The team had a great finish to CalCup this past weekend. Parnes took second at Esparto Time Trial and Fabrice won the series ending crit in San Francisco on Labor Day. So, that makes 3 wins in CalCup and numerous podiums. On top of that, Fabrice, Parnes, BP, and Rand teamed up and won the district team time trial title this past Saturday. Great work guys! Below is Fabrice's report from the Giro.
Some photos from the race (From Veronika Lenzi's site):
Fabrice in the break, bay bridge in the background
Fabrice taking the win
Now that CalCup is over, most of the guys are calling it a season. It's been a really good one for the team. Thanks for following along this season and thanks to all our sponsors for the continued support this year.
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Giro di San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
9/7/2009
Weather: Sunny, windy
Teammates: Rand, James, Rob, Ryan (5th), Neil, Graham, Bruce, Billy
Finish: 1st of ~110
Much like every other street in San Francisco, the roads used for the Giro contain numerous pavement seams, potholes, and railroad tracks, making for some technical racing. Add the brutal winds that picked up in the afternoon, the small hill on the backside, and the strong 110 man field, and you have the makings of a very hard race.
This race was an objective for me after being off the front for most of Vacaville and finishing in second place at Winters, I knew that the form was here.
The team plan for the race: stay up front, be represented in moves, and try and get me, Rand, or Ryan into a good position to the victory, if possible.
The race started very fast and Rand took the first move with 4 other guys, included Roman Kilun from Team Ouch, but after 3 laps we were all together. During that time, I moved on the front of the pack to stay in good position.
Just after the junction with that first escape, Jared Barilleaux from CalGiant team made a counter attack, I followed him with the idea of creating a group of 4-6 guys. But after few pulls together, we realized that nobody joined us. At that time I was thinking "this is not good, this will be a long day".
From the beginning of that escape we settled into a good rhythm. I took the lead from the finishing line to the top of the hill then Jared has to finish the lap.
We quickly gained an advantage of 15 seconds but we had still 50 laps to go!!! We managed to stay very smooth and tried to increase our little advantage, but it was very suspenseful for the entire race because our maximum advantage was only 20 seconds and sometimes less than 10 seconds. I think the gap was still 15 seconds with 10 laps to go because all the Webcor team worked together to protect my advantage off the front. In all the moves we were able to see a green jersey sitting in the wheels.
With 5 laps to go our advantage was still under 15 seconds and the big teams tried to stay on the front and worked together to close that tiny gap. But we pushed harder and harder on the pedals and with 2 laps to go the advantage had not changed, still 15 seconds.
Our adventure still had a chance to see the victory but we had to stay together and work as hard as we could.
With one lap to go, the gap was under 10 seconds. I had very bad feelings from the week before at Vacaville where I was caught in the last straightaway after staying off the front during for the entire race, so I pushed harder on the last climb and let Jared to be on the front for the last straightaway. I didn't look back but I was able to hear the noise of the field so I decided to launch my sprint from a long way. Jared didn't react and I sprinted to the line and took the win, I was afraid to see the same scene as Cat's Hill (so many close calls!), that's why my celebration was very subdued. Anyway, I think my legs were so sore that I would not be able to do a big celebration. As I didn't look back, I was not able to see that one guy (Sterling Magnell, formerly(?) of Rock Racing) succeeded to close the gap between us and the field in the last lap. He passed Jared in the last straightaway to take second place, Jared held on for third ahead of the charging pack. Ryan took a very good fifth place, which meant two Webcor guys on the podium. Awesome!!!
For the last race of the Season that was a very exhausting race but a perfect team race!!! Thanks for the entire team for all work they did in the field!!!
Thanks for reading
Fabrice
Friday, September 11, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Fabrice's Winters Road Race Report
Event: Winters Road Race, Pro 1/2
Date: 8/29/2009
Result: 2nd of 70
Team: Rand, Billy, Bo, Greg and Thomas
Course: 4 laps, 24 miles per lap, mostly flat, a few rollers, one short climb with a technical descent and good pavement. The climb, which comes about half-way through the course just past the feed zone, is mostly shallow, tipping upward a little toward the end.
