NorCal Cycling News

Ruth Winder World’s fundraiser - August 5th, Sports Basement

The Winder family has a sizeable crew of youngsters to support - each of them incredibly gifted in their own unique and interesting pursuits and talents (personally, I think Fiona will be a rockstar one day, and Frederick a darkly comic writer).

The Winders have been ever-present in dirt, road, and track cycling - the entire family is a pleasure to see and cheer for at races.  Ruth has been selected for the World Championships this year - but the family has to fund the entirety of the trip to Italy.

Please consider joining with the East Bay community to send them off with a modest bit of help and encouragement at the low-key, but very fun Sports Basement event planned.  Cheers for any and all help to this good group of folks.
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Please join us at Sports Basement, Walnut Creek on Thursday August 5, 2010 to celebrate Ruth Winder’s journey to the Junior Track World Championships in Montichiari, Italy. 20% of all purchases made during the event will go directly to Ruth, and assist her in financing the trip and USA Cycling costs in order to represent the US (and our wonderful East Bay cycling community).

Additionally, there will be a raffle for two Sports Basement gift-certificates ($1 per ticket) and 100% of the proceeds will go directly to Ruth from the raffle. If you can’t make the event and would like to be included in the raffle, please contact me @ susannahbb@yahoo.com for details.

August 5th 6:30 - 9:00pm
Sportsbasement - Walnut Creek
1881 Ygnacio Valley Road
Walnut Creek

Host: Suzannah Breen
925 954-8085

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Score TIBCO Pro Team gear: complete LOOK bikes, team kits and more.

This Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the TIBCO Women’s Pro Cycling Team is holding its annual team gear garage sale in Los Altos. Get lightly used, professionally maintained, pro-level gear at better than pro-deal pricing.

• Awesome deals on LOOK frames and
  complete bikes, including Time Trial
  Frames/Bikes.
• All 2009 clothing is slashed 40%…pay in cash and receive 50% off!
• First come first served on limited edition
  2010 clothing!
• Amazing deals on all team issue clothing
  and equipment.. And it all supports a great
  cause!

Garage Sale Details:
Date: Saturday, July 17
Time: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Location: 1577 Fairway Drive, Los Altos, CA, 94024

For more info, contact: Patty@teamtibco.com or Linda Jackson actionlj@gmail.com

About Team TIBCO
The TIBCO Women’s Cycling Team is a professional cycling program devoted to fostering the success of elite women cyclists in national and international competition, with a focus on developing contenders for the Olympic Games through the team’s elite and development programs. The team also emphasizes joy in sport, fair play and dedication to excellence.

About Title Sponsor TIBCO Software Inc. www.TIBCO.com
TIBCO Software Inc. (NASDAQ:TIBX) provides enterprise software that helps companies achieve service-oriented architecture (SOA) and business process management (BPM) success. With over 3,000 customers, TIBCO has given leading organizations around the world better awareness and agility – what TIBCO calls The Power of Now®. To learn more, contact TIBCO at +1 650-846-1000.

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Back-to-back downtown criteriums. Take a moment to savor those words before we get into the nitty gritty of the weekend: back-to-back downtown criteriums.

Now to the racing itself. Saturday night we had the San Rafael Twilight. Great venue, deceptively hard race. On paper there is nothing special about the course, but in practice racers are left with nowhere to hide & no chance to recover. It is call your mommy and cry brutal.

While Hernando’s prognostications weren’t exactly spot on, there was still some damn fine racing to be seen. The big boys came down to a field sprint, with former CalBerry Ken Hanson of Team Type 1 taking the win in front of Rahsaan Bahati himself, with Steve Reaney wearing the stars & bars rounding out the podium. A break of four including Chris Jones of TT1 and Justin Fraga of Webcor/Alto Velo was away for a good chunk of the race, only getting pulled back with 4 to go. Now, I’m sure somebody who knows what they’re talking about can give a much better analysis than I can, so instead I’m going to take a minute to talk up Justin Fraga and the Webbies.

