CalCup Round 6: University RR

Some of the hard-as-nails-climber-types from the team tackled the University Road Race this past Sunday. The course is relentlessly up and down and only the strongest survive. Below is Ted's report from the event.

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University RR
26 August 2007
Length: 20 laps
Place: 7th (Dominic and Christine finishing)
Teammates: Dominic Giampaolo, Greg Davis, and Christine Thorburn

First off, I made a poor decision letting my temper
get the best of me and for setting a poor example by
making a scene immediately after yesterday's race. I
broke the cardinal rule of "What happens in the race,
should stay in the race." Bike racing is half
psychological warfare, so if I let a rider get under
my skin, it's my own problem. It's better to let your
legs do the talking instead of your mouth (I used the
latter. A great example of what you should do is to
simply look at Karen Brems, who won her race against 3 or 4
TIBCO riders without any teammates. I'm fairly
certain she wasn't the strongest rider in her field
since there is no hiding at University. I never would
have expected her to pull out the win. But by never
showing a sign of weakness, she somehow pulled it off
yesterday. She has achieved "God-like" status in my
book.

Back to the report:
We had as good of a field as I've ever seen at this
race with solid riders from a variety of domestic pro
teams including Jittery Joe's (Neil Shirley, eventual
winner)Slipstream's(Webcor alum Lucas "bay face" Euser
and Steven Cozza-first race back- since his bad
accident), Navigators' (David Rodriguez), Rock
Racing's (Kevin Klein and Adam Switters), VMG's - Eric
Riggs, , and mtn bike hammer, Barry Wicks. Of course
we had the area's top local riders who like hilly
courses, including one up and comer who doesn't yet
know what he's good at(everything): "the real deal"
Jared of Metromint, who had just won San Ardo the day
before.

A former Webcor alum, Ben Haldeman, set the tone by
attacking right out of the gates putting everyone into
the pain cave. This was highly unnecessary as the
majority of Pro 1/2 riders do not warm up for races,
and seeing this rider on the side, back in street
clothes within the hour meant he clearly attacked for
effect.

The ensuing laps, were punctuated by a multitude of
attacks, with no one, unfortunately, able to stay off,
thus making the pace rather uncomfortable. Both
Christine and Dominic did a great job of maintaining
position near the front. However, the high pace took
its toll and our group whittled down to about a dozen.
On lap 10 or so, we voluntarily neutralized ourselves
when we caught the Master's 4/5 field finishing their
race.

On the following lap, after I then rolled off in my
'not particularly safe' aero tuck and was able to hold
a gap until the top of the climb. Unfortunately the
entire field bridged up rather than the couple of
riders I was hoping for. The counter to my move became
the break of the day as Steven Cozza of Slipstream
attacked from the base of the climb, with about 5 to
go. A flying Neil Shirley and Jesse Moore bridged
across shortly after, and it seemed clear that this
break had teeth.

By this time, we were down to about 7 or 8 riders left
in the chase group incl, and with no organized chase,
the gap grew. Wicks, Jared, BP, and Jonathan Eropkins
took some nice pulls, but the gap wasn't coming down
quickly.

With three to go, we catch Steven and Jesse but not
Neil, who had set off alone, and with two to go, Jared
rolls off on the descent, and nobody responded. He
put his head down and that was that. We're now racing
for
3rd. More attacks ensue on the last lap, and I end up
in the 2nd chase group behind Lucas, Adam Switters,
Jesse, with Neil and Jared up the road.

It's myself, Tyler (from Davis Bike Club), and Kevin
Klein arrears. With some hard efforts by Tyler and
myself, we get within 10 bike lengths of the chase
group at the bottom corner. We continue to push it
towards the line as Kevin jumps around us(he has
teammate Adam just ahead), latching onto the chase
group as they start their sprint. I roll
in 7th. Both Dominic (10 - 15ish?) and Christine
finished strongly as well.

Not a bad result. It would have been nice to have
Greg racing with us, but I found out later that he had
a major mechanical before the start of the race.

-Ted

CalCup Round 5: San Ardo RR

CalCup racing continues. This edition was a road race around San Ardo, a farming community down past King City. The Webcor/Alto Velo team put in a good team effort and ultimately put Big Tore in the break of the day, which barely stayed off to the finish. Below is Tore's report from the race.

==============================

Race: San Ardo RR - P/1/2 (08/25/07)
Course: 4 laps (84 mile) flat/rollers
Field: 50+
Team: Tore Nauta (6th), James Badia (10th-13th), Brad Goodson, Matt
Beebe, Rob MacNeill

Beside the usual strong guys from teams like BPG, CalGiant, Rock
Racing, some interesting riders from other teams showed up as well:
Slipstream, Navigators, BMC, Kodak, Jittery Joes. The plan was to keep
James, who has proven in Suisun to still have a deadly sprint at this
time of year, protected for the final part of the race. The others
would share the rest of the load during the race.

