, mostly populated by our teammates Badia/Nauta & Beebe/Morenzoni. Still, we were confident going in that we'd be one of the stronger teams overall.

In the couple weeks leading up to the TTT, We both got out to do a little practice and we've both been doing TT races, Brian with the Beat the Clock series and Rob with CVC and San Dimas TT stages, so we were both well practiced together and solo.

After a solid warmup for both of us, we lined up and started the effort. Our strategy this year involved not killing ourselves on the first mostly downhill stretch. The last time we did this race, that leg turned Rob's bad day even worse and Brian had to do most of the pace making for the rest of that TT. This year, we wanted to be sure we had reserves for when it counted on the harder parts of the course.

With that in mind, we stuck to the plan, trading pulls evenly and to suit our individual strengths--Brian eats up false flats and downhills, Rob does better on hills. We were really moving along on the course and we were both thinking we were on a sub 40 minute ride. We pushed each other through the course and over the first couple Bears. On the screaming approach to Papa Bear, Rob and Brian were able to rest somewhat and get ready to give the last hill a max effort finish. Unfortunately, Rob whacked his wheels on a very uneven transition from road to bridge pavement at the bottom of Papa Bear, quickly flatting his front wheel and doing some serious damage to his rear wheel. We were on too good a ride to quit though, so Rob struggled up Papa Bear with the sudden increase in rolling resistance and loss of maneuverability, while Brian encouraged him on. Then it was a matter of keeping it upright for the last kilometer down a 40 mph descent on a flat front tire, which we did.

We were on such a good ride that we still put in a 40:52.2, good for 1st in 70+ by 1:18 over 2nd place. We were even faster than our 1st place teammates Badia/Nauta in P12 and narrowly missed fastest time of the day by 6 seconds, won by Nolan/Metcalfe in 90+. So we think we lost about a minute from the mishap but all in all, it was a good day and we made the best of some bad luck. Next year, we'll be back and looking to break 40 minutes.

Overall Times for the top 4 teams (W/AV Elite Team members took 2nd-4th):

1 40:46.6 Kevin METCALFE Lawrence NOLAN Master 90+
2 40:52.5 Robert MACNEILL Brian PETERSON Master 70+
3 40:55.8 James BADIA Tore NAUTA Elite 1/2/Pro
4 41:35.5 Matt MORENZONI Matthew BEEBE Elite 1/2/Pro

San Dimas Stage Race Report

Racing season is in full swing and a small contingent of the Men's Elite Team made their way down to San Dimas for some stage racing this past weekend. San Dimas Stage Race starts with an uphill TT on Friday, then has a rolling road race Saturday, and finishes with a downtown criterium on Sunday. Rob and Bruce entered the 2's race & Jono lined up with the big boys in the P/1 field. Below is an accounting of the racing action

San Dimas Stage Race
16-18 March 2007
Elite Team Riders: Bruce Wilford and Rob MacNeill in Cat 2, Jono Coulter in P/1

Summary:
Stage 1 TT: 48th/97 for Rob w-16:02, 56th for Bruce w-16:16 (Winning time at 14:29), Jono was 92nd in P/1.
Stage 2 RR: 24th for Rob, 27th for Bruce, both in lead pack of 47, Jono was 75th in P/1 and missed the time cut.
Stage 3 Crit: 8th for Rob, 37th for Bruce
GC: 36th for Rob at 1:46, 42nd for Bruce at 2:00 after a quick 3:28:25 of racing

TT Report:
The first stage is an uphill time trial of a bit under 4 miles. The start is fast and mostly level for a minute or two, then one turns left and starts the climb, which continues past the finish line. The grade is comparable to Route 9, fairly steady and sort of shallow and faster than OLH or Kings.

We all headed down the night beforehand so had all morning to get reg'd and have a little spin before our cushy mid-afternoon start times. It was warm and sunny in SoCal, which made for a nice change from the previous two years when it was pouring rain and cold for this TT. Still it was probably the hottest racing day yet so we had to be diligent about staying hydrated before and after the TT.

After some good warmups on the rollers in the shade, we headed out for our starts. Rob went 10-15 minutes ahead of Bruce. From the post-race debrief, it seems that both Rob and Bruce had the same race: we both started too hard, we both suffered from our early mistakes, we still both put in solid efforts, we both passed one guy, and we both got passed by one guy. The times and W/kg were similar too. Bruce and Rob aren't noted climbers, which is unfortunate when the uphill TT pretty much decides GC. We ended up smack dab in the middle of the placings after the first stage: 49th for Rob and 56th for Bruce and about a minute and a half off the leader. This at least took all responsibility off our small team from controlling the next stages and it made our approach for the rest of the race clear: go for stage wins.