The guy has flown mostly under the radar this year, showing up at a couple crits to back up his boys in green but not showing that trademark fire and brimstone he can spew like nobody else. Frankly, I was wondering whether we’d see that side of him again, but after this weekend I feel confident saying that JFraga is back and itching to crush nuts. This is a great thing for Webcor and especially for their usual breakaway whore Rand Miller, since alone each of them rides like one person, but together they ride like six guys. Somebody explain that math. In any case, it was excellent to see Fraga pouring himself into that break Saturday night, and again on Sunday in Lodi. It’s guys like these who leave everything they’ve got out on the course who keep the races exciting. Now if only the greenies could find themselves a field sprinter…

The women’s race was all about Kat Carroll. She rode herself inside out, off the front solo for over half the race, ticking off lap after wicked lap as everybody wondered when the damn lap cards were going to come out. With only handful of laps to go, her gap came down from 20+ seconds to a measly eight, and it looked like all that work might have been in vain. With two to go and the gap still looking a bit shaky, PB & Co. teammate Hanan Alves-Hyde took a risk with the remaining seconds and went off the front, dangling like a carrot between Kat & the charging field. Only Mary Maroon from Touchstone Climbing followed, timing it perfectly to take second at the line. Hanan’s risk paid off for third place.

(Photo stolen from Bob Cullinan of www.CycleTo.com. More great photos at the site, go check it out.)

On Sunday we had Delta Velo’s Lodi CycleFest criterium. In its second year, this race has everything you could ask for: community support, huge prize purses, a super-cool downtown venue with a cobbled section, neutral support from Williams Wheels, great announcing, free food and beer for the racers, and a whole lot of heat. Unfortunately I missed a lot of the men’s race thanks to that free beer, but as mentioned above I saw JFraga in a break of 5 (including Ryan Parnes of Yahoo, JD Bergman of Clif Bar, and a Williams rider who I believe was dropped - apologies to those I couldn’t identify, put it in the comments & I will give you your credit). They were caught with not many to go, and another small break, including - you guessed it - Rand Miller, got away in the closing laps. A few guys made it back up to the final break before the end of the race, making a lead group of two TT1 riders and around eight singles. Team Type 1 doubled their luck for the weekend with another win.

Edit: Commenter Josh points out that I was remiss in not giving props to Rob “Hooptie” Evans for taking 2nd place on Sunday. He made the final break and manhandled the sprint while wearing borrowed, mismatched shoes and pedals. Why would he be riding that kind of frankenstein equipment, you ask? Apparently he lost shoe in Big Red, the Montano Velo/RH Villa/BPG/what are they now? party bus, while letting loose post-race on Saturday. Good on ya, Rob and apologies for the omission.

The women’s race was a battle of the titans, Maroon vs. Kachorek. After a flurry of attacks from Dolce Vita, Touchstone Climbing and Wells Fargo, Emily Kachorek of the Wells Fargo team re-entered the race after an early mishap that sent her from the back stretch to the neutral pit. She attacked shortly after getting back into the race, catching the field in a lull and taking one teammate with her.  Mary Maroon was the only rider able to bridge the gap, showing that her early-season dominance and selection to the Nature Valley Pro Ride was no fluke: Mary Maroon is the real deal. I will not be the least bit shocked if the proseys start calling on her soon. She’s got the talent, drive and heart to really make it.

Maroon and Kachorek rotated through and built their gap, dropping the second Wells rider in the process. Kate Landau from Third Pillar, Team Vegan rider Emily Thurston, Los Gatos’ Mary-Ellen Ash and Kate Ligler from Dolce Vita tried to bridge again and again, but there was no getting past Touchstone and Wells Fargo riders keeping the race in check. Ultimately, Maroon bested Kachorek in the sprint with Ash taking the field sprint for third.

Next up: the Watsonville, Colavita and Berkeley Bike Club criteriums.

This is going to be a quick one … so, let’s start out with some headlines:

San Rafael is gonna be packed!

If you’ve never been up to the northern territories to mix it up in this race … you’re really missing out on some fun. San Rafael puts on a pretty good show and the crowds are usually hip and deep into the scene ~ tossing out all kinds of love to the racers as they zoom up and down the overpriced hoochy town.

CalGiant is sending their freshly sprouted National Crit Champion, Steve Reaney.  He’s going to have to go against a few Bahati Foundation riders, as well as a very hungry and determined set of Yahooligans.  This is also the event that launched McGuire Cycling’s Randy Bramblett on to the map a couple years back … so look for Brambles and his teammate Sterling Magnell to be up there and doing their best to smash and dash to the line.

