Fabrice raced solo at University Road Race this past Sunday. The relentless up, down, & repeat course is known to favor the strong and cripple the weak. Being a strongman, Fabrice naturally did well, netting a great 4th place. Below is his report from the day.
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Event: University (Santa Cruz) Road Race, Pro 1/2
Date: 8/24/2008
Result: 4th of 40 (To verify)
Team: Me
Course: 20 laps of the 3-mile circuit, which was a loop with basically a 1.5 mile uphill and a 1.5 mile downhill. The climb was gradual in parts, moderate in others, and steep at the end.
Weather: Cloudy, foggy and cold at the beginning then clear and warmer.
Race:
The start was at 8:00am.
CalGiant had a full team there, maybe 8-10 guys, Tony Cruz and Jackson Stewart from BMC and two guys from the Jittery Joes Pro Cycling team, including Neil Shirley.
During the first laps there were not a lot of attacks.
Then the CalGiants tried to put one guy in a break but without a good result, the gap didn't exceed 20 seconds.
During lap 11, Greg Remaly, the guy I beat last week, attacked then caught and dropped a CalGiant guy and went alone for a long ride...
In main field, my tactic was to wait as long as possible possible to do big efforts because during that week I felt a little bit tired.
During the next 5 laps there were some accelerations from Jackson and Tony Cruz, which dropped some guys from the main field. But these acceleration were not enough to catch the leader. During lap 15, one guy from Davis attacked and went alone, he got a comfortable gap from the main field and was gaining on the leader. During lap 17, Neil Shirley made a strong attack and I remained the only one to keep his wheel. In one lap we caught a CalGiant guy who was dropped by the Davis guy, and we were within 20 seconds from the leader, because the Davis guy caught the courageous Greg. In the last lap the Davis guy dropped Greg and went alone for the victory. In my group we tried to closed the gap, but without success. During the climb I was dropped from Neil Shirley's wheel and we finished the race one by one. The Davis guy won the race, Neil Shirley caught Greg just before the finish line and I finished just after Greg with a nice 4th place.
That result put me at third place in the ongoing Cal Cup classification. That's a nice place before the last weekend of the Cal Cup.
Thanks for reading,
Fabrice
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Race Report: San Ardo RR
Jono and the gang went out for another Cal Cup race this past weekend. This road race was in the flat-ish farmlands of San Ardo, which is south of King City and seemingly straight outta Steinbeck's East of Eden.
Below is Jono's report from what sounded like a tougher than normal edition of San Ardo Road Race.
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23 August 2008
San Ardo RR Pacific Bank Cal Cup
86miles
Webcor AV Team: Jono Coulter, Bo Hebenstreit, Graham Simpson, Jeff Williams, Ryan Prsha, Neil Harrington, Brad Goodson
Ken Hanson (Cal Giant) 1st
Neil Shirley (Jittery Joes) 2nd
Jono Coulter (Webcor AV) 18th
Bo Hebenstreit (Webcor AV) Top 30
Graham Simpson (Webcor AV) top 30 from 75
San Ardo is a quaint farming and used car parts town only a few hours drive south of San Jose and only a few hours from the beach or creeks. A nice place for several hundred cyclists to converge for another day of Cal Cup smackdown. Compared to a lot of Nor Cal grovel fests, San Ardo only has a few shallow gradients to punctuate a flat and fast course.
The day before the race all our guys received valuable advice from James Badia, Rob Macneill and Bruce Wilford about the particulars of the course, as these guys had done well here in previous years. Also, without them and other high performers like Fabrice and Rand i told the lads that i was going to back myself for the finale if they could make sure the field was kept tight.
The race line up was pretty spectacular with strong teams from Cal Giant, McGuire, Lombardi and Z Team as well as Pros Antonio Cruz (BMC), Neil Shirley (Jittery Joes) Kevin Klein (Rock Racing) Chris Jones (Type 1) Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics) and Eric bennett (Successful Living).
True to form though our guys got straight into the mix and with several attacks going from the first lap we always had someone in there. Notably, Bo and Jeff patrolled the front end vigourously while Ryan got into a promising breakaway with one from each major team that lasted 20 miles. Strong stuff. Meanwhile Graham and Neil-HDogg were looking after me and laying down raps and Brad was mega strong and looking like a sneaky russian until he flats without a support car. Bummer!
Coming into the 3rd lap Jeff was in a move and the pros started to force the pace through the feed. Unfortunately for Jeff we catch his group at the wrong time. Not being very confident of my climbing lately i planted myself in the top 5 guys and tried to hold on as Cruz and Shirley began to light up the proceedings. 2kms later we crested the relatively minor peak and there was 15 of us. Game on. the next 15 kms was full on and small groups were tacking back on to the selection between the undulations but after the group swelled to 35 i was worried as no more go greens had made it back. I dangled at the back looking over my shoulder to see Bo and Graham fighting deperately to get back on only 300 metres behind and i really believed they would get there but alas it was not to be.
Like any race where pros get a sniff at the win the race gets faster and faster as the miles tick away and the third time up the ramp on the back stretch i had to go with the front move, seriously we were single file at 51-56kph for nearly 20 minutes just railing the gutter. Racing you know it!!
Lap 4 was more gutter action and i was torn between following EVERYTHING because no one was going to help out should the final selection occur but my gut instinct told me it there were too many interests at stake and the race would stay together. So i spent half the time jumping on stuff and half the time last wheel as the front group dwindled to 25. There was basically no difference between either role it was all 50kph shoot em up nuclear dogfight with mega rocket cannons and i had a pocketknife.
