Webcor/AltoVelo Elite Men's Team Race Reports

Fabrice wins the Giro, Ryan 5th!

2009-09-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

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

Fabrice's Winters Road Race Report

2009-09-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

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

University RR: Overend Schools Fabrice!

2009-09-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

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.

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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

W/AV Wins NorCal Crit Championships!

2009-09-01T10:09:00.000-07:00

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

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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.

Catching up

2009-08-25T18:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, the Webcor/Alto Velo Men's Elite Team has been busy racing. Too busy to keep up with posting the reports to the blog, so it seems. My apologies for not getting these up more regularly recently. We've gotten a lot of good results isince early July. Below is a summary of our recent top-5's.

5th (Miller), Lodi Crit
1st (Parnes), Idaho Crit Championships
2nd (Miller), Watsonville Crit
4th (Badia), Colavita NorCal Crit
3rd (Dubost), Fort Ord Road Race (District RR Championships)
3rd (Buchholz), Timpani Crit
3rd (Parnes) & 5th (Morenzoni), Warnerville Time Trial
3rd (Miller), Dunnigan Hills Road Race
1st (Miller), Suisun Crit
4th (Dubost), University Road Race

Reports for theses races and others have been posted below. Read on if you're interested in the blow-by-blow accounts from the races.

Rand Wins Suisun Crit

2009-08-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

Suisun Harbor Criterium
Suisun City, CA
8/16/09
Weather: Warm, windy
Teammates: James Badia, Rob MacNeill, Ryan Parnes, Bruce Wilford (?!), Billy Crane, Bo Hebenstreit
Placing: 1st of 60

Those of you who have met me will likely agree about two things: 1) I am extremely short, and 2) I am long-winded. Where am I going with this? Well, it turns out that the Suisun Harbor Criterium and I have a lot in common.

This criterium course is most likely the shortest of the entire year, about a half-mile in length, and the narrow, tight streets are always buffeted by a strong Central Valley wind*.

After spending all of Saturday exposed to the wind, heat, and hyponatremia of Dunnigan Hills, I was not mentally prepared for another day of punishment; however, there seems to be a severe disconnection between my mind and my mouth.

"Whatcha thinkin' boy?" asked Ryan Parnes, as we donned our kits.

I should have replied, "Ugh. I feel terrible, and I just want to sit in the pack all day." That's truly how I felt. However, as I just mentioned, what I say out loud rarely reflects what goes on inside my head.

Instead, my response was, "I think we should just get FUNKY!"

Now, many of you might wonder what that means. Frankly, I'm not sure. However, I believe the loose translation is something to the effect of, "Let's attack like rabid, aggravated howler monkeys!"

Of course, Ryan and I are not the ones dictating the race strategy; we are mere pawns. The real shot-caller is Rob, along with his sidekick Bruce; both dole out the orders to the minions during the fabled "pre-race meeting."

In case you're wondering, here's how most of our Elite Team pre-race meetings proceed:

Dude Macneill starts off with, [monotone voice] "So what's the plan?" and stares around the circle at each of us, daring us to match his nonchalance.

That's when I chime in with a string of overly dramatic, expletive-ridden descriptions of the dismemberment of the fundamental life-force of our competition. It's all quite R-rated, abstract and unnecessary.

Cheery Bruce then responds calmly with, [British accent] "Alright, well, that's all dandy, but is it tea time yet? I've got to stay hydrated, right? How do you like my headband, Rand?"

James typically adds a few comments that are actually relevant (he's usually the only one), chides me for botching the finish of the previous 10 races, and flips his rock-star-esque hair back. His attitude matches his tracksuit, which also happens to match his flip-flops.

Ryan will then moan, grunt, and proclaim that he "feels terrible" and hasn't "been sleeping at all." He often laments that his legs are unshaven and that his bike is falling to pieces, a mechanical reflection of his whole life's descent into dishevelment. Then he flashes the crazy-eyes and smiles, and you know it's time to party.

Billy is pretty quiet, but that's only because he's too busy polishing his shoes and adjusting the angle of his helmet and sunglasses. He's very professional about his style, which is why we keep him around.

Bo says even less than Billy, and usually stares off at the mountains in the distance. You can tell he'd rather be on a 200-mile deathmarch in the wilderness than at a ridiculous half-mile criterium.

While most of what we discuss in these meetings is complete and utter nonsense, they are team-building exercises. They are a large part of the reason we're all so happy to be teammates.

Alright, let's get back to the Suisun Harbor Criterium proper.

Frankly, I don't have a whole lot to say about this race, so I'll keep things succinct.

I attacked on the second lap, and was brought back. Billy countered, and was brought back. Ryan countered again, and was brought back.

On lap 10 (of 72), the officials rang the bell for a prime. Tim Granshaw (Sierra Pacific) attacked, and I jumped a few seconds later. We rolled around for a lap or two before we were joined by Evan Huffman (Lombardi).

The three of us drilled it. Trust me, it hurt.

The team raced like champions back in the group, keeping the chase from gaining enough momentum to bring us back. I cannot thank these guys enough for all the work they do, each and every weekend. Steve Jones was on the radio, and deserves credit for guiding the team through the race.

Tim Granshaw, who had raced the Masters race just prior to starting the P/1/2 race, began to falter about halfway through the event. He shortened his pulls to remedy the problem, but with 20 laps to go, he cracked. It was hot, he had a lot of miles in his legs, and we were really giving it full gas. The probability of a victory for me went up, but I still felt bad for the guy.

With 1 lap to go, I latched onto Huffman's wheel. He's a former Junior National Road Champion, and I know he has a killer sprint, so I needed to play the finish carefully.

Just before the second-to-last turn, I jumped to the inside, railed the corner, and sprinted down the short straightaway with a clear gap to Evan. I settled into the saddle for a moment through the final corner, and then gave it everything I had up the final straightaway to take the win. It was nearly a carbon-copy of James' winning sprint on this same course, two years before.

Thanks again to all my teammates for their work. My constant idiotic attacks would be nothing but a laughingstock if it weren't for them.

*I realize I'm grasping at straws here, comparing "long-winded" to "Central Valley wind." My apologies.

Rand's Dunnigan Hills Race Report

2009-08-25T18:46:00.001-07:00

Dunnigan Hills RR
Yolo, CA
8/14/09
Weather: 512 mph winds, 234 F temperature, no exaggerations.
Teammates: James Badia, Rob MacNeill, Ryan Parnes, Billy Crane, Matt Beebe, Neil Harrington, Greg Gomez, Matt Morenzoni, Bo Hebenstreit
Placing: 3rd of 60

I'm sure you're kindly attempting to hide your astonishment, but I can still sense it from here. I feel remarkably uncomfortable writing this report; we all know I'm no road racer. Nevertheless, I'm contractually obligated to compose a report, so bear with me as I muddle my way through 86 miles of misery.

The Dunnigan Hills RR--or any race that contains extended crosswind sections--provides a unique glimpse into the human psyche. Two facets of the mind reflect particularly brightly when exposed to the harsh elements of the Central Valley: self-preservation and desire.

Desire is an obvious and uninteresting topic; bike racing hurts, and if you lack the desire to win, you will fail.

Self-preservation, on the other hand, tends not to expose itself often in P/1/2 racing. Typically--with many frightening exceptions--category 1 and 2 bike racers are comfortable riding in close proximity, cornering at high speed, and coping with aggressive racing. However, when confronted with a stiff crosswind, only the truly confident cyclist will prevail. Criterium racing is dangerous, and requires a certain amount of disregard for one's own safety; crosswind racing, when done successfully, is sheer madness.

Of particular relevance to Dunnigan Hills is the battle between desire and self-preservation. No matter how well-positioned you are, you will inevitably find yourself flirting with the double-yellow, squinting through bloodshot eyes, pedaling as hard as your feeble amateur legs allow, yet struggling to maintain contact with the rider ahead.

You are then faced with three options: cross the centerline to maintain a draft, pedal harder, or drop off the pace. To observe your fellow racers at this moment speaks volumes about their character, and I recommend you observe carefully; you will gain invaluable knowledge about your competitors.

A weak man, one without morals, without sense of self-preservation, will cross the yellow line. This man cares little about his own safety (much less those behind him), and cares even less about the official's watchful eye. This is likely the same man that dives the final corner of a criterium, jeopardizing everyone's skin. I never trust such uncouth cyclists.

A different brand of weak man, this time with no fortitude and no desire, will simply slow his cadence and tell himself he's "having a bad day." He will unceremoniously exit the race at the feed zone.

A strong man will concede that his opponent's pace is fast, but not fast enough. His desire to win is temporarily eclipsed by the desire to simply hang on. But should he hang on, the strong man will eventually have the opportunity to gutter his opponents, to inflict pain upon those behind him. That is the truly beautiful part of racing in crosswinds: if you are strong, you can mercilessly crush the spirits of your competitors.

Impassioned, overwrought, superfluous soliloquies aside, let's discuss this year's edition of the race in earnest.

The first 43 miles of this race were controlled, predictable, and eerily calm thanks to a valiant first-kilometer attack by Billy Crane and Bo Hebenstreit. As the race rolled out of town--while I was exchanging banal comments with friends and generally running my loud mouth--my teammates were attacking with reckless abandon. They succeeded in establishing a ten-man breakaway before I had fully awakened from the previous night's sleep. Well done, lads.

Many riders, having missed this early move, were forced to frantically drive the pace; meanwhile, Ryan Parnes and I were able to stay protected from the brutal winds, safe in the knowledge that our teammates were fighting the wind minutes ahead of us.

Alas, this "calm before the storm" was exactly that, and heading into the second lap it was apparent that the race was preparing to blow apart. As we hit the first exposed crosswind section, Andres Gil (Pacific State Bank) and Kevin Klein (Klein Real Estate) attacked hard up the centerline, guttering the field. I found myself in the position described above, flirting with the centerline, contemplating dropping out or committing vehicular Hari-Kari with oncoming traffic.

It was during this tumultuous period that I began cursing Ryan's name between my ragged breaths. Why? While I was questioning my manhood, Ryan appeared invincible. Neither the wind nor the pace seemed to faze that hairy abomination. Spurred on by anger at Ryan's apparent strength, I pedaled with all my might. After several miles of torment, we collectively looked around to find that Klein, Gil, Parnes, Evan Huffman (Lombardi) and I were alone, with the peloton nowhere in sight.

With nothing to lose, we worked well together, everyone taking even pulls into the rugged crosswind. By the time we reached the right-hand turn into a headwind, we had caught a chase group of five, and could see the lead group dangling less than a minute ahead. A few pedal strokes later, and we swallowed them up. As I passed a withering Billy and remarkably stoic Bo, I said, "Great job. Thanks guys." Now the pressure was on Ryan and I; our teammates had suffered greatly, and I would be damned if they had suffered in vain.

Now, a group of twenty riders is at least ten riders too many, so Ryan and I moved to the front. We knew we had to increase the pace and shed some baggage. Unfortunately that likely meant shedding some teammates as well; no one said the life of a domestique was glamorous, or even fair. When we first caught the lead group, Billy said to me, "I'm pretty toast, but let me know what to do, and I'll try." Knowing that he was about to suffer at the hands of his own teammates, I simply smiled and said, "Just rest up a bit, you've done your job."

Ryan went first, hitting the gas hard, and I pulled through in an attempt to imitate his display of power.

I only wanted to shred the group and inflict unholy suffering upon those who were weak, but nothing more. I swear, I had absolutely no intention of "attacking," in spite of Ryan's insistence to the contrary. An attack with 30 miles of head/crosswind remaining would be patently moronic.

In spite of my intentions, I ended up with a gap on the field. Well, #$*%. Once you're off the front, you might as well keep going. I put my head down and punished myself for my idiocy, riding alone in agony through the majority of the final crosswind section.

Thankfully, JD Bergman (Clif Bar) relieved me of my lonesome burden as we entered the long, undulating headwind section of the course. Shortly thereafter, we were joined by Andres Gil, Evan Huffman, and a rider I still can't identify. Judging by the miles of empty road behind us, this group of five was destined for success, even with 20 miles to the finish.

Like my overworked oxen in the video game "The Oregon Trail," we set a grueling pace all the way through the headwind. We crossed I-5 with a three minute gap on the chasers, and nothing but flat, smooth, tailwind-assisted roads to the finish. We were clear, and I could finish no worse than 5th. Most importantly, I was confident in my sprint.

Hubris always strikes at the most inopportune times; just ask Oedipus. Now, that's an overly dramatic comparison, of course. I managed to avoid any uncomfortable encounters with female family members and didn't gouge my eyes out.

However, a left-leg muscle I never knew existed took issue with my confidence and, without warning, cramped violently and painfully. My breakmates looked on with surprise (and probably amusement) as I began to yelp frantically, coasting off the back while massaging my rebellious leg.

My race was over with only 10k remaining. I couldn't pedal, and I glanced toward the shoulder, searching for a soft place to land. I fumbled with my bottles, swallowing the last few milliliters so that I might remain alive until the EMT's arrived.

That's when I realized that I was coasting along at 20 mph, courtesy of the incredible tailwind. Reinvigorated, I continued some massaging, interspersed with some stretching, and finally loosened my leg to the point where I felt comfortable turning the pedals. I was nearly 40 seconds behind the leaders at this point, and I was very grumpy.

I wasted every ounce of willpower remaining in my body, and clawed myself back to the leaders as they passed the 1k to go sign. They were surprised again (though probably significantly less amused).

I won't belabor the finish. I was completely worked, and in no state of mind to adequately judge distances. The 5th, unidentified rider in the break jumped very early while the rest of us looked at each other. He won, and a heartfelt congratulations to him. I sprinted gingerly (to avoid cramping) and came across the line in third, behind Andres Gil.

Suffice to say, I hate road races, and justifiably so. I've not been that miserable after a bike race in a long time.

Letter Grades:

Tactics: D- (Ryan was supposed to be the leader, and I blew it)
Teamwork: A+ (Bo and Billy are studs)
Finish: C (Classic rookie move: letting someone else win)
Race Report Length: A+ (If you're still reading this, get a life)
Style: F (The Velopromo T-shirt has a photograph of Mike Vella on it)

Overall: B+ (My teammates' good work almost offsets my failure)

Bo Takes on Patterson Pass

2009-08-25T18:45:00.000-07:00

Patterson Pass RR
Sunday Aug. 9, 2009
P 1/2
Teammates: Parnes, Billy, Gomez, Thomas
Placing: 18th of 40ish

I had not planned on doing this race due to the fact that it is probably the cruelest race on the calender. When I thought about it during the week I used positive thinking and said that is my favorite kind of race, a long race with long steep climbs that you just need to grind out!

I rode my bike from the parking lot to registration (500 ft) I looked at my tire only to see a goat head in my tubular. What! When I removed it I could tell it had gone in deep. I spit on the tire and there was no bubbles to be seen, how lucky is that? Surely a good sign of things to come, I love tubulars.

We lined up at 8am and the field seemed to be twice as large as in previous years. All the usual suspects were there, lots of Berrys, Zzzz etc.

I was happy to see four of my teammates willing to suffer along with me, Billy, Ryan P, Greg G. and Thomas

My goal was to see Parnes ride off into the sunrise and so I could just survive the four laps of hell.

I very strategically place myself at the back of the pack to avoid the brutal winds of Altamont pass (anyone notice all the windmills spinning?)

The race started out a manageable pace up the main climb. At the right hand corner leading to the next significant but smaller climb I noticed a surge in the pack. This must be the escape trying their first move of the day I thought. Later I found out it was Parnes trying to make a move only to blow himself up. After that things settle down again for the remainder of the climb. When we started the decent towards 580 I saw that there was a group that had a gap. The peleton kept the escape pretty much in sight for the remainder of the lap.

The second time up Patterson Pass the peleton fell apart. I now started to realize it was getting freaken hot. With most of the pack now in front

of me I decided to just take it easy and get in a group. I saw Billy up the road and yelled at him to hold up a second. Billy was having mechanical problems and was not able to get into the big ring. While this was not so much a problem on Patterson Pass, there was no point in getting over climb for him so he called it a day. I joined up with three other riders on the descent and finished lap 2 with them.

Coming into the feed zone on lap 3 I was completely overheated. I actually stopped my bike and had Amy douse me with water before I continued. Two of the guys I was riding with quit right there.

I rode the third and fourth lap solo. With about 6 miles to go I came upon a guy who had been in the break and was so trashed I though he might die. I rode with him the remainder of the lap just to make sure he made it in okay.

Thanks for reading, Bo

Buchholz's report from Timpani Crit

2009-08-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

Team: Rob, James, Graham, Shin, Bruce, Greg, Rand, Neil, Matt Morenzoni, Matt Beebe, Brian Peterson, Thomas, Brian Buchholz (3rd)

Bang the drum for another edition of the Timpani Criterium, held in the shadows of Great America in picturesque Santa Clara, CA. Save for a ton of wind, this course is 1.25 miles of wide open office park, two cone slalom courses, a carbon rim-eating pothole and 85 other riders with their eye on the prize.

The 65 minute race started with some pre-race re-pinning (thanks Bruce!) and some Official Megaphone volume boost by Steve Reaney; just to be sure everyone knew that free laps ended with 3 to go.

It was a fairly fast criterium (I had 44 kph average), but the wind on the back stretch really made it difficult for stuff to get away. I think I counted 10-12 attacks during the first 2/3s of the race, but nothing got more than 15 seconds. Neil, Greg, Thomas, Rob, James, Matt^2, Brian, etc. all made some mad dashes off the front to cover moves nicely.

Rand "Bam Bam" Miller was out to bang his head and seemed to either initiate or cover every other move off the front. That guy is a machine. You can always tell it's him (and not his doppelganger Rob) by the pimp white full-finger gloves.

This was my first race back with Bruce and I was super stoked to see him out there swingin' it again for the Big Green Machine! Bruce made some nice covers and was really present at the front of the race with 5 laps to go. Plus, he let me touch his super sick Lew Wheels. I think just touching them dropped a couple pounds from my fat frame.

Ok, I digressed a little bit. Five laps to go and I think the peloton came to the conclusion that it would be a field sprint. A few guys attempted some flyers here and there, but the wind seemed to get stronger and the flyers dangled off the front as if they were stuck in flypaper. Graham, Greg, Bruce, Brian, Matt and Rob made a great move to the front and made a super hard lead out effort with three to go. Then, with one to go Giant took over and Pat, Steve and Keith were at the front. I tried to slot in on Keith's wheel but there was a lot of "bumping and barging" (Paul Sherwin speak) for the wheels and ended up behind Dave McCook and Kevin Klein.

I took an outside line through the last corner and came around Kevin for third with Dave in second and Keith in first.

Great to see so many teammates out. Looking forward to a strong end to the season.

Thanks for reading!

BP

Ryan's Report from Cascade Classic Stage Race (NRC)

2009-08-25T18:42:00.000-07:00

This is my race report for Cascade. It is really, really long. I won’t be offended if you don’t read it, I just want you to know what you’re getting into. I’d recommend you do yourself a favor and either just check cyclingnews, where you can read about people who actually did cool stuff in this race(as opposed to just suffering), or read the report from the Webcor Womens team. They laid the smack down on women’s pro cycling and I guarantee their report will be more uplifting than mine.

Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Stage One: Smith Rock Road Race.

The first stage was a “flat” 71 mile road race. I guess it was pretty much flat, save for one daunting(for me) climb and then the miles of false flat headwind that followed it. It got up to about 98 degrees for our race and the tempo matched the temperature.

But let me back up for a minute. I managed to miss registration, along with every other amateur cyclist from 3 states that I spoke with. I went to reg one day and there were 90 spots open, but I was late for dinner. When I came back two days later the 150 man field was full. I got on the waiting list with Fabrice, but they let in a couple of pro teams before us bringing the total field to 188. When I called two days before the race they told me not to even bother, but I’ve been planning to do this race all year so I was committed. Fredo and I did the 6hr drive from Boise and went straight to reg. They told us they couldn’t do a thing for us until reg officially closed at 8:30. So we unpacked our bags, took a little spin and then went back at 7:50. They told us it might actually happen, but we needed to be back at 8:30 on the nose. Just enough time to grab a burrito and make it back in time to hear that we were in! I worked late into the night getting my Giant into pristine condition and mounting my frame number in such a way as to comply with Rand’s high standards.

In the end I was up so late taping and trimming that damn number that I almost missed the start. We still had to swap cassettes and such before the race and when all was said and done we only got to the start with 15 minutes to go. That is not enough time for your average cyclist to get dressed, mix bottles, pump tires, load up with Powerbars and still have time to sign in and then find a bush, but this was not my first Rodeo. I had everything done in time to chill at the starting line and test my Spanish as Oscar Sevilla et al bantered back and forth.

The race was fast. Very fast. People were attacking from the gun and I spent the first 40k trying to find the front of the race. We’d be flying along at 35mph and then the whole field would slam on the brakes, make a 90 degree turn and then sprint back up to 35 as fast as possible. I may have feared for my life once or twice, but I am not a professional; no one is paying me to be fearless and I have to scrub my own wounds.

A break did finally form at about 40k, or just before I got up front. This is not a coincidence. When a break does go, things will slow. It’s a rule. I saw some BMC rider wind up for a bridge attempt and I figured I’d give it a go. I tried to get on his wheel, but he was strategically ramping up to a full launch timed to slip him past the field right before a huge RV clogged most of the left lane. Like I said, he’s a professional and I am not. I braked, he flew. I think he was one of the few people who got up to the move. I tried a little attack after that, but it was all for show and I settled back into the pack.

And not a moment too soon. The climb, which was actually substantial in my book, was fewer than 5 miles out and I would not have recovered had I been trying to bridge. Steve Reaney of CalGiant attacked after me, and that effort cost him. He hit the climb right after his effort and couldn’t hold the pace. I did my best to stay up front and keep out of the red, but towards the top I started going backwards. Not tragically backwards, just sort of drifting back as lighter riders (and really, who isn’t lighter than me?) floated past. I stayed with the group, albeit towards the back, and then we were all strung out and flying through the feed zone.

Why do major races insist on putting feed zones on flat ground when they know the pack is going to be screaming through at over 30mph? I don’t know, but if you find out will you tell me? Some guy from the Cole Sports team was right in front of me and knocked every neutral bottle he reached for to the ground. A perfect 3 for 3. I almost nabbed the last one out of the air as he bobbled it (that’s how badly I wanted that water), but I was already cooking on the bike and couldn’t ninja it. I used my last bit of energy to shake my head at him as I came around.

The next part of the race was pretty vicious. Garmin or some team had missed the break (I think cal Giant missed out too) and they were leaving pieces of themselves and the field all over the road as they drove a mad pace over a false flat into a strong head/crosswind. The whole field was strung out single file, save for a few brave (or stupid) riders who were trying to move up. I was cooked from the climb, cooked from the brutal sun, and still simmering about the missed feed and it was all I could do to hang onto the wheel in front of me.

With maybe ten miles to go those teams realized that the race was up the road never to return and things finally slowed down. I was begging for water at that point and a few kind souls obliged. I managed to get back into the caravan for some neutral water, but at that point there were only about 4 miles left. Oh well. As we were coming into the finish some hometown heroes were getting ready to sprint for 25^th place. There was no small bit of derision flung their way by real professionals, until Freddy Rodrigues went up front to give it a whirl. Funny, no one gave him any crap for sprinting for 25^th, but that’s the way it goes. If you’re an amateur you get crapped on, and you only really deserve it 95% of the time. That’s just the way it is. I rolled it in with the main field for a very pleasing 115^th. Ben JM won the stage in style with clean wheels and dedicated the win to Chris Hipp. Class all the way.

It turns out the wheel that I thought was “out of true” had a broken spoke and my brakes had been rubbing for who knows how long. After realizing that I didn’t feel so bad about rolling in with the pack. P.S. Winners avg speed was just shy of 30mph. Yikes.

Stage 2 : Three Creeks Road Race.

This stage was more of the same, except the climb didn’t come until the end of the stage and it was roughly a thousand times harder. That’s an estimate, and I’m not great with math, but you get the picture. I had gone to a local shop the day before to get the spoke fixed and try to figure out why I couldn’t shift into my 11. Seth, the wrench there, was about he nicest guy you could hope to find, but after about an hour and a half of work, changing out the cables and housing, 4 test rides and every other trick in the book he still couldn’t figure it out. He ended up charging me 5 bucks for the wheel and everything and wishing me well. When you’ve got one of the biggest races on your calendar the next morning you’re kind of at the mercy of the shop and they can really bend (haha that’s a pun!) you over. Having someone do his best to help you, and when that doesn’t work cut you some slack and let you off with a small bill and best wishes is like a blessing.

I showed up super early for stage 2 to let the pros at Shimano Neutral Support give it a whirl. I’d leave the bike with them, put on some kit and come back for a test ride, then sign in, then test ride, then mix bottles, then test ride. With about 7 minutes before the start the head honcho finally figured out it was a bad chain. Turns out a bad chain can keep you blocked out of the 11. Who knew? With no warmup and that same ultra-rushed feeling I rolled backwards on the course to the front of the pack and sat for less than two minutes before we were off.

Like I said, more of the same: a furious pace punctuated with heartstopping fits of braking and all out sprints back up to speed. This kept up for like 30 miles until we came to the feed zone. Let me tell you one nice thing about having a team and a car in the caravan. If you’re smart, you can get all the food and drink you need from the car and you never have to worry about the utter shitshow that is the 30mph feedzone. Not so for me, lone wolf that I am. I am at the mercy of the neutral feed, and often left to beg, borrow or steal a few drops of water to keep the legs turning.

Now Garmin is one of those teams with a follow car full of lots of tasty and refreshing treats. They decided to get all their feeding done before the feedzone and then attack the hell out of the pack as the rest of us poor devils were trying to get a drink. Again, the neutral feed was totally useless, and it was only a bit of luck and the good will of an ex-Webcor rider that saved the day. That’s right, Australia’s own Jono Coulter (now the swany for Bissell) looked up at just the right moment to see the look of despair on my face. Not a word was exchanged between us in that fraction of a moment. Our eyes met, I nodded, pleading and he whipped a bottle up slick as you please to save my race. It was maybe the smoothest handup I’ve ever gotten and all this at over 30 while the field was ripping itself apart. Jono, you’ve always been my friend. On that day you were my hero.

I was so happy to have a bottle that I almost missed the fact that the pack was splitting. I was a little too far back, having been futilely looking for a neutral feed and when the course made a 90 left it went form a headwind to a nasty cross and Garmin echeloned their whole team and started riding like there was some big, argyle lemonade stand just up the road. I was on a pro wheel (I won’t say form what team) and we were just a few feet off the back of the front group, so close we could have poked them with a long stick. But we were going hard out and not making up ground so he pulled off, leaving me to flail like ragdoll, killing myself and still unable to get across. I gave what I had but had to pull off too, only to see a group of 7 pros sprint across the gap.

The next 20 minutes or so were pure desperation. I got back in line with a group of maybe 20 or so guys who had been split off and we tried to keep cool, take pulls and catch back on, but it was a bit disorganized and the guys in the front group were not slowing. We finally caught back on, but we caught back on to the tail end of a strung out field and as we were trying to catch our breath the guys at the front were accelerating again. So that’s how it went for a while. It would get strung out, gaps would open that I’d try to jump around, and then it would slow down enough for me to rest for a sec, then they’d be attacking again and it would string out once more. That sucked.

I think a break finally got off and things let up. We actually chilled up the mid-course KOM (a true blessing) and then as we rolled into the town of Three Sisters things got nuts again. They had us do a totally loony series of 90 degree turns (maybe a dozen in all) that had the pack going like the slinky from hell. After 60 miles of kicking my own ass just to stay in the group the last thing I needed was a dozen hard our accelerations. I did make it through that chaos and was solidly in the group (quite an accomplishment at that point) when some knuckleheads crossed wheels and a ton of people hit the deck in front of me. I had to come almost to a complete stop to get around and as I tried to sprint back onto the tail end of the field I knew my day was done. I could see the final climb of the day looming in front of me and I figured then was as good a time as any to start riding my own pace. So that’s what I did.

The last climb was nothing if not painful. I can’t imagine what it was like up front, but at least they got it out of the way quickly, right? I was doing what I could to keep a good pace, ever wary of the time cut. I managed to beg some water off friends in the caravan as they came speeding by (you guys from Bobs-Bicycles were awesome and I thank you!). It was so hot that it felt like the skin on my arms was being cooked. I was swerving back and forth across the road to find shade. Truly brutal. I actually caught some people on the climb and made it with plenty of time to spare. I drank just about everything I could see and then begged a ride back to town with some kindly Z-Team folk.

Ouch.

Stage 3: Skyliners Time Trial.

This was perhaps the lamest race of my life. After my ride at the first stage of Nature Valley I’ve been trying to convince myself that I’m actually a decent time trialist, but I hadn’t really been on the TT bike since then it was a tough argument to make with myself. I awoke feeling sick and totally drained form the day before. It was hard to eat and I was not feeling better as the start time drew nearer. I was all by myself for this one and had to do all those little things that need doing before the start without even a little bit of camaraderie to lighten the mood. I was not moving fast enough given how I felt and I ended up getting a less than stellar warmup.

I made it to the start gate on time and away I went chasing Ozzie Olmos from Cal Giant. I knew right away that it wasn’t going to be pretty. Then Jesse Seargent of Livestrong passed me about a minute into my TT. He passed me like I was standing still. That was a small psychological blow to accompany the physical pain I was already feeling. The course is just an out and back that goes up and up and up on the way out and then comes screaming back. I was just trying to keep a rhythm and stay close to Ozzie.

Then things started getting tough. I was feeling all sorts of bumps in the road, but when I looked down the tires looked fine and there were definitely bad sports in the pavement. I made it to the turnaround and something was definitely not right. However, instead of stopping and checking stuff out I just put my head down and flogged myself. I guess it sounds crazy to keep going when something is out of whack, but who stops to check out their rig in the middle of a TT? I got maybe a k down the road and realized that my front tire was dead flat. The only neutral was at the turnaround so I had to flip it and go backwards on the course, limping along and screaming for service. They got to me, got me a change in pretty good time, but after doubling back already I was in pretty deep trouble and I knew it.

I gave it everything I had. I flogged myself down that hill spinning away in the 56x11 and passed maybe 5 or 6 guys. It was awesome. I’ve never gone that fast in a TT and it was a rush. Alas, it was all for naught. I caught and passed F-Rod with less than a K to go, but that got me to thinking. Freddie had started a minute and a half behind me and he is not exactly known for his time trialing.