Weather: very hot (110 degrees) and dry
Race:
The start was at 8:00am after an early wake up (4:30am) and a long trip to Winters. Just on the top of the major climb I felt that my rear wheel was flat, I looked on the back and didn't see the neutral car, I was thinking that this race was starting very badly for me. But when Billy caught me, he offered me his wheel. So we made the exchange and I started again, leaving Billy in a bad situation. After 2 miles of pursuit I caught the field. I was little bit anxious to know what happened to Billy. After the race, he told us that the neutral car asked him the number of the guy who put wheels in for the team (Bo put the wheels in), but Billy didn't know Bo's number and he had to argue with the guy to finally get a wheel!
During the second lap, a group of 2 or 3 guys succeeded to take an advantage on the field but the real race was not really on. On the climb I saw a little group which was creating so a jumped on it and tried to take a big pull on the descent with the help of Rand. We got a gap but CalGiant was not in the break, so we were caught after a few miles. Then the race was on, attacks on attacks, we tried to put each time a Webcor inside. After 10 miles I succeeded to get in a good move. All 6 were motivated to put that escape on the way. In the feed zone our advantage was around 1min 30sec, and on the descent we were very surprised to see a guy closing the gap alone, so soon we were 7 in the group. We worked all together and the field was not able to catch us. The heat was very high and I think that I broke my record of bottles consumed in a race. Thanks Amy for the feed zone support.
After the descent our group was beginning to play. There were some attacks and after one of them we were 3 in the front, and the two most dangerous guys where not there, so I took some big pulls in order to stay in the front with that group. The thing that I didn't know is that the two guys had a flat at the same time, so the victory would be given to one of our 3. Maybe I've made too much work until the end but for the final sprint, the two guys attacked me all the time. With 500 meters to the finish line one guy attacked and the other looked at me, so I was obliged to launch my sprint from too far away. I caught and passed the first guy but in the last 50 meters the other guy passed me. So, 2nd place for me. Rand was close behind for a top 10 finish as well.
Thanks for reading,
Fabrice
Date: 8/29/2009
Result: 2nd of 70
Team: Rand, Billy, Bo, Greg and Thomas
Course: 4 laps, 24 miles per lap, mostly flat, a few rollers, one short climb with a technical descent and good pavement. The climb, which comes about half-way through the course just past the feed zone, is mostly shallow, tipping upward a little toward the end.
Weather: very hot (110 degrees) and dry
Race:
The start was at 8:00am after an early wake up (4:30am) and a long trip to Winters. Just on the top of the major climb I felt that my rear wheel was flat, I looked on the back and didn't see the neutral car, I was thinking that this race was starting very badly for me. But when Billy caught me, he offered me his wheel. So we made the exchange and I started again, leaving Billy in a bad situation. After 2 miles of pursuit I caught the field. I was little bit anxious to know what happened to Billy. After the race, he told us that the neutral car asked him the number of the guy who put wheels in for the team (Bo put the wheels in), but Billy didn't know Bo's number and he had to argue with the guy to finally get a wheel!
During the second lap, a group of 2 or 3 guys succeeded to take an advantage on the field but the real race was not really on. On the climb I saw a little group which was creating so a jumped on it and tried to take a big pull on the descent with the help of Rand. We got a gap but CalGiant was not in the break, so we were caught after a few miles. Then the race was on, attacks on attacks, we tried to put each time a Webcor inside. After 10 miles I succeeded to get in a good move. All 6 were motivated to put that escape on the way. In the feed zone our advantage was around 1min 30sec, and on the descent we were very surprised to see a guy closing the gap alone, so soon we were 7 in the group. We worked all together and the field was not able to catch us. The heat was very high and I think that I broke my record of bottles consumed in a race. Thanks Amy for the feed zone support.
After the descent our group was beginning to play. There were some attacks and after one of them we were 3 in the front, and the two most dangerous guys where not there, so I took some big pulls in order to stay in the front with that group. The thing that I didn't know is that the two guys had a flat at the same time, so the victory would be given to one of our 3. Maybe I've made too much work until the end but for the final sprint, the two guys attacked me all the time. With 500 meters to the finish line one guy attacked and the other looked at me, so I was obliged to launch my sprint from too far away. I caught and passed the first guy but in the last 50 meters the other guy passed me. So, 2nd place for me. Rand was close behind for a top 10 finish as well.
