NorCal Cycling News – Cycling and Racing in Northern California

REDLANDS … the good, the bad, the f’ugly

The huge breakout of 2011 is CalGiant’s John Bennett.  Winning the Beaumont Stage in such dominating fashion … 150k off the front … shows the professional teams that this is a young man with the engine for the big leagues.  Kudos.  Bennett is a recruit from the awesome Norcal High School MTB program, and product of the unbeatable coaching system at Whole Athlete.

Dario Fredrick is the head of the Whole Athlete coaching services, and he and Peter Nicholson have not only got an amazing crew of dirt riders, but they’ve got four U23 riders who have been storming the road scene this year.  They’ve won at Cantua Creek, Pine Flat, and took the San Dimas overall.

Good coaches, good program … showing these young riders how to race as a team and keep life in balance.

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Crashes happen …

TIBCO’s Alison Powers snapped a funny bone in the crit, flipping over a rider through the start/finish area and will be off the bike for awhile.  It’s a shame, as the TIBCO squad needs their full strength over here to compete with the ever advancing domestic scene.  With half their squad over in Europe, the strings are taut over here for the TIBCO squad, and losing Powers is a deep blow.

After the crit, Erinne Willock has moved into 2nd … only a handful of seconds behind the hammerhouse, Amber Neben.  It’s going to be absolute warfare tomorrow on the Sunset loop.  Willock is hungry, but HTC is stacked with talent.  What a show.

The Jacques-Maniacs get … the shaft

BJM won a 3-second bonus midway through the crit today, while being 1-second behind Mancebo in the GC.  But somehow, BJM is shown as tied in the results.  WTF?  It could be that Mancebo got a bonus, too … but we won’t know until the results are official.

AJM went apeshit in the last few laps, unleashing fury on the field and getting away in a small group … but a rider spilt it sideways in front of him, and that was the end of his charge to the line.

F*ckall … these boys are due some luck.  Because they’re making the right moves.

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LINDSAY MYERS … back in the big leagues

Watching Myers in the crit today was like watching a musician pick up her favorite instrument again, and rocking the shit out of it.

Smooth pedaling, excellent positioning … the young woman was floating through the front of the pro-peloton today like she was born to it.  This woman is going to fly up Sunset Loop tomorrow.  She will be in the lead group that will inevitably whittle down to the bone the finest and fittest.
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VANDERKITTEN – showing themselves well

The Vanderkitten team is getting all kinds of good press down here.  Jono Coulter is their new man of inspiration ~ doing all the right things and putting the team is all the right places.  Founder Dave Verrecchia has a fire set under him again and it’s pretty kickass to see.

oh, there’s more stories to tell from Redlands, but the day is done.