I kept up hope, but in the end I was pretty far gone. Freddie ended up getting time cut himself and I was almost a minute and a half behind him so you get the picture. That’s right, I got time cut for flatting in a TT. I actually emailed the race director and showed up early before the next stage (having done my race prep just in case) to argue my case with the officials, but they didn’t care. And like that, my race was done.

I was in a bit of a funk. Okay, I was heartbroken, but it never does any good to just sit around bumming out. Huxley once wrote that, “rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean,” and I try to remember that when I’m feeling down. So instead of pouting I floated the river on a beautiful Bend afternoon, drank a few beers, made some new friends and ate well. Turns out that’s exactly what I needed. Since then I’ve been doing some solid resting and some good training and just generally trying to get ready for Elite Nationals, which start this Thursday.

If you’ve actually read this far you are the true hero of the day. In fact, I should probably pay you as this writing has been wonderfully cathartic. I only hope that Webcor can rally and send a big team up here to wreck house next year. Oh wait! Webcor already crushed this race into tiny little pieces. Big props to the Webcor Women who dominated this race from start to finish and left everyone else asking for the plates of the big green semi that rolled through town and left utter destruction in its wake. Yes, they were that awesome.

Ryan's Report from Idaho Elite Crit Champs

2009-08-25T18:41:00.002-07:00

This race could not be less like the Boise Twilight. Its held in the middle of the day in a small development up in the hills that is eerily reminiscent of Pleasantville. There are few spectators and the field has in the past included zero professionals (there was one this year, yippee!) and barely any locals. I think there were just over 30 racers this year. Its enough to make a guy want to hightail it back to California!

The course is 4 corners, with a slight descent after turn one, a wide chicane and long false flat headwind after turn two and a quick 3, 4 and then a narrow little chicane maybe 250 meters before the finish that brings the field down to 1 or 2 abreast. It was hot, but not as hot as the day before. I’d say a much more reasonable 95 or something. Between the heat and a somewhat rowdy night after the Twilight I was not exactly feeling my best, but I’m actually the defending champ so I figured I’d better pull it together.

The race was pretty ridiculous. There were a few half-hearted attacks, but no one who got up the road wanted to work. I covered a few, let a few go, and basically tried to stay interested and remember to drink water. A break had gone the year before and people had won in breaks in just about every category that had already raced, so it seemed inevitable that a break would decide the race.

Sure enough someone finally put in a solid effort and we were a group of 7 working well together and gaining time. Then they rang the bell for a fifty dollar prime (fifty bucks! Thems Twilight figures!) and when nobody jumped immediately Ben King from FlyV took off, all the while looking back as if to say, "Are we racing here or what?" Everyone was just looking around at each other, so I figured this was my chance to whittle it down a bit. I lit out and managed to catch him before the chicane to take the prime. When I looked back we had a gap and I gave it some gas. I couldn’t really think of a better position to be in than up the road with the one guy I knew to be a serious racer.

We were working well together and caught the field before too long, but that’s when things got ugly. We were trading strong pulls, but the field was just sitting on us. That’s not illegal or anything, its just really lame and I told him we should get out of there. His big plan for that? Turn around and wave his hand at the people who had been lapped and tell them to “$&*@ off!” Rude it may be, but what with him flailing around, the look of puzzlement on the faces in the field and his Aussie accent it made for a pretty comical scene.

Alas, he realized why I so badly wanted to get out of there when someone clipped his wheel in the second turn and he took a bad spill. I had been leading through the turn and took the opportunity to get the heck out of there. Ben brushed himself off and jumped back in with me and then it went to laps. He was pretty out of it, his jersey was shredded and he was bleeding a lot, so he said he wouldn’t sprint me if I’d roll it. The officials were yelling something at us, but we couldn’t really understand what. The 5 other guys caught the field and gave good chase, getting the gap down to 7 seconds with 3 to go, but I managed to stay away and take the win.

I’m not saying I don’t like to win, but this one just wasn’t that satisfying. There really wasn’t anything pretty about this race, least of all my salute where I almost crashed (I don’t want to know what Rand would have to say about that). The one guy I would have loved to go head to head with got crashed out, and then the officials took things from bad to worse. They told Ben that because he hadn’t taken a free lap he was one lap down and had finished last out of the people who had lapped the field, outside the money. They didn’t care at all that he had been with me when he crashed, or that it was the Moto Official who told him to jump in with me. They simply would not budge. Seems like an odd way to grow cycling in Idaho doesn’t it? Taking the single real bike racer and just crapping on him. But that’s what happened. Someone asked him if he was from Idaho and he said, “Don’t even start.” And the Aussie accent isn’t as cute deadpan. I ended up splitting my prize money with him, but that was small consolation as a win in the Idaho State Crit is worth less than 22^nd at the Twilight. Oh well.

I rode a good race, felt strong and didn’t crash trying to post up, so I’ll count it as a success. Alas, my license says California on it, so I did not get my Idaho State Crit Champ T-shirt/Jersey thingy this year, but someone out there has it and is loving it.

Ryan at Boise Twilight NRC

2009-08-25T18:41:00.001-07:00

This is my favorite race of the year, hands down. Being from Idaho its as close as I can get to a big hometown race, but what really makes it special is the atmosphere. Its held right downtown in Boise and the Pro men don’t start until 8:30 on a Saturday night. The course is packed, at places 5 deep, all the way around and as the laps start winding down people go absolutely nuts. People talk big game about some of the other classics out there, but I don’t know if there are many races that can rival the atmosphere of the Boise Twilight.

The course is really, really fast but manages to be fun and safe at the same time. Its more or less a four corner crit, but that doesn’t really do it justice. The first turn is sweeping, but its more than 90 and at 30-some-odd mph it ends up taking you all the way wide-tight-wide if you’re railing it. Then you’re already setting up for turn 2, flying down a long wide back straight and into two quick 90s before you’re back on the finishing straight. We picked one of the hottest days of the year to race and the mercury topped out somewhere around 103. Yikes! It was still near 100 when we took the line.

In the past there has always been a conflicting race somewhere and it was a chance for me to race hard and place well at an NRC that wasn’t overrun with pros. Not so this year. With Toona canceled and the Cascade Classic starting a few days later not far down the road a bunch of heavy hitters showed up, including Bissel, Fly V Australia, Type-1, Colavita, Land Rover and a smattering of other ringers. The race was blistering right from the gun and it seemed that they were tossing out $50 or $100 primes every other lap. I was all alone in the race so my goal was to attack hard and get off the front at least once for my family and friends who were watching, and then try to figure in the finish.

Well, I did manage to attack like a champ in front of 20,000 screaming fans, but it was a solo bridge to maybe the worst move of the night. It was only Cody O-Reilly of Bissel and another elite rider up the road and with so many other teams out of the mix this move was doomed to fail. Oh well. At least I got out there and tried to look good suffering for a few laps, plus we did pick up some primes.

When I got reeled back in there were only 30 minutes left and things started really flying. The field was totally strung out for what seemed like an eternity and I was running out of water and really on the edge. Its not often you see cat 1s and pros getting blown off the back in a flat 4 corner crit, but that’s what was happening. When it finally switched to laps I was relieved, but was too cooked to make that monumental effort it takes to get to the front. I was doing everything I could to invent lines through the corners and tag onto good wheels, all the while flying around the course under the lights with people screaming so loud I couldn’t hear myself think. I only managed to get into the top 30 and though the legs felt great sprinting, no one on earth can win a race from 30^th in the last lap. I slinked in for 22^nd, which was still worth some decent prize money and a bit of adulation from the fans.

Its actually the worst I have ever done in this race (well, except for the time I blew a tire in the last lap and lost part of my posterior), but it was still the most fun I’ve had racing all year. The course is super smooth (not a single crash or incident), the prize money is great and the fans, well, with 20,000 people going absolutely ballistic its the closest I ever come to feeling like a professional athlete. Toss in the old tradition that no matter how exhausted, bloodied or otherwise out of it you are, you must go out and hit the town, and you have one of the best bike races on the calendar.

Rands' Report from Albany Crit

2009-08-25T18:40:00.001-07:00

Albany Criterium
Albany, CA
7/19/09
Weather: Completely unremarkable
Teammates: Neil Harrington, Thomas Novikoff
Placing: 8th of ~60-70

Deflated and disappointed, I rolled across the finish line at the Albany Criterium, bringing a merciful end to my lackluster Sunday. My disappointment grows more pronounced as I recount the tale.

When you dig deep enough into your reserves, there comes a point at which Pain and Suffering lose their firm grip on your consciousness. If you muster the strength, you can break loose from their clutching, desperate fingers. Unencumbered by these demons, the world becomes silent and tranquil, and the race comes into sharp focus.

It was in this lucid state of mind that I made my final five circuits of the four-corner course. I no longer felt the pain in my legs, but it was clear from my vantage point, 15 seconds behind the breakaway of seven riders, that the race was over. I could only hope to finish ahead of the field looming another 15 seconds back. As I watched any hope of a top result disappearing in the distance, I began to ask myself, "Where did things go wrong?" and "Is it all worth it?"

Wow. That's depressing. Let's rewind a bit.

This race began like so many others, with a few laps of frightening bike-handling by the less experienced riders, and some macho posturing by those who fancy themselves experienced. Most of the danger associated with crit racing lies at the interface between the two.

An even greater danger, however, is allowing yourself to become a "breakaway rider." This trade, glorified and immortalized by the likes of Jacky Durand and Jens Voigt, will only lead to heartache for those not endowed with superhuman strength.

You may have noticed a trend in my race reports: make the break, but lose the race. Top-10's are my consolation, the VeloPromo T-shirt my only compensation for a long day in the wind--and that's the BRIGHT SIDE of being a "breakaway rider."

What about the dark side, you ask? Imagine the sorry life of a "breakaway rider" that misses the break. You become a laughingstock, the butt of jokes. You are useless. Your feeble sprint is no match for the sprinters, and your VO2max cannot help you. You've suddenly become like those nerdy 1990's calculator-watches: sure, you can tell time and you can calculate stuff, but both can be done far better by others. Kids...don't ride breaks, learn how to sprint.

Suffice to say, I missed the break on Sunday, a function of poor timing and position. I was aggressive from the start, and my legs felt good enough to repeatedly attack.

But no matter how good the legs, between attacks there exists a brief period of recovery, the Achilles heel of the breakaway warrior.

It was during one such period, as I was brought back from one of my breakaway attempts, that a group of seven riders launched itself off the front like Paris' arrow from a bow. I was fated to die from the wound.

Try as I might to bridge, the field was satisfied with the composition of the break and would not allow it. In a fit of anger, I turned up the heat and simply rode as hard as I could, for as long as I was able.

Eventually I found myself off the front with two other riders, who had unknowingly become the victims of my vitriolic rage. Each time they would rotate through, I would pick the pace up. Eventually, I found myself alone, in the wind, willing my bike forward on fury and embarrassment alone.

I finished 8th, behind the real race, and ahead of the field. I was awarded "Cycles Gladiator Second-Most Aggressive Rider," because race winner Scott Zwizanski was given the actual "Most Aggressive" title. Ugh.

Was it worth it? I don't know. My positive, happy side is inclined to think I gained some fitness, which I'll likely use to botch another race in the future. All is not lost!

Grades:

Finish: F
Tactics: F
Style: F

Overall: F

Rand's Report from Watsonville

2009-08-25T18:39:00.001-07:00

Warning: This report is no different than, say, the last ten race reports I've written. At some point, I may just go back, abstract a paragraph from each of my previous reports and paste them all together to make "Rand's Generic Criterium Report," which I will then post to the list ad nauseam. Alas, I'd probably catch some flak from the team management for that, so without further ado...

32nd Annual Watsonville Criterium
Watsonville, CA
7/18/09
Weather: Windy, temperate
Teammates: Rob MacDaddy, Graham Simpson, Peter Cazalet, Thomas Novikoff
Place: 2nd of ~20

You know that friend that's always telling you "Oh, you HAVE to watch this TV show, it's SO great," and you're always nodding and only half-listening because, frankly, you don't want to watch his stupid TV show? Well, I'm gonna be that guy, right now.

Go to the Watsonville Criterium if you've never done it. Seriously. It's fun.

There's something magical about this race, which is run entirely on residential streets in the middle of Watsonville. It's like Narnia, Neverland, and Atlantis all bundled into a 0.7 mile strip of asphalt. It's certainly not a "figure-eight," or an "L-shaped" course--mere letters and numbers cannot describe it's dimensions.

Those of you that actually read my sprawling reports will know that the path to my heart traverses a sketchy hairpin corner with a drainage ditch in the apex. Incidentally, Watsonville contains TWO corners matching that description, one of which lies at the bottom of a short, fast descent. I <3 Watsonville Crit.

Each of the previous two years, I have attacked this race on the first lap (of 58). Old age is setting in, and this year I waited until lap two. I was joined immediately by Eric Balfus (SugarCRM), and we worked well together for a few laps. Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) and James Mattis (CalGiant) hopped aboard the train and we all happily threw ourselves into the task of lapping the field.

I occupied myself by posing for photo-ops near Ben, and I tried to savor each trip through the fabled hairpins. Yes, that's 116 hairpin corners in one race, for those who like multiplication. Watsonville is where crit racers go when they die.

After a while Balfus popped, and our group was reduced to three. Eric had put in some good work, and I was bummed to see him drop off. Nevertheless, cycling is ruthless, and we swiftly lapped the field without him.

We rolled around with the pack for a bit, where Cazalet, MacNeill and Novikoff were kickin' it, riding tempo like it was their business. I instructed Cazalet to attack after a while, mostly because I was bored as hell and wanted something to watch. He complied with a blistering display of power, but was brought back after a couple of laps.

Eventually, Ben became fed up with the monotony and decided to flex his muscles a bit. He picked the pace up, and Mattis and I affixed ourselves to his wheel like barnacles to the hull of a small watercraft. However, all three of us quickly tired of the whole spectacle, and collectively decided to finish the race as soon as possible. We rotated smoothly at the front, and only Darren Basso (Arete) managed to stay with us, taking some strong pulls himself. Good riding by him.

The four of us proceeded to lap the field one more time, just for good measure, as we headed into two laps to go.

Heading into the final turn, I considered jumping before the corner, diving into the gap between James and the right-hand curb, and sprinting up the hill for a glorious and beautiful victory, accompanied by an equally glorious salute.

Then, I envisioned an alternate scenario in which I jumped into said gap, hooked Mattis on my way through, tackled both of us to the ground in front of a hapless Ben Jacques-Maynes, who was then thrown from his bike onto the cold, hard, hometown Watsonville pavement. In a fit of anger, he called "his people" and several days later my body was found, chopped into tiny bits, inside a Bissell Heavy Duty vacuum cleaner.

I chose to stay on Ben's wheel through the corner.

Mattis started his sprint just after the turn, roughly 250 meters from the line, and headed up the right-hand side of the road. It was a wise choice, as the finishing stretch curved gently in that direction. I was forced to go the long way around, on the left of Ben.

Now, let's take a step back, and agree on one thing: the fact that I was anywhere near Ben in the final 100 meters of a bike race is ridiculous. It's somewhat like that movie Seabiscuit, where the undersized, undertrained, and genetically inferior horse tries to take on the best thoroughbreds in the nation.

Nevertheless, I came close. It's the closest I'll ever be to beating him, of that I am certain. I wrestled my bike all the way to the line, flailing and grunting and generally looking ridiculous.

In the end, I failed, coming up about a foot short of Ben at the line. Seabiscuit would have been very disappointed. Mattis came throuhg a bit behind me in third.

As always, thanks to the rest of the team for their help.

Grades:

Finish: Ugh.
Tactics: F (I should have just dropped Ben Jacques-Maynes. Duh.)
Classicness: A++ (This race is 32 years old, ~1/3 the age of Mike Vella, so it's pretty classic.)

Overall: C+ (2nd of 20 is barely inside the top 10%. Weak.)

Rand's Report from Lodi

2009-08-25T18:18:00.000-07:00

Lodi Criterium
Lodi, CA
7/12/2009
Weather: Uncomfortably warm
Teammates: James Badia, Bruiser MacNeill, Neil Harrington, Matt Beebe, Jeff Williams, Justin Fraga
Finish: 5th of 75

I travel quite a bit. I've been to 48 of the 50 states, and I bet that if you randomly generate California GPS coordinates, I have been within 10 miles of that spot. However, I have never entered the town of Lodi before today, a remarkable feat considering I've lived in CA my entire life. Though I would not have guessed it, Lodi has a quaint and vibrant downtown, and I would stop there again if I was in the area.

You may have noticed that I tend to enjoy criterium courses in general, but this course was "sick," to use the vernacular of my generation. The main drag of downtown Lodi is neatly cobbled with bricks, and the criterium course managed to hit every inch of them. Half of the figure-eight course traversed the cobbled downtown streets, with corners narrower than Andy Schleck's forearm, while the other half meandered through exposed roads wider than the age gap between Bruce Wilford and I. Add a dash of wind, and a few cement parking-blocks that jutted into the course, and you had the makings of a true crit-lovers course.

Justin and I, the scummiest of crit-scum that I know, were naturally excited at the prospect of such a race. That is, until we saw the field. No less than three National Criterium Champions showed up (Bahati, Hansen, and Holloway), as well as Sayers (Giant), Gerlach (Amore & Vita), Ramsay (Mountain Khakis), Chris Jones (Team Type 1), and all the other crit-scum amateurs in the district. The start-line looked NRC-esque, besides the fact that I was anywhere near it. Regardless, the gun went off and we were racing.

I attacked. I don't actually remember when, but it was very early in the race. I was with Chad Gerlach and Brandon Gritters (Kahala-LaGrange), and the three of us worked quite well together for an eternity (15 minutes). Just when the suffering began in earnest, Chad yelled "Get used to it boys, we might be out here for another 60 minutes or so!" Very motivational, or depressing, depending on your mindset.

This is where the "WHAT THE HELL?!?!" part of the race comes in. 30 minutes into the race, the three fastest sprinters bridged up to our move. Bahati, Holloway, and Hansen magically appeared in our midst, and it was rather disconcerting. I guess they felt disconcerted as well, because the break fell to shambles, and we were caught by the field in short order.

Justin attacked. Rob attacked (bleeding from an early crash). Badia attacked. Neil attacked. Clockwork, ladies and gentlemen. Clockwork. Plenty of good work by the team as a whole.

Then Daniel Ramsay attacked solo (he's actually patented that maneuver), and I watched from about 10 wheels back as Chad Gerlach wound up a bridge effort, and then let it fly.

Now, P/1/2 bike racing is not nearly as chaotic as it may seem from the outside. This was the winning move of the race, and it was no secret. Both Chad and Dan could have worn baggy T-shirts that said, "I am going to attack you and win this race solo, you ninny!" and the outcome would have been the same.

I tried to jump across to the duo, but I could not get there. I spent 3 laps in no-man's-land chasing before I was swallowed up by an unforgiving field. A quick shuffle of the deck, and then a Lombardi rider (Evan Huffman, I believe) was flailing away in no-man's land. By this time, Gerlach and Ramsey were nothing more than a mirage on the scorching pavement, ethereal and impossible to reach.

I attacked again, bridging to the solo Lombardi rider as quickly as I could. We were joined by Chris Jones and Mike Sayers, heading into 5-laps to go. Sayers was not working, but the other two were taking pulls, and I decided to drive the pace as hard as I could. Some might argue that I played this move stupidly, but after spending so much time off the front already, I figured I would just finish the job. Finishing in 6th place would be better than being caught by a field containing best sprinters in the nation.

Sayers attacked as I finished a hard pull with 1/2 lap to go, taking Jones with him. Huffman was trailing off behind, so I hunkered down and tried to at least LOOK fast as I suffered to the finish. I rolled across in 5th place, with a remarkably large crowd cheering me all the way.

Thanks again to the team, to Keith Williams for wheels and support, and to Lodi for a great event.

Time to grade the effort:

Finish: C- (I finished 3rd of 4 in my group. Weak.)
Tactics: A (It stands for Attack an Absurd Amount.)
Teamwork: B (Rob's purposeful first-lap crash failed to take down the major players, but it was well-executed nonetheless. We'll get 'em next time.)
Style: A+ (My Williams 58's looked so good, they got a callout on the PA system. Thanks Keith.)
Overall: F (Apparently, the Pro thing to do on the podium is to grope the podium girls, but I just put my hand in the air. I'll learn someday.)

Billy scores 10th at Leesville Gap RR

2009-07-10T12:24:00.000-07:00

A few of the guys spent a vacation day in hell, I mean Leesville, last Friday to contest the dreaded Leesville Gap Road Race. The single loop ~70 mile race is noted for terrible pavement, a hard climb early in the race, and insane heat. It's usually a race of attrition due to heat and mechanicals and this year was no exception. Billy Crane, one of our up and coming riders, rode valiantly to finish in 10th place. Below is his entertaining report.

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Leesville Gap RR aka ride through hell
Williams, CA - they have a nice deli...and that's about it
July 3rd, 2009
Weather: 20 minutes of pleasant then HOT
Teammates: Peter Cazalet, Bo Hebenstreit, Rand Miller
Placing: 10th or something like that of ~35

The Wednesday before a group of friends invites me wakeboarding on Friday. I weigh the options thinking I always have fun boating...but bike racing is fun too!
3:45AM Friday- alarm goes off. girlfriend throws elbow to get me out of bed...grumbling to myself "I should've gone wakeboarding this weekend" I roll out of bed and start what would be a fantastic day of suffering. I thought the perks of being in the 2's was race radios (highly overrated) and late start times...
For those not familiar with the course it starts with ~8 miles of flat decently paved road that leads into ~25 miles of "unmaintained farm roads" aka "we paved them in 1921 but haven't done jack to them since". This includes multiple gravel sections of various depths and a ~3 mile climb. The rest of the course is over good roads and has a 45mph+ descent. The last 15 miles are flat as a crepe.

The plan going into this race was to have Peter and/or Rand get into an early move before the climb and get enough of a gap that it could be held for the remainder of the course. If that failed...well I guess my skinny ass would have to haul up the climb with the top guys. Unfortunately, those top guys included Max Jenkins (now gainfully employed by a Belgian team) and local strongmen Jesse Moore and James Mattis. Peter started the attacks from the time our lead Honda Insight (even motorbikes don't show up for this thing) honked the horn to signal the end of neutral roll out. He lingered off the front for a few miles solo, then was brought back after the bridge attempts were all followed. Rand immediately jumped, but with similar result.

A small group that contained Peter, Jesse Moore, and Max (I think) got a small gap just prior to us hitting the gravel/jacked road. About 300 meters into this eyeball jarring experience I saw Rand with his hand up..."sh*t, one teammate down" "I know I'll sacrifice my race and give him my wheel and keep my eyes in my head" I thought. Rand accepted the offer..'YES!!!' Now this is where the day goes a bit sideways. Just as I came to a stop Rand realized he didn't want to jack my race and told me to keep keep going. Cursing to myself about his change of heart I take off chasing the pack....wishing I'd gone wakeboarding instead. After a few miles of chasing through the gravel and dust I catch back on. Unfortunately, I'm now at the back of the pack and there has been a small separation. I look over to see James Mattis and think "well I'll just follow his wheel...I mean I do on some training rides" As I'm thinking this my front wheel hits a deep patch of gravel and goes sideways....no idea how I stayed up, but I no longer need to pee.

We hit the climb and my strategy of following James' wheel is now a fading memory and I'm resigned to climbing at my own pace. As guys that were in the break are quickly coming back or flatting I see that I'm the 3rd group on the road. I'm working with an Above Category guy and a couple others I couldn't identify. Peter catches up to us as we hit the flats again. The 5 of us quickly form a paceline and work together to catch the group ahead of us. This was interesting and sometimes challenging to do over the bumpy roads. Unfortunately for Peter he hit 499 potholes to our 498...the last one (and I swear the last one on the entire course) took his front wheel. He flatted and cracked his wheel. Now come for attempt #2 to 'sacrifice' for a teammate....Peter declines. DAMMIT!!! Our group catches the 2nd group on the road of 4-5 guys just as we hit the 2nd and final climb of the day.

Around this time I wonder why my left hand is burning...figuring I'd be hardman and not wear gloves was stupid. My left hand is now sporting some decent blisters...oh joy.
As we hit the 2nd climb a few guys pop instantly and are shed off the back...unfortunately, I didn't last much longer at that pace and popped with only a few hundred meters left in the climb. Luckily Tyler Brandt was in the same position. We crest the hill together and bomb down the descent into the feedzone. As we hit the feedzone Tyler turns to me and asks how his rear wheel looks...erm...I think you've got a flat. I look up the road and see the group fading away into the horizon with all the puddles of water and look back to see nobody there. I'm resigned to finish the last 15 miles solo.

Given that this sufferfest is a point to point race I quickly run through my remaining options: A.Give wheel to teammate...nope already tried twice, B.go wakeboarding, nope...C.fiegn stomach flu and get into team car, I wish....D.HTFU put your head down and finish the day. D is the correct answer.

I set the goal of not getting caught and nearly made it except a rather intent group of 3 M1/2/3 riders caught me with a couple miles left.

The epic day of suffering was capped by Velo Promo provided watermelon, a nice sandwich from Granzellas...

Wakeboarding would've been fun, but I'd have less stories to tell...

Thanks for reading.
Billy

SLO Race Reports: Fabrice scores a win!

2009-07-10T12:16:00.001-07:00

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

Burlingame Crit Report

2009-07-05T17:04:00.000-07:00

Race: Burlingame Downtown Criterium
Teammates: Rob MacNeill, Graham Simpson, Rand Miller, James Badia, Neil Harrington, Jeff Williams, Justin Fraga, Billy Crane, Peter Cazalet
Placing: 4th of 90+ for Fabrice, 9th for James

The Burlingame course is a 0.7 mile circuit with technical 90 degrees consecutive turns, an unusual finishing straight from a long sweeping turn, and bumpy pavement. All combined, it makes for a challenging course. The race is one of James' favorite races and he's had some huge results there from bunch finishes the last couple of years. So, our tactic for the day was to cover attacks, to protect James, and, in the event of a final sprint, to launch our sprinter from a good position!

From the start, there were a lot of attacks from Daniel Holloway (Slipstream U23) and Chad Gerlach (Amore-Vita), but all of them were covered by one of the green team. During first 20 minutes all these attacks didn't take a big advantage, but the field was straining from the constant chasing.

Sensing the fatigue from the field, Scott Zwizansky (Kelly Benefits) attacked and was join by two dangerous guys: Chad Gerlach and Chris Jones (Team Type 1). As these three guys were very dangerous I attacked too and joined them. With these 3 big guns, the speed of our group was high and the gap to the field was increasing lap after lap. For me, at the beginning of that escape I felt uncomfortable with the pace but got better as the finish drew near. With 3 laps to go the gap was around 30 seconds so it seemed likely the victory would be between us 4.

I tried to stay on Gerlach's wheel during the sprint. He launched it from a long way, which was perfect for me. I stayed with him and with 100 meters to go, I launched my sprint. Unfortunately as tried to pass him, I hit a pothole in the rode and my chain flew off the big ring. Luckily somehow I managed to not get catapulted off the bike. I tried to put my chain back on but there was no way. So, I was forced to coast the remaining meters across the line while the other 3 sprinted it out. Of course, that left me with fourth place. In the field sprint, James was shepherded by the team and secured a good 9th place.

I still don't understand what happened. All I can say is that I need to do some good Voodoo in order to get some luck this year. Anybody have a chicken to sacrifice?!

Thanks for reading
Fabrice

Benicia Crit Report

2009-06-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

Benicia Criterium
Benicia, CA
June 27, 2009
Weather: Hell. Absolute hell.
Teammates: Justin Fraga, Fabrice Dubost, Rob MacNeill, Jeff Williams, Bo Hebenstreit
Placing: 9th of ~90

Full Results

"It shouldn't be too hot there, since the course is right near the bay."

Yep. That's actually what I said to Fraga as we cruised over to the Benicia Criterium this Saturday, and it is safe to say that I am no weatherman. I'm an idiot.

A healthy contingent of professionals, combined with the >100 degree heat and a technical course, made Benicia one of the more difficult races this year. The figure-eight course meandered through downtown Benicia, with a small hill and a narrow, choppy corner through a drainage ditch at the bottom of the course. I think the ditch was there not only to cause crashes, but also to collect the blood of those who crashed.

Our race was 60 minutes--a short criterium by P/1/2 standards, but its brevity was a blessing this Saturday.

As the race started, Justin and I were kickin' it at the front. Naturally, an attack went early, containing Gerlach, Reaney, Zwizanski, Kilun and Murphy. It looked serious, but it was Justin's turn to cover (I keep track on an Excel spreadsheet).

"Want to get that?" I asked Justin casually.

"Eh, OK." was his response. Sometimes we just grunt instead of using words.

He went with the attack. About a half-lap later, the group had grown to 11 guys, including most of the major players in the race, and it was about 15 seconds up the road. We needed better representation, and it looked to be the move that might stick, so I bridged to it. Never mind the fact that we were only about 6 minutes into the event.

The break was quite disorganized, which always seems to happen when breaks are larger than 5 guys, but the field was complacent. We quickly got a 45 second gap. I knew the winning attack would come from this group of 12, and told Justin to rest his legs...he was stronger than I was and I hoped to help him get a result. About 45 minutes into the race, I finished taking a pull on the front and the Pros in the move decided it was time to go. Ugh. Why RIGHT then?

What had been a small incline on the front straightaway only laps before now loomed like the Alpe d'Huez. I tried to latch onto the rear of the break as John Murphy and Chad Gerlach drove it, and put myself as far into the pressure-cooker of pain as I could. A couple gaps opened in front of me and I was toast. As I incinerated in grand style, I prayed that Justin would fare better, prayed that I would remain conscious, and tried to recover for the remainder of that lap.

The lap during which you have been dropped from the winning break is quite embarrassing--spectators no longer cheer for you, except to patronize you with "Come on, you can do it..." and "Good try." No, quite frankly, I cannot do it...isn't that painfully obvious?

Anyway, after an eternity, I was caught by a chase group containing Floyd Landis, Steve Reaney, Mike Sayers, and our very own Fabrice. I died about six times attempting to hold onto the back of this group. I was nearly dropped every lap. We eventually caught Justin's group, which was the second group on the road (Gerlach, Zwizanski, Murphy, Kilun and one other guy had lapped the remainder of the field). From my perspective, Justin looked happy as a clam, and I despised him for it.