Thanks for reading,
Fabrice
University RR: Overend Schools Fabrice!
University Road Race was a couple of weeks ago, sorry for the late report. The course is really tough and most people avoid it for fear of getting dropped within the first few laps. It's basically a several minute hill interval followed by a short descent, which repeats lap after lap. Only the truly strong and/or crazy look forward to this race. Sounds like one for Fabrice! Below is his report.
--------------------------------------------------
Event: University Santa Cruz Road Race, Pro 1/2
Date: 8/23/2009
Result: 4th of ~40
Team: Billy and Myself
Full Results
Course:
20 laps of the 3 miles circuit, which was a loop with basically a 1.5 mile uphill and a 1.5 mile downhill. The climb was gradual in parts, moderate in others, and steep at the end.
Weather:
Cloudy, Foggy and cold at the beginning then clear and warmer.
Race:
On the start line, I saw an old guy like he could be my father, with grey hair and with a complete specialized setup in the middle of our field. I was thinking that he made a mistake; the masters race is later. But he seemed to be motivated to start with us.
Anyway, the start was given and my goal for the race was to do as well or better than last year, a 4th place. The race was started very quickly because on the second lap, one of the favorites, Scott Zwizanski from Kelly Benefits was in a 3 man group on the front. I decided to join them in the third lap. On the top of the climb Neil Shirley (also Kelly Benefits) had felt the danger and joined us. In the descent we worked all together and I was surprised to see that the old Specialized guy was there and worked too! The gap between our group and the field was increasing all the laps but the race was long.
At mid-race, we were only 4 guys after an acceleration from the Kelly Benefits guys. The old guy was still there. With 4 laps to go I was in a difficult situation because it seemed that the Kelly guys didn't want to finish with me. Every time they attacked and I was there, they stopped, maybe a thought from San Luis Obispo Road Race where I beat Shirley in a sprint!! Anyway with two laps to go after responding to many attacks I felt a little bit tired and I didn't respond to an attack from Shirley, but the old guy was still there and he jumped in his wheel. I felt very miserable to see him dropping me!!
The gap between these two guys and me with Zwizanski was just increasing, and I knew that would be very difficult to do better than last year. I did all the work in the two last laps, and I was dropped in the last climb and finished at the same place as last year, so 4th.
After crossing the finish line, I was very curious to know who the hell was that old guy. In fact it was Ned Overend, world MTB champion in the 90's, and always on the top of his shape. At 54 years of age still so motivated and strong, congratulations!!!!
Thanks for reading,
Fabrice
--------------------------------------------------
Event: University Santa Cruz Road Race, Pro 1/2
Date: 8/23/2009
Result: 4th of ~40
Team: Billy and Myself
Full Results
Course:
20 laps of the 3 miles circuit, which was a loop with basically a 1.5 mile uphill and a 1.5 mile downhill. The climb was gradual in parts, moderate in others, and steep at the end.
Weather:
Cloudy, Foggy and cold at the beginning then clear and warmer.
Race:
On the start line, I saw an old guy like he could be my father, with grey hair and with a complete specialized setup in the middle of our field. I was thinking that he made a mistake; the masters race is later. But he seemed to be motivated to start with us.
Anyway, the start was given and my goal for the race was to do as well or better than last year, a 4th place. The race was started very quickly because on the second lap, one of the favorites, Scott Zwizanski from Kelly Benefits was in a 3 man group on the front. I decided to join them in the third lap. On the top of the climb Neil Shirley (also Kelly Benefits) had felt the danger and joined us. In the descent we worked all together and I was surprised to see that the old Specialized guy was there and worked too! The gap between our group and the field was increasing all the laps but the race was long.
At mid-race, we were only 4 guys after an acceleration from the Kelly Benefits guys. The old guy was still there. With 4 laps to go I was in a difficult situation because it seemed that the Kelly guys didn't want to finish with me. Every time they attacked and I was there, they stopped, maybe a thought from San Luis Obispo Road Race where I beat Shirley in a sprint!! Anyway with two laps to go after responding to many attacks I felt a little bit tired and I didn't respond to an attack from Shirley, but the old guy was still there and he jumped in his wheel. I felt very miserable to see him dropping me!!