Very early in the first lap an Arete rider took off, soon to be joined
by a CalGiant. The pack didn't react and the pace dropped to an
unbearable low speed, giving the leaders a gap of more than 2 minutes.
Rob started riding tempo at the front, bringing the pace back to a
normal level. In the second lap things started to get a bit more
interesting. There were a lot of hard attacks from Lucas Euser
(Slipstream) in the hilly terrain. Brad and BB were covering and Brad
ended up in a break that lasted for a while. On the long stretch back
to the village, Jamiel Danesh (Kodak) stayed away for quite some time,
but eventually got back because of BPG, Metromint, Davis, and Rob
setting a decent pace.

Not completely clear about the exact moment, but around this time also
the Arete and CalGiant riders who had been off the front were back in
the pack. Going through the hills for the third time, there were
plenty of attacks. After the rollers, near the bridge, I got in a
break with David Rodriguez (Navigators), Mike Telega (CalGiant) and an
Arete rider. The latter had to give up after a couple of miles, but
the remaining three of us were working well together and things looked
pretty good until we were entering the fourth lap: something in
David's bike snapped - a broken spoke. He had to stop and Mike and I
continued but it soon became clear that we wouldn't be able to keep
the pace fast enough to stay away. At the start of the rollers, the
pack (or at least part of it) caught us.

At this same moment, Rob and BB got gapped of the back. Rob and BB
teamed up with Jamiel for a powerful TTT through the rollers, and
making it possible for Rob to rejoin the field near the bridge. During
this time there were a lot of attacks and at a certain point a couple
of guys were off the front without Webcor in it. We also missed the
next guy who jumped. That didn't look good and I jumped with the next
two guys who tried to bridge. We did some hard work and finally a
stable group of 7 was formed. This break was less organized compared
to the first one, because of its size and the differences in
capabilities. Joel Robertson (Kaiser Permanente) and Jonathan Eropkin
(CVC) were the big guys pulling very hard, which sometimes resulted in
some paceline gaps.

Anyway, approaching the San Ardo village we could see the pack getting
closer. Some guys got nervous and started doing more work. Webcor was
in a good postion, because Brad and James were still available for a
field sprint. On this last stretch, James was following attacks in the
pack, but unfortunately superman Jared Barrilleaux (Metromint) was
able to get away with one other rider and they bridged up to us in the
village. This made us a group of 9. That was with less than a mile to
go to the finish.

Crossing the bridge there were several unsuccessful attempts to get
away by Joel, Mike Telega (CalGiant), and Jared. I was in about third
wheel at the moment that we went under the overpass and Jared jumped
hard initiating the real sprint. Jared won the uphill sprint and I got
passed by a bit too many guys including Jonathan just on the finish
line. I was a bit disappointed by my sprinting capabilities, but it
felt good to be part of the right breaks.

At the end, the gap between the field and our group had diminished to
almost zero, and Brad and James were getting ready for the field
sprint. Crossing the bridge, Brad kept James out of the wind in 4th
position and dropped him off with about 100m before the turnoff to the
sprint. James finished 4th in the sprint.

Thanks to Amy for the feedzone support!

Tore

Suisun Harbor Criterium Men's Pro 1/2 WEBCOR/AV WINS!

Jamo scored his first P/1/2 victory this past weekend, and in a CalCup race no less! Below is his race report.

Race: Suisun Harbor Criterium Men's Pro 1/2
Aug. 19th, 2007
Teamates: Brad Goodson, Tore Nauta, Rob MacNeil
Placing 1st of 52

This was my first time racing the Suisun course and I definitely found it to my liking. A short, flat, four corner rectangular criterium in the downtown area of Suisun city. The race was 72 laps. This race is part of the Cal Cup Series put on by Velo Promo. Out of the 52 starters there was plenty of horsepower with people like Jared (Metromint), Eric Wohlberg, Kevin Klein (Rock Racing), Uthman Ray (BPG), JD Bergman (Squadra), Randd Miller (Club One), and many others.. After the Webcor/AV team missed out on top placings at Dunnigan Hills we were all hungry for a good result. With four of us there the plan was simple, share the load of covering attacks and if it comes down to a sprint someone on the team (other than me) will make sure it is strung out at the end.