5 laps to go. Normally, in crit-language, that means "FREAK THE #$%^ out." However, on Saturday, the 5-to-go lap card read, "Just drop out, you sissy." Screw you, Lap Card.

In the final lap, Fabrice kindly attempted to lead Justin out. Meanwhile, I sat a few riders behind Reaney, deliriously imagining ponies and fireworks and Smurfs. I was dizzy. Sayers, Reaney and Co. jumped to the inside heading through the final turn, and I followed, not because I cared about the finish anymore, but because Papa Smurf told me to.

I finished 4th in our group behind Reaney, Sayers and Andres Gil, slotting me into 9th overall. Justin finished 12th behind Floyd Landis and Kevin Klein.

I would like to thank Rob, Jeff and Bo for helping out in the pack, and generally being awesome. Special thanks to Fabrice for helping Justin and I in the second group. Finally, thanks to Steve Jones (and maybe others) for working the radios.

Letter Grades:

Finish: B- (only because I finished ahead of Justin. Otherwise D+)
Tactics: F (F is for Fabrice-hates-you-when-you-get-dropped)
Style: Inches of salt covering my chamois. How stylish do you think?
Overall: Seriously, Pro Badminton looks like more fun than this.

Thanks for reading,
Rand

Fabrice (and Lance) Race Nevada City

2009-06-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

Representing Webcor/Alto Velo, Fabrice and Dominic lined up against a VERY competitive field, including Lance Armstrong, who flew in for the day just to do the Nevada City Classic. After just finishing up Tour de Nez, Fabrice did an amazing job of animating the race and staying with an elite group of riders. In the end, he scored an impressive top-10 result against a who's-who of pro cycling.

Full Results

Nevada City Classic, Pro 1/2
1h30
June 21, 2009
Field: 130
Place: 9th
Teammates: Dominic Giampaolo

As I was in Reno for the Tour de Nez, I had just few hours of driving to go to Nevada City. But the longest thing was not to drive but to find a spot to park our car. Because for that one Sunday, Nevada City had become the center of the cycling world. And that was because the "best friends", Levi Leiphemer, Chris Horner and Lance Armstrong were pre-reg'd for that crazy race. Before arriving, I thought it was a bit crazy for those guys to come in for that race just a few weeks before their biggest goal of the season, but not them. They were really here with thousand and thousand of spectators! I think that I never saw so many people all around a course, nearly 2 rows of spectators all around the 2 mile circuit. That was insane!

After three days of racing I didn't know if my legs were able to face that circuit during 1 and a half hours, because there is no flat it's just up and down all the time. But I had to try.

I started in good position during the neutralized lap, so that gave me more chance to stay in contact with the big guys of day. In the first lap, the race was fully underway when one Bissell guy attacked from the start and made a lap solo, then Andrew Tallensky from Amore-Vitta took the spot in the front of the race. He was joined a few miles later by Levi, who stayed on the front alone after the climb. The next lap an attack from Justin England from Cal-Gaint put 5 guys, including LA, in counter attack. Along the false flat before the descent I closed the gap between the field and that group alone, so we were 6 in that group just less than 10 seconds behind Levi. At the bottom of the climb Lance saw that there was a gap with the field so he accelerated and just Ben-Jacques Maynes (Bissell) was able to follow him. I hadn't recovered from my last attack, so I worked to keep a good pace and to stay in good position in the field.

Lance, Levi, and BJM were able to work together and the gap between them and the field was just increasing lap after lap. I managed to stay in the group behind them all the time, and tried a couple times to create a counter attack but without success. Then with 20 minutes to go, the roaring crowds signaled that the three escapers were lapping us. With 6 laps to go Lance attacked BJM, and managed to create a big gap in only one climb. I stayed in the group with BJM, Levi, and a couple of pro guys, (Gerlach from Amore Vita, Zwanski from Kelly-benefits, Paul Mach from Bissell...). Lance won the race with 20 seconds advantage on BJM and Levi. From the "pack" I contested the sprint for the 4th place, and ended up 9th overall and was first amateur.

After the finish, we rode a lap of honor that was completely crazy; everyone was in the middle of the road and were screaming and congratulating us for the show, a thing I've never felt before.

What a great day.

Thanks for reading,
Fabrice

Fabrice's Reports from Tour de Nez

2009-06-29T14:32:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Fabrice and Rand were in Reno participating in the Tour de Nez Omnium. Up until last year, this was an NRC race. This year it dropped off the NRC calendar but it's still a big, hotly contested race composed of 2 criteriums and one circuit race for an overall omnium. Below are Fabrice's reports from each stage.

Tour de Nez, Downtown Truckee Criterium, Pro 1/2
4th of ~60
June 18th, 2009
Teammate: Rand Miller

The 60 minute crit is on a a 0.6 mile course with 4 turns and one U-turn before the finish line. Before the start I didn't know what to expect after 5 hours of driving and a race at altitude. After a few laps, Chad Gerlach from Amore Vitta, who's form is unbearable the last couple of weeks, attacked and took one guy with him. Nobody from the pack moved, so I attacked, I took with me Steve Reaney from CalGiant, and we tried to catch those guys. But during 20 minutes we managed to not come closer than 10 seconds! In the last 20 minutes we had understood that the only thing we were able to do is to race for third place. So we worked together as strong as we could to stay away from the pack. Steve won our 2-up sprint for 3rd, leaving me with 4th place. Chad Gerlach took the win.

Tour de Nez, Downtown Reno Criterium, Pro 1/2
18th of ~60
June 19th, 2009
Teammate: Rand

The second criterium is in downtown Reno, 0.8 miles with 7 or 8 turns and a power hill climb. Normally I prefer that kind of circuit compared to Truckee, which is totally flat. So I started the race with a lot of hope for success. I started the race in good position and tried a silly attack on the first lap to see how the legs have recovered. I was caught the lap after and I tried to stay in good position despite the number of turns. After 15 minutes a crash happened just before me. I stopped just in time to not fall but someone behind me hit my rear wheel. After that incident, mechanical issues limited shifting between only a few gears. As the crash happened on a tricky road, 10 guys took an advantage on the field (with all the big guys, of course!). I tried with Rand to close the gap but without success; the gap was still increasing. With 20 minutes to go my mechanical problems got worse and the rear wheel locked up, so I stopped and walked to the SRAM pit to get a new wheel. After the wheel change, I tried to stay focused and I managed to stay on the front of that second group and I finished in 18th position. Gerlach won again.

Tour de Nez, Northstar Circuit Race, Pro 1/2
~13th of ~60
June 18th, 2009
Teammate: Rand Miller

The Tour de Nez finished with a 2 mile circuit race near Truckee at the Northstar ski area. After two victories, Chad Gerlach started that last stage with a good advantage on the other contenders for the overall omnium. For me, who was 9th in the omnium, I was thinking to catch an escape in that hilly race. But after few laps, I figured that will be difficult, I don't know if it was the altitude or something else but as soon as I wanted to attack or to follow an attack I was over-breathing despite feeling very easy in the main field. So I managed to stay in the field and to catch a good position in the final sprint for the spots still remaining. Because on the front of the race there were two strong guys (Jesse Moore from CalGiant and Graham Howard from Bissel). They managed to stay away from the field nearly from beginning to end, being caught only by another CalGiant, Justin England, in the last 10 minutes of the race. Jesse Moore won the race, and I managed to take the 13th place. I finished 10th overall in the omnium standings. Gerlach held on to win the overall.

That was a nice weekend in Reno.
Full results can be found here.

Fabrice

Ryan Scores the W at Tour of America's Dairyland

2009-06-24T10:02:00.000-07:00

Ryan Parnes just scored a big stage win out at the Tour of Americas Dairyland Race in Wisconsin. This result is huge! Big congratulations to Ryan. With the win and consistently high placings in the previous stages, Ryan is sitting 6th overall in the omnium halfway through the 10-stage race.

Check out Ryan's blog for the full report on his win. It sounds like it was a tough day in the saddle and Ryan rode a great race.
He also got a nice headline from cyclingnews (full results).

(Photo courtesy Jess Raphael)

Adventures of Parnes

2009-06-18T12:44:00.000-07:00

Our rider Ryan Parnes is off road tripping for a couple of months and is hitting up some big races around the country along the way. He recently competed at the Nature Valley Grand Prix and is off to the Tour of Americas Dairyland next. You can keep up with Ryan's exploits on his blog.

Here's his tentative schedule:
Tulsa Tough (Oklahoma)
Nature Valley GP (Minnesota)
Tour of America's Dairyland (Wisconsin)
Superweek (Illinois, Wisconsin)
Boise Twilight (Idaho)
Cascade (Bend, OR)
Nationals (Bend, OR)

Some of the other guys from the team will likely meet him in Boise and Bend. After Nationals, Ryan is planning to return to NorCal to finish out the season locally with the rest of the team.

W/AV Pescadero RR Report, P12

2009-06-18T12:32:00.000-07:00

I'm posting this report for Fabrice while he and Rand are off racing the Tour de Nez up around Reno for the next several days. Last weekend the W/AV Men's Elite Team fielded a strong team to contest the P12 event. It would've been an even bigger team but Rand and Justin were admirably dedicated to their signage volunteering job and didn't get back to the start in time after franticaly putting up sign all around the course the morning of the race. Anyhow, the guys rode strong as usual and Fabrice ended up with a top-10. Below is his report.

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Race: Pescadero RR Pro1/2
Course: 103 miles, 3.7 laps
Result: 7th of 60
Team Mates: Peter Cazalet, Jeff Williams, and BP Buchholz

(Photo Courtesy of Ryan Gibson)

Last year, this was my first race in California in a Webcor/AV jersey (finished 14th), and it's with great pleasure to enter the race again this year.

The weather was not as usual in California, it was nearly the same as Normandy weather for June--a little drizzle and wet roads.

Our objective before the race was to be in the first break and to protect myself for the "finale". From the start, BP covered all the attacks in order to be in that first escape but nothing came together. Before the real climb a very interesting move appeared: BP and I were there, as were 2 Cal Giants (Jesse Moore and Steve Reaney), 2 Z-Teams, Dan Martin (Safeway) and 6 other guys. But Z-team's strange tactics began. Nate English (another Z-Team) closed the gap on the main climb of the circuit with the whole field on his wheel!

Then during the next half lap nobody was able to create an escape because English covered all of them. On Stage Road, three guys succeeded to attack without a Z-Team reaction: Steve Reaney, Dan Martin and Chris Turner (Above Category). The Z-Team was not in the break so I thought they will work to bring it back but that was not the case, they just tried to attack without success. So the escape took a large advantage (about 6 minutes).

In the second lap, Jeff and Peter took a couple of pulls in hopes to get some work going to close down the gap, but no one else was interested. I tried to create a counter attack on Haskins but without success, we were 30 guys in the main group with 5 minutes behind the escape. I don't know why, but in the last lap the entire Cal Giant team were on the front and worked together to close the gap and we arrived at the bottom of Haskins for the finish 1 minute down on the 3 guys off the front.

English rode the last climb like a rocket and finished 4th (With some good team tactics he should have won easily!). For myself I tried to launch my sprint from too far so I was passed by two guys at 100 hundred meters before the line, I finished 7th. Last year 14th, this year 7th, next year should be a good one if the progression continues!

Thanks for reading
Fabrice

Race Reports: Dash4Cash and 2-Wheel Crits

2009-06-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

Locally, the Webcor/Alto Velo Men's team had a great weekend of crit racing this past Saturday and Sunday. Rand scored two big results for the team with a 3rd place at the Dash 4 Cash and a WIN at the Two-Wheel Crit. Justin also got a nice top-5 in the first one, while Neil got a top-10 in the second. Good team racing all weekend long! Below are Rand's reports from both crits.

Farther afield, our rider Ryan Parnes is participating in the Nature Valley Grand Prix after the W/AV team help secure him a expenses paid composite team rider spot through his win at the Wente Omnium. He scored an excellent 16th place in the opening time trial against a 150 rider strong field with a lot of fast pros. In fact, Ryan was in 2nd place in the amateur GC after the first stage. He had some bad luck in the stage 2 crit, dropping down a bit in the standings, but he's focused on doing well for the upcoming stages.
NVGP Stage 1 Report in cyclingnews

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2009 ICCC Dash for Cash
Pleasanton, CA
Weather: Windy and warm
Teammates: Justin Fraga, James Badia, Brian Buchholz, Rob MacNeill, Neil Harrington, Graham Simpson
Place: 3rd of ~120

Full Results

This is a pretty wide-open, normal crit course with some technical dodging of road dividers on the backside due to the heavy crosswinds. I typically enjoy racing crits in the wind because, well, it hurts more, and guttering races is a lot of fun.

Justin and I rolled over the hill to Pleasanton, both feeling somewhat apathetic about racing. We decided that was probably for the best...why waste energy being amped up BEFORE the race? However, after a bit more caffeine and some Masters race heckling, we felt a bit more lively.

I felt terrible at the start of this race. Legs were dead, no snap. So I kept attacking and covering attacks, praying that they would come around.

The team had excellent coverage in all the major breakaways of the day. Good riding by everyone involved. I think I saw every teammate at the front at one time or another.

Frankly, my memory of this race is not great. I have no idea when or how it happened, but somehow Justin and I ended up in a completely disorganized break of about 12 riders with maybe...10 laps to go. Steve Reaney, Dean LaBerge, Larry Nolan and Joel Robertson were in the break with us. Few people were rotating smoothly, so we basically took turns attacking and countering.

Here is where it gets ugly.

With 3 laps to go, I was off the front of the break with Joel Robertson. Quite a nice setup, actually, because he is one of the fastest guys out there in terms of long-term speed but is not the best of sprinters.

Well, Reaney bridged up to us with one other rider as I was finishing my pull, and I drifted back to slot in behind them. Meanwhile, Joel sped up and Reaney looked to me to pull him back.

This is where bike racing is actually decided...these split second decisions at the critical turning points of the race. I could either dig deep, burn a match, and also bring Reaney up to Joel...or I could play poker, let the gap open, and bet that Steve would eventually close the gap.

Turns out neither one happened. Joel turned up the heat, while Reaney and I sat there staring at each other. The remnants of the break caught up to us, and Joel pulled out to about a 15 second lead with 1 lap to go.

Poor communication and a disorganized break meant that, with 1/2 a lap to go, Joel STILL had a 15 second gap. I swear he is half-mule, or half-ox or half-Jens Voigt. Anyway, I attacked with absolutely everything I had into the final cross/headwind stretch, getting a small gap. I distinctly remember looking ahead to see Joel giving the victory salute, then looking back to see Dean LaBerge sprinting up behind me. I pulled out the ugliest, most pathetic "sprint" I could muster at that point, heaved my bike in the general direction of the finish line, only to get beat by a flying LaBerge, dropping me down to 3rd place. Fraga rolled through just behind in 5th. Buchholz won the field sprint for 12th.

Not a bad result, and hats off to Joel for being a man and laying it on the line. Thanks to the team for the hard work, sorry we couldn't pull of the win.

Again, I will be grading myself on relevant aspects of the race:

Style: C- (I literally caught my chamois on my seat when I attempted a bike throw)
Tactics: F
Being a Sissy: A+
Overall: Get a new hobby

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Two Wheel Crit 2009
Rohnert Park, CA
Weather: Hurricane-force wind, sunny
Teammates: Peter Cazalet, Neil Harrington, Brian Peterson, Tom Fahey
Place: 1st of ~50

This course looked ridiculous on the map. It looked sort of like a cheap knockoff of Land Park without all the cool chicanes. WRONG. In fact, it was an undulating, exposed, meandering course that, when combined with the wind made for some interesting racing. I'd highly recommend going next year.

Anyway, Neil made an early break, which came back in a lap or two. I countered a few times, and finally about 20 minutes into the 75 minute race, I got off the front with Joel Robertson (the big elk from Sierra Pacific), Joe Ianarelli from Clif Bar, and a guy from Lombardi. Clif and Lombardi had the big teams in the race, so we were able to get a decent gap pretty quickly. Then, poor Mr. Lombardi guy got dropped, after having helped us get out to about 45 seconds ahead of the field. Bummer.

The three of us were fully committed to the move, which totally sucked, to be completely honest. We had almost an hour to go in ripping head/crosswinds, with a lot of strong riders having missed the break, and an unhappy Lombardi team organizing a chase. A betting man would probably have put money on the break coming back. But then again, we did have Jens Robertson with us...

Anyway, we got the gap to 55 seconds about 30 minutes into the race, at which point the pack made a serious effort to close us down. The gap plummeted to 25 seconds.

Joel and I looked at one another, and without uttering a word, communicated the following:

"Lets get the $%&* outta here"

With a lot of help from the Clif Bar rider, we pushed as hard as we could. In one lap, the gap grew to 1:15.

Heading into 1 lap to go, we had a 1:00 gap on a group of chasers, and 1:30 on the field. Haunted by the demons of yesterday's botched finish, I attacked on the windiest part of the course, with 1/2 a lap to go. I did not want to sprint against Ianarelli, as I know he has a good finishing kick.

I managed to stay away solo for the win. Joel rolled across in 2nd, Joe was 3rd. Neil came in at 7th after making it into the chasing group...great ride by him.

I definitely want to thank my teammates for helping to shut down the field. Great job by Peter, Brian, Neil and Tom. Seriously, can't say how awesome it is to have such solid teammates.

Rand

Tulsa Tough Reports

2009-06-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

Rand Miller, Justin Fraga and Ryan Parnes went out to Tulsa, OK recently to represent the Green Team at the weekend long NRC crit series. Below are Ryan's summary reports for each of the three races they entered.

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Tulsa Tough NRC (Blue Dome, Brady District and Riverfront Criteriums)
Teammates: Rand & Justin.

Hi All,

Sorry for the late report, but my head just stopped spinning from all those crits! Tulsa Tough is an omnium series of 3 crits held near downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma. A prize list of $75,000 brought out some serious pro talent and the racing was furious. The actual Tulsa downtown was almost completely deserted during the weekend, which was durn creepy. Like some virus had ravaged the town and the zombies were just waiting for nightfall to come for brains. Despite all that, each of the courses was packed with cheering fans, and that made for a great atmosphere. A pre-race highlight was Justin's interaction with the locals:
Janitor at hotel with more fingers than teeth: "WHOOOOOEEEEEEEE! You gonna win tonight??!"
Justin: "If I do I'll be you a beer."
The janitor went on the press Justin about his name and lodgings so he could collect his beer after the inevitable victory.

Friday: Blue Dome Criterium
This course is a real beauty. Its an eight turn barn burner with smooth corners and some gradual grades on some sections. They had repaved some of the turns since I was there two years ago and this, combined with an impressive field kept this race fast fast fast. The Pro/1 Men didn't start until 9:30pm which meant the course was dark and a lot of the fans were already a few drinks deep. If you want to recreate the atmosphere get 10 of your friend and give each of them a desk lamp, then have one of them spin you in your chair while the other 9 scream and flick the lights off and on.

The race started fast and never slowed down. The three of us did a pretty good job of staying forwards in the group, but with the speed constantly high and people taking the turns up to 5 and 6 abreast it was hard to move around. When I say constantly fast, I mean that I kept it in the 53-13 for most of the race. It switched to laps much earlier than we thought and Rand and I were not in great position. Justin was farther up in better position, but after getting tangled up in a crash (he was fine) he pulled the plug instead of risking his life to move up through 100 riders going all out. Rand is wiser than I and knew that any move form our position would be in desperation, but I'm impetuous and tried to get up near the front. I failed. In the end I could only roll in for 42nd. I think that might be the hardest I've ever ridden for such a bad placing. Winners note: Justin said he had never seen anyone go as fast on a bike as Brad Huff was going when he won the sprint. Bahati couldn't even make up any ground on him.

Saturday: Brady District Criterium
This course was a big L, with the start finish on the short part at the bottom, followed by 3 turns before the course did a gradual climb up a wide boulevard past Soundpony, a local cycling bar where fans were going absolutely nuts. At the top of the course the road narrowed to two skinny lanes before turning onto the long downhill stretch and a final left onto the finish. This race was pretty frustrating, especially for Justin, poor guy. Right off the bat one idiot caused two crashes before we had done half a lap. None of us went down but it put the whole field in a bad mood. We ripped around the course for a good while and then Justin established himself in what looked like a great break: two guys from most of the big teams and a decent gap. He put his head down and did a big pull and then Floyd Landis attacked their group. Some guy from Jelly Belly started yelling at Justin to chase it down and Justin rightfully told him where to stick it. Sometimes people think they can tell you what to do just because they get paid to ride their bikes. Good on Justin for not letting himself get pushed around.

The rest of the race stayed more or less together. We'd rip around the course going hard out up the hill, avoid the carnage as the course narrowed at the top and then say a little prayer as we flew through the bottom corner leaned all the way over at well over 40 miles an hour. Then people would try to move up on the finishing straight only to jam up 8 wide in the first turn. Towards the end of the race, Justin did a great job of moving me up, but I couldn't hold the position amid all the swarming and I ended up out of position and sitting up in the final sprint.

Sunday: Riverfront Criterium.
This thing is a real doozy. A long exposed start finish straight, then a sketchy narrow right onto a 17% climb similar to Cat's Hill, but instead of leveling off, it takes another ride up a 6% grind. Then you do a big whoop-de-do before turning onto a STEEP descent into an off camber right back onto the finishing straight. In short, the course is crazy. The course, and the fans. There were maybe 200 people gathered at the top of the climb going absolutely nuts! Many were in costume, bedecked in flowing robes and viking helmets, some burnished voodoo dolls and all were screaming and dancing, blasting the field with hoses. Its pretty wild, to say the least, but I would have kissed the people with the hoses. Tulsa is nothing if not HOT and combined with the humidity it was overwhelming. Justin had to catch and early flight to get back to work, so he raced the 1-2 field. It looked like he had it on lock down, riding comfortably in the top ten while we were watching, but his heart just wasn't in it and he pulled the plug on the last lap.

Sadly, Rand and I didn't fare much better. We were pinning it every time up the climb and tempting fate through the last corner each lap. I felt like I was racing against the course more than I was racing against the other riders. People were dropping like flies due to the heat and the previous hard days of racing. I was sitting in flogging myself up the climb each lap, but I decided to pull the plug with about 10 laps to go. I wasn't feeling strong enough to finish well and it didn't make sense to dig myself into a hole and risk taking a spill just to say I had finished. Rand made the same decision and we called it a weekend. Dan Ramsey had an incredible ride after attacking the field with 4 to go and managed to finish just meters ahead of a sprinting field for the win.

Race Report: Pacific Grove Criterium

2009-06-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

This past weekend marked the return of a former Bay Area Classic: the Pacific Grove Butterfly Criterium. This is a cool little race that used to be a national level event. It was even won by Greg Lemond on a couple of occasions in the late 70's. It's been absent from the calendar since the 80's but it's back and hopefully will return again for years to come. A 4-man Webcor/Alto Velo squad contested the P12 main even. We did well covering attacks in an animated race that eventually came down to a sprint. Our guy James Badia netted a nice 4th place. Below is his report.

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Race: Pacific Grove Criterium

Duration: 75 minutes

Teammates: Rob MacNeill, Matt Beebe, Graham Simpson, Steve Jones (honorary teammate who was our course scout on the radio)

Placing: 4th of 40ish

(Photo from Mark Nakamura's Flickr Page)

This is was my first time racing this course. For the last 20 + years the race has been in hybernation. When I heard they were running a race in downtown Pacific Grove I was very much looking forward to it. The pre reg numbers were small but at the start line I noticed a lot of good crit riders from the Nor Cal scene. Cal Giant, Lombardi, Clif, Form Fitness and other teams were present with multiple guys. In addition there were a few of the local solo guys who usually do well in crits.

This was Steve Jones' first time doing radio for the team. I want to give him a big thanks, he did an awesome job supplying us with the information we needed. Steve, anytime you want to come out we could always use the help!

My plan was to race aggressive and try to establish a breakaway. If it came down to a field sprint I wanted to be in the mix.

The official decided to start the race with a neutral lap and blow the start whistle as we came across the line from our first lap. Well, I am not sure I would call the first lap neutral as Dave McCook went to the front and started drilling it. We were lined our for the "neutral" lap and still in a long line when we came across the line. The official decided to blow the whistle anyways so the race was on. From there it was super fast for most of the race. About 3 laps in I found myself somewhere around 3rd wheel when a prime bell rang. I stayed 3rd wheel until turn 3 where I put in a small attack thinking I would go for the prime and establish some separation. It worked, I had a good gap, won the prime and stayed off for another 1/2 lap or so until the pack caught me. I was reabsorbed into the pack where I drifted back for a few laps to recover. During this time Rob did a great job up at the front of the race covering moves so I could relax a little. After a few laps of recovery Graham gave me a tow back up toward the front of the race. All of the teams were attacking like crazy. Rob and I were both following moves and making sure the green team was represented.

The officials had some confusion as to how long the race was. at about 30 minutes in they were announcing 12 minutes to go. That lasted a few laps and then they sorted it out and were back to the planned 75 minute schedule. With about 20 minutes to go, a break slipped off the front with every team represented but ours. I attacked the field, and spent about 1.5 laps bridging up to the breakaway. When I got there I was gassed and skipped a pull to recover. This disrupted the rhythm and our breakaway ended up coming back. My memory from this point in the race on is a little fuzzy. At some point there was a large group of 10-12 riders that had maybe 8 seconds on the main group. They held this for some time. Rob did a great job on the front bringing this gap down. Eventually this gap was closed (mostly from Rob's doing) and the group was together.

At this point there was about 5 laps to go. For the final 5 laps I was maintaining a position of about 10th wheel. Guys were starting to get more aggressive and pushy in the corners in these final laps so you really had to fight to maintain position at the front. I hung in there and with a little radio encouragement from Rob on the final lap (I'll leave out the specific phrases for now) I made a final push on on bottom straight to get better position for the sprint.

There was a big squeeze into turn 3 where I gave up a few spots. I put in a hard effort out of turn 3 to get better position. I took the outside of turn 4 and sprinted up the snow fencing and started blowing by people. In the end I would cross the line in 4th place. My finishing speed and power felt better than it has all year.

I found out after the race that I had won a 2nd prime. I don't really remember when it was but it must have been one of the times I was off the front solo trying to get breakaways to stick.

I would recommend this race for everyone if it is on the calendar next year.

Thanks for reading

James

Catching up 2: Tales from Fabrice

2009-06-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

Our resident Frenchman, Fabrice, is always good for riding hard, being in the mix, and getting results. Below are 3 of his recent race reports from the challenging Panoche Valley Road Race (2nd), the Bay Area classic Mt. Hamilton Road Race (3rd in a Bissell 1st, 2nd, & 4th place sandwich), and the Memorial Day Crit (8th).

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Panoche Valley Road Race
05/17/09
Distance: 67 miles
Teammates: None
Place: 2nd of 13

Two factors made the race very hard: First the size of the field (13 guys is not enough), and second, the temperature was around 100 degrees.

My plan, before the start, was to wait as long as possible to save some energy for the way back, which I expected to be difficult with the strong wind. But after 6 miles, some guys attacked and I was involved with that game. After a move from Andrew Talansky from Amore-Vita team, I made a counter attack, which worked. We were just two on the front of the race with nearly 60 miles to go!!! So I decided to work but while saving some energy. On the major climb of the day the other guy was dropped!!! So now I had 50 miles to do alone!!! After passing the valley, I was facing to a strong wind. Alone in that situation is not so easy, so I preferred to lose a little time and wait for the second group which was only 1 minute behind me. On the way back we were only 3 guys, and we worked together until the finish line where I finished second in the final sprint behind Justin Laue from Z Team.

That race was a very fun, and a good training for the upcoming races.

Thanks for reading
Fabrice

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May 24,2009
Mt Hamilton RR Pro1/2
Distance: 63 miles, 6550 ft climbing!
Place: 3rd out of 55
Teammates: Bo, Billy and Peter

Full Results

The was my first ride on the Mt Hamilton, it was a kind fun to discover the climb during a race. I only knew that you need to stay calm during the two first parts because the last one is the most difficult.

I started the race in the middle of the field and tried to not do same thing as the Panoche race. But one of my teammates, Billy, was on the ball and covered the first move of the day with AJM from Bissell. English from Z Team rolled off the front to bring back all the attacks. Then Paul Mach from Bissell again made a counter attack, which was dangerous because he knew how to win here (he won last year). On the two first parts he managed to increase his gap but with difficulty, only 10 or 20 seconds. For my part I stayed in the main group (only 10), in good position. In the last part of the climb, English was burned, nobody seemed to close the gap so I attacked two times but I was controlled by the Jacques-Maynes Brothers who were protecting their teammate. We crossed the KOM 1 minute behind the leader. The descent was for me another great new experience with some tricky turns!! On that descent, Jackson Stewart (BMC) must have made a crazy descent because he closed the gap between our group and the leader!!!

In the valley, The Cal-Giant team of 5 guys in our group worked together to close the 1 min gap. They closed it with 10 miles to go. So in that first group we found 3 Bissells, 5 Cal-Giant, one BMC, one Zteam and myself. During the last few kilometers a lot of attacks appeared and I managed to respond to all the attacks containing one guy of each big teams. In the descent Paul Mach succeeded to take a little advantage. At the bottom of this one I was surprised to see 1km to go, so I tried to recover for the final sprint. Jackson launched his sprint from a long way in order to pass the leader, but with 100 meters he was exhausted and Andy Jacques-Maynes, who was in his wheel, passed him and with his speed passed in the last 20 meters his teammate for the victory. For myself I finished just behind Paul Mach for the third place..

Thanks for reading
Fabrice

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May 25,2009
Memorial Day Crit P1/2
Morgan Hill
Distance: 75 minutes
Place: 8th out of 60
Teammates: Justin, Rand, Billy, Neil, Graham, Bruce on Radio

Full Results

After a big Sunday under the Mt Hamilton, I didn't know how my legs will respond. The circuit is totally flat with wide roads and only 3 turns. My goal was to help the team in covering escapes. After some little moves on that fast circuit, 10 strong guys succeeded to make a big move, all the big teams were in it, including Rand and Justin from our team. The Webcor team did a good job to protect that escape between Billy, Neil and myself. But one big guy who was not in it, Jackson Stewart of BMC, was working on the front of the pack to close the gap. And it was after 30 minutes of chasing that the escape was over!! All the next escapes were nothing and the conclusion of that race was a final field sprint. In the last 3 laps, Cal-Giant worked to prepare the sprint for Steve Reaney, I tried to stay in good position and I managed to finish in 8th position, the race was won by the sprint specialist Steve Reaney.

