Sans February Tour d’ Cali … NorCal Spring a lil’ less lustrous
Sans February Tour d’ Cali … NorCal Spring a lil’ less lustrous
I have to admit ~ I miss seeing all the US pro teams storming the early season here in NorCal. With the Tour of Cali moving to May in search of tanning beds and tubetops, and the NRC now vastly reduced in number of events and none of them in our region ~ the spring NorCal classics, which used to field dozens of men and women from Ameri-pro teams, have been reduced to locals-only slugfests.
I guess it’s not all bad … as it gives new teams a chance to gel and squash, and offers young riders opportunity to pick up some memorable results that might lead to things bigger and better in their hoped-for careers. But one thing the NorCal has a bad reputation for is … not giving the rest of the nation much idea or evidence of the glory and characters that speckle and sprout from our home region events.
Our promoters don’t get publicized in Cyclingnews or Velonews very often … though we sometimes do have local newspapers covering the races as best their ballsport-oriented sports reporters are able.
But to get into CN or VN … you need to do the work of submitting - and it’s pretty damn draining just putting on an event, let alone slogging through all the publicity work afterwards.
It’s a shame - but, it is what it is.
And so, with Cherry Pie this weekend ~ we got to see the new Yahooligans running rampant over the NorCal 12-cent dreamers, something fierce. But we also got to see the continuing rise of one of the young barnstormers of our region … Chris Stastny. The Staz is riding for the GiantStrawberries this year, and I say kudos for Gallino picking up another young talent to showcase to the nation.
CalGiant has been supporting men&women racers, events, and organizations of cycling in the US for over a decade. And they have become THE premier men’s amateur cycling team contesting NRC and pro-am events. Kudos to this program ~ and here’s hoping for another year of putting in the work.
It is appreciated by the fans and afficianados.
.
Cherry Pie also gave us a good look at how the TIBCO train will be rocking this year. Alison Starnes and Meg Guarnier crushed a leadout like they were doing the Spectrum ride … and Brooke Miller gave it the coup de grace with an eye-popping sprint to smashingly nab another win in NorCal.
But forcing notice were the riding of U-23 talents Lauren Hecht and Lindsey Myers. These two young beasts continue to make their way up in the ranks of development and will undoubtedly be pushing pedals in high profile events soon.
Right on.
But the season has just begun ~ and now we move on to the Fresno madness … Pine-notso-Flat, Dinuba, and maybe even the Cantua Creek cowpoocrossings.
Wish Horner were here again …
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February 8th, 2010 at
Great reporting — love the updates! I’d rather here this stuff than what’s on VN or CN any day.
February 8th, 2010 at
Horner may not be around, but we still have the stars out around here in NorCal. Cadel Evans (In WC jersey)was spotted by my buddy Dave out training on Canada Road by Crystal Springs with the BMC Team car in follow today.
February 8th, 2010 at
@TheStaz is crushing it. He drives to Davis multiple times a week just to make me hurt.
February 8th, 2010 at
Props to the Yahoo!’s that took down Goliath.
February 8th, 2010 at
By Goliath I guess you mean the three kickass CG guns that almost spoiled the day for 12 Yahoos? Or would it be the two “pros” in the field that did not factor in?
February 8th, 2010 at
You are all dicks.
February 8th, 2010 at
Why is pro in quotations? I also counted 5 berries in the field and it looked like most people minus the team with the most to prove were just enjoying a training race. Thanks for the sarcasm though.
February 9th, 2010 at
Ummm, first off, there were more than 3 CG guys in the race. I can name 4 already. Almost spoiled the day…I dunno, didn’t look like it was very close there at the finish. Judging by the looks of the race it seemed like they had that race pretty under control.
However, I was not happy at all with the way Talansky from CG conducted himself after the race. I heard he was bad mouthing the entire Yahoo team during and post race. Makes Cal Giant and himself look bad.
February 9th, 2010 at
I saw the Yahoo guys act up. Then I saw the Cal Giant guys act up. Then it was Yahoo. Then it was Cal Giant. But it really got out of hand when some Google search engine started to mix it up with some Healthy Choice Pre-Mixed Specialty Salad. It was out of control.
February 9th, 2010 at
Five berries? You were cross-eyed. I counted 3, but does it really matter against 12? The old days are back Hernandez! People are wound up about gay bike racing! Multiple Anon comments about Yahoo up the Wazoo. What more could you wish for? It is great. Klein has a team of racers that will race just like he does! “Do as I say boys and great things are in you future - trust me”….
Keep up the good work Mike - seriously, you are missed and appreciated.
February 9th, 2010 at
Andrew Talansky
Chris Stasny
Brandon Trafton
Tyler Brandt
Thats 4 right there
February 9th, 2010 at
give credit where credit is do, yahoos had the best team, I don’t think it matters how many cg guys were there, there crit team isn’t good anyway! All there good crit riders are on Yahoo
February 9th, 2010 at
I aggree CalGiant’s crit squad sucks now. They will not win 1 crit all year.
February 9th, 2010 at
Not even this one?
http://www.dgcycling.com/cm/PDFs/NCC09_EliteMen.pdf
February 9th, 2010 at
Oh schnap!!
February 9th, 2010 at
CG’s Steve Reaney will ride circles around Yahoo (if CG can ever swallow their pride and ride for the best crit rider on their team.) I can’t wait to start racing, the Yahoo/CG rivalry will make for some epic battles. Throw in a sprinkle of Gerlach, a touch of BJM/Holla/ScottyZ…and ditch the radios. 2010 is gonna be a good one in Nor Cal.
February 9th, 2010 at
Andrew Talansky
Chris Stasny
Brandon Trafton
Tyler Brandt
Best thing? All young enough to be John Hunt’s kids. Maybe even grandkids…
February 9th, 2010 at
John Hunt eats the young … it’s how he stays so f’ing fast
February 10th, 2010 at
New (and obnoxiously long) race report up on Yahooligan’s site with a marquee that says “Undefeated”. Fuel to the fire. This is gonna be a fun year.
February 10th, 2010 at
Did someone really say that Cherry Pie was a training race? I hope that was just a poor attempt at humor.
Additionally, maybe CG is just playing their JV squad right now and saving the real contenders for another day?
February 11th, 2010 at
Well, with 80% of the field at Cantua Creek & Pine Flat, they will likely remain undefeated another week. What are they gonna do with all them t-shirts?
February 12th, 2010 at
I predict back to back Klein top 10’s.