Land Park Criterium P12 Race Report

Wow, it seems like the guys are firing well, and just in times for Redlands Classic this coming week. The team scored 1st and 2nd from a 3-man breakway and took down the field sprint for 4th this past Saturday at Land Park Crit. Below is BP's report

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Event: Land Park Criterium

Date: Saturday, March 21

Team: BP Buchholz (1st), Greg Gomez, James Badia, Keith Williams (DS Extraodenaire) Matt Beebe, Rand Miller (2nd), Ryan Parnes (4th) and Ted Huang.

A field of 60 riders assembled at the Land Park in Sacramento under cloudy and intermittently rainy skies for another edition of the Land Park Criterium. The majority of our squad used the race to hone in on our racing fitness for the upcoming Redlands Bicycle Classic. We thought that a 55-minute criterium would be just the thing to top off the fitness.

We chatted briefly before the race and laid out some rough plans if the finale should come down to a field sprint. Other than that it was mainly to get a good workout in, have fun and stay safe.

Everyone was super active in the beginning of the race. James, Ryan and Ted all spend some time at the front but fresh legs spelled and a lack of commitment from their companions would doom their efforts. Greg and Matt were holding their own in the race and looked super smooth through the corners and managed to stay out of harm's way.

Rand jumped into a move with four other riders and quickly built up a 10-second gap. Coming out of the S-turn the break was caught and I surfed Tyler Dibble (Giant Strawberries) up to the front and launched a little digger. Joel Robertson tagged along and Rand joined me from the remnants of his move.

Joel was down to work so we rolled it pretty hard for the first 3 laps to set up a decent gap. The three of us worked super well together and Rand was absolutely killing it up front. Back in the group, James was tagging back moves, while Ted and Ryan each latched on to a few efforts off the front.

With 5 laps to go we had a 40-second gap and I was pretty sure that we could hold it to the line. Just to be sure, we kept flogging it until we heard the bell with one to go. Rand launched an amazing attack on the back side of the course and forced Joel to chase hard to close it down. We sat up through the S-turn and I probably waited a little too long but then jumped hard on the inside of the last right corner and managed to get a decent gap and hold it to the line. Rand came in for second. For the pack sprint, James did the perfect leadout for Parnes into the last corner and Ryan came away with 4th and the field sprint.

Overall, I am super proud of a great Team effort here today! Although this race was no Redlands, it was a great way to practice our Teamwork and coordinate better. Huge, massive thanks to Keith Williams for helping us with wheels and radio advice during the race. Keith is truly fired up on Webcor and he is actually coming to Redlands to be our DS, Sogneuir, Mechanic, etc. We are all very fortunate to be able to have such great support!!!

Thanks a lot for reading!

BP

W/AV Madera County Stage Race Report

The Webcor/Alto Velo Elite Team raced the one and only stage race in our district this past weekend out around Madera in the Central Valley. This is usually a low-key 4-stage, 3 day race for the P/1/2. Given the proximity to other stage races on the calendar (San Dimas and Redlands), this year had a bit more competitive field than usual, including a full Bissell Pro squad with Ben Jaques-Maynes (BJM). Candelario and Zwizanski from Kelly Benefits also showed up. Adding in our 10-man team, a lot of Cal Giants and the other usual suspects the P/1/2 race was full at 71 riders.

The race starts off with a hilly 10 mile time trial on Friday. Saturday starts with another 10 mile time trial, albeit flat. Following the TT there is a 70 minute 4-corner flat crit in the afternoon. Sunday is a ~80 mile road race on flat to rolling roads, with a pretty tough finish through some roller coaster-like rollers.

The W/AV team for the race consisted of Ryan Parnes, Ryan Prsha, Neil Harrington, Billy Crane, Rob MacNeill, Peter Cazalet, Brian (BP) Buchholz, Jeff Williams, James Badia, and Fabrice Dubost. Katheryn Mattis from the women's pro team also did the men's race with us, it was great to see her holding her own with the dudes.

Below are detailed reports from the best placed rider for the respective stages.

Full Results

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Stage 1: Ben Hur Hill Climb Time Trial

Result: 11th for Fabrice

The race is a 10.5 mile time trial. The first 6 miles are composed of rolling terrain, then there is a steep climb for 3 miles, then another mile or so of rolling terrain to the finish. A tough course for sure!