Thanks for reading
Fabrice

Catching up on reports 1... Pleasanton and Modesto

2009-06-03T12:01:00.000-07:00

We have been busy racing, but too busy to keep up with posting rider reports apparently! Here's a summary for a few:

5/9 Joseph Mendez Crit P12: 5th for Rand
5/16 Modesto Crit P12: 8th for Rand
5/16 Modesto Crit 35+123: 4th for James
5/17 Modesto RR P12: 10th for James

Below are the detailed reports.

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Joseph Mendez Criterium
05/09/09
Pleasanton, CA
Teammates: Justin Fraga, Brian Buchholz, James Badia, Rob MacNeill, Graham Simpson, Neil Harrington, Matt Beebe, Keith & Bob on the Radio
Place: 5th of ~60

Full Results

Formerly known as the EBC crit, this is one of the most wide-open courses imaginable. No corners of note, extremely wide straights, smooth pavement and ripping wind make this race harder than you would expect.

Our plan was...well...pretty standard. Fraga and I attack like a couple crazy breakaway monkeys, with James ready for a field sprint if nothing sticks. Keith Williams (Williams Wheels, sponsor of the century) was on the radio slingin' his usual ridiculous nonsense at us, as well as calling out times and laps.

Justin attacked early, in a break with Chad Gerlach among others. Pretty solid effort by him, but it was too early. That break came back, and we reshuffled with me in the next move. Unfortunately the break that stuck contained all the major players and was 10-strong. 1 in 10 odds are not great, and frankly we should have had another rider in the move.

Oh well.

I did what I could to conserve energy and get ready for the last few laps. Chad Gerlach attacked the break with 7 to go, but everyone kept rotating through and he was brought back. With 1.1 laps to go, a DBC kid attacked hard, and I attacked to chase. This attacking strung the break out, and we dropped a few guys, which was the hope. Gerlach attacked as soon as the top 3 guys came back together on the backstretch and no one could answer. As I was setting up for the sprint, a couple guys came flying past us into the final turn. I had no idea they were there. My bad dawg.

Ended up 5th overall.

Couple mistakes to learn from. 1) 1 rider in a 10 man break is not enough. Our team should not have sat on that kind of move. 2) I should have waited for Gerlach's move instead of going with a full lap to go. Wasted some valuable matches there only to be caught.

Still, another top-5 for the Elite team. It's been a good year so far! It's great to see all our guys up at the front working and attacking and whatnot.

Thanks for reading,
Rand

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Modesto Criterium
05/16/09
Modesto, CA
Weather: like 110 degrees. seriously.
Teammates: James Badia, Rob Macneill, Matt Beebe
Place: 8th of ~60

Full Results

I should not have even been at this race. I am supposed to be locked up in a room with books and papers and equations and pain and suffering, studying for my PhD qualifying exam.

Nevertheless, I am addicted to bike racing and so, on a whim, I loaded my car and drove out to Modesto on a record-setting hot day. This was a pretty standard downtown course (though the downtown course is rapidly becoming a scarcity): 6 corners with a TON of botts dots. Not super windy, but really hot.

Those who know me can guess how the race went.

Flurry of attacks, breakaway sticks with me and 9 other guys. We all roll around for a while yelling at each other to 'pull through' and 'dont be sissies' and to 'hold your line idiot' and 'we're gonna get caught' and 'you have three teammates so you best start pulling' and 'seriously, stop clipping your pedal moron' and pretty much every combination of the above.

2 laps to go, we are still away but in jeopardy of being caught. I start cramping and cannot get out of the saddle. I feebly attempt to attack, which looks pathetic when you are unable to stand up or even pedal smoothly. Going into the final sprint, I pretend like I have something left in hopes that it will intimidate my break-mates into handing me the win. Alas, they called my bluff and I got rocked. I finished 8th out of 10 breakmates.

I am going to implement a new system whereby I assess my performance with letter grades:

Finish Position: D
Tactics: C-
Style: F
Overall: FAIL.

Good thing I am in school for something else besides bike racing...

Thanks for reading!
Rand

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Modesto Road Race

05/17/09
Modesto, CA
Weather: Ridiculously hot
Teammates: Matt Beebe
Place: 10th of ~30

Full Results

My legs were a little tired going into this race from racing two races the day before in downtown Modesto. I was talked into doing this race by teammate Neil Harrington, ultimately he ended up not doing the race so Matt and I were left with the smallest team Webcor has fielded so far this year. That doesn't mean we weren't going to try and ride like a big team. The plan was to be aggressive and try to ride near the front of the group, following moves or attacking and creating moves on our own. The course is a flat 9 mile circuit with lots of 90 degrees turns. It was a full road closure and run all on farming roads.

The race started out pretty slow for about the first 5 minutes. After that it was really fast the entire time. Lots of attacks were attempted in the first half of the race with myself and Beebe sharing the load of assuring Webcor had representation. Just after the mid point of the race a break of about 10 guys went and Beebe and I were not in it. I didn't think the break would stick but soon the pack started slowing and the time gap increased. Beebe and I both went to the front and attempted to organize a chase effort but no one was willing to comply. I recovered for about 5min. sitting in the pack then went to the front and again tried to organize a chase. No one would help and there were 2 laps to go, the break had a minute 30 seconds on the field. At this point I decided to attack. I was able to get separation. At this time I decided to just go into TT mode and see what happened. I continued to increase my time gap over the field. When I was about 30 seconds in front of the field two riders bridged up to me. The 3 of us started working together and we continued to open our gap to the field and reduce the gap to the lead group. In the end we would finish about 15 seconds behind the lead group and 90 seconds in front of the field. I finished 10th place in the overall.

In the end it was a solid race and great training for the summer races to come. I felt pretty good given the heat, it was nice to get in to the air conditioned car and get out of the central valley.

Thanks for reading,

--
James

Race Report: Dana Pt. GP NRC Crit

2009-05-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

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

2009-05-05T11:47:00.000-07:00

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.

W/AV P12 Copperopolis Race Report

2009-04-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

On the eve of Paris Roubaix, the guys tackled NorCal's version of the roughly paved classic. Our Parix-Roubaix, Copperopolis Road Race, is marked by bad pavement throughout, winds, climbs, exposed flatland, and tough racing for 105 miles. The rough course usually attracts some top local pros, as was the case this year. Levi Leipheimer showed up again, it's always cool to line up with a top ProTour rider.

Attrition is usually high due to flats, mechanicals, and exhaustion, and our team did well to have more than half our team finish. Fabrice had a phenomenal ride, with his usual calculating but agressive style, finishing 4th on the day (1st amateur). Parnes kept up his strongman reputation by placing 11th. Below is Fabrice's report from the race.

Official Results

Director Keith's summary with more photos from the follow car can be found here

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Copperopolis Road Race
Saturday April 11th, 2009
Pro 1/2
Place: 4th of 81
Teammates: BP, Parnes, Billy, Jeffro, Bo, Myself and Thomas
Support: Keith Williams and Amy (Bo's wife)

After leaving San Carlos at 5AM and 2 hours of driving nearly in the middle of the night, we arrived at Copperopolis. This race is constituted with 5 laps of a tough circuit, for over 100 total miles of racing. The road's pavement is very bad all along the circuit; it was like Paris Roubaix one day before the real race!! The weather was sunny but chilly at 8 o'clock in the morning, with some wind on the top of the climb of the day. The field was about 81 racers and strong with about 15 professionals from Astana (Leiphemer), BMC (Nydam), Colavita, Rock Racing, Team Type 1, and Bissell (both JM's).

Just after the start, an escape of 3 guys took an advantage, increasing the gap to 4min by the second lap. During the race I tried to follow Keith's advice which was to keep as much energy as we can (It is a very long and very hard race). In fact, the combination of the climb and the wind on the flat plateau didn't allow for any recovery. So my goal was to stay in good position in the field without missing any strong moves.

During the third ascension of the major climb, Levi decided to increase the speed with training buddy Nydam on his wheel. At the top of the climb we were just 20 guys on the front at only 1 min from the escape, we all worked together and we caught them in the next lap. Then BJM attacked with Nydam. I understood that this move will be very important because BJM has his twin in our group and Levi will not work behind Nydam, so I decided to attack and I tried to close the gap alone, but the wind was strong and I was only able to get 10 seconds, but no more. So I decided to wait for the group and to try another time but with somebody else. Through the feedzone at the start of the next lap I went again, this time bringing Mattis (CalGiant). I set the pace for the entire climb and we took only 40 seconds advantage by the top, but that was not enough. In the last 5 miles we were caught by AJM (Bissell) and English (Zteam). Andy attacked us just before the last bumpy descent, and I won the sprint against English for 4th place. Mattis had a flat somewhere along the way and dropped off our group. Up front, BJM took the win over Nydam. (Note: Levi was disqualified for crossing the centerline!!)

Ryan Parnes made, as usual, a strong race and a fantastic come back, he finished 11th.

Thanks to Keith for his support and advice, which was so important when you don't know anything about the circuit, and thanks to Amy for the feed zone although I don't drink a lot!!

Thanks for reading
Fabrice

Napa Crit and Santa Cruz Crit Race Reports

2009-04-09T14:20:00.000-07:00

After the Altamont TTT earlier Saturday, a full Webcor/Alto Velo crew converged on downtown Napa for more racing. The Napa Crit is a short 1km course made difficult by technical turns and wind. Attrition in the race is usually high and this edition was no exception. Parnes' did well in the field sprint to nab 5th overall.

On Sunday, a huge contingent of the W/AV Elite Team came together again for another day of racing. This time at the 41st (!) annual Santa Cruz Classic Criterium. This is another very difficult crit punctuated by a hairpin turn and a short steep hill every lap. It's usually nuts from the gun and lasts 50 laps for about 90 minutes of high speed suffering. Only the strong finish and only the truly mighty do well on this course. The W/AV team had our strongmen Fabrice and Rand in the lead group for most of the race. Fabrice had an unfortunate mechanical and couldn't finish. Parnes made a late bridge from the main pack and finished with a group off the front containing Rand for 11th and 12th. BP took the field sprint for 16th.

Below are Parnes' reports from both races.

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Napa River Velo Gran Prix P/1/2

Teammates: Justin Fraga, Chris Crawford, BP Buchholz, Rob MacNeill, Rand Miller, James Badia, Neil Harrington, Bo Hebenstreit
Result: 5th of ~50, Rand 7th

This course is a real doozy! The fastest 4 corners in cycling and then a "crazy P" turn linked by a short straightaway. The race was fast from the gun, and when a crash eventually happened about 10 laps in, Daniel Ramsey of Mt. Khakis Pro Cycling took off and never came back. Pretty rad solo move that he stuck for 50 minutes of an hour long crit. Our boys were up front animating the race. Getting themselves in every move and making a few of their own. Alas, nothing and nobody was was going to bring Daniel back and no one was anxious to get caught out of a move that went.

I covered a move and found myself in a small break with Tim Farnham (Sp?) of Bissel and a Wells Fargo racer. We worked well with each other for a number of laps, but Daniel was still pulling away and the pack was hot on our heels. We were caught with a few laps to go, but we all tried to stay up front, as there wasn't a lot of room to move up. With one to go I was 3rd wheel behind Tim and Jared (CalGiant). I went into the P-turn 3rd, but was so toasted from the break effort that I got passed by one person in the sprint. Shame.

We had a pretty strong ride as a team, covering moves and animating the race, and I'm happy with how we rode. We all suffered a little, Rand had a strong finish, and everyone kept their skin. All in all a good day.

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41st Santa Cruz Classic
April 5, 2009

HUGE team: Justin Fraga, Graham Simpson, Peter Cazalet, Billy Crane, BP Buchholz, Fabrice Dubost, Rob MacNeill, Rand Miller, James Badia, Neil Harrington, Bo Hebenstreit, Jeff Williams, Thomas Novikoff
Result: 11th, Rand 12th, BP 16th, James 20th of 105

This is one of my favorite races of the calendar. The course is dynamic, the weather is great and the spectators' clothing is limited. A strong field of 105, including a number of pros, took the line. I nabbed myself a sweet spot at the front of the pack, anticipating a fast race from the gun. Mr. Mendonca of Lombardi backed in in front of me, but he assured me he'd be out of my way. He was more correct than he knew: photo . I just heard he separated his shoulder, which sucks. I wish him a speedy recovery.

The race was pretty rippin' from early on. I didn't have a very good sense of the race as I was just chillin' in the pack while Rand and Fabrice animated things up front for about 40 of 50 laps. I was just focusing on spinning the legs and staying fresh in case things came back together. Apparently things up front were pretty hard out, with a break of ~10 that included Andy JM, Roman Kilun, Daniel Holloway, Tyler Wren, Michael Sayers and James Mattis.

With a few laps to go Ben JM took off on the climb before the s/f and I went with him. He sat up when he saw people responding, but I decided that with just a few laps to go it was time to make a move. I kept on trucking and when I looked back Evan Pickett (Metromint rider and old friend from Stanford) and Ben were on my wheel. Evan pulled through like a champ, but Ben was just sitting on. I should have said something, but its hard to muster the courage to talk trash to Ben JM. Evan and I worked together for another lap or so, but I decided that it didn't make much sense to drag Ben up to a break with my two teammates in it. Evan was committed and did maybe a lap and a half all by himself (impressive). What I didn't know at the time was that Fabrice had dropped out due to a mechanical and Rand was alone up the road.

I finally heard Justin yelling that I had to GO, GET MY @$$ UP THERE! I started trading pulls again and we caught the break with only one lap to go. Ben immediately took off. Sayers, Holloway and Mattis were off the front, so that left Rand and I in the break sprinting for 5th. I was gassed from bridging and Rand was gassed from 40 laps in the break and it was all we could do to muster something that looked like a sprint. Impressive ride by Rand and Fabrice. I'm sure they'd have mixed it up except for that small mishap.

A lack of communication was responsible for leaving a lot of fresh legs back in the pack, but when you look at the caliber of the field it wasn't a total rout.

See you next year, SC Classic.

Altamont TTT Race Report

2009-04-09T13:31:00.000-07:00

Below is BP's report from the inaugural Altamont 4-man team time trial. It was a furious but fun 30+ minutes of coordinated super-threshold riding on a rolling, windy course.

Pic of the team while rotating
Official Results

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Altamont 4-Man TTT
April 4, 2009
Team: BP Buchholz, Rand Miller, Rob MacNeill and Ryan Parnes
Result: 1st Team of 4 Total Teams in P/1/2 Category and Fastest Overall Time of 15.7 mi in 32:44 at 28.78 mph.

Rand got this crazy idea to do another mini stage race last weekend, given all the good racing in the Bay Area. We started off the weekend with the 1st Annual Altamont Team Time Trial (TTT). Teams of four signed up to tackle the rolling and, obviously, windy sections of Altamont Pass Rd. To those of you who have raced Patterson Pass and Wente, I'm sure you're very familiar with the wind, rollers, etc.

The course was essentially a 7.8 mi out-and-back. The course started with a 3% roller and false flat section, followed by a steeper downhill, then some nice, swoopy flat sections and one little punchy roller before the turnaround. The main obstacle on the way back was the 4-5% hill we just descended about 2 miles from the finish.

The wind was blowing from the Southeast which made for a significant crosswind the entire race. The crosswinds seemed to pick up more on the way back which, combined with the steeper hill, meant that we needed to conserve more energy for the final climb.

We started at the base of the short hill at a tempo pace and began rotating through at 15 - 20 second intervals. We gradually picked up the pace through the descent and swoopy sections and Ryan and I stayed at the front for "maximal wind blockage." Ryan and Rob did great jobs of negotiating the flat sections and cornering to ensure that we kept the pace super high.

Into the turnaround, the main goal was to exit smoothly and pick up the pace in an organized fashion. We approached the first of some medium-sized rollers and realized that the wind was playing a larger role in slowing us down than on the 'out' section. Rand set some seriously good pacing up the rollers and kept the power to the pavement in an impressive display.

At the major climb we faltered some, with our pacing not being as smooth as it could be. This was my first time doing the TTT and I must admit that the pacelining/rotating piece is super difficult especially in the aero bars, up a hill and with a crosswind.

The descent into the finish was super fast and a little sketchy since the centerline rule was in effect and we passed another Team right at the line.

Overall, a strong Team performance and a great way to kick off the weekend of racing. I think that the Redlands racing definitely helped us fine tune our legs and we are benefiting from the fitness.

I just wanted to add that this is a really well-run event and the Organizers are super cool and motivated to do more such events. It's not everyday you get to do a TTT and I would strongly encourage more Club Members to go out and give it a try. This group is also sponsoring the Calaveras ITT on May 23.

Thanks for reading!

BP

Redlands Race Report

2009-04-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, the Webcor/Alto Velo Elite team sent a squad of 8 Cat 1's to Redlands to compete against a stacked 200 rider field of mostly domestic pros in one of the toughest races in the USA. The Redlands Classic is a 4-day NRC stage race with an opening hilly prologue, a windy road race, a 9-turn criterium, and a hilly circuit race. All tough courses! Against such a tough field, our goals were somewhat modest: we wanted to 1) gain some experience and reap some fitness from racing at a high level, 2) finish at least half our squad and 3) place Fabrice respectably in a stage or the overall. We accomplished our goals and had a great time in the process.

Our team was comprised of Ryan Parnes, Ted Huang, Rand Miller, Brian "BP" Buchholz, James Badia, Rob MacNeill, Fabrice Dubost and guest rider from Metromint Fred Stamm. Our onsite manager, DS, follow car driver, and soigneur was none other than team/club sponsor Keith Williams of Williams Cycling. Rand's girlfriend Alison also assisted with feeds, cooking, and general support for the race. We had great housing split between two hosts; big thanks to Tricia Fynewever and the Wilson Family for putting us up and for the great hospitality during our time in Redlands. All the support we had was awesome!

Below are stage reports from our best placed riders on the stage. Here's a summary of the placings:

Prologue: 76th of 194 for Parnes at 1:02 from stage winner Ben Day (Fly V Australia)
Full Results
Cyclingnews coverage of Rand Ripping the Prologue
Stage 1, Beaumont RR: 45th for Fabrice at 42 sec from stage winner Jeff Louder (BMC)
Full Results
Photo of Fabrice finishing with a bunch of pros (Note: Pat Benatar is playing in Beaumont!)
Stage 2, Redlands Crit: 30th for Fabrice at same time as stage winner Jackson Stewart (BMC)
Full Results
Photo of BP and Jamo in the crit
Stage 3, Sunset Loop Circ. Race: 26th for Fabrice (1st amateur) at 3:16 from stage winner Kyle Wamsley (Colavita)
Full Results
Overall Classification: 26th for Fabrice (2nd amateur) at 5:05 from overall winner Jeff Louder (BMC)
Full Results

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Redlands Prologue

5 short kilometers in the pain cave.

76th of 194

This course not only punished the body, but played with your mind. Aside from one short, punchy climb and quick descent the first 3.5 K were false flat with moderate wind. Then followed a right turn across a highway overpass and then a nasty, leg shredding climb. The first stretch was totally visible and cut across a hillside, then a left turn into a soul-crushing headwall. After that, only 500 meters of false flat separated us from the finish line.

Keith Williams of Williams Cycling was our DS supreme for the weekend, and he showed up before the sun to snag us a primo spot in the team area. He had two tents and a bunch of trainers set up, along with chairs, grub, coolers full of refreshing treats and an arsenal of gleaming, carbon wheels. Awesome. Truly Awesome. We warmed up in style that day.

I will never be mistaken for a climber, and pre-riding the course struck fear into my heart. Rand had ridden the course last year and warned me not to go out too hard, so I chose to reign it in until I hit the climb. After hacksawing a few inches off my clip on bars (Damn UCI Rules!) I warmed up and headed to the start area. I don't usually stand around for 15 minutes before a TT effort, but that was the order of the day. I also don't usually stand in a pen full of Professional cyclists. I can't lie, milling around in a stable full of shiny, pro legs and ridiculously expensive equipment psyched me out more than a little. I managed to make it to the start ramp and then...

BOOM. OK, not really. It was something of an anti-climax as I basically soft-pedaled the first 3.5 K. Then I hit the climb, somehow already exhausted, and the suffering began. I went too hard on the first stretch, and instead of powering over the headwall and finishing strong across the top I wrenched myself over the top, gasping for air and barely moving. I felt like I was stuck in slo-mo. I managed to somehow get the pedals moving and dragged myself over the last 500 meters to the finish, narrowly avoiding being overtaken by the Jelly Belly rider behind me.

Someday I'll get to ride a flat prologue, and then maybe I'll really have something to write about :)

Redlands is really an incredible race and I'm so happy I got to be a part of it.

-Parnes

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Stage 1: The City of Beaumont Road Race
155km, 4 laps of a 39km circuit
45th place for Fabrice

The start/finish line was located in Beaumont, the circuit was mostly flat for 20kms but with a strong tailwind at the beginning and in the face when we rode back. Then there was a 2-stage climb on a little road (2kms of climbing, then a short descent and 1km of rollers). But like for the women's race, the biggest obstacle was the wind, especially with a field composed of 200 guys ready to race.

Right after the start, the leading team, Fly V Australia, worked at the front of the pack and paced a high speed. With the wind at our backs, the speed was between 80km/h and 90km/h!!! In order to succeed in that sort of condition, we needed to be in good position all the time, and be focused on the race. There were not a lot of escapes, the wind was too strong, so the decisive moves would likely be done in the last climb for a pack of about 70 guys. I tried to stay in good position but the fight was aggressive and I was only able to stay in about 40th place before the climb. So there were gaps opening during the climb. I closed two of them but the third was too much and I finished the race in a group of 10 guys just behind the first group of 30 racers (20 seconds). The rest of team tried to fight during the race but for most of them, it was the first time racing at a such high level and in harsh conditions. Ryan finished in a group at 2min, then BP, James, Fred and Ted finished at 10min, but we lost Rand and Rob during that epic day...

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Stage 2: The City of Redlands Criterium
90 mins of a 1.61km per lap
30th place (pack) for Fabrice

After a short ride on the morning in order to warm up, we headed to downtown Redlands for the Crit. The principal difficulty for that stage was the number of riders with 160 starters!! The circuit was 1.6kms long with 9 turns, and a false flat on the start/finish line. The BMC team with their new leader, Jeff Louder, worked on the front of the pack from the beginning to the end of the race, and tried to kill all the escapes. After 15 minutes, which were very hard for me, I tried to stay in good position, staying clear of crashes. In the last five laps I tried to be in good position and rest for the final sprint but in the last lap a crash in a U-turn split the field and we caught the first group just for the last straightaway, that was it... Jakson Stewart won a second stage for BMC and Louder kept the yellow jersey. I finished in the middle of the field like Fred, James and BP. But we lost Ted, who was not really inspired by the 9 turns in a lap, and Ryan.

-------------------------------------
Stage 3: Sunset Loop Circuit Race
12 laps of 10kms in the hilly Redlands neighborhoods + some start and finishing circuits on the crit course.
Team: James, BP, Fred and Fabrice
26th place for Fabrice on the stage and overall.

That last stage is the traditional queen stage of the Redlands Classic, with 12 laps of a tough circuit only strong guys can win. As the general classification was very close (50 guys in less than 1min30) the race would be very tough to control for the leader's team. The race started with hot laps of a shortened crit course with sprint bonuses. Then it was a fast, hectic procession to the circuit loops. On the first lap, the organization put timing bonus on the KOM line. That did not help matters!!

BMC as during the crit, worked from the start of race to set a very high pace, so high that during the two first laps in the hills, the field exploded and there were only 25 guys on the front. I was pulled back to a second group. Not content with my position, after two more laps I decided to try something. I accelerated on the climb, with an idea to take with me other riders, but I was the only one crazy, yes crazy, because I finished the race like that: alone, nearly 80kms alone on such a difficult circuit was crazy. But all these efforts were not without reward, I finished the stage at an honorable 26 place, first amateur, and that set me at the same place in the general classification. For BMC, the plan was perfect, they kept the yellow jersey..

James, BP and Fred finished the stage in one of the big groups formed during the day. For an amateur team like Webcor, and for a first experience of that level for most of us, finishing the race with 4 riders was a great success!!

-Fabrice

Land Park Criterium P12 Race Report

2009-03-23T09:35:00.000-07:00

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!

W/AV Madera County Stage Race Report

2009-03-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

The Webcor/Alto Velo Elite Team raced the one and only stage race in our district this past weekend out around Madera in the Central Valley. This is usually a low-key 4-stage, 3 day race for the P/1/2. Given the proximity to other stage races on the calendar (San Dimas and Redlands), this year had a bit more competitive field than usual, including a full Bissell Pro squad with Ben Jaques-Maynes (BJM). Candelario and Zwizanski from Kelly Benefits also showed up. Adding in our 10-man team, a lot of Cal Giants and the other usual suspects the P/1/2 race was full at 71 riders.

The race starts off with a hilly 10 mile time trial on Friday. Saturday starts with another 10 mile time trial, albeit flat. Following the TT there is a 70 minute 4-corner flat crit in the afternoon. Sunday is a ~80 mile road race on flat to rolling roads, with a pretty tough finish through some roller coaster-like rollers.

The W/AV team for the race consisted of Ryan Parnes, Ryan Prsha, Neil Harrington, Billy Crane, Rob MacNeill, Peter Cazalet, Brian (BP) Buchholz, Jeff Williams, James Badia, and Fabrice Dubost. Katheryn Mattis from the women's pro team also did the men's race with us, it was great to see her holding her own with the dudes.

Below are detailed reports from the best placed rider for the respective stages.

Full Results

-----------------------------------

Stage 1: Ben Hur Hill Climb Time Trial

Result: 11th for Fabrice

The race is a 10.5 mile time trial. The first 6 miles are composed of rolling terrain, then there is a steep climb for 3 miles, then another mile or so of rolling terrain to the finish. A tough course for sure!

In order to maximize my performance in the time trial, which is not really my specialty, my equipment choice was to use a time trial bike with two deep carbon wheels. Most others made similar choices.

I tried to set a high pace for the first part but tried to keep some energy in order to brave the climb to the finish. I need to practice pacing a time trial, which is not very popular in France, because I finished nearly 3 minutes behind the winner of the day, freakishly fast BJM, at 11th place.

Thanks for reading,
Fabrice

-----------------------------------

Stage 2: Bee Keeper's Revenge Time Trial

Result: 3rd for BP, 7th for Parnes

Tailwinds are the friend of the TT

Worked into a rhythm

Bees bouncing from my legs.

Hmmmmm. Flat TT on a flat land. Tons of almond trees. Bees on the side of the road. Rode hard. Found a rhythm and got into it during the TT. Headed west and the wind started picking up. Then, the massive 2 percent hill crept up in front of me. Somehow, I managed to go over it and finish the TT. Rolled in at 3rd with Scott Z. (KBS) in 2nd and Ben JM (BISS) in 1st. Parnes did a great ride and managed to only get stung once. He rolled in at 7th place without the benefit of an aero disc. Crazy good, eh?

BP

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Stage 3: Can You Smell That Smell Criterium
Result: 4th for BP, 10th for Parnes

Great Team effort here. This race is a big oval on crummy skin-shearing pavement. One RR track to cross on the back stretch, then 400 M to the finish. The back stretch was next to some industrial factory and it smelled like, well, you know, what you don't want to smell when you are on the rivet and freakin' snotting out every facial orifice.

The race started with a barrage of attacks and the boyz managed to cover them. I think we had 5-6 guys covering stuff in the first 30 minutes of the race. I chilled out in the back thanks to all this hard work!

I think Scott Z. attacked with 13 to go and Keith Miller (Giant Berry), Ben JM, Scott Z, A/J Mendonca (Lombardi) and me all formed a little group off the front. We rotated through nicely (except for one lampre who will remain nameless) at a leisurely 48 kph (holy crap!!!) and I managed to hang in pretty well till the finale. Back in the bunch, Safeway and some other Teams were chasing and they nearly caught us with 2 to go. One Davis BC and one Safeway bridged to our move and then Safeway backed off back in the bunch, no one else chased and we were off to the finish.

I was pretty gassed at the finish but tried to get on Ben's wheel. Keith went long and managed to hold it to the finish. Overall, a great showing for the whole Team. We are knocking on the door for a big(ger) result (like Rob's 7th at Merco RR wasn't awesome enough). The guys are really riding strong and smart right now and I know we're going to kill it this year.

Thanks for all your support!!!

-----------------------------------

Stage 4: Daulton RR

Result: 5th for Parnes, 6th for BP, 9th for Fabrice, 13th for Badia

Course: 5 laps of ~16mi with a long downhill to flat highway, turning onto a road where class A truckers must practice driving with chains (in other words: bumpy), followed by 3 good sized rollers into the finish.

With no one contending for a top GC spot we decided to ride for a stage win. People did a great job of covering early attacks and Ryan Prsha rode himself into the break that stuck. The break looked good, with the big teams represented and a healthy gap so Webcor got to sit in and enjoy the ride. Alas, tragedy struck and Prsha took a spill. As soon as we saw him on the side of the road we got to the front and put in what I might describe as the prettiest chase to ever grace NorCal cycling. Every green jersey still in the pack (and that includes Kathryn!) got to the front and drove a textbook chase to cut a two and a half minute gap to nothing inside of a lap. Its hard to convey how proud I felt to be part of Webcor at that moment. I could not ask for better teammates. Big ups to Neil who turned himself inside out during the chase.

With the break dragged back into the folds things heated up again and there was a good deal of attacking during the last two laps. James, who had been gatekeeper during the chase, rode like a demon and covered pretty much every attack by himself for half a lap. Crazy. In the end it all came down to an unlikely field sprint. Rob did a strong turn to bring James up to the front, but no one team took control for a lead out and the result was some sort of slow-motion, cluster sprint of chaos. Our communication just wasn’t there and we ended up going pirate rules: every man for himself. I started my sprint from bad position, but managed to find a window and squeak through for 5^th. BP was right behind me for 6^th, Fabrice 9^th and James 13^th.

