Rohnert Park Crit – P/1/2: 6th Place

P/1/2
Team: Aaron, Angelo & Jan
Place: 6th (Jan)
Course: Slightly undulating with gusty winds: 1.2 mile office park

The race got under way slowly but ramped up quickly. We had to do 75
min. Because of the wind, length of course and number of turns/curves a breakaway was bound to happen (almost every race before us was won in a break). After several attempts by us and others, one finally stuck and I think it was around 20 min into the race. Prior to that, we were all near the front taking turns going in breaks, but just missed this one that went away. Angelo tried to bridge up but the break was working too well together (Joel, Rand Miller, 2 other guys, one of which eventually got dropped). Angelo recalls, “I tried to bridge and they were almost instantly out of sight, after 2 solo laps I was back in the pack for some recovery.” So we tried with others to try and bring them back but no one was working well together at all. Jan tried several times to bridge and have some people come with him but it all got chased down by the pack. Angelo and Aaron continued covering attacks/bridge attempts. Jan finally made a move that stuck, “Then I (Jan) found myself on the front of the pack and I was like WTF so I attacked ala sprint and took a huge flier. Two guys came with me. So we started rotating well and got a great gap.” The break away had 45sec-1 min on Jan’s chase group, which eventually picked up the guy that was originally in the main breakaway and the 4 of them worked great together. So 3 up the road and Jan’s group of 4 chasing hard. With 40 sec or more on the pack this chase group was looking great. Jan’s group did not catch the main break, so they were racing for 4th. One rider attacked hard, Jan reacted and took 3rd in his group (6th overall).

We raced well today and we had fun. Granted, we should have been in that first group, but we are learning and getting better….

The (not-so) bad news of the day is that Jan’s placing earned us a box of Clif Bars, the winner got a case of beer. Personally, I (Angelo) think Jan should have rode harder and won us some beer.

Photo Credit: Mark Nakamura

Squadra 3’s Were ON Last Weekend: 1st, 6th, 7th, another 7th and 8th.

Photo courtesy Rozel Tupaz, Team Luzvimin

Not sure what to say really…Our Cat 3 team had a stellar weekend with 5 top tens in just 2 races. Gotta love it when your team is working well together.

Here’s Gabe’s write-up from the weekend (btw – he just came off of a 4th place the weekend before!)

Santa Rosa Crit:
We had Dino, Murat, and myself (Gabe). Fusion had five guys there, some San Jose team team had a handful of guys as well. Having Murat there made all the difference. Instead of covering breaks and trying to figure out which to chase down, I could could concentrate on position, save energy, and watch the other teams chase Murat around. There was a good headwind coming through the start finish so I made a note to come out of the last corner in maybe 3rd wheel. Fusion was super active as usual and with 1.5 to go lined up their whole team and drilled it. There was some pushing about to get on the train and I got the sweet spot as caboose. With half a lap to go Fusion had four guys left and Murat came up next to us. I let Murat slide in front of
me, one fusion guy swung off before the last corner. We were going pretty fast so I up-shifted going into the corner which I usually never do. Coming out of the corner the fusion guys spread out a bit and were all in front of me. I clicked it one more up, stuck my chin low and jumped, got it by a bike length. Dino pulled in for 6th and Murat 7th. Totally my kind of sprint, stretched out field, wide
open, and fast.

Livermoore Crit:
This time we had Dino, Eric, Matt, and myself. This was Jr. Championship Crit so there was ton of those little guys in the field. It was super windy and it was pretty funny watching these eighty pound guys just giving it their all into the head wind while the elite’s cruised comfortably. For the first few laps breaks went and came back, six or so laps in I got into a break of around five but there wasn’t much team representation and we weren’t getting it together. I sat up a bit and another break went with Dino. For the rest of the race Squadra did a kick ass job controlling the field. Although it was pretty easy, other teams with guys in the break were happy just to let us do the work. The break got out of sight and they even cought our tail end as we came across the finish. Dino pulled 7th and I won the field sprint for 8th.

A great day for the team. (Yes, this was all done on Saturday)

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Throwing Down Watts in Rhode Island

Lloyd Ranola’s on vacation in Rhode Island…he brought his bike and his A-game with. Here’s his report from the East Coast:

I brought my bike on vacation w/ me like I’ve done in years past. This week though, rather than bringing the bike to train, all my riding was planned to be spontaneous, and a bit of a break from the training and racing I’ve done so far this year. Vacation riding, with no ‘epic’ rides planned either. But throwing in a local group ride sounded like a good idea too. So I checked out the calendar for this area, and it turns out NEBRA (New England Bicycle Racing Assoc.) has a pretty busy little calendar with crits as early as the 1st week of March, every weekend, and often double booked just like our calendar. So, with the exception of winter base training on the bike, they’re just a month behind our calendar. Basically, another good part of the country for bike racing.