In order to maximize my performance in the time trial, which is not really my specialty, my equipment choice was to use a time trial bike with two deep carbon wheels. Most others made similar choices.

I tried to set a high pace for the first part but tried to keep some energy in order to brave the climb to the finish. I need to practice pacing a time trial, which is not very popular in France, because I finished nearly 3 minutes behind the winner of the day, freakishly fast BJM, at 11th place.

Thanks for reading,
Fabrice

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Stage 2: Bee Keeper's Revenge Time Trial

Result: 3rd for BP, 7th for Parnes

Tailwinds are the friend of the TT

Worked into a rhythm

Bees bouncing from my legs.

Hmmmmm. Flat TT on a flat land. Tons of almond trees. Bees on the side of the road. Rode hard. Found a rhythm and got into it during the TT. Headed west and the wind started picking up. Then, the massive 2 percent hill crept up in front of me. Somehow, I managed to go over it and finish the TT. Rolled in at 3rd with Scott Z. (KBS) in 2nd and Ben JM (BISS) in 1st. Parnes did a great ride and managed to only get stung once. He rolled in at 7th place without the benefit of an aero disc. Crazy good, eh?

BP

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Stage 3: Can You Smell That Smell Criterium
Result: 4th for BP, 10th for Parnes

Great Team effort here. This race is a big oval on crummy skin-shearing pavement. One RR track to cross on the back stretch, then 400 M to the finish. The back stretch was next to some industrial factory and it smelled like, well, you know, what you don't want to smell when you are on the rivet and freakin' snotting out every facial orifice.

The race started with a barrage of attacks and the boyz managed to cover them. I think we had 5-6 guys covering stuff in the first 30 minutes of the race. I chilled out in the back thanks to all this hard work!

I think Scott Z. attacked with 13 to go and Keith Miller (Giant Berry), Ben JM, Scott Z, A/J Mendonca (Lombardi) and me all formed a little group off the front. We rotated through nicely (except for one lampre who will remain nameless) at a leisurely 48 kph (holy crap!!!) and I managed to hang in pretty well till the finale. Back in the bunch, Safeway and some other Teams were chasing and they nearly caught us with 2 to go. One Davis BC and one Safeway bridged to our move and then Safeway backed off back in the bunch, no one else chased and we were off to the finish.

I was pretty gassed at the finish but tried to get on Ben's wheel. Keith went long and managed to hold it to the finish. Overall, a great showing for the whole Team. We are knocking on the door for a big(ger) result (like Rob's 7th at Merco RR wasn't awesome enough). The guys are really riding strong and smart right now and I know we're going to kill it this year.

Thanks for all your support!!!

BP

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Stage 4: Daulton RR

Result: 5th for Parnes, 6th for BP, 9th for Fabrice, 13th for Badia

Course: 5 laps of ~16mi with a long downhill to flat highway, turning onto a road where class A truckers must practice driving with chains (in other words: bumpy), followed by 3 good sized rollers into the finish.

With no one contending for a top GC spot we decided to ride for a stage win. People did a great job of covering early attacks and Ryan Prsha rode himself into the break that stuck. The break looked good, with the big teams represented and a healthy gap so Webcor got to sit in and enjoy the ride. Alas, tragedy struck and Prsha took a spill. As soon as we saw him on the side of the road we got to the front and put in what I might describe as the prettiest chase to ever grace NorCal cycling. Every green jersey still in the pack (and that includes Kathryn!) got to the front and drove a textbook chase to cut a two and a half minute gap to nothing inside of a lap. Its hard to convey how proud I felt to be part of Webcor at that moment. I could not ask for better teammates. Big ups to Neil who turned himself inside out during the chase.

With the break dragged back into the folds things heated up again and there was a good deal of attacking during the last two laps. James, who had been gatekeeper during the chase, rode like a demon and covered pretty much every attack by himself for half a lap. Crazy. In the end it all came down to an unlikely field sprint. Rob did a strong turn to bring James up to the front, but no one team took control for a lead out and the result was some sort of slow-motion, cluster sprint of chaos. Our communication just wasn’t there and we ended up going pirate rules: every man for himself. I started my sprint from bad position, but managed to find a window and squeak through for 5^th. BP was right behind me for 6^th, Fabrice 9^th and James 13^th.