Another crew to look out for to grab the win will be the Williams Wheels contingent - Daniel Ramsey is back from injury and he’s going to be joined by a slew of quadrisauruses like the brothers Gritters, Wiscovitch & bigbadBobNewman.  These fellas are aching for a big NorCal win.

And who knows if the enigmatic Danny Holloway will be there … but if he is ~ place money on him for the big V.
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The women’s field will be contested with lighter than usual squads from PeanutButter&Co and TIBCO - but all the rest of the NorCal regulars will be there and very much in the action.  3rd Pillar’s Martina Patella has put together a string of top placings these past few weeks … so, she is a very strong darkhorse pick for the win.  Another rider to watch is Los Gatos’ Mary-Ellen Ash, as she’s been moving up in the rankings on each field sprint over the past month - and she always gets a big win during a season.

But if there’s a breakaway … you’ll likely see PB’s Olivia Dillon in it.  The woman is on a tear this year, a true breakout season for the Irish woman.  She raced very well at Fitchburg last week and if she has recovered from all her travel recently - look for her to crush away from the field late and cross the line solo.
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Lodi, Lodi, Lodi!

This town really turns out the style for their criterium.  It’s an incredibly pleasant downtown area … so, definitely check it out if you’ve never been there.  The Michael David Winery is putting on a great show for the racers and townfolk ~ you will not want to miss this event.

The Lodi Crit is a sufferfest that you actually enjoy putting yourself through.  Sick.
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Downieville calling

Oh … how I wish I could race this event.  Downieville is one of the classics of NorCal mountain biking and a better party on dirt you’ll never find. There’s so much to talk about with this event … that I reckon I’ll just shut my trap now ‘cuz I’m out of time and needing more of it to do the race any kind of justice.

Just check it out sometime soon … and remember you can ride those trails even if there’s no racing.  Make a weekend getaway memorable.
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Too much to do, not enough umpf to get ‘er done.  Hope to see ya’ll out there on bikes.  Soak it up, friends.  The world needs more people on bikes.  So, ambassador yo’selves out there and convert some masses.
~m

world of suck … on video

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Blogging for SFGate.com next week

sigh …

Next week I’ll be adding some Norcal race coverage to the SFGate.com’s new bike blog. So, if you’ve got quotes or pictures you’d like included in articles, please shoot them over to me via the interwebs … pedalhome(at)hotmail.com.

Road, Dirt, and Track coverage will be tossed into the blog as we try to increase media exposure for our athletes, teams, sponsors and race organizers.

… so thanks for sending me info to include!

have a great weekend and apologies for the crappy vidpost.
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Nationals dominated by West Coast Mafia

There are two teams that took center stage for this past weekend of racing - the PeanutButter Jammin’ ladies and the hardmen of California Giant Berries.  These two teams are excellent example programs for other outfits around the nation to look at and draw inspiration from.

CalGiant Berries is, hands down, the best amateur racing program in the United States … maybe ever.  The team, led for over 10 years now by Anthony Gallino, has invested in promoting riders into the professional ranks, consistently spread resources to Norcal grassroots events, and engaged in targeted sponsorship of many critical US national level events.

The success stories of this year’s National Championships were perfect encapsulations of the Berry program’s goals and investments.  Andrew Talansky won the U23 time trial championship, and in doing so, posted the fastest overall TT time of the event. It was soon thereafter announced that CalGiant would be promoting another rider to the professional ranks, as Jonathan Vaughters of the Garmin-Transitions team signed Talansky to a 3-year deal beginning Jan 1, 2011.  Talansky will finish out the 2010 season with the Berries … and there will be few happier than team owner Gallino in seeing another of his prospects picked up by a professional squad.

With the TT title now in the hands of CalGiant - that makes this team owners of TT, road race, and criterium national championships over the years.  Add to these titles the many cyclocross championships they’ve won - and you get a testament to the amazing talent, depth, and diversity of this program.

A fitting reward for years of work and suffering was the crowning of Steve Reaney as the 2010 National Criterium Champion.  All of us who have raced with Steve up and down the state have known that this was a title he was destined to win - but, it is very, very sweet to finally see him grab that brass ring.

Reaney teamed up with Jared Barrileaux to smashmouth this year’s Natz Crit … much like Reaney and Ken Hanson did for the win a couple years back.   They were able to overcome a strong challenge from Yahoo cycling and the many other teams from around the nation to secure another title for the Berry mantle.