In the P/1 event, Jono was suffering from a bit of fever and overall sickness and had trouble maintaining the intensity required for a TT. He soldiered through it hoping to recover in time for the next day's road race.

RR Report:
The course is a 7-mile circuit on which the Cat 2's did 8 laps for a total of 56 miles. Each loop had a few rollers and one 1.5-2 minute, steep KOM climb toward the end of the lap. After the hill, there was a short fast descent to the relatively flat, straight final 1-2 km. There was a stiff tailwind into the finish and head/crosswinds on other sections of the course. The wind didn't really factor into our race that much though.

Another easy afternoon start time meant a good nights sleep. In the Cat 2 event, we expected the rather short RR to be rather fast and hard. It didn't disappoint. The first several laps were fast, especially through the one main climb. There were KOM points on offer on laps 2, 4 & 6, which made the pace high. Laps, 3, 5, 7 and 8 had sprint points (and the win) up for grabs through the start/finish. Lots of jockeying going on for the green and polka dot jersey points. Bruce and Rob stayed out of it mostly, trying to save it for breaks or the sprint finish. We stayed near the front most of the race and sagged the climb to save our energy. Bruce had the misfortune of hitting a bump about 3 laps in, which tilted his saddle up an uncomfortable 30 degrees. He did an awesome job of dealing with a bad situation and only complained once or twice. He even got in one of the few breaks of the day. Unfortunately, the mix didn't work so it was brought back shortly.

Things were looking good with 1 or 2 to go. Bruce and Rob were comfortable near the front as others seemed to be getting tired. Unfortunately, the P/1 pack, which was mysteriously started 10 minutes behind the 2's, took about half of the last lap of neutralized riding to pass us. Just as the neutralization ended, a well timed solo attack went off. He held it to the line for the win. A little while later, a DBC rider went off in chase, and he stayed off too. The lethargic pack did nothing, Bruce and I weren't in position to counter, and the GC guys apparently couldn't get their teams motivated to do some teamwork. So, with a well rested peleton approaching the final climb, we knew it was going to be hard and hard it was. Bruce and Rob did their best to make it over with no intentional sagging this time. We both made it with the front group. Rob bombed the descent and passed the pack, thinking there was more of the field splintered off the front. The guys "off the front" were a mix of P/1's and 3's finishing up. So, Rob sat up, not wanting to tow the field to the line. A few efforts were made trying to stay on top of the surges. With about 3 or 400 m to go, the front guys jumped, Rob tried to follow and had to sit down after 200 m and rolled it in for 24th. Bruce was gaining fast in the last meters but finished just behind Rob in 27th. So, beside the 2 guys off the front, we finished with the lead pack of 47 riders. If things were a little less chaotic into the finish, it could've gone better. That's bike racing though.

The P/1 Race went 10 laps and 70 miles. Jono was still under the weather but took the start anyway and did the best he could, given the circumstances. BMC were drilling it with Moninger in yellow and Navigators and Jittery Joes were taking turns at trying to annihilate his tiny, frail, alien like body J Jono was spent with 4 laps to go and rode in with a Colavita, a BMC and a really nice guy Andy from Karl Strauss SDBC, thinking the officials would be lenient with the 5% time cut. It was not to be.

Crit Report:
One last afternoon start for the final stage, a downtown San Dimas criterium on an L-Shaped course with a slight uphill leg on the far side and a downhill leg coming into the last corner before the ~200 m flat, straight drag to the line. The 2's race was 55 minutes of fury with 2 hot spot sprints for bonus seconds and green jersey points on offer. Lots of primes were up for grabs throughout as well, which kept things rolling. Again, teamwork seemed minimal from the big teams so the race leaders were left to fend for themselves. This made for some sketchy racing at times, with the biggest crash happening on the corner leading into one of the hot spot sprints. The last couple laps were fast with Rob and Bruce doing their best to hang in there. Rob was near the front trying to figure out what team might be forming a leadout. It didn't materialize though, so Rob surfed many swarms in the closing minutes to stay at the front. There was a bit of a swarm on the last downhill leg and we went into the last corner about 4 wide. The guy in front of Rob blew his tire through the corner but managed to stay upright. Rob had to hesitate to get around before sprinting and finished a respectable 8th. Bruce finished in the pack in 37th.

