NorCal Cycling News

San Dimas drama

One look at Mara Abbott and there’s an indication that this is a woman who wants to go uphill … fast.  The new recruit for the PBdozen indicated in a recent Cyclingnews article that it’s the ability to remain grounded to home&community and inclusion on a squad that allows for individual quirkdom that she found attractive in the offer from her new team.

If there’s one thing that M’Abbott can do ~ it’s give a powerfully good interview.  She’s press savvy in a way that makes you want to cheer for her not only as a quality racer, but also as a plain ‘ole coolio cat from the homestead.
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InaT the Barbarian went into the San Dimas Stage Race’s final criterium down about 90 seconds on Mara Abbott.  Abbott’s team had slaved themselves like Spartacans the day before to protect her GC lead over the grueling, hot and dirty circuit race that ensnares itself around corporate parking lots and crawls over the mini-mansion’d hills of north Los Angeles.  Team Vera Bradley’s Alexis Rhodes was a rockstar off the front all day long, punishing herself enough to get a solid hold on the sprinter’s jersey and throwing her new team on to the national map in their first outing of the year.  And it was very cool to see Colavita-Bici get their first win of the season early with the fine sprinting form of Kelly Benjamin.  Everybody played out there on the day.

But this race was a battle between the youth and ambition of the PB&Js vs the experience and devouring desire of HTC’s Ina Tuetenberg.  What a show, what a show.  And to say that San Dimas set up an incredibly fascinating Redlands Stage Race this weekend is an understatement, indeed.  Ina showed not only her tenacity and fitness, but also gave a textbook display on tactical ability.  She waited until halfway through the criterium … working with her teammate Evelyn Stevens to scare the PB&J’s into burning themselves up early with high tempo and sprint efforts to protect Abbott’s lead against time bonuses

… and then the Ina struck.

Anyone who has seen this woman race knows she has an acceleration that claps like a thundergod.  She can explode a race in 5 pedalstrokes … and her many years of racing against the best have taught her not only how to use that power, but when.  TIBCO’s Meredith Miller, Vera Bradley’s Robin Farina, and Colavita-Bici’s Carmen Small joined her in the move, but it would be Ina going solo for the final 4 laps that would give her the win in the crit, and take away the GC from Abbott.   What a race.

The young PBdozen will take a great lesson from San Dimas … with nothing to hang heads about when one of the best cyclists in the world just plain whoops you.
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Bariani RR … now that’s racing

The women’s field at Bariani was packed with good strong teams and every single one of them amp’d and willing to launch off the front of the race.  From lap 1 on, the teams were sending riders out on the attack, the speeds of the peloton shedding riders every few miles like a good sufferfest should.

It was Metromint, Touchstone, ThirdPillar, and WellsFargo who were the strongest teams in effect … and each had their heroines mashing and bashing to set something up for a winning effort.  Molly Van Houweling was the day’s crusher … off the front for most the 2nd half of the race in move after move … especially impressive since she’d done a time trial that morning as warmup (yoinks! that’s fitness, folks).

But it would be individual riders who would have big impressions upon the race.  TIBCO’s Alison Starnes would be in her 2nd race of the day @ Bariani … and at the front of the field in critical moments ~ inspiring the others to chase or accompany her as much as possible.  The weekend was good experience for the young Starnes ~ as it is an entirely different race when you’ve got a bigger’n life bulls-eye on your back as a legitimate pro in a regional race.  There is a lot of responsibility put on the shoulders of a rider like that … and it’s good to see that Starnes is on her way to learning how to conduct herself like a pro and accept graciously the heavier burden of racing with all eyes on you.  It makes a rider stronger, and it makes them smarter.

Another individual impacting the race was the Iron-trigeek Tyler Stewart.  She would do a yeoman’s amount of work in chasing down break after break … not yet experienced enough in road racing tactics to know how to get separation from a pack before laying down the power of a burner effort, and absolutely crackers when it comes to knowing how to conduct herself in a field sprint.  But hopefully she’ll get more races under her belt and see the beauty of a real sport.

But it was the V12-engine block of Touchstone Climbing’s Marley Smith who would surprise all and shatter dreams with a final solo acceleration over the KOM as the field was closing in on yet another breakaway attempt led by Molly Van Houweling.  Smith would power a massive gear across the plateau, a dramatic display of determination before swinging left and dropping into the rolling, drag-race finishing 500 meters.  She would take the race with seconds to spare as the field galloped in behind.

Wells Fargo’s Emily Kachorek would take the field sprint, just in front of the developing road rider, Beth Newell.  This was a weekend that would see Kachorek showing again that she is a racer very much rising to the top of the class amongst NorCal road riders.  Kachorek displayed consistent sprinting prowess, an uncanny ability to position herself well in the field, determination and grit to follow and initiate attacks, and a tremendous amount of racing fitness.  This is a quality rider and I hope to see her on top of the Best All-Around standings in the NCNCA soon.

Hard fought win in Bariani … showing this is going to be a tremendous season in NorCal racing.  Can’t wait, can’t wait.

Flickr pictures of &

Landpark Criterium thoughts coming up…