In some ways it was a frustrating finish. We clearly had the horsepower to seal the deal, but we weren’t able to organize ourselves. In other ways this was a real confidence boost. To have the team really control the race and then still have the power to pack four riders in the top 15 is a great sign. The fitness and strategy are coming around and as soon as we dial in the tactics of the last few K we’re going to start spending some quality time on the podium.

Just have to say one last time how impressed I am with the team. You guys killed it out there and I’m honored to race with you.

-Parnes

Berkeley 2-Man Team Time Trial Report

The Berkeley Bike Club TTT is basically one-lap of the Berkeley Hills Road Race Course. It's a lumpy 16 or so mile loop that is pretty challenging, rhythm-wise, for a 2-man TTT. From the Webcor/Alto Velo Team, Peter and Rand entered the P12 category and scored a podium spot in 3rd. Rob MacNeill and Brian Peterson entered the 70+ combined group and also scored 3rd of 32 teams in their category. Below is Rand's report from his and Peter's race.

Official Results

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BBC TTT
Pinole, CA
03/07/09
Weather: Cold, foggy here and there, breezy
Teammate: Peter Cazalet
Placing: 3rd of ~12 teams

At the last minute, Peter Cazalet and I were able to secure ourselves a start spot in the P/1/2 BBC TTT last weekend, in spite of the fact that registration had closed days previously and the field was supposedly full. This seemed like an awesome idea at the time...

Fast forward to Saturday morning at 5am when my alarm went off, and I no longer considered it such an awesome idea. Regardless, Peter and I booked it over to the San Pablo Dam in time for 6:30am registration.

After a long warmup, I thought I was ready to go. Legs felt a bit sluggish, but I chalked that up to the early wakeup time. Peter and I lined up at the start line, ready for 40 minutes of pain.

I was not warmed up, nor was I ready for the pain. The first 5 miles of this race were miserable for me, and Peter was probably cursing his choice of partner as he had to back off over a few rollers to keep from dropping me. Ugh. I felt awful, which sucks enough when you are TT'ing alone, but feels even worse when you are letting your teammate down.

Anyway, Peter was a champ for a while, keeping the pace as high as he could until my legs finally came around as we hit the rolling false-flat back section of the course. I started feeling good and was able to start pulling through strongly.

The course is punctuated by two hills toward the end, and we kept a good steady tempo up them. Definitely not killing it, but we were turning it over pretty well. We finished with a time around 40 and a half minutes, which is respectable on that course. It was enough to put us in 3rd place in the P/1/2, but we were over a minute and a half down on the winners. Bummer.

Overall, though painful and brutal, it was a good way to start a Saturday morning. Hats off to Peter for dragging me around for a few miles while I got moving.

Rand

Race Report: Menlo Park Criterium

This past weekend, the team got to stay local and raced the Menlo Park crit here on the SF Bay Peninsula. The guys rode an aggressive race against some tough competition. After his late breakaway attempt was absorbed, Fabrice was able to stay in good position and get a top-5 result for the team. Rand finished just behind for 8th. Below is Fabrice's report

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Menlo Park Criterium
3/8/09
Pro 1/2
4th of 100 (unofficial)
Teammates: Rand, James, Bo, Ryan Prsha, Mike Vella, William Dunham, Ted Burns, Tracy Colwell, sorry if I missed anybody

This criterium will be, for sure, the nearliest crit I will do. It takes place just 2 miles from where I live!!! While warming up on the Williams's Rollers (thanks again Keith) we grouped the team together in order to decide the tactics. The plan was to try to stay on the front of the pack, and send one guy in each escape.

After some laps with little attacks, a great move of 7 guys succeeded to increase a gap. Rand was in, So the rest of the team tried to control and to stay in the front. After mid race, the gap decreased surprisingly and the escape was caught few laps later. James and I tried some attacks but without success.