All in all, we rode well, stayed upright, and had fun. With consistent finishes, the Cat 2's both moved up from our initial placings to 36th for Rob and 42nd for Bruce in GC. Jono lived to race another weekend. He'll focus on getting over his sickness and hit 'em again soon.

CVC Stage Race Report

Race Report - CVC Stage Race Elite 2
GC Results: Bruce (17th), James (46), Rob (42), Dominic (26)

This race was a 3 stage race, first day a 70 mile RR, second day a 16 mile TT, third day a (shortened) 40 minute crit. 3 of us actually won some (small) $, which was a nice outcome. On the first day, we decided to race for James as based on Merco, we expected everything to stay together. This turned out not to be the case and we were able to ride very well as a team, changing the plan on the course to race for Dominic (break) and Bruce (sprint) after going through the hills the first time. The team has raced together a number of times and the ability to change plans on the road is really a testament to the commitment everyone has to be willing to race for their team before themselves. The TT on the second day was more of an individual effort and was the main decider for the GC positions. We planned to ride for James in the criterium on the third day and we all worked for that plan. In general the race was very well run and the courses were all good.

Road Race
Results: Dominic (15th), Bruce (26th), Rob (49th), James (53rd)

Report from Dominic on the RR

The course for this race is a 33 mile loop. It's challenging with all sorts of terrain: stair-steppy climbs, screaming 55+ mph descents and even a fair bit of flattish terrain. After a 1k neutral roll-out we turned left onto the loop things picked up right away. We hit the first ramparts within a few minutes and I began to wonder if I was having a bad day as I didn't feel stellar. I was able to hang but didn't feel like I could jump away. From what Rob told me after we got through it, the first climbs had already done some damage to the bunch. Rob (our road captain for the day) made the call that we'd be racing for Bruce or me since he wasn't sure that he or James would make it through the climbs the next time. I sat in as Rob and James went to the front and kept a good steady hard pace. Nearing the end of the first lap I saw James put his arm up and pull over, apparently victim of a dropped chain. I thought he'd be able to catch back on but he couldn't quite get back in the group before the pace got hot again.

Going into the climbs the second time I decided to conserve my efforts and go for it on the rollers later in the lap. The pace was tough and with a bit of encouragement Bruce made it through with the now whittled down bunch. After the super fast descent we hit a nice little "berg" and once the speed bled off, I launched an attack. It got quickly brought back. I got a little bit bummed but then decided that in fact I had come to race my bike, not pedal around with 50 of my closest cat-2 friends. So I launched another attack. That got brought back. So I counter-attacked my own move and kept doing this until me and another guy got away for a while. This scene repeated a few more times until a solo rider and a Davis Bike Club rider countered and I decided not to follow it. This was unfortunately the move that stayed away.

For some reason the biggest team, BPG, didn't see the break go and thus didn't start chasing. Everyone was getting a bit fatigued too. I tried my hand a few more times on some rollers but wasn't getting away. Bruce got a bit of a gap for a while and I eased up to let him try to get away but eventually that too got shut down. Once the BPG team realized that there was a break of two up the road they started to work to bring it back. I helped out as much as I could but it wasn't enough to close it down.

We headed into the finish about 30 strong. At about 1k to go I told Bruce we needed to move up and we both got ourselves into position. I couldn't quite get to the front to wind it up and within seconds it seemed the sprint was on. I did what I could without getting sketchy and was surprised to see that I didn't get totally swarmed at the end.

I felt like we raced well as a team but lacked a little bit of luck and/or fitness that would have gotten us a better result.

TT
Results: Bruce (21st), James (22nd), Rob (24th), Dominic (40th)

Report from Bruce on the TT

The course was mainly flat 16.5 mile course. It went straight and flat for 7 miles, into minor rollers for 5 miles, which looked much bigger in the car than on the TT bike, right hand turn and then over a river bridge and then flat for 4 miles, with the finish being on a slope similar to going up Sand Hill Road. When we drove the course it looked as if one should be steady for the first third, then push hard up the uphill roller, but then rest on some of the fast descent, cross the bridge and just pedal pedal pedal until the end. On the bike all of us noticed that the uphill roller was much less steep than we had expected and that the downhill seemed flat and all the concerns about the one corner that looked fast were unfounded. I went out at my target power and focused on not going to hard, I climbed a little harder and just rode through the descent. The first 2/3 of the course went faster than I expected. Once I crossed the bridge I tried to pick up the power, but after seeing my SRM files, it only went up a little. I just focused on being
steady and keeping my cadence at 90-95 and staying in the correct position. When I got to the final climb, the last 500m seemed to take forever and by now I was laying out everything I had left. I stayed seated and just kept the power going to the line. My power went up by 75w for that last effort. My power numbers were right on target, but my HR was about 10 beats lower
than I expected.

