Early Bird Crit #3 - Cirque de Soleil
This story is still developing but … David Benkoski tells me he won the crit yesterday, too. If he’s not yanking my chain - DB is ripping it up. I hope he can stick it to the big guys when there is some money on the line. We all know the Benjamins will change how people race. If DB is yanking my chain then he should go back to school and study or something.
I’ll insert a little write up on DB’s race when he gets around to giving me some details.
From folks’ Facebook and twitter posts, it sounds like the crit had a little stop and go ambulance action going on. It’s too early for drama my California Elite cyclists - don’t be crashing in the P/1/2/3 Early Bird Crit! That’s like asking Hennie Youngman for a wife joke!
Here is quick account from one rider that is just getting back into the racing scene after spending his days on the Officials side of the desk.
“Some guy crashed maybe 5 laps in and then we rolled for what seemed like 1/2 the race then started going fast w 5 to go when the ambulance left. It should have been fun with mccook and freddie there, but could not see the finish. It got squirrelly at the back and since people really seemed to have trouble riding around bots dots….
On the bright side, if you were an out of shape masters track rider or even sprinter, you could have sat in this race and pretended to be unhappy. The pace was more like a Western Wheelers Touring club pace than Early Bird Crit, until it picked up with 3 to go, and then in passing you mention you are sav’n it for the track and fade off the back.”
Will add more details as i get them. Be careful of bot dots. They are some scary stuff.
January 26th, 2011 at
UPDATE: SO… DB did take the win with a sweet lead out from new masters Specialized rider and NorCal legend ‘Fast’ Freddie Rodriguez. Rodriguez was McEwan’s lead out man back in the day, and almost captured the ultimate glory with a second place finish at Milan San Remo. It’s awesome for kids like David to be learning from the likes of Rodriquez. Read David’s full report on the Specialized site! I’ve distilled the report down to one paragraph but you can read more below…
Full Report: http://teamspecializedracing.blogspot.com/2011/01/early-birds-3-racing-with-fast-freddie.html
Short Version: “With about 1k to go, the pack began swarming around me. That is when Freddie yelled “jump” and Dylan gave one last ditch effort to whip up the pace, which in tern brought Freddie and I into perfect position. (Freddie behind a Cliff rider going all out and me on Freddie’s wheel). The mixture of excitement that came over me when reality set in that I was truly being led out by one of the formerly fastest sprinters in the world was overwhelming. I knew I had to stay on Freddie’s wheel or die trying. As we approached turn three, Freddie swung around the Cliff rider and dove into the turn. From there, I knew it would just be up to me to stay on Freddie’s wheel while he launched his acceleration to the line, and from then all I had to do was come around. With a 52×14, I must say, it was a tough task, but when the thought of me making Freddie, Dylan, and the whole rest of the teams work for nothing, a rush of adrenaline came through, I got out of the saddle, and stomped on the pedals to come around for the victory.
After the race, Freddie and I took a cool down lap. He gave me specifics on how he managed to stay up among the top 5 wheels in the race, and how to keep a great lead out going even when you are short a few riders.”
Tips from Freddie - I think David died and went to heaven.