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Timpani Category 3 WIN!!
Posted on August 11th, 2009 No commentsGabriel 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. -
Squadra 3’s Were ON Last Weekend: 1st, 6th, 7th, another 7th and 8th.
Posted on June 1st, 2009 No comments
Photo courtesy Rozel Tupaz, Team LuzviminNot 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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Squadra Ovest
- @lloydman pulling hard: http://ht.ly/2qttx
- Dan Tedford ripping a corner at the Suisun Crit: http://ht.ly/2qts3
- Eric 4th in E4s!. Murat and Ian 4th and 5th in 3s! Masters and Pro race up next.