Also i realise at this time that i am a smart and happy bike racer that likes to follow promising moves not (name witheld) from Z Team who BURIES himself for miles on end foaming at the mouth to make sure the pace doesnt drop below 51kph in the cross wind. Where do these ANIMALS come from!?!??!!??!.
5km from the finish knowing that i am not the calibre of maybe half the guys in the front group i laid a conservative plan to drill it up the last climb and hit the final bend in top ten and sprint from there. Rob macneill had explained that the winner would come from the top three around that corner- i didnt really back myself against a USCF Elite winning train from last weekend Cal Giant including the stars and stripes Ken hanson, plus the 8 pros in the race and other multi rider lead outs. But i did think i would have enough powerclimb kick to move from 19th to tenth in the final 500 metres and then hold it for 150.
So 500 to go i gave it the most shove and stick i could possibly give and of course every guy in that group is mega fast and i move up two spots over 300metres with my eyeballs popping out and my legs lactating and lose one of them after the turn. Later watching other categories sprint i realise how slow the sprint looks cos youre going from just under a km, and especially for me because i have an amazing world class sprint for 15 metres.
Anyway the result is 18th which is dismal for backing yourself and I'm a bit bummed but super happy when only a few minutes later Bo comes over the line solo having ridden two laps at warp speed on his own and not long after Graham came in also with the remnants of the peleton!!
Thanks to all the Webcor AV Elite guys for being out there and rising to the occasion- most of the guys in this weekends squad were 3s at the start of this year and this was a gutter action Pro-Am race and everyone did more than an adequate job of taking the first part of the race head on. Shows the depth of our team- sorry i couldnt deliver a top ten.
Thanks also to Amy for doing the feeds, all the AVs who always cheer on all the racers and also Neil can i buy the components offa your MAN BIKE because i need to train more in gears 6 and 7.
Mille Grazie
jono
Below is Jono's report from what sounded like a tougher than normal edition of San Ardo Road Race.
----------------------------------------------------------
23 August 2008
San Ardo RR Pacific Bank Cal Cup
86miles
Webcor AV Team: Jono Coulter, Bo Hebenstreit, Graham Simpson, Jeff Williams, Ryan Prsha, Neil Harrington, Brad Goodson
Ken Hanson (Cal Giant) 1st
Neil Shirley (Jittery Joes) 2nd
Jono Coulter (Webcor AV) 18th
Bo Hebenstreit (Webcor AV) Top 30
Graham Simpson (Webcor AV) top 30 from 75
San Ardo is a quaint farming and used car parts town only a few hours drive south of San Jose and only a few hours from the beach or creeks. A nice place for several hundred cyclists to converge for another day of Cal Cup smackdown. Compared to a lot of Nor Cal grovel fests, San Ardo only has a few shallow gradients to punctuate a flat and fast course.
The day before the race all our guys received valuable advice from James Badia, Rob Macneill and Bruce Wilford about the particulars of the course, as these guys had done well here in previous years. Also, without them and other high performers like Fabrice and Rand i told the lads that i was going to back myself for the finale if they could make sure the field was kept tight.
The race line up was pretty spectacular with strong teams from Cal Giant, McGuire, Lombardi and Z Team as well as Pros Antonio Cruz (BMC), Neil Shirley (Jittery Joes) Kevin Klein (Rock Racing) Chris Jones (Type 1) Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics) and Eric bennett (Successful Living).
True to form though our guys got straight into the mix and with several attacks going from the first lap we always had someone in there. Notably, Bo and Jeff patrolled the front end vigourously while Ryan got into a promising breakaway with one from each major team that lasted 20 miles. Strong stuff. Meanwhile Graham and Neil-HDogg were looking after me and laying down raps and Brad was mega strong and looking like a sneaky russian until he flats without a support car. Bummer!
Coming into the 3rd lap Jeff was in a move and the pros started to force the pace through the feed. Unfortunately for Jeff we catch his group at the wrong time. Not being very confident of my climbing lately i planted myself in the top 5 guys and tried to hold on as Cruz and Shirley began to light up the proceedings. 2kms later we crested the relatively minor peak and there was 15 of us. Game on. the next 15 kms was full on and small groups were tacking back on to the selection between the undulations but after the group swelled to 35 i was worried as no more go greens had made it back. I dangled at the back looking over my shoulder to see Bo and Graham fighting deperately to get back on only 300 metres behind and i really believed they would get there but alas it was not to be.
Like any race where pros get a sniff at the win the race gets faster and faster as the miles tick away and the third time up the ramp on the back stretch i had to go with the front move, seriously we were single file at 51-56kph for nearly 20 minutes just railing the gutter. Racing you know it!!
Lap 4 was more gutter action and i was torn between following EVERYTHING because no one was going to help out should the final selection occur but my gut instinct told me it there were too many interests at stake and the race would stay together. So i spent half the time jumping on stuff and half the time last wheel as the front group dwindled to 25. There was basically no difference between either role it was all 50kph shoot em up nuclear dogfight with mega rocket cannons and i had a pocketknife.
Also i realise at this time that i am a smart and happy bike racer that likes to follow promising moves not (name witheld) from Z Team who BURIES himself for miles on end foaming at the mouth to make sure the pace doesnt drop below 51kph in the cross wind. Where do these ANIMALS come from!?!??!!??!.