In some ways it was a frustrating finish. We clearly had the horsepower to seal the deal, but we weren’t able to organize ourselves. In other ways this was a real confidence boost. To have the team really control the race and then still have the power to pack four riders in the top 15 is a great sign. The fitness and strategy are coming around and as soon as we dial in the tactics of the last few K we’re going to start spending some quality time on the podium.

Just have to say one last time how impressed I am with the team. You guys killed it out there and I’m honored to race with you.

-Parnes

Berkeley 2-Man Team Time Trial Report

2009-03-17T09:55:00.000-07:00

The Berkeley Bike Club TTT is basically one-lap of the Berkeley Hills Road Race Course. It's a lumpy 16 or so mile loop that is pretty challenging, rhythm-wise, for a 2-man TTT. From the Webcor/Alto Velo Team, Peter and Rand entered the P12 category and scored a podium spot in 3rd. Rob MacNeill and Brian Peterson entered the 70+ combined group and also scored 3rd of 32 teams in their category. Below is Rand's report from his and Peter's race.

Official Results

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BBC TTT
Pinole, CA
03/07/09
Weather: Cold, foggy here and there, breezy
Teammate: Peter Cazalet
Placing: 3rd of ~12 teams

At the last minute, Peter Cazalet and I were able to secure ourselves a start spot in the P/1/2 BBC TTT last weekend, in spite of the fact that registration had closed days previously and the field was supposedly full. This seemed like an awesome idea at the time...

Fast forward to Saturday morning at 5am when my alarm went off, and I no longer considered it such an awesome idea. Regardless, Peter and I booked it over to the San Pablo Dam in time for 6:30am registration.

After a long warmup, I thought I was ready to go. Legs felt a bit sluggish, but I chalked that up to the early wakeup time. Peter and I lined up at the start line, ready for 40 minutes of pain.

I was not warmed up, nor was I ready for the pain. The first 5 miles of this race were miserable for me, and Peter was probably cursing his choice of partner as he had to back off over a few rollers to keep from dropping me. Ugh. I felt awful, which sucks enough when you are TT'ing alone, but feels even worse when you are letting your teammate down.

Anyway, Peter was a champ for a while, keeping the pace as high as he could until my legs finally came around as we hit the rolling false-flat back section of the course. I started feeling good and was able to start pulling through strongly.

The course is punctuated by two hills toward the end, and we kept a good steady tempo up them. Definitely not killing it, but we were turning it over pretty well. We finished with a time around 40 and a half minutes, which is respectable on that course. It was enough to put us in 3rd place in the P/1/2, but we were over a minute and a half down on the winners. Bummer.

Overall, though painful and brutal, it was a good way to start a Saturday morning. Hats off to Peter for dragging me around for a few miles while I got moving.

Rand

Race Report: Menlo Park Criterium

2009-03-10T16:34:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, the team got to stay local and raced the Menlo Park crit here on the SF Bay Peninsula. The guys rode an aggressive race against some tough competition. After his late breakaway attempt was absorbed, Fabrice was able to stay in good position and get a top-5 result for the team. Rand finished just behind for 8th. Below is Fabrice's report

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Menlo Park Criterium
3/8/09
Pro 1/2
4th of 100 (unofficial)
Teammates: Rand, James, Bo, Ryan Prsha, Mike Vella, William Dunham, Ted Burns, Tracy Colwell, sorry if I missed anybody

This criterium will be, for sure, the nearliest crit I will do. It takes place just 2 miles from where I live!!! While warming up on the Williams's Rollers (thanks again Keith) we grouped the team together in order to decide the tactics. The plan was to try to stay on the front of the pack, and send one guy in each escape.

After some laps with little attacks, a great move of 7 guys succeeded to increase a gap. Rand was in, So the rest of the team tried to control and to stay in the front. After mid race, the gap decreased surprisingly and the escape was caught few laps later. James and I tried some attacks but without success.

With 5 laps to go, Ryan Prsha made a great move at the perfect time. After one straightaway, a guy counter attacked, I jumped on his wheel, and we caught Ryan. There was a gap with the pack, so I decided to continue this move by taking the lead. In the process we lost Ryan and we were just two to conclude the 5 last laps. We stayed off the front for the next 3 laps but we were caught with 2 laps to go. I tried to stay on the front in order to help James for the final sprint. I kept Ben Jaques-Maynes' wheel on the last straight, on the right of the road, James decided to stay on the left. Then there was a crash just after James with 500 meters to go, he was alone on the left and he decided to launch his sprint from a long way, but without success. I had a perfect position in 4th or 5th but without enough gas to take the lead, so I finished in 4th place.

I was very satisfied about my race and about the team race, as the last week we were on the front from the beginning to the end of the race. The victory will arrive soon.

Thanks for reading
Fabrice

Webcor/AV Race Report: Merco Crit, Pro 1/2

2009-03-03T11:27:00.000-08:00

Along with the Merco Road Race on Sunday, a big contingent of the Webcor/Alto Velo Elite Team went out for the Merco Grand Prix criterium on Saturday. This is another well known, former NRC race that still attracts top domestic pros. This edition was no exception, which made for a fast, nervous race. Mayhem on the last couple of laps kept us out of the top-10 but we were active for the entire race and put in a good effort as a team. Below is Fabrice's report.

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Merco Crit, Pro 1/2
2/28/2009
Team mates: James Badia, Brian (BP) Buchholz, Billy Crane, Chris Crawford, Justin Farga, Neil Harrington, Bo Hebenstreit, Rob MacNeill, Rand Miller, Ryan Parnes, Ryan Prsha, Jeff Williams and Keith Williams.
Results: Fabrice--13th, James--21st of 120

The course is a totally flat, 0.8 mile lap criterium, we had 50 laps/40 miles. 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. Most of our Webcor/AV team were present and ready to fight.

First of all we were lucky because our sponsor and part time director sportif, Keith Williams, was present during the race and let us use his tent in order to warm up and to plan the team strategy; which was to race on the front of the field, cover the attacks, and if there was a sprint, put James in good positions to obtain a good result.

After a kick start done by Andy/Jesse from team Lombardy, we tried to stay on the front with Justin, Jeff, James or Rand. After 10 laps a big move of about 10 guys with BP succeeded to create a gap of about 5 seconds, but the Rock Racing team closed the gap. I tried a counter
attack but I was just followed by James Mattis from CalGiant and the professional teams caught us after 5 laps on the front. Nearly at mid-race, just on the front of the peloton there was a big crash which involved a Webcor/AV rider, Justin. Justin was taken to the hospital with a likely broken hand from hitting the metal barriers.

With 5 laps to go, I tried another attack. After one lap alone I was joined by 4 other guys, but that was not enough because we were caught at 3 laps to the end. So, I decided to keep a good position in order to help James for the final sprint. But the 2 last laps were very fast and furious. Three crashes, including one on the last lap chicane, cut the field in many pieces and I had the best placement to do the final sprint but my legs were tired and I was not able to enter in the top
10. I finished with a 13 place. Bahati and Williams went 1-2 for Rock Racing in the sprint.

Despite the number of professionals and strong teams, the Webcor/AV team was present on the front during the entire race with a very aggressive feeling, which gives us lot of confidence for good results during the new season!!

Here the report from Cyclingnews:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/road.php?id=road/2009/mar09/merco09/merco092

Thanks for reading.
Fabrice

Race Report: Merco Road Race, P12

2009-03-02T14:27:00.000-08:00

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

W/AV at Snelling Road Race

2009-02-23T15:14:00.000-08:00

The season is "officially" underway now that Snelling Road Race has come and gone. The race was fast and furious with 30+ mph average speed for 3 hours. To put that in perspective, normally our 60-90 minute crits are usually in the 27-29 mph range. This race was faster and for 2-3 times as long!

Our riders were active the entire time covering moves, chasing, and whatnot. In the end, it came down to a sprint and James negotiated what is usually a really hectic finale for a top-20 spot. From a very competitive field, three pros took the podium spots: 1st--Jackson Stewart (BMC), 2nd--Daniel Holloway (Garmin), 3rd--unknown Rock Racing rider.

Below is James' report from the race.

=======================================

Race: Snelling Road Race

Placing: Somewhere in the upper teens

Teamates: Tore, Justin, Rand, Bo, Rob, Ryan Parnes, Ryan Prsha, Neil, Peter Cazalet, Brad, Greg, Jeff, Billy, Thomas, Chris

I have always considered Snelling to be opening day for the Nor Cal road racing calendar. I know there are races earlier than Snelling, but to me this is really the true start of the season. The conditions this year were not as harsh as years past. The temperature was mild, no rain, and the wind was subtle.

There were a lot of racers on the start line with many other teams well represented. The Men's Elite team had 16 guys on the start line. Our plan was to ride the race as a team, share the load of covering attacks, and not let anything get away. In summary we achieved our goals. Most everyone on the team showed there face at the front of the race to cover some of the constant attacking that was taking place. I covered a lot of early attacks early on in the race. On the 3rd lap I was feeling good and tried an attack myself. i was quickly joined by a Cal Giant rider and one other. The peloton, quick to respond were not letting anything stay away. we were brought back in short order.

Some of the guys on the team dropped out due to lack of early season fitness and the shock of a ~31 mph average pace for the full 86 miles. Others dropped out because of flats or mechanicals. Those who dropped out went to the feedzone to help with feeding duties. (What teamwork!)

On the last lap there were only a handful of us left in the race. Rand made his way into a break that looked promising. Ryan Parnes did a great job during this time covering bridge attempts. To my surprise the break was caught just before the left turn onto the rough section.

As we entered the rough section I was sitting about mid pack. I started to move up on the left side of the road and was having a rough time as things were very chaotic, riders were dropping out constantly and balling up my attempts to move up through the pack. There was a slight diagonal head wind blowing from the right. I continued my attempts to move up but kept getting caught up in the mayhem on the rough section going into the final turn. At 1km I was probably 30th wheel and my legs felt good. The pace was blistering fast. I gained a few spots in the final turn and saw everyone in front of me starting there sprint, some guys right in front of me let a big gap open after the final turn. I went around them and closed the gap, passed a few more riders and rode in for somewhere around the teens (according to Chris Crawford).

This was a great race to "officially" start the season. It was my first race on the New Giant TCR Advanced. The bike handled perfectly. I was happy with the way the team rode the race. We were able to respond to all moves that took place. I fault myself for not getting into better position before the race turned onto the rough section.

Thanks for reading,

James

W/AV Sweeps Sierra Road KOM podium

2009-02-23T15:02:00.000-08:00

While most of the team slept in for the San Jose Crit in the afternoon, three of the team's secret climbing weapons went out for the Sierra Road KOM, which is a mass start hillclimb up Sierra Road in San Jose, which has featured in the past few Tours of California. It's a steep leg breaker that takes about 20 minutes at race pace.

Billy Crane upgraded to Cat 2 late last season so is still relatively new to the team. He's obviously a strong climber and has had a good winter of training. He won his first race of the season. Billy was followed closely by another strong up-and-comer, Jeff Williams, and by a team veteran, Ted Huang. Below is Billy's report from the race.

==============================================

2/14/09
Sierra Road KOM, P1/2
1st of several (but less than last year)
Teammates: Jeff Williams (2nd), Ted Huang (3rd)

With a full roster of the Elite team guys entered in the Webcor Criterium, Bruce asked that a few of us represent the team in the KOM. Jeff Williams and I met up at the San Jose City Hall to register and rather than roll with the excessive police escort over to Sierra, we just rolled at our own pace. This allowed for us to make a stop at my parent house near Sierra road and to swap wheels for the Williams System 38's that Rob MacNeill lent to me. These are awesome wheels! Unfortunately, I did not swap the cassette on the wheel and rolled with the 11-23 that was on there. This was a decision I would regret later.

This year, unlike last year, rather than stopping everyone at the bottom of the hill for a standing/falling start they allowed everyone to just roll across the line at their own pace and choosing. Jeff and I took advantage of this and got a decent rolling start. Given that he had the power meter out of the two of us he would set the pace on the brutal steep lower section and essentially set me up for a launching pad further up the climb. Jeff did a great job of doing this and signaled me to come around about a quarter way up the climb. We were consistently catching the guys that had started minutes ahead of us and continued to do so until there was no one left to catch. After passing Jeff I settled into an AT rythm for the final 15 minutes. Being alone in the wind was something that was near impossible for me last year, but after a winter of focusing on improving that I just found the wind to be more of an annoyance than anything. What added to the difficulty was not having any larger than a 23 for the sections that went upwards of 10% combined with the wind. I'll pay more attention to gear ratios in the future. In the end I rolled across as the first finisher and in first place with a time of 22.21.

I was gunning to beat Ted's time of 21.13 of last year. Had a few things gone better, like the wind not being a factor and choosing a better gear ratio it may have happened. That aside, I'm pumped about my form as we head into my first season with the P1/2's. With San Dimas my first target of the year I'm really pleased with how I was climbing and setting up for the hill climb TT there.

In the end we represented about as well as you could and Webcor/AV Elite guys took the top 3 spots in the KOM.

Looking forward to the rest of the season and getting it kicked off with Snelling this weekend!

Thanks
Billy

Webcor Builders San Jose Crit Race Report

2009-02-23T14:56:00.000-08:00

Below is James' report from the inaugural San Jose Classic Criterium, built by our title sponsor, Webcor! We had a pretty big team line up for this early season race. Overall, the team rode well and James finished in the top ten.

Official Results

====================================

San Jose Classic Criterium

Saturday Feb. 14, 2009

Teamates: Justin Fraga, Rob MacNeill (~20th), Ryan Prsha, Neil Harrington, Fabrice Dubost (~14th), Peter Cazalet, Brian "BP" Buchholz, Brad Goodson, Greg Gomez

Placing: 8th of 60ish

This is the first year of the San Jose Classic Criterium and my first race for 2009. The race was sponsored by Webcor Builders and put on by the city of San Jose. It was a little difficult finding registration, but once I got that sorted it was back to the car to get things sorted. I didn't have an opportunity to pre ride the course but the course map didn't look like there was anything too scary. At the start of the race the wind was blowing but the ground was dry. I still haven't gotten my new Giant TCR Advanced setup, so I was racing on my trusty steel Ritchey Breakaway.

We had our team meeting about 20 minutes before the start of the race. Director Bruce was there to call the radio information to us. The plan was to cover all attacks and if guys were feeling good to initiate their own attacks. What we didn't want to happen was to have a breakaway get away without a Webcor rider in it.

The race started out with most riders going easy on the first lap to get a feel for the course. The Webcor/AV team did a great job at the beginning of the race covering attacks and initiating some of their own. I stayed near the front for most of the race following some chase attempts. Brian Buchholz launched a very strong attack but unfortunately had a mishap and went down in the 180.

At about 40 minutes into the race I had a flat, I rolled to the pit and luckily Neil was nearby to give me the wheel off of his bike, since BP had already used my rear wheel from the pit. When I got back into the race there was a break of 4 off the front, there were no Webcor/AV riders in it. Bruce called on the radio for the Webcor/AV team to go to the front and bring the break back. It took a little while but eventually the guys organized at the front and put in some strong chase efforts to bring the gap down significantly, but were never successful in bringing back the group of 4, which included Jackson Stewart (BMC), Scott Z (Kelly), Justin England (Cal Giant), and Jesse Moore (Cal Giant).

With about 5 laps to go we still hadn't caught the break, I was sitting in good position when I got squeezed into the wall by Dave McCook. I lost a bunch of spots and found myself somewhere near the back. Feeling lucky to still be in the race I regrouped and started finding my way back toward the front. Thanks to Peter Cazalet for helping me move up during this time. At about 2 to go I still was pretty far back, somewhere around 20th (in the field) with the break of 4 still away it looked like we were sprinting for 5th place. When I heard the bell I was sitting around 15th. I put in a large effort on the straightaway opposite the finish line and moved into the the top 10. Guys started sprinting out of the 1st left hand sweeper turn and all the way down the long straightaway, I managed to pass a few people going into the last left hand sweeper turn. I came out of this turn in 4th and tried to go up the inside on the final turn but got squeezed. I stayed in 4th to the line which was good for 8th place overall.

Fabrice rolled in a few spots behind me with Rob close behind him.

Personally I felt great during the race. I never felt like I was in the red zone the entire race. The team rode well today, but could have ridden the race better. I think everyone learned a lot and we had a decent discussion at our post race team meeting. I am sure we will do more post race discussion this week via email. Our team has a lot of depth this year, guys are still getting to know each other and finding their race legs. When everything clicks, and it will happen, this team is sure to produce some great results in 2009.

Thanks to the City of San Jose for a great course and event. Thanks to Webcor Builders and other sponsors for allowing the race to happen. Thanks to Director Bruce for radio support. Finally, thanks to www.WilliamsCycling.com . This was my first race on the new System 38 carbon clinchers, the wheels performed superbly, they were plenty stiff and inspired confidence in the corners.

Thanks for reading,
James Badia

First Race Report of the Season: Cal Aggie Crit

2009-02-02T09:50:00.000-08:00

Rand Miller and new W/AV rider for '09 Justin Fraga kicked off the season at Cal Aggie Crit. Both riders were aggressive and netted places in the top-10. Below is Rand's report.

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Cal Aggie Crit
Sacramento, CA
1/31/09
Weather: Warm, sunny, still
Teammates: Justin Fraga
Placing: 4th of ~70 (Justin was 7th)

Justin and I, eager to get racing season underway, made the short trip out to Sacramento for the Cal Aggie crit. This race is run on the same course as the Land Park Crit later in the year. The long, winding, undulating course is punctuated by two sets of sharp chicanes...some of the most fun cornering all year.

Justin and I didn't discuss tactics before the race, but we both knew what we were going to do all day: attack. It's what we do.

Justin went in a few early moves, which I countered as they were brought back. Nothing gained much ground, but at least Justin and I were present in any moves that went up the road.

About halfway through the race, I went off the front, joined by JD Bergman (Clif Bar). We stayed away with a 30 second lead all the way to about 4 laps to go. As soon as I was brought back into the fold, I saw a streak of green flying off the front. Justin was at it again, this time with a Davis kid.

These two got a good gap, and I tucked into the front of the pack, marking CalGiant sprinter Pat Briggs. If Justin stayed away, great. If not, I was ready for the bunch sprint.

With only about 300m left, Justin's break was still a few seconds up the road. I could see the Davis kid pulling ahead of Justin as they pushed to the line, and that's when we started our sprint. The break looked like it was standing still as we hurtled toward them...but it was going to be close.

The super-strong Davis kid held us all off, winning the race...he deserved it. Justin was caught by the bunch sprint with about 10m to go. Briggs took the tight sprint for 2nd, followed by a Clif Bar rider and myself, putting me in 4th.

Justin held on for 7th, which shows how close he was to the line when we came flying by.

Our timing was off by just a few seconds...but still, it was a great race and we worked very well together in our first race as teammates. Looking forward to the rest of the season!

Thanks for reading,
Rand

2008-12-22T09:39:00.000-08:00

2008-12-22T09:36:00.000-08:00

2008-12-22T09:33:00.001-08:00

Elite team San Francisco Training ride

2008-12-22T09:21:00.000-08:00

I decided to rally the troops this weekend and head up to the city. Our team ride left from the Sport's Basement Sat. morning, our resident North Bay experts Rand and Justin had a great route picked out for us. It was a cold but beautiful day. There were 8 of us. Total ride distance ~82 miles, it took us 4 hours. I especially enjoyed watching Rand ride Tore's bike. Afterward's Rand described the experience as "Riding a but ramming machine". I think if Rand got crouched down small enough he could fit inside the Fr. triangle of Tore's bike.

Fabrice rides the Vuelta a Mexico

2008-10-02T10:48:00.000-07:00

Fabrice was invited to ride on a composite team in the Vuelta a Mexico last month. The race consisted of 8 stages in 8 days and was very mountainous. Fabrice did an outstanding job of riding with the best of an international, very competitive field. Below is his report of the action.

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Vuelta of Mexico
UCI Cat 2.2
Professional
from 9/13/08 to 9/20/08
Result: 48th overall of 160

http://www.vueltamexico-telmex.com.mx/

First of all, thanks to the team and to Director Bruce Wilford to let me go to ride that race under the color of another team. I was invited to race with the composite Leopard-Dr. Pad Team. Also, thanks to Bill Salefski for lending me his bike case.

This race is a part of the UCI America Tour, it is a cat 2.2 so it is open to all teams. This year 10 amateur teams and 10 professional teams entered including Scott-American Beef (formerly Saunier Duval), Cinelli team, and Team Type 1.

Stage 1: Aguascalientes-San Luís Potosí 193.7 Km
The first stage is always peculiar, everybody is nervous and there are a lot of crashes, and that was the same thing here in Mexico. An escape of about 5 guys was off the front during the entire race and the pack arrived just 1 min after the escape. For me the end of the race was not as I expected. I had a puncture just 20 km from the end just when the Scott team worked on the front of the main field to reduce the gap. As we were not a complete team we had the last car in
the caravan and I had to wait a long time!! That resulted in a 6 min loss for me!!!!

Stage 2: San Luís Potosí-León GTO 197.2 Km
The start of the race was done just at the beginning of a 15km climb. At the king of mountain we were just 30 guys in the main field and just 30 other guys succeeded to catch us, the other pack finished the race at 30min. I tried to stay in good position for the final sprint but the finish line was after 5km of crazy descent in downtown so I preferred to stay safe by finishing that stage easily!!

Stage 3: León GTO-Guadalajara 228.6 Km
This stage was the longest stage, and it started badly for me by a crash during the start!! And that bad luck continued by a puncture at mid race. The end of the race was very crazy, a storm appeared just before 10 km to the finish, and the finish line was again after 5km of decent in downtown!!! I managed to stay with the first pack but there were again lots of crashes, so I preferred as yesterday to finish the race safely...

Stage 4: Circuito Guadalajara 79.2 Km
That stage was unique because it was a criterium. We started under the sun but after 10 laps another storm appeared and caused lots of crashes, the road was like an ice rink. So all the professional riders decided to stop the race, so all the pack was stopped and the race restarted but with just 5 laps remaining and just for the courageous or crazy riders, so without me!!! Restarting was done just to name a winner, it had no bearing on the GC.

Stage 5: Zamora-Morelia 146.3 Km
After a transfer by bus during 3 hours we arrived to the start line in the mountains because the 4th last stages contained big climbs. I felt better than the first stages, maybe the altitude, so I decided to do the race in the front. So in the first climb I tried some attacks but without success!! We arrived 50 guys for the victory, and I finished 24th in a crazy sprint again!!!

Stage 6: Morelia-Zitacuaro 150 Km
The queen stage with 3 climbs, and one over 2800 meters. Like the day before I tried to be on the front but there were a lot of guys within a few seconds on the GC, so the leader's team didn't allow for an escape. On the big climb of the day, the war was launched!!! All the Scott guys attacked one by one. But the leader (Chadwick, Team Type 1) and his team managed to respond to all these attacks!! At the summit we were just 20 guys on the front after a crazy climb!! During the rest of the stage the team leader controlled the pack and we finished the stage by a sprint of about 50 guys, I tried to participate but a crash at 500 meters from the finish line stopped me!!

Stage 7: Zitacuaro-Toluca 91.2 Km
Again a mountain stage, and one of the last occasions for the leaders to dispute the GC. We started just on the beginning of an enormous climb, 28kms!! At the start, I was not really in good position and there were lots of attacks, which put me in the second group. My group contained some leaders in the GC, so we caught the first group just 20km before the finish line. I finished in the middle of the group, I think that I began to get tired!!

Stage 8: Toluca-Zona Metropolitana 52.9 Km
Last chance for the leaders to win that race. An enormous climb, over 3000 meters, again at the middle of the stage was on our program!! I was very tired this day, my heart didn't want to climb that final mountain. I managed to stay with a second group at 1min from the leaders and I finished the stage in this position.

So after 8 stages I finished the race in 48th position just 8 minutes behind Glenn Chadwick the winner of the race. If the puncture hadn't occurred on the first stage, I should have finished the race at only 2 minutes. That would be near the top-20!!! The race was a great experience for me, in a new country with new people!!

Thanks for reading
Fabrice

Henleyville Road Race Report

2008-09-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

Rand and Chris raced Henleyville RR up near Chico on Saturday. Rand finished 2nd, barely missing the win to cap off a great season for him. Below is Rand's report.

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Henleyville RR
Nowhere, Northern California
9/20/08
Weather: Cool, clear, windy
Teammates: Chris Crawford
Placing: 2nd of 15

This is the flattest RR I have ever done. McLane/Merco RR is a mountain stage compared to Henleyville. The course is basically an 18-mile 4-corner crit. I loved it.

We did 4 laps for roughly 72 miles, combined with the cat 3's since both fields were small.

The first lap consisted of a single Chico Corsa rider solo off the front, with our very own Chris Crawford setting the pace on the field to keep the guy in sight. It was fun to have that chico guy up there slaying himself, while Chris calmly dragged the field around at the same exact speed with no perceived exertion.

The second lap had a few flurries of attacks, some of which I instigated, but nothing was sticking. The P/1/2's were all watching each other, and the 3's were happy following their wheels. This led to boring racing.

Starting the 3rd lap, Eric Riggs (Lombardi, last year's winner) attacked. He got a reasonable gap solo, so a few of us P/1/2's waited patiently. I then attacked as hard as I could and bridged up to Eric, bringing one or two guys with me.

Long story short, after a few miles we had a break of 5, all P/1/2's, composed of myself, Eric Riggs, Mike Cordova (Chico Corsa), Kevin King (Wells Fargo), and a UC Berkeley guy who is really strong but I dont recall his name. Chris Turner (Above Category) bridged up solo a bit
later.

I really wanted the break to stick, so I drove the pace hard. A couple of the other guys worked really well with me, but Riggs more or less sat on the back and skipped pulls. He seemed to be hurting, and was actually bleeding from the face from time to time. Literally.

The 36-mile breakaway succeeded and we stayed away. Coming into the finish, I felt confident in my sprint and thought I had the win. Overconfidence sucks. I got beat at the line by Riggs. He has a good sprint and I knew it, but I thought he was hurting during the race. Apparently he was faking it.

So, I botched a really good shot at a win. That seems to be my signature move this year. Got 2nd place. Chris Turner was 3rd (this guy went on to solo to victory in the Chico crit the next day... great riding by him).

Anyway, this will be my last report of the season. Thanks to everyone in the entire Alto-Velo organization and all of our sponsors for supporting the P/1/2 team this year. Without your support, I would not have been able to race successfully this year. Congratulations to all the AV racers in every category... the club seems to have had a very prolific season overall. Finally, good luck to all of you crazy people racing 'cross, track, Mt. Tam hillclimb, etc.

Thanks again,
Rand

Race Report: SF Twilight Criterium Men's Pro 1/2

2008-09-23T17:02:00.000-07:00

The team did another big nighttime criterium on September 13th. This was part of a national criterium series which is hotly contested by some of the best crit riders in the country. This edition of the series was in our own backyard: San Francisco and the title sponsor was our very own Webcor Builders!

James tried to end his season early but we talked him into one more race before winter hybernation. It was a good thing we did because chaos and bad luck toward the finish left James as our closer. He sprinted in for a respectable 20th place. Below is his report.

Results can be found here

Some action shots from the race:
James leading through the bottom corner
Rand at speed
Ryan attacking
Rob on the front

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Race: 1st ever SF Twilight Criterium

Category: Men's Pro 1/2

Teammates: Rob (47th), Rand (60th), Jono, Ryan, Neil

Placing: 20th of 100+

This race was AWESOME in so many ways. The promoter, Project Sport, did a stellar job hyping up this race and making it a premier event. The promoter has plans to make a Triple crown series for 2009 with San Rafael, San Francisco, and Sacramento being the venues. The course was a rectangle with the S/F line at the highest point on the course in the middle of one of the long straightaways. This race started at 8pm so it was dark and chilly at the start line. There were generator spot lights on the corners and at the finish. Transitioning from dark to bright multiple times per lap made visibility somewhat of a challenge, especially when your lenses start to fog up.

Having started my season on Feb. 2nd this year I was burned out after the Giro. Then I tried the points race at Master's track Nationals, and the 100 degree heat took even more out of me. So, 6 days before the SF twilight race I phoned Director Bruce and let him know I was not planning to race due to fatigue and burnout. Bruce told me to wait a few days and see how I felt and we would revisit it then. Well, by Wednesday I was feeling better and told Bruce I was going to race. I am glad I decided to race because the SF race was huge fun.

Now, on to the race. Thanks to Webcor and Andy Ball being the title sponsor of the event, the entire team was able to line up near the front of the pack. This proved valuable as the race exploded from the gun. With the high speed and lots of guys trying to figure out the 40mph right hander at the bottom of the course, there were lots of small gaps opening up throughout the pack and it was difficult to maintain position. Lots of attacks started to go early, with the Webcor team trying their best to practice patience. After about 10 minutes a small group got a decent gap. Bruce radioed to Rob and I that we needed to close it. I immediately went to the front and tried my best to bring it back. After spending an entire lap at the front I was done and ready to drop out of the race. I drifted back toward the back of the pack and was hurting really bad. After a few laps I started feeling better and working my way back up through the pack when I got caught behind a crash out of turn 3. I ran into the guy in front of me and came to a stop. A big group rolled around to the S/F for the free lap where they threw us back in the race.

Ryan, Rob, and Rand were all near the front for a good portion of the race. Rob put in some monster efforts chasing down attacks. Throughout the race small attacks were going off but would all eventually come back. Rand did his best to bridge up to some of these attacks, but again most of them ended up coming back. Ryan proved his worthiness throughout the entire race, he maintained position well and did some great turns on the front.

I put in a 2nd effort dangling off the front later in the race when I was trying to bridge up to a small breakaway. I wasn't able to bridge due to lack of fitness and again went straight to the back feeling like I was ready to drop out of the race. I pedaled a few laps near the back of the group and started feeling better again so I started moving up. That is when I heard a huge tire blowout and soon realized it was my rear tire. This happened on the bottom of the course so I rolled around on the tubular tire to the SRAM neutral support where I got a new wheel. I was put back in the race with about 20 min. to go. The pace was still high.

Inside 20 min. to go I don't remember much other than I was ready to be finished with this race. I do recall Rob and Ryan both putting some big efforts on the front to bring back breakaways. Inside 5 to go I was behind Rand when he got tangled up with some riders briefly where no one went down. He then had a loud noise coming from his bike. Not knowing what it was exactly he radioed to the team that something was wrong with his bike and he wouldn't be contesting the finish. At that time Bruce came on the radio telling me it was my time to go for the finish. I wasn't feeling very good at that point but I started moving up as best I could.