The gap between these two guys and me with Zwizanski was just increasing, and I knew that would be very difficult to do better than last year. I did all the work in the two last laps, and I was dropped in the last climb and finished at the same place as last year, so 4th.
After crossing the finish line, I was very curious to know who the hell was that old guy. In fact it was Ned Overend, world MTB champion in the 90's, and always on the top of his shape. At 54 years of age still so motivated and strong, congratulations!!!!
Thanks for reading,
Fabrice
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
W/AV Wins NorCal Crit Championships!
This past weekend was a good one for our team. The CalCup series continues on and the team is racing hard toward the end of the season.
On Saturday, Fabrice was heavily marked at Winters Road Race but still managed a 2nd place finish from a small breakaway group. Sunday was the Northern California/Nevada District Crit Championship race at Vacaville. Fabrice again was in a break for most of the day, which was brought back on the final lap. Our Ryan Parnes launched out of the pack to take the win with a nice margin over the charging sprinters. With that, he gets the honor of wearing the Elite Crit Champion jersey for the next year. Below is Ryan's report from Vacaville.
Some pictures from the race:
Fabrice in the main break of the day: 1 2 3
Ryan crossing the line: 1 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry everyone, I tried to get Rand to ghostwrite this for me, but he didn't go for it.
I had never raced Vacaville before, but I'd been hearing great things about the race for months. Everything they said was true. The course is an amazing 1.1 mile figure eight that manages to fit every cool crit feature into one course, including a solid power-climb, a ripping descent, a chicane before the finish, and last but not least a banked hairpin. Throw in about 6,000 bots dots and an endless row of cones and it makes for one crazy ride.
The team Sunday was Billy, Bo, Fabrice, James, Rand and Rob. We tried to have a bit of a pre-race meeting to hammer out a strategy, but we ended up mostly talking trash and making lewd comments. Maybe we didn't come out of it with a brilliant plan, but it does sort of put you at ease before a big race. (for more on pre-race meetings see Rand's Suisun report).
Things started fast and before I knew it Fabrice was up the road with Aaron Olson (former Pro-Tour rider) and two Berry Boys (Patrick Briggs and Jared Barilleaux). I figured that wasn't ideal so I launched myself on the climb and somehow managed to get up to them. We worked decently together for a number of laps, but I was suffering like a dog, and hurting all the worse because Fabrice looked like he was just noodling to the coffee shop while I was trying not to throw up. So when Aaron opened a gap and Briggs was on the wrong end of it with me I figured I wouldn't be the one to close it. Briggs didn't seem too fired up either and when Aaron jumped to get across we looked at each other and let it go. So there I was, head down, tail tucked, rolling back to the field.
I spent the middle of the race sitting in, licking my wounds and feeling generally horrible. That climb was really hurting and I was wondering if I had it in me to fight it out and contest a crazy sprint for 4th. Cal Giant was blocking and Rand and James were up front marking moves so I just sort of floated around the pack in bewilderment. Then with 7 laps to go I started feeling a bit better. 5 to go: not bad. 3 to go: glimmer of hope. With 2 to go it looked like the break might be coming back and I was in decent position. As we came through with one to go Cal Giant had some guys up front driving the pace and I was sitting maybe 6th wheel or so. Thats when Keith Williams, wheel-ninja and radioman extraordinaire, piped into my ear with some of his patented last lap wisdom, "OH YEAH! YOU'RE ON THAT TRAIN, BABY! RIDE THAT TRAIN! RIDE IT!", which despite his suggestive tone of voice was the most PG stuff I've heard from him at the end of a race.
In the end, Keith's crazy yelling, a lust for the state title and the fear that my sprint is just not up to snuff all came together in some magical way that made it feel as though someone had smacked me in the ass with a hot iron. I attacked into the climb with everything I had and it was an incredible sensation. Then it was anguish, absolute tortured, gasping anguish. But it did the trick. I swung by Fabrice and Aaron with one corner to go and managed to stay clear of the field and not collapse in a heap before I hit the line. I might have gone a little nuts as I finished, and I'm still feelin' high as a kite as I write this.