There was talk of Reaney “retiring” after this year’s racing … but, thankfully that stars and bars jersey will reinvigorate the hardman and he’ll be out there showing our region proud in 2011.  As it should be.
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PeanutButter squashes

This transition has been brewing for a few months now … but, the 2010 US Nationals has shown that the Peanut Butter & Co program has turned a corner and shifted into overdrive.  The change in … confidence was evident the first few weeks after world champion Kristen Armstrong joined the team as Director.  And ever since her addition, the team has gained momentum … breaking into a full gallop now and heading full steam towards becoming the premier women’s professional cycling team in the United States.

The HTC-Columbia team is a better funded program, drawing in strength from a large international pool of riders - but the homegrown talents of PeanutButter and the fierce dedication of the riders to each other and the success of the program have them stalking HTC’s top ranking and hungry to overtake them … soon.

Winning 2010 national titles for the PeanutButter jammers were:

Mara Abbott - road race
Sinead Miller - road race & time trial (u-23)
Shelley Evans (Olds) - criterium
Coryn Rivera - time trial, road race & criterium (Juniors)
Olivia Dillon - road race & time trial (Ireland)

Also racing extremely well with to-10 performances were Kat Carroll, Lauren Tamayo, and Ruth Winder.

With these phenomenal results - this program is now poised to draw in more advertising dollars as businesses will see the trajectory of success and media exposure strongly evidenced by the team.

Manager Nicola Cranmer has bled sweat and hammered hard against the wall of a male-dominated cycling industry and media pool … and her dedication and fortitude have begun to wear down the nay-sayers and toss aside all road blocks.

The 2011 season will require more work, more sacrifice - but this team is ready … and hungry for it.
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And Newz from the homefront…

The Chico Stage Race results aren’t up yet - but I know that the Women’s elite road race was won by Susannah Breen of Wells Fargo.  The Wells Fargo women put on a brave display of attacking to try and overpower the time trailing champion, Molly Van Houweling.

MVH had to put in a solid 60 minutes of chasing in the epic 90 mile road race to regain contact with the Wells Fargo driven breakaway attempt of Breen and Cody Graf.  And it would be Breen sprinting to the win for her first victory of the year and showing she will be a serious factor in the upcoming climbing events of the Cal Cup season.

But MVH would put in an afterburner time trial effort and fend off all-comers in the criterium to secure another stage race title for her impressive 2010 season. Kudos.

The Burlingame Criterium was won by 3rd Pillar’s Martina Patella, just over the Los Gatos firecracker Mary Ellen Ash and consistently powerful Laurie Furman of IPass.  These women are showing improving form as the summer sets in, and as the professional teams of PB&Co, TIBCO, and Vera Bradley begin the arduous travels of NRC and UCI event chasing - we will see a lot of chances for the regional squads like 3rd Pillar, Los Gatos, Metromint, Touchstone Climbing, Dolce Vita, IPass, and Wells Fargo gaining more podium exposure.  Should be a great summer.

The men’s elite Burlingame event was won by Greg Pattison, following up on his field sprint victory at the Pacific Grove Butterfly Crit.  A pure sprinter, Pattison has shown some fierce kicks these past few weeks and it will be interesting to see if he will be able to withstand the heat and hill of the District Championships set for Vacaville in late August.   But, it’s hard to think that Vacaville won’t be anything other than a ground-shaking battle of titans between the Yahooligans and CalGiant.

Don’t miss that show!
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Correct yo’self

Got a decent bit of keyboard lashing for my inaccurate reflections of Tour d’ Nez happenings in yesterday’s post … so, needed to voice a few words in response.
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Also got jibed for not editing in pictures to the vids, having a crap backdrop, and for being incomprehensibly idiotic.

… what ya gonna do.  I’m lazy.

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Nationals Now!

Today there are quite a few Junior USA criterium champ jerseys up for grabs … with tomorrow being the big TT day.  The Time Trial fields are stacked this year and there will be a lot of NorCal hopefuls digging deep into the cave to try and dig up some treasure.

Luck to all!

My pics are for both Cal Giant and the Yahooligans to put in stellar performances all week long.  We’ve seen a huge turn of speed recently from Cal Giant’s Jesse Moore … but, bighit Phil Mooney is going to be a thrusterbuster at the Natz TT this year and I hope to see both at the top end of the results.

Updates as soon as possible.  See you ’round the ’bout.
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