Henleyville Road Race Report

Rand and Chris raced Henleyville RR up near Chico on Saturday. Rand finished 2nd, barely missing the win to cap off a great season for him. Below is Rand's report.

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Henleyville RR
Nowhere, Northern California
9/20/08
Weather: Cool, clear, windy
Teammates: Chris Crawford
Placing: 2nd of 15

This is the flattest RR I have ever done. McLane/Merco RR is a mountain stage compared to Henleyville. The course is basically an 18-mile 4-corner crit. I loved it.

We did 4 laps for roughly 72 miles, combined with the cat 3's since both fields were small.

The first lap consisted of a single Chico Corsa rider solo off the front, with our very own Chris Crawford setting the pace on the field to keep the guy in sight. It was fun to have that chico guy up there slaying himself, while Chris calmly dragged the field around at the same exact speed with no perceived exertion.

The second lap had a few flurries of attacks, some of which I instigated, but nothing was sticking. The P/1/2's were all watching each other, and the 3's were happy following their wheels. This led to boring racing.

Starting the 3rd lap, Eric Riggs (Lombardi, last year's winner) attacked. He got a reasonable gap solo, so a few of us P/1/2's waited patiently. I then attacked as hard as I could and bridged up to Eric, bringing one or two guys with me.

Long story short, after a few miles we had a break of 5, all P/1/2's, composed of myself, Eric Riggs, Mike Cordova (Chico Corsa), Kevin King (Wells Fargo), and a UC Berkeley guy who is really strong but I dont recall his name. Chris Turner (Above Category) bridged up solo a bit
later.

I really wanted the break to stick, so I drove the pace hard. A couple of the other guys worked really well with me, but Riggs more or less sat on the back and skipped pulls. He seemed to be hurting, and was actually bleeding from the face from time to time. Literally.

The 36-mile breakaway succeeded and we stayed away. Coming into the finish, I felt confident in my sprint and thought I had the win. Overconfidence sucks. I got beat at the line by Riggs. He has a good sprint and I knew it, but I thought he was hurting during the race. Apparently he was faking it.

So, I botched a really good shot at a win. That seems to be my signature move this year. Got 2nd place. Chris Turner was 3rd (this guy went on to solo to victory in the Chico crit the next day... great riding by him).

Anyway, this will be my last report of the season. Thanks to everyone in the entire Alto-Velo organization and all of our sponsors for supporting the P/1/2 team this year. Without your support, I would not have been able to race successfully this year. Congratulations to all the AV racers in every category... the club seems to have had a very prolific season overall. Finally, good luck to all of you crazy people racing 'cross, track, Mt. Tam hillclimb, etc.

Thanks again,
Rand