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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
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
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