5km from the finish knowing that i am not the calibre of maybe half the guys in the front group i laid a conservative plan to drill it up the last climb and hit the final bend in top ten and sprint from there. Rob macneill had explained that the winner would come from the top three around that corner- i didnt really back myself against a USCF Elite winning train from last weekend Cal Giant including the stars and stripes Ken hanson, plus the 8 pros in the race and other multi rider lead outs. But i did think i would have enough powerclimb kick to move from 19th to tenth in the final 500 metres and then hold it for 150.
So 500 to go i gave it the most shove and stick i could possibly give and of course every guy in that group is mega fast and i move up two spots over 300metres with my eyeballs popping out and my legs lactating and lose one of them after the turn. Later watching other categories sprint i realise how slow the sprint looks cos youre going from just under a km, and especially for me because i have an amazing world class sprint for 15 metres.
Anyway the result is 18th which is dismal for backing yourself and I'm a bit bummed but super happy when only a few minutes later Bo comes over the line solo having ridden two laps at warp speed on his own and not long after Graham came in also with the remnants of the peleton!!
Thanks to all the Webcor AV Elite guys for being out there and rising to the occasion- most of the guys in this weekends squad were 3s at the start of this year and this was a gutter action Pro-Am race and everyone did more than an adequate job of taking the first part of the race head on. Shows the depth of our team- sorry i couldnt deliver a top ten.
Thanks also to Amy for doing the feeds, all the AVs who always cheer on all the racers and also Neil can i buy the components offa your MAN BIKE because i need to train more in gears 6 and 7.
Mille Grazie
jono
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Webcor/Alto Velo Wins Winters Road Race!
The team has been SO CLOSE on so many occasions this season. Finally we scored the big W with Fabrice taking Winters Road Race in impressive fashion this past weekend. He made the break of the day and burned everyone off his wheel to get a solo victory. Awesome.
Winters is a classic CalCup race that has been off the schedule the past couple of seasons due to road construction. It's a great course--Fabrice thought so too! Below is his report.
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Event: Winters Road Race, Pro 1/2
Date: 8/16/2008
Result: 1st of 70
Team: Jono, Chris and I.
Course: 4 laps, 24 miles per lap, mostly flat, a few rollers, one short climb with a technical descent and good pavement. The climb, which comes in about half-way through the course just past the feed zone, is mostly shallow, tipping upward a little toward the end.
Weather: hot and dry
Race:
The start was at 8:00am after an early wake up (4:30am) and a long trip to Winters. The first lap was raced at a moderate speed, giving some time to analyze the circuit. After that first lap, I needed a little stop ("besoin naturel"...) and Jono waited for me to help me catch back to the main field.
During the second lap, there were several attacks and one of them with 5 guys and no Webcor succeeded to take an advantage. On the climb I tried an attack in order to know if the legs felt good. On the descent, we managed to catch the breakaway.
Before beginning the third lap, 4 guys made a counter-attack and I joined them just before crossing the finishing line. From the beginning of that move we tried to work together to increase the gap. That worked because before beginning the climb, the gap was at about 1 minute. During the climb of the third lap, 3 guys from the escape were dropped. I thought that was bad for the escape because two guys with only 1 minute advantage on the field and 32 remaining miles to cross the finish line was not enough. But I was wrong because during the fourth lap, we worked steadily and managed to increase the gap to 2:30 before entering the feed zone. So I guessed the win would be between the two of us!!! During the last climb, I maintained a good speed and dropped my breakaway partner. So I had to increase the gap on him and the other chasers until the finish line, 12 miles after that climb. During that long time I was not really confident... But 6 miles before the end my gap was still about 1 minute, so without problem, I was able to hold off the chasers.
In the end, I crossed the finish line with an advantage of 1:30 on the second place rider and about 3 minutes on the main field. The sprint for the third place was won by Eric Wolhberg. Jono was dropped from the main field just in the last lap but was assured a place in the top 20.
This is my first win in the US (and I hope not the last one!!!), and I am very happy for both the team and myself. I know that everybody was waiting for this first win and I hope it's just the beginning!
Thanks for reading,
Fabrice
Winters is a classic CalCup race that has been off the schedule the past couple of seasons due to road construction. It's a great course--Fabrice thought so too! Below is his report.
--------------------------------------------------
Event: Winters Road Race, Pro 1/2
Date: 8/16/2008
Result: 1st of 70
Team: Jono, Chris and I.
Course: 4 laps, 24 miles per lap, mostly flat, a few rollers, one short climb with a technical descent and good pavement. The climb, which comes in about half-way through the course just past the feed zone, is mostly shallow, tipping upward a little toward the end.
Weather: hot and dry
Race:
The start was at 8:00am after an early wake up (4:30am) and a long trip to Winters. The first lap was raced at a moderate speed, giving some time to analyze the circuit. After that first lap, I needed a little stop ("besoin naturel"...) and Jono waited for me to help me catch back to the main field.
During the second lap, there were several attacks and one of them with 5 guys and no Webcor succeeded to take an advantage. On the climb I tried an attack in order to know if the legs felt good. On the descent, we managed to catch the breakaway.
Before beginning the third lap, 4 guys made a counter-attack and I joined them just before crossing the finishing line. From the beginning of that move we tried to work together to increase the gap. That worked because before beginning the climb, the gap was at about 1 minute. During the climb of the third lap, 3 guys from the escape were dropped. I thought that was bad for the escape because two guys with only 1 minute advantage on the field and 32 remaining miles to cross the finish line was not enough. But I was wrong because during the fourth lap, we worked steadily and managed to increase the gap to 2:30 before entering the feed zone. So I guessed the win would be between the two of us!!! During the last climb, I maintained a good speed and dropped my breakaway partner. So I had to increase the gap on him and the other chasers until the finish line, 12 miles after that climb. During that long time I was not really confident... But 6 miles before the end my gap was still about 1 minute, so without problem, I was able to hold off the chasers.
