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