Things I learned: "Riding" the course in the car is less useful than riding the course on a bike. I saved to much for later in the race, the ability to drive the power up that much at the end meant I should have gone a little harder during the whole event. We all made similar power, but Rob, James and I had full TT bikes, Dominic just rode his road bike with clip-ons, clearly this makes a difference.

Criterium
Results: James (8th), Rob (14th), Dominic (38), Bruce (47)

Report from James on the crit

The start of the race was delayed by the podium presentations of the Pro/1 men's and Pro women's fields. The race was scheduled to be 50 minutes but was shortened mid race for some unknown reason. The course is unique with it's narrow 180 degree turn and chicane on the backside. Overall I really enjoyed the course as it was suited to my riding style. The plan was for me to sit in the pack while Bruce, Rob and Dominic worked the front of the race chasing/initiating attacks and trying to keep the race safe. At the whistle the race started out fast and remained so for the entire race. This was partly due to Dominic spending a lot of time on the front keeping it strung out and putting in a few attacks. Bruce attacked just after one of the primes but was soon caught after the 180. I was happy with my ability to remain near the front for the entire race. What I found worked well to conserve energy was to enter the 180 somewhere near the front of the pack and while everyone else was out of the saddle sprinting out of the 180, I would soft pedal and let a few guys pass. With little effort I was able to gain those spots back on the backside of the course only to repeat again on the next lap. This allowed my legs to remain relatively fresh throughout the race. I tried for a prime about mid race to test out the legs, but was slightly beat to the line by a visiting Japanese rider. Before I knew it I looked up and saw 7 laps to go. At 5 to go I was sitting about 15th wheel when a group of 6 riders were able to open up a small gap. At 4 to go a crash happened in the pack on the inside of 90 degree left hand turn and quickly spread across the entire road. I was on the outside and was forced to go up the curb onto the sidewalk. I got back on the pedals and chased
back on to the group. I made my way up through the pack and found Rob's wheel, I yelled to let him know I was there and he towed me up to Bruce's wheel near the front of the pack. The group was still about 15 seconds off the front and looked like they were working together well. I let Bruce know I was there and with 1 to go Bruce put in an impressive effort at the front with me on his wheel. He pulled off on the backside of the course, I pulled through and then eased up to let a few riders go by so I could tuck in for the sprint. I tucked in 2nd wheel behind a Hazards rider who took me wide in the last corner forcing me to come around him on the outside. Aaron Cox from BPG came up the inside and we had a drag race to the line. 2nd in the field sprint was good for 8th overall.

Takeaways from this race and the weekend: I feel the team communicated well before during and after the race. Racing is like playing cards, sometimes you are dealt a good hand and sometimes you aren't. On this day the crash was unfortunate because I really think we would have caught the group of 6 had it not been for the crash. Bruce, Rob, and Dominic all rode the race to the best of their abilities and it showed, they all contributed to the cause of the team to get me to the line. I hope to deliver the win next time I am the designated guy. Since we missed the winning break, I have to mention that as something to learn from. More efforts from the team as a whole to have a presence at the front would be good.

Overall it was a great weekend hanging out and racing with Rob, Bruce,
Dominic, and Jono (who raced the Pro/1 field).

Merco/McLane Race Reports

Race: Merco / McLane Downtown Crit.
Category: Elite 2 (field size 120)
Team: Bruce Wilford, Rob MacNeill, Dominic Giampaolo, James Badia, Peter
Dinolfo

Short version: We planned to race for James or Rob. At 1 to go, our team was all close together near the front and James, Rob, Dominic and Peter all were taken out in a crash. I avoided it and got 21st. Nobody was seriously hurt, but Dominic will require dental work for several broken teeth.