In the end, I crossed the finish line with an advantage of 1:30 on the second place rider and about 3 minutes on the main field. The sprint for the third place was won by Eric Wolhberg. Jono was dropped from the main field just in the last lap but was assured a place in the top 20.
This is my first win in the US (and I hope not the last one!!!), and I am very happy for both the team and myself. I know that everybody was waiting for this first win and I hope it's just the beginning!
Thanks for reading,
Fabrice
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Esparto TT Race Report
Rand's appetite for racing is insatiable. After doing the San Rafael race into the late evening the previous day, he was out in Esparto bright and early getting ready for his ~8AM start. A lack of sleep didn't hold him back, as he scored a great 2nd place. Local pro, hardman, and multi-time Canadian TT champ Eric Wohlberg bested Rand but only by 8 seconds. Below is Rand's report.
Official Results
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Esparto ITT
Esparto, CA
8/10/08
Weather: cool, light wind, clear
Teammates: None
Placing: 2nd of ~15
After racing the twilight Carrera de San Rafael on Saturday night, and sleeping a total of 4 hours, I left SF at 5am for some sweet central valley ITT action.
Esparto is an 18 mile ITT, with flat to rolling terrain and some bad pavement here and there. In warmup I felt pretty good, but not great.
The most significant headwind was right at the start of the race, so I had to keep myself from pushing too hard too early. I set a good pace, and felt pretty solid.
I caught my minute man a couple of miles past the turnaround, and was feeling pretty strong still. However, I hit a section of very rough pavement, like beat-up chipseal...only a mile long or so, but I could NOT keep my speed up very well. I picked the pace up again once I hit smoother pavement, but not before my minute man came back by me.
In the end, I had a decent ride of 40:37. Not great, but it was good enough for 2nd place, 8 seconds behind Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics). Chris Turner (Above Category Racing) was third about 30 seconds further back.
I have been napping at work ever since.
Thanks for reading,
Rand
Official Results
----------------------------------------------
Esparto ITT
Esparto, CA
8/10/08
Weather: cool, light wind, clear
Teammates: None
Placing: 2nd of ~15
After racing the twilight Carrera de San Rafael on Saturday night, and sleeping a total of 4 hours, I left SF at 5am for some sweet central valley ITT action.
Esparto is an 18 mile ITT, with flat to rolling terrain and some bad pavement here and there. In warmup I felt pretty good, but not great.
The most significant headwind was right at the start of the race, so I had to keep myself from pushing too hard too early. I set a good pace, and felt pretty solid.
I caught my minute man a couple of miles past the turnaround, and was feeling pretty strong still. However, I hit a section of very rough pavement, like beat-up chipseal...only a mile long or so, but I could NOT keep my speed up very well. I picked the pace up again once I hit smoother pavement, but not before my minute man came back by me.
In the end, I had a decent ride of 40:37. Not great, but it was good enough for 2nd place, 8 seconds behind Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics). Chris Turner (Above Category Racing) was third about 30 seconds further back.
I have been napping at work ever since.
Thanks for reading,
Rand
San Rafael Race Report
The Webcor/Alto Velo team had a great race in San Rafael this past weekend. This was a premier event featuring a nighttime downtown course packed with fans and good prize money on offer. Most of the best local riders showed up with some notable pros as well. Fabrice and Aroussen made the big break of the evening. They both rode incredibly well and finished in the top-10 with Fabrice scoring a really impressive 3rd place, being the only non-pro in the top-5. Below is his report.
San Rafael is put on by the same promoter as the upcoming San Francisco Twilight Crit on September 13th and Webcor will be the title sponsor of the race. That should be a great event that the team is really looking forward to. It should be a great race to watch, hope to see you there!
Official Results
------------------------------------------------------------
San Rafael Criterium, Men Pro 1/2
8/9/08
Result: 3rd of 93
Teammates: Aroussen 9th, James 22nd, Neil, Graham, Rand, Chris, Rob, DS Bruce on the Radio
The course was a short 0.9 miles circuit in downtown San Rafael with a hill on the the start/finish straight away. The back straight descended into two fast downhill 90 degree turns. This criterium is a fast one and had a lot of spectators lining the course. Our event was scheduled for 90 minutes of racing. The start was done at the end of the day, 8:00 PM, like all the criteriums in France.
After some laps covered in high speed, Rand and I made a move with some guys. That escape obtained a little gap, but after 4 laps on the front, the pack caught up.
Then there was lot of activity and I felt that I had to stay on the front to catch the good escape. I was right because one of them including 10 guys took a little advantage. Later, another group with Aroussen joined us. We were thus approximately 20 guys on the front. After the break was established, the pace settled down slightly in the main pack, allowing the breakaway's gap to grow and grow.
At midrace, I tried to split the breakaway group, but after my attack I was alone. So after 2 laps alone I was caught up by the group.
At about 60 minutes into the race, the breakaway group was nearing the back of the main field. The officials decided to give the pack a bell lap so they could sprint for 21st place before being pulled. It was confusing in the pack, with not a lot of people realizing it was 1 to go for the pack, James included. Still, he finished it out for 2nd in the pack sprint.
After the course was clear for the breakaway group for the last 30 minutes, Zwizanski from Bissell attacked and was joined by two other professionals, Barrilleaux from Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling and former Webcor Pro rider Bernard Van Ulden from the Jelly Belly Team. Bernard
ultimately went on to win the race after pulling away solo in the last lap.
