SLO Race Reports: Fabrice scores a win!

Last weekend Fabrice and a few guys went south to San Luis Obispo to participate in 2 hard races. One was a hilly circuit/road race on Saturday and another was the SLO Downtown Criterium on Sunday. Fabrice has been knocking on the door of a win all season long. Even with some bad luck in the road race, he overcame everything to score an impressive win in what sounded like a very hard race. Here are Fabrices reports from the weekend:

Race: SLO Road Race
Category: Pro1/2
Place: 1st of ~60
Teammates: Bo (12th), Jeff (25th), special thanks to Amy and Anne Lise for the feed zone.

The course was 12 laps of a 7 miles loop. On a normal day the principal difficulty of the circuit should be a 1.5 miles climb composed in two steep parts. But during the race, the wind was huge and oppressive all the way to the finish line.

In the first lap, I tested my legs in the climb by attacking the pack but that didn't work. Then I tried to stay in good position in the decent. With 2 miles to go to the finish line, my front wheel flatted. The neutral car was way too far back so I pressed on to the finish line where Bo had put his wheels and I changed out the wheel. At that point I thought that the day would not be mine. But after one lap of pursuing, I finally caught the rest of the field of nearly 30 guys. When I caught up, the situation was an escape of 2 guys with 20 seconds of advantage. The situation didn't change for another 2 laps. Then Neil Shirley from Kelly Benefits attacked in the climb and I joined him. We closed the gap at the top of the climb. In the descent we tried to work together but the field caught us. After the catch, more attacks were firing off but nothing stuck.

With 5 laps to go, it was a repeat of 2 laps prior: 2 guys off the front, with Neil Shirley and I crossing the gap on the climb. However, this time we were able to increase the gap as we approached the finish line. The four of us tried to stay together as long as possible, since we knew that the wind would make it very difficult to go it alone. In the last lap I tried to save energy as much as possible, while still working the breakaway, as I knew that a sprint would decide the race.

The final straightaway was a false flat with the wind on the right. I stayed in second position on the run in to the finish, and I jumped on Neil Shirley's wheel when he launched his sprint from behind. I stayed behind him as long as possible to save some energy and I finally jumped him in the last 25 meters. Finally I got my first victory of the season! Finally...

Bo and Jeff finished the race bravely in 12th and 25th position.

Race: SLO Criterium
Category: Pro1/2
Place: 12th of ~100
Teammates: James and Jeff

The SLO Downtown Criterium is anything but Slow. The race started out fast and besides one or two occasions, where the pace eased for a few seconds, it remained fast for the entire 80 minutes. The SoCal crit championship jersey was on the line for the winner, which helped to keep the pace high. The course is the usual downtown course with a chicane section through the mission, a fast slightly downhill long finish on new pavement this year. All of the corners if done correctly allow you to carry your speed.

The difficulty was the wind, another day with a strong wind so an escape will be very difficult. I tried in the first 20 minutes to attack but the wind was clearly too strong and all the attacks were sent back to the field during the whole race. I decided to stay in good position and to save energy for the final sprint, since a field sprint seemed inevitable. In the 5 last laps the speed increased and the field was strung out single file. James and I stayed in good position with the help of Jeff, who helped us to pass some guys and to stay on the front. In the last corner I was only in 15th position, with James just a few spots behind me. Then I heard a crash from behind. Unfortunately, James stacked it hard due to a guy from Kahala/LaGrange who rolled his tubular right in front of him. For my part I tried to pass some guys at the beginning of the last straightaway, but that was just for a placing and not for the victory; my position was not the best. I passed some guys but with 100 meters to go two guys closed the door just in front of me so I stopped my effort and finished the race in 12 position. The race was won by Bahati from Rock Racing.

Since the race, James reported his injuries aren't as bad as first thought. He should be racing again this weekend at San Rafael.

Thanks for reading
Fabrice