At the bell lap I was somewhere around 30th place and Ryan was just in front of me. We both moved up on the back side of the course and came out of the last turn in about 15th place when we started our sprint. Ryan went up the outside and was accelerating quickly when another rider ran him wide and he hit the fence launching him and his bike into the air. I hit the brakes and moved right to avoid the flying objects. Then I continued to sprint passing a few people and rolled in for 20th place. I rolled around to where Ryan had crashed and found him lying on the ground. He looked pretty bad but he was talking. His face was very bloody. The medics checked him out and the team showed up soon after to give him support. In the end Ryan walked away with only scrapes and bruises.

It turned out Rand's front wheel was hitting his fork, in addition his rear wheel came half way out of the rear dropout.

I was happy with 20th considering my current fitness level. Now, if only this race were in June, I would be writing a different report.

Thanks to the team--both those who raced and those who didn't but showed up anyway to give us 6 guys the support.

It has been a breakthrough season for the P1/2 team. I can't wait for 2009.

Some photos of the race can be found at www.webcorelitecycling.blogspot.com

Thanks for reading,

James

Chico Downtown Crit Race Report

2008-09-23T16:54:00.000-07:00

Race: Chico Downtown Crit
Date: 21 Sep 2008
Category: Pro 1/2/3
Duration: 60 minutes
Result: 10th on 40-50 riders
Teammates: Billy Crane (Cat 2 debut!), Chris Crawford, Jan Diemont, Rand Miller, Bob Parker.

A few of us in the team headed up to Chico for some late season racing. Rand and Chris did the Henleyville RR the day prior and Billy and I headed up just for the crit. Billy recently upgraded from Cat 3 to 2 and wanted to get a race in the higher category before the off season. I was there because I like crits and I'm not burned out yet :) When we got there Jan had showed up as well and Bob Parker had entered our last race of the day after doing the 35+ 123 race a bit earlier.

This race was in downtown Chico, consisting of 6-corners (5 lefts, 1 right) in a loop that was taking us on the order of 90 seconds to lap. So, the corners came in fairly rapid succession, which made for a somewhat technical course. Pavement was the usual downtown stuff with transitions, bumps, and potholes here and there, but not too bad overall. A few of the corners had curbs that tapered down to street level, making it possible to really cut the corners if need be. I did that on several occasions!

Rand was jonzin to get his freak on so I wanted to help set him up for some strong attacks. So, I mostly covered attacks with less threatening guys and helped chase a move or two that we had missed. Chris helped keep things in check throughout the race and was riding well. Billy was a bit shocked by the speed in the first half of the race and eventually pulled out. It's hard to describe to the new guys how hard or different the races are than 3's crits. The P12 races are usually crazy-fast for 10-20 minutes before they sort of settle into a slightly more sustainable pace. Usually if one can hang on for that first fast interval, they can go the distance. Getting used to the pace is the biggest challenge for recent upgrades. Riding efficiently instead of on brute force is probably the biggest key to success that really only comes with experience. It sounded like Billy almost made it over the hump, so he shouldn't be upset; he'll get the hang of it and we expect him to be tearing up the RR's in '09. From what I recall, Jan was pack surfing and waiting for the sprint finish. Bob was staying in good position near the front and riding well throughout the race.

So, our team was active for the entire race and was represented in most of the moves but the speed of the pack wasn't letting breakaways get much distance at all. We were still trying to get some separation late into the race. Rand and I were up near the front attacking within 10 laps to go. Chris was up there helping with the pace as well. After one of my efforts, I drifted toward the back while recovering (Bob helped me eventually get back in and toward the front--thanks!) and I noticed Rand was gone. This was with about 5 laps to go. It turned out that Rand got a flat with 6 to go and free laps ended at 8, bummer! Anyhow, it was looking like it would be a pack finish so I tried to suck it up and prepare for a sprint. My efforts from earlier had taken a bit off my top end at this point but I did what I could. I think with 2 to go I was at the back then the pack slowed and I was able to move up to about 3rd wheel, which was good. As the pace increased in the final 2 laps, I was suffering pretty badly but tried to hang in there. On the last lap, a couple riders surged, including Mike Sayers of BMC (his last race as a Pro?), and I wasn't able to latch on. Somewhere in the chaos, one rider, Chris Turner, had gotten off the front late in the race and was able to stay off for the win, very impressive. So Sayers finished 2nd and JD Bergman (BPG) finished 3rd just in front of a charging pack. I actually had a good sprint after losing position and came around several guys for 10th place (in the money--woo hoo!). Jan sprinted in a few spots ahead of me, though I'm not exactly sure where.

It was a fun race, I'd definitely recommend it and I'd do it again, even with the long drive.

Even with some bad luck losing Rand in the closing laps, we put 2 guys in the top-10, not bad. Our guys rode well, some of whom finished off the season with Chico Crit (myself included). We've had a great year in the Elite Team--our best yet--and I'm already looking forward to 2009.

Thanks for reading,
Rob MacNeill

Another Win! P/1/2 Folsom ITT Race Report

2008-09-16T11:01:00.000-07:00

Rand scored his first win of the season after being oh-so-close on many occasions. Congratulations to Rand on a great ride. Below is his report from the Folsom TT.

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Folsom South Canal ITT
Folsom, CA
9/12/2008
Weather: windy, hot
Place: 1st of ~15

In order to get my legs primed for the crazy SF Twilight crit on Saturday, I snuck out of work on Friday to go race the first stage of the Folsom Omnium, a 10-mile out and back ITT along a canal in Folsom.

This is definitely my new favorite ITT course...not hard to do, since ITT courses are pretty much always flat and straight, but still worth noting. The course was run on a bike path at the bottom of an irrigation canal, so the majority of the path is below ground level. This lends a "wind tunnel" quality to the course and led to a stiff headwind on the way out. Finally, the course is punctuated by three steep, short climbs (probably about 30 feet high, 15% grade or something), which required a quick burst of power to get up and some serious willpower to accelerate over the top. They felt like speedbumps on the way out, and like the Galibier on the way home.

My start time was around 4pm, so I knew it was going to be really hot. I wanted to make sure I stayed hydrated and cool so I brought a huge bag of ice, and stuffed it into my skinsuit as I warmed up. This enabled me to perform a very good leg warmup without overheating my body (this is a trick Garmin-Chipotle has been doing this year), and kept my core temperature way down all the way until the start.

I started the TT pretty quickly, and pushed to the limit early on. I tried to keep the cadence high over the climbs, and it allowed me to quickly ramp back up to speed over the crests. I caught my 30-second man right at the turnaround after fighting the headwind, then stuck it in an overly large gear and used the tailwind to keep the speed high. On the way back, it was all I could do to keep from stalling at the tops of the climbs. I definitely wish I had a little more in the tank for accelerating down the back of the hills on the way back, because I definitely lost some time there. Anyway, a brutal push through the flat last 1k got me to the line in 21:15, at an average speed of 28.23mph.

That was enough to give me the victory, and the next few placings were something like 10-15 seconds back.

Finally, I got the ever-elusive win, and although its not nearly as sexy as a mass-start win, I'll take what I can get!

Thanks for reading,
Rand

Race Report: Benicia Crit P1/2

2008-09-11T15:16:00.000-07:00

A big contingent of the W/AV Elite Team was at Benicia Crit this past weekend. We rode well as a team with a lot of the guys in the mix getting in breakaways. Fabrice did his standard go off the front for the last 10 laps but got caught with the finish in sight. It was heartbreaking for him, but he still finished 5th, a nice result. Below is his report.

Full results

Normally Fabrice would post the report but he was rushing out for the Tour of Mexico so I'm filing this report on his behalf. Wish him luck down there!

-Rob

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Race: Benicia Crit
Date: 9/7/08
Category: Pro 1/2
Distance: 60 minutes
Result: 5th on 70 riders
Teammates: Jono Coulter, Chris Crawford, Jan Diemont, Bo Hebenstreit, Rob MacNeill, Rand Miller, Ryan Prsha (10th), Graham Simpson

Benicia is a 4-corner criterium, a long rectangle approximately of 1.5 miles. It's flat from the start to turn 1, slightly uphill to turn 2, two big-ring rollers on the backside to turn 3, downhill with a slight rise into turn 4, and then slightly down hill to flat through the finish. There was a headwind on the finishing straight and a tailwind on the roller section.

The start was done with an a aggressive move from the Webcor guys. Rand and Rob were on the front in an escape of 5 guys during 5 laps. Then Rand, always in the move, attacked again with Ryan, they were 10 guys with a 10 seconds gap but after some laps the pack caught them. At this moment I moved from the pack with a Rock Racing rider. After two laps at high speed, we were 6 on the front with a little gap, but some laps after a counter attack from the pack caught us. As the harmony of the group was not good I decided to attack with about 20 minutes left in the race. I managed to increase the gap and during 10 laps I kept my advantage. With 3 laps before the end I was caught by a CalGiant racer. In the 3 last laps our advantage was only between 5 and 10 seconds. During the last lap, the CalGiant sat on and left me to do the work. In the last straight, he launched the sprint and I was not able to beat him. And to top it off, I was caught by the beginning of the pack at the line and I finished 5th. Very disappointed!!!!

Still, it was a good race for the team. Ryan finished from the pack with a nice 10th place after a dodgy finish with big crash at the start of the last lap.

Thanks for reading,
Fabrice

Giro di San Francisco Race Report

2008-09-08T09:58:00.000-07:00

Giro di San Francisco
San Francisco, CA
9/1/2008
Weather: Sunny, warm, windy
Teammates: Fabrice Dubost, James Badia, Rob MacNeill, Jono Coulter,
Neil Harrington, Brad Goodson, Jan Diemont, Graham Simpson, Aroussen
Laflamme, Ryan Prsha
Finish: 10th of ~150

Downtown criteriums are cool...but downtown big-city criteriums are even better. Especially when you live a 10-minute bike ride from the course!

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 150 man field, and you have the makings of a very hard race.

The team plan for the race: stay up front, be represented in moves, and try and get Fabrice and I into the top 10, if possible. I started on the front row, so as to avoid being caught up behind crashes and caught out of breakaways on the technical circuit.

The race started very fast (and stayed that way, naturally), and Fabrice, Rob, Jono, James and I took turns at the front getting in moves. Everyone on the squad rode strong, and I saw most of them up at the front at one time or another.

There were a few promising moves that contained both Fabrice and I, but it was too early in the race and they came back, in spite of having all major teams represented. Finally, near the last 1/4 of the race, Fabrice made it into a strong move of 6, but 3 of them were CalGiant riders who attacked and counterattacked the break and eventually ripped it apart.

Somewhere along the way, whether it was attacking out of that original break or counterattacking right as they were caught, Eric Wohlberg and Andy Jacques-Maynes escaped off the front and they were not to be caught. The rest of the break ultimately came back to the field in the closing laps. Fabrice rode super-strong and I was bummed that he couldn't stay away.

I held position as best as possible, and attempted to finish well in the bunch sprint for 3rd. Andy J-M won the race, Wohlberg finished 2nd, and Holloway won the pack sprint. I came through in 10th place...not quite the finish the team was hoping for, but not terrible. Got a T-shirt, which is worth a lot to us poor graduate students! Fabrice rolled through in 12th or 13th.

Overall, I was happy with how the whole team rode, and we came pretty close to achieving our goals.

Thanks for reading,
Rand

Dunnigan Hills RR Report

2008-09-07T09:58:00.001-07:00

Fabrice scored another top-10 at what sounded like a really tough, windy edition of Dunnigan Hills Road Race. Below is his report.

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Dunnigan Hills Road Race
Dunningan, CA
8/31/2008
Weather: Sunny, windy
Teammates: James Badia, Jono Coulter, Jeff Williams, Dominic Giampaolo, Bo Hebenstreit, Neil Harrington,
Finish: 6th of ~70

The race encompasses two big 42 mile loops, without any climbs (there are a few small rollers), just long straight roads. The only one difficulty was the wind because there was no wind shelter.

The start was done again at 8h00am, on the part of the circuit where everyone were getting hit by the wind from the right. The best thing to do in that case is to have a good placement in the pack. But the speed was very high from the start due to an early attack from two professionals, Eric Wohlberg and D. Holloway. But we caught them a few miles later. In order to be on the front of the pack, I managed to pass some guys but briefly had to cross the middle of the road (slightly illegal since the centerline rule was in effect). An official told me to go to the back of the pack. It was a very bad moment to do so because of the speed was high. But I had no choice, so I dropped back. At that moment, Eric Wolhberg attacked with a Calgiant guy (Jesse Moore), and they increased a big gap. Then nobody wanted to take the pursuit, so the gap increased and increased again. Just before the end of the first lap, there were two big crashes due to potholes in the road... but fortunately without Webcor guys.

The second lap was same as the first one, no team wanted to catch the escape... The race was therefore won by the two guys (the Calgiant guy respected Eric's strong work and Eric Wolhberg won). In the pack, there were some attacks for the third place. I managed to be in one of them and finished in a group of three for sixth place.

Thanks for reading,
Fabrice

Challenge RR Report

2008-09-07T09:58:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick one from Bo, demonstrating that if one hangs in there, success is possible!

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Challenge Road Race
Challenge, CA
8/30/2008
Weather: Sunny, HOT!
Teammates: None
Finish: 8th of 12

The race was shortened to 66 miles from 99 at the start line. I got shelled off at mile 15 with one other dude. The other dude quit. Two riders got DQed for taking a wrong road. One other rider quit after I was dropped.

So if the two riders did not quit and two riders did not get lost I would have been 12th of 12, not a good race for me.

After I got dropped I rode at a nice easy pace and enjoyed the scenery.

At least I got some BAT points in the end.

Thanks for reading, Bo

University Road Race Report

2008-08-27T15:55:00.000-07:00

Fabrice raced solo at University Road Race this past Sunday. The relentless up, down, & repeat course is known to favor the strong and cripple the weak. Being a strongman, Fabrice naturally did well, netting a great 4th place. Below is his report from the day.

-----------------------------------------------------
Event: University (Santa Cruz) Road Race, Pro 1/2
Date: 8/24/2008
Result: 4th of 40 (To verify)
Team: Me

Course: 20 laps of the 3-mile 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:
The start was at 8:00am.

CalGiant had a full team there, maybe 8-10 guys, Tony Cruz and Jackson Stewart from BMC and two guys from the Jittery Joes Pro Cycling team, including Neil Shirley.

During the first laps there were not a lot of attacks.

Then the CalGiants tried to put one guy in a break but without a good result, the gap didn't exceed 20 seconds.

During lap 11, Greg Remaly, the guy I beat last week, attacked then caught and dropped a CalGiant guy and went alone for a long ride...

In main field, my tactic was to wait as long as possible possible to do big efforts because during that week I felt a little bit tired.

During the next 5 laps there were some accelerations from Jackson and Tony Cruz, which dropped some guys from the main field. But these acceleration were not enough to catch the leader. During lap 15, one guy from Davis attacked and went alone, he got a comfortable gap from the main field and was gaining on the leader. During lap 17, Neil Shirley made a strong attack and I remained the only one to keep his wheel. In one lap we caught a CalGiant guy who was dropped by the Davis guy, and we were within 20 seconds from the leader, because the Davis guy caught the courageous Greg. In the last lap the Davis guy dropped Greg and went alone for the victory. In my group we tried to closed the gap, but without success. During the climb I was dropped from Neil Shirley's wheel and we finished the race one by one. The Davis guy won the race, Neil Shirley caught Greg just before the finish line and I finished just after Greg with a nice 4th place.

That result put me at third place in the ongoing Cal Cup classification. That's a nice place before the last weekend of the Cal Cup.

Thanks for reading,
Fabrice

Race Report: San Ardo RR

2008-08-27T15:29:00.000-07:00

Jono and the gang went out for another Cal Cup race this past weekend. This road race was in the flat-ish farmlands of San Ardo, which is south of King City and seemingly straight outta Steinbeck's East of Eden.

Below is Jono's report from what sounded like a tougher than normal edition of San Ardo Road Race.

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23 August 2008
San Ardo RR Pacific Bank Cal Cup
86miles
Webcor AV Team: Jono Coulter, Bo Hebenstreit, Graham Simpson, Jeff Williams, Ryan Prsha, Neil Harrington, Brad Goodson
Ken Hanson (Cal Giant) 1st
Neil Shirley (Jittery Joes) 2nd
Jono Coulter (Webcor AV) 18th
Bo Hebenstreit (Webcor AV) Top 30
Graham Simpson (Webcor AV) top 30 from 75

San Ardo is a quaint farming and used car parts town only a few hours drive south of San Jose and only a few hours from the beach or creeks. A nice place for several hundred cyclists to converge for another day of Cal Cup smackdown. Compared to a lot of Nor Cal grovel fests, San Ardo only has a few shallow gradients to punctuate a flat and fast course.

The day before the race all our guys received valuable advice from James Badia, Rob Macneill and Bruce Wilford about the particulars of the course, as these guys had done well here in previous years. Also, without them and other high performers like Fabrice and Rand i told the lads that i was going to back myself for the finale if they could make sure the field was kept tight.

The race line up was pretty spectacular with strong teams from Cal Giant, McGuire, Lombardi and Z Team as well as Pros Antonio Cruz (BMC), Neil Shirley (Jittery Joes) Kevin Klein (Rock Racing) Chris Jones (Type 1) Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics) and Eric bennett (Successful Living).

True to form though our guys got straight into the mix and with several attacks going from the first lap we always had someone in there. Notably, Bo and Jeff patrolled the front end vigourously while Ryan got into a promising breakaway with one from each major team that lasted 20 miles. Strong stuff. Meanwhile Graham and Neil-HDogg were looking after me and laying down raps and Brad was mega strong and looking like a sneaky russian until he flats without a support car. Bummer!

Coming into the 3rd lap Jeff was in a move and the pros started to force the pace through the feed. Unfortunately for Jeff we catch his group at the wrong time. Not being very confident of my climbing lately i planted myself in the top 5 guys and tried to hold on as Cruz and Shirley began to light up the proceedings. 2kms later we crested the relatively minor peak and there was 15 of us. Game on. the next 15 kms was full on and small groups were tacking back on to the selection between the undulations but after the group swelled to 35 i was worried as no more go greens had made it back. I dangled at the back looking over my shoulder to see Bo and Graham fighting deperately to get back on only 300 metres behind and i really believed they would get there but alas it was not to be.

Like any race where pros get a sniff at the win the race gets faster and faster as the miles tick away and the third time up the ramp on the back stretch i had to go with the front move, seriously we were single file at 51-56kph for nearly 20 minutes just railing the gutter. Racing you know it!!

Lap 4 was more gutter action and i was torn between following EVERYTHING because no one was going to help out should the final selection occur but my gut instinct told me it there were too many interests at stake and the race would stay together. So i spent half the time jumping on stuff and half the time last wheel as the front group dwindled to 25. There was basically no difference between either role it was all 50kph shoot em up nuclear dogfight with mega rocket cannons and i had a pocketknife.

Also i realise at this time that i am a smart and happy bike racer that likes to follow promising moves not (name witheld) from Z Team who BURIES himself for miles on end foaming at the mouth to make sure the pace doesnt drop below 51kph in the cross wind. Where do these ANIMALS come from!?!??!!??!.

5km from the finish knowing that i am not the calibre of maybe half the guys in the front group i laid a conservative plan to drill it up the last climb and hit the final bend in top ten and sprint from there. Rob macneill had explained that the winner would come from the top three around that corner- i didnt really back myself against a USCF Elite winning train from last weekend Cal Giant including the stars and stripes Ken hanson, plus the 8 pros in the race and other multi rider lead outs. But i did think i would have enough powerclimb kick to move from 19th to tenth in the final 500 metres and then hold it for 150.

So 500 to go i gave it the most shove and stick i could possibly give and of course every guy in that group is mega fast and i move up two spots over 300metres with my eyeballs popping out and my legs lactating and lose one of them after the turn. Later watching other categories sprint i realise how slow the sprint looks cos youre going from just under a km, and especially for me because i have an amazing world class sprint for 15 metres.

Anyway the result is 18th which is dismal for backing yourself and I'm a bit bummed but super happy when only a few minutes later Bo comes over the line solo having ridden two laps at warp speed on his own and not long after Graham came in also with the remnants of the peleton!!

Thanks to all the Webcor AV Elite guys for being out there and rising to the occasion- most of the guys in this weekends squad were 3s at the start of this year and this was a gutter action Pro-Am race and everyone did more than an adequate job of taking the first part of the race head on. Shows the depth of our team- sorry i couldnt deliver a top ten.

Thanks also to Amy for doing the feeds, all the AVs who always cheer on all the racers and also Neil can i buy the components offa your MAN BIKE because i need to train more in gears 6 and 7.

Mille Grazie
jono

Webcor/Alto Velo Wins Winters Road Race!

2008-08-19T10:36:00.000-07:00

The team has been SO CLOSE on so many occasions this season. Finally we scored the big W with Fabrice taking Winters Road Race in impressive fashion this past weekend. He made the break of the day and burned everyone off his wheel to get a solo victory. Awesome.

Winters is a classic CalCup race that has been off the schedule the past couple of seasons due to road construction. It's a great course--Fabrice thought so too! Below is his report.

--------------------------------------------------
Event: Winters Road Race, Pro 1/2
Date: 8/16/2008
Result: 1st of 70
Team: Jono, Chris and I.

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 in about half-way through the course just past the feed zone, is mostly shallow, tipping upward a little toward the end.

Weather: hot and dry

Race:
The start was at 8:00am after an early wake up (4:30am) and a long trip to Winters. The first lap was raced at a moderate speed, giving some time to analyze the circuit. After that first lap, I needed a little stop ("besoin naturel"...) and Jono waited for me to help me catch back to the main field.

During the second lap, there were several attacks and one of them with 5 guys and no Webcor succeeded to take an advantage. On the climb I tried an attack in order to know if the legs felt good. On the descent, we managed to catch the breakaway.

Before beginning the third lap, 4 guys made a counter-attack and I joined them just before crossing the finishing line. From the beginning of that move we tried to work together to increase the gap. That worked because before beginning the climb, the gap was at about 1 minute. During the climb of the third lap, 3 guys from the escape were dropped. I thought that was bad for the escape because two guys with only 1 minute advantage on the field and 32 remaining miles to cross the finish line was not enough. But I was wrong because during the fourth lap, we worked steadily and managed to increase the gap to 2:30 before entering the feed zone. So I guessed the win would be between the two of us!!! During the last climb, I maintained a good speed and dropped my breakaway partner. So I had to increase the gap on him and the other chasers until the finish line, 12 miles after that climb. During that long time I was not really confident... But 6 miles before the end my gap was still about 1 minute, so without problem, I was able to hold off the chasers.

In the end, I crossed the finish line with an advantage of 1:30 on the second place rider and about 3 minutes on the main field. The sprint for the third place was won by Eric Wolhberg. Jono was dropped from the main field just in the last lap but was assured a place in the top 20.

This is my first win in the US (and I hope not the last one!!!), and I am very happy for both the team and myself. I know that everybody was waiting for this first win and I hope it's just the beginning!

Thanks for reading,
Fabrice

Esparto TT Race Report

2008-08-12T17:09:00.000-07:00

Rand's appetite for racing is insatiable. After doing the San Rafael race into the late evening the previous day, he was out in Esparto bright and early getting ready for his ~8AM start. A lack of sleep didn't hold him back, as he scored a great 2nd place. Local pro, hardman, and multi-time Canadian TT champ Eric Wohlberg bested Rand but only by 8 seconds. Below is Rand's report.

Official Results

----------------------------------------------
Esparto ITT
Esparto, CA
8/10/08
Weather: cool, light wind, clear
Teammates: None
Placing: 2nd of ~15

After racing the twilight Carrera de San Rafael on Saturday night, and sleeping a total of 4 hours, I left SF at 5am for some sweet central valley ITT action.

Esparto is an 18 mile ITT, with flat to rolling terrain and some bad pavement here and there. In warmup I felt pretty good, but not great.

The most significant headwind was right at the start of the race, so I had to keep myself from pushing too hard too early. I set a good pace, and felt pretty solid.

I caught my minute man a couple of miles past the turnaround, and was feeling pretty strong still. However, I hit a section of very rough pavement, like beat-up chipseal...only a mile long or so, but I could NOT keep my speed up very well. I picked the pace up again once I hit smoother pavement, but not before my minute man came back by me.

In the end, I had a decent ride of 40:37. Not great, but it was good enough for 2nd place, 8 seconds behind Eric Wohlberg (Symmetrics). Chris Turner (Above Category Racing) was third about 30 seconds further back.

I have been napping at work ever since.

Thanks for reading,
Rand

San Rafael Race Report

2008-08-12T16:53:00.000-07:00

The Webcor/Alto Velo team had a great race in San Rafael this past weekend. This was a premier event featuring a nighttime downtown course packed with fans and good prize money on offer. Most of the best local riders showed up with some notable pros as well. Fabrice and Aroussen made the big break of the evening. They both rode incredibly well and finished in the top-10 with Fabrice scoring a really impressive 3rd place, being the only non-pro in the top-5. Below is his report.

San Rafael is put on by the same promoter as the upcoming San Francisco Twilight Crit on September 13th and Webcor will be the title sponsor of the race. That should be a great event that the team is really looking forward to. It should be a great race to watch, hope to see you there!

Official Results

------------------------------------------------------------
San Rafael Criterium, Men Pro 1/2
8/9/08
Result: 3rd of 93
Teammates: Aroussen 9th, James 22nd, Neil, Graham, Rand, Chris, Rob, DS Bruce on the Radio

The course was a short 0.9 miles circuit in downtown San Rafael with a hill on the the start/finish straight away. The back straight descended into two fast downhill 90 degree turns. This criterium is a fast one and had a lot of spectators lining the course. Our event was scheduled for 90 minutes of racing. The start was done at the end of the day, 8:00 PM, like all the criteriums in France.

After some laps covered in high speed, Rand and I made a move with some guys. That escape obtained a little gap, but after 4 laps on the front, the pack caught up.

Then there was lot of activity and I felt that I had to stay on the front to catch the good escape. I was right because one of them including 10 guys took a little advantage. Later, another group with Aroussen joined us. We were thus approximately 20 guys on the front. After the break was established, the pace settled down slightly in the main pack, allowing the breakaway's gap to grow and grow.

At midrace, I tried to split the breakaway group, but after my attack I was alone. So after 2 laps alone I was caught up by the group.

At about 60 minutes into the race, the breakaway group was nearing the back of the main field. The officials decided to give the pack a bell lap so they could sprint for 21st place before being pulled. It was confusing in the pack, with not a lot of people realizing it was 1 to go for the pack, James included. Still, he finished it out for 2nd in the pack sprint.

After the course was clear for the breakaway group for the last 30 minutes, Zwizanski from Bissell attacked and was joined by two other professionals, Barrilleaux from Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling and former Webcor Pro rider Bernard Van Ulden from the Jelly Belly Team. Bernard
ultimately went on to win the race after pulling away solo in the last lap.

In the last 7 laps, Eric Wohlberg from Symmetrics attacked and I decided to follow him, so we began a little time trial in order to catch the escape. But despite all our effort we only caught
Barrilleaux from Jittery Joe's Pro Cycling as he fell off the hot pace of Van Ulden and Zwizanski.

Finally we came around the last corner for a 3-up sprint for 3rd place between Barrilleaux, Wohlberg and myself. I led it out from the corner and was able to hold on for third to get the last spot on the podium.

Aroussen finished his beautiful race in 9th position.

I finished the day on the podium with some flowers and some champagne...what a great night for me and the team!!

Thanks for reading,
Fabrice

Catching Up with Past Reports: Sisquoc RR, SLO Crit, and Watsonville Crit

2008-08-06T15:26:00.000-07:00

While I was away for a week, the guys were out there racing hard. I'm just catching up with posting their reports. In all, there was a lot of good racing and results from the team with 3 top 10's in 3 races:

Sisquoc road Race: 9th place for Fabrice
San Luis Obispo Crit: 6th for James
Watsonville Crit: 2nd for Rand

Most of the guys finishing ahead of Fabrice, James and Rand were professionals, no shame in that, especially considering that they beat a bunch of pros too! Below are the reports from the respective highest placed riders.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Race: Santa Maria Sisquoc Circuit Race, P/1/2
Date: 19 July 2008
Team: Jeff, Bo, and Fabrice,

Placings: 9th (Fabrice) of ~75

Full Results

The Sisquoc Circuit Race is a race on a 10.75 miles loop, 7 laps. The weather was sunny and not too warm. The circuit is not too difficult by itself, but exhausting over time. The finish line is on a descent after 3 successive climbs. A strong headwind made some parts of the circuit difficult.

During the race there were a lot of attacks but nobody got much of a gap. I tried some attacks but when we were in a group at the front, nobody wanted to collaborate, But I don't know why!!! In the last lap after some attacks, a professional from team Successful Living got off solo and his team controlled all the attacks behind.

During that's last lap, that guy increased his gap and won the race with a comfortable margin. For the second place there was a sprint from the pack. I finished 9th of the race, not too bad taking account of all my attacks.

Jeff finished in the pack as did Bo.

Fabrice

----------------------------------------------------
San Luis Obispo Downtown Criterium
Men's Pro 1/2
Teammates: Rand (18th), Fabrice (11th), Jeff, Bo
Placing: 6th of 75ish

Full Results

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 remained fast for the entire 75 minutes. 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. This was a great course for me. Last year I finished 14th and won a primme. This year no primme but I placed higher. After the Coyote Creek and Lafayette races I was starting to feel a little fatigued. I decided to take a break and only do a few easy rides during the week and focus on my rest. I wasn't sure how I would feel come race day but I ended up feeling great! We had our team meeting where Bo's wife Amy agreed to call radio updates from the sidelines, also recent National Champion John Elgart was calling radio updates for us as well. The plan was for me to relax a little during the beginning of the race and everyone cover attacks throughout the race. If it came down to to field sprint I was to be the go to guy.

