NorCal Cycling News

Peter’n out n’ Prognostications

Phil Mooney sent me a Facebook message that I had to get my shit together and make some noise about the upcoming 2010 CalCup Series.  The CalCup Series is the most hard-fought, small pond-prestigious bunch of races on the NorCal pedaling calendar.  The events are diverse, challenging, and superstocked with physically talented and wickedly crafty riders ready to rip each others’ legs off and spit in any eye they can find.

First up is the Warnerville TT on Saturday, followed up by the old-standard … Patterson Pass Road Race.  After that, each week that swings around will toss new twists and turns for the all-arounders and strong teams to strategize about and dramatize over to see who will come out on top and claim a silvery tin CalCup title to imagine on a mantel.  The p1/2 man and woman who manage to somehow come out on top and take the overall series may spend more than $300 in entries, a few more hundred in hotels, and another stack of bills to cover rising gas prices to win … a couple t-shirts and a c-note.

And maybe some bragging rights.

I know it’s difficult to produce prize-lists for races … trust me, i know.  But wouldn’t it be grand if we could support young and aspiring racers somehow?  Perhaps reduced fees for u-25 racers?

sigh.
-

Anyway … predictions:

For the Warnerville TT ~ the obvious top-enders are Mooney, Moore, and Molly.  Yahoo’s Phil Mooney wants some revenge after getting it handed to him by the Giant Berry, Jesse ‘da coach’ Moore at the Sattley NorCal/Nevada TT Championships back in June.  But another darkhorse … or perhaps darkHOUSE since he’s as big as one … is the other yahooligan who can storm the bars ~ Ryan Parnes.  Don’t know what kind of speed Parnes has in the burners right now - but something tingles in the back of my biscuits about him getting a good result on Saturday.

For the women, it’s MVH all the way. Molly Van Houweling is a consistent, disciplined avataress of the tt bike.  She’ll have good competition from Jane Despas - but, MVH is a solid favorite for winning the first CalCup event this weekend.

As for the Patterson Pass Road Race … it’s going to be a team battle on the men’s side.  We’ll see if CalGiant sends any/all of their guns out to put Moore in a good position to fight off the Yahooligan onslaught.  Zteam’s Nate English will be back out breaking the table again and trying not to get stuck behind the tactical 8-ball … good lord, let’s hope that guy can get a win against the bigger teams at least once this year.

It’ll be interesting to see who can withstand the heat, the miles, and the team tactics to nab a victory out at Patterson Pass.  It’s tough to say it’ll be anyone but a yahoo boy … but, maybe Ozzie Olmos will come out and sneak in a big result.

And for the women???   We’ll see if any pro riders slide in with some day-of registrations  … but the hot favorites right now are Touchstone’s Mary Maroon and Wells Fargo’s Susannah Breen.  Breen was 3rd last year and looks ready for more, and Maroon is fresh off a convincing win at the Timpani Criterium last weekend and pretty much been the dominatrix of the NorCal racing scene this year.

mmm … Maroon the dominatrix.
- - -

Goodbye to all that

So ~ i haven’t been writing on this site much at all of late.  I suppose there’s a bit of burnout, a smidge of time crunch, and a salad toss of other things I’ve got on my plate to spend time on.  From pleasure reading, to riding, to just getting away from the internets … any time not spent on the job just doesn’t feel like time needing to be spent on another job that just don’t pay.  I haven’t started writing for the SFGate’s biker blog for same such reasons … i’m just being selfish i guess.  But it’s been a lot of years free wheeling webly cycling content out into the world and i think i’m about done.

Regardless, thanks for all that have read my ramblings over the years.  I might post every once in awhile in the future … but i just can’t say.  So thanks again for reading and sharing ~ and i hope to see you out there on bikes soon, and often.

lates,
m