The race remained fast from start to finish. For the first 20 laps I was near the front and chased down a number of attacks. Their were multiple attacks and breakaway attempts. After about 20 laps, Tore was showing himself near the front and covering multiple attacks. When he was finished Brad took his turn putting in some hard efforts. In one case a large gap opened and Brad did a good job keeping it from getting too big, allowing me to bridge across to the front group. This gap remained for about two laps only to be closed down. Rob found his legs about halfway through the race and started making his way up to the front and contributing to the coverage of breakaways.

With 20 laps to go a brekaway with Jared, Eric, a Davis rider and one other got a decent gap on the field. They stayed away for a while, Brad took some turns near the front to keep the breakaway in check. Finally, inside 4 laps to go Rob got on the front of our group and put in a Hercules type effort and pretty much single handedly brought the breakaway back with about 2 laps to go.

At this time I was sitting about 4th wheel, I maintained this position up to the point we heard the bell for the final lap. In turn one some rider attempted to come inside of me and take my line, I shut him down holding my position. In turn two whoever was on the front sat up and headed for the outside, the two guys in front of me followed. This is when I decided to jump, shooting the inside of turn two I was able to open a gap of about 30 meters in matter of seconds. I sprinted into the headwind on the back straigthaway and maintained the gap. I entered turn 3 at a high rate of speed and held a tight line through the corner. I came out of turn 4 with still about 40 meters gap, I put in another effort periodically looking back at the chasing pack. I held a sizeable gap all the way to the line and put up one arm to celebrate my win. I really wanted to post two arms in the air but my dizzy feeling prevented me from doing so.

Rob, Brad, and Tore all put in awesome work and we rode a very smart strong team race. I was happy to be able to deliver the favor back to the team by bringing home the first Pro 1/2 win for the Elite squad.

Thanks for reading,

James

Here is a link to a photo of the finish at Suisun.

http://www.printroom.com/ViewGalleryPhoto.asp?userid=khphotos&gallery_id=806326&image_id=2

CalCup Round 3: Dunnigan Hills RR Report

The Green Team hit up round 3 of the CalCup series on Saturday. Despite some really solid team racing, things didn't quite work to plan. They rarely do though and that's what makes racing exciting. Below is Dominic's report from the race.

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Dunnigan Hills, Pro/1/2
2 laps, 85 miles
August 18, 2007
Field: 60+
Teammates: me (12-15th or so), Rob MacNeil, Tore Natua, Matt Morenzoni, James Badia, Matt BeBe, Greg Davis and Brad Goodson

Dunnigan Hills is not my kind of course: mostly flat with some gentle rollers in the typically hot central valley. Yet I had a blast here last year and this year was pretty fun too (though it didn't work out for the team).

My job was to cover early attacks which I did. Of course you cover 3 or 4 of those in the space of 10 minutes and you start to get a little tired. Matt BeBe and Tore took over, then Rob, Matt M and I got back in the mix and we were on everything for the first 40 minutes. Then Matt BeBe got into a break that managed to get better separation and they hung out there for 20-25 minutes.

When that was brought back more counters ensued and this time Matt Morenzoni got into a break that even got out of sight on the twistier roads on the backside. They gained about 60-90 seconds and held out for about an hour. The semi-organized chase by CalGiant and Los Gatos brought it back on Road 99 as we headed back to start our second lap.

As expected, the story repeats itself here: more counter-attacks came with Tore, Brad, Matt, Rob and Greg doing a good job sticking on everything. I bided my time a bit knowing that once we got on to the backside of the course there was more of a chance that a break could stick and it would be important to have someone in it.

We neared the overpass of 505 and Vince from CVC attacked followed by an unattached rider and Greg Davis. They quickly got 20 seconds or so on the group. Michael Tymoff (Arete) started to roll off the front to bridge up to them so I hitched a free ride. Once Michael got us clear of the pack I worked with him to get up to Greg and company figuring Greg wouldn't mind some help and 2 AV out of 5 guys is good odds. The only flaw in the composition of the break was that we didn't have someone from CalGiant with us.

We quickly got together and started working to build our gap. After a short while Greg unfortunately started to suffer from cramps and the unattached rider (David) couldn't/wouldn't pull through. I offered water and food to Greg and he did drink some but it wasn't enough. Greg bravely soldiered on and did as much as he could until he popped. Now the odds were down to 1-in-4 but I figured I'd be able to beat at least one of them in a sprint, maybe two, so that's worth working for.

As we neared the point where the course crosses back over Hwy 5, the moto guy (Shawn Mehaffey) gave us some status: we had 40 seconds to a group of 15 and over a minute to the main pack. Then it went up to a minute to the pack of 15 but I knew we needed at least 2 minutes by the time we hit Road 99 to stay away so we probably were going to get caught.