In the last 7 laps, Eric Wohlberg from Symmetrics attacked and I decided to follow him, so we began a little time trial in order to catch the escape. But despite all our effort we only caught
Barrilleaux from Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling as he fell off the hot pace of Van Ulden and Zwizanski.
Finally we came around the last corner for a 3-up sprint for 3rd place between Barrilleaux, Wohlberg and myself. I led it out from the corner and was able to hold on for third to get the last spot on the podium.
Aroussen finished his beautiful race in 9th position.
I finished the day on the podium with some flowers and some champagne...what a great night for me and the team!!
Thanks for reading,
Fabrice
San Rafael is put on by the same promoter as the upcoming San Francisco Twilight Crit on September 13th and Webcor will be the title sponsor of the race. That should be a great event that the team is really looking forward to. It should be a great race to watch, hope to see you there!
Official Results
------------------------------------------------------------
San Rafael Criterium, Men Pro 1/2
8/9/08
Result: 3rd of 93
Teammates: Aroussen 9th, James 22nd, Neil, Graham, Rand, Chris, Rob, DS Bruce on the Radio
The course was a short 0.9 miles circuit in downtown San Rafael with a hill on the the start/finish straight away. The back straight descended into two fast downhill 90 degree turns. This criterium is a fast one and had a lot of spectators lining the course. Our event was scheduled for 90 minutes of racing. The start was done at the end of the day, 8:00 PM, like all the criteriums in France.
After some laps covered in high speed, Rand and I made a move with some guys. That escape obtained a little gap, but after 4 laps on the front, the pack caught up.
Then there was lot of activity and I felt that I had to stay on the front to catch the good escape. I was right because one of them including 10 guys took a little advantage. Later, another group with Aroussen joined us. We were thus approximately 20 guys on the front. After the break was established, the pace settled down slightly in the main pack, allowing the breakaway's gap to grow and grow.
At midrace, I tried to split the breakaway group, but after my attack I was alone. So after 2 laps alone I was caught up by the group.
At about 60 minutes into the race, the breakaway group was nearing the back of the main field. The officials decided to give the pack a bell lap so they could sprint for 21st place before being pulled. It was confusing in the pack, with not a lot of people realizing it was 1 to go for the pack, James included. Still, he finished it out for 2nd in the pack sprint.
After the course was clear for the breakaway group for the last 30 minutes, Zwizanski from Bissell attacked and was joined by two other professionals, Barrilleaux from Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling and former Webcor Pro rider Bernard Van Ulden from the Jelly Belly Team. Bernard
ultimately went on to win the race after pulling away solo in the last lap.
In the last 7 laps, Eric Wohlberg from Symmetrics attacked and I decided to follow him, so we began a little time trial in order to catch the escape. But despite all our effort we only caught
Barrilleaux from Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling as he fell off the hot pace of Van Ulden and Zwizanski.
Finally we came around the last corner for a 3-up sprint for 3rd place between Barrilleaux, Wohlberg and myself. I led it out from the corner and was able to hold on for third to get the last spot on the podium.
Aroussen finished his beautiful race in 9th position.
I finished the day on the podium with some flowers and some champagne...what a great night for me and the team!!
Thanks for reading,
Fabrice
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Catching Up with Past Reports: Sisquoc RR, SLO Crit, and Watsonville Crit
While I was away for a week, the guys were out there racing hard. I'm just catching up with posting their reports. In all, there was a lot of good racing and results from the team with 3 top 10's in 3 races:
Sisquoc road Race: 9th place for Fabrice
San Luis Obispo Crit: 6th for James
Watsonville Crit: 2nd for Rand
Most of the guys finishing ahead of Fabrice, James and Rand were professionals, no shame in that, especially considering that they beat a bunch of pros too! Below are the reports from the respective highest placed riders.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Sisquoc Circuit Race is a race on a 10.75 miles loop, 7 laps. The weather was sunny and not too warm. The circuit is not too difficult by itself, but exhausting over time. The finish line is on a descent after 3 successive climbs. A strong headwind made some parts of the circuit difficult.
During the race there were a lot of attacks but nobody got much of a gap. I tried some attacks but when we were in a group at the front, nobody wanted to collaborate, But I don't know why!!! In the last lap after some attacks, a professional from team Successful Living got off solo and his team controlled all the attacks behind.
During that's last lap, that guy increased his gap and won the race with a comfortable margin. For the second place there was a sprint from the pack. I finished 9th of the race, not too bad taking account of all my attacks.
Jeff finished in the pack as did Bo.
Fabrice
----------------------------------------------------
San Luis Obispo Downtown Criterium
Men's Pro 1/2
Teammates: Rand (18th), Fabrice (11th), Jeff, Bo
Placing: 6th of 75ish
Full Results
The SLO Downtown Criterium is anything but Slow. The race started out fast and besides one or two occasions where the pace eased for a few seconds remained fast for the entire 75 minutes. The course is the usual downtown course with a chicane section through the mission, a fast slightly downhill long finish on new pavement this year. All of the corners if done correctly allow you to carry your speed. This was a great course for me. Last year I finished 14th and won a primme. This year no primme but I placed higher. After the Coyote Creek and Lafayette races I was starting to feel a little fatigued. I decided to take a break and only do a few easy rides during the week and focus on my rest. I wasn't sure how I would feel come race day but I ended up feeling great! We had our team meeting where Bo's wife Amy agreed to call radio updates from the sidelines, also recent National Champion John Elgart was calling radio updates for us as well. The plan was for me to relax a little during the beginning of the race and everyone cover attacks throughout the race. If it came down to to field sprint I was to be the go to guy.