With 5 laps to go, Ryan Prsha made a great move at the perfect time. After one straightaway, a guy counter attacked, I jumped on his wheel, and we caught Ryan. There was a gap with the pack, so I decided to continue this move by taking the lead. In the process we lost Ryan and we were just two to conclude the 5 last laps. We stayed off the front for the next 3 laps but we were caught with 2 laps to go. I tried to stay on the front in order to help James for the final sprint. I kept Ben Jaques-Maynes' wheel on the last straight, on the right of the road, James decided to stay on the left. Then there was a crash just after James with 500 meters to go, he was alone on the left and he decided to launch his sprint from a long way, but without success. I had a perfect position in 4th or 5th but without enough gas to take the lead, so I finished in 4th place.

I was very satisfied about my race and about the team race, as the last week we were on the front from the beginning to the end of the race. The victory will arrive soon.

Thanks for reading
Fabrice

Webcor/AV Race Report: Merco Crit, Pro 1/2

Along with the Merco Road Race on Sunday, a big contingent of the Webcor/Alto Velo Elite Team went out for the Merco Grand Prix criterium on Saturday. This is another well known, former NRC race that still attracts top domestic pros. This edition was no exception, which made for a fast, nervous race. Mayhem on the last couple of laps kept us out of the top-10 but we were active for the entire race and put in a good effort as a team. Below is Fabrice's report.

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Merco Crit, Pro 1/2
2/28/2009
Team mates: James Badia, Brian (BP) Buchholz, Billy Crane, Chris Crawford, Justin Farga, Neil Harrington, Bo Hebenstreit, Rob MacNeill, Rand Miller, Ryan Parnes, Ryan Prsha, Jeff Williams and Keith Williams.
Results: Fabrice--13th, James--21st of 120

The course is a totally flat, 0.8 mile lap criterium, we had 50 laps/40 miles. Bissell, BMC, Colavita, Rock Racing, and Successful Living were there. Additionally, the usual local teams plus two or three big SoCal amateur teams showed up. Most of our Webcor/AV team were present and ready to fight.

First of all we were lucky because our sponsor and part time director sportif, Keith Williams, was present during the race and let us use his tent in order to warm up and to plan the team strategy; which was to race on the front of the field, cover the attacks, and if there was a sprint, put James in good positions to obtain a good result.

After a kick start done by Andy/Jesse from team Lombardy, we tried to stay on the front with Justin, Jeff, James or Rand. After 10 laps a big move of about 10 guys with BP succeeded to create a gap of about 5 seconds, but the Rock Racing team closed the gap. I tried a counter
attack but I was just followed by James Mattis from CalGiant and the professional teams caught us after 5 laps on the front. Nearly at mid-race, just on the front of the peloton there was a big crash which involved a Webcor/AV rider, Justin. Justin was taken to the hospital with a likely broken hand from hitting the metal barriers.

With 5 laps to go, I tried another attack. After one lap alone I was joined by 4 other guys, but that was not enough because we were caught at 3 laps to the end. So, I decided to keep a good position in order to help James for the final sprint. But the 2 last laps were very fast and furious. Three crashes, including one on the last lap chicane, cut the field in many pieces and I had the best placement to do the final sprint but my legs were tired and I was not able to enter in the top
10. I finished with a 13 place. Bahati and Williams went 1-2 for Rock Racing in the sprint.

Despite the number of professionals and strong teams, the Webcor/AV team was present on the front during the entire race with a very aggressive feeling, which gives us lot of confidence for good results during the new season!!

Here the report from Cyclingnews:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2009/mar09/merco09/merco092

Thanks for reading.
Fabrice

Race Report: Merco Road Race, P12

1 March 2008
Merco Road Race, P12, 120 miles
Weather: Overcast, ~60 deg F, raining at the end.
Team: James Badia, Brian (BP) Buchholz, Billy Crane, Chris Crawford, Fabrice & Anne Lise Dubost, Neil Harrington, Bo Hebenstreit, Rob MacNeill, Rand Miller, Tore Nauta, Thomas Novikoff, Ryan Parnes, Ryan Prsha, Graham Simpson
Results: Rob--7th, James--13th of 160+

The Merco weekend (formerly McLane Pacific) has historically been NRC. This year it wasn't NRC but you wouldn't know it by all the pro teams fielding strong squads. Namely, Bissell, BMC, Colavita, Rock Racing, and Successful Living were there. Additionally, the usual local teams plus two or three big SoCal amateur teams showed up. They also combined the P/1 & 2 race, compared to past years where they were separate. Add our squad of 14 (!) and that makes for a big field to clog up the farm roads near Merced.