Once on road 99 the group of 15 could see us and the gap quickly came down. We eased up knowing that we'd get caught and would have to react to counter-attacks. I just hoped that someone from AV was in that group of 15 so I could help them out at the end. Unfortunately Brad, Tore and James missed that split and so now I had rather unfavorable odds: me against 18 guys. Definitely not good. On the positive side I didn't have to do any work since it would be better if we got caught so I could work for James.

The pace stayed reasonably brisk with a few attacks here and there but it all was together with about 2 miles to go. We still had 30 seconds on the main pack so it was a sure bet we'd stay away. Now I was in a bit of a quandry. Sprinting against that many guys was probably not a good idea so I would have to attack. We passed the 1k to go sign and I was 3rd wheel or so. I jumped and went as hard as I could, getting Michael Tymoff for company. We took the right turn and I took a quick glance over my shoulder. The group was single file and in hot pursuit. I started up the overpass and made it about half-way before the group caught and passed me. I had one bullet and I had just spent it. I dug deep to hang on but there was no way. I rolled in just off the back of the group for whatever minor placing that left me with.

Although the result wasn't great, I did have a lot of fun in the race. I like being active, covering moves, getting in breaks that stick for more than 5 minutes and racing with good teammates. There were two mistakes we made that cost us a better finish. The first was that no one from the team was in that chase group of 15. Had someone else been in the group I could have worked for them to help setup the sprint. The second was that I took the gamble of playing Fabian Cancellara instead of sitting in until the last 200 meters. While I'm not a sprinter by any means, at the end of 85 miles most guys are pretty tired and I could have beaten a few of them which would have been better than what I did get.

--dominic

Watsonville Crit Report

Greg Davis is back from his racing hiatus, starting with Watsonville Crit, and has been immediately competetive. It took a while to get results posted, hence the delay in posting a report. Here's Greg's accounting of the events from the July 21st race:

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race: Watsonville Criterium

cat: Pro 1/2

course: 60 laps on a .6 mile circuit on twisty city streets with a short hill to the finish

result: 5th place

teamate: James Badia (9th plus massive prime)

Jackson Stewart (BMC pro) got away early with two riders (including one CalGiant). CalGiant had several riders back in the field who effectively shut down all attempts to chase. I was cornering like a chicken for the first half of the race. This created large gaps and I had to sprint to catch up three or four times a lap. This was very tiring. After I got some confidence and I figured out how to take the corners while holding the wheel in front of me I learned that our pace was actually quite tolerable. Then I understood why James had been yelling at the pack to pick up the pace (I think he called us a bunch of wimps).

Jackson and friends lapped the field about 3/4 through the race. Then with 10 laps to go James won a massive $100 prime.

With 5 laps to go I jumped into the headwind on the backside before the hill taking Eric Riggs of VMG on my wheel. Kevin King of Pegasus joined us with two laps to go.

Eric, I, and Kevin (in that order) finished just inches ahead of the charging pack led by Jackson. James came in near the front of the group.

James very generously split his prime with me thus quintupling my winnings for 5th place.

Greg

CalCup Round 2: Esparto TT Race Report

Race: Esparto TT - P/1/2 (08/12/07)
Course: 18 mile TT out and back with some rollers
Team: Tore Nauta (8th / 26), Matt Beebe (11th), Rob MacNeill (14th)

As the second event in the Cal Cup series we enjoyed an 18 mile TT -
flat with some risers near the turnaround point. The weather was nice
and, comparing this and last year's results, it was fast as well. The
cracks and potholes that were able to take a couple of guys out last
year were now properly marked by cones.Some of the strongest TT riders
showed up in the P12 field and propably it came not as a big surprise
that the man dressed in stars and stripes, Michael Hutchinson (Spine)
won. He finished in an impressive 38:49.

Regarding my own race, unfortunately, my 30 sec man didn't show up,
but the 1 minute man was a good target for a while. Yet, when crossing
the 5 to go sign, I noticed that I had started a bit too conservative.
I finished in 40:02 - still some work to do to get competitive with
the big boys. The photos of our TT position might give some clues what
to work on :) http://hcphoto.smugmug.com/gallery/3304525

Matt, who had just improved his setup, finished close behind in 40:29.
Rob tried to apply his notorious power sprint in the last 50 yards to
the finish line. However a TT-bike is no track bike and chain skipped
resulting in a crashing Rob. Yikes! After getting back on the bike he
still got 14th with 41:07 though.

Tore

CalCup Round 1: Patterson Pass RR

The Webcor/Alto Velo team put in another strong showing by getting on the podium at a NorCal epic RR. Below is Dominic's Report

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Patterson Pass, Pro/1/2
4 laps, 90(+) miles
August 11, 2007
Field: 60+
Teammates: Ted Huang (3rd), me (13th), Tore Natua, Greg Davis, Matt Morenzoni

Normally the best finisher on the team writes the report but Ted
wanted someone else to share the load since he gets all the results in
road races and thus always has to write the reports :-) So for today
I'm stepping in for Ted...