Rand and Fabrice repeatedly attacked and covered attacks, but nothing was sticking. Cal Giant was also riding very aggressive and attacking repeatedly. SoCal racers like their field sprints for sure. I covered a few attacks that immediately fizzled once my breakaway mates realized they had a sprinter with them. Jeff covered a few attacks and spent some time near the front as well. About mid race I realized I wasn't sticking to the plan of me relaxing for the first part of the race. I decided to ease up a little and not waste energy fighting for position. I drifted back to about 30th wheel and hung there for a little while trying to conserve. With 5 to go I was slowly moving up. Fabrice, Rand, and Jeff were closer to the front, I got up to them at about 3 to go and started to surf the pack a little for the easy move up spots. When we heard the bell I was sitting in about 12th position, I held that through the Mission chicane than picked up a few spots, I came out of the last corner in 7th, passed one guy then the sprint started and it was a long line with no one really passing anyone. Daniel Holloway finished 1st with Cody O'Reily, Tony Cruz, and Rock Racing rider coming in before me as well.

This is one of my favorite races of the year, along with Burlingame and San Rafael. If you have never made the trip to San Luis Obispo I definitely recommend it to anyone for next year.

Thanks for reading,
James

----------------------------------------------------
Watsonville Crit
Watsonville, CA
July 19, 2008
Weather: Windy, Cold, Foggy/overcast
Teammates: Matt Beebe
Place: 2nd of ~40

Full Results

Watsonville is a really fun, technical crit course, and though it is not really all that far from the Bay, it tends to be a low-key event with relatively small fields. It is probably for the better, because the course contains multiple hairpins with drainage ditches across them, making for dicey cornering. There is also a small hill that tends to make the race hurt more than one would expect.

There was still a solid group of riders this year, with notables like Jackson Stewart (BMC), Daniel Holloway (VMG-Felt) and James Mattis (CalGiant), and all sorts of powerful riders. I was feeling quite feisty and really wanted to get in a breakaway early.

Luckily, there were quite a few other guys with a similar idea, and within about 10 minutes into the race, after numerous attacks, I managed to get into a break of 6 that got significant time on the field. This break was comprised of Jackson Stewart, James Mattis, Brian Bosch (Sierra Pacific), Justin Fraga (BPG), and a McGuire rider. We worked well together, and the technical course allowed for the small group to pull away. By about halfway through the race, we had
lapped what was left of the field.

The breakaway riders continued to try and attack one another and catch each other off guard, but everyone was pretty attentive. I was the only rider without a teammate in the pack, as Beebe had done his job early and was calling stuff out to me from the sidelines, so I had to be extremely careful not to get caught behind a split.

Coming into the final 10 laps, James Mattis made a bold attack and held a decent gap until about 3 to go, but was reeled in. Several teams attempted to lead their riders out, but I marked Jackson Stewart. We entered the final corner in about 5th and 6th wheels, and sprinted hard up the finishing hill. Jackson took the win, and I came through just behind him in 2nd. Justin beat Brian Bosch for 3rd.

Great race...I really like the atmosphere around this race every year, and I love the course. Thanks to Beebe for support, and thanks for reading.

Rand

Timpani Crit Race Report

2008-08-06T15:17:00.000-07:00

Timpani Crit in Santa Clara was this past weekend. The boys were active for the entire race. Eventually, Rand and Ryan got off with a breakaway group late in the race. Rand rode aggressively as always and went for it solo into the last lap. He came so close yet again but just missed out on the win. His all or nothing attacking style is relentless and fun to watch. He's more than due for a big W, I can feel it coming! Anyhow, below is Rand's report from the race.

Full Results

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Timpani Crit
Santa Clara, CA
8/3/2008
Weather: Cool, sunny, windy
Teammates: Fabrice, James, Rob, Jono, Ryan, Neil
Place: 6th of ~90

The Timpani crit defines the four-corner flat criterium course. Some spots of questionable pavement and some severe winds generally add a little spice to the mix.

This race was relatively fast throughout, but the large field made it difficult for any breakaways to get much time. I was on the attack as often as possible, and the other AV boys kept the race rolling as well.

The race was punctuated by a rather dramatic front-stretch crash, which produced some of the most awesome crash photos I have seen.

With about 6 laps to go, Ryan and I made it into a ~10 man breakaway. I quickly surveyed the group, saw some fellow breakaway maniacs like Vince Owens (Sierra Pacific) and Keith Miller (CalGiant), and decided it was worth a shot to stay away. The group worked pretty well, but the pack was within about 10 seconds of us, and guys started getting antsy. Ryan did a great job in the break, burning some matches to make sure it stayed away.

With 1 lap to go, I pulled through hard, simply trying to keep the pace high, but I ended up with a slight gap as the break started looking at one another.

I could see the pack closing fast behind, and the break hesitating, so I decided it was better to go for it solo than get caught by the field.

I made it all the way to the final corner before being caught by a few guys from the break, most notably Keith Miller, who put in a brutal effort to take the win. I ended up finishing 6th, as my legs were too shot from the solo effort to sprint much.

I am bummed I couldnt pull off the win...so close. Still, good riding by the whole team. Fabrice finished somewhere in the top-20, and all the guys on the team worked well all race long.

Rand

Elite RR Championships/Fort Ord Report

2008-08-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

The district championship road race at Fort Ord was this past weekend. This is a long hard race of attrition and the W/AV team did well to have a few guys left going into the finish. Steve Reaney (Cal Giant) got off solo with a lap to go and held it to the line. Fabrice was in the second group of about ten and fought hard to get a podium spot, finishing 3rd overall. Below is Fabrice's report.

Full Results (courtesy of Steven Woo)

------------------------------------------------------

Northern CA/NV Elite Road Race Championships
Fort Ord/Monterey, CA
Men's Elite 1/2/3
Teammates: Rand (18th), Aroussen (21st), Bo (30th), James, Jono
Placing: 3rd of 75ish

The Monterey Race is a race encompassing 10 laps of 10 miles each. The loop had lot of curves, little roads, and a "wall" 3km before the finish line. That climb was about only 1.5 km but very steep.

The start of the race was very early (8am), but that didn't discourage 3 guys who attacked in the first lap.

During 5 laps, nobody wanted to animate the race. But later, the speed increased and some teams began to decrease the gap between the pack and the escape. Aroussen did a fantastic job during the next 3 laps, riding with a lot of bravery.

During that time Rand and I tried to stay in good position, without using too much energy. The two last laps were covered in high speed, leading notably to Aroussen's loss. The pack caught the escape and from that moment, a lot of attacks ensued. Rand tried to get away several times but unhappily without success. Then, the future winner, Steve Reaney of Cal Giant, attacked and got a comfortable gap on the pack. In the remaining group, his team controlled the race. I attacked several times in the last lap but i was always followed by Cal Giant racers...

Despite my attacks, we were still 8 guys racing for second place...Thanks to a little slalom during the sprint, i took the 3rd place of that race. The group sprint was taken by AJM, also of Cal Giant for 2nd overall.

Rand's efforts finally caught up with him in the last few kilometers and he finished in a second group. Aroussen finished bravely just behind Rand. Bo was incredibly motivated and finished the race despite all the difficulties. James and Jono gave the maximum to help the team at the beginning of the race. Thanks to Bo's wife, Amy, who was our best supporter and for her expertise to supply the bottles!!

To conclude, that was a hard and very long race (100 miles) but with lot of suspense and a good result for the team!!

Thanks for reading.

Fabrice

Lafayette Crit Report

2008-07-15T17:36:00.000-07:00

Here's the second installment from the past weekend of Webcor/Alto Velo Elite Team racing. Lafayette was a bit of a confusing race, as Rand describes below, due to some officiating/promoter complications. Even with all the mayhem that ensued, the race was really positive for the team, as we had 2 of our guys in the leading break of 7 that eventually lapped the field.

-------------------------------------------------
Lafayette Crit
Lafayette, CA
July 13, 2008
Weather: Warm and slightly windy
Teammates: James, Rob, Aroussen and Bruce (Radioman)
Place: 2nd of ~50

A word of warning: this report is long and confusing...but the race was WAY more confusing in person. It started out quite controlled and normal, but ended up being the most absurd and bizarre race I have ever seen. Read on if you are interested.

My legs were feeling really good, and I wanted to get off the front of the race early. After cycling through a few breaks, with Aroussen and Rob and James covering some others, I bridged to three guys off the front and we rotated through quickly. We dangled a few seconds off the front of the strung-out pack, and then another three guys bridged up (including Aroussen).

That made a group of 7, and we were well-placed with two of our riders in such a small group. The break also contained Pat Briggs (CalGiant), who was definitely the most dangerous rider in the group, but Christian Kearney (Z-team) and Bob Newman (Pac. State Bank) were also looking very strong. We worked very well together as a group and about halfway through the event we were approaching the back end of the field, ready to lap.

However, the officials had forgotten to bring a finishline camera. Therefore, they did not want to deal with trying to pick placings for a breakaway intermingled with the field at the finish, so they decided to modify the race...

...what ensued was mayhem.

The officials first attempted to neutralize the field and force the break to pass straight through and continue working. However, we no longer had an impetus to work hard, as we had already lapped the field--meanwhile, the field was upset that they had no chance at the win. Some of the more discontent sprinters began protesting by laying across the start-finish line, etc. It was nuts.

Because we didnt HAVE to ride fast anymore in the break, we didnt. Even though the officials yelled at us to "keep racing" and "ride fast," we just rolled a steady pace, because the officials had just turned it into a 7 man race. Therefore, we were caught by the field again from behind. Keep in mind that we were still a lap up. I was actually really excited that we were back in the field...according to standard crit rules, when a break laps the field, teams are allowed to help their breakaway riders win the race by leading them out. These are generally pretty hectic and fast finishes, guys get confused, and I was also feeling pretty good about my sprint.

Unfortunately, the officials STILL didnt like this and forced the breakaway riders off the BACK of the field again...where we continued to roll around slowly, chatting. Eventually the breakaway decided that we would all evenly split the prize money, and drag-race to the line for placings.

In the meantime, the officials had decided to finish the field early to get them off the course, so they rang a bell for the field (I had no idea they were doing this, by the way, as the break was on the opposite side of the course at this point) so that they could finish and get places 8-10.

This plan backfired pretty badly, as the main field came flying around for the field sprint and RE-CAUGHT THE BREAKAWAY right in the final corner. Mayhem, as I said. Once all these riders had finally cleared off the course, the officials gave the breakaway a 2-laps-to-go signal and yelled at us to "race faster." Unreal. Truly bizarre.

We rolled around the course 7-abreast, chatting and talking and laughing at about 18 mph for the final lap and a half. I marked CalGiant sprinter Pat Briggs' wheel, and he jumped to sprint as we entered the last corner. I kicked to try and come around him, but couldnt quite get there, and I finished about a half-bike length or so back. Aroussen rolled in solidly in 5th. Pretty good photo of finishing sprint can be seen here

Aroussen did a great job all day of working in the break, while Rob and James helped shut the field down. Bruce did a spectacular job keeping us informed of what was going on. Thanks again to all four of these guys!

Rand

Race Report: Coyote Creek Circuit Race

2008-07-15T14:08:00.000-07:00

This past weekend the Webcor/Alto Velo Men's Elite Team did another round of local races. First at Coyote Creek in South San Jose on Saturday, then at Lafayette crit on Sunday. It was a really good weekend for the team in general. We're clicking for sure and getting consistently good results. Below is Fabrice Dubost's race report from Coyote Creek. He's a new addition to the team, just recently arriving in NorCal from the Brittany region of France (think first week of The Tour, wind, foul weather, hardmen, Bernard Hinault!). Fabrice is an experienced road racer with an impressive palmares, and we're glad to have him on the team.

A report form Lafayette will be coming soon.

--------------------------------------------------

Race: Coyote Creek Circuit Race, P/1/2
Date: 12 July 2008
Team: Fabrice Dubost, Rand Miller, Rob MacNeill, Jono Coulter, Brad Goodson, James Badia, Aroussen Laflamme, Graham Simpson, Bruce Wilford (directing from sidelines)
Placings: 4th (Fabrice) and 8th (Rand) of ~50

The Coyote Creek Circuit Race is a race on a 1.8mile loop. It's not a crit, so there are no free laps, but not a road race, since our race was only 70 minutes. The loop has two long legs and two short straights with a little climb of about 100-feet on the main leg. Lap times are on the order of 4-5 minutes. On race day there was a huge wind at our back for the climb, turning to a headwind for the flat long return straightaway. It was hot and sunny for our 2:15 start, but conditions were tolerable.

After some attacks covered by Rand, an attack from Jackson Stewart put me and 4 other guys in the front during the third climb. All riders were working well together during this escape.

At mid-race, a counter attack containing 4 Webcors amongst 12 guys approached at 40 sec but their efforts did not succeed. Behind the 2nd group, the race was breaking up into splinter groups. In the main chase, the Webcors guys weren't helping to bridge the gap to the main breakaway; they just covered counter attacks and tried to help the front group get an established lead. The gap turned on the advantage of the escape, 1 minute at 4 laps from the finish. I decided to attack on the hill into the last lap, due to the wind on the other side of the circuit. When I thought to attack the lap cards showed 2 to go instead of 1. In the confusion, the opportunity to attack was gone, so I waited for the sprint. But before the last climb one guy attacked, and the other guys looked me to close the gap, so I decided to wait a little bit but the gap increased. At 300 meter from the line I launched the sprint but it was too late to close the gap to the first guy who won the race, and just 10 meters from the line two other guys passed me for 2nd and 3rd place. I finished 4th. Rand sprinted from the 2nd group and finished 8th overall.

The plan before the race was loose and just that we needed to be present on the front of the race and cover breakaways, which we did well. The team was well represented in the main moves of the day.

The result was not what I had hoped for, maybe due to my less of experience racing here (3^rd race in USA so far) and I wish that the victory will appear as soon as possible...

Fabrice

Vacaville GP Race Report

2008-07-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

To cap off the 3-day holiday/race weekend, the Webcor/Alto Velo team headed up to Vacaville for the NCNCA district crit championships. The team rode well and our breakaway specialist, Rand Miller, almost scored a big result but ran into some bad luck in the end. That's bike racing. Still, he managed a very respectable 10th place. Read on to hear Rand's accounting of the events.

Official Results
--------------------------------------------------
Vacaville Gran Prix--District Crit Championships
July 6, 2008
Weather: ~100 degrees, smoky, and windy
Teammates: Bo, Ryan, Rob, Jono, James, Bruce (on radio)
Place: 10th out of 100+

This is a great course for the NCNCA crit championships, with a tight, narrow, technical section that leads into an open ~40 foot climb and around some fast 90 degree corners. It demands power, endurance, and good bike handling...definitely one of the more entertaining NorCal crit courses.

This year, the race was a bit more difficult than usual as the heat was ridiculous and the smoky air made it that much more difficult to breathe. In addition, it came directly after the Davis crit and the Leesville RR, so you could tell there were a lot of tired legs.

I was very worried that my legs would be shot, since I had been way off the mark at Leesville the day before. However, as soon as we started the race, I discovered that the legs were good and I spent the first half of the race covering early moves.

About halfway through the race, I ended up in a move of about 14 guys that noodled off the front over the top of the climb. All the major teams were represented, and Jackson Stewart (BMC) and Jared Barrilleaux (Jittery Joes) were in there as well, so it looked promising.

The Alto Velo boys in the pack helped keep it in check, and pretty soon we were well clear of the "field"--roughly half the riders in the race had dropped out by this point.

Local NCNCA crazyman Jesse-Andy Mendonca (Lombardi) took a flyer with about 12 laps to go as we hit the hill...WAY too early, right? Wrong. That slippery guy got 35 seconds on our group in about 2 laps. I gotta stop second-guessing that guy...

With 5 laps to go, I attacked solo and made a (more-or-less feeble) attempt to bridge to Mendonca. I got a 10-15 second gap over the remaining chasers, and at best got to within about 20 seconds of the leader, but to my dismay I found that I had a slow leak in my rear tire starting at about 4 to go.

With my legs burning, my body completely overheating, and my rear wheel bottoming out on the rim around the corners, I barely held a 10 second gap going into the final lap. I really thought I might have a shot at 2nd place, but heading into the final hill Jared Barrilleaux bridged up to me, followed by the remnants of the break.

I tried as hard as I could to maintain position through the last two corners but when everyone stood up to sprint I had nothing left and ended up finishing 10th. Good enough for a sweet T-shirt!

Thanks to my boys in the group that helped keep the race in check...I couldn't quite pull off the result in the end, but we made the right moves all day. Also, thanks to the supporters on the radio who were calling out time-gaps and encouragement throughout the race. Congrats to Ryan for a good race, as this death-march was his first real P/1/2 race.

Rand

Leesville Road Race Report

2008-07-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

The team was at all 3 local races this past weekend: Davis, Leesville, and Vacaville. Bo was doing final tune-up for Cascade Stage Race coming up next weekend and rode strong at Leesville. Thanks to some selfless teamwork from Rand, Bo ended up with a solid 7th place finish. Below is Bo's report.

Reports from the other races will be out soon.

Official Leesville Results

---------------------------------------------------
Leesville RR
P1/2
60 mile loop
3000 ft. of climbing
50 riders
July 5th, 2008
Team: Bo Hebenstreit (7th), Rand, James, Jono, Rob

As hard as it is to believe the road conditions at Leesville were worse this year than in the 2007 edition of Leesville. I am not quite sure what happens on the 364 non-bike racing days that causes such destruction. The road is rapidly approaching "non road" status as larger and larger portions degrade to dirt and gravel. As would be expected the dirt and gravel sections were rough and the potholes felt more like craters. Every year, despite thinking I remember how
bad the road is from last year, I get that "you have GOT to be joking" thought running through my head as we hit the first rough patches.

The race started out as usual with attacks and short lived breaks. After a while it was apparent that no one was going to get away before the main climb.

When we arrived at the first section of broken chunks of asphalt (aka road) anyone who had not performed pre-race tightening down procedures was left to spectate/cheer on the other categories as they passed by. Also, at this time there was massive bottle ejection and propulsion. At least those stranded on the side of the road wouldn't be thirsty.

We stayed gruppo compacto (minus "injured bike" riders) until the climb where we became rapidly un-compacto. Within a few minutes the pack was completely blown apart. I felt good when we started climbing but unfortunately this only lasted for a very very brief period. As I was sucking every last bit of oxygen I could get into my lungs (and possibly drooling all over
my bars) I remembered that the team was hoping I would do well today. This seemed highly misguided at the time but as my brain wasn't functioning well enough to reason why they had made a mistake, I dug deep for the remainder of the climb.

When I went over the top, somewhere around 25th, I was in a group of six. Rand was a few minutes back.

Now I'd made it up the climb it was one more challenge to make it down the crater descent, which, to be honest, wasn't quite as sketchy as anticipated. At the bottom I was still in the group of six and we could see riders up the road. We traded pulls and in short order we had a group of eight.

After about 10 miles someone said "hey Rand is back". This was very confusing. You have eight guys doing a TDF style TT (maybe slight exaggeration but that is how it felt) and here comes
Rand from nowhere. Very impressive.

We arrived at the next climb, which is quite short, within a few miles or so of Rand catching back on. About halfway up the climb I could feel that my front tire was going flat.

I tell Rand and he promptly offers me his front wheel. I tell him to keep going but he refuses and insists that I take his wheel. We pull over and exchange wheels. I am able to get back to our chase group before the top of the climb! By the top of the climb we are again reduced to six and the moto tells us that we are two minutes behind another chase group, and there are six riders ahead of that group.

Now we have a carrot, the slim chance of a Velo Promo T-shirt, the group is highly motivated. Who doesn't want to be sportin' the latest look from Bob?

Fortunately, we caught the group with about three miles to go.

Now we were about 12 to 14 riders looking at one another going about 16mph.

At this point, I still had no idea if 2 or 20 people had already crossed the line.

I thought to myself, I wonder if I just roll off the front what would happen? The answer: not a lot. When I looked back at the 1K sign I had a good gap but they were starting to react and close the gap. I crossed the line with about 1 second to spare.

Other than being a little disappointed that I did in fact place just outside of t-shirt reach-7th place-I was pretty happy.

Thanks to Rand for giving up his wheel. In case you think that it is because he is a nice guy I must make it clear that he only did it so he didn't have to write this race report, just kidding.

Bo

Burlingame Crit Race Report

2008-07-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

Burlingame Crit is a district favorite because of the great downtown course and proximity to most of the racers' homes. The Webcor/Alto Velo Men's Elite Team was out in force for the latest edition this past weekend with the intention of setting up James Badia for a good finish. It was an active race and the boys in green were all over it, getting another solid result. Below is James' race report.

Official Results
-------------------------------------------------

Race: Burlingame downtown criterium
Date: June 29, 2008
Field: P/1/2, 60 minutes
Teammates: Rob, Jono, Brad, Rand, Fabrice, Graham, Chris, Neil, Jeff, Matt Beebe, Bruce (directing from the sidelines)
Placing: 5th of 101

The Burlingame course is one of my favorites with its technical 90 degrees consecutive turns, unusual finishing straight (a long bent curve) and bumpy pavement, it makes for a challenging course. This race was a planned A race for me so there was some self imposed pressure to deliver a win for the Webcor/Alto Velo Elite team. Some of my family members and co workers showed up to watch the race so that was even more self imposed pressure to do well. The plan was for me to try and conserve while the rest of the guys covered attacks and initiated their own attacks if the race wasn't active enough.

Throughout the race there were a number of times where the pace would slow and I would immediately lose 15-20 spots, I had to use some energy regaining these spots to maintain good position. Rand had a solo attack early on in the race, 1 or 2 other riders bridged up to him but it eventually came back when Eric Wohlberg went to the front and started chasing. Jeff Williams was near the front at times, on one occasion I told him to mark Wohlberg's wheel in case he decided to attack. Fabrice did a great job covering multiple attacks throughout the entire race, in some cases he bridged up to small groups that had gotten away with no Webcor riders in them. Burlingame was Fabrice's first criterium in the U.S. and he looked very comfortable, I expect good things to come from our latest French addition to the team. Jono also spent some time near the front on chase duty. It was awesome to see Rob back in the mix after having some time of the bike for a while, he was riding very strong and did a great job keeping it fast in the closing laps.

In the closing laps (3 to go) I was positioned pretty far back (about 25th) I made my way up to the front and found Rand's wheel, we were sitting about 5th/6th wheel with 2 to go. I yelled out to let Rand know I was there. Coming around the last turn (just about to hear the bell) The 3 guys in front of Rand sat up, Rand did the right thing and ramped up the speed. I followed his wheel and we crossed the line hearing the bell in the 1 and 2 positions. Rand held an amazing pace for the entire lap (to be honest I was nervous he would be able to hold that kind of pace) I was having trouble holding onto his wheel at times, Rand pulled of just before the end of the last turn, a quick look over my shoulder and people were starting to jump, so I jumped up the inside. My speed quickly topped out and I entered the last straight in 2nd place but with not much acceleration happening. I held a constant speed to the line and got passed by 2 or 3 guys in the process and came across the line in 5th place just making it onto the Pilarcitos podium.

Today the team did an awesome job, we followed our plan and executed. I wouldn't say we controlled this race, but I will say we had a better handle on it than we have in previous races. At first I was disappointed in my 5th place result because I was really going for a win today, but after I have had some time to reflect I am happy with my 5th place and am even happier to see my team coming together like it did today. I truly feel a win is on the horizon for the Men's Elite team after seeing our execution in the race today. We are just entering the final 2 months of the peak of NorCal racing and I think the team is positioned well to bring home some good finishes.

Thanks for reading,
--
James

Napa Downtown Crit Report

2008-06-26T15:33:00.001-07:00

Jeez, this race was shocking: super fast, super technical, super hot ,and just plain hard. W/AV did very well with 2 in the top 10 and 3 of about only 15 that finished. It was a crazy race. Below is Rand's report.

----------------------------------------
2008 Napa Downtown Crit
6/21/08
Napa, CA
Weather: ~100 Degrees and really really windy
Teammates: James Badia, Aroussen Laflamme, Rob Macneill, Chris Crawford,
Jeff Williams
Finish: 3rd of ~60

First and foremost, this was the most insane (and most awesome) crit course I have ever seen. Set in downtown Napa, the course was less than a half-mile long, with lots of tight corners. From the start-finish line, the course dives onto a very small, narrow 4-corner block and then jumps back onto the split main straightaway. This long straight section of road then terminates in what can only be described as an extended hairpin turn, where the course goes around a triangular median and back onto the front straightaway--overall, we end up turning something like 270 degrees in that crazy turn. Throw some densely packed botts dots, oil-slick pavement, 20 mph wind and 100 degree heat, and you have the makings of some epic crit racing.

As The Crew and I prepped for the race, we discussed strategy...given the crazy conditions, we were thinking breakaway. The race started fast, and I spent some time getting aggro at the front, but breaks were not really sticking and I realized that the heat would make wasting energy a bad idea. The course rapidly began taking its toll on riders, since it required two full-on sprints each lap (onto the headwind section and out of the hairpin). By about halfway through the race, I would estimate that half the field had dropped out (or crashed).

Andy Mendonca from Lombardi attacked with a few other guys around halfway through, and proceeded to drop his breakaway partners by pushing a 53-11 or so the entire time. Several guys would attempt to bridge each lap, and fail. Mendonca dangled about 15 seconds up for a long time, but we played the odds and let other teams try and pull him back rather than expending our guys. Kevin Klein (Rock Racing) and a Healthnet rider stayed near the front and occasionally drove the pace, while BPG launched some fliers here and there, but Mendonca kept rolling. Aroussen put in a solid pull for a lap or two as well, but to no avail. With 3 laps to go, I felt confident in my legs and could sense that the now-15-man "field" was getting tired, so I attacked hard in the headwind section. I drove it as fast as I could for the final 3 laps with a Lombardi guy on my wheel and a BPG guy sitting on him...I just stayed on the front because the Lombardi guy definitely wasnt going to come through and the BPG guy wasnt either, and I felt pretty good about my sprint out of the hairpin. I think I waited a lap too long to attack, because I wasnt able to close the gap to Mendonca and I could see him posting up a victory salute about 5 seconds ahead as I started my sprint. The BPG guy (JD Bergman, who is riding quite strong these days)
came around and beat me by about half a bike length. I was bummed that I couldnt close to Andy, and that I got beat on the line, but I was happy with the race overall. James and Aroussen finished strong, with James coming in at 9th, in spite of being caught up in a crash with less than 15 minutes to go.

Not a particularly team-tactical event, but a really fun and technical race. I hope that they put the same course on next year, and I would encourage everyone to go try it!

Rand

Bo Tackles (and wins) The Terrible Two

2008-06-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows Bo is a hardman but he felt the need to go prove it again by riding and winning the Terrible Two double century. Not that any 200 mile ride is easy but this double is one of the hardest around. Nice work Bo! Below is his report from a LONG day in the chamois.

--------------------------------
Race (aka ride):Terrible Two
Location: Sebastopol, CA
Host: Santa Rosa Cycling Club
Date: 20th June 2008
Category: Tourist
Distance: 200 +1 mile
Elevation Gain: 16,000 ft
Temp: 65F to 107F
Field size: 250 riders
Webcor/AV: Bo 1st

For those of you not familiar with the Terrible Two Double Century Greg Drake provides a very entertaining description in his 2007 report:
http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/AltoVelo/message/14368

Although officially the TT isn't a race it certainly feels like one. I've done the 'TT' two times before in 2004 and 2006. In 2004 I got 2nd (11:07) and 2006 6th (11:55). The times are hugely heat dependent. Cool=fast, hot=slow. This year it was incredibly hot, well into the 100's. The 2008 TT was more about survival than records, and for me, it was all about the W-I-N.

For the past six years a local rider, Brian, has been putting the hurt on everyone. He was planning on doing a 'Lance' this year, by claiming his 7th edition. I was planning on putting an end to this. Only slight problem with this was that Brian is the real-deal and a force to be reckoned with.

My goals in this ride/race were:
1.Beat 'Lance' aka Brian
2.Finish fast enough that my behind wasn't too sore. Current rear end threshold is 12 hours so I had to be faster than that.
3. Not end up at Kaiser Perm where they let breast surgeons act as substitutes for jaw surgeons.

From the start I made sure no one was going to sneak away without me knowing it. This might sound a little hyper vigilant but I didn't want to suffer for 200 miles in vain. The pace was definitely more sedate than a P1/2 race but I felt quite at home when, at mile 15, there was a loud sound of bikes crashing behind.

No I did not cause it.

At about mile 25 we hit the first real climb, Trinity Grade, which climbs 1500' and dumps you out in to the Napa Valley. The descent was definitely not fun and unfortunately a few riders crashed on the way down.

After that first climb we were down to a pack of 40. We cruised up the Silverado highway to the first rest stop in Calistoga (mile 55). I filled my two bottles shoved some food in my pockets (repeat at each rest stop) and took off with three other riders. Our group of 4 was soon joined by another 13. We made it intact the next major ascent (mile 75), 3500' Geysers Road.

I knew that Geyser's Road would split up the field and sure enough by the rest stop at the top there was only me, myself and I. It is pretty nice to have your own personal rest stop. I hung out for a few minutes hoping some company would arrive. When it didn't I made the decision to bust a move and keep things rolling for the descents/flats to the lunch stop.

After lunch-on-the-run came the most brutal climb of the day: Skaggs Spring Road. I rode the climb alone but at the top was somewhat excited to see someone coming up the hill behind me. It turned out to be Brian. After he had filled his bottles we started off.

Now, although I was stoked to have some company I also wanted to demolish my competition (or at the very least win). I decided to pull out some very special tactics I've learned from racing on the road. These tactics are in fact so special that I cannot tell you about them in case my competition gets informed!

Brian was a decent climber and could keep up with me on the next climb. He also, as it turned out, was a mean descender. There were moments on the highly sketchy descent where I was having vivid flashbacks of my annual vacation to the 'Kaiser Penthouse'. I pondered if, were I to return, would I again end up with the breast enlargement surgeon working on my broken bones. Because of these uplifting thoughts I took it very conservatively and had to chase back to Brian after the descent.

I conserved energy on the next 700 foot climb (mile 142) by keeping my heart rate a little lower. Brian went over the top, in the process alerting/activating a very hot and very pissed off dog. By the time I reached snarling dog he was ready for a late lunch of Bo's ankles. Hungry dog didn't get fed and probably doesn't realize how lucky he was that I missed his hot head by about 1 inch. Meanwhile, Brian was already hauling ass down the hill towards the Highway 1 unaware of the performance a little way behind.

