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