A good field lined up at the start for the P/1/2 race: we had the
pleasure of a strong CalGiant team, two BMC riders (Mike Sayers and
Scott Nydham), Jared Barrilleaux (MetroMint), Brian Buchholz (BPG) and
the usual collection of guys who like hilly road races.

Just before the start, Matt asks me if I have a spare brake pad. A
spare what? Turns out Greg's rear brake pad broke - it was made of
cork and it cracked in half. We searched around in vain for an extra
brake pad and I looked at Greg with some concern. The course at
Patterson doesn't require a lot of intensive braking but riding the
descent in a big pack with no rear brake seemed like an unwise thing
to do. So that helped decide team tactics: Greg would get into an
early break and see how it went on the descent. Greg agreed to it
and that was our initial plan along with the usual cover other moves
and see how things play out later in the race.

As expected with the wind howling down the pass and 4 laps ahead of us
we set out at a slow pace. Greg wasted no time in going up the road
in the company of Patrick Briggs (Cal Giant). Part way up the climb
Tore rolled up next to me and said "he took his job seriously!". We
could see Greg and Patrick already probably a minute ahead of the
field.

Greg and Patrick stayed off for the rest of the lap but were pulled
back in part way up the climb the second time. As we were closing in
on Greg and Patrick we were entertained by loud complaints from a
CalGiant rider who felt compelled to tell everyone (repeatedly) how
Greg was punching it on the hills and so Patrick wasn't working with
him any more, etc. You see one of the nice things about riding in the
P/1/2 category is that well, everyone considers themselves a "pro" and
is thus quite confident in their abilities and opinions. And they're
frequently more than happy to share them with you even if you aren't
interested. For what it's worth Greg didn't feel like he punched it
at all on the hills so perhaps the commentator was mistaken.

After we caught Greg and Patrick, Mike Sayers and Jared counter
attacked on the main climb. That was a move that had some legs and
unfortunately no AV in it. It's a long race though so there was hope
they would fade.

On the second climb on lap 2, Ted decided to stretch his legs and took
off. This elicited more commentary about how he's never going to make
it alone, etc. Anyway, Ted didn't get any company and was duly reeled
in. Going over the 580 overpass some counter moves went including one
with me, James Mattis, Kevin Klein and someone from BPG. I figured
this move might have the right composition to get away but sadly we
didn't get to work quickly enough and it fell apart.

We rode pretty slowly the rest of the lap and the gap to Sayers and
Jared ballooned to 3 minutes. This produced a bit of concern and some
folks started putting in some efforts to up the pace. Once again
though the pace slackened and we were going up the main climb the
third time at an absolutely anemic pace. Again we were treated to
commentary from members of CalGiant about how we ought to chase down
that break, etc. I wound up on the front leading the pack up the
climb but going so slowly that it was pathetic (seriously, I was
putting out < 250w going uphill which is about as slow as you can go
without falling over). I got a bit tired of it and upped the pace on
the higher reaches of the climb but it wasn't much and although we
were at least now pedaling for real, it was hardly a spirited chase.
This effort too received yet more commentary about how I had
"attacked" into a head wind from the front of the group. Sheesh, some
days you just can't do anything right.

On the backside tailwind section we rocketed along - hitting 52 mph
according to my bike computer. This section alone makes the race
worth doing (IMHO).

As we hit Midway road (about 1-2 miles before the start/finish), the
pace got really hard and echelons formed. I made a feeble attempt at
staying to the right of the centerline but it was impossible. I
looked over at the moto official guy and said "hey I'm trying" and he
kindly replied "don't worry about it". Sadly I still got gapped off
along with about 5-7 other guys at this point. Ted made the split
with the main group. The rest of us groveled and managed to catch
back on by the feed zone.

At this point the break was only maybe a minute or so up the road.
James Mattis and a few others were leading the chase. I worked my way
up through the group and got up to Ted. I started to recover a bit
and felt like I could hang. Here though I made a critical judgement
error. Ted asked me if I could help pull. I could have but knew that
if I did I'd never make it through when the counter-attacks came. I
really wanted to make it in the lead group so I sat in. Instead I
should have gone right to the front and pulled back the break.

Ted took the initiative that I lacked and went to the front and set a
steady hard tempo, reducing the gap to the break even further. At
this point I was somewhere around 3rd or 4th wheel in the very single
file and very tired group of maybe 20 guys.

