NorCal Cycling News – Cycling and Racing in Northern California

Crit season is the time for the late bloomers.  The late bloomers have experience from years of racing, but have passed up life on the road, for a normal, adult like existence.  The late bloomers have real jobs, and use the extended daylight hours of summer to get in the necessary training required to burn down the finishing straight of a big money crit.  The late bloomers might not be able to win a stage race against the likes of riders named Armstrong, but dump the late bloomers into the hot city streets of a four corner crit and they will take you to school like it’s the first day of kindergarten.  The late bloomers take a while to get started,  but if you are a local NorCal rider you are probably willing to settle for second when you see them at the start line.

While our NorCal men have been getting schooled by the muscle bound hollywood wannabe crit monkeys of SoCal, Martina Patella and Mary Ellen Ash have stood on the podium of pretty much every race since Crit Season kicked off at Burlingame. Patella and Ash both have been around the cycling scene for years and know the ins and outs of training and racing.  Patella took down Burlingame, a race she had dominated over time, in a tight sprint,  while Ash over powered a dominant Webcor squad at Davis.  Both riders hung onto the big shots for a podium finish at St. Rafael and Lodi Cycles fest.  Looking at podium photos from recent criteriums it’s hard to tell which race you are looking at since they appear so frequently in first, second, or third.  Patella and Ash have fine tuned their speed in the long hours of our cool summer days, but they rely on their wits and past experience to out gun the full time racers.

Crit Season continues this weekend with several local crits for the late blooming speed freaks amongst you…

• Colavita Grand Prix  #colavitagp
• Watsonville Criterium #watsonvillecrit
• Berkeley Bike Club Criterium #bbccrit