As always, huge thanks to the team. You just can't have a great result without a ton of help from a solid team and I'm so lucky to be racing with great guys in a great organization. Also, thanks are due to my strategist, Scott Rodamaker, who pointed at that if my sprint sucks, I probably shouldn't save it for the sprint. Brilliant.
On Saturday, Fabrice was heavily marked at Winters Road Race but still managed a 2nd place finish from a small breakaway group. Sunday was the Northern California/Nevada District Crit Championship race at Vacaville. Fabrice again was in a break for most of the day, which was brought back on the final lap. Our Ryan Parnes launched out of the pack to take the win with a nice margin over the charging sprinters. With that, he gets the honor of wearing the Elite Crit Champion jersey for the next year. Below is Ryan's report from Vacaville.
Some pictures from the race:
Fabrice in the main break of the day: 1 2 3
Ryan crossing the line: 1 2
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry everyone, I tried to get Rand to ghostwrite this for me, but he didn't go for it.
I had never raced Vacaville before, but I'd been hearing great things about the race for months. Everything they said was true. The course is an amazing 1.1 mile figure eight that manages to fit every cool crit feature into one course, including a solid power-climb, a ripping descent, a chicane before the finish, and last but not least a banked hairpin. Throw in about 6,000 bots dots and an endless row of cones and it makes for one crazy ride.
The team Sunday was Billy, Bo, Fabrice, James, Rand and Rob. We tried to have a bit of a pre-race meeting to hammer out a strategy, but we ended up mostly talking trash and making lewd comments. Maybe we didn't come out of it with a brilliant plan, but it does sort of put you at ease before a big race. (for more on pre-race meetings see Rand's Suisun report).
Things started fast and before I knew it Fabrice was up the road with Aaron Olson (former Pro-Tour rider) and two Berry Boys (Patrick Briggs and Jared Barilleaux). I figured that wasn't ideal so I launched myself on the climb and somehow managed to get up to them. We worked decently together for a number of laps, but I was suffering like a dog, and hurting all the worse because Fabrice looked like he was just noodling to the coffee shop while I was trying not to throw up. So when Aaron opened a gap and Briggs was on the wrong end of it with me I figured I wouldn't be the one to close it. Briggs didn't seem too fired up either and when Aaron jumped to get across we looked at each other and let it go. So there I was, head down, tail tucked, rolling back to the field.
I spent the middle of the race sitting in, licking my wounds and feeling generally horrible. That climb was really hurting and I was wondering if I had it in me to fight it out and contest a crazy sprint for 4th. Cal Giant was blocking and Rand and James were up front marking moves so I just sort of floated around the pack in bewilderment. Then with 7 laps to go I started feeling a bit better. 5 to go: not bad. 3 to go: glimmer of hope. With 2 to go it looked like the break might be coming back and I was in decent position. As we came through with one to go Cal Giant had some guys up front driving the pace and I was sitting maybe 6th wheel or so. Thats when Keith Williams, wheel-ninja and radioman extraordinaire, piped into my ear with some of his patented last lap wisdom, "OH YEAH! YOU'RE ON THAT TRAIN, BABY! RIDE THAT TRAIN! RIDE IT!", which despite his suggestive tone of voice was the most PG stuff I've heard from him at the end of a race.
In the end, Keith's crazy yelling, a lust for the state title and the fear that my sprint is just not up to snuff all came together in some magical way that made it feel as though someone had smacked me in the ass with a hot iron. I attacked into the climb with everything I had and it was an incredible sensation. Then it was anguish, absolute tortured, gasping anguish. But it did the trick. I swung by Fabrice and Aaron with one corner to go and managed to stay clear of the field and not collapse in a heap before I hit the line. I might have gone a little nuts as I finished, and I'm still feelin' high as a kite as I write this.
As always, huge thanks to the team. You just can't have a great result without a ton of help from a solid team and I'm so lucky to be racing with great guys in a great organization. Also, thanks are due to my strategist, Scott Rodamaker, who pointed at that if my sprint sucks, I probably shouldn't save it for the sprint. Brilliant.
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