With maybe 25 meters to the top of the climb I thought to myself, gee,
this would be a good time to attack. No sooner had the thought formed
in my head when BOOM! Scott Nydham hit the gas. It was like a bomb
exploded - Adam Switters was yelling at his teammate Kevin Klein "get
out of the way I gotta get on that", guys were scrambling and
groveling to get on wheels (remember the wind up there was still
absolutely ferocious) and it was in general total chaos. Scott gapped
everyone followed by Ted and Andres Gil. In total it was a matter of
maybe 5 extra hard pedal strokes to get on Ted but I didn't quite make
it. In the space of the next 30 seconds, Scott was just gone, Ted and
Andres opened a gap of 300 meters, chased by one or two others and
then the rest of us grouped up. Amazingly I got yelled at again by a
member of the Rock Racing team to pull and I was like "dude are you
stupid? Ted is up the road, why would I pull?". Apparently some
people forget that you're not supposed to chase down your teammates.

Ted managed to catch Mike Sayers at the base of the second climb.
Jared was still up ahead and Nydham even further ahead of him. Ted
pulled up next to Sayers and said "That Jares is the real deal, eh?".
Sayers didn't respond so Ted decided that if he was going to ride in
silence he'd do it alone and dropped Sayers (and Andres). Ted then
solo'ed in for a very well earned third place from there.

Behind, all I had to do was sit on and get a free ride. I was now
actually feeling almost perky and decided that even if I was racing
for some irrelevant minor placing I would put in a good showing. We
turned on to Midway and hit the crosswinds. We slowed and guys
started to chit-chat. This made it the perfect time to attack. I
took off which incited Chris D'Alusio, Kevin Klein and another rider
to chase. They caught me a bit before the top and I hung but then
couldn't quite match one of Chris' accelerations and got gapped. I
did manage to hold off the rest of the group which netted me 13th
(woohoo).

Hats off to Ted for yet another good finish. Mucho thanks to Tore,
Greg and Matt who all helped out in the feedzone after they dropped
out.

thanks for reading,
--dominic

Postcard from Jono

Jono Returned to Australia in June but he's still representing Webcor/Alto Velo. Here's a report from his latest escapade.

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Queensland State Road Championships
Mt Alford 149kms
7th from 40

Hey Boys wish this coulda been a better placing i was racing for 3rd with 5 kms to go and then was in the sprint for 4th and was really dissapointed to get 7th which i got last year but i really did ride well and my go greens got stronger in the last 25kms so all bodes well for the 8 day 14 stage tour of the murray river NRS race next week...

Race was on a ripper of a circuit including a hilly 34km parade lap, then nice and lumpy with 4 walls in succession and then an undulating windy section for 25 kms per lap after. Smallest state titles ive been involved in in 8 years, but the racing has been dominated by two teams in Queensland lately, with Ord Minnett and Wilson HTM (two national investment banking companies)putting the big bucks in to race the NRS and then poaching riders from the 8 or so "elite" level teams we have in the area so the other squads only have 3 or 4 good riders who then become demoralised cos they keep getting whacked every weekend and then dont bother showing up to a state titles if there is no nrs race on the same day... so its all teams of 1-3 riders v 10 each from the two big teams...

Doesnt bother me i love pinning on the number on the Go Greens and showing the race face, rubbins racing!!!!

Felt a little crook for the first two hours of the race so looked after meself thru all the attacks and single file, then after 90kms of racing and various awesome combinations going up the road then coming back Cam Hughes (Ord Minett- ex Subway Pro) and Greg Campbell (Wilson HTM - ex France espoir) drift off the front and the 10 riders from their respective teams left in the race from a total of 17riders that havent succumbed to attrition let the gap balloon to 4 minutes within 25 kms..

game over but the rest of us get to cut sick in the final 25kms, i had 3 efforts where i was away with one or two others going for the bronze medal but at 5k to go one of those breaks came back and we were countered by Grant Irwin (Ord Minett) and he dangled 25 seconds in front of us till the run in to the sprint. I had another go at 2kms to go, got caught with 1km to go and sat on the back of the 8 riders left to finally get 4th in the kick and 7th in the titles...

Really wanted a top 5 but on the other hand it was by far the best ive raced in a few years cos everyone in the top 10 has raced in europe in the last 5 years so theyre all pretty savvy and i felt that everytime we regrouped after id gone down the road in the last 45 minutes of the race the bunch was halved so i felt like I/ Me/ plain ol jono was creating a lil bit of havoc looks like the time spent climbing up to skyline/ racing cal giant/ doing director bruces tuesday sesh is starting to pay off...

Stay tuned for more adventures and keep me updated on yours fellas!!!