The course is mostly flat and fast with a few rollers, especially near the end of the lap, which makes for a tough finish. Some roads are shared with the Snelling RR course from 1 week ago--the run into the Merco finish is the rolling section from the Snelling feed zone and the following several kilometers. Our race was 120 miles (5X 24 mile laps) and 4.5 hours of fun filled excitement.

The first lap was pretty fast while guys tried to get breaks established. So much for an easy warm-up lap! Toward the middle of the lap, Thomas got off with a group then James joined a bit later. Before the end of the first lap, Thomas came back but James and others stayed off for about a full lap. All the while, our guys were covering counterattacks looking for free rides to bridge across. Eventually James and the others were brought back and things reshuffled.

The next big breakaway of the day had our own BP Buchholz and a good mix of the top teams. Lombardi and Z-team missed the break and worked hard for a while to eventually bring it back. Again, our team stayed near the front following the chase and stayed relatively rested. BP's break stayed off for a lap or more. Somewhere around the catch, Billy went down on the bumpy section, but luckily came through relatively unscathed.

A bit later on, around the start of lap 4, another breakaway went off. This one seemed like it would stick since all the big teams were represented and it had a lot of horsepower. Our own Jeff Williams and Fabrice Dubost made the move so we were happy with the make-up. Jeff helped a lot for a lap to save Fabrice, then Jeff dropped off. On the last lap, the break continued to split into smaller groups. Several of the riders from the break came back toward the beginning of the last lap. With about half a lap to go, we got word that Fabrice was still in the front group of 4-5 with about 2 minutes advantage, while another group including the Cal Giant's rider was coming back. Cal Giant took up the chase, while we were able to follow wheels. The remnants of the breakaway was caught going into the Snelling feed zone hill, which was about 5 or so km from the finish. That was disappointing for Fabrice, we were hoping their group would make it to the end.

During the chase, Parnes, Rand, and I were trying to guide James toward the font on the hectic and now wet run-in to the finish. In the chaotic catch, I got disconnected from the other guys and was close to the front trying to stay safe through the last tricky, hard kilometers. I was thinking that I'd eventually do a turn on the front on the run into the finish to help keep things strung out. It turned out that there were enough other guys willing to kill themselves, so I surfed wheels and thought I'd see what happened in the sprint myself, given my good positioning. I really gunned it hard over the last hill and started the 400 m sprint to the line with everyone else. Along the way, I sat down at about 200 m, shifted a few gears, stood up and sprinted again. Man, that was a LONG sprint. I basically maintained position and finished just behind the front cluster contesting the win, including two Rock Racing Riders (Silva--1st and Rodriguez--4th), a BMC (Tolleson--2nd), a Bissell (AJM--3rd), a Successful living rider, and one other. Rand and Parnes were able to bring James to the line cleanly in 13th.

Normally, I wouldn't think 7th was such a big deal but this race is prestigious and had a high caliber field so we were happy. The result combined with the level of teamwork we had throughout the race was really inspiring. I sincerely want to congratulate our team on a race well ridden. Everyone contributed at some point during the race. We were in every break of the day, we communicated well, and we were near the front in the pack while sitting in. Tactically, it was a really good race for us and, in the end, we got 2 guys in the money. Things are clicking!

Thanks to Fabrice's wife, Anne Lise, for feeding us all day. That was key for such a long race.

Also, I just wanted to comment about how good our equipment is this season. The new Giant TCR Advanced is incredibly smooth, stiff, and planted; it's an excellent race bike. The Williams 38 mm carbon tubulars I've been riding are incredible as well: stiff, responsive, light. They are as good in bumpy road races as they are railing corners in crits. The new Bell Volt helmet is insanely comfortable and the Giro optics are crystal clear and designed for cycling and it shows. Of course, the Voler kit is always top notch. Thanks to all our sponsors.

Thanks for reading,
Rob