Rand and Fabrice repeatedly attacked and covered attacks, but nothing was sticking. Cal Giant was also riding very aggressive and attacking repeatedly. SoCal racers like their field sprints for sure. I covered a few attacks that immediately fizzled once my breakaway mates realized they had a sprinter with them. Jeff covered a few attacks and spent some time near the front as well. About mid race I realized I wasn't sticking to the plan of me relaxing for the first part of the race. I decided to ease up a little and not waste energy fighting for position. I drifted back to about 30th wheel and hung there for a little while trying to conserve. With 5 to go I was slowly moving up. Fabrice, Rand, and Jeff were closer to the front, I got up to them at about 3 to go and started to surf the pack a little for the easy move up spots. When we heard the bell I was sitting in about 12th position, I held that through the Mission chicane than picked up a few spots, I came out of the last corner in 7th, passed one guy then the sprint started and it was a long line with no one really passing anyone. Daniel Holloway finished 1st with Cody O'Reily, Tony Cruz, and Rock Racing rider coming in before me as well.
This is one of my favorite races of the year, along with Burlingame and San Rafael. If you have never made the trip to San Luis Obispo I definitely recommend it to anyone for next year.
Thanks for reading,
James
----------------------------------------------------
Watsonville Crit
Watsonville, CA
July 19, 2008
Weather: Windy, Cold, Foggy/overcast
Teammates: Matt Beebe
Place: 2nd of ~40
Full Results
Watsonville is a really fun, technical crit course, and though it is not really all that far from the Bay, it tends to be a low-key event with relatively small fields. It is probably for the better, because the course contains multiple hairpins with drainage ditches across them, making for dicey cornering. There is also a small hill that tends to make the race hurt more than one would expect.
There was still a solid group of riders this year, with notables like Jackson Stewart (BMC), Daniel Holloway (VMG-Felt) and James Mattis (CalGiant), and all sorts of powerful riders. I was feeling quite feisty and really wanted to get in a breakaway early.
Luckily, there were quite a few other guys with a similar idea, and within about 10 minutes into the race, after numerous attacks, I managed to get into a break of 6 that got significant time on the field. This break was comprised of Jackson Stewart, James Mattis, Brian Bosch (Sierra Pacific), Justin Fraga (BPG), and a McGuire rider. We worked well together, and the technical course allowed for the small group to pull away. By about halfway through the race, we had
lapped what was left of the field.
The breakaway riders continued to try and attack one another and catch each other off guard, but everyone was pretty attentive. I was the only rider without a teammate in the pack, as Beebe had done his job early and was calling stuff out to me from the sidelines, so I had to be extremely careful not to get caught behind a split.
Coming into the final 10 laps, James Mattis made a bold attack and held a decent gap until about 3 to go, but was reeled in. Several teams attempted to lead their riders out, but I marked Jackson Stewart. We entered the final corner in about 5th and 6th wheels, and sprinted hard up the finishing hill. Jackson took the win, and I came through just behind him in 2nd. Justin beat Brian Bosch for 3rd.
Great race...I really like the atmosphere around this race every year, and I love the course. Thanks to Beebe for support, and thanks for reading.
Rand
Sisquoc road Race: 9th place for Fabrice
San Luis Obispo Crit: 6th for James
Watsonville Crit: 2nd for Rand
Most of the guys finishing ahead of Fabrice, James and Rand were professionals, no shame in that, especially considering that they beat a bunch of pros too! Below are the reports from the respective highest placed riders.
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Race: Santa Maria Sisquoc Circuit Race, P/1/2
Date: 19 July 2008
Team: Jeff, Bo, and Fabrice,
Date: 19 July 2008
Team: Jeff, Bo, and Fabrice,
The Sisquoc Circuit Race is a race on a 10.75 miles loop, 7 laps. The weather was sunny and not too warm. The circuit is not too difficult by itself, but exhausting over time. The finish line is on a descent after 3 successive climbs. A strong headwind made some parts of the circuit difficult.
During the race there were a lot of attacks but nobody got much of a gap. I tried some attacks but when we were in a group at the front, nobody wanted to collaborate, But I don't know why!!! In the last lap after some attacks, a professional from team Successful Living got off solo and his team controlled all the attacks behind.
During that's last lap, that guy increased his gap and won the race with a comfortable margin. For the second place there was a sprint from the pack. I finished 9th of the race, not too bad taking account of all my attacks.
Jeff finished in the pack as did Bo.
Fabrice
----------------------------------------------------
San Luis Obispo Downtown Criterium
Men's Pro 1/2
Teammates: Rand (18th), Fabrice (11th), Jeff, Bo
Placing: 6th of 75ish
Full Results
The SLO Downtown Criterium is anything but Slow. The race started out fast and besides one or two occasions where the pace eased for a few seconds remained fast for the entire 75 minutes. The course is the usual downtown course with a chicane section through the mission, a fast slightly downhill long finish on new pavement this year. All of the corners if done correctly allow you to carry your speed. This was a great course for me. Last year I finished 14th and won a primme. This year no primme but I placed higher. After the Coyote Creek and Lafayette races I was starting to feel a little fatigued. I decided to take a break and only do a few easy rides during the week and focus on my rest. I wasn't sure how I would feel come race day but I ended up feeling great! We had our team meeting where Bo's wife Amy agreed to call radio updates from the sidelines, also recent National Champion John Elgart was calling radio updates for us as well. The plan was for me to relax a little during the beginning of the race and everyone cover attacks throughout the race. If it came down to to field sprint I was to be the go to guy.