Sweet!
Jono

Timpani Crit, P/1/2 Report

Timpani Crit, Pro 1/2 (65 minutes)
Date: 5 August 2007
Teammates: Rob MacNeil, Greg Davis, Bob Parker
Result: 11th of ~75

This was my first time racing the Timpani crit. The course was definitely to my liking with the flat profile, long straightaways and corners that you can pedal through. There was large representation from BPG, Cal Giant, Metromint, and others. The team plan for the day was simple, save James for the finish.

The 65 min. race started out fast and stayed that way throughout with multiple attacks happening frequently. After the 1st lap the prime bell rang. I slid into a good position and took the prime with moderate effort. After the prime I was off the front for a lap with Brian Bucholz who was encouraging me to try and open up the gap. I wasn't feeling the 62 minute breakaway so I sat up and we were absorbed by the field. From then on the attacks kept coming and the chases shortly followed not letting anyone get away. I covered more attacks than I should have during the first half of the race, the only reason being I didn't see any green jerseys near the front for the first 30 minutes.

After about 30 minutes Greg, Bob and Rob all started putting some time in near the front of the race and helped with covering attacks. At some point I dropped my water bottle and was out of fluids, luckily Bob had an extra bottle and gave it to me. It is great having teamates in the race!

Bob put in some good efforts chasing down some attacks and sitting on. With 5 laps to go there was one guy off the front so Rob went to the front of the pack and drilled it for a lap (he told me after the race he knew the guy OTF was a TT specialist and didn't want to let him get away, good judgement call on Rob's part). I was in decent position with 3 to go when Greg attacked and got a sizeable gap, he was caught after about one lap and the field started to swarm a little. This is when Rob came along side of me and told me to get on his wheel. Rob started getting me through the pack and closer to the front. On the bell lap going into the second to last corner two guys did the squeeze play on Rob causing his front wheel to slam into someone's skewer cleaning out a few of Rob's spokes from his William's wheel. Unfortunately this left me boxed in with nowhere to go. I hit the brakes, went around Rob, avoided Brian Bucholz locking up his rear wheel and sliding sideways in front of me and started my sprint into the last turn, I passed a few people but at the line it was only good for 11th place.

Rob, Greg, and Bob did an awesome job during the second half of the race. We definitely could have communicated more at our pre race meeting about early attacks. Hats off to Rob for having some great bike handling skills and keeping the bike upright during the squeeze play. Greg rode aggressively and I was impressed with his ability to recover after doing the full 104 miles at Ft. Ord.

Thanks for reading

James

Timpani Crit Report, Geezer Category

Timpani Crit, 35+ 1/2/3 (55 minutes)
Date: 5 August 2007
Teammates: Brian Peterson, Ted Burns, Brad Goodson, Bill Dunham, Paul DeBacker
Result: 3rd of ~50?

Timpani Crit is held on a 1 mile, 4-corner, clockwise, business park type course. It's pancake flat and requires little to no braking or shifting. Speeds are usually high and consistent and one can generally pedal through all the corners. The speed of the course makes it somehow more fun than most of the other 4-corner crits on the schedule.

After the whistle, I slotted into a good position near the front of the pack. For the first 15 or 20 minutes, along with the other guys, I was active in following moves but it seemed a pack sprint was inevitable so I sat in for the remainder while my teammates shared the load at the head of the pack. All the guys were effective at initiating and chasing moves and helping me stay in good position. High winds were a factor in keeping things together. That and the 27+ mph average speed--it was tough to get away and stay away.

So, into the closing laps, Brian took a big pull on the front, which helped line things out. Brad took a turn as well and Bill took a flier that had the same effect. Paul helped bring me toward the front with a couple laps to go. At that point, I looked to find a good wheel into the finish. Brian Bosch (CVC) looked like he was gearing up for the finish so I bumped the guy following him off the wheel and inserted myself. Things were looking good with about half a lap to go--the race was lined out, I was tucked in about 3rd position and the pace was fast enough to hold off any surges. That is, until Steve Palaez (Lombardi) wound up his legs and blew by us on the inside before the last turn. His momentum and fast finish easily took him to the line for the win. A few guys trying to get on his wheel sent me wide through the corner so that I lost Bosch's wheel. Riding the left gutter, I re-passed those 3-4 riders by the line but couldn't catch Bosch, so 3rd place for me.

All in all, a really solid race for the team. Thanks to my teammates for the support. Everyone contributed to the result.

I did the P/1/2 race later in the day with Bob Parker, Greg Davis, James Badia. James will follow up with the team report for that one.

