Timpani Category 3 WIN!!

Gabriel Byrne pulls off a huge sprint to take the win at the Timpani Criterium in Santa Clara, CA.

Here’s his recap:

Friday and Saturday I was camping out and moumtain biking in Downieville, so much fun but came back early so I could race this crit. I almost didn’t make it, for some reason I had it in my head that my race was at 2pm. (Note from editor: Always prepare by knowing WHEN your race is!!!) I had a leisurely breakfast, hang out with the dog, around 10:30 I start thinking I better check where this race is… Oh Crap! It’s at 11:45! Threw my stuff in the car, dammit, need to change over to the cork pads real quick, hit every red light in the city between the Presidio and 101. C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, let’s go!

At 11:35 I was still a bit away and I was very close to saying screw it and just go to the beach. Got there at 11:45 and luckily they were running late. I had just enough time to throw on the kit, my girlfriend pins my number (all loose and
flappy) and I rolled up to the start just in time.

After that the race itself was pretty uneventful. A non-technical course, which is not my favorite thing. At the gun I went straight through the field to get up to 3rd wheel by corner 1. My legs felt real funky for the first few laps, a few days of using different muscles downhilling on the mt. bike, plus absolutely no warmup. I just hung out in the top 10, no serious attacks went. There was one crash, but I didn’t see at all. With 3 to go one of those really ugly sounding pile-ups
happened right next to me. They were all gone the next time we came around, so thankfully there were no broken bones.

At the bell lap I was sitting 3rd wheel and someone attacked hard. A surge came up
the right while the guys I was behind slowed a bit, I squeezed through a hole to get 4th wheel. On the backside two guys counter attacked, by then I was second wheel. The guy in front of me was loosing steam, so I came around him and closed in on one of the attackers. At the second to last corner I passed that guy, caught the final guy, upshifted and dove into the corner and out of the saddle. Looks like a looooong way to that blue tent, halfway there, chin in front of the stem, upshift one more time. Amazing, I’m going to get it. So stoked. Passed the line with a big smile.

The Bikes of Squadra Ovest

Most of us roll on some pretty hot bikes. Our team sponsor Ridley Bikes makes some amazing bikes and we have several of these puppies transferring our power into pure speed.

Which Ridley bikes do we rock? The beauty of Ridley’s line up is that several of their bikes are suitable for top-level racing, unlike some other frame builders. Therefore, you’ll see us out on the road racing and training on 2009 & 2008 Noah’s, Damocles, Excaliburs, Orions. Outside of pure road machines, we also have a Dean Time Trial bike and an X-Fire cyclocross bike.

Here are a few of our race machines…keep an eye on the blog for more pictures over the next few weeks.

Dino’s Noah