Although most of the team had raced together at Snelling, this was my first race of the year. Because of that, I was planning to not be active in the early parts of the race, rather waiting until I had found my race legs. At the team meeting, we discussed racing for James as he has the best sprint and he does well in criteriums. We lined up near the front of the huge field. The race was shortened to 32 laps of the 0.8 mile circuit.

Dominic, Rob, James and Peter went directly to the front and were patrolling for breaks. I was drifting backwards finding the safe lines around the course. This year, they did not have the usual arch of balloons over the chicane, which was one less thing to worry about. The group did not really go that hard and once I had settled in I focused on moving up. At one of the early (maybe even the first) primes, I was on the front with Steve R. (Cal Giant), I asked him if he wanted it and he said no and I did not really want to race for the prime, but he said, "I'll let you gap off", which he did with about 500m to the line and I made a half hearted attempt at the prime, but was passed by several guys who were more serious. During the race Dominic, Peter and Rob all covered or initiated moves. Peter was in the only real break of the day, but as with the others, it was pulled back. James picked up a prime somewhere along the way.

At 8 to go, I ended up rolling off the front and so tried to maintain good pace so that our guys could just follow wheels, after about half a lap of that a prime was announced and although I did almost a complete lap on the front, just trying to be steady, I was caught by 2 guys. I think that effort was a waste. At 3 to go Dominic did most of a lap on the front trying to keep things moving along. Rob, Dominic and Peter were all just in front of James ready for the lead-out. They were on the outside of the bunch, I was still trying to keep to safer lines and was behind them moving up on the inside. At one to go, there was some bumping and about 10 guys went down, including my four teammates. I avoided the crash and got 21st.

I think we rode well as a team, all being active on the front. Spot of bad luck at the end. The team looks great on the new Giants, which handle very quickly and so are really nice for criteriums. Photos at
http://picasaweb.google.com/bruce.wilford/MercoMcLaneWeekend07,
where one shows all five of us are close to the front going through the chicane.

Dan Martin was 6th. Eric Barlevav from VRC won the race.


Race: Merco / McLane Roadrace
Category: Elite 2 (field size 120)
Team: Bruce Wilford, Rob MacNeill, Dominic Giampaolo, Peter Dinolfo

Short version: We planned to race for me or Rob. Rob had a mechanical. I did not position sufficiently well, getting 18th, Peter got 25th, Dominic 70th.

We planned for me to sit in for the first 2 laps and then planned to be more active at the front in the later part of the race. I sat at the back of the bunch and just tried not to sprint hard out of the corners for the first two laps. Rob, Dominic and Peter covered several early break attempts and I could usually see them up at the pointy end of the peloton. The race was very surgey, with short fast sections and then long slow sections, where everybody just rode easy. Last year there was a strong wind, which made things hard, but this year the wind was light to non-existent and all the moves that went away were just chased down. BPG had an army of guys, seemed as if they had 12 guys in the race, 7 of them finished. On the second lap, Rob hit a pothole and it loosened his brake levers which then jammed his brakes on. He decided that his bike was not safe to race and pulled out, turned around and going back to the feedzone to help the team and other Webcor racers with bottles. The short lived attacks continued, but nothing serious got established. Dominic and Peter covered many of those break attempts. Steve R (Cal Giant) tried going away solo a few times, but after letting him hang for a while, the bunch would go after him.

At half a lap to go, I tried to get a Davis guy, Elliott (BPG), Steve and myself to start to work together, but after one pull each, it sort of fizzled. The final time up the hill, the speed increased and the usual "sit-up" at the top did not happen. Peter and I approached the final two little rollers together, trying to move up, me on the very left, him on the right. With the pace not being that fast, and everybody waiting for the sprint, the road became tight with people and although I had moved up a little, I had left it to late. As we entered the final 1km, there was a bunch of pushing and at 800m, Nate Rogers hit the deck pretty hard. I braked and swerved around it, An arête guy did a huge bunny hop over Nate's bike, getting about 2 feet off the road, his back tire exploded on landing though. Peter got caught up a little worse than I did. After the crash I climbed over the hill, passed a few people in the final 300m, but ended up 18th, with Peter close behind.

I think we rode well as a team, followed our plan well and we were able to communicate well during the race. Sean Mazich (Waste Management) won the race.

The lessons from this race are that we should have worked a little more closely with some of the other teams to make a unified attempt at a break, which would have improved our chances and also made it harder for the pile of single riders just sitting in and waiting until the end as well as making it safer for all those involved.

Thanks for reading

Bruce