-Rob

Elite District Road Race Championships: Fort Ord

The Webcor/Alto Velo Men's Elite Team raced the NorCal district championship road race this past weekend. The team put in a really solid effort in defense of Ted's title. Ted rode strong, as usual, and nearly 3-peated. Former Webcor rider, James Mattis, took the win. Below is Ted's Report.

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District RR Pro 1/2
10 laps - 105 miles
Place: 2nd (due to inspiration from teammates), Dominic and Greg finishing as well
Teammates: Maria(impeccable feeds), Dominic, Rob, Greg Davis, Matt Beebe, Matt Morenzoni, Tore, James (Bruce Wilford for filling in for me as my lovely wife's escort at my company picnic)

Though I haven't raced much this year, today, I think we raced the most cohesively I've seen all year (in a road race). Thanks to Rob for bringing radios. They most certainly helped as I was able to much more easily communicate to teammates.

Today Cal Giant clearly had the best team, in both strength and numbers. Other teams to watch were Metromint, BPG, Delta Velo, and Spine. Our plan was fairly simple: three to cover the early moves, and the rest of us covering the middle to end. Rob, James and Matt B. did a great job marking early moves. At the beginning of lap 2, a break of two scurried up the road. We weren't represented, but I wasn't too worried as we still had 90 or so miles to ride. However, by lap 3 the gap was over 3 minutes. Team Spine, led by Michael Hutchinson, drove a spirited chase which brought us to within one minute. The pack sat up. Then a flurry of attacks ensued, with multiple little grouplets rolling off the front. Our own Matt Morenzoni cleverly rolled off in pursuit, and eventually formed a front group of five that was quickly out sight.

However, by lap 6 or 7, Cal Giant got worried with only one guy in the front, who had been out in the wind all day. They proceeded to send some of their guys to the front including Steve Reaney (2nd last year), Max Jenkins (U23 Nat'l Champ), Keith Miller, and perennial hard-men - Patrick Briggs and John Hunt. Being saved were James Mattis and Jesse Moore along with everyone else in the pack, who were being towed along at a brisk pace.

Fast forward to lap 8, there were only two left up front, up-and-coming talent Jared (Metromint) and an EMC rider. The scary thing was that the gap wasn't really coming down despite Cal Giant's solid chase. I'll have to ask Jared what he had for breakfast as I evidently didn't have enough, and was making the rounds mooching food from teammates as it had been awhile since I'd done a 100 mile ride without either bakery or rest stops involved, and had underestimated my caloric needs(a scone or Little Debbie packs like 2-3x more calories than a Powerbar). Oops, back to racing...Poor Matt Morenzoni, who had been riding extremely well, succumbed to a mechanical and came out of the break. Who knows what would have happened if Matt didn't have the mechanical.

With a pack of about 25 - 30 still left, the gap only came down to 2 minutes. AV, having Greg and Dominic in addition to myself left, I made the decision to put them into the chase. Both did a good job contributing to Max Jenkins' superhuman efforts along with Patrick Briggs' "I'm not dead yet" chase backs directly to the head of affairs. Actually I would say every Cal Giant rider involved in the chase was impressive.

As Dominic took a pull into the tailwind section immediately preceding the feedzone on lap 10, I surged past him, initially to get him off the front. However, instinct took over when it 'seemed' to be a good place to apply some pressure to the pedals. Although the feedzone was now upon us, I didn't feel to bad for going hard because a) I did take a feed and b) we had gone through the darn thing 8 times already plus I've seen it done at Worlds on the last lap:)

As luck would have it, this worked perfectly because James Mattis with Andres Gil (Delta Velo) attached, bridged up and immediately started working creating a gap. As we entered, the tailwind stretch after the turnaround, Andres started struggling a bit so James and I did the bulk of the work before the long descent. Into the climb, we saw the break of two about 75 meters directly in front of us. We caught them in short order. Amazingly Jared was able to accelerate when we reached them. I was forced to step on it in order to shed him, and kept the pressure on over the top to ensure we had a decent gap to the resurgent Jared.

James and I worked well together, and didn't dare shirk any pulls as the Metromint rider lurking arrears wasn't allowing for any cat and mouse games. Coming into 1 km to go, I maneuvered James in front of me. We slowed to a crawl. Seeing Jared steaming up from behind, I attacked at 800 meters. Unfortunately this was into a block headwind slightly uphill and James was able to come back to me with about 300 to go. Now that he was in the favorable position, he jumped around me with about 100 long meters to go and was held me off to the line, taking a deserved victory. Hats off to Cal Giant for a great team effort, and to James who has been riding well all year,culminating with a 3rd at Elite Nats and winning his first District Jersey today.

Thank you to Maria for helping to feed, as well as all of the team who stuck around to either give time gaps (Rob) or to help feed.

Ted