Rand and Fabrice repeatedly attacked and covered attacks, but nothing was sticking. Cal Giant was also riding very aggressive and attacking repeatedly. SoCal racers like their field sprints for sure. I covered a few attacks that immediately fizzled once my breakaway mates realized they had a sprinter with them. Jeff covered a few attacks and spent some time near the front as well. About mid race I realized I wasn't sticking to the plan of me relaxing for the first part of the race. I decided to ease up a little and not waste energy fighting for position. I drifted back to about 30th wheel and hung there for a little while trying to conserve. With 5 to go I was slowly moving up. Fabrice, Rand, and Jeff were closer to the front, I got up to them at about 3 to go and started to surf the pack a little for the easy move up spots. When we heard the bell I was sitting in about 12th position, I held that through the Mission chicane than picked up a few spots, I came out of the last corner in 7th, passed one guy then the sprint started and it was a long line with no one really passing anyone. Daniel Holloway finished 1st with Cody O'Reily, Tony Cruz, and Rock Racing rider coming in before me as well.
This is one of my favorite races of the year, along with Burlingame and San Rafael. If you have never made the trip to San Luis Obispo I definitely recommend it to anyone for next year.
Thanks for reading,
James
----------------------------------------------------
Watsonville Crit
Watsonville, CA
July 19, 2008
Weather: Windy, Cold, Foggy/overcast
Teammates: Matt Beebe
Place: 2nd of ~40
Full Results
Watsonville is a really fun, technical crit course, and though it is not really all that far from the Bay, it tends to be a low-key event with relatively small fields. It is probably for the better, because the course contains multiple hairpins with drainage ditches across them, making for dicey cornering. There is also a small hill that tends to make the race hurt more than one would expect.
There was still a solid group of riders this year, with notables like Jackson Stewart (BMC), Daniel Holloway (VMG-Felt) and James Mattis (CalGiant), and all sorts of powerful riders. I was feeling quite feisty and really wanted to get in a breakaway early.
Luckily, there were quite a few other guys with a similar idea, and within about 10 minutes into the race, after numerous attacks, I managed to get into a break of 6 that got significant time on the field. This break was comprised of Jackson Stewart, James Mattis, Brian Bosch (Sierra Pacific), Justin Fraga (BPG), and a McGuire rider. We worked well together, and the technical course allowed for the small group to pull away. By about halfway through the race, we had
lapped what was left of the field.
The breakaway riders continued to try and attack one another and catch each other off guard, but everyone was pretty attentive. I was the only rider without a teammate in the pack, as Beebe had done his job early and was calling stuff out to me from the sidelines, so I had to be extremely careful not to get caught behind a split.
Coming into the final 10 laps, James Mattis made a bold attack and held a decent gap until about 3 to go, but was reeled in. Several teams attempted to lead their riders out, but I marked Jackson Stewart. We entered the final corner in about 5th and 6th wheels, and sprinted hard up the finishing hill. Jackson took the win, and I came through just behind him in 2nd. Justin beat Brian Bosch for 3rd.
Great race...I really like the atmosphere around this race every year, and I love the course. Thanks to Beebe for support, and thanks for reading.
Rand
Timpani Crit Race Report
Timpani Crit in Santa Clara was this past weekend. The boys were active for the entire race. Eventually, Rand and Ryan got off with a breakaway group late in the race. Rand rode aggressively as always and went for it solo into the last lap. He came so close yet again but just missed out on the win. His all or nothing attacking style is relentless and fun to watch. He's more than due for a big W, I can feel it coming! Anyhow, below is Rand's report from the race.
Full Results
---------------------------------------------------------------
Timpani Crit
Santa Clara, CA
8/3/2008
Weather: Cool, sunny, windy
Teammates: Fabrice, James, Rob, Jono, Ryan, Neil
Place: 6th of ~90
The Timpani crit defines the four-corner flat criterium course. Some spots of questionable pavement and some severe winds generally add a little spice to the mix.
This race was relatively fast throughout, but the large field made it difficult for any breakaways to get much time. I was on the attack as often as possible, and the other AV boys kept the race rolling as well.
The race was punctuated by a rather dramatic front-stretch crash, which produced some of the most awesome crash photos I have seen.
With about 6 laps to go, Ryan and I made it into a ~10 man breakaway. I quickly surveyed the group, saw some fellow breakaway maniacs like Vince Owens (Sierra Pacific) and Keith Miller (CalGiant), and decided it was worth a shot to stay away. The group worked pretty well, but the pack was within about 10 seconds of us, and guys started getting antsy. Ryan did a great job in the break, burning some matches to make sure it stayed away.
With 1 lap to go, I pulled through hard, simply trying to keep the pace high, but I ended up with a slight gap as the break started looking at one another.
I could see the pack closing fast behind, and the break hesitating, so I decided it was better to go for it solo than get caught by the field.
I made it all the way to the final corner before being caught by a few guys from the break, most notably Keith Miller, who put in a brutal effort to take the win. I ended up finishing 6th, as my legs were too shot from the solo effort to sprint much.
I am bummed I couldnt pull off the win...so close. Still, good riding by the whole team. Fabrice finished somewhere in the top-20, and all the guys on the team worked well all race long.
Rand
Full Results
---------------------------------------------------------------
Timpani Crit
Santa Clara, CA
8/3/2008
Weather: Cool, sunny, windy
Teammates: Fabrice, James, Rob, Jono, Ryan, Neil
Place: 6th of ~90
The Timpani crit defines the four-corner flat criterium course. Some spots of questionable pavement and some severe winds generally add a little spice to the mix.