I counted my blessings that I wouldn't be visiting my old friends at Kaiser and headed down the descent. After a few corners there was Brian on the side of the road taking his wheel off. I asked if he needed anything. He said "no" so I kept going. I felt kind of bad but not really.

I started down highway 1 (mile 155) at a moderate pace. When I arrived at the Fort Ross rest stop (mile 162) one of the support motorcycles told me that Brian was 5 minutes back. The last major climb of the day is Fort Ross Road 1500' and it is steep (next time someone please remind me not to ride a straight block). At the top of the climb the motorcycle told me Brian was 8 minutes back. This finally gave me the confidence that it would not go down to a sprint finish which might just be the lamest thing anyone had ever seen. It was downhill with some big rollers to the next rest stop in (mile 184).

I got my water and took off for the final 17 mile trek to the finish.

I rolled into the finish to the sound of cheering and clapping. I guess there had been radio reports through out the day about the "Webcor guy" off the front. Regardless, people were still shocked to see someone other than Brian after 6 years.

Brian came in 12 minutes later. He told me after he flatted he tried to put more air in his tire at Fort Ross and tore his valve stem off. Then he said he flatted again on Fort Ross road. If he did not flat it definitely would have been more interesting. I guess we will never know what the out come may have been.

His parting words were "I will see you next year". To that I said "looking forward to it—next year I'll beat you by 30 minutes".

Just kidding.

My finishing time was 11:15:23. Not my personal best due to the heat.

To be honest, I don't know if I want to go back next year. At this point my backside is still hurting and I'm not feeling the love for the double century. Add to this a suspicion that now Brian knows he's not 'Lance' he will do a little more training for next year and that might mean hurt. Or, hurt more than this year at least.

Pescadero Road Race Report

2008-06-16T15:11:00.000-07:00

Pescadero Road Race is a NorCal classic and it's Alto Velo's annual race. As such, most of the guys were working to help pull it off instead racing. Bo and our latest addition to the team, Fabrice Dubost, were out there to represent W/AV. Fabrice is recently relocated from the Normandy region of France. He's an accomplished road racer and we're glad to have him on the squad. Below is Bo's accounting of the events.

Official Results

Photos courtesy of Kieren Sherlock
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Pescadero RR
14 June 2008
P 1/2
103 miles
7600 elevation gain
Start List 84 riders
Webcor AV: Fabrice 12th, Bo Hebenstreit 20th

Course: Too Long. Too fast.

Due to most to the team being involved in volunteer work (Amy and I did pre-race volunteer tasks) Fabrice and I were the only two 1/2 Webcor/Alto Velo's in the 80? person field.

I remember when I was a CAT 3 we quite often used to pass the P 1/2's as they gently rolled along with barely a hint of exertion. I was looking forward to this 'perk' when I upgraded. Unfortunately, what I didn't fully appreciate as a CAT 3's was that the 'kicking back' I had observed was balanced out by short, extremely painful, bouts of ridiculously fast racing. Saturday's 'taking it easy' was 103 miles, 8,000 feet of climbing and an average speed of 22.8 miles an hour.

Today got exciting as soon as soon as we went out of town and an eight person break escaped up the road. I decided not to be part of the action as I calculated any break this early in the race wouldn't last the hundred+ miles to the finish. I was somewhat right when 1 mile later we caught a flatted escapee, and on the descent from Haskins, another rider was off the road removing large chunks of grass from his wheels.

Well, to cut a long story short this race hurt like I couldn't have possibly imagined. Every time up Haskins I fantasized about downgrading to the CAT 5's or jumping out of the race and into my car. But, fortunately, or unfortunately, the descent down to the town was long enough for me to forget the pain and I kept rolling along. Also, Jesse/Andy doing a wild leg shaking episode as his crank fell off his bike was helpful in keeping my spirits up.

In a true Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwin moment the remaining six in the break were caught with 3K to go. I would love to tell you that I launched myself from the pack and blasted up Haskins to take the win. Sadly not. I gave it all I had and got 20th. Z team won, James M. 2nd and Adam Rock Racing 3rd. Fabrice looked like he was doing an easy paced B-ride and ended up 12th.

Bo

The MTB Files: Aroussen Scores a W

2008-06-15T15:07:00.000-07:00

Aroussen couldn't resist a local MTB race. He went down to Fort Ord and scored 1st place in the PRO category. Right on!

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Date: 6/15/08
CCCX Mountain Bike series
Fort Ord (Monterey), California USA, June 15, 2008

Rider: Aroussen Laflamme
Cat: Pro
Finishing Position: 1st
Course: 5 laps of a 6 miles
Weather: Windy as usual near the coast, mix of clouds and sun

Fort Ord is well known for its infinite miles of dirt trails which are hard packed and at the same time slippery. It's also a great venue for cyclocross racing. But today it host the 8th race of the
Central coast series on a course that I can say will suited me very well. No long climb, 5 to 6 short moderately steep uphill, twisty and challenging course is on the menu today.

After my relatively successful strategy adopted during my last mountain bike race, I thought it would be a good idea to stick to it: start slowly and be patient. I succeed in the former but not the later strategy.

My expectation we're not so high considering the amount of training I've done lately, especially on Saturday after the Pesky race. A bad start (difficulties clipping) allowed me to gage my competitors and to start slowly indeed. The pack just rolled quite easily during the first minutes of the start loop. I stayed in the back, protected from the wind. When things have started to move a bit, I progressively made my way to the front. I had to sprint a bit to enter the single-
track first and decided to stretch the group. I pulled hard until the first climb. Two guys passed me and I took their wheels. At this time, we were three of us in the front; the stretching had been more of a break.

So we decided to work together to increase or advantage. That was a good idea considering the stiff head wind on the first half of the course. One of us would never takes pulls and did create many gaps. By the end of the first lap, two guys catched us while the guy in front of me was fading progressively. Feeling good, not patient enough and not willing to bring fading or not working racers with me, I attacked in the first third of the second lap. My goal was to bring
some other guys with me but nobody did follow. I kind of wait to see if my move would stick and it did. My gap was of 30 second after the second lap and of 45 second after the third, so I was in control.

My main concern was that the group was still working together behind me, which was a big advantage considering the wind. So I decided to ease up during the fourth lap to get ready to answer any potential attack from behind. But any would come. At the end of this lap, my gap was of more than a minute. This is when the group has decided to attacked each others, riding the final lap solo instead of working together to bring me back.

Even with some braking problem during the last descent (maybe no more brake is good after all), I managed to conserve quite a good gap to win this race somewhat easily, at least undisputed. The gold medal is a good father's day gift!

Thanks to my sponsors Webcor-Alto Velo and Kona endurance.
Thanks to my family, Jérémy and Madeleine for their support.
Thanks for reading,
Aroussen

Sattley District Time Trial Championships

2008-06-11T15:00:00.000-07:00

Below is Rand's report from the District Championship TT, which is held up near Truckee at altitude. Rand and Jeff both scored top 10's in the Open class, on what was a record settingly fast day. In the Masters categories, Matt Beebe scored 2nd place in the 30-39 open class and Peter Cazalet scored 7th place in the 35-39 open class.

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District Championship ITT
Sattley, CA 6/8/08
Conditions: Cool, very slight headwind on outbound leg
Category: Elite Men Open
Teammates: Jeff Williams
Finish: 7th

After last weekend's Dunlap ITT (31k), I felt pretty good all week andfelt prepared for the 40k District Championship. Showed up at thecourse at 7:00am, and it was beautiful. Very little wind, not too cold, and very clear. Started my warmup, and to my dismay my legs felt pretty dead at the high end. Not really sure why. Headed to the start line for 25 miles of pain, hoping for a time in the 52 minute mark or so.

For those who have never done the Sattley ITT course, it is one of the most featureless time-trial courses I have ever seen--somehow they managed to find a completely straight piece of road way out in the mountains near Tahoe. It is somewhat surreal, because the only memorable part of the course is a gentle left-right bend before the turnaround. There is nothing to distract the mind, no corners to take at speed...just straight road.

Unfortunately, there was nothing to distract me from the fact that my legs were pretty dead. I was able to push a big gear and keep my speed up, but I couldnt get my HR to adequate levels and I felt no quickness in my legs whatsoever. That was a bit sad for me, as I really wanted
to run a good time.

The outbound leg is slightly uphill, and I think my average speed over that half of the race was about 27mph. Coming back from the turnaround, I spent most of my time at 31 or 32 mph. A while after the turnaround, Roman (the race winner) came by me at probably 34mph. He started something like 2.5 minutes behind me.

I managed to struggle to the line with a 52:53. By comparison, Roman set the new course record at 49:29. I came in 7th, as a few other guys also had some really fast times. Jeff rode solidly in his first 40k, and ran a 54:12 for 10th place.

After the TT, I spun down for about 10 minutes, switched pedals, brake pads and wheels over to my road bike, and drove like a maniac to Santa Rosa for the 3:45pm start of the 2-Wheel Crit that afternoon. Overall, it was a fun day, and I had a couple decent races. No more time trials
for a while...

Rand

2-Wheel Crit (Santa Rosa) Race Report

2008-06-10T15:46:00.000-07:00

James and the team scored a great result up in Santa Rosa. Below is James' report.

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Race: 2 Wheel Criterium (aka Santa Rosa Corporate Crit)
Category: Men's Pro 1/2
Teammates: Rand Miller, Tore Nauta, Chris Crawford, Scott Rodamaker
Placing: 3rd of 60

This is the same course as always, a corporate business park, wide turns, lots of bot dots and plenty of wind. Some of the teams were better represented than AV on this day, Lombardi, BPG, McGuire, & Cliff Bar all had decent teams there.

The race started out fast and stayed fast for the entire duration. There were lots of attacks. About mid way through the race Tore got into a break of about 8 riders. The break was motoring along and increasing the gap by a few seconds per lap when we came upon a few riders who had crashed out of the break. I never saw Tore among the carnage but from what was left of the break ahead I could visibly see it did not include Tore. At that point I assumed he had crashed. Without Tore and Joel Robertson (who had also crashed out of the break) the break came back in a short amount of time.

Rand did a great job attacking and following attacks, pretty amazing given he did the Sattley TT that same morning, drove all the way to SR in time for the 3:45pm start and still had some legs left to put the hurt on people. I maintained a position of mid to top 1/3 of the pack the entire race. There were 11 primes for beer, wine, flaming toilet seats, and a stereo system. I didn't go for any of them. When I saw 10 laps to go on the lap cards I started slowly moving toward the front. With 2 laps to go I was about 8th wheel when Rand attacked, perfect move, this allowed me to slot into a great position as people were chasing, Rand was caught just before we got to the bell lap. I was 5th wheel behind 3 Cal Giant riders and Kevin Klein (Rock Racing). Pat Briggs(Cal Giant) attacked into the last corner and got a small gap. I tried to go inside of Kevin Klein on the last straight but he took me to the curb, I slowed a little and tried to come around him on the other side when he proceeded to move from the curb toward the middle of the road. I arrived at the line just behind Kevin for 3rd place.

This was a great race for me as my top end finishing speed is starting to improve again. Rand rode a great tactical race. After the race I found that Tore did indeed crash because his tubular tire rolled in a corner. He was OK, suffering only scrapes and bruises.

Thanks for reading

--
James

Dash for Cash and Dunlap TT

2008-06-05T14:33:00.000-07:00

The guys raced at Dash for Cash and Dunlap ITT last weekend.

The Dash for Cash sounded totally nuts as usual. The team did well to grab several primes and be active the entire race. Despite solid teamwork, the end was insanity and the team didn't luck out with all the reshuffling. Below is Rand's Report.

At Dunlap, one of the strongest groups of local TT'ers in recent memory assembled to test themselves against the clock. Rand scored a top ten for W/AV while Health Net Pro Roman Kilun ripped off fastest time of the day on a fixed gear TT rig. Insane. Following the crit report is a TT report from Beebe.

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2008 ICCC Dash for Cash
May 31, 2008
P/1/2/3
Teammates: Lots. Aroussen, James, Tore, Neil, Bo, Chris, Graham, Elliot, Bob
Finish: 14th out of 130 riders (Official Results)

This was a well-played race by our whole squad, with everyone working well and keeping the pace fast. The race played out as it has pretty much every year I have done it: fast, with the crosswind and crazy cones/medians on the backstretch leading to a gutterfest every lap. For the first 20 minutes or so I was on the attack trying to stay out of trouble. There were 8 $40 primes available, so I thought it would be a good idea to get some of those as well, while still keeping some in the gas tank for the finish. Aroussen did a great job of nabbing two primes, while I made a solo move to nab another. Throughout the race, we had a solid presence at the front of the race, and all our riders were quite active. Crawford hit 90% of the cones on the backstretch and kept it upright. Aroussen went for a break with about 5 laps to go and got a decent gap, but was reeled in. Heading into the last few laps, we tried to get something of a leadout going, but the front of the race was chaotic. James got caught up on some bad wheels, and was boxed out of position. In the meantime, Tore was on the front drilling it for an entire lap. It was epic. After I couldnt find James with 1 lap to go, I tried to get into position for the sprint, got knocked around a bit with one corner to go, and sprinted for a mediocre 14th. The end of this race was really really nutso, with no order whatsoever and a lot of yelling and pushing and shoving. Awesome.

Overall, we had a great race, and everyone did what they needed to do. It was a really hard race to control, and unfortunately the cards did not fall in our favor. However, with a little luck in our next race I think we can execute.

Rand

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Race: Dunlap Memorial Individual Time Trial
Date: June 1, 2008
Course: 31K, loop with several turns
Category: P/1/2
Top Placing: Rand Miller in 7th of 31 (Official Results: Still waiting...)

The Elite Team made a showing at the Dunlap TT in Davis on Sunday. Rand Miller, Peter Cazalet, Jeff Williams and myself (Matthew Beebe) made the trip to see how we would measure up against a very strong NorCal TT field. Following on last week's Beat The Clock, this would be the last test before the District TT in Sattley this coming weekend.

The short and sweet version from Rand our top finisher on the day:
2 hours on trainer, 41:18 minutes on course, hurt really bad, didnt go fast enough to win, but didnt go too slow. Finished 7th out of 31 guys. Jeff made the solid observation that Disc Wheels sound really cool unless they are passing you. Jeff, Peter and Matt rode solid, looked sexy, and we all posed for the cameras. I think we looked good enough for the next GQ issue.

Extended remix from Beebe's perspective:
We all arrived in plenty of time to register, set-up the trainers and pin the numbers to the skinsuits and get a solid warm-up in. The sun was warm, but heat wasn't an issue so early in the morning. There was wind, but I for one found the direction somewhat difficult to determine and felt it wasn't so strong a wind that it would be a real deciding factor. Additionally, the course had several turns which would complicate things when trying to gauge efforts by predicting headwind sections. I did spend several minutes staring at the course map hoping to internalize it in order to use the turns to gauge my effort from a distance perspective.

I was happy to have a rabbit - someone starting before me (which often I don't get when they do alphabetical start lists). I arrived at the line with 5 minutes to spare. With several known very strong TT riders starting not far behind me, I focused on keeping my head focused on my ride and not worrying about the big guns behind me.

I started hard, but not too hard. I slowly ramped up the effort over the first 5-10 minutes. I came up out of the aero bars in the turns - with no chance to pre-ride the course I took the cautious route with the thinking that wiping out in some gravel would hurt my time (and hurt me!) much more than the aero dynamics hit of coming out of the bars for a couple seconds.

About 20 minutes into the ride my 30 second man caught me. I wasn't gaining on my rabbit, but he wasn't gaining too much on me either. For the rest of the ride my rate of perceived exertion remained steady, although I definitely struggled in one section of headwind (maybe I could have predicted that better?). While my RPE was steady and very hard, I didn't quite have the speed in my legs that I have had on my best TTs. I was fighting too big of a gear most of the ride for some reason I can' t really explain. I was caught by one more rider with maybe 5 minutes to go.

After the last turn I was able to ramp it up significantly. I knew from the course map that there wasn't much left so I really tried to throw down. Signs indicated how far I had COVERED, but not how much REMAINED... This was frustrating because 1) I'm not good at math even under the best of conditions and 2) I wasn't sure if this was a 30K TT or a 31K TT... I guess I didn't study the map that well after all!

I crossed the line cross-eyed and slobbering (always a good sign) and promptly forgot to stop my clock. I cooled down as my team mates rolled in. Everyone was asking each other why we continue to do TTs!

The results were posted after a short while and Rand was the team's highest place. I think Rand placed 7th. We all got served by Roman Kilun who supposedly raced with his fixed gear track disk. He had a sub 40min time. Jeff Williams was next for the Green Team with a time at 42:09 - good enough for 14th. I didn't get my own time (place 21) or Peter's (not sure what his place was either...).

Next up for the TT guys - District Championships! Here's hoping other people hear our disc wheels and we don't hear anyone else's!!!

Mount Hamilton Race Report

2008-05-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

Recent Cat 2 upgrades Jeff Williams and Bo Hebenstreit recently tackled a monument of NorCal cycling: Mt. Hamilton RR. This is probably the only point to point race in the district and climbs up and over the highest peak in all of the Bay Area. Bo and Jeff finished in the top half, which is a major accomplishment. Good job guys. Below is Jeff's report

Official Results
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Mt. Hamilton RR, P1/2
5/25/2008
21st of 59
Teammates: Bo H. 28th

I wasn't too excited about doing this race. I haven't been doing too much climbing lately, and this was going to be my second road race in the P1/2 field. Plus it didn't help that my legs were still tired from the Beat the Clock time trial the day before.

There was no real team plan. The climb was going to dictate the tactics. Our goal was to try and stay with the main group over the top and go from there.

The race started off a lot slower than I expected. I thought we were going to be going hard from the beginning of the climb, but that wasn't the case. The first 30 minutes of climbing was totally doable, it was hard, but doable. The hardest part was moving up. The road is so narrow that you have to be really aggressive to move up. I wasn't too aggressive when trying to move up because I kind of feel like I'm the new kid on the block. Not being more aggressive was a big mistake, because once we hit the third part of the climb things started to pick up a bit.

This is when a Cal-Giant rider went to the front and slowly ramped up the pace. A lot of gaps started to happen on and I was constantly going around and trying to close the gaps. Plus it didn't help there were a lot more sharp steep turns the closer you got to the top. Being towards the back going into these turns meant you had to accelerate hard out of the turn just to catch back on. This along with the gap closing took a toll on my legs. Looking back on the switchbacks I could see our main group had dwindled to about 20 or so riders.

With less than three miles to the top I lost contact with the main group. I tried to catch back on, but my legs were spent and I knew there was still a lot of racing on the backside of the mountain. So I continued on at a steady-hard pace. I ended up towing three other dropped riders up to the top.

Just before the top I caught five more riders. One of the riders we picked up was a Cal Giant rider, and on the descent he was going especially slow. I'm pretty sure he was the rider who set the pace all the way up the climb. One of the other riders was Kevin Klein of Rock Racing.
After fast, and sketchy, descent we picked up some a few more riders just after Isabel Creek. Oh yeah, that little climb coming out of Isabel Creek KILLED my legs. I guess my legs went into sleep mode on the descent.

Our group, now about 15 guys, started working together in a paceline. Kevin Klein of Rock Racing was just sitting in on the back because his Teammate Adam Switters was up the road in the main group. We actually caught a glimpse of the lead group on a long straight away. They were probably over 45secs up the road. Seeing the main group got us a little more motivated, but then our paceline started to become disorganized with too many people sitting out pulls.
Going into the hill after the feed zone I told myself I had to keep contact with our chase group. So when two riders started to pick-up the pace a little I jumped on their wheels. One of the riders, Sierra-Pacific Racing, was pushing the pace with a Specialized jr. rider glued to his wheel. Meanwhile I was struggling to hang on. My legs were hurting. When I looked back to see how many people had come with us I was surprised to see the three of us had a sizeable gap. We continued at a hard pace to the top of the climb and quickly started trading pulls once we were at the top.

The Sierra-Pacific rider was super strong and would continually gap myself and the Specialized rider. I told him to not pull through so hard, but I guess he had extra energy to burn. We continued to work together. I was a struggling to maintain the pace. My legs were burning, but I kept pushing myself. We kept looking over our shoulders to see if the pack was gaining on us, but the road was too twisty to see. The Specialized rider started to fade causing our pace to slow. Luckily we were on the descent into the valley. I started to think we might stay away because we were only about 4 miles from the finish. Then I looked back and saw Kevin Klein and about 5 other riders bombing down towards us.

After they caught us there were a few attacks but nothing stayed off. I thought about attacking on one of the small inclines, but didn't think my legs had enough juice left to get me to the finish line by myself.

We hit the 1km sign and somehow I ended up at the front. I was pedaling easy waiting for some to take control or jump. I slowly started to pick up the pace 500m out, then a Lombardi rider jumped. This got everyone going. Just as I went to stand up my quads cramped up. They were super close to locking up. I managed to push through and pass a few people, but in no way did I sprint. I guess I should have taken in more fluids.

Looking back on the race I should have been more aggressive with moving up on the second part of the main climb. This could have aloud me to stay with the main group longer, or maybe even over the summit. I also should have taken in more fuel during our break attempt. Lastly, I should have attacked on one of the last inclines before you hit the bridge. Who knows I could have gotten, and stayed, away. I'm still learning a lot about racing. As long as I can learn from my mistakes I will become a better racer.

Thanks for reading.
Jeff Williams

Memorial Day Crit Report

2008-05-28T14:53:00.000-07:00

James' report from Memorial Day is below

Memorial Day Criterium (Morgan Hill)
Men's Category 1/2
Teamates: Tore, Bo, Rand, Jeff, Neil, Chris, Graham, Jono, Aroussen, Peter C., Bob Parker
Placing: ~17th of 90ish

This was the first race I have done with this many teamates. In total their were 12 of us in the Green at the the pre race meeting. There were many other teams with large numbers as well including, Lombardi, BPG, Z team, and others. In addition Rock Racing had two riders show up and Daniel Holloway and Eric Wohlberg were there.

The course is flat with 3 corners and a long sweeping straightaway on the backside, wide road, moderate pavement (some cracks and some bot dots)

Our team plan was to 1) make sure no break went off without a green rider in it. 2) Ride aggressive and try to start our own breakaway if possible. 3) If it comes down to a sprint finish try to organize a leadout train for the sprinters.

The race started out fast and stayed fast the entire 75 minutes. There were some brief times during the race where people swarmed and it slowed but this never lasted long. The avg. speed for the day was 28mph. With the flat course and large field, the race didn't feel exceptionally hard in my opinion. For the entire race there were multiple attacks going off, with all of the riders from Webcor/Alto Velo contributing to the effort of establishing and/or chasing breaks as needed. There were some primmes that tempted me to sprint, but I decided to not go for any. In short, the Webcor/Alto Velo team rode the race perfectly all the way up to the point of 3-4 laps to go. Rand and I were sitting at the front waiting for the leadout train or some sort of support and nothing ever materialized. During the last lap on the backside of the course I thought I caught a lucky break and found myself 4th wheel behind 3 BPG riders, (Perfect positioning given the circumstances). My luck ran out when the BPG rider on the front started soft pedaling going into the last corner, by the time I figured out what was going on I checked over both shoulders really quick and we were already getting swarmed. I was forced to hold my line and watch the soon to be podium finishers ride right by me. I coasted into the final turn, got out of the saddle on the final straight and held onto something like 17th place.

In summary, I was happy that so many guys showed up to race. We executed our plan perfectly throughout the race and showed that we were a dominant team. With this many guys I would have liked to see more organization in the final laps. There is still a lot of racing left in the season and I hope that the team can learn from the experiences and continue to improve. Congrats to the recently upgraded Cat 2's on finishing a tough race.

--
James

2008-05-18T14:39:00.000-07:00

Neil flew solo at Modesto Road Race and scored a nice top-5. Way to go. Below is his report.

Official Results
----------------------
Race: Modesto Road Race
Date: 5/18/2008
Temperature at finish: 100 degrees
Place: 4th out of 45ish
Category: P/1/2
Teammates: None

The day before the road race is the Downtown Modesto crit. With a start temperature of "only" 95 degrees. I was still pretty beat from being in the sun on Saturday. We were scheduled to do around 80 miles on a flat course that had plenty of turns and closed roads.

Daniel Holloway (VMG) showed, and BPG had a couple of guys. Chris Turner who has been having a pretty good year and is seemingly hitting some form (after helping lap the crit field the day before).

Rolling out in the high 70's at 8am. I wasn't sure anyone wanted to shoot off the front right away, but the attacks started soon enough.

My plan was to keep an eye on the heavy hitters and do my share of work in any break I might get in into. I ended up doing quite a bit of work throughout the day to bring back breaks and a few times I was in breaks.

I tried to get into three or four breaks, but they were not sticking. Most of the race seemed like a 3 hour crit, attack after attack -with all of them coming back.

On the 8th and last lap we skipped the feed zone and went heads down to catch the semi-break that was had been created four or five miles back.

After the break was caught McGuire went to the front and started controlling the pace of the peloton. We caught the 4's men with a mile to go and a few of them jumped into our race. The heat was starting to get to me and I was hoping I wasn't extremely sunburned.

I got caught up a little in the cluster and ended near the end of the peloton and had to make a few moves to get around to the front. The sprint was pretty intense and I dug in. I held on for fourth and Daniel got 1st.

An enjoyable day that was capped off by a very large burrito and a cerveza at a great little taqueria.

Thanks for Reading,
Neil

Panoche Valley RR Report

2008-05-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

Below is Bo's report from Panoche Road Race. This a great race, it's always hard and conditions are usually brutal--conditions Wholberg usually excels in. This year was no exception.

Official Results
---------------------------------------

Panoche Pass RR
P1/2
67 miles out and back.
3500 ft. of climbing
25 riders
May 18th, 2008

Bo Hebenstreit (9th), Tore

Well, guys. Let me tell you. It was b-r-u-t-a-l! Temperature estimates for day ranged from 95 degrees to 119 degrees depending on who's computer you looked at. Our 'lite' team consisted of Tore and Bo. The masterplan was to deliver Tore to the sprint where he would surely win! One thing we overlacked in planning, however, was Tore's complete lack of endurance. His typical weekly training being 3 hours of commute riding fortified with 14 bags of peanut M&M's.

Now to the exciting details: Five guys (including Nathaniel English (Z-Team), Eric W., and a BMC rider) got away in the first 1/3 of the race only to be seen very briefly at the turnaround. I screamed at them that it was a no-drop ride but they didn't hear with all the wind out there.

There were thirteen of us at the turnaround and by the last water zone climb there were five. Tore wilted in the heat leaving me to dominate at the finish. I was putting 850W for the last 2K but it just wasn't enough (just kidding). Due to the fact that I have absolutely no sprint I figured I would give a leadout for the other teams. This will be good practice for the next race when hopefully Tore will not get dropped and I can take him to the line.

Bo.

Berkeley Hills Race Report

2008-05-12T14:29:00.000-07:00

Below is a combined report from Bo and Tore. Sounded like another cracker of a race at BH.
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Berkeley Hills RR
11 May 2008
P 1/2
90miles
7300' elevation gain
Start List 65 riders
Webcor AV: Bo Hebenstreit 21st, Jono Coulter, Jeff Williams, Tore
Nauta

Winner: Nate English
2. Jesse Moore
3. Taylor Kuphaldt
4. Mike Sayers

I had bad memories of rain and/or pain racing Berkeley Hills in
previous years so I only decided to sign up a few days ago. It is so
much fun to race with the team I just could not keep myself from
going.

We had a quick meeting before the race and Tore volunteered to go out
in an early break. Within the first few miles Tore and seven others
were off the front. This was fine with me and I don't think anyone
else was complaining, we still had 90 miles to go.

Due to Tore being in the break I was able to relax, drink, eat and
enjoy the view for a while.

We had a total of five laps to race. There are two main climbs with a
few small climbs in between. The feed zone is half way up the last
and largest climb and the finish line is at the top.

Jeff and Jono were doing a fine job patrolling the front of the pack
and I was bringing up the rear. The first time passing through the
feed zone I had no problem moving up through the pack to get myself
up with Juno and Jeff for the screaming descent to follow. The pace
was quite tame being that most of the main teams were represented in
the break.

Jeff flatted on the first lap but was able to get it changed.
It took Jeff 31 minutes at threshold power to catch back on.

On the second lap riders started rolling off the front. It happened
that 1 and 2 rides at a time were getting off the front and joining
together up the road a ways. It still was early in the race and I
knew the first break had already ready put some significant time
on the pack so I thought to myself no big deal. WRONG! I guess a total
of eight more ended up getting away and were able to join the first
eight man break for a total of 16 off the front.

We rolled around for three more laps loosing riders every time we went
over the climbs.

On the fifth and final lap we started catching riders that had lost
contact with break. Unfortunately Tore was one of them but by time we
caught him the pack was down to 13 riders.

With about 8 miles to go the pack finally put the hammer down. I was
sitting near the back when it split into two groups. I made a few
feeble attempts to bring it back together but that was not happening.

The last time over the climbs we started to pass a few riders that
had fallen off the original 16 man break and the last 6 man break. It
was still the six of us going up the final climb to the finish line.
Approaching the finish line it was strung out. A few riders were in
front of me, that I was not going to catch, and a few riders were in
back of me that I didn't need to worry about. WRONG AGAIN! I looked
over my shoulder with a hundred meters to go and it looked like I was
okay to roll in to the finish but then people starting yelling from
the side of road saying "GO! GO!" I thought they were just being nice
but I turned around and there was a Giant Berry guy barreling down on
me trying to take my big 21st spot. I really did not want that to
happen in front of friends so I went a little harder and held him off
by a few feet. See photo.

I had a great time and thanks to Amy for feeding everyone today.

Great job Tore, Jeff and Jono!

Thanks for reading Bo,

Now read Tore's view from the front break!

My BHRR experience in a nutshell:

First part of the break was with eight guys working very well together
in a rotating pace line. After about 1.5 lap we were caught by the
chase group of eight. The pace was pretty fast and the motor told us
we had about 7 minutes on the pack.

I'm still not fit enough, which became pretty apparent at the end of
the third lap: fourteen of the group were simply riding away from me
on the first climb. Crossing the feed zone Amy saw that I got dropped
and she relayed my situation to the others (we didn't have radio). I
let myself drift back to the pack; after being in no-mans-land for
another lap, I was swallowed by Bo's group. In the last half lap they
picked up the pace while I was too knackered to follow.

Tore