Knowing I didn’t have time on the weekends to do any local races, I stumbled upon a weekly training criterium. The course is in the middle of a large park/recreational space called Ninigret Park in Charlestown R.I. where on an old airstrip, they built a 9/10th of a mile paved course specifically for criterium racing.. imagine that? well here’s a POV video I found of the course (funny thing, a team Spine rider shows up a few minutes into it)

There’s an A and B race. B is cat 4/5.A-race is open to Cat 1,2,3 and 4. It’s $8 bucks to enter, and the promoter is super cool. Lot’s of beer and coffee primes. When I got there I chatted up a few guys and they said usually the race is about 60 to 70 riders, mostly cat 2 and 3. Local regular ‘fast guys’ include Mark McCormack (ex Saturn Pro, now Team Fuji/Clif Bar). I asked if breaks stay away, they said it’s about 50/50. Excited about the fast race, I didn’t even bother w/ the Cat 4/5 race, but sat in a few laps to warm up and get used to the course… well unfortunately, the weather sucked (cold and damp), and only 30 riders howed up for the A race.

Once we got rolling.. it was a hour long race. And right from the gun riders attacked. Not knowing this field at all, I followed every threatening looking break for the 1st 20 min or so. That hurt. Plus, they didn’t know me for at all, so I didn’t want to be a lazy *ss, and took my share of pulls to show I was willing to play. Single file racing was a hoot but I’m used to 40 minutes of sitting in til the finish, so my back was starting to kill me (need core work!). Everyone’s bike handling was great out there too.

With 8 laps to go, I stopped playing in the wind knowing there had been some guys now sitting for an end result (there were lot’s of 12 packs of beer and prizes the top 5 finishers). They didn’t like the cat and mouse too much with me pulling off quickly when I got to the front, but I wanted to save some legs (guys were like “pull threw” in their New England accents). Last 3 laps, the teams started to do their lead outs.. great racing. Last lap a couple guys go for it. They stuck it for 1st and 2nd.It’s a field sprint for 3rd, and I get schooled on the long head wind sprint for sixth of that group, finishing 8th place.

That was easily some of the funnest training/racing I’ve done. It’s like the Port ride, only organized with prizes (and no semi-trucks). And w/o the ‘real’ fast guys showing up.. I’m sure it was slower than the Port, but no where to hide, and much much faster than any Cat 4 races I’ve done too. I thanked the promoter, and he thanked me for showing up..
.. damn good time!

Bicycles Plus/Sierra Nevada Criterium (Folsom Crit)

Folsom Criterium
PRO/1/2
Team: Angelo, Carmi & Jan

The day started off with a LONG & SLOW car ride up to Folsom, CA…at one point we wondered if we would get there in time for our race at 4, but luckily we made it with time to spare…phew.

The field wasn’t too big, but the race was still pretty fast. Carmi covered a lot of breaks which meant Angelo and Jan just sat in. Then Angelo and Jan moved up and covered a bunch of break attempts. There a couple big guns in our field, Mike Sayers and Chad Gerlach. If one of these guys were in a break, the entire field felt compelled to bring it back in, so nothing seemed to stick.

Coming into the last 5 laps the three of us were in good position and we were all feeling pretty good. The pace was good and coming into the last lap at the start/finish line Carmi brought Jan and Angelo up to the front. It was two Wells Fargo guys in front of Jan, Angelo, Chad Gerlach, Mike Sayers and Dan Martin on our right. Perfect! Sayers went with Chad on his wheel and Jan on Chad’s wheel. We took the turn hard and fast. Sayers got up to sprint and Chad after him. Jan waited just a bit and then started his sprint. Once Jan shifted once more (into his after burner) he passed Chad and crossed the line in 2nd place a wheel down from Sayers.

What a great race. Our team work was amazing. We had this one down perfect and it worked to our advantage. Not bad for a team of three for the day. This was an awesome result and a good team effort.

We expect more results like this to come soon!

Unfortunately, the race promoters did not do any sort of podium shots, so this is all we have of the 2nd place finisher.

Tough Weekend at Wente Vineyards

Last weekend, we sent a number of riders out to Livermore, CA for the Wente Vineyards Road Race and Criterium.

All of our internal race recaps had a similar theme…BRUTAL Road Race and Windy Criterium!

The road race was set on a 15 mile loop that incorporated hills, rollers, wind and a flat section that was typically strung out at top speed.

The criterium took place on Sunday and was a 1.2 mile pancake flat, wide and smooth pavement course that is littered with Botts Dots and plenty of turns and curves.

Top Sportgenic Squadra Ovest Finishers
- David “Dino” Acri worked hard with his Category 3 teammates to get 6th in a close quarters sprint during Sunday’s Cat 3 criterium.

Here are a few pictures I was able to scrounge up from the weekend and video of the Cat 3 race:

Angelo DiGiovine

Aaron

Angelo
Lloyd Ranola in the pain cave

Wente Criterium 2009 from Lloyd ranola on Vimeo.