This race was relatively fast throughout, but the large field made it difficult for any breakaways to get much time. I was on the attack as often as possible, and the other AV boys kept the race rolling as well.
The race was punctuated by a rather dramatic front-stretch crash, which produced some of the most awesome crash photos I have seen.
With about 6 laps to go, Ryan and I made it into a ~10 man breakaway. I quickly surveyed the group, saw some fellow breakaway maniacs like Vince Owens (Sierra Pacific) and Keith Miller (CalGiant), and decided it was worth a shot to stay away. The group worked pretty well, but the pack was within about 10 seconds of us, and guys started getting antsy. Ryan did a great job in the break, burning some matches to make sure it stayed away.
With 1 lap to go, I pulled through hard, simply trying to keep the pace high, but I ended up with a slight gap as the break started looking at one another.
I could see the pack closing fast behind, and the break hesitating, so I decided it was better to go for it solo than get caught by the field.
I made it all the way to the final corner before being caught by a few guys from the break, most notably Keith Miller, who put in a brutal effort to take the win. I ended up finishing 6th, as my legs were too shot from the solo effort to sprint much.
I am bummed I couldnt pull off the win...so close. Still, good riding by the whole team. Fabrice finished somewhere in the top-20, and all the guys on the team worked well all race long.
Rand
Elite RR Championships/Fort Ord Report
The district championship road race at Fort Ord was this past weekend. This is a long hard race of attrition and the W/AV team did well to have a few guys left going into the finish. Steve Reaney (Cal Giant) got off solo with a lap to go and held it to the line. Fabrice was in the second group of about ten and fought hard to get a podium spot, finishing 3rd overall. Below is Fabrice's report.
Full Results (courtesy of Steven Woo)
------------------------------------------------------
Northern CA/NV Elite Road Race Championships
Fort Ord/Monterey, CA
Men's Elite 1/2/3
Teammates: Rand (18th), Aroussen (21st), Bo (30th), James, Jono
Placing: 3rd of 75ish
The Monterey Race is a race encompassing 10 laps of 10 miles each. The loop had lot of curves, little roads, and a "wall" 3km before the finish line. That climb was about only 1.5 km but very steep.
The start of the race was very early (8am), but that didn't discourage 3 guys who attacked in the first lap.
During 5 laps, nobody wanted to animate the race. But later, the speed increased and some teams began to decrease the gap between the pack and the escape. Aroussen did a fantastic job during the next 3 laps, riding with a lot of bravery.
During that time Rand and I tried to stay in good position, without using too much energy. The two last laps were covered in high speed, leading notably to Aroussen's loss. The pack caught the escape and from that moment, a lot of attacks ensued. Rand tried to get away several times but unhappily without success. Then, the future winner, Steve Reaney of Cal Giant, attacked and got a comfortable gap on the pack. In the remaining group, his team controlled the race. I attacked several times in the last lap but i was always followed by Cal Giant racers...
Despite my attacks, we were still 8 guys racing for second place...Thanks to a little slalom during the sprint, i took the 3rd place of that race. The group sprint was taken by AJM, also of Cal Giant for 2nd overall.
Rand's efforts finally caught up with him in the last few kilometers and he finished in a second group. Aroussen finished bravely just behind Rand. Bo was incredibly motivated and finished the race despite all the difficulties. James and Jono gave the maximum to help the team at the beginning of the race. Thanks to Bo's wife, Amy, who was our best supporter and for her expertise to supply the bottles!!
To conclude, that was a hard and very long race (100 miles) but with lot of suspense and a good result for the team!!
Thanks for reading.
Fabrice
Full Results (courtesy of Steven Woo)
------------------------------------------------------
Northern CA/NV Elite Road Race Championships
Fort Ord/Monterey, CA
Men's Elite 1/2/3
Teammates: Rand (18th), Aroussen (21st), Bo (30th), James, Jono
Placing: 3rd of 75ish
The Monterey Race is a race encompassing 10 laps of 10 miles each. The loop had lot of curves, little roads, and a "wall" 3km before the finish line. That climb was about only 1.5 km but very steep.
The start of the race was very early (8am), but that didn't discourage 3 guys who attacked in the first lap.
During 5 laps, nobody wanted to animate the race. But later, the speed increased and some teams began to decrease the gap between the pack and the escape. Aroussen did a fantastic job during the next 3 laps, riding with a lot of bravery.
During that time Rand and I tried to stay in good position, without using too much energy. The two last laps were covered in high speed, leading notably to Aroussen's loss. The pack caught the escape and from that moment, a lot of attacks ensued. Rand tried to get away several times but unhappily without success. Then, the future winner, Steve Reaney of Cal Giant, attacked and got a comfortable gap on the pack. In the remaining group, his team controlled the race. I attacked several times in the last lap but i was always followed by Cal Giant racers...
Despite my attacks, we were still 8 guys racing for second place...Thanks to a little slalom during the sprint, i took the 3rd place of that race. The group sprint was taken by AJM, also of Cal Giant for 2nd overall.
Rand's efforts finally caught up with him in the last few kilometers and he finished in a second group. Aroussen finished bravely just behind Rand. Bo was incredibly motivated and finished the race despite all the difficulties. James and Jono gave the maximum to help the team at the beginning of the race. Thanks to Bo's wife, Amy, who was our best supporter and for her expertise to supply the bottles!!
To conclude, that was a hard and very long race (100 miles) but with lot of suspense and a good result for the team!!
Thanks for reading.
Fabrice
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