Race Report: Dana Pt. GP NRC Crit

Race: Dana Pt. Grand Prix
Category: Men's P/1 NRC Race
Date: 26 April 2009
Team: Rob MacNeill (51st of 100+), Rand Miller (53rd), Justin Fraga (75th)

How did I end up writing this report? Rand and Justin actually saw the front of this race, I never did, unless you count seeing the lead guy in the distance past a big pack of riders.

Anyhow, Dana Pt. GP is a criterium held down in The OC. It's only 3 years old but got NRC status this year and had a sizable purse, so it attracted a big P/1 field. The course was a clockwise 6-turn L-shaped course over 0.8 miles of good pavement. There were a few undulations along the course, but nothing that difficult climbing wise. I liked the flow of the course.

Our race was a weird one. Somehow, it was one of the easier races I've done all season (not what I was expecting from an NRC crit!), yet it was impossible to move around comfortably. I think this was due to the large field on relatively narrow roads. We'd go into the corners curb to curb, requiring a lot of braking, then accelerating, and repeating. I did try to move up many times but it was sort of scary and always resulted in near misses or run-ins with a log-jam of riders trying to do the same thing. Shuffle up, shuffle back...

So, after a while, I resigned myself to a nice motorpacing session and getting home with all my skin. Rand and Justin were more successful than I in participating in the upfront activities. Rand was even in a move attacking off the front for two laps. In the end though, we all had the same self-preservation sense and finished mid-pack out of harms way. Not that exciting, but that's how it went.

Some highlights were Justin almost being taken out by a pedal clipping Floyd Landis (he saved it). I was right there when it happened, thinking Floyd must be rusty at crits and that I'm better than him. Then a few laps later, I did the same thing. Justin also had a near miss with the pavement when Tony Cruz decided to play bumper cars on a charge to the front. We all left without crashing so the day was success in my opinion.

Congratulations to the Webcor Pro Women for going 1-2 in their crit. They had a great race.

-Rob

Race Report: "The Webcor 1-2": Wente Vineyards Omnium

Sorry this is a bit late. A couple of weekends ago was a big race weekend for the W/AV squad. We had a local omnium, which we wanted to win, and there was an NRC crit in SoCal. Below is the report from the local race weekend omnium made up of the Wente Vineyards Road Race and Criterium. At stake for the winner of the omnium is an expenses paid trip to compete on a composite team at the upcoming Nature Valley Grand Prix NRC Stage Race in Minnesota. Our team isn't planning to apply for a team slot at Natre Valley, but we wanted to qualify one of our riders through the Wente omnium. Below is Ryan Parnes' report about the successful weekend.

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Not to put the cart before the horse, but thanks to some good legs, a little luck and some incredible teamwork I managed to take the top spot in the Wente Vineyards omnium with Fabrice right behind me for second. After suffering through a grueling RR for 4th place the team put the crit on lockdown and delivered me safe to the line for a 3rd place finish, which was enough to secure the omnium and qualify me for the Nature Valley Pro Ride. I'm so elated I haven't been able to think straight. I can't say Monday was my most productive day at work, as I think I spent most of my time grinning like an idiot and daydreaming about Minnesota. But here's how the races went down.

Wente Vineyards RR

Teammates: Fabrice, Billy, Bo, Ted, BP, Jeff, Chris, Thomas, Peter, James.

4th of ~80 Fabrice 7th Ted 13th?

5 laps for 81mi

Things were pretty hot from the first time up the climb, thanks in part to the 3 place KOM. Billy was all over early moves and then just kept it pegged and took the KOM while I suffered somewhere in the pack. The results had me listed as the KOM winner, but when we went to the organizer after the race he looked at me, then at Billy and pretty quickly realized his mistake : ) . After the descent and a couple of half-hearted attacks from the field I decided I did not want to be with the pack on the next climb when things went crazy, so I lit out before the big roller and got to ride the climb at my own pace. I got caught on the descent by about 14 guys or so, including Fabrice and then BP threw in a massive effort to bridge (alas, he was wearing #13 right side up and someone decided to ram him and break his shifter)

After that its all a little hazy. I kept trying to stay with the lead group and totally red-lining every time we hit the climb, but somehow always managing to somehow pull myself up and over with them. Cresting the climb on the bell lap I was in a group of 8 with Fabrice, Mattis, Nate English, Jesse Moore, Mark Santurbane, Kevin Klein, and a strong young Lombardi rider. English attacked, Mattis went with him and right as Fabrice was going to bridge we heard that unmistakable hiss. He got a wheel change, but despite re-passing some people on the road he was never able to get back to us (Fabrice says he wasn't feeling that great anyway, but even on his worst day I'd bet dollars to donuts on that man against just about anyone in northern california). Shortly thereafter the Lombardi rider flatted, and that left me with KK and two berry boys with the other two off the front and not looking back. There wasn't much I could do at that point. Any move would be marked by the Cal Giant guys and they sure weren't going to pull. I was pretty blown and couldn't really think of attacking, but the thought of dragging those guys to the climb where they would just crush me was so damn depressing. Kevin, for his part, was incredible. He didn't give me any crap and he pulled strong and steady to keep us clear of any chasers, even while I waffled about what to do and missed a few pulls. Big props to Kevin for a strong and honorable ride.

I threw in one attack on the flats where I might have had an advantage, but it came to nothing, and when we rounded the turn into the climb Jesse took off an no matter how hard I tried he kept slowly pulling away. I don't know if Kevin and Mark gave me a gift, but I somehow managed to stay in front of them for 4th and Fabrice came in right behind us for 7th.

Wente Crit

3rd of ~80

All-Stars:Thomas, Matt, Jeff, Fabrice, Neil, Greg, BP + Bo & Keith Williams on the airwaves.

I was so amped up for the crit and the chance at qualifying for Nature Valley that I couldn't sit still, or focus or spit out a decent, coherent sentence. I think I might have been spasing a little... In the end it turned out to be one of the easiest crits I've ever ridden, and I owe it entirely to the efforts of my teammates. We made a list of potential threats and Bo and Keith kept us up to speed on any threats. Then they spent the whole race jumping on everything that moved and shutting it down, while I just sat mid-pack without a care in the world. I can't tell you how incredible a feeling it is to be able to sit in for a whole race with total confidence that your boys are going to have your back, mark everyone that needs marking and still be there for you with a strong pull at the end. Everyone, to a man, marked moves, put in strong efforts and helped me move through the field, and I feel so privileged to be part of the AV squad this year.

My guys kept it together for the whole race, and when it finally came down to the last lap I linked up with BP for a rocket ride into the last corner. I've never even seen a leadout like that, much less been lucky enough to ride in one. He was going so fast I could barely hang on and he had the whole field strung out pretty as a picture, keeping it all safe through the last corner. I had Jesse on my wheel, so I didn't want to jump too soon and waited 'til he went for it to start my sprint. It was a second too late and people were already charging up the right side, but I turned it on and managed to slot in for 3rd.

I didn't win the crit, but it was enough to take first in the omnium, and hearing the announcer say, "Ryan Parnes is going to Nature Valley," and the cheer that went up from my teammates was one of the best feelings in my life. I'm still glowing as I write about it.

Its an honor to be